#ive broken down three times today already like how am i supposed to keep going through every week like this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

calumance · 4 years

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LA Devotee - Part XVII

Warnings: first half in angsty, second half is fluffy

Word Count: 3.4k

Summary: Emily is broken, and feels like she’s pushing Calum away. Calum is worried that Emily will never understand how real their relationship is. Meanwhile, Trevor calls up Emily for help with a surprise for Mikayla.

A/N: Thank you for being patient with me on this update, I took some much needed time off but now I am back so updates every Saturday!! 🥰🥰

Masterlist

As much as I loved Mikayla, and respected her words and advise, I did not try to call Calum. The second I got home, I filled Duke’s bowl full of food then headed for the couch. As soon as I made it to the couch, I curled up in a ball and laid there, watching mindless TV until my eyes were so tired that I had to shut them. I rolled so I was facing the back of the couch and put my hands over my face, blocking any source of light. I thought about what Mikayla said, to not over think it. Laying here like this is overthinking it, maybe I should try to call him.

I pushed myself away from the back of the couch and grabbed my phone. The picture of us on my background causing my leg to bounce in nervousness. My finger swiped across the screen to unlock it and I stared at Calum’s name. The dial tone sounded for a full minute before I was sent to his voicemail. My heart tightened and I closed my eyes after ending the call. I tossed my phone onto the coffee table and assumed the same position I had been in before. My eyes tightly shut, squeezing the tears from my eyes, my eyes stayed shut until I was lulled by the hurt into some sort of restless sleep.

My phone made a hard buzzing noise against the coffee table jolting me awake. It only vibrated once, but it was enough to cause me to scramble towards my phone, falling off the couch in the process. After I grabbed my phone, I was highly disappointed to see that it was Trevor. Wait, why the hell was Trevor texting me? “Hey, sorry for texting you out of the blue, but you’re Mikayla’s best friend so call me when you get a second.” My eyebrows stitched together, and in absolute panic, I immediately called Trevor. “Hey, Emily. Thanks for calling me so soon.”

“Is everything okay?” I blurted out, still sitting on the floor, because what was the point of standing up?

“No, yeah, everything’s awesome. I’m going to propose to Mikayla.” My heart skipped and beat and I wanted to scream in excitement. Mikayla has always expressed to me how head over heels she is for Trevor, and they’ve been together for almost four years now. “I wanted you to help me plan it. I already have a ring, I just don’t know what else to do, surely she has told you something about her perfect proposal?”

Oh, boy, has she. “She wants to be proposed to on the beach, at sunset. Venice beach, to be precise. She’s always dreamt of it being that she would be holding hands, walking along the shoreline with the guy- you- and talking about life. She told me that she would want her closest friends to be there, maybe for like a bonfire, or something. Of course, some drinks, music, you get what I’m saying.”

“Yeah, yeah. Like that night we had right after you moved here. We were at the beach and you two got all drunk on wine coolers.” He sighed, with a soft chuckle.

I chuckled back at the memory. “Yeah, like that, but about a hundred times more romantic.” My elbow rested on my knee as my fingers ran across my forehead. “When were you thinking of proposing?”

“Soon? Maybe like Sunday? Could you help me invite all of her friends? I already breached the idea to her, and she was all for it. Will you keep the proposal part of it kind of hushed though? I’d rather have only you know.” His voice became quiet, as if he was afraid of someone hearing him.

“Yeah, I’ll send out a mass invite in the morning. I’m so excited for you, Trevor.” He thanked me again and hung up. After I was sure the call had ended, I tossed my phone back onto the coffee table and laid back so I was pressed against the floor. I was happy for them, but I don’t know how I was supposed to have a happy face when the one person I want to talk to, won’t talk to me. I pushed the base of my palm into my eyes and groaned.

I reached above me for my phone and held it above my face, careful not to drop it on myself. Again, I tried to call Calum, and again the call went to voicemail. Before I started to cry again, I called Michael. One hand holding the phone to my ear, the other hand covering my eyes, in hopes that it would stop me from crying. “Emily!” Michael’s voice was cheery, and there was a few explosions behind him, like he was playing a video game.

“Hey, Michael. How are you doing?” My hand reminded over my eyes, and I swallowed down the sob in my throat.

“It’s going great! What’s going on with you?” He mumbled a few words as he continued to play whatever game he was playing.

My hand dropped from my face and my eyes narrowed at the sudden burst of light. “Not much, listen, Calum isn’t answering me, do you know if he’s okay?” Maybe he knew we were fighting, maybe he didn’t, either way, I left that part out.

Whatever Michael was into suddenly paused, the other end of the phone suddenly became really quiet. “I don’t know, actually. The only time I’ve seen today him was for our performance, after that he went straight for his hotel room and hasn’t come out since. I’m actually kind of worried about him.” I squeezed my eyes shut, and replaced my hand over my eyes. “Do you think I should knock on his door?”

“You’ve known him way longer than I have, Michael. Does he get like this a lot?” Michael hummed in response, but didn’t say much else. I sighed and licked my lips before continuing, “If you knock on his door, just don’t say anything about me calling.” Michael agreed and I hung up the phone. After a few minutes of laying on the floor, I sat up and started preparing the Facebook invite for Trevor and Mikayla’s party on Sunday.

At this point of the night, I had completely lost track of what time it was, all I knew was that it was late. Duke was curled in a ball at my feet at the other end of the couch, soft snores escaping through his nose every so often. My arms tucked into my chest, the sleeves of my sweater pulled over my hands. The episode of The Office where Jim proposes to Pam playing on the TV. Just as Jim knelt down, my phone buzzed. Without taking my eyes off the TV, I reached forward and grabbed my phone, thinking Michael had gone and talked to Calum. I sat bolt upright when I saw Calum’s name on my screen. My fingers frantically swiped to unlock my phone and read his message. “Hey, sunshine. Are you still awake?”

My eyes lifted to the TV just as Pam nodded to Jim and they embraced in a loving kiss. I looked back at my phone and typed back a simple “Yeah.” The three dots in the gray bubble showed up and I watched as they disappeared and his message showed up. “Can we talk?” My heart skipped a beat and I typed another simple “Yeah.”

Within a minute, my phone was ringing, what was surprising was that it was a Face Time call. I propped my phone up on the coffee table, tapped the answer button, then pulled my arm back into my chest. When Calum came into view, the only light that was illuminating his face was the light of the TV. He ran his hand down his face then grinned. Just as he grinned, I looked away from the phone and back at the TV. He sighed and out of the corner of my eye, I could see him reach up and turn the lamp on. “I’m sorry, Emily. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did, I just wish you would realize how real this relationship is.”

As much as I wanted to fight him, he had a point. Everything that has happened to me in the past month and a half has felt like a complete and utter dream. None of it has felt real, and maybe I was acting like it wasn’t real, but how was I supposed to act when the last real relationship I had wasn’t actually real? I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands, hiding the tears that had started to fall. “I know I act tough, Calum, but my last relationship destroyed me. What I thought was real, ended up not being real, and our relationship has felt too good to be true since the second I laid my eyes on you. I’m sorry that I’m pushing you away.” Even though I covered my face, the sob that escaped my chest gave away the fact that I was crying, and I moved my hand to use my sleeve to dry under my eyes.

“Sunshine, you’re not pushing me away. No matter what happens, I will be here. I’m not going anywhere, you are worth every crazy second. Please don’t cry.” He paused for a second and then took a deep breath before continuing, “Can I tell you something?” I nodded, still covering my face with my sleeved hand. “You are the are the light of my life. I was wrong to act the way I did, I was just angry that I couldn’t be there to protect you. That’s my job as a boyfriend, and I couldn’t do that. There was not a second that went by today that I did not think about you, and I tried everything I could to fly home and see you, but there just isn’t time until my next day off in a few days. I’ve just been on edge because I miss you so fucking bad.” He gritted his teeth on the last few words and my breath hitched.

I brought my other hand to my face, “I miss you too.” The response was muffled by my hands and the tears. My chest heaved as I held in a sob, but then rolled over so my back was facing the camera.

Calum sighed, “Emily, please look at me.” I mumbled a ‘no’ into the back of the couch and Calum sighed again. “What do you want me to do, Em?”

My mind ran around in circles until I rolled over and grabbed my phone, surprising Calum. He leaned back and raised his eyebrows. “I want you to just bear with me. I want you to understand that having a perfect relationship has literally never happened to me. I am broken, and I am pretty certain that you are going to be the one to fix me, but it’s going to take time.” I used my sleeve to dry the tears off my face and I licked my lips, thinking of how I wanted to word my next thought. “I care about you very much. I want us to last for a long time, it’s just going to take a while for me to realize what a functional relationship looks like. Can you promise me that you’ll be patient with me and still continue to,” I licked my lips, “Care for me?”

Calum grinned and looked down while nodding, “Of course, Emily. I’m not going anywhere, not any time soon.” I nodded and bit my lip. My eyes met the floor, we were silent for a minute, but Calum cleared his throat and started talking about his day. Which was nice, because I missed talking to him all day. By the end of the night, we were laughing and talking as if the past twenty-four hours never happened.

On Sunday afternoon, I wore a black and white striped maxi skirt with a white tank top, a jean jacket and some sandals. As I was getting ready, I Face Timed Calum. “How do I look?” I asked as I stood in front of the floor length mirror in our shared bathroom.

He eyebrows raised, his fingers running over his lips to hide a smirk. He looked over the top of his phone, then back to the phone. “You look absolutely ravishing, honey.” I blushed and turned the camera to the front facing one as I walked around the house to grab the rest of my things before walking out the front door. “What are you guys doing tonight, again?”

I closed the door to my car and placed my phone in the holder which is suction cupped to the windshield. “I’ve told you, Trevor wanted to have a party with all of Mikayla’s closest friends, like this one time when she and I got all stupid drunk on the beach.” Calum hummed, knowing I was hiding something. “And, Trevor is proposing to Mikayla. I’m only telling you because you’re not here and blow the surprise.”

His eyes widened and spread a wide toothy smile, “Hey! That’s awesome, they’ve been together for a while, right?” He looked over his phone again and nodded in response to the person in front of him.

I glanced behind me to change lanes, and then looked back at Calum. He was still holding onto his phone, but he was wiring his in ear monitors, wrapping them around the top of his ears so they were just hanging. “Yeah,” I smiled at him. “About four years now, maybe longer than that. I can’t remember exactly how long she told me they’ve been together.” My eyes flicked between my phone and the road. Calum was shoving one of his monitors into his ear, “Do you need me to let you go?”

He shook his head and frowned, “No, I still have a couple more minutes.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see him prop the phone against something and took a few steps back to take a drink from his water bottle and start doing his pre-performance routine.

Just as he was called to the stage, I pulled into the parking lot by the beach. Trevor and Mikayla were already there, laying out the beach blanket next to the firepit that had already been set up. Calum and I bid each other goodbye and I grabbed my things to head to their spot. Before stepping into the sand I took my sandals off and lifted the bottom of my skirt. As I waded my way through the sand, a breeze blew my hair back and tickled my face. It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon, and all I could think about was how much better it would be if Calum were here with me. When I finally reached the blanket, Mikayla stood up and wrapped her arms around me. While her arms were around me Trevor smiled and nodded at me knowing that everything was going to be perfect.

Everyone I had invited showed up within ten minutes of me being there. Drinks were quickly passed around, and a speaker was brought out to play some music to keep everyone smiling and laughing. My heart skipped a beat when the song switched to a 5 Seconds of Summer song. As much as I loved the song, I couldn’t help but lower my eyes and wash back the rest of my drink. “Emily, do you want me to change the song? I know how much you’ve been missing him.” Mikayla asked, reaching for her phone.

“No, no, it’s a fine. I like this song, and it’s nice to hear his voice.” I smiled as Trevor handed me another drink, twisting the cap off for me. “Thank you.” I held up my drink and threw my head back taking another large gulp.

“When does he come back?” Our friend Sarah asked. She was leaning back, pressed against her boyfriend’s chest, his arms wrapped around her stomach.

“He comes home for a break in a month. I was thinking about visiting him before then, though. We’ve just been so busy at work that I haven’t really found the right time.” I shrugged and Sarah nodded. “Anyway, I’m okay, he’s okay. Let’s go back to laughing and having a good time.” Everyone nodded and someone dropped a joke, causing the mood to lighten back up.

Soon, the sun was starting to set and Trevor made eye contact with me. Mikayla was just the perfect amount of buzzed, her eyes were sparkling and I knew she was already having one of the best nights of her life. As I brought the bottle to my lips, I nodded. He nodded back at me, and whispered into Mikayla’s ear. She nodded and they both stood to walk towards the water. As they approached the sand, I stood and grabbed my phone. I followed behind them as they held hands and walked along the water line. Once Trevor stopped walking, I pulled out my phone and recorded. I got close enough that I could just barely hear them, but concentrated on videoing the moment. They held hands while Trevor spilled his heart, until he got down on one knee, pulling a small black velvet box from his pocket. Mikayla’s hands shot up and covered her mouth. I could hear her gasp and then she nodded vigorously. Trevor placed the ring on her finger then stood and hugged her, placing a long kiss to her lips.

I stopped the recording and stood in my place until Mikayla caught sight of me and started running towards me. My arms stretched out as she jumped into my arms and hugged me tightly. My arms wrapped around her tightly and we held each other just for a moment. When she pulled away she showed me her ring. It was a rose gold ring with an oval diamond and a halo of diamonds that had the clasp holding the stone at the top to make the halo look like stars. As Trevor walked past me, I fist bumped him. Finally, my best friend was engaged, and I couldn’t be more happy for her.

When I got home, I immediately fell into bed. The morning was going to come quickly, and waking up on Mondays was hard enough as it is. After finding the motivation, I pushed myself off the bed and put on a pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt. As I was brushing my teeth, my phone began to ring. With my toothbrush still in my mouth, I walked back into the bedroom and grabbed my phone, answering Calum’s Face Time. He chuckled when he saw the toothbrush hanging out of my mouth. I smiled and propped my phone on the sink and held up my pointer finger. “Okay.” He said, his voice husky and low, making my bones shiver.

Quickly, I finished brushing my teeth and grabbed my phone off the sink. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to call. How was your show?” As I walked out of the bathroom, I switched the light off, walking my way towards the bed.

“It was good,” He began and I crawled under the covers and switched on the bedside lamp. “How was your night? Did Mikayla say yes?” He raised his eyebrows and smiled, remembering that I had told him Trevor was proposing.

A smile stretched across my face and I leaned my phone against the lamp on the nightstand. “Yeah, she did. I took a video do you want me to send it to you?”

He raised and arm and let it rest against his forehead. “I’d love to see it. I’ll watch it tomorrow, though. I’m exhausted.” His eyes started to shut and I couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s fine. Why don’t we both get some sleep and talk again tomorrow?” He nodded and then we bid each other a goodnight before the call ended. Before rolling over onto my side, I sent Calum the video. For the first night in a couple of days, I was able to fall asleep with a smile on my face.

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Tag list: @notinthesameguey @thinkofmehlgh @limer-encia @another-lonely-heart @itsmytimetoodream @babyoria

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 5 years

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with you [3/6]

Summary: Clementine pops the question.

Preview:

Louis had read plenty of those magazines from the headmaster’s office, the ones about dating and relationships. He read an article when he and Clementine first got together, when they were preparing to infiltrate the delta. He’d read it out of curiosity, not knowing anything about how to be a boyfriend, and to take his mind off their imminent doom.

This article was bitter, written from a broken heart, and mean-spirited enough for him to skip at the time. But, now, thinking back…

It was about all relationships being a ticking time bomb, all because of one reason:

One person always loves a little bit more than the other.

One person always gives more than they should. One always cares too much. One is always at a greater risk of being hurt or left behind.

One is always weaker.

Warnings: There’s lots of smooching this time, but again, no sexual content. Violet’s still angsty. Tenn hates bottles. Aasim’s a bad liar but he’ll lie anyway because Ruby’s sweet. Louis gets a little angsty himself. Mitch’s secret stash of wine makes an appearance.

Author’s note: So, in case you didn’t see that little update I posted about this story, long story short: I’m the biggest goddamn liar and now there’s 4 parts 5 parts because I don’t know how to keep anything short and sweet.

I also just want to say thank you for all the nice comments. Like, I don't think there are enough words in the English language to describe how astonished I am to have received so many nice messages about this story. When I first started writing this, I didn't expect anything like that. I really started this because it was a request and I had a lot of feelings about ep3 [which, I still do hence why this turned out longer than I had planned]

Anyway, thank you so much for reading and for all the nice comments!

---

The window's open.

Louis slips in and out of darkness, stuck between a dreamless calm and a waking reality. Cool hair drifts in through the cracked window, brushing against the bare skin of his arm. But, it's not the morning chill or the golden glow flowing in through the parted curtains that wakes him up.

A gentle hand shakes his shoulder.

A familiar presence stands over him, he can feel it even in his drowsy state.

Nothing dangerous, of course. Otherwise, he'd be bolting out of bed and pulling Chairles from off the shelf, swinging with a blind fury.

He rolls over onto his side, eyes too heavy to open.

"Louis?"

The hand grasps his shoulder again, this time shaking a little harder. His grogginess worsens. It’s like someone poured wet cement into his bones. He stretches his arm out over the empty spot next to him in search of Clementine’s warmth, inhaling the morning air and letting it out with a groan.

The hand shakes him again, so he grabs and holds it.

"U-uh-"

Louis buries his face in his pillow. His voice comes out muffled, groggy, "Darling, come back to bed."

"Louis!"

The pillow's yanked out from under his head. His nose smashes against the mattress and his eyes snap open.

"Ow! Hey!"

He's ready to complain about such a rude awakening until he realizes whose hand he's still holding.

The room is awkwardly silent until Louis mumbles, "You're not Clementine."

"No," Aasim pulls his hand free and hits Louis with the pillow, "no, I'm not."

Louis snatches the pillow away, tucking it back under his head and sighing. "How long have you been watching me sleep?" He yawns. "I didn't take you for the creeper type."

"I wasn't watching you sleep," Aasim rolls his eyes. "I came to wake you up. We're going hunting."

"Hunting?"

It's the first he's heard of this. He and Aasim usually go hunting every few days, and they just went the day before. Louis props himself on his elbows to peer up at him with a dull expression. Another yawn builds in his throat.

"You must have your days mixed up," he says. "Mitch and Willy go today. We're not supposed to go ‘til tomorrow."

"No, it’s our turn," Aasim says quickly. "We gotta go now. James was out there earlier and he saw a deer."

A...

A what?

"A deer?" Louis perks a brow. "Sure it wasn't just a big possum? Or a walker on all fours? Maybe even a bunch of bunnies standing on each other's shoulders?"

"He's pretty damn sure it was a deer," Aasim insists. He turns to spread the window curtains farther apart. More light floods in, causing Louis to wince as his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness.

"He's already out there tracking it,” Aasim grabs Louis’ coat from off the desk chair and tosses it to him, “so we gotta move fast is we want any chance of hunting it. We also have to check the traps and make sure the fishing shack is still secure."

"A deer?" Louis presses again. "Like, a real deer? Like Bambi?”

“Bambi was a cartoon.”

“You know what I mean,” Louis grins. “We've never seen a deer out there, like, ever. Not even at the beginning."

Aasim scratches at his chin anxiously. "Well, James just saw one, so... Get up and get ready. We're leaving soon.”

Louis swings his legs over the side of the bed and stretches out his arms, groaning in satisfaction as the muscles loosen.

“How soon is ‘soon’?”

“As soon as you put your boots on.”

Louis sighs.

This definitely isn’t what he had planned for this morning.

He glances over at the old CD player and the tangle of dingy headphones on the desk. He’d have to remember to grab another pair from the music room. Those ones only have one working earbud. He only hopes that those songs were enough to lull Clementine’s distress, even if just for the night.

It’s been a long time since he’s seen her so physically upset.

He knows Clementine well enough by now. He knows that she still holds in most of those awful feelings. Whenever something upsets her, or even after she has a nightmare of her own, her face defaults to a stoic expression. Whether she does it out of habit, or because she doesn’t want him or anyone else to worry, or some concoction of both, he’s not sure.

She has enough room within her to bottle it up. She has the strength to hold it in.

Sometimes, he wishes he was like that.

Sometimes, he felt he was bursting at the seams.

And there she always was, trying to sew him back together.

Seeing her like that… shit, it’s one of the most hopeless feelings when all you can do is hold someone without the power to heal their pain.

Louis squeezes his eyes shut, biting the inside of his cheek.

“I talked to Violet…”

Violet.

Shit, what could’ve possibly brought that on?

He hadn’t asked, even though he wanted to. God, he really wanted to. He’s so desperate to know... why now? Did it just happen, or has it been weighing in her mind for a while? What was it about? Why didn’t she tell him?

He didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was, though, so he left it alone. She would tell him when she was ready.

And, Violet…

He can’t imagine how she must be feeling right now.

He watches Aasim as he paces over to AJ’s desk, stopping to look over the several drawings hanging on the wall.

Louis really doesn’t want to go hunting.

He already had his morning planned out.

First, he’d wake up and kiss Clementine before her watch. Or, if she already left, go find her and then kiss her.

It’s sort of a rule he has. While Louis was never one for strict rules or planning, he does have certain things that have to be done. Kissing Clementine every day is one of those rules.

Okay, maybe it’s not considered a rule, per se.

But, he made sure to kiss her every morning, and whenever one of them left to go hunting or scavenging or on watch without the other, and every night before bed. It didn’t have to be a crazy, passionate kiss. Sometimes, just a little peck on the cheek was enough.

It made him feel better, even if he knows it’s his subconscious telling him, “Kiss her! It might be your last chance! Death is always watching you, Louis!”

Anyway.

After he kissed her, he’d ask her if she was feeling any better, or if she wanted to talk about it. Whether she would or not, he didn’t know.

Next, he’d grab two plates of breakfast and head over to Violet’s room. If she answered, they’d eat together. If she didn’t answer or let him in, she’d at least have food waiting for her. Then, he’d find Tenn to watch over her, make sure she ate.

However, it seems that Aasim’s determined to foil those plans all in the name of some deer James supposedly saw.

Seriously, a deer?

Louis tries to rub the drowsiness from his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief. Aasim might as well of said, “Hey! Leprechauns are frolicking in the woods! Quick! Let’s go get their gold!”

Well, okay, maybe a deer is more plausible than a leprechaun.

But, still.

When Aasim notices Louis’ lack of movement and vacant stare, he crosses his arms and shoots him an exasperated look.

“Now, dude.”

Louis scratches the back of his neck as he hangs his head. “Do you really need me to go?” he asks. “I mean, it’s not like we need three people tracking a deer that may or may not be a figment of James’ imagination.”

“It’s not a figment of his imagination,” Aasim sighs. “Will you just put your boots on? We’re wasting daylight.”

“You’re awfully pushy this morning.”

“No, I just-” Aasim stops, looking away. "I want that deer, okay?"

Louis studies him for a moment as he pulls on his jacket, trying to understand the stress prominent in his features.

"Dude, if you're so worried about the deer, just go without me-"

"No! No, you- I-uh, " Aasim presses his mouth into a thin line. His eyes dart around the floor. He wears a taut expression that Louis recognizes. It's one that Aasim usually has when he's jotting down the day's events and he can't figure out how to word something.

Louis gets off the bed, hands on his hips and head cocked curiously. "You okay?"

"You have to come with me," Aasim says slowly. He scratches at his scruffy chin and looks towards to door, saying, “We need three people to carry it back when we get it.”

“I doubt it. Two people’s enough.”

“No, three people are needed to safely carry it.”

“James’ strong. Honestly, the dude could probably drag it back here himself. You don’t need me there.”

Then, Aasim blurts out, "I-I don't want to be alone with James.”

Louis almost laughs. "What?"

"Uh-” Aasim stutters, “Yeah, he makes me nervous, okay? You guys are friends. If you go, he'll have someone to talk to and I won't have to worry about him."

“Are you serious?” Louis asks. “I thought you two got along. I mean, you talk to him every time he’s here. Hell, don’t you always eat together, too?”

“That- that doesn’t mean anything. Will you just put your damn boots on, already?” Aasim finds his boots on the floor and kicks them towards him. “Why do you always have to be so damn difficult?”

Louis opens his mouth to speak, but then promptly shuts it.

Something’s weird.

Aasim’s being weird.

He never argues this much. Usually, by now he would’ve thrown his hands up, stomped out and left him behind, grumbling about what a pain in the ass he is.

But, there Aasim stood, moving about the room impatiently, still waiting for him.

Louis slips on his boots, keeping an eye on the other boy, and begins slowly lacing them up.

Aasim picks up the small venus fly trap on the desk and pokes it, causing it to steadily close its mouth. He’s so forcefully fixated on the plant that Louis is convinced something’s up.

Louis has known him for a long time, and he knows that Aasim avoids eye contacts and becomes defensive due to three things: when someone brings up the delta, when he’s lying about something, or when someone confronts him about his crush on-

Louis’ mouth falls agape.

Oh.

“He makes you nervous, huh?” Louis asks, hopping to his feet.

Aasim almost drops the plant, but luckily, he catches it. “Yeah, so what?”

“Why?”

“Uh?”

“Why does he make you nervous?” Louis repeats, drawing out each word. “I mean, aside from the whole wearing another dude’s face and hanging out with his walker friends.”

Aasim’s lips part as though he’s ready to speak, but it seems he’s stuck. He moves his hands about as if somehow that’ll help him articulate the words he’s looking for. In the end, he gives an agitated sigh and heads towards the exit, saying, “Just drop it and let’s go.”

However, Louis is quick to stride ahead and shut the door, pressing his back against it and raising his brow suggestively at him. “Not so fast!”

“Dude, really?”

Louis smirks. “I see you, Aasim.”

“What?” Aasim scowls. “Get out of the way. Clem’s gonna be pissed we haven’t left yet.”

Louis grins brightly. He ignores Aasim’s protests, reaching out to grasp his shoulder. “It’s finally happened. Our poor Aasim, the fool forever trapped within the realms of unrequited love-”

“Uh, what?”

“-has finally moved on from dear, sweet Ruby-”

“No-”

“-and onto the ever so mysterious-”

“No, no-”

“-handsome James!”

“Oh my god…” Aasim rubs his eyes, fingers curling over his face in irritation. “Oh my god, you’re so stupid.”

“Ah, James,” Louis disregards the insult, saying, “Gotta say, I did not see that one coming. Never thought I’d see the day you give up on Ruby.”

“I don’t have a crush on James, you idiot.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I never had a crush on Ruby.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I don’t-didn’t!”

“Uh-huh.”

Aasim inhales sharply through his nose. “I swear, it’s like you want to piss me off!”

Louis holds his hands up defensively, saying, “No, I hear you, dude. I just don’t believe you. You can’t look me in the eye and say with a straight face that you never liked Ruby like that.”

Aasim rubs his palms over his jacket before crossing his arms, not saying a word.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Louis continues, “Ruby’s a sweet girl- well, sweet until pushed otherwise. And, James is really cool underneath that walker getup. In fact, I dare say you two would be pretty damn adorable,”

Aasim holds up his hand inches away from Louis’ face. “I’m gonna stop you right there before you say any more stupid shit,” he says sternly. “I don’t like James.”

“If that’s true, then why’re you being so weird?” asks Louis.

“Look,” Aasim sighs. “We could stand here all day arguing about this stupid shit, and the longer we do that, the farther that deer gets, and the longer James is stuck out there waiting for us by himself. Clementine is counting on both of us to go out there and track it, so can you please just take this seriously for once?”

“Who says I’m not being serious?”

Aasim shoots him a look.

“Okay, fine,” he sighs. He pushes away from the door. “You really believe he saw a deer out there?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“And so does Clem?”

“Why else would she send me to wake your ass up?” Aasim asks, glancing back down at the floor.

Well, so much for morning plans. He’d have to shorten his list and make it quick.

“Just answer me this last question,” Louis says with a wide smirk. “How long have you liked James?”

“I’m not playing this game with you.”

“What game? You wanted me to be serious, so here I am! Being serious! How long?”

“I don’t-” Aasim groans, rubbing his hands harshly over his face and through his hair.

Alright, that’s enough teasing, he thinks. Louis would ask him about it again later when Aasim isn’t so flustered or preoccupied with thoughts of a prancing deer.

“Okay, okay, let’s go get Bambi. But before that, can I at least do my morning business first?” he asks. “Or am I gonna have to hold it the whole time?”

“Fine,” Aasim sighs, relieved, “just hurry up. Meet you at the gates.”

And with that, he hurries out the door.

Louis shakes his head with a small smile. With Chairles in his possession and a set determination, Louis leaves the bedroom, ready to complete his morning plans in the short amount of time given.

---

From down the hall, Louis can hear the sound of glass shards scraping against the wooden floors. His gut tightens.

Violet’s door is wide open.

Uneasy, apprehensive to continue, he comes to a stop.

Violet never leaves her door open, not even a crack. Whether she’s alone or not, she always makes sure her door is shut and locked. There’s been plenty of times where he’d gone to see her and after she let him in, she’d almost push him out of the way to slam the lock shut.

He’d asked her about it the first time it happened. She hadn’t answered him. She was too ashamed to, so she pretended not to hear the question.

He didn’t say any more about it. If it made her feel better- safer, more secure- then he wouldn’t argue. He’s gotten in the habit of locking it himself every time he comes to visit just so she doesn’t panic.

Eventually, he does peek into the room.

But, he doesn’t find Violet.

No, he’s alarmed to find Mitch bent down on the floor with a dustpan and a small, broken broom, cautiously sweeping up shattered glass bits. There’s a small bag next to him with a wooden frame protruding from it. Clear concentration knits his brows and his lips move as if silently mumbling to himself.

Louis’ eyes narrow. He tries to wrap his head around just what he’s seeing.

When he moves closer, right into the door frame, Mitch doesn’t seem to notice, even when he clears his throat.

So, he speaks.

“Hey, Mitch,” he says, loud and flat.

Mitch jerks back, losing his balance, hissing out, “Jesus motherfucking-!” He drops the dustpan to help steady himself, letting glass slip out onto the floor again. He scrambles to his feet, cheeks flushing a furious red, but his glare dies when he sees it’s Louis standing there. He grows tense, unmoving, with eyes wide like a small child just caught sneaking around where they weren’t supposed to.

The two stare at each other for many seconds before Mitch points at him.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Funny,” Louis scoffs, pushing his jacket back to place his hands on his hips firmly, “I was about to say the same thing.”

“I, uh-” Mitch straightens out, looking down at the broom in his hand and the glass on the floor before peering back up at him. “Shouldn’t you be out hunting?”

“Don’t change the subject,” Louis frowns. He approaches the other boy, asking, “What are you doing here? Where’s Vi?”

“She’s with Tenn,” Mitch says. “Spent the night in his room after she, uh,” he motions down to the broken glass, “flipped out.”

Concern tightens in his throat. The panic must be clear on his face, because Mitch shakes his head and explains, “She did it after their talk.” He kneels back down and starts sweeping again. “Clem told’ja about that, I assume?”

“Yeah,” he says slowly. “And, how do you know about it, exactly?”

“I was keeping watch. Made sure Violet didn’t do anything.” Mitch dumps the glass bits into the small bag before motioning towards the desk. “She didn’t, at least not while Clem was here. She smashed this after we were leaving. I left the picture over there.”

Louis hesitates, but steps around Mitch, wary of the remaining glass bits. As he approaches the desk, he notices that her water bottle is tipped over onto its side, empty. What’s worse, is he can see it’s completely dry, like it hasn’t been used in a long time. He stands it up, moving it right next to her journal.

He remembers when Aasim gave that to her. It wasn’t bound like a real book, but Aasim had gathered some thicker paper from the basement and had Ruby sew it together into a makeshift book. It even had a cover, drawn by Tenn.

Aasim gave it to her after the delta, said that writing was easier than talking. He gave her a bunch of pencils and pens, too, but he can’t spot any lying around. Louis doesn’t know if she really writes in it, though he hopes she does. Anything to help, anything to release a little bit of that pain.

Louis considered it, once. But, trying to write down his feelings only frustrated him. Instead, he turned to Clementine and music for solace.

He glances away from the journal and to the photo laying at the bottom corner of the desk.

Violet, Minerva, and Sophie, all together, all smiling.

He can’t help but grin, even if there’s no joy in it.

The photo’s covered in scratches, from the glass, no doubt. But, the faces are still clear.

Minerva.

The real Minnie.

Not the husk that pointed her crossbow at him, who tried to kill Clementine and take them all away to that sick hellhole.

As he stares at her radiant face, her long hair and sincere eyes, he wishes that’s the only way he could remember her; happy, radiant, beautiful.

Fuck, he couldn’t even remember her laugh, or how charming her singing was.

She used to always laugh at his stupid jokes, at his silly voices and silly songs. Even when no one else would, she’d take pity on him and laugh.

They’d sing together in their downtime, too. They’d sing until Violet threw her head back, groaning out that he was ruining the song. So, he’d shut up and just play the piano, and Minerva would sing.

Louis thinks that’s when it happened.

When Violet first fell in love.

That’s why she always told him to shut up. Something in Minerva’s voice brought her comfort, gave her some sense of purpose.

He can remember Violet sitting there, watching both of them, and when Minerva sang to her, it was like he didn’t exist anymore. He was just there for background noise, a mere puppet to set the mood and a witness to what was blossoming.

It was beautiful.

Violet was beautiful.

He’d told her that shortly after she and Minerva became official, told her how happy he was for her. She punched him in the shoulder and called him stupid.

Minerva had agreed with him, though.

God, the way they looked at each other.

“I killed her.”

But, the memories of her glazed over expression, her washed out, gaunt face overshadow those fond times now.

Minerva...

“I killed her.”

Sophie.

“I killed her.”

Poor, poor Sophie.

He has to squeeze his eyes shut and bite his lip to stop his quivering chin. He’s not about to cry here, especially not in front of Mitch. He swallows the lump forming in his throat and breathes in, and out. He places the picture in the desk drawer.

“She wasn’t hurt, right?” Louis asks, attempting to hide the tremble in his voice. “By the glass?”

“Not that I could see. I didn’t see any blood anywhere.”

Well, at least she’s physically still intact. That doesn’t make him any less worried, though.

Mitch’s eyes dart all around the floor, looking for any shards he might’ve missed. He turns on his heels to grab his bag again.

“Clem told you?” Louis asks. “That she was gonna talk to her?”

“Yeah.”

Louis knows Clementine and Mitch had some sort of understanding with each other, but of all the people he thought she would’ve turned to when it came to talking to Violet, he didn’t put Mitch too high on the list.

“Why?”

“Uh,” Mitch stops sweeping. “Why what?”

“Why’d she tell you?” Louis asks. “She could’ve come to me.”

Mitch tenses. “I-I don’t fucking know, dude!” he exclaims far too loudly. As he continues, his speech becomes quicker, more defensive, “She just said it and I told her it was a shit idea but no, she just had to come and poke the bear right in the fucking eye and when you do that you get your hand bitten off and so I said I’d come with her and make sure her hand doesn’t get bitten off- shit I didn’t actually say it like that but I said, ‘don’t do it,’ and she was all, ‘I’m doing it,’ and-”

“Okay, okay,” Louis interrupts, startled by the outburst. “I get the idea. But why are you here now?”

Straightens himself out again, leaving the broom and dustpan on the floor to tie up the bag. “She wasn’t gonna clean it up,” he mumbles. “Hey, shouldn’t you be hunting? Aasim’s gonna kick your ass if you don’t get moving. We need that deer.”

Again, with the hunting thing.

“Yeah, yeah, the deer,” he sighs. “I’m going. I just wanted to check up on Vi first.”

“Doubt she wants to see anybody. Better off going straight to Aasim.”

“I will,” Louis crosses his arms, “as soon as I see you out.”

Mitch eyes him questioningly before it dawns on him. “Oh, right. Fair enough.” He leaves the broken broom and dustpan in the corner of the room and scopes out the floor one last time. “Tell her not to break any glass shit next time. It’s a pain in the ass to clean up.”

Louis doesn’t bother responding. Mitch is already out the door anyway, leaving him alone in the emptiness of Violet’s room.

---

It’s chillier this morning. While the sun is still bright it the sky, there are more clouds floating about, all various shades of gray. Maybe not dark enough to worry about rain at the moment, but they still pass over the sun and bring a coolness over the school.

Louis tugs on the collar of his jacket, covering up a bit. Upon looking around, he’s a little surprised to only see Tenn sitting at his usual table, holding a board with a piece of paper taped on it in his lap, and Aasim pacing in front of the gates. He can faintly see Clementine and AJ up on watch.

No Ruby, no Willy, no Omar.

Even Rosie isn’t outside.

Odd.

But, he shrugs it off. He didn’t think he’d been late enough to miss breakfast, but that does bring up another concern.

Ignoring Aasim for a moment, figuring he can wait just a little bit longer, Louis makes his way towards Tenn.

There’s a line up of old bottles, some broken, some filled with a gross looking grey liquid. The board rests comfortably in Tenn’s lap. He’s focused on his drawing, his eyes constantly darting up to stare at the bottles before going back to copy it onto paper.

“Hey, Tenn,” Louis greets.

The boy looks back at him, eyes wide and blinking rapidly. “Oh, h-hi, Louis,” he says.

“What’cha drawing today?” Louis asks enthusiastically, peering over his shoulder.

Tenn sheepishly sets the board on the table, careful not to knock anything over. Several drawings of bottles fill up the page, all a little wobbly or disproportionate.

“James said I need practice drawing from life more, but,” Tenn sighs, “bottles are hard.”

“Yeah, but it looks like you’re getting the hang of it.” Louis points to a sketch in the right corner. “I like this one. It looks real enough to drink out of!”

A small, timid smile spreads across the young boy’s face. “Really?”

“Totally,” Louis gives an encouraging grin. “Wait until James sees these. He’s gonna be floored at how good you’re getting. Oh!” Louis pats his shoulder. “By the way, that one you did of me looks amazing on our wall.”

“You-you hung it up?”

“Of course I did!”

Tenn looks away to hide his diffident smile. “Thanks, Louis…”

“Of course,” Louis grins. He moves around and takes a seat next to him with a sigh, his usual grin replaced with a more serious look. “Hey,” he lowers his voice, “how’s Vi doing?”

Tenn sets his pencil down, keeping his eyes locked on his hands. “She’s okay. She slept in my room last night.”

“I heard,” Louis scratches at his chin thoughtfully, “but, she’s okay? Well, as okay as she can be?”

“I think so,” Tenn says. “She-...she cried a lot, but she’s stopped, so...”

Shit.

“Did she get any sleep?”

“A little. She’s still in bed. She told me I didn’t have to wait for her.”

“Did she eat anything?”

“I brought her some breakfast,” he nods, “and she ate a little.”

Relief washes over him.

“Good,” he says. “That’s good. Keep an eye on her, okay? I was gonna go check on her myself but it seems I’m needed elsewhere.”

Tenn goes back to his drawing, pulling the board back into his lap, saying, “Uhm, aren’t you and Aasim-”

“Going hunting, yes, to capture that magical deer prancing in the woods.” Louis stands up again, giving Tenn one last pat on the back. “Her waterbottle’s in her room. When you take a break, would you fill it up and bring it to her?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Louis smiles warmly. “Keep up the good work.”

He waves good-bye to the young boy, but still strays away from the gates. He knows Aasim can see him, and it’s only a matter of time before he stomps over and drags him out by his ear.

There’s just one more thing he has to do.

Approaching the post where they take turns on watch, Louis calls up, “Clementine?”

At first, he doesn’t get a response. Then, AJ leans over and smiles down at him, excitedly waving. “Hi, Louis!”

“Hey, little man!” he laughs. “Clem up there?”

“Yeah!”

Clementine appears beside him, giving AJ a set of binoculars. Louis steps back, watching her climb down.

He’s pleased to see her smiling.

In fact, he dare say she’s glowing this morning.

She hurries over to him and slips into his open arms. Her cold nose brushes his skin when she leans up and pecks him on the lips.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning,” he grins. He opens his jacket up more, pulling her close and wrapping it around her as much as possible. “You’re freezing.”

“Been out here a few hours,” she sighs, melting into his touch, soaking up his warmth. “I expected to see you a lot sooner. Aasim’s been waiting.”

“Ah, yes, so we can hunt this infamous deer everyone’s so obsessed with,” he says, “He was ready to drag me out of bed by my feet this morning. I think I can actually feel him glaring at us right now.” He peeks over Clementine’s head nonchalantly, and sure enough, Aasim is staring at the couple, exasperated.

“Believe me, I heard all about it,” Clementine pulls back with a stern look. “You shouldn’t give him such a hard time.”

“Yeah, I know. He just makes it too easy sometimes. Anyway,” Louis leans forward to kiss her cheek. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay before I took off.”

She hums against his chest, mumbling, “I’m a lot better, actually. All things considered. It’s… a good day.”

“It’s a cold day.”

“It’s not that cold.”

“Your nose is about to fall off.”

“So dramatic.”

Louis chuckles, pulling back to rub warmth into her arms before stopping to hold her hands.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Later,” she says. “You have a deer to hunt.”

“Ugh.”

He’s getting pretty tired of hearing about this deer.

“Don’t pout. Think about how much a whole deer could feed us.”

“Not much, because I’m, like, eighty percent sure Bambi doesn’t really exist.”

“Louis.”

“Clementine.”

She shakes her head, trying to hide her smirk. She playfully smacks his chest. “Just go. You two have kept James waiting long enough. We’ll talk later, okay? I promise.”

Louis doesn’t let her hands go.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asks.

“Yes.”

He studies her face for any sign of unease but finds that she’s still smiling up at him.

When she notices his hesitation, she tugs on his hand.

“Are you okay?”

He murmurs, “I went to check on her. She wasn’t in her room.”

Clementine doesn’t say anything, but her grip on his hands tightens.

“But, I did find Mitch cleaning up glass, which was pretty surreal.”

Her eyes flutter shut as she lowers her head. “The picture…”

“Yeah,” he nods, “Tenn promised to keep an eye on her today. Try not to think about it too much. And if she does come out, well... ”

“I know.”

He doesn’t say any more about it. Her promise to talk about it when he gets back is enough assurance for him.

“Louis!” Aasim calls from the gates. “Let’s go!”

Louis shakes his head and forces a cheerful smile. “Best not keep poor Aasim waiting. He’s gonna need a shoulder to cry on when we don’t find that deer.”

Clementine rolls his eyes. “And here I thought you were the optimist.”

“Optimist, sure. Delusional? Not as much as you’d think.”

“Just don’t give Aasim such a hard time,” she says, quirking a knowing brow. “I hear he’s had a rough morning already.”

“I won’t,” he promises. “I have a feeling that he won’t hesitate to shoot at me today if I push the wrong button.”

Clementine’s fingers brush against his cheek before she pulls him down. Their lips press comfortably together as a pleased sigh escapes her. They savor the moment, reluctant to pull away. It takes him a second to recover, a second before he can open his eyes again.

God, she is glowing today.

And he’s just standing there, smiling and chuckling like a fool.

She turns away to hide the pretty blush blossoming on her cheeks, hitting his chest again. “Go.”

“Fine.”

Louis goes to the gates, turning to wave good-bye to her. He’s still grinning when he meets Aasim, who shakes his head and gives an exaggerated eye roll before pushing through the gates. Louis isn’t too far behind.

---

AJ watches through his binoculars as Louis and Aasim get farther and farther away. As soon as they’re out of sight, he rushes to the other side and gives Clementine a thumbs up.

She absently runs a finger over her bottom lip.

The giddiness is back.

She gives him a thumbs up back and rushes over to the basement, flinging the doors open and calling out, “They’re gone!”

“Oh, it’s ‘bout damn time!” she hears Ruby exclaim. “Thought they’d never get outta here! Alright, Clem, we got everythin’ we need!” She comes into sight carrying a box full of lanterns and different kinds of blankets. Behind her, Willy and Omar come up, each carrying a box of their own. Rosie rushes past them, eager to see Clementine.

She makes room for all of them to set the boxes down. Tenn wanders over, curiously looking over all the different materials.

“What took them so long?” complains Willy. “We’ve been down there forever!”

“Louis got sidetracked,” Clementine replies. “Just like I said he would.”

Omar scoffs. “‘Course he did. Did he buy the deer story?”

“I don’t think so,” Clementine laughs. “But, he believes that Aasim believes, and that’s all it took.”

“Told you Aasim would have his hands full.”

Oh, he did.

All morning, Clementine kept a close eye on the front doors, waiting for the two of them to appear. When only Aasim came out looking ready to rip his hair out, it worried her.

Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as she expected. Louis hadn’t really believed the deer thing but was willing to go along anyway after Aasim panicked and lied about why he needed him there. Now, Louis was under the impression that Aasim had a crush on James, which Clementine had to admit was kind of funny.

Aasim wasn’t as amused as her. When he was relaying the conversation and where they were at in the plan, he openly expressed his dislike of having to lie. Then, he went on a rant about lying never really being beneficial and how the whole deer story made absolutely no sense. He stopped when Clementine reminded him that the deer thing was Ruby’s idea, and if he had a problem with it to take it up with her.

James snuck back in with a rabbit over his shoulder a little bit after that, asking what the hold up was. Aasim couldn’t even look at him.

Eventually, she had to take the rabbit and shoo James away before he blew his cover, then she sent Aasim to the gates so she could hide the rabbit and get back to her post before Louis showed up.

All in all, it’s been quite a morning.

“Ya should see all what we found down there!” Ruby beams, clapping her hands happily. “Found all sorts’a blankets, ribbons, candles, and decorations. And look at this basket! Perfect fer a picnic! Here, Omar,” she hands him a large woven basket with a long handle, “fix that up real pretty, would’ja? And Tenn, here’s yer vase.”

Tenn accepts the pale green vase with great care, looking over and rubbing the dust off it. Ruby hands him some ribbon, too.

“Willy, you’re going to help us pick flowers, right?” Tenn asks.

Willy nods, though not enthusiastically. “After I bring Mitch his candles.”

“He should already be in the music room,” Ruby says, “at least, he best be.”

Clementine doesn’t doubt he is by now. After she asked him to clean up the glass in Violet’s room, he promised he’d head there straight away to make sure Louis didn’t try and hideout. That backfired a little.

That’s why she told him to hurry. She knew that Louis would try and check on Violet before leaving.

Tenn heads back to his table to set the vase and ribbon down and meet up with AJ.

“Omar, ya got everythin’ ya need?”

“Think so,” Omar nods.

“James caught a rabbit for you to cook,” Clementine tells him. “I left it over by your dutch oven. Will that work?”

“You can count on me, Clem,” Omar grins. “It’ll be the best damn rabbit you’ve ever eaten, guaranteed.” Then, he reaches around in his box and pulls out a half-empty bottle of red wine. “Mitch’s secret stash will do wonders for the flavor.”

Ruby shakes her head. “Secret, my ass,” she mumbles.

“Want me to save some for you?” Omar asks.

She hadn’t considered bringing something like wine. Hell, she didn’t even know if she liked wine. She knew she didn’t like whiskey, and rum was pretty gross.

“I don’t know,” Clementine takes the bottle from him, twisting the cap off and sniffing. It smells faintly fruity, a little sweet, but the alcohol’s still prominent. “Is it good?”

“It’s pretty good,” Willy smiles.

Ruby shoots him a stern look, causing Willy to look away.

“Uh, at least, that’s what Mitch says.”

“I’ll leave some for you, just in case,” Omar decides. “Who knows, you might want it for the wedding. Have to make a toast to the bride and groom.”

Clementine smiles. “Right.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Ruby points up at him, “don’t let me ferget ta pull out the headmaster’s nice drinkin’ glasses.”

“Drinking glasses, got it.” Omar turns back to Clementine, cheerfully saying, “I’ll get to skinning and marinating the rabbit before I fix the basket.” He’s clearly thrilled to be cooking something a little extra special.

“Will ya be okay by yerself?” Ruby asks.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Omar says. He reaches down to pat Rosie before pulling more things out of his box. “I got all the company I need. I’ll keep an eye on the boys, too. Make sure they don’t cause too much trouble.”

“Thanks, Omar,” Clementine grins. “Really, it means a lot.”

“Of course, Clem.”

Ruby hauls up her box. “Oh, let’s go! I’m itchin’ ta fix up the place!” She hurries towards the doors.

Clementine can’t help but giggle a little at her enthusiasm. She helps carry the other box in with Willy right behind her.

---

Mitch is already in the music room. He’s moving the couch up against one of the walls, and it looks like he’s already brought up the gramophone and box of records, too.

“Jesus,” he groans. “‘Bout time. He finally leave?”

“Yep!” Ruby sets down her box with a huff. “Aasim and James should keep him plenty busy fer a while.” She rubs her hands together before digging back into her box.

Clementine and Willy set their boxes down, too. Mitch approaches them, huffing.

“Y’know, this would be a lot easier if you just slapped the ring on him and said, ‘You’re my husband now.’”

Clementine chuckles, rolling her eyes. “Always the romantic, aren’t you, Mitch?”

“Is that how yer lookin’ ta propose in the future?” Ruby teases. “Guarantee that won’t get’cha far.”

“He has to find someone who’ll put up with his charm first,” Clementine smirks.

Mitch glares at both of them, snapping, “Shut up.” He shakes his head, grabbing a dirty looking rag from Willy’s box and moves towards the piano. He starts wiping it down, causing little bits of dust to fly up in the air.

Willy lingers a little bit, pulling candles of various sizes out of his box, as well as a box of matches.

Ruby flattens out a large, fluffy blanket out onto the floor. It’s blue, with gold and green patterns swirling across it.

“Didn’t find any extra pillows down there,” she says. “Need some ta make it extra cozy.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Clementine smirks. “We’ve got plenty. Louis is a pillow hog. You should see his collection.”

And a collection it is.

During a one-on-one card game, Louis told her that he’d gone around to all the vacant rooms and collected all the pillows, storing them in his room. He said they made him feel safe, in a weird way.

Also, he made a lot of pillow forts out of them.

When he moved in, she had to put a limit on how many he could bring with him.

She turns towards Willy. “Wanna grab them from his old bedroom?”

Willy nods eagerly, rushing out.

“Don’t ferget the flowers!” Ruby calls after him.

Soon, the music room is like an entirely different place.

Ruby brought up a small, modified table to sit in the middle of the blanket. She explained they found it in the basement last night and had Mitch cut the legs down to size so that she and Louis could sit on the floor and eat off it comfortably. She covered it with a thin blue sheet as a makeshift table cloth. Pillows lay all around the table, making the entire thing look cozy.

Mitch had dusted off the whole piano, as well as other parts of the room. He went into a hilarious sneezing fit, cursing after each one. Then, he and Clementine placed candles everywhere. She settled on using the clear glass holders so that the room would glow a golden color when lit.

AJ brought up the vase filled with different flowers, with Omar following behind carrying the picnic basket.

A white ribbon adorns the vase, tied into a neat bow. Little, crudely drawn hearts done in red marker decorate every inch of the smooth surface. Clementine sets it down atop the piano, careful not to place it too close to any of the candles.

The picnic basket has a matching ribbon tied around it. The bottle of wine sticks out, resting next to an open bag of chips and a bottle of water. Ruby takes it, marveling at how nice it looks, and places it in the center of the table.

Once they’re finished, they all stand back to admire the final look.

“Wow,” Clementine gasps out. “This is amazing.”

“This does look like something you would’ve seen in an old movie,” Omar says.

“Imagine how romantic it’ll be when it gets dark and all the candles are lit,” Ruby gushes. "Oh, I can jus' see it now!"

“Gross,” Mitch mumbles.

Ruby smacks his arm. “Oh, hush! Ya gotta admit it looks nice!”

He shrugs, but Clementine can see that small grin betraying his lips. He’s pleased with it too, even if he won’t admit it.

Clementine turns to them, saying, “I don’t think there’s any way I could thank you. All of you. I mean,” she motions around them, “I couldn’t have done this by myself.”

“Oh, hon,” Ruby pulls her into a tight hug, “don’t gotta thank us! ‘Course we’re willin’ to help! It’s you and Lou!”

“Yeah, don’t gotta make a big deal out of it,” Mitch mumbles. “You’re just proposing.”

"Just proposin’’?" Ruby objects. "It's their engagement! It's gotta be special! Oh, and jus' think of their wedding! I was thinkin' we do somethin' similar, with the candles and all, but we'll make one'a those round altar things and decorate it real nice fer them ta stand under and we'll need lots'a chairs over here-"

"Ruby, slow down!" Omar laughs. "We're not there yet."

Ruby's cheeks flush a pretty red and she looks away bashfully, saying, "Sorry! Gettin’ excited again."

Clementine giggles. "We'll talk about it afterward, okay?" She turns to AJ. “What do you think, AJ? Think he’ll like it?”

“He’s gonna love it!” AJ exclaims. “What else can I help with?”

“We need you to go back on watch,” Clementine tells him. “You and Willy need to watch for Louis and give us the signal so that Omar knows when to bring the food in. Then, keep him distracted with James until it gets a little darker, that way I can get the candles all lit and add any finishing touches.”

“Yeah, they’ve already been gone a few hours,” Mitch says, wandering over to the window. “Don’t imagine they’ll be gone too much longer.”

He’s right.

James and Aasim can only keep up the deer thing for so long before it becomes suspicious. They would still hunt for other animals, and she told them to try fishing out there after they check the shack, but she knows Louis hates fishing. That’ll only keep him occupied for so long, as well. Then, checking the traps wasn’t that hard or time-consuming.

It’s only a matter of time before they come walking through those gates.

“Okay,” AJ says, full of determination. “Keep watch and distract Louis until sundown. Got it.”

They give each other a firm nod before AJ hurries out.

“I gotta go check on the rabbit. It’s still cooking, but I can already tell it’s going to be delicious,” Omar says proudly. “I’ll bring it up when AJ gives the signal.”

“Can’t wait,” Clementine beams.

“I’ll go with ya,” Ruby tells Omar. She gives Clementine one more hug, whispering, "Good luck!"

With Ruby and Omar gone, only Mitch and Clementine remain. He’s quiet, still peering around the room with an unreadable expression. The silence is calming, she thinks. She moves over to the small table, admiring how nice it all looks.

It’s happening.

After almost two weeks of mulling over what she wanted and preparing for this moment, it’s finally here.

Soon, they’ll be sitting down, eating and talking like it’s any other night. Then, she’ll bring him over to the piano.

For the past several months, Louis has been giving her piano lessons. She thought it might be a nice idea to play a little song for him, all by herself. However, now that he’s not here and the piano’s left to just her, she’s not sure if she can do it.

She’s going to try, anyway. Regardless if she’s good or bad, she’ll play. And, afterward...

Her pulse quickens, becoming heavy in her ears.

She’s going to ask him to marry her.

She’s finally going to do it.

And, shit-

What if she can’t say the right things? She’s gone over it all in her head every day, every night since she made up her mind, gone over all the thing’s she wanted to tell him. What if she can’t make him understand how she feels? What if something goes wrong?

“Need anything else?” Mitch asks, breaking her of her thoughts. She almost forgot he was still here.

She shakes the thoughts away, motioning toward the piano and saying, “I was thinking of playing him a song.” She gives him a smirk. “You’re honest. Wanna tell me if I suck or not?”

Mitch scoffs. “You’re really going all out, huh?” he says. “He’s gonna say yes. You don’t have to woo him.”

“Is that a no?”

Mitch sighs, moving over to grab one of the chairs he pushed back towards the wall and takes a seat.

She places herself on the bench, shifting to get comfortable. It’s strange sitting there by herself. There’s a lack of warmth without Louis at her side. But, seeing their initials, the heart carved into the wood, brings her some confidence. She takes a deep breath and places her hands on the keys.

It’s a simple song he’s taught her over the past few weeks. Barely a minute long with simple strokes. She stumbles a few times, silently cursing herself as she does, but doesn’t let it stop her. She pours all her focus into the song, nearly forgetting that Mitch is still there, watching her.

When she finishes, she glances over at him. He’s wearing a thoughtful expression, his head tilted as if still listening.

Finally, he says, “You don’t suck too bad.”

That gets a laugh out of her.

“Think he’ll like it?”

“Definitely.”

She grins appreciatively as her gaze finds the carved heart again. Her finger runs over the rough edges of the wood, tracing the L. Then, with a heavy sigh, she stands from the bench. She paces over to the window, peering out at the cloudy sky.

She wishes she could untangle the nervous, twisted knots in her belly.

“Hey,” Mitch knocks her shoulder. “What’s up?”

“Just…” she frowns. “Thinking too much.”

“About?”

“Everything.”

“Like?”

Her hat taps the glass of the window as she leans against the wall, hesitating to reveal what she’s actually thinking. After all, it’s Mitch. He’s not always the most sensitive and she’s not in the mood to argue with him.

He nudges her again. “You better not be having second thoughts,” he says. “Because I’m not about to break that news to Ruby and cause that shitstorm.”

“No, it’s not that,” she sighs.”It’s just… things are really good right now.”

“And?”

“And… good things don’t always last.”

“Yeah. And?”

She frowns at him. “And, what if after this good thing, something bad happens?”

“It’s that how it usually works?”

She’s not surprised that he doesn’t get it.

Never did she think this would be happening. Years and years ago, something like this seemed impossible. It was just her and AJ, it’d always just be her and AJ, but now… Now she has more than she could’ve ever imagined.

Every single group she’s had, it’s gone to shit. Everyone she’s ever loved has left, either by choice or not. Some stuck around longer than others, most died too quickly to be fair. She always hoped the school would be different. They’ve lived and survived together for two years, longer than most of her previous groups. Fuck, she loved more people in this group than she ever did before. She had AJ, Louis, everyone. There wasn’t a single person under the roof of this school that she wouldn’t risk her life to protect.

They’ve fallen into a good routine of hunting, building, repairing, eating, laughing… while there have been incidents, some close calls, it’s been too good.

Things never stay too good.

“Alright, sit down.”

She quirks a brow at him, blinking away her thoughts.

He goes over and pulls the piano bench out a little farther, motioning to it. “Sit down,” he repeats. “I’m gonna get real with you.”

“Real with me?”

“Yeah, so sit.”

Clementine eyes him at first, but curiously places herself on the bench facing away from the piano. Mitch stands tall in front of her with his arms crossed and his stare serious. She shrugs, waiting for him.

“I’m not gonna pretend like I get this whole wedding thing,” he starts. “Because I still think it’s gross and unnecessary, but… I won’t deny that it’s kind of cool. I mean, not an explosive kind of cool, but cool in a, uh, nice change kind of way? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Ruby or Willy so pumped to be doing something. You shoulda seen Willy when I told him how we could make your rings.” He grins before shaking his head. “Anyway…”

Mitch shifts his weight onto one foot, looking past her and at the carving.

“You two have been through some shit,” he says slowly. “I mean, shit that would’ve killed anyone else, or at least had them booking it outta here. All that shit with the delta, with Vi, the constant shitfest of worrying about other pieces of shit finding us here, or just the everyday threat of death. Something could happen, and we could lose someone, more people. It’s shit that we think about every day, whether we want to or not. It’s all stuff we’ve had to deal with. But, through all of it, you two are still together. He’s still with you. I mean-” His eyes fall shut as he inhales deeply, “-for fuck's sake, AJ killed Marlon.”

Those words alone shoot a painful shock through her entire body.

“His best friend,” Mitch shakes his head, “and you know what? He forgave you. On top of it all, he still fell in love with you. I’m not stupid, and I’m not blind. He’s not faking anything when it comes to AJ. He fucking adores that kid. And the way he looks at you?” He rolls his eyes. “It’s gross.”

She can’t stop the laughter from bubbling over, short and breathy.

Mitch looks her in the eye now, holding the stare. “It’s not gonna always be this good, and I’m sure the future holds a lot more fucked up things for us, but after everything you and Louis have been through?” One of his smiles shines through now. “You two are gonna make it. No questions asked. So, whatever depressing shit you’re thinking about, stop.”

As the words soak in, she thinks she’s gone into shock. She must look like an idiot gawking up at him, but how can she not?

Then she’s off the bench and wrapping her arms around his torso, hugging him with all her might. He stiffens, grunting with surprise, but instead of shoving her away or cursing her, he cautiously returns the hug and awkwardly pats her back.

“I mean it,” he says softly. “It’ll… be good.”

It’s a rare moment of sincerity from him, one that he’s clearly uncomfortable with. She moves away, giving him back his space.

“Thank you, Mitch. Really.”

“Whatever.” He scratches the back of his head, clearing his throat. He nods towards the piano. “You gonna stay and practice?”

“Yeah,” she says, “Omar’ll tell me when he’s here and I’ll start lighting candles.”

“Don’t think so much, ‘kay?”

“No promises.”

He gives her one more smile before leaving her alone.

The stillness is a little relieving, calming. She reaches into her pants pocket and pulls out the little box, lifting the lid to admire the rings one last time before they find a permanent place on her and Louis’ fingers.

She doesn’t know how long she has, so she practices her song over and over again, still stumbling, still forgetting keys, adding new keys that aren’t supposed to be there.

It gets to the point where her mind wanders while her fingers move on their own.

She knows Mitch is right.

She and Louis are strong. They have been through a lot of shit, they've survived together. And she wanted to believe they would always be together, even if it's just wishful thinking.

She thinks about everything; the walkers in the train station, the rings, Louis and his nightmares, Louis and his smile, Violet and her fury, Louis and his tears, AJ’s excitement, their wedding with everyone there…

She thinks about Lee.

God, she wishes he was here. He should be here, not just to see her wedding, but to be with her and AJ, with the rest of the group. He deserved to survive, just like she has.

Then, her mind wanders to Kenny and Katjaa, and the day they lost Duck.

To the day AJ was born.

All the days she and AJ traveled together, alone, fighting for their lives every single night.

The first time she walked into the music room, hearing the soft, calming piano and seeing AJ again.

Hearing Louis’ voice for the first time, seeing his smile.

Their first kiss, right there at the piano.

Soon, her eyes flutter shut and her fingers pause.

The piano echoes.

It’s so close.

---

No deer.

No deer at all.

And the craziest thing? Aasim isn’t even upset. Nope, he shrugged it off like, “Oh well!” then proceeded to look for more rabbits.

It actually left Louis speechless.

Like, what the shit?

After spending an hour searching for James, only to find him hiding out in a tree- which was really weird, even for him- they spent another two hours hunting the damn thing with little to no direction.

Sure, they caught three rabbits during that time and let a bunch of baby ones go, but that still wasn't worth it.

Every time he got too loud while telling jokes, making cracks about the deer, or sharing stories with James, Aasim would shush him, claiming he could scare the deer away.

It wasn’t until James said the trail was cold that Aasim gave up.

And, through all this, it wasn’t like Louis could entertain himself by taking out any stray walkers; James is very adamant about keeping the walkers alive and it still boggles his mind.

So, he had to settle for trying to get Aasim to talk with James, which he refused. He just wandered up ahead, leaving Louis and James by themselves for most of the trip.

Then they went fishing. Fishing.

Because tracking an imaginary deer wasn’t bad enough.

They had better luck with the fish than they did with the rabbits, but Louis didn't have the patience for fishing. There's a reason he prefers hunting; he can move around, there's more to see, he can take out walkers. With fishing, you're stuck in the same place, looking at the same thing.

So, he volunteered to inspect the fishing shack. It’s still secure, and nothing was missing, so he hung out there a while to tidy up. It gave Aasim and James alone time, anyway.

Not that Aasim did anything. He never does anything when it comes to crushes.

Now, after what feels like years, the sun is beginning to set and the gates to the school are in sight.

Beside him, James carries a bag full of the fish they caught while Aasim has the rabbits. At least they’d eat good tonight.

Louis suppresses a yawn. The day’s left him drained, ready to sit down with the others and relax, eat a hot meal, and go lay in bed with Clementine.

But, once they enter the gates, AJ’s running up to him, tugging on his sleeve and practically dragging him over to a table where Tenn is.

“Woah, AJ-”

“Louis! You gotta come sit with us!” AJ exclaims. “We’re drawing! Tenn already drew you, but I never got the chance to.”

“Oh, uh-” Louis bite his lip. “Sure, buddy, but do you mind if I find Clem first?”

“She’s patrolling,” AJ says. “She won’t be back for a while!” Then, he waves James over. “Can I have my lesson now?”

James approaches, smiling. He turns to Louis. “You don’t mind?”

Well, if he were completely honest, he’d rather just sit on the couch and relax, but he couldn’t say no to AJ’s pleading eyes. Plus, Clementine was on patrol. Might as well stay busy until she came back.

“Nah, not at all. Besides,” he winks at AJ, “need yours to complete the wall, right?”

With that, he watches as they all gather on one side of the table, handing out papers and pencils. James helps AJ set up a drawing board, just like the one Tenn’s been using.

He sits in front, looking straight ahead and lets his mind wander.

Being gone most of the day had not only left him weary, but it also left him missing Clementine.

It’s dangerous to think that, he knows. Being attached like that, where even being away from her for practically a whole day left him anxious, isn’t how he wanted to feel.

Of course, he enjoyed his alone time, and the time he spent with the others, but it was seeing her every day that made getting out of bed worth it. Seeing her, talking with her, making music with her, kissing her, all of her… sometimes that’s what he has to think about those mornings after a night full of the dark horrors in his mind. He has to think of her, of AJ, of the piano making soft melodies, to get out of bed. Otherwise, he’d wish for his sheets to swallow him whole.

He didn’t want to need her so much, hated the thought of being clingy, suffocating her. He hated wasting her time, making her lose sleep over him, making her worry.

Shit, sometimes these thoughts got so bad, so out of hand that…

Clementine thought his nightmares were getting better. She said so herself.

“It’s been a long time since you’ve had one that bad.”

No, it hasn’t.

They were all different levels of bad, but the past month he’s been able to wake up and keep his crying quiet. He’d roll onto his back, hand pressed firmly over his mouth, and he’d silently sob with her right at his side. Sometimes, he’d sneak out of bed and sit in the hallway, or he’d go outside. Sometimes he found himself sitting at the piano, absently pressing the same key over and over again.

He couldn’t always do that, of course. Sometimes, the dreams are bad enough that he does need her to pull him out of it.

And he hates it.

This article was bitter, written from a broken heart, and mean-spirited enough for him to skip at the time. But, now, thinking back…

It was about all relationships being a ticking time bomb, all because of one reason:

One person always loves a little bit more than the other.

One person always gives more than they should. One always cares too much. One is always at a greater risk of being hurt or left behind.

One is always weaker.

Louis knows she loves him. He feels it every time she looks at him, kisses him. Every time he makes her laugh, or every time she cracks a joke of her own. He feels it in their more intimate moments when her lips trail down his neck and her hands cling to his shoulders.

She wouldn’t stay with him those nights if she didn’t love him, and she’d freak out if she knew that he’d been hiding away from her to cry by himself.

But, there was always that little question whispering in the back of his mind.

Did she truly love him, or did she just accept the love he was so willing to give her?

Because, the truth is, he’s the weaker one.

Hell, he’s known that from the beginning.

When Clementine confessed to him that night, carved the heart around their initials and kissed him, he couldn’t believe it. He’d been ecstatic, the kind of over-the-top ‘pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming’ happy that you’d only read about in those shitty poems they used to learn about in class. He’d even named his song after her.

She could’ve had anyone she wanted, someone better, someone stronger or smarter or braver, and she chose him.

Him.

Why?

He wouldn’t have chosen him.

She’d said it was because he made her feel alive. He showed her there’s more to life than just survival both her and AJ. He made her laugh, brought music to her life, made her feel safe. He’s important to her.

How-

“Louis, your ears are funny.”

That snaps him out of his depressing thoughts. “Excuse me?”

AJ cocks his head, leaning forward to point at Louis’ right ear. “It’s like… weird.”

“Your ears are weird!” Louis playfully shoots back, reaching across and lightly poking the boy’s ear.

“Nu-uh!”

“Ears always give me a hard time, too,” James grins. “Here, let me show you…”

“First my nose, now my ears,” Louis mumbles, shaking his head. The earns him a chuckle from James.

“I like doing ears,” Tenn says with a small smile. “They’re kinda fun.”

Louis catches a glance at Tenn’s paper. Even in such a short amount of time, his skill has improved so much.

He wants to ask Tenn about Violet but decides against it. Maybe he could check in with her tonight after he and Clementine had their talk.

Shit, he couldn’t talk to her with all those negative thoughts plaguing his brain.

So, he does what he always does.

He forces a smile and cracks another joke as they all continue to draw him.

---

Aasim sits down at the table closest to the school with a huff. His head pulses after a stressful day.

He hates lying. Lying does nothing but bring trouble. Once you lie, you have to lie more to cover up your other lies and it’s just a tangled mess.

When Ruby came to him and James to explain the plan Clementine wanted to execute, he almost refused to do it.

Of all people, it did make sense for him to be the one to keep Louis occupied away from the school. They hunted together more times than not these days, and he’d actually gotten more used to Louis’ idiotic jokes. The guy still pissed him off a lot of times, but not as much as before. He’s not nearly as laid back. He’s willing to take things more seriously now, which Aasim appreciates.

But, in the end, he couldn’t turn it down. Not after Ruby sounded so damn ecstatic about the plan, and it was Clementine’s plan, at that.

Shit, it’s Clementine and Louis’ engagement.

He thought that kind of stuff was long dead.

“Aasim!”

He’s startled when Ruby comes from behind and takes a seat right next to him. She gets close, comfortable. Her arm in touching his.

Shit.

Omar comes and sits on his other side, whispering, “How’d it go?”

It takes his brain a second to figure out what he’s referring to.

“Oh, uh, as well as expected?” Aasim scratches at his neck. “He probably thinks I’m a nutcase after the whole deer thing, though. Then there’s the misunderstanding with James...”

“What misunderstandin’?” asks Ruby.

“Nevermind,” he says quickly. “Not important.”

“He don’t suspect nothin’ though, right?”

Aasim glances over at Louis. He’s sitting up, laughing at something AJ said. He shakes his head, and murmurs, “He has no idea.”

Ruby gives a tiny squeal, almost bouncing with glee but still trying to be discreet. “Oh, this is wonderful!” she whispers.

“The rabbit turned out perfect,” says Omar, pleased with himself. “We set it all up. Should still be hot by the time Louis shows up.”

“Ya should see the music room, it’s gorgeous.” Ruby places a hand on Aasim’s arm, excitedly shaking it. “Clem’s up there now, jus’ waitin’ fer it ta get dark enough.”

Aasim, trying to ignore the warmth of her hand seeping through his sleeve, peers up at the sky. “We’re close, then.”

In less than an hour, the sun would fully set, leaving the sky Aasim’s favorite hue of purple. They just had to keep him occupied until then.

The table shakes. Mitch and Willy plop down on the opposite side, eyeing the place before leaning in.

“She’s lighting candles now,” Mitch whispers.

“It looks super cool!”

Ruby covers her mouth to keep her excitement quiet. “Oh, I bet it’s beautiful in there. We gotta have the weddin’ at this time, too, in the evenin’.”

“Not that late,” Mitch argues. “We’re already wasting candles on this. We’ll do it during the day.”

“Oh, they’re not havin’ a mornin’ weddin’. Mornin’s aren’t nearly as special.”

“I didn’t say morning, I said day.”

“What’s wrong with the morning?” asks Omar. “We could wake up extra early and have it during the sunrise. That could be nice.”

“I don’t wanna wake up that early,” objects Willy. “I’d rather just stay up late.”

“We gotta have it in the afternoon, in the least. We’ll just hafta find another way to light up the place.”

“Maybe we can build a fire pit?” Willy offers.

“Nah,” Mitch shakes his head, “Louis won’t let a whole fire pit near his piano. That thing catches on fire and he’ll probably croak on the spot, then we’ll have to deal with Clem.”

“‘Sides, we don’t wanna burn the buildin’ down.”

“Which is why we should do it during the day,” says Mitch. “That way we can use the sunlight.”

“But, evenin’ time’s more romantic!”

Aasim watches them quietly argue, amused.

“If I’m not mistaking,” he interrupts, “shouldn’t Clem and Louis have a say in their own wedding?”

“‘Course they’re gonna get a say,” says Ruby, “we’re jus’ throwin’ around ideas ‘til they’re ready to start plannin’. Oh,” she points at Aasim, “don’t lemme ferget ta pull out those boxes of spare clothes fer everyone ta look at.”

“Don’t forget about the headmaster’s drinking glasses.”

“Right! Drinkin’ glasses! And Mitch, ya need a haircut.”

“The fuck I do.”

“Ya gotta look nice-”

“Why? I’m not getting married.”

“Don’t matter, yer not gonna show up lookin’ like a caveman. You too, Willy.”

They continue to bicker while Aasim chooses to focus on the sky. He watches the fluffy clouds slowly float away, drifting over the setting sun.

It’s a breathtaking image, he thinks. The outside itself is breathtaking.

---

Louis’ neck starts to stiffen from the lack of movement.

He decides that being a model is far too much work, even if it’s just sitting there looking straight ahead. Not being able to move around much for the past hour is driving him insane.

Though he’d have to admit, it’s almost worth it. Tenn focusing all his skill and concentration on getting details right is quite a sight to see. He’s trying his best, trying to impress James and improve himself.

And James couldn’t be a better teacher. Not once has he made Tenn feel bad about getting a line wrong or for screwing up a detail. Instead, he points out the mistake and then shows him how to easily fix it, then he watches and praises Tenn as he repeats what he’s learned.

It’s been a long time since he’s seen Tenn so eager to learn, to flourish.

And then there’s AJ.

Bless the kid, he’s trying his best, too.

James is just as patient with him, explaining in detail while keeping it simple enough for the young boy to understand just what he’s doing wrong.

Once he’s done, AJ holds up his drawing, frowning. “This… is hard.”

Louis takes the paper. He chuckles, saying, “What are you talking about?” He holds the wonky portrait up beside his head. “Can barely tell a difference!”

AJ giggles. “Yes, you can.”

He spots Aasim approaching from the corner of his eye. With the picture still held up, he turns to him.

“Whattya think?” he asks. “Looks just like me, right?”

Aasim quirks a brow, studying the drawing, trying to understand just what he’s seeing.

“Uhm… yes?”

“See? Aasim said so, therefore, it must be true.”

AJ giggles again, snatching the paper away. He looks over it again, this time with a proud grin. “Yeah,” he nods, “it’s not as good as Tenn’s, but I’m gonna keep practicing. It’ll look like you one day.”

“I know it will, little man.”

Aasim nudges his shoulder lightly. “Clem’s back.”

“Huh?” Louis’ eyes widen as he looks around. She’s nowhere in sight.

“She didn’t want to disturb you,” Aasim says. “Think she said she was going to the music room.”

AJ quietly giggles, causing Tenn to elbow him. Louis doesn’t seem to notice as he looks to James with pleading eyes.

“Go ahead,” he says softly. “They need to practice their bottles, anyway.”

“Bottles?” AJ asks.

Tenn’s shoulders slouch unhappily. “Bottles…”

Louis hops off the table. “You got this, Tenn. You’ll show those bottles who’s boss.” He turns on his heel, leaving the boys with an encouraging smile and a wave.

The group, as inconspicuous as possible, all watch as Louis heads up the main stairs into the building.

---

The hallway’s layered with shadows. All the curtains are pulled closed, hiding away the orange and pink sky. They dance a bit as the breeze blows through.

Something savory, with a hint of sweetness, wafts through the air. Something delicious that he can’t quite name.

There’s music. It’s so faint at first, he’s almost sure he’s imagining it. Only when he gets closer to the music room does he realizes it’s the piano playing a song he immediately recognizes.

The acceleration of his pulse seems to beat in time with the music, a soft fluttering in his chest that vibrates through his body, making him anxious.

The door’s cracked open wide enough to see her sitting there. He pauses, squinting through to watch her fingers glide over the keys, slow and precise. She fumbles, just a bit, but keeps playing. His heart swells and a smile spreads along his face.

The room’s lit up with a golden glow despite the main window’s curtain being pulled over. He can see the candlelight reflecting off her concentrated brow, illuminating her entire presence.

He reaches out to carefully press the door and steps inside.

His breath catches in his throat.

There aren’t just candles lit on the piano. No, they’re everywhere, decorating the room and washing in a lovely, warm golden glow. His eyes dart down to the table placed on the floor. Two bowls full of meat garnished with a thin sauce rest on opposite sides. There’s a basket with what looks like a large bottle of wine sitting in the middle, surrounded by glass protected candles.

Taking in all that rests before him causes his lips to part in a silent gasp.

The piano stops.

He turns to look at Clementine’s grinning face as she stands up from the bench.

“You’re back.”

A breathless laugh escapes him. “I’m back.”

She’s slow to approach him, first stopping at the gramophone and cranking the handle. A soft, classical song flows through the room. He reaches for her hand, unsure if he can properly speak.

“Clem, this…”

She stands on her tiptoes to kiss gawking face. “It’s been a while since our last date night,” she says, “thought we were due for something special.”

He wraps his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest. He rests his cheek on top of her head, the fabric of her hat pressing into his skin.

“All this trouble for little ol’ me? Looks like I need to step up my game,” he tries to joke in an attempt to suppress the emotion threatening to tremble his voice. “When did you even find the time to-”

And like that, it clicks.

He pulls back, narrowing his eyes playfully at her.

She laughs.“Well,” she drawls, “it wasn’t just me. I did have some help.” She smirks. “I meant to ask, did you get the deer?”

“Oh yeah,” he clears his throat, dramatically waving his arm through the air. “Deer as far as the eye could see! Just frolicking through the woods! Majestic as can be! Aasim plans to tame and ride them into our next battle.”

She quirks a knowing brow. “So, no deer.”

“No deer.”

“Oh well, maybe next time.”

“Next time?” He shakes his head, chuckling. “Y’know,” he says, “you didn’t have to put poor Aasim through all that. You could’ve just kicked me out and told me to wait an hour. I wouldn’t have been too butthurt.”

“No?”

“Okay, maybe I would’ve sulked a little bit.”

She rolls her eyes, grasping his hand again and leading him towards the table.

“While you were gone, Chef Omar was kind enough to whip up some very special rabbit for us, and Mitch was more than happy to give us some wine to try.”

“Wine?” His laughter comes out more nervous that he’d hoped. “Trying to get me tipsy, are you?”

“Guess we’ll find out,” she says. “Then, I was thinking after we ate we could tune the piano a bit. Or, rather…” she glances away, “I thought it might be nice if I played you a song for a change.”

His heart flutters, eyes lighting up. He squeezes her hand. “I’d like that.”

They place themselves down on the floor, getting comfortable with the pillows surrounding them. Clementine pulls the basket off the table and pulls out the wine and a bag of chips.

The rabbit tastes as delicious as it smells. It’s warm, mouth-watering. He has to pace himself. He doesn’t want to scarf it all down and look like an absolute pig.

“Chef Omar has outdone himself this time,” Louis compliments. “I dare say this is the finest rabbit in all the land.”

“He’s pretty proud of it himself,” she says, taking another bite. “It’s a nice break from stews.”

He takes another bite, savoring the sweetness of the sauce. They’re both quiet, enjoying the meal as the light music continues to play in the background. Words race through his mind, but it’s like he suddenly doesn’t know how to form sentences.

“Uhm, this-” he clears his throat, “-this is really nice. Like, ‘I don’t even know what to say’ nice, Clem.”

She bites her lip thoughtfully before shrugging a shoulder.

“Just trying to sweep you off your feet,” she says honestly.

Air escapes his lungs. The way the candlelight flickers over her skin and reflects in her eyes is breathtaking. “Consider me swept.” He reaches across the table, taking her hand and brushing his thumb over her knuckles. “Been swept a long time.”

He watches curiously as she reaches for the bottle of wine. She pops the cap off, leaning over to smell the rim on the bottle.

“Ladies first,” he smiles.

She takes a sip, her tongue darting out over her bottom lip as she mulls over the flavor. She scrunches her nose, shaking her head and handing him the bottle.

He can taste the alcohol, but it’s not too strong. There’s a tart sweetness to it that he enjoys, but he doesn’t know if he could down a whole bottle himself.

Soon, their bowls are empty. He hasn’t felt this satisfyingly full in a long time.

“Well, I’m ready for a nap,” he half-jokes.

“Not yet.”

Clementine takes their bowls and stacks them together before she stands, offering him her hand. He happily takes it, letting her help him up.

“And what shall the lady be playing tonight?” he asks as she leads him to the piano.

“Well, it’s a classic, you see,” she smirks, reaching over to quiet the gramophone. “One that a cute boy taught me.”

“Ah, ‘cute,’” Louis chuckles timidly, “heh, sounds like a charming guy.”

“For the most part,” she elbows him playfully.

Her fingers ready themselves on the keys. She glances at him briefly, waiting. He gives an encouraging nod.

Her playing is slow but powerful. Every key she hits, she hits with a purpose, even if it’s the wrong key. Her determination is what makes it feel right, feel intentional. Though it’s short, he still finds himself entranced by the way her slim fingers move and the way she bites her lip in concentration.

When she’s finished, her fingers remain pressed on the keys. The song echoes through the air, through him.

She finally turns to him, and it’s that stupid grin of his that makes her giggle.

“And so, the pupil becomes the star,” he kisses her cheek, “that was beautiful.”

“So, I played it right?”

“Well,” he drawls, “there is one part that needs work.”

He scoots closer until their legs pressed together and he can easily reach around her.

“Put your hands in position.”

She lays them on the correct keys. He rests his hand over hers, barely hovering. She relaxes under his touch, leaning closer to his body.

“You see,” he mumbles, “you’re pressing these keys,” he maneuvers her hands and presses her fingers against said keys, “when you should be pressing these ones.”

He guides her through the whole song like this and he can’t tell if that’s his heart racing, or hers.

Clementine takes a deep breath.

“Louis?”

Her voice is thick.

“Clementine?”

She hesitates, and it worries him. He pulls back, just a bit, enough to see her eyes are closed.

“Thank you,” she says slowly, “for last night. I-”

Louis waits, but she doesn’t continue. He brings their hands off the piano down to rest against their connected knees.

“Do you still want to talk about it?” he asks quietly.

She leans her head against his shoulder, breathing out a long sigh. “I just wanted to try and make things a little better,” she starts. “I thought, maybe if we just talk and get everything out in the open, then the healing can really begin. I just… wanted to understand, I guess.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks. “I could’ve come with you.”

“I know. I didn’t want that pressure, though. I wanted it to just be us. I mean, Mitch insisted on coming, but he waited outside. I know you, Louis. You would’ve wanted to be there in the room with us. Besides, what we talked about… it was pretty personal.”

“Yeah,” he sighs. “It’s okay. I get it.”

“It wasn’t all bad, though,” she says. “There was this little moment where it felt like we were just talking, no yelling or fighting or anything. Like we used to, but it didn’t last long. Now I know. She absolutely hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you-”

“Yes, she does,” Clementine’s grip on his hand tightens, “or, in the very least, will never trust me again, and I think I finally get why.”

“She’ll come around, Clem.”

“You’ve been saying that for two years.”

“And I’ll say it for another two. She’s still dealing with a lot of shit, just like we are, but I know one day she’ll be ready to try again. It happened when we first lost Minnie and Sophie. She did the same thing; she didn’t talk to anyone, she stayed in her room most days, barely ate. I know it’s different, worse even, but Clem, we can’t give up on her. She needs us, whether she admits it or not.”

“...I know.”

“I promise, things will get better. They have to, right?” His smile is sincere, heartwarming. “And you know I’ll always be here for you, too. Through thick and thin.”

She kisses him, a small chaste press that becomes long, passionate. They break apart when she moves closer to hold him, clinging to him tightly. They stay like that for a while, enjoying each other’s comfort. The day’s exhaustion washes over him.

“Close your eyes.”

Like a reflex, they do, even when he feels her pulling away. They flutter shut at the sensation of her lips on his jaw and her hands running down his arms. Her fingers caress the back of his hand, grasping it and turning his palm up.

Her lips brush against his ear as she whispers, “I’m going to spell something out on your hand, and when I’m done, you tell me what it says.”

He tries to question this until her lips press to his again, silencing him.

She traces the letters slow, precise. Each caress tingles his skin to the point where he has to suppress his giggle behind a smile. When she finishes, she rubs his palm to takes away the ticklish sensation.

Let’s see.

L-O-U-

“Louis,” he says, confidently.

She rewards him with a light kiss on the back on his hand and small, approving, “Hmm.”

The feeling doesn’t become any less ticklish, even with small words.

“Will?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Another kiss, another trace of her fingers.

“...You?”

She hesitates.

He can feel her move a little. She rubs his palm again, and this time she’s much slower, dragging out each and every letter. He concentrates, trying to visualize and put it together.

She doesn’t stop at one word. She takes a pause, then writes another.

He freezes.

His eyes shoot open. He blinks down at her, brows knitted together questionably. She spells it again without breaking eye contact. He doesn’t even notice the tingle now.

“What does it spell?” He almost doesn’t hear her she’s so quiet.

He searches her eyes, so clear and boring into him, trying to comprehend the letters.

What does it spell…?

It-

It spells-

Something cool touches his finger.

The candlelight reflects off the smooth, silver band as she slips it onto his finger.

“Louis?”

His gaze snaps up, meeting hers.

“Will you marry me?”

His lips part in a silent gasp and his eyes grow wide.

When he doesn’t speak, Clementine gently presses her palm again his cheek.

“I know it’s not something that many people do anymore,” she whispers. “But I don’t care. I love you, Louis, and there’s no one I’d rather have at my side in this world. Before we came here, all I had was AJ. I never once thought that I’d meet someone who knows just what to say to make me feel better or make me laugh. I never thought I could feel this way with someone like I do with you.”

Her voice becomes thick. She has to blink back the wetness threatening to spill over.

“I want to keep fighting, laughing and enjoying life with you and AJ and everyone else, not just as your girlfriend, but as your wife.”

Louis pulls always completely, turning to face the piano, looking straight ahead.

Then, he laughs.

He laughs because he doesn’t know what else to do. It’s a breathless laugh, one you do when in shock, one that rocks your core. His shoulders shake as he presses his hand firmly over his mouth, shaking his head in absolute disbelief. He can’t process anything. Somehow his thoughts are both jumbled and flatlining -how is that possible?- and he can’t do anything but laugh until his tears finally fall.

“Louis?”

He removes his hand, sucking in as much air as possible, coughing a little. He wipes at his eyes, still chuckling. He runs his thumb over the silver band when he notices something etched into it.

This time, he grasps the back of her head and kisses her. He moves his mouth with hers, attempting to pour all of his feelings into his movements. His efforts earn a pleased moan from her, deep in her throat.

He’s still giggling when their lips part.

“Yes,” he finally breathes out.

“Yes?”

“Yes,” he nods happily, sniffling. “Yes, Clementine, I will marry you.”

And, just like that, they’re kissing again. Quick presses of lips, more giggles from both of them now. Louis’ cheeks are actually hurting by the time they stop.

“I-” he shakes his head, “You’re serious, right?”

“Of course I’m serious,” she tells him.

“Holy shit, you’re serious!”

Clementine reaches into her pocket and pulls out another ring, placing it in his palm before offering him her hand. It’s just like his, smooth and silver with their initials scratched into the surface.

His heart is hard and quick, full of glee and laughter and everything else, as he slips the ring onto her finger.

“Clem, I- How did- where did you find these?”

“You’ll never believe it,” she says. “Mitch and Willy made them.”

“Um, what?”

“Out of quarters.”

“You’re right, I don’t believe that-”

There’s a sharp bang, though not very loud, it still catches their attention.

Another bang, this time followed by a strange hiss.

They both stare at the door quizzically.

“You heard that too, right?” asks Louis. “Or am I going crazy? Because that’s starting to feel like a real possibility.”

Another noise.

That-

That sounded like-

Another bang.

They shoot each other a look before getting up off the bench, hand in hand.

As they get closer to the door, it becomes clear what’s making the ruckus.

“Shh!” they hear.

“You shhh!”

Louis raises a brow at her smirking face. “Um?”

Clementine rolls her eyes, putting a finger to her lips and sneaking closer to the door. She waits a moment before grabbing the handle, listening. Then she throws all her weight into the door as she shoves it open.

It doesn’t get very far before there’s the sound of a rough collision followed by several thumps and a sharp, “What the fuck!”

Louis is dumbfounded to see Mitch, Willy, and AJ all on the floor, with Mitch rubbing his forehead and the other two holding their noses. Rosie comes over to lick AJ’s face, nuzzling him to make sure he’s okay. Around them stand Ruby, James, Tenn, Omar and Aasim, each frozen in place, gawking at the two of them.

“Um?” Louis’ eyes dart from face to face.

“That fucking hurt,” Mitch grumbles from the floor.

“Told’ja not ta get so close,” Ruby says, shooting him a glare. “Ya blew our cover.”

“Oh yeah, I blew our cover.”

“Uh, this isn’t-” Aasim scratches the back of his neck. “We were just-”

“Checking up on us?” Clementine finishes for him.

“More or less,” says James sheepishly. “Ruby couldn’t wait for you to come out.”

“Sorry,” Ruby’s face flushes, “I jus’ couldn’t sit still out there!”

“Or keep your mouth shut.”

“Can it, Mitch!”

“Wait a minute…” Louis turns back to her, hands on his hips. “Were they all in on this?”

“I did say that I had some help, didn’t I?”

“‘Course we helped!” Ruby clasps her hands together. “Had ta make it real special fer the both’a ya!”

“How was the rabbit?” Omar asks. “Best you ever had, huh?”

“I think my nose is broken,” Willy complains from the floor.

Mitch shakes his head. “S’not broken. You’d know if it was.”

“It feels broken.”

“It’s not.”

Louis can’t help but chuckle now. He pulls Clementine close, mumbling amongst the group’s chatter, “Suddenly, a lot of things make sense.”

“I bet,” she replies lightly.

AJ, still rubbing his newly sore nose, scrambles to his feet now. All the pain forgotten, he exclaims, “Well? Did you say yes!? Did you!?”

His grin says it all. With one arm around Clementine, Louis proudly holds up his hand to show off the ring to the group. “What do you think?”

Ruby’s squeal echoes through the halls as Aasim and Omar begin clapping, followed by the rest of the group. Louis bows, bringing Clementine down with him as they both laugh. AJ throws himself at the two, trying to wrap his arms around both of them. Then, here comes Ruby, hugging the both of them as well.

Soon, they’re surrounded, all a hum of laughter, gleeful words and happy smiles.

“We can finally start plannin’ the weddin’!” Ruby exclaims.

“Why don’t we let their engagement simmer for a bit, “says Omar. “Best not to overwhelm them.”

Clementine grasps her hand. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay?”

Louis doesn’t know how long they stand there amongst their friends, each expressing their congrats in one way or another. Eventually, Clementine has to announce that they’re going to bed and they all part ways. The buzz of excitement is still there, filling his brain, and his heart.

AJ walks alongside them back to their room, asking plenty of questions about the wedding and how big of a party isn’t going to be. For once, Louis isn’t the one answering all of his questions. He’s in a daze, sure that if Clementine wasn’t holding his hand, we would’ve walked straight into a wall by now.

When they reach their room, Clementine shoos AJ inside and closes the door.

Louis leans back against the wall. God, his cheeks hurt with an aching strain, but he can’t force the grin off his face.

“Holy shit,” he says.

“Holy shit,” she echoes.

“You’re really serious, right?”

“I already said I was.”

“Just making sure,” Louis crosses his arms, resting his head against the wall to look up at the ceiling, “this just… I don’t know. I never thought this would be something you would want.”

“Well, I do,” she advances closer now. “I want this with you.”

“Are you sure?” he asks. “I mean, you want to willingly marry me?”

“I want to willingly marry you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Is this going to be a thing?” she teases. “Twenty years from now are you going to ask me, ‘Are you sure you’re sure?’”

“Twenty years,” he laughs. “Think we’ll live that long?”

“If we’re together, we have a pretty damn good chance.” She grabs his hand now, her thumb brushing over his ring. “Right?”

Louis smiles, though it's a little uneasy. “Right.”

223 notes · View notes

blankdblank · 5 years

Text

Undercover Pt 4

Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3

Requested by - @deepestfirefun

All –

@himoverflowers, @theincaprincess, @aspiringtranslator, @sweeticedtea, @ggbbhehe4455, @thegreyberet, @patanghill17, @jesgisborne, @curvestrology, @alishlieb, @jogregor, @armitageadoration, @fizzyxcustard, @here2have-fun, @lilith15000, @marvels-ghost, @catthefearless, @imjusthereforthereads, @c-s-stars

x Thorin – @evyiione, @deepestfirefun, @queenoferebor

…

The movie went over splendidly for the boys who got to experience their first actual visit to a cinema. Outside the mall in their bouncing into the waiting car sent for you the boys chatted with Estel, who scrambled into his own car seat to be secured by Boromir as you secured the boys and buckled in beside them wetting your lips shaking your head at Jimmy’s concerned gaze seeing how pale you were. Straight away you were driven to the Palace where the boys cheerfully bounced outside peering up at your in Estel’s offer to show them his room.

With a nod you said, “Go on. Your Grandpa should be here soon. Have some fun.”

They giggled and turned racing off while Boromir set down his girl who soon raced after Faramir’s girl and Izzy off to head to their garden playhouse while Jimmy wrapped his arm around your middle, “Come on. Let’s get you to that Doctor.” Turning to lift you in his arms for the walk behind Faramir to the Doctor’s Wing fully stocked for any emergency.

“What all are your symptoms Miss Pear? I heard you swallowed your tracking ring.”

“I um, ya, well I threw that up in the mall.”

His grin flinched wider passing off the blood samples for testing he had just drawn, “Good, that is good. Just lingering nausea now? You are looking really pale.”

“I started to get these pains in my pelvis.” He nodded, “And I thought it might be the stress, but, I started bleeding,” he nodded, “And it really was way more blood than I usually lose with my period. And I keep having these stabbing pains.”

He nodded, “Well, if you wouldn’t mind removing your shirt and lay back we can take a look.”

The buttons across the front were easily removed and you set your top aside leaving you in your strapless bra as you started to lay back only to wince and freeze at another cramp. Exhaling shakily you lowered with the Doctor’s help only to bite your lip at his feeling around your stomach. With brows knitted together he asked, “Do you have cramps like these usually?”

“Not really. Few bad ones in the second day, other than that no, nothing close to this.”

He nodded, “For now I’m going to give you something for the pain and some fluids while we wait on those blood results.”

“Okay.”

Laying back again you eased your hand across your chest to grip your arm under the blanket they had given you in your chills even with the borrowed scrub shirt on you. A plane touching down on the private airstrip was heard and with it brought the distant sound of Thror greeting his grandsons while voices carried on their path to your door. Through the heavy door your father passed through with your four oldest brothers who hurried to your side and folded around you in tight hugs. Settled beside you your father stretched out holding you through another painful cramp even with the meds you whimpered through gripping his shirt tightly. Behind them the door opened again and you all looked up at the Doctor entering again as you shifted up wincing at another cramp.

Anxiously he looked you over and said when he stopped at the foot of your bed. “Miss Pear, I believe I found out what happened to have you in this much pain.”

“How bad is it?”

Inhaling sharply he stated, “Well your scans on your stomach came back clear, no damage from the ring. Though, your blood work came back positive, I believe the sedative and stress from today triggered you to miscarry.”

“I,” tears welled up in your eyes and your father folded around you at your lean into his chest, not giving you a chance to feel ashamed at conceiving without being married or what having to share the news with the Durins.

“The pain should ease and pass in a couple days. It was quite early, barely over a month I would guess for it not to appear on the scans yet.” Quietly the Doctor slipped out of the room leaving you to calm down while your brothers folded over what little was left exposed of your back.

Against the chest collecting your tears you mumbled weakly, “I didn’t know.”

Kissing the top of your head your father cooed back, “I know. You would have said something, to them and us.”

Sniffling again you tried to add jokingly, “Just once and baby, great genes.”

Your brothers chuckled as your father rumbled out while stroking your back, “Just how your Mom and I were wed.”

Peering up at him he smiled at you knowingly as your eldest brother said, “I wasn’t born till your second anniversary.”

He nodded wiping your cheek, “Some times early on, it just happens.” A tear streamed down his cheek matching your next one he wiped away, “Eru sends us little ones, sometimes even when we don’t notice. So comes snow after fire. It hurts but we will find happiness again through this.”

“How am I supposed to tell them?” You weakly trembled out.

Turning towards the door he heard Thror approaching and he asked, “Would you like me to tell the King?”

Nodding you replied, “If you wouldn’t mind.”

He kissed your forehead again, “Just relax, we’ll have you on the plane back soon enough,” and eased off the bed and turned to head to the door.

On the other side of it he hurried to wipe his cheek catching Thror with a concerned look on his face asking, “The Doctor wouldn’t say much past the ring being purged and not harming her, how is Bunny?”

“She is still in pain, the Doctor said that would pass in a few days. Past that there isn’t much he can-,”

“Surely we can do something? Was there a broken bone or-?”

His words broke off at your father stating plainly, “She was pregnant.”

Thror’s heart sank, “Was?”

“The Doctor believes between the sedative and the stress her body wasn’t able to-, he said it was barely over a month, not uncommon for stress to, even she didn’t realize she was-,” With tears looming in their eyes Thror moved in claiming a momentary hug catching a glimpse of you laying between your brothers through the window on the door, stepping back he said, “The jet will be ready soon. I’ll see to it she has everything she needs when we get back.”

“Of course. I’ll make sure she’s ready.” Thror nodded then turned to go back to find the boys again, uncertain of how to spread the word himself, especially to Dis. Your acceptance into their clan now was official with the nameless child to be marked to Thorin’s line of heirs with you officially his Consort now, soon to be delicately announced to their people when they were certain you had found your solid ground again.

The jet was finally fueled up and on your feet again holding your own shirt again you grinned lowering to accept Prince Estel’s hug that the girls joined in on before racing off again freeing you to rise and accept hugs from Jimmy, and the Brothers. King Arathorn walked out to bid you farewell with a handshake of his own along with his hushed condolences as Thror held the boys already nodding off in his arms mumbling still about the film. Behind the trio you walked under your father’s arm holding your worn blazer as your brothers took the diaper bag you had bought from the aid who had first taken it in your arrival.

Against his side you grit your way through the flight back watching Erebor grow closer. When the wheels touched down however you had passed out fully and were carried off by your father, who was asked to take you in to their own Doctor’s Wing where a full private room was set up for you. Right away you were groggily helped into the sweats and tank top B and C had brought you along with extra blankets and pillows for you. Nestled in the nest they made for you another bag of fluids were added to the iv still in your arm as you dozed off again hearing the Durins cheerfully greeting the groggy boys being taken off to be bathed, changed and readied for bed.

Anxiously looking around Dis spotted Thorin still staring at his phone after the unanswered message to you when he had helped Kili into bed alongside Frerin, looking at her grandfather she asked, “Jaqi went home?”

Thror shook his head, “No, Jaqi is in the Doctor’s Wing.”

All eyes turned to him as Thorin said, “What happened?”

Thror wet his lips, “Apparently, the sedative and the stress, caused her to miscarry.”

Gripping Thorin’s shoulders Dwalin and Balin kept him upright as Frerin leaned against the wall through Dis’ clapping her hands over her mouth mirroring her mother and grandmother’s tearful reaction. Vili, “Is she in pain?”

Thror nodded, “The Doctor said she was barely over a month along, not uncommon for stress to cause this. The worst of it is mostly over, just a few days rest and, physically she should be fine. Bit of a shock even Dabondor said she had no clue, it was so early.”

Between his cousins Thorin made his way for the door with Frerin behind him. Tearfully in the hall he mumbled, “There has to be something we can do for her pain.”

Gripping Thorin’s shoulder Frerin, “Thorin, you need to take it easy.” Thorin turned to face him with a tearful glare to find his tearful gaze in return, “You were there too, either she didn’t want to make more of that night or was worried about what it meant, we haven’t talked about it the three of us. Now she finds out she conceived from it. I know it hurts, but we have to ease into this or she might get more upset.”

Thorin, “How are we supposed to be calm? Gramps doesn’t even know-,”

“Thorin,” lowly he cut him off moving him aside saying, “From what I remember I was behind her the whole time. Jaqi is your Consort now, unless by some off chance the baby is fine, even then still they will be added to your line.” Thorin’s head shifted to the side a tick, “I love her, as a Sister, you know I do. You are in a relationship. Unless she says otherwise she remains your Consort. No need to add to any stress by publicly throwing me in the mix.”

Nodding abruptly Thorin turned through a sharp exhale continuing his way through the halls until they found your private room, pausing at the door they knocked gently and entered peeking in finding you shifting onto your back with a groan at your next cramp. Your brothers were lounged out on cots around the room as your father stood at their entrance. A grin flashed onto his face with a nod, “Your Majesties.”

They shook their heads and Frerin said, “Please, you’ve known us long enough, we don’t need titles.”

Thorin wet his lips, “Mr Pear, we should probably-,”

Your father shook his head, “We can handle all the customary discussions later. As for now, I have a call to make to my Wife. Your Grandfather has agreed to send out for the best Obgyn, should be landing in a couple hours for better scans. It was just a blood test back in Gondor.” Thorin nodded and he watched him pass by after saying, “Shouldn’t be too long but I’ll be back in a bit if she asks, so you can have some time alone.” After a pause he looked the brothers over saying, “If it helps, I believe you would have managed to work it all out. Would have done right for the little one, even through school.”

Alone in the room they turned to your bed where they settled around you, Frerin and Thorin snuggled at your sides as your eyes peeked open curiously at them. Weakly you chuckled saying, “I suppose it wasn’t a dream after all.”

Cupping your cheek Thorin sweetly kissed your lips, “Are you in a lot of pain?”

You shook your head, “No. It’s better now.” Wetting your lips you asked, “Thror knows?”

Thorin nodded and Frerin answered, “You have been recorded as Consort for Thorin. It will be marked down on Thorin’s line.”

Leaning back you caught Frerin’s eyes asking, “Just his?”

Frerin nodded cupping your cheek with a soft chuckle, “I do love you, however, you are in love with my brother. Unless by some chance I have won you over-,” you rolled your eyes and giggled in his folding around you in a tight hug kissing your forehead. “Thought so, either way, head over heels to hear you’re finally dubbed Consort.”

“Does this mean I have to be in a parade or something?”

Thorin chuckled kissing your forehead, “No. Just rest, a specialist should be here in a bit.”

Dwalin at your feet moved the blanket so he could start to rub one of your feet while Balin took the other, each sharing just what details of the celebration coming up along with what you had missed in your courses. The work for all of which had been collected for you with countless questions about why you had missed school at all and why the Princes had been missing all but rugby practices as well.

On your back staring at the screen while the specialist pressed the wand into your navel, “It looks like you had a ruptured ovarian cyst. I don’t see any more, which is good. As for miscarriage,” around the room the Durins and your family hopefully listened in as she shifted the wand and your brow inched up and you asked, “Why is there a ghost on the screen?” Pointing at what seemed to be a cocky ghost grinning on the image before you.

The specialist chuckled saying, “Those, would be your triplets.”

Your mouth fell open and your father chuckled leaning in to kiss your forehead, “You three looked like a seal on your first picture.”

Grinning at you the specialist stated, “Now, as far as the cyst goes, it appears your body had to pick which to keep feeding. Cyst simply split free and burst. The fluid mostly flowed out of you, the pain is from the pressure of your body moving what is left to be reabsorbed. It still is early, I would say a few more days on bed rest to be safe and bi weekly check ups through the first trimester.”

The rest of the stop in was filled with detailed instructions for your diet and self care tips taken down by the Durins, all of whom lit up at the news of their new member. None more elated than Dis, who stole the spot at your side across from Thorin when the specialist left to start sharing tips and plans she had for your entire pregnancy. Though an urgent call tore Thror from your side only to have him and his anxious walk back to your bedside causing you to ask, “Is anything wrong?”

Wetting his lips he turned on the tv along the wall he set to the news that replayed the story about the reason for your absences being that you had lost the Prince’s child, though which one they still had no clue leading to one anchor leading the others into agreeing with him you were Consort for both. Folding your fingers over your mouth you watched the story build and build for the few minutes you watched until Thror’s asking, “Bunny?”

Your eyes turned to him and your brows inched up, “Hmm?”

“Are you alright with me giving an official announcement? People are bringing tokens to the gates.”

Wetting your lips you sheepishly said, “I don’t really know the best way to say this.” He nodded, “They could belong to both.”

A snort came from behind the hands of one of your eldest brothers covering his mouth as he hid behind your father at the Princes both awkwardly grinning at you as you said, “It, was the once, but still-,”

Thror’s grin earned a chuckle from your father as well in seeing the King nod and say, “I shall announce you as both of their Consorts then, even if you still choose to only wed Thorin in the future. We will get this train to stop circling its caboose.” A curt nod ended his sentence making you giggle in his turn to hurry off to give the emergency notice.

Peering up at your father you caught his chuckle in his reach over to pat your ankle as the brothers snuggled against you starting to delve into the put off conversation of courtship and honoring your bond to the pair of them now. In the opposite end of the Palace the King spoke to a camera broadcasting all through the kingdom stirring the growing crowd outside to silence as it played over the speakers aimed out to the gates. Their tears for the unspoken heir presumably lost welled into a growing hope that the now confirmed heir to both Second Generation Crown Princes would remain healthy through the full term, however long that would be at their half Dwarf lineage against your assumed Numenor blood.

The real shock came with both brothers exiting the front of the Palace grinning to the groupings of people arriving. A trail of guards along with them as they accepted the gifts and flowers, shaking hands and accepting the hugs of children along the way sharing news you were safe in bed resting. By noon word had rippled through to all of Thror’s kingdoms and the lands around Erebor already sending congratulation and well wishes for the heir along with wishes to see the celebration for your union and to publicly record the heir. Comfortably you laid back relaxing as the guys returned to school, settling into the schedule again they handed off your completed assignments for you and confirmed you would be back again soon.

The first day back and you felt all eyes on you as you passed through the sea of students. Each Professor beamed having you back again taking their own silent pool on when you would give birth. Professors Baggins and Reeves had the most animated reactions to your return. Soon enough the days blew by and your progress in classes and growth were splayed out publicly for the world to see and as the ninth month passed by without you sprouting so much past a small bump the world groaned at the slow long wait of typical Dwarven births.

A full year had passed and with a series of courses you had tucked under your belt and together with the Princes, who relished having another year to sandwich you through your shared classes stealing brushes of their hands across your growing bump, all sat with you to help share the course stealing so you can get your credits sooner.

Second New Years had come and gone and again headlines flew across the world each time you were just a few moments behind schedule. Nobody however expected the explosion your sudden labor would cause. Wide eyed after an exam in one of your lone classes you sat after a long exam, in fetching your bag you sat down again at a sharp pain in your pelvis. Quietly you tore a page from one of your notebooks you crumbled to throw at the guard mentally drifting off along the wall. His head turned sharply to the room finding your hand subtly waving him over as you finished packing your bag, at your side he crouched to hear your whisper, “I think I need to leave.”

Hastily he shouldered your bag and helped you up guiding you outside where he lifted you in his arms carrying you after giving the alert over his radio. Inside the car again on the way to the Palace you steadily breathed in the back until you stopped at the side entrance. The door on the car opened and in your rise to your feet a squeak left you at the splash of water between your legs, softly you said to the driver, “I am so-,”

He chuckled shaking his head, “No need for sorry, you go and relax as best you can. Nothing a few towels can’t sop up.”

Wetting your lips you heard assurances that your relatives were on their way as the ruling family would be back from the Iron Hills as soon as the storms keeping them there could allow. Silence seemed to flood through Erebor for an agonizing week. A long painful wait came to a head for a half hour long end to your labor with three crying children, far too into the labor already your planned c section was tossed into the wind by the time the assigned surgeon got on the line. In the sea of blondes your mother ended up aiding the most in your labor with your father catching the last that was eager to join its siblings. Settled back into your healing bath after while your parents and the midwife rinsed off the trio your eyes met Thorin and Frerin’s over the video chat B had been keeping going with progress checks.

No official announcement, no raised flag or presentation of the chosen flock of Ravens to spread the word through the streets the people sat waiting until their King would come home. The fifth day had come and gone with only a brief sighting of you at one of the balconies stirring up a spreading grin on the faces of the crowds waiting for news growing more concerned by the day. A nip at your lip was followed by your lean in to whisper to the first of the antsy Ravens that hopped close enough for you to nab, a gentle toss later your hands released and the eager bird took off to the crowds sharing a simple number, 3. Behind him at the discovery of their missing member the Raven hall emptied and they all soared over your head to join their kin.

The number soon shared and elated gasps from the crowds rippled out through each of the streets while the growing flock of Ravens spread the news across Erebor. Two days more and finally the King returned, cheers and shouts sounded while the Royals met their newest members with all of the crowds outside starting up once again at sunrise in singing the traditional songs to welcome the new heirs to their next day. Noon again brought with it the long awaited traditional announcement with names and number of the first set of triplets in their line’s history.

Behind that came a flood of gold changing hands as bets were both won and lost, though none could tell just how your futures would grow. Two fathers to help with your little trio, all in school so close to the public bringing a new look into the lives of those ruling their lands for the generation you were born into. Hopes would rise and fall, but no matter what, none of you would forget the grand parades the birth and following marriage for you and Thorin. And none would forget the day fire lit up the sky and just as soon as their Princess had arrived she had vanished in the clutches of an all to unexpected rise of the shadow clad Lord Smaug, and the ripple of destruction that followed until a badly bloodied blonde floated down the river of Raven Hill. Straight into the arms of a startled watchman who sounded a long since awaited alarm at the cracking of icy green eyes.

#Thorin X Reader OC #Frerin x Reader OC #Hobbit #lotr

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feel199x · 5 years

Text

mafia!au, mafia boss!hwang hyunjin, ceo!hwang hyunjin

chapters: I II III IV V VI VII masterlist

♟ warnings: angst, existentialism?

♟ a/n: y’all can never catcha break huh :( im sorry

♟ song rec: jungle - busy earnin

“Like I said, we’ve been aware. Is this the only reason you called a meeting?”

“Of course not, but if you could ask your team to leave, please.”

Hyunjin didn’t look at any of you particularly, preferring to keep his attention as he waved you all away like dust on his shoulder. He bridged his fingers together, placing his chin on the interlocks as he smiled at Woojin, and you stepped out. Hyunjin looked like a striking image of his father when he smiled like that, and you knew something was going to go down. God, you could hear Hyunjin’s voice- a youthful version of his father’s- speaking in a low tone, calm but threatening and it sent shivers down your spine. You couldn’t help but wonder if you would be on the receiving end one of these days, and how soon it would be. Too soon, probably.

Everyone sat in a waiting room, piling onto the couches and love seats separated by an unspoken line. Was this really the life you were born into? Was this really how you were going to live, propped only by invisible strings to be moved out of obligation? Life was a game, and you were certainly not winning. You had no cards up your sleeve, no trickery to gain any favors. You were condemned to the hierarchy of generation and legacy.

You rested your head on your hand even as your wrist grew sore. They were starting to talk amongst themselves, of what? You didn’t know. It didn’t matter. Jeongin caught your eye as he whispered something into Seungmin’s ear and smoothed his suit walking off. It was possible that he really was just going to the bathroom, but you doubted it. You waited a few minutes as the boys grew deeper in their conversation, too self-involved to care about their supposed enemies on each side of the wall. You got up, and smoothes your skirt when Changbin grabbed your wrist.

“Be careful, please, ___” he whispered.

“How did you-”

He let go, “I don’t.”

You released the tension in your shoulders as you made your way to the hidden hallway that kept the bathroom. You didn’t see Jeongin outside the doors, and thought it would be best not to look around. If you could avoid the suspicion, then you would. As the restroom door closed, you heard something fall. You opened one of the stalls to find Jeongin peering through a hole in the wall. “Cafe on eighth, three am.” He pulled the brick back- when had he done that? And then you heard the men’s door close, and footsteps fading from the hallway.

You sighed, placing both your palms on the sink counter and stared at the mirror. You looked so tired, why did you look so tired? You pulled at your eyes, wanting to cry and break down- you wanted to mourn. You didn’t even recognize who you were anymore, it was like you’d never even really known what you’d look like. Your body wasn’t your own, the breaths you took were automatic, you weren’t living.

But if man chooses to play god, something must be traded. An eye for an eye.

The cafe on eighth was disgusting in short. It didn’t help that there were shards of glass everywhere, it didn’t help that you knew this could be a setup, and it definitely didn’t help with the number of rats you heard squeaking. No, you hadn’t brought a gun, and you hadn’t told anyone you were leaving- stupid, really, but you couldn’t afford to have Jeongin thinking that you didn’t trust him. Not even Hyunjin knew you were here, and you told him everything, everything. You felt a little less guilty with his recent actions on mind, but you still loved him. But after the run-in with Sir Hwang, you were determined to make him watch his bloodstained empire fall, his own blood spilling over his white marble chess piece. He had taken much more than he could give, much more than you had to give. He took and took, and it was your turn this time, and you were going to take everything. And the fact that Hyunjin hadn’t even mentioned the bruise around your neck? It was one thing to separate love and work, but another to become the character you played. You had heard about actors getting too invested in their roles, becoming the paper they played- going too far deep not to drown. You mentally waved it off, trying to focus on the matter at hand.

“Jeongin?” For a building that was supposed to be abandoned, there were still remnants of the cafe that used to be there. For one, the cafe’s name was still painted, albeit mostly peeled off, but there when you looked. But most notably, there were a few tables left. “Over here.” You squinted, trying to follow the source of the voice and found Jeongin, sitting with two coffees on a small wooden table. “I hope you didn’t make that here.”

“I don’t think Remy from ratatouille makes coffee.”

You snorted, taking the coffee off the table and taking a sip. “This isn’t even coffee, Jeongin.” He shook his head, taking a sip from his cup as well and sighed. “I don’t like it, and I bet you don’t either.” You smiled, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” A comfortable silence sat between you two as you drank the latte, cappuccino- whatever, the not coffee. It wasn’t exactly like you had a lot of time to sit in each other’s presence, but it was better than coming up with a morbidly flawed plan. “So…” Jeongin’s voice trailed off as he put his cup down a bit too loudly. You sighed, wiping the cream from your lips with your finger. “We know the feds are coming,” you started, “So collecting necessary information is key. Find out when the next hits and drop-offs are, who they’re bribing.” Maybe you should’ve been more careful, and maybe it was naive to have this trust in him, but you did. It was a growing worry that nested in the pit of your stomach. “I already have some,” he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and slid it across the table,

“They’re moving arms in two weeks.” You picked up the paper, squinting in the dark. “The back docks? Don’t you guys do it by the bay instead?” Jeongin nodded, “Yeah, but Woojin freaked, and took safety precautions.” You tapped, trying to think of any information that could be proved useful to the both of you. “I have to be honest, Jeongin, it’s gonna take me a while to get good information,” you dropped your head in your hands, rubbing your face and brushing the hair out of your face, “They don’t trust me. But I know for a fact we’re going to be moving drugs in a couple weeks in a jet, Hyunjin is going to attend a game with other leaders.” Jeongin tapped his fingers on the table, letting the pads of his fingers hit it with an echo. “I didn’t know, maybe Woojin will tell the team today. But you do realize…” Jeongin leaned, “We could bring them all down with that game night, right?” You furrowed your eyebrows, racking your brain for all the times that Hyunjin’s father went off for the games. “They leave for two- three weeks, it’s a whole thing. We have some time to prepare, but everyone’s going to be on high alert. In fact, I think one of my teammates is on to me.”

“What? How?”

“He’s the most perceptive person I’ve ever met. But I think he’s on our side.”

“What if he’s not?”

“Then,” he bit your lip, trying to think of a solution but your mind came up blank, “I don’t know. We’re smart, we’ll handle it.”

“I guess I can’t get mad, I know for a fact that Woojin is keeping a close eye on me.”

You downed the last of whatever was in your cup, “We should meet back in a while, if we get caught then they’ll make an example out of us.” He took your cup, and nodded. To your surprise, he took you into a hug. “Be safe.” And then, he disappeared into the depths of abandonment.

Maybe you could’ve ignored the car that was following, maybe you could pretend like your heart wasn’t thumping in your throat and all the blood was rushing to your head. Maybe you could, maybe you couldn’t- same difference. What mattered was that it was happening. It hadn’t started outside of the cafe, nor for a couple blocks- but instead when you passed your regular bus stop.

You picked up your pace, finding yourself in a full sprint before you knew it. And then you stopped, it was a compulsion, maybe. You came to a halt, nearly tripping and falling face forward when you turned. You heard the tires screech, and you ran to the window, and in a frenzy- you punched the glass. You hadn’t expected it to break of course, actually, you didn’t know what you were doing at all. What would you gain? More importantly, what would you lose? It happened in slow motion, time seemed to move slower and you swore you could pinpoint the millisecond the glass shattered. You didn’t even feel the pain until you saw the glass litter across your feet.

Hyunjin.

You should’ve expected to see him, you should’ve better acknowledged the fact you could’ve been caught. You should’ve known that your entire plan could’ve been compromised. That didn’t mean you weren’t dumbfounded when you saw Hyunjin with hands on the steering wheel, looking at you worriedly. “Where have you been? I was going to bring you up to the garden.”

“I was walking.”

“This far downtown?” He took his hands off the steering wheel and opened the passenger door. It was more surprising that you had actually broken the glass, it should’ve been bulletproof. “This new?” He sighed, tapping the steering wheel as he drove. “It was.” He stroked your hair, eyes still on the air. “I haven’t been good to you.”

“No, you haven’t.”

He sighed, putting a loose strand behind your ear before returning his hand to the wheel. “You’ve been understanding, and that’s more than I can ask for. But mistreating you? That’s not me. It’s just been hard.”

“I know, Hyunjin.”

He laced his hands in yours and wound them together and kissed your hand. “But I’m still your lover right?” You squeezed his hand. “Of course,” your heartbeat began to beat fast, “But why were you following me?”

“Well, you weren’t back at the estate, and I was just driving around.”

Liar.

“That doesn’t make any sense, how would you find my exact location?”

“I didn’t- I just,” he sighed, pulling the car over, “My dad thinks you’re a threat. So, I saw you leave and I followed you, but I lost you when you transfered lines and waited at the bus stop.”

Liar.

“How could you have lost me if you were following the bus?”

“Cars started to pile up before me, and I lost sight of the bus when two similar one were behind one another.”

Liar!

“What did you see, Hyunjin?”

“I didn’t see anything.” You looked for the tapping on his thigh, and his finger twitched. You stared up at him. If you lied, then you would just be as bad as him. You pressed your forehead against his. “Don’t lie to me, my love.” He sighed, closing his eyes, but didn’t move. “You know me better than my dad,” he laughed bitterly, “I don’t know why I even tried.” He pressed a kiss on your lips, “I know, and I won’t tell my dad, we can do it together,” he whispered, “I’ll protect you.” He kissed you again before he started driving again.

Liar.

“I have a place to show you,” he hummed, “We haven’t been out, hm?” Haven’t been out, ever. Unless of course, it was Hwang related. For all of your life, you had been kept under the confines of your estate, away from the other legacies, away from any normalcy. Your mother said that you should be grateful, at least their estate was large- new rooms seemed to appear the more you explored. You technically weren’t allowed to explore without a tutor, but you were good at hiding. You were good at fighting. It wasn’t Hyunjin’s fault, you knew that. But it was his father’s. Your father was dead, your mother was going to die, and you would be joining them soon. And there was no way it was by god’s hand, but man. You refused to play god, and with this you opened your hand for others to play it for you, make you beg for a mercy only the holy was supposed to grant. Why was it like this? Blood lust, that’s why- something primal you didn’t have within you.

“We’re here.”

A diner, the kind that still served classic milkshakes and was open 24/7. The neon phosphorescent was almost blinding considering how dark it was. You sighed, maybe things weren’t okay, but at least you could pretend.

All the world’s a stage, after all.

He smiled big at you, pushing his door open, “Let’s go! I’ll open your door.” It was a nice form a formality, a sort of chivalry something accustomed Hyunjin to. You found it silly, since you were in sweats, but endearing anyway. He kissed your hand, bowing dramatically as he did so, “My queen, join me on this feast.” You laughed, “Of course, my king.” He swung your hand as you entered the diner, and the door jingled as you both entered. You expected it to be mostly vacant, or for the both of you to be the only ones there, but it a bit busy. There was someone at every couple of booths, but you realized most of them were slightly tipsy. The pair of you sat in the back booth, holding up your menus and peeking over them with only your eyes.

“You’re stupid.”

“I am an acquired taste, my love- and here you are.”

“Not for long.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me.”

You let Hyunjin order for you, you always were indecisive anyway. On the table sat a strawberry milkshake with two straws. You bit the inside of your cheek, trying hard not to let a grin spread from your lips, but you failed. “This is so cheesy.” He leaned over the table, nearly knocking over the glass to plant a kiss on your forehead. “Only for you.”

“Mm, gross.”

“You love it!”

“I do, I do. You got me there.”

You forgot about your problems as you sat there, drinking strawberry milkshake across who you knew would be the only boy you’d ever love like this. “Hyunjin,” you brought your lips back from the straw, “I love you. A lot.” He smiled, squishing his cheeks as he blushed a little. “Maybe I love you back.” You threw a straw wrapper at him and pouted. “Aw, I’m kidding baby. I love you.”

“I’ll kick your ass one of these days.”

“Hot.”

You kicked him under the table, and he grimaced, but shot you a wink. The food arrived and you almost salivated at the sight of it. It tasted as good as it looked, and you don’t think you were ever excited to eat a burger as much as this. “It’s just, ugh,” you groaned, “you know?” Hyunjin laughed, trying to steal one of your fries but you slapped his hand away. “Please don’t cheat on me with a burger, it’d be very humiliating.” He pouted, and you sighed, giving him a clump of your fries. “God, you’re so lucky I’m in love with you.” He blew you a kiss. “I know, otherwise I’d be a dead man.” You nodded, pointing a fry at him, “That is the smartest thing you’ve said tonight,” and you popped the fry in your mouth. “Oh, so not the ‘I love you’?” You furrowed your eyebrows and frowned, “You know what-” Hyunjin stuffed a handful of fries in your mouth. “I’m so sorry, I just can’t make out what you’re saying. Could you repeat that?” You glared at him, but it soon melted into a laugh as you covered your mouth- nearly choking.

“You look so pretty,” he sighed dreamily, staring at you lovingly, “I’m so lucky, you know that?” You scoffed, shaking your head. “Vice versa, my love. I wouldn’t have made it through these years of training without you.” He pouted, opening his arms. “Aw baby, come here.” You sighed, moving to sit on his side of the booth and he put his arms around you, bringing you closer to him. He traced circles on your arm, and fed you fries. “You just wanna steal my food, Hyunjin.”

“True, but I also wanna feel you.”

“I love you, Hyunjin.”

He brought you closer, kissing your forehead, the button of your nose, and then your lips, “I love you too.” You stayed in the diner for a bit more, binging on junk food that was sincerely too good to be called that, talking about nothing particular as the night’s washed out sky bleed sunlight.

But all good things must come to an end.

Liar.

#stray kids #stray kids fanfic #stray kids imagines #skz imagines #skz fic #skz han jisung #skz fluff #skz angst #hwang hyunjin #hwang hyunjin imagines #hwang hyunjin fic #skz hwang hyunjin #stray kids hwang hyunjin

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happinessinthedarkest-times · 5 years

Text

avengers endgame reaction (spoilers!!!)

**if youre on mobile scroll fast bc idk if the keep reading works

holy shit holy shit fuck fuck fuck

i am an emotional wreak right now

ahhhhh it was so good im crying still

tony fucking stark my heart i guess ill start there

tony stark i love you three thousand. he got his happy ending with morgan and pepper for 5 years they had 5 years together and he knew that the time heist (lol) would jeopardize that and he still went and helped

that scene where he had it out with steve at the beginning fuck my heart was breaking and i was crying .

i cried a lot in this movie. legit sobbing when nat died but ill get to that

that scene was everything i wanted it to be and perfectly executed. of course hes angry and lashing out because they were supposed to do it together and lose together and the emotion behind that ughh rdj killed it

he literally hands steve his heart the arch reactor

tony and howard ugh everything with them together. tony got closure with his dad

everything tony was great.

steve

he got his happy ending. he got his dance with peggy (now im crying again) fuck. and he PICK UP MJOLNIR omg that scene was amazing and everything i never dreamed could happen when the hammer started moving ughhhh omg i was cheering so loud in the theatre and i dont normally do that. that whole scene ugh theres so much to react to

and he got to say assemble.

ok now from the beginning.

i started to cry literally before it even started. the screen was black and i was already tearing up but when clint and his daughter came up and then his family disappeared i was full on crying.

carol coming in clutch and saving tony and nebula yessss

steve and tony’s conversation right when he gets off the ship was everything i wanted it to be. (crying again) everything.

when they go to thanos’s house thing and thor chops off his arm . its what ive been saying they shouldve done on titan

and then he went for the head!

five.......

years later

fuck them. literally when the ‘five’ came up i was like no no no dont you dare do it dont you dare and then they did it. fuck them

five fucking years?!?! they made them live through 5 years of that trauma?!?!?

nat was everything in this film. she became the leader and keeping track of everything and her moment of breaking down was just so human. she couldnt move on in those 5 years and it just shows how much the avengers had become her family.

scott and cassie omg cassie all grown up made me so emotional

tony and morgan i love you three thousand she is the cutest and sweetest thing

tony fucking stark figured out time travel. he did that.

when tony gives steve his shield back my heart could not take it

the scenes where they were trying to pinpoint the exact time to go back and it was like a sleepover sesh and all the domestic avenger fanfics

going back a little bit

clint killing all the people that should have been killed and deserved to be killed and being a total badass showing up all those people who said he was just really good with an arrow and every scene he has with nat.

‘dont give me hope’

thor. oh where to start. he really did lose everything and he was blaming himself for all that happened so i get where hes coming from. every time you could see him remembering and tormenting himself about what happened broke me. his scene with his mother (crying again)

also hulk/bruce was an interesting choice (not a huge fan of it but ok)

the time traveling

everything about the new york scenes were amazing. the aftermath of the end of the avengers, loki turning into cap for a second, seeing rumlow and sitwell come out, steve getting into the elevator and channeling that winter soldier energy (i was slapping my sister on the arm so hard at this part) hail hydra and outsmarting them all. cap fighting cap “i can do this all day” lmao i was dying ‘bucky is alive” again dying they really nailed it with this. i was worried beforehand because like it would change how we would see the og avengers but i still think it works

also can talk about how tony (and scott) was checking out steves ass????

“i forgot how that suit did nothing for you ass” (be still my heart) “i like to think of it at america’s ass” (or whatever the line was)

loki getting away with the tesseract (is that in this timeline im confused about that hopefully someone will explain bc does that mean loki is alive in this timeline or not? lol)

them going back to the 1970s (do you trust me? i do) and tony meeting howard and introducing himself as howard potts. again i know i talked about howard and tony already but i loved their scenes. and JARVIS FROM AGENT CARTER MAKING AN APPEARANCE OMG

PEGGYYYYYYY (crying) when steve walked into her office (grabbed my sister again) and when he was watching her through the window and you could feel his pain.

thor and rocket are the pairing that i never imagined but amazing none the less. i loved that we got the return of mjolnir here even though idk what that does to the timeline (again who knows at this point)

rhodey and nebula again another pairing i didnt expect but are great together. everything about nebula in this film. she really has a great arch. i was stressing out so hard when the alternate timeline thanos found out that they came from the past. the scene where peter quill is dancing and singing to no music was great.

clint and natasha. this pairing thie duo the og. fuck my heart. when they started going off to vormir i knew. i knew it and i cannot handle it. the whole scene where they are fighting each other to sacrifice themself i was SOBBING. LEGIT SOBBING. ‘let me go’ i loved this so much and also hated it. she deserved her happy ending too. after everything she gave up everything to save those people. her arch is so good too. im excited for her origin. i kinda want to see her when shes a bad guy and killing everyone and her journey to shield. i hope thats what we’ll see in her movie.

but also that scene emotionally fucked me up hard.

the og avengers (minus nat) sitting on the edge of the lake

thor trying to put on the glove and redeem himself (in his own eyes not my own bc he doesnt deserve the shit he gets for not going for the head)

hulk doing it and the calm before the storm where everything goes back before that missile comes firing down.

steve tony and thor facing off with thanos. everything about this scene. tony getting a juice-up from thor and lightning to max out his powers. steve jump kicking on thanos’s ass. thanos beating up thor and steve coming in with FUCKING MJOLNIR AGAIN CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW MUCH I WAS CHEERING AT THIS POINT HE IS WORTHY MY BOY STEVE IS WORTHY

also on that note tony coming up to steve and saying “theres my man” or something and giving him back his shield again.

steve standing there with his broken shield ready to face off with thanos’s army and sam coming in on the comm. and then EVERYONE COMING THRU AND KICKING NAMES AND TAKING ASS

legit cheering and crying so much

valkyrie with her pegasus

shuri with her blasters

peter parker and his reunion with tony was heartbreaking. tony looked so broken and complete at the same time. he got him back.

PEPPER FREAKING POTTS

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE (YEESSSSSSSS)

peter quill’s semi-reunion with gamora and how she doesnt know him but he gets her back

also gamora, nebula and still-evil!nebula was a great scene. nebula killing her past self is some symbolic shit right there AND to protect her sister who she hated

CAROL FUCKING DANVERS COMING TO SAVE THE DAY AND KICK THANOS’S ASS

im sad that she wasn’t in the film as much but i get why they did it and it also makes me really excited for her future films

but carol getting the gauntlet and peter saying “i dont know how youre gonna get through that”

and ALL THE BADASS MCU WOMEN COMING UP BEHIND HER READY TO FIGHT AND REPRESENT FOR THE FEMALES (CRYING)

this is something that couldn’t of been done a few years ago because there weren’t a lot of female superheroes in this universe and just the fact that this scene can make such an impression and become probably one of the most badass scenes of the mcu is one of the best things that came out of this movie.

side note: ‘activate instant kill’ great callback

and then we get to the sacrifice.

i knew it. i expected it. i read it in fanfics.

i was still not prepared.

‘I am inevitable’

‘I AM IRON MAN’

FUCKKKKKKKK they really know how to write these movies.

he knew he would die. he knew he would never see morgan again. but he knew what he had to do.

his character arch from a selfish man to a selfless man has been the most profound and powerful story.

rdj and tony stark have really carried this franchise. they were the start. and it makes sense that his death closes out this era of the mcu.

to rdj: i will never forgive my mom for telling me that she didn’t like you way back when. that really influenced how i thought about you and about tony stark for years. and i limited me from really appreciating and loving iron man and those movies and tony’s character. but as i continued to watch more of you in the mcu and in real life and have seen how you have grown and who you are today, i have so much love and respect for you and your character. im just so upset at the time i lost where i could have fallen even more in love with you. thank you so much for everything you have done over the last 11 years for this franchise. thank you for the time thank you for the memories and the laughs. the journey has been amazing.

the funeral scene with ‘proof that tony stark has a heart’

(also was the the kid from iron man 3 in the back?)

VALKYRIE BECOMING KING (queen? i say king but who knows) of new asgard. look at my killing baby all grown up and being the leader they need.

thor becoming a guardian basically.

also was quill looking for his gamora? where was the gamora from this timeline on the ship? she wasn’t there in the scene so idk

also fighting with knives to see whos in charge lol

im glad people mentioned/mourned for nat too

steve rogers

steve.

i knew he wasn’t coming back.

bucky knew it too.

im wreaked

but at least he got his happy ending. he got his peggy (again idk what that does to her timeline)

captain sam wilson america in the house.

(old steve looks like joe biden or is it just me lol)

they ended it with a steggy dance and kiss

it really was a perfect end to his story and it wrapped up his character really well. he got that life he deserved

to chris evans: as this is probably the last time we will see you as captain america let me thank you too for the years and joy that you have brought to my life. youre it for me. you are the reason i became so invested in this world. when you jumped on the fake grenade i was in it with you. chris you are and will always be the best chris in my heart. your passion for this character and understanding of steve rogers and his motivations have created such a memorable performance. steve rogers will always be the og. he will always have my heart. i am so thankful that you took this opportunity and used it and made this character your own. you live up to the standards that steve holds for himself and i am so excited for your future. i am also so glad that you didn’t die in this movie bc i definitely could not have handled it if i had to watch both my favs die. i love you three thousand.

i literally cried throughout the whole movie. there were laughs, cheers, groans, stress, tears, and love throughout this film. i am so grateful that i am alive during this time in cinematic history. there will never be something as great or momentous as this film. a true culmination of 22 films. its never been done and i doubt itll ever be done again

i am also so impressed and amazed by how well this film turned out. it is just amazing how everything fell into place

im sure ill read other people’s reactions and they will bring up points or problematic things that will taint my view on this movie but i dont want that to ruin my own experience

and for me, this was truly emotionally draining and fulfilling. the feeling of being in that theatre with all those people who love the characters as much as i do and experiencing this film for the first time is something i will never forget.

people talk about how they remember lining up for star wars.

well i remember sobbing my eyes out when nat died, cheering along with everyone when cap picked up mjolnir and whipped thanos’s ass with it and when carol and the rest of the badass women of the mcu ready to kick ass, crying with everyone as the light went out in tony’s chest and eyes, watching as history was made in front of our eyes.

and the end credits with the og avengers getting recognition with their photos and autographs.

i love this franchise and these films and these characters i dont know who i would be without them.

one last thing

thank you to the og avengers. steve tony thor nat clint bruce. chris robert chris scarlett jeremy mark. you will always have a special place in my heart. you were there at the start. you were the reason this all could happen you were the reason i became so invested in these movies. you brought these characters to life and embodied them. you are all so much like your characters the casting is perfect. thank you for your dedication to your work to you fans and to your characters. it means so much that you all stuck through this together and that you are such great friends in real life and i can only hope that one day i can be so lucky as to meet you all and thank you in person.

#please dont read if you havent seen the movie i dont want to spoiler anything for anyone #my post #my reaction #mcu reaction #endgame #avengers endgame #avengers endgame spoilers #endgame spoilers #marvel endgame #spoilers #ae tags #ae #the avengers #avengers tags #the og avengers #dont spoil the endgame

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ofphcenixes · 5 years

Text

BLUE & LIBBY - text thread 001

texts from 3:55pm to 7:01pm

blue

hey lib. (: havent talked today. just wanted to drop in and see if u were doin alright i have memes if u need them

libby

i mean, technically we did talk. i reminded you of the moment the world stood still: when valentine and you made contact (1) time. are you okay though? you seem a little, weird

blue

i maintain that valentine was an alien in a spider suit that wanted to destroy me but u know what I mean djdjdjd just chats between us. the gc has been a june holden fest lately lmao hope it works out for them tho anyways i am always weird in ur eyes djdjhd. but im fine. shit was crazy that night and we never really got to talk about what happenedand if u wanted to talk i just want u to kno im here ABOUT NADIA bc yeah kdjdjjd

libby

don't talk to me or my son ever again yeah, wow, okay so holden stayed over the night. i only know that because i saw his stuff in her room? i think she mentioned that like, it was a one time thing but i feel like... he might be coming over again which.. is Interesting oh. yeah, no i think i'm okay. i guess just in shock. june is very broken up over it, so i'm doing my best to be a good pal, and bring loads of ice cream and kisses. /: do you wanna talk? about nadia? i know that she like, meant something to you

blue

ok good luck getting me to stop talkin to u but as for valentine? bye Felecia! is that right. hmm well he doesn’t seem like much is goin on so maybe they were just,, hanging out. bringing a bag over is pretty damning tho. and if he does come over and u see him tell that bih he owes me $ bc he ate my fucking chorizo salad ): r u proud lib?? I ate a salad by choice well I would have if Holden wasn’t a lil birch bitch DONT CENSOR ME fuck. im sorry. ): i actually wanted to see june today tbh. but if u need anyone pls let me know alright? id skip practice if u needed me, lib WELL. i mean ok i was sorta close with her in middle school and she’s always been a friend and I just. I’m just fucking numb tbh. I really can’t believe it

libby

i'll have you know that valentine died shortly after my 18th birthday so ): idk idk, why would they hang out in her room if they were "hanging out"? like they have history. i feel like thats, a little too ... suspicious given the context. in a good way though. like i hope it works out theyre both so miserable without each other. oh my god!! look at you go! so proud of you, dude! ( even if you never got to it lmao ) no, no, it's okay. june needs all the support she can get, and i don't wanna impede. i'm really fine, i just sort of need to accept it and i guess reflect on how terrible it is. she was a really sweet person and fuck i really cant believe any of it i guess

blue

fuck what kdjdjdnd I thought valentine just yeeted shit that’s not a good way to put it fuck but. im sorry lib ): ok I take it back Valentine was alright. still scared the fuck out of me tho all i know is that if i loved someone as much as holden loves june, i wouldn’t let you go **THEM fuck Damn phone Typos Djdjhdi can’t believe u make me eat green stuff its truly CRUEL whomst? I only know nadia just didn’t fucking deserve any of this. shit even daisey didn’t. i just want to protect everyone and i don’t know HOW it goes without saying that im happy to be ur uber driver for the indefinite future

libby

no omg, i took good care of my boy. idk what happened, they can live up to like 15 years so i was pretty bummed tbh. i was a bad mom he appreciates your support from the grave though i mean, i guess. but not everyone you love is going to love you back, i think that's where holden's at. not everyone wants to be clung to, and june seems reluctant besides, you know all about that. holden, the love of your life, loves june. how sad it's good for you!!! i'm helping i ... feel so badly for both of them. i can't imagine how their families must be feeling, fuck. i hate this. i'm moving to spain ah, dude you don't have to do all that. you probably are busy with practice, and holden, and work. thank you tho

blue

im sure ur a great mother. ): but still valentine was lucky to have u. and im sure he misses u in his weird spider heaven web of flies and whatever it is spiders like idk ill dm peter parker and find out i mean... guess that’s true. I suppose I dont get to see how june feels most of the time. i just wish they’d talk about it and sort it out at least. they both deserve to be happy holden is the loml that is true aksjjsjd. holden has enough room for both me and june in his heart. so i mean technically i can love someone else too?? but enough about that lmfao you definitely are helping. even coach has noticed dkdjd. making me better without even trying u can’t move without me who’s gonna get me free popcorn ): you’re just as important as practise and holden to me, lib.

libby

god, i miss him. you think the girls would be mad if i bought another one? like, to keep in my room. i know! they're both obviously still in love, you can tell. i can't wait for them to overcome this and get to be together. also, im grateful for the amount of sleep i'm able to get now that... the room next to mine is less loud welp, i hope you find someone who is willing to share you with holden lol oMG, REALLY? IDK WHY THAT MADE ME IRRATIONALLY HAPPY LOL. WE CAN GET SALAD LATER let's go, we'll go to spain and take on a new identity. we can live along the coast and work in a bakery or something. get a puppy don't show holden that text he might cry. but dsjflk thank you, you're very important to me too. kinda my best pal

blue

u would have to ask. but if you did get another what would u call it? thanksgiving? funnily enough valentine is only a few weeks away. a sign?? i mean fuck ive known holden for years and can confirm he is happiest when he’s with june. when she’s not roasting him at least lmfao. and if my MasterPlan works im afraid things will get bad again djdjdj. I can take one for the team and try to get them to come over here tho - u don’t need to deal with that shit i hope i do too tbh. and who would I want it to be u ask? that’s right. danny devito. LETS NOT GET TOO CRAZY IVE ALREADY HAD THREE VEGETABLES THIS WERK AND ITS ONLY TUESDAY. I think it’s popcorn time 8) bold of u to assume i know where Spain is dkdjdjdjdj well he’s gonna catch on soon enough we spend every day together at this point lol

libby

i was gonna name this one patrick, after st patricks day actually lol. yes you know what's also approaching that is more important? your birthday! i know, it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure that out. he's v much a relationship kinda dude, actually bc he's also kinda slutty lol. but even june is sad and its just, SO HARD. i hate when people are clearly, happiest together are like, nO IM GOING TO PROLONG THE MISERY. i feel like we're in a rom-com. how do we get them back together? i'll let him know. my v-day gift from me to you oooo, should i get the skittles ready too then? popcorn is kinda of a veggie if you think abt it omg, okay well now you can't come with me. offer rescinded. im going with the hot cop lslsfkjdjkldfs i mean its not like we're doing anything weird, so its okay, right?

blue

ur so cute wtf. although if u did do this i hope u know im calling him patrick star. also how the fuck do u tell if its a female or a male spider theyre so small and gross. fuck it is too lol. i dont have any money so im gonna let ppl down on the party front lmao. ud still come tho, right? how can he be both slutty and relationshippy. like not to be weird bc i know hes ur cousin and all dkfjgg but he doesnt.. have people over anymore. unless hes someone learned not to stomp around the house WHICH I DONT BELIEVE. and ha hA im already on plan 384 to get them back together get on my level lmao. we just gotta force them to spend time together tbh. does that mean i have to give u the hot cop for valentines bc i mean. i would if that's what u wanted but im sure u can do much better than him OH FUCK UR RIGHT OUR WHOLE RELATIONSHIP HAS BEEN A LIE TO CONVERT ME TO VEGGIES HASNT IT r u breaking up with me? well fine, ill take the dog ): it's... it's not weird unless we make it weird. and we haven't. have we?

libby

fdsjfjdsl shhhhh, back at you. Patrick Star will be his full name, i promise you this much. as for gender idfk, i am honestly assuming its pronouns lol. i'd be sued by the LGBT community if they knew. also dude, of course. i'll make you cupcakes. plus i know what i wanna buy you! i can't wait dude what? really?? i thought he was seeing people this whole time, holy shit. dude he's really messed up over this huh? wow, okay, we need to kick this into high gear and have them get back together. tell me your plans. omg, no you clown. i don't even like him that much, he's just pretty. i do like... some personality and he has 0 GOD MY PLAN HAS BEEN FOILED. I CANT BELIEVE IT like i'd ever let you take the dog. she's mine sdfjlkdsfjlk iDK DUDE. I MAY HAVE MADE IT WEIRD BUT WE'RE BAD AT TALKING ABT STUFF, SO WE DONT HAVE TO LOL.

blue

do spiders even have gender i thought they were just the minions of evil lmfao lib u rly dont have to get me anything, really. altho now im curious tbh. but get ready for me to get a lit gift in june >:) ill even wrap it myself which says a lot bc i cant wrap for shit but i want it to be personal lmao not many that im aware of atm. will give u info is this changes. huh we r spies lib. >:) but i dont have any current plans except trying to force them to go in a photo booth together or something when we eventually go to the arcade djsjdh omg how did u know. but idk everyone speaks about him like hes gOD he’s just a dude. eyebrows on fleek tho I will say that IM SO HURT UD USE ME LIKE THIS LIB. ALL THIS TIME WE WERE GETTING CLOSE AND U WERE ONLY HERE FOR THE VEGGIES so u get Spain AND the dog. what do I get, sadness ???? you haven’t made it weird lib, i promise. not to me, anyway. maybe we both wanted the same thing. maybe. oR MAYBE NOT LMFAO but yeah we can talk about whatever lol

libby

don't talk about nate like that omg! i want to, plus its a surprise so no asking what it is. also wow i cant believe you remember my birthday, lol. you dont have to get me anything. you can buy me an ice cream though oh my gOD THAT'S BRILLIANT! aw, what if they take one of those cute kiss pictures in the photobooth like in the movies? i can't wait for them to love each other again, they're so cute. are you jealous that no one is talking about your eyebrows? you have nice eyebrows and nothing to be jealous abt GOD, IM SO SORRY. ROY HIRED ME. HE WAS WORRIED ABT YOUR HEALTH. IM SORRY YOU HAD TO FIND OUT THIS WAY. I THOUGHT YOU NEVER WOULD /: you get the memory of what we were to keep you warm right, cool. noted

blue

why do u talk about the string bean all the time i know u grew up with him but seriously he's like a pale pipe cleaner that i dont need in my life ofc i remeber ur birthday lib. dont u remember ur 10th?? probably the best day of my life lmao. and if u get me something i get u something thats how this works as long as june doesnt say anything mean and holden say anything stupid, its a pretty solid plan tbh. im not jealous HOW DARE ROY PLAY ME LIKE THIS. cant believe u betrayed me lib, after all we've been through ;-; but what if i want something to sell off now that u took the house oh fuck lib i didn't mean it like that. just... pretend i said nothing ok and. yeah talk about something else

libby

hey sorry, i gotta go. talk tomorrow.

blue

oh is everything ok? but alright talk tomorrow then i guess bye lib

libby

night

blue

its 6pm lib but okay night

blue

lib if i did something u dont have to tell me but pls know i didnt mean it, whatever it was. i hope youre okay. but i wont bother u again i promise. just. yeah

libby

it's okay, dude. i'm fine. it's honestly my own fault, it's not you. you're always great. i'm sorry. it's fine

blue

i dont understand what ur talking about but i can tell u dont want to so ill just... leave this. but you're always great too lib. the greatest, in fact. just let me know if ur still coming to the arcade later or not yeah

libby

i guess i'll go. i like pacman.

blue

if u... if u change ur mind i understand. but i really hope u can make it.

#( blue ; converse ! )#( blue & libby ! )#WE LOVE CRYING

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eatbreathewrite · 7 years

Text

The Adventures of Todd and Granny

(Alternatively: “I Saw Granny Ethel with the Devil”)

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

Grocery Store

Todd the demon is a he, now, if only because Granny Ethel insists upon using copious ‘Dear boy, keep trying’ and ‘Atta boy!’ critiques to varying degrees depending on how well his needlework, crochet, and knitting attempts progress.

Gender isn’t a concept the demon concerned himself with before. If Todd had been, say, a girl named Tonya, he supposes he’d be a she instead. If Todd had been gender-neutral and properly communicated with his grandmother, he supposes she would call him they or child, appropriately. Granny Ethel isn’t one to discriminate. Even when she properly wears her glasses and sees his obviously un-Todd-like appearance, only shaking her head and smiling with a good-natured “kids these days” on her lips. But he wouldn’t mind if Granny Ethel called him boy, girl, thing, or abomination, so long as she stayed happy.

Granny Ethel is a patient woman. Todd simply can’t understand why or how she’d become the black sheep of her family, especially after a full week of living with her hospitality. Through the constant baked goods and the modest but satisfying three-meals-a-day; the careful (oh-so-careful) dusting of trinkets and bookshelves with tiny cloths and feather dusters not fit for large claws, which he insists upon doing while she looks on in worry before brewing more coffee; the midday television re-run breaks spent sealing cash donations into envelopes and discussing human rights issues instead of watching old shows, he simply can’t think of her as anything but a paragon of her kind.

It’s a problem with them, he concludes. Not her.

It isn’t a decision he makes lightly.

Spending such a brief time with her, he’s already learned so much more about humans than he ever would have cared to know, beyond perceiving them as vessels or a means to an end. There is much suffering in the world—sometimes even more than that in Hell—but there is also kindness.

He’s known that, but he witnesses it first hand during their first trip outside of Granny Ethel’s home.

“Come, now, Todd, we have much shopping to do. I’m afraid my pantry isn’t stocked appropriately for the upcoming food donation drive and I can’t just skip it this month.”

Todd remembers addressing an envelope to the local food bank—most people would stop there, figuring their good deed was done.

“I also have to stock up on this week’s groceries. Feel free to buy whatever you want, dear. I can cook anything, you know! At least, I try. I suppose you’d like some snacks, too. But I am so glad you’re here; think of all the bags we can carry between the two of us!”

There is no car in Granny Ethel’s driveway, or a garage to store it. He wonders how they’re going to make it to the grocery store as he waits for her to lock the door behind them, as she hobbles down the two small concrete steps with her cane in hand.

It isn’t until she’s halfway down the sidewalk that he realizes they’re walking. In public.

An old crone in black and a demon at her side, wearing a handmade shawl so lovingly stitched with various, terrifying occult symbols.

He isn’t the only one who sees a problem with this—the neighbor’s dog, a small, bug-eyed thing, yaps indignantly at them from the front lawn as it bounces around the dewy grass at its owner’s feet, soon erupting in warning yowls and howls, before falling silent mid-yip when Todd locks eyes with it. The neighbor—Maurice, if he remembers Granny Ethel’s gossip correctly—stands frozen, watering can dangling limp from his hand as he overwaters the begonias at his feet, mouth hanging open in undignified disbelief.

“Good morning, Maurice!” Granny Ethel calls with unmitigated cheer, and a hint of pride. “Nice morning, isn’t it? Oh! Have you met my wonderful grandson Todd? He finally came to visit! We’re going shopping now. Will you watch my house?”

Maurice simply stares, dumb with shock.

Halfway down the block, another neighbor’s car brakes with a squeal before they make it out of the driveway and they stick their head out of the window to gape.

Shutters crack open. Curtains are shoved aside.

Before Todd knows it, they are the cul-de-sac’s center of attention.

Granny Ethel doesn’t pay it any mind and continues obliviously on, waving to each face in turn as those faces pale, yet hers remains rosy.

“My, such a busy day today. I haven’t seen everyone out like this since the Fourth of July block party. Oh, if you’re still here during summer, Todd, we should definitely take part. Maybe we should start knitting an American flag for the occasion. What do you think?”

He can only nod.

They make it to the grocery store without incident—aside from the broken fire hydrant caused by a distracted driver and the one, single person who ran away screaming, and the handful that crossed themselves, and the one person bold enough to snap a picture with their phone before Todd grabbed it from their hands and threw it while Granny Ethel wasn’t looking, too distracted with how well the city’s roadside flowers were blooming—and Todd, ever the gentledemon, takes a small shopping cart from its line and trails behind Granny Ethel as she consults the list taken from her purse.

As expected, those within the store stop and stare. Even the calming elevator music jolts to a pause.

A young man in an employee vest, who looks high, shoots Todd the demon-horn hand sign and smiles before swaggering away to the frozen food aisle, and the manager meekly approaches them, skirting around a fresh fruit display.

“Ma’am, is there—is there something I can—do you need help?” he asks, sweating from his receding hairline to his neck as he tugs at his collar and straightens his frumpy tie.

“Oh! I’m so glad you asked. I didn’t see any sales circulars by the door—what kind of specials are on right now? Particularly on things like pizzas and cereals and whatever else young men like to eat.” Granny Ethel leans in close to the man, close enough to loudly whisper, “See, my grandson here is a quiet, shy boy despite his appearance, and I don’t think he’d ask me himself, but I bet he’d love to get some junk food to snack on between meals.”

The manager’s eyes widen, blood-shot, as he looks to Todd, who only smiles—which comes off as terrifying, he’s certain, with all the sharp teeth and red eyes involved.

“S-SURE! Junk food. Right. Um—uh, w-well, I think there’s a BOGO—buy one get one free—deal on the frozen pizzas. Uh…most cereals are marked down right now…th-there’s a sale on potato chips…hot dogs…” His voice trails off, too burdened with trembles and fear as he continues to hold Todd’s gaze. “And—you know, I’m sure some other employee can help you, ma’am. I’m not one anymore as of this moment. I QUIT.” That said, he yanks the flimsy plastic nametag from his shirt and runs for the door, followed by half of the shoppers who abandon their carts and drop their baskets, scattering groceries everywhere.

Granny Ethel watches him go, then sighs. “He must have been overworked and stressed. I almost walked out on a job a long time ago for the same reasons, but I needed it. You be careful of corporate America, Todd.”

He takes her words to heart, and he fully agrees.

Shoppers that remain in the grocery mart avoid them at all costs as they meander through the frozen food section, the bread aisle, the junk food corner—and Granny Ethel pays them no mind, filling the cart to the brim with refills of groceries she needs back at home and treats she thinks Todd needs more of in his life. He supposes he does, if she says he does. Far be it from him to contradict her adolescent-savvy wisdom.

Even so, the single shopping cart is far too small for all of the spoils—halfway through the shopping list, he finds them in need of another. It isn’t an issue. Many are left scattered, abandoned, around almost every corner. By the end of the list, both carts are full to the brim, and Granny Ethel is simply beaming.

The checkout lines are deserted—they have their pick. Although only one station is manned by a clerk, and it greatly narrows their choice.

As Todd wheels the two shopping carts to the register, he recognizes the young employee from before, who once again shoots him the demon-horn hand symbol.

“Love your poncho, dude,” Sam (as his nametag reads) comments with a bit of a tired drawl, and there are dark shadows under his eyes as expected from an overworked youth on minimum wage, but he is otherwise energetic, quickly scanning each of the items set on the conveyor belt, and smiling at demon and old woman in turn. “Did the little lady here knit that for you?”

“Crocheted!” Granny Ethel corrects with a grin, preening like a proud parakeet. “It does suit him, doesn’t it? Of course, I would never make something that didn’t suit my dear grandson. He must always be well-dressed.”

“You seem like a really supportive gramma. That’s cool. When I was in my super hardcore death metal phase, mine just dragged me to church every Sunday.” A digital beep accompanies nearly every word as he skillfully rings up each grocery down the line.

“Oh, I would never do that. Mainly because I no longer belong to a church. And also because Todd seems so averse to discussing Bible passages, so I never force him.”

At this, Todd gives a wry smile. He places the final handful of groceries onto the conveyor belt and sidles around Granny to the other side of the checkout, bagging the groceries that have already been scanned. It seems the official bag boy has fled in fright.

“I can imagine. Never one for religion, myself. Oh, and you’re eligible for the senior citizen’s discount, so let me just…” Sam pauses a moment to key in a code on the register and it dings. “Aaand, there. Your total comes out to $204.56. Stocking up for the winter already? It’s only March.”

“Oh, dear, no. Half of this is for the food drive!” Granny Ethel chuckles good-naturedly as she leans her cane against the counter and digs through her small pocketbook and produces a checkbook, then dives back in to search for her favorite pen.

Sam turns to Todd while awaiting payment. “By the way, dude, that costume is killer. I’ve never seen anything so realistic, with the added bonus that you scared the boss away! Totally made my day. My week, even.”

Todd gives a nod, happy to be of service, even if it isn’t a costume. He can’t exactly say it aloud. Perhaps one day he’ll learn how to speak English coherently, but for now nonverbal cues work just fine.

Finally, Granny Ethel finds her pink, plastic jewel-encrusted ballpoint pen and makes out a check to DeVille-Mart, even going so far as to take one of the heavier paper bags for herself, never one to make Todd carry all of the groceries himself. “You have a wonderful day, young man. Thank you.”

“Y’all have a great day, too, Ma’am.” Sam offers a toothy smile, and it seems sincere enough as he sees them off with a lazy wave “Hope to be seeing you shop here again.”

Todd isn’t so sure they’ll ever return once upper management hears about this visit, but it’s nice to know they are accepted by at least one individual.

“Now, Todd, let’s get to the food bank. We have such a long day ahead of us. But there’s a reward at the end of it—I bought ingredients specifically for chocolate turtle brownies!”

If the visit to the food bank is in any way similar to this excursion—and it will be, he decides, as yet another gawking driver’s car slow-collides with the corner vending machine when they pass through the automatic doors—they have a long day ahead of them, indeed.

#original writing #todd and granny #weekly exercise #looks like i got this done early for the week #todd and granny is the tag i'll be using for future entries #feel free to use it too #also yes granny has a name now #I like Anette too though!#original

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ice-daddy-vitya · 7 years

Text

“We’re afraid he isn’t going to make it”

Oh boy, Here we go~ You asked for this one. Writing Prompt that was supposed to be published yesterday for Writing Promt Wednesday but WTTM happened and i’m still deceased but WHATEVER ALSO AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry to the anon who sent this that it took me so long to reply! I wanted to write you a good fic because this is a killer of a prompt. (I didn’t mean that as a pun but oops?)

Potential angst under the cut -

“YUURI!!!” The name fell off of Viktor’s tongue, broken and screamed out through a gutteral cry so sharp that it pierced right through the ears of everyone around him. “YUURI! YUURI! FUCK- Someone, anyone, help him!” It was like a bad dream. No - a nightmare. He didn’t know how or when it happened. All he did know was at this moment, his vision was blurred, a mixture of white and red. His eyes burned from the tears that threatened to never cease falling down his face, and in his arms was the limp, unconscious body of his fiancé, Yuuri Katsuki. The love of his life was currently out cold, and bleeding from his skull. “Viktor, the ambulance is here for him. You have to let him go. The paramedics need to take him to the hospital.” The voice sounded far away, but Viktor recognized it as coming from Yuri Plisetsky. The tone was unusually soft for the normally aggressive young man, but VIktor didn’t have time to think about anything at the moment other than the fact that his last words to Yuuri were, “You’re not trying hard enough!” How could he have been so heartless? To scold Yuuri like that, leading to them arguing about the minor, insignificant details of Yuuri’s program. Of all the things that he could have said, of all the things he could have done... This was all his fault... ‘This is all my fault... If I hadn’t pushed him so hard, If i’d have listened more... maybe... maybe then he would have, he would have never-’ “VIKTOR!” The familiar voice interrupted his thoughts again. And at hearing it, Viktor snapped back from his regret to his nightmarish reality. A stunned, doe like gaze staring out at the blonde who was currently trying to walk Viktor to the side of the rink, and off of the ice. And Viktor complied, following behind him in an almost trance-like state. But, wait... “Wh- When did they take Yuuri?” Viktor managed to ask. He didn’t dare say anything else, since he didn’t trust his own voice at the moment. “About twenty minutes ago.” Yuri sighed, crossing his arms in front of him as he stood close beside where Viktor sat. “They took him to Leningrad*. He’s in good hands, Viktor. We just have to wait-” “I WANT TO SEE HIM NOW!” Viktor choked out loudly through a sob, his face falling into his hands as he curled in on himself where he sat on the bench. “I- I need to see him. Yuri... Please... I’ll never forgive myself if, if anything happens to him.. I mean, shit, something already happened to him... Just, please...” Yuri had never seen Viktor like this before. The normally confident and prideful man was completely broken. So, he didn’t even speak. Instead, he just grabbed Viktor’s hand, tugging him to stand up. “Come on. Get out of your skates and I’ll take you. And go wash your face... I know you’re upset, Viktor, but you need to get a hold of yourself if we’re going to go see him. Okay?” At hearing that, Viktor nodded, and the moment they were ready, Yuri led Viktor into a cab and out towards the hospital.

“We’re sorry, Viktor... We don’t think he’s going to make it...” The words replayed in his head so many times since he’d left the conversation earlier that evening with Yuuri’s doctor. It had been two days since Yuuri had been admitted into the ICU. Almost three, now. Viktor was practically living in Leningrad hospital at this point. He stayed by Yuuri’s side from the exact minute visiting hours opened to the very last moment before he had to be forcefully removed by security after closing time. Yuuri had, for the most part, stabilized. The bleeding had stopped, and any major swelling had managed to be controlled. There was no visible brain damage, and although his vitals were a bit worrying, they were, for the most part, steady. However, for whatever reason, Yuuri just wouldn’t wake up. And the thought that Yuuri might never wake up, scared Viktor out of his mind. “Don’t worry, lyubov moye. I’m not going anywhere...” He whispered the words with a hope that they would reach Yuuri, even though he wasn’t awake to acknowledge them. He had been sitting at his love’s bedside for what felt like hours, and probably had been, given by the fact that there was no longer visible sunlight outside the hospital room window. Viktor had to admit, though. He was grateful. The room was surrounded in bright bouquets of flowers. Cards and well wishes from family and friends and even complete strangers who had heard of Yuuri’s accident out on the ice days before filled the entire room. Yuuri was surrounded in a sea of love and support, even if he wasn’t aware of it. Yuuri’s family had even flown out to remain at his bedside as well, with Mari hanging around the longest, and helping Viktor with whatever he needed. And it helped - it truly did - having the support of others around. But right now, Viktor was alone. Alone with the one thing in his life he couldn’t afford to lose... “Yuuri...” He whispered, resting his head on the pillow, close to his fiancé’s face. “I’m sorry, Yuuri. I’m never going to push you like this again. I promise, okay? Just.. please... I know this is so selfish to ask but- please, don’t leave me. Please, please... wake up...” In the silence of the room, Viktor wept. He wept as he held Yuuri close, with the only other sounds coming from the idle beep of the heart monitor, his only indication that Yuuri was still alive, and the slow, humming churn of the IV drip. Yuuri didn’t wake up that night.

Almost two full weeks had gone by. And Viktor was adamant. The doctor’s told him, repeatedly, “If he hasn’t woken up yet, we don’t know if he ever will.” They asked him, tried their best to force him to consider alternatives. To think of his own future as well as the future of those involved in his life... But Viktor didn’t care. Not about anyone, or anything. No one. Right now, only Yuuri mattered. His fiancé was stable. His heart rate had normalized. His blood pressure had come back to a decent range. His cheeks had color. The swelling was practically down to a small bump, now. Viktor knew better than to give up. Yuuri wouldn’t have given up on him, and he owed his love that same respect. So he pressed on. He continued to stay with Yuuri day in and day out. The occasional company of Yuri, or Mari, or Hiroko and Toshiya joining him. Of course, it was always spent in silence. With the only words being the ones that Viktor spoke to Yuuri. He talked to him a lot. Made sure to keep Yuuri updated on everything going on in the world and with their friends and family. Trying his best to maintain some normalcy and knowing that somehow, Yuuri could hear him. “... and Yurio almost managed land a quad flip in practice yesterday! You would have been so proud if you’d seen him, Yuuri. I have video to show you, once you wake up. His landing was a bit unsteady, but he’s improving in ways you wouldn’t believe!” Viktor sighed, glancing up at the clock on the wall. The time was a bit after 1pm. It was just him, now. Mari had gone to get lunch for herself and her parents, and even though she’d tried her best to, Viktor wouldn’t budge to join them. He’d eat later. His hunger was the least important thing on his mind, right now. He would stay with Yuuri until the end of time, if he had to. Or, at least until the end of tonight. But even then, Yuuri still didn’t wake up.

“I brought Makkachin to see you today.” Viktor spoke softly, with said poodle currently napping on an unclaimed part of Yuuri’s cot, laid out at his feet. “It took a lot of begging, and a bit of bribery, but he’s here. He’s missed you. A full month without you at home has been stressful to the poor baby...” He laughed weakly, almost forced. There was something different in the way Yuuri looked today. Aside from the fact that he no longer had the contusion on his head, but only a small scar under a bandage. All the bruising had faded. His breathing was light and even, and there was a steady rise and fall to his chest. Viktor also noticed that his heart rate picked up, albeit slightly, every time he spoke. And he thought it was his imagination at first... until he spoke again, and Yuuri’s heart rate picked up the rhythm in his words. “Can... you hear me?” He mused, almost in disbelief. That is, until a small flicker, a twitch, happened itself from Yuuri’s eyelids. “..Y- Yuuri?” BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... Again, the heart monitor indicated a rise in Yuuri’s heart rate. Viktor swallowed thickly, his nerves suddenly feeling on edge. Was he about to- “... Vi...” The voice came so faintly, Viktor almost didn’t catch it. But the moment the sound fell on his ears, his attention was fully on Yuuri. “... Vi... k... Vik...tor?” Weak, breathy, but real. That was Yuuri’s voice. Yuuri was awake. Or... waking up. Viktor didn’t care. This was the first time he was hearing his beloved’s voice in almost a full month. “Yuuri!” He let out through a choked gasp, tears threatening to fall down his face. But he tried his best to keep it together, for Yuuri’s sake. “Yuuri... I’m here. Shh... I’m here, my love. Don’t worry, I’m here.” He considered, for a moment, running to get the doctor. But he couldn’t bring it in him to leave Yuuri’s side. Not right now. Not when his fears were finally being put to rest. “...Vik...tor...” Yuuri repeated, his eyes fluttering slowly, slightly, opening up to stare at the man sitting beside him. “... Viktor... where... is this... am I.. hospital?” His voice lilted as if to ask it as a question. Clearly not remembering anything after his accident. Viktor reached forward to take Yuuri’s hand, squeezing it gently. “Yes, my love. You had an accident. We’re in the hospital. But you’re fine, I promise. Please, rest, alright? Don’t push yourself. I’m here with you, and nothing bad is going to happen to you. Never again...” Viktor’s breath caught on those last words, still blaming himself for Yuuri even being in this mess to begin with.

If he hadn’t pushed... If he hadn’t yelled... if he’d just, stopped and thought for once instead of simply speaking... then maybe... maybe none of this would have- “... Vitya... You’re thinking too much...” Yuuri’s voice sounded clearer, although still very soft, and dry. But his eyes were open, and they were staring up at Viktor with... was that, a smile? And Viktor felt a hand, light and unsteady, caressing his face. Wiping away tears he hadn’t realized he’d been crying. And they only fell harder as he turned, pressing his lips to the inside of Yuuri’s palm. Holding his hand to his mouth and kissing Yuuri’s skin over and over again. “I know...” Viktor let out through a sob. “I know... I just... if I hadn’t... then you wouldn’t... God, Yuuri... I’m so sorry...”

“Don’t...” Yuuri spoke, that same angelic smile on his face. “...Please, Vitya... just... stay here, with me?” Viktor took a deep, slow breath, calming himself and nodding in response. Yuuri was right. There was no use dwelling on the ‘could ofs’ and ‘should ofs’, when they were here. Now. Together. And Yuuri was awake, and healthy. “Always, my love. And I’ll never, ever leave...” At hearing Yuuri’s voice, Makkachin woke up. And he, in too much excitement for a dog his age, bounded atop the still half dazed Yuuri, who could only weakly laugh as the poodle licked his face. “Makkachin? Viktor... Do I want to know how you managed to smuggle our dog into the hospital?” Viktor just laughed, shrugging his shoulders with a sheepish expression on his face. He’d never tell Yuuri how he traded every gold medal he owned just to bribe the doctors to let him stay in the room with Yuuri, and bring the poodle in. But, gold medals didn’t matter anymore. What mattered now, was that life could finally return to how things were meant to be. Yuuri made it after all.

#yuri on ice #yoi #fanfic #fic #yuri!!! on ice #writing prompt #writing wednesday #sushi writes #drabble #ANGST #tw: angst #cw: angst #BUT IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING #angst with a happy ending #Viktor Nikiforov #Yuuri Katsuki

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undeademoprincess · 7 years

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82 Truths

rules: once you’ve been tagged you’re supposed to write a post with eighty-two truths and then tag twenty-five people.

tagged by @hoseokjinns bruh this has been sitting in my drafts for how many eons????

name: Dawn blood type: b nickname(s): Celeste (cousins mainly) and then anything else is adding an e or i sound to the end of my name (tho i have noticed dawners is a frequent name) r/s: dead inside zodiac sign: libruh pronouns: she\her favorite tv shows: dude, i havent seen any tv shows since i was 8, that was well over a decade ago. i collect the dvd/blurays of tv shows but not often. my mother and i are really into futurama but other than that its usually animes that i collect long or short hair: literally lopped my hair off myself like 3 days ago height: 5′5″ do you have a crush on someone: if fictional characters count then yes, the husband list keeps growing and i need another closet to shove them in but real life im fighting a “battle” what do you like about yourself: i have yet to be called annoying or that im an ass to those i love and i support them with all i can, so ive got that going for me right or left handed: right, tho i am ambidextrous over weird ass shit. like gymnastics im left dominate in??? idfk either man list of three favourite colors: literally any color associated with fall/autumn and ill be a happy camper

right now: eating: just ate a cracker that had peanut butter on it cause im munchin hard drinking: sweet h2o man i’m about to: probably go to bed or i might work on my drafts for my writing blog, havent decided yet listening to: a mix about cats, love, breakfast and being tired by in love with a ghost (on youtube) kids: hell no, unless i know i can support the damn thing with all i can while living comfortably along with someone i KNOW wont leave both me and the kid and help me then maybe, but its still a really strong no. pets are fam tho, so technically i have like 5 kids already get married: down for that, annoying someone all the time as a “job” sounds fun, especially if we get late night adventures and do weird ass cooking class shit for fun. ITS IN THE CONTRACT YA KNOW career: i really want to travel the world and get paid to do so, but at my own pace

most recent: drink: water????? idk what you want from me man im a thirsty hoe for livin phone call: been on discord all day today with 2 of my best friends and listening to music with my bot the other half on it song you listened to: lauv reforget (literally just came on)

have you ever: dated someone twice: no been cheated on: nope, and im not the type to let them get away with it if they ever did kissed someone and regretted it: no lost someone special: yes been depressed: yes, began at a very young age due to the death of my father. literally had a midlife crisis when i was 4 cause of his death been drunk and thrown up: hell no kissed a stranger: no had glasses or contacts: glasses had sex on the first date: no, not really my thing broken someone’s heart: i think so, never really ask how they felt about it afterwards turned someone down: yuuuup cried when someone died: yes fallen for a friend: mmmmm, not really??? i usually crush on an acquaintance and my friends drag them in and somehow become friends later???

in the last year have you: made a new friend: uuuuuh, maybe 3??? i dont like leaving my house nor do i like wasting my time on strangers, especially if theyre rude fallen out of love: yeah laughed until you cried: many times, MANY FUCKING TIMES met someone who changed you: uh, i think so??? idk, i kinda find my own flow in life and people either respect it and enjoy the ride with me or fight it, and i dont have the energy to deal with pointless shit found out who your true friends were: ooooh yeah found out someone was talking about you: humans talk, its natural. i dont really do anything but i can see why someone WOULD talk shit if thats what this is asking about kissed someone on your fb list: ew no

which is better: lips or eyes: eyes hugs or kisses: hugs, i like being warm shorter or taller: both have pros and cons romantic or spontaneous: both? both sensitive or loud: idk what the fuck this is asking about but if its about being around people who are loud or sensitive then neither, im sensitive to headaches so loud people irritate me and trigger the pain and ive had bad experiences in person with sensitive people where they dont leave me alone and wind up stalking me???? i love being alone so neither hookup or relationship: relationship troublemaker or hesitant: one can be kinda fun but also a pain in the ass if they get you into trouble a lot and the other might not be as constantly fun per say but at least you shouldnt be in trouble as often

first: best friend: Samantha surgery: thankfully nothing yet sport i joined: badminton vacation: everything my parents did was while i was literally an infant soooooo yeah, greaaaaat memories

do you believe in: yourself: not all the time, but i rely on myself more than anyone else. i dont trust anyone for shit when i know damn well i can do it myself and know that if something goes wrong i myself fucked it up and can probably fix my mistake miracles: yes and no, i believe theres a reason for things to happen the way they do, and there are times i see it as miracles love at first sight: i believe in attraction at first sight, not immediately seeing someone soul or some shit heaven: im more for reincarnation and spiritual aspects in life and death

extras: how many people from your fb list do you know irl: 90% of them do you have any pets: im not counting my outside pets because there are too many to even keep track of to count so my children are 5 cats, toto my conure, oz my dog, tubby my gecko, and a beta fish and a catfish do you want to change your name: if i ever did, which i dont want to do, it’d be either Celeste or Aurora (my mom actually debated on calling me aurora after like the disney princess if you will and funny enough shes always been my favorite princess) what did you do for your last birthday: 2 of my friends kidnapped me and took me to dinner and we drove around and looked at interesting things. this years its during ren faire and im so damn happy what time did you wake up today: 9 pm. im sick atm and its really fucking up my sleep schedule what were you doing last night at midnight: just got out of a call with one of my best friends and sat on my own server for a bit chillin with my music bot before my other best friend joined my after like SIX HOURS, DAMN YOU SIMON something you can’t wait for: ren faire, getting married cause then i get to sweater slap someone and get away with it, and being comfortably happy in life last time you saw your mom: a few hours ago? i went to the kitchen to get my cat to love on her and saw her then what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: i wish i had more determination to see things through and not be scared to take the leaps to see it through have you ever talked to a person named tom: i worked in retail, so probably what’s getting on your nerves: a lot of things, mainly petty things. kinda wanna cut a toxic person out of my life but we all know thats easier said than done especially seeing how he talks to literally all of the people i talk with on a daily basis save one soul and he treated her like shit when he talked to her sooo yeah, dunno wtf is his problem but im tired of being the object of his frustration and anger, idk how the rest of my friends deal with his shit but im just so damn DONE

man im not taggin 25 people. if youd like to tag me as a “i found it from so and so” then go for it man, let youre dreams run free friend. im just a lazy sack of shit and am tired and im amazed im still up and that its TAKEN ME A MILLION DAMN YEARS TO DO THIS IM SO SORRY LEANNE

#my post #tagging meme

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whatif-animagineblog · 7 years

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Summary: This story is still based off this prompt. If you have been here before you know what’s going on. If not go and read part one which is linked in the author notes.

Warnings: Sickness, angst, some mildly strong language.

Pairing: Bones/Reader (Predetermined)

A/N: So chapter 2! I’m glad I got such a great response from the first one! If you missed it here is the link to part one! I’m having a great time writing this and we aren’t done yet!

Word Count: 1674

Three months. Three long aggravating months since your husband discovered your son had Xenopolycythemia and there had been no change. Which was good in this case, you often mused. The need for phlebotomies was an every few days occurrence. You often slept on the cot with Leonard unless M’Benga insisted you slept on a real bed. David was stable.

You were walking into the medbay when you heard the familiar sound of crying, hoarse desperate crying. It must’ve been a phlebotomy day. But, you heard something different on top of the shrill cry, a deep baritone trying to be soothing.

“Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleep little baby. When you wake, you shall have, All the pretty little horses.” As you crept into the private room you saw Leonard bouncing your child hand rubbing the small sobbing back. His eyes were eyes closed, walking in small circles. “Blacks and bays, dapples and grays, Go to sleep my little baby,” The crying began to subside but was still so loud and heartbreaking. “Come on buddy, you gotta rest. David,” your husband sighed as he sat on the cot, still rubbing his back. The small boy in footie pajamas started to hiccup as the teas finally subsided. “There you go pal,” he murmured as you walked in to sit by him.

“How are my boys,” you asked as Leonard peaked at you.

“Good, good. Should have known that would work. Worked on Jo, that and you are my sunshine, and weirdly the Irish lullaby.” You smiled as he shifted your boy so he was laying in his arms. You leaned on your husband. It was oddly relaxing. It felt normal. What a normal family with a 7-month baby would do.

That same day he stopped eating. That was a ‘not so good’ sign according to your husband. You tried to entice the small boy, gently prodding the small mouth with soft food or a bottle. Begging him to take a bite, a nibble, as sip, anything. Nothing. Len threw out a request for a bag of total parenteral nutrition. When Christine came at you and your son with a bag of a milky substance and a set of tubes and needles. You instinctively curled him away from her, then you felt Len’s hand on your shoulder. You glanced up and he gave you a knowing look. “It’s okay, Y/n. He’s not eating. We need to get nutrients in him so he can fight.” He snaked his gentle hands around your son, carefully prying him from your grasp.

You didn’t want to let go,”Just let me try one more time. Leonard. Please.”

“Y/n, We have to do this. He’ll be alright.” You finally let go, a hand reaching subconsciously as he moved from you. Len moved him to the biobed, he started the IV himself, soothing the now few tears that came.

It wasn’t fair to you. Babies David’s age were supposed to be starting on solid foods. Learning that it’s fun to play with and throw your food at mommy and daddy. Starting to figure out that their gibberish means something. But David wasn’t getting that luxury. No. He got poked and prodded, blood drawn, scans taken. Cried desperately, not understanding why his mother and father never did a thing to stop the pain. He didn’t get to play and have no worries, he slept. He slept while his lethargic body over produced his blood cells.

M’Benga made you and Len go to the mess hall to eat. Insisted being out among others would prevent a fish bowl effect. Leonard barely agreed, stating, “I know you’re right, Geoff, but.”

“No buts Leonard. It’ll be good for you and Y/N. Take a few laps too. Take a breath and a step back.”

“How can I take a breath when my child is dying?” You snapped and Geoff recoiled You had been mostly quiet through this whole ordeal. Taking it all in stride. But how dare he? How dare he tell you to ‘take it easy’! Your child was dying from a mutated form of a rare blood-born disease. Which, until now, had no known history of being genetic. Probably, because no one lives long enough to worry about procreation after they contracted the disease. You couldn’t ‘take a step back.’ You needed to be on the front lines of this war, fighting with your son.

“Y/n,” M’Benga started softly. “I know what you are thinking that if you take a breather you’ll fail your son. You can’t help him if you are sick too. The way you two are going you won’t be any help to anyone.” You opened your mouth to protest, “Go, doctor’s orders.”

“I’m the CMO,” Leonard chided with a soft laugh.

“Not while you are compromised like this. Christine and I are in charge. And she agrees with me.”

“I do,” came a soft chime from the other side of the Medical-bay.

The walk down to the mess hall was a quiet one. You held hands, Leonard’s thumb rubbing soft circles into the top of yours. It was a quiet dinner, both of you picked at the food. You had nothing to really talk about. Your days were the same. Crying, tests, scans, the occasional blood draw, barely sleeping, rarely eating. It was all blurring together as one long unending day.

You watched the other crewmembers mull about, talking laughing, living life. While you felt stationary. Despite what M’Benga said you felt more isolated out there then you did in Medbay. You felt stuck in a fishbowl, swimming in the same areas, the same circle day in and day out. Some days you swam higher when you could make your son laugh. Others, like today, you sawm down towards a worse condition. You hadn’t talked much to anyone since, because all you wanted to talk about, all you could talk about was your son. You had also decided to keep this matter private, you didn’t need the pity of crewmen you never knew. Watch them receding in their eyes during the conversation about what this sickness entailed. Almost immediately regretting the status updates. You saw that in Jim’s eyes sometimes when talking to Leonard, it was minuscule, it was mostly fear for his best friend. And even though they didn’t know, ignorant to the whole thing, you felt an anger. They just kept going on and smiling why two decks above them your son was suffering.

You were quiet in your room, lying next to your husband on your back. Both staring at the ceiling. It was fine until you heard Leonard’s breathing became uneven, you turned your head to see tears spilling down his red cheeks. He took in a shuddering breath as he placed his hands over his eyes. “Len,” you whispered. You leaned over him and placed a hand on his chest. “Leonard.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he sobbed out. His voice broken, and weak. “This is all my fault, y/n. It’s all my fault.” His whole body was shaking, his face is contorted in agony.

“Leo,” you whimpered feeling tears forming in your own eyes. “Don’t say that. Please. It’s not your fault!” Leonard sat up, trying to catch his breath in sobbing gasps. Shaking his head, messing up the brown locks even more.

“It is,” he cried. “It’s all my fault! I’m the one who caught the damn disease. I gave it to my son. I passed it on to him. I’m the reason why he’s dying! H-how can you still be speaking to me? W-Why aren’t you mad?” Leonard had a hand balling up his shirt on his body. Those now nervous, legendary hands twisting and pulling on the material.

“Because I love you. And because hating you would add unnecessary work to this hard time.” You ran a hand along his back, making small circles. “Lee, you had no control over this. I could never be mad over this.” You kissed his cheek gently, running your fingers through his hair.

“I’m killing our kid. I’m killing him,” Bones pulled away. Tears still falling thickly. You kissed him. You knew that wouldn't solve the problem, but it would solve the immediate sobbing.You couldn’t bare it. Seeing him so broken, shattered your already injured heart. You melted at the feeling of his lips melting into yours. It was slow and passionate. The way he held your neck, rubbing a thumb over your pulse point, sent all the love he wanted to express into your body. It had been a long while since you two had been more intimate than a hug or a peck on each other’s cheek.

“I’ve missed you,” you whispered, pulling away. “Leonard Horatio McCoy you are not a fault. I love you more than anything. You wouldn’t cause harm if you could help it. This isn’t you, this is just life being an asshole. I don’t blame you.” You held his face firmly, forcing him to look at you. “I promised you that I be with you no matter what. I’m still with you. Please, don’t blame yourself. This is hard enough without you beating yourself up. Please, Len.”

“I love you, so much you know that darlin’,” Leonard finally spoke, changing the subject. You realized what he was doing but decided it was best to let it go. When he was ready, you would talk about it again. “I love you so much, and I am so scared. I still haven’t heard much from the labs.”

“Me either,” you mumbled, pecking his lips. Leonard yawned, a big wide powerful yawn. You often teased him about it. Claiming that he looked like a lion. “Let’s get some sleep. We need it to be strong tomorrow. For David.” You commented as you snuggled down into the blankets.

“For David,” he parroted back, his voice still cracking, tears still lined in his eyes. Holding you close to his body before you both fell into an exhausted sleep.

TAGS: @outside-the-government @feelmyroarrrr @answer-the-sirens @yourtropegirl @starshiphufflebadger @star-trekkin-across-theuniverse @trekken81 @bkwrm523 @imaginestartrek @imaginenterprise @wificrazymisfit @athena1138 @ucy161 @thebassoonerthebabetter @emmkolenn @medicatemedrmccoy @mamawasabi @kaitymccoy123

If you want to join the Tag Team let me know! If I forgot you I am so sorry I got a lot of tag request so if i missed you message me again.

#Leonard McCoy #Bones #leonard mccoy/reader #bonesxreader #leonard mccoyxreader #bones/reader #leonard mccoy x reader #bones x reader #leonard mccoy / reader #bones / reader #tw: sickness #WhatIf? - Imagines

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clearsandwicheagle-blog · 6 years

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