#matt YELLING while everyone just stands and silently agrees

[hooksredrum]

so much going on here. matt aggressively yelling “delete”, jeff moving his head to the side with every word, isiah kassidy hip thrusting, and hook just simply nodding 😭😭😭

#this is my new favorite video #matt YELLING while everyone just stands and silently agrees #hilarious #hook #matt hardy #isiah kassidy #jeff hardy #aew #hook nation rise

[sturniolos-blog]

Peer Pressured - Matt Sturniolo x Y/n oneshot

warnings - swearing, fluff, arguing

requested ‼️

disclaimer: third person POV again

—————————

6:47pm Friday afternoon

“My parents would kill me, have you guys met my dad?” 14 year old Estrella tells her friends.

Her group of friends consisted of Hailey, Gavin, Jackson, Shay, and Shawn. They were currently in Shawn’s basement, all of them were vaping except for Ella, she loves her friends, but they aren’t the best for her, she knows that, but she just lets it happen. Shay and Shawn were the nice ones, the one that would never make Ella feel pressured, which may be the reason she has a slight crush on Shawn, and why Shay is her bestfriend but who’s really keepin’ track?

Ella was sat on the couch with Hailey and Shay, Hailey’s feet were on Ella as Ella was in the middle of the two, Shay had her feet on the coffee table.

Gavin and Shawn were on the other couch, while Jackson sat in a bean bag chair.

Her friend Hailey shakes her head, letting out a puff of smoke, “You’re parents are literally amazing they let you do whatever you want.”

Gavin nods his head in agreement, “Yeah, bro, your parents are like mad chill. Mine freak out over the littlest things.” He says, taking a hit from his vape.

“Nah, for real, especially your mom, El. You’re lucky.” Jackson says, his head leaning back and now looking up towards the ceiling.

Shay shakes her head, directing at Hailey, Gavin, and Jackson, “Yall needa’ shut up.” Shay then turns to Estrella. “You don’t gotta do it, girl. Your choice a hundred percent.” Shay says as she takes a hit from her rechargeable blueberry vape.

Shawn nods, silently agreeing with Shay.

Jackson goes into a coughing fit.

“Well if you do it, don’t be like this dumbass,” Hailey laughs, throwing her head back also to rest it on the arm of the couch.

Shawn slaps Jackson’s knee, “Yo, chill man, my mom’s is right upstairs, she bouta hear you hackin’ it up and ask what’s going on.” Shawn scoffs.

Gavin looks at Ella as Ella picks at her nails, “Estrella, why would you even come? I mean if you’re not gonna vape then what are you doing here?” He laughs, shaking his head as he hits his vape.

Ella gives him a dirty look, “Excuse me?”

Shay sits up, “Gavin, chill, you freak.” She insults.

Gavin laughs, “We thought you were cool, you used to be so fun. Remember when you used to get yelled at all the time? And now you’re miss goody two shoes, i mean, what happened to the good, fun, Ella?”

Ella suddenly feels small in this moment, she was only getting in trouble when her father was working too much.

Shawn stands up, pointing at Gavin, “You needa watch yourself, man. She ain’t even do nothin’.”

Gavin stands up also as they get in each others face, “That’s exactly my point, she’s being boring as shit.”

Shawn shoves Gavin harshly, “I said watch yourself!” He yells.

Hailey lets out an obnoxious laugh as she stands up, pulling out her phone. “Fight! Fight! Fight!” She chants.

At this point everyone is standing up.

“You guys all needa chill, like now.” Shay says, Ella grabbing onto her sweatshirt.

As Gavin goes to push Shawn back, Ella interrupts, “I’ll do it!” She says.

Everyone looks at her before Shawn speaks up, “Nah, you don’t gotta.”

Gavin smirks.

Ella shrugs, “It’s not even that bad, Gavin’s right. I used to be fun. Just let me get a hit from someone.” She says, putting her hand out.

Everyone looks down and stays silent, except for Gavin, he pulls out a green vape which meant it was mint.

“Here.” He says, giving it to her.

She takes a hit, as she releases the smoke she lets out a few coughs before feeling better, “Alright, pussies. Can we all sit down and chill?”

Everyone mutters a yeah before they all sit.

—————————

7:49pm

Ella walks in her house, her vape hidden in her bra. The first thing she sees is Mailo on the couch playing Fortnite.

“I’m home!” She yells, taking her shoes off.

“No one cares.” Mailo, the twelve year old scoffs.

“I wasn’t talking to you, jerk.” She says, giving him a dirty look.

“I’m in the kitchen, sweetheart!” Y/n yells back.

Ella walks into the kitchen to see her mom cutting up some fruit.

“What are you doing?” Ella asks, walking over and sticking a piece of watermelon in her mouth.

“We are having a meeting for work tomorrow, so i figured i would be nice and cut up some fruit for everybody.” Y/n says, grabbing apples out of the fridge.

Ella goes to grab another piece before Y/n smacks her hand away, starting to cut the apples. “Where’s dad?” Ella asks, taking a piece of watermelon anyway.

“In the shower, he should be out now…” Y/n trails off.

“Yeah, i’m out.” Matt says, walking into the kitchen with his hair wet, his shirt off and sweatpants on.

“Hey, baby, how was your friend’s house?” He asks Ella, kissing the top of her head.

Ella pauses for a moment, “It was fun.”

Matt goes to reach for a piece of watermelon, getting smacked in the hand by Y/n.

“Ow..” He mutters, “Yeah, what’d you do?” He turns his attention back to Ella.

Ella hesitates as her face goes pale, “We hung out, dad. There’s nothing to it.” She snaps.

Matt’s eyes widen slightly, “Okay, i was just asking.” He puts his hands up in defense before him and Ella at the same time go for another piece of watermelon.

“Will you two stop!? If i cut you some will you leave me alone!?” Y/n asks.

Matt and Ella both nod their heads with a cheeky smile on their faces.

“Mom! Cut me some too!” Mailo yells from the living room.

Matt and Ella both laugh as Y/n tries to hide her smile, “What is wrong with this family?” She sighs, going to the fridge to get more watermelon.

Matt and Ella sneaking more pieces.

Y/n turns around and comes back with the watermelon, seeing that her watermelon pieces that she cut up already were gone.

“Seriously?!”

—————————

9:42pm

Y/n walks into Mailo’s room, knocking before she opens the door, “Night, Mailo.” She smiles at him, just sticking her head in.

“Night, mom.” He says, watching something on the TV.

Y/n smiles and walks out of the room, walking to Ella’s room and knocking before opening the door, when Y/n peaks in she sees Ella readjusting herself, putting something behind her back, but she doesn’t say anything.

“You okay?” Y/n asks.

Ella nods, her lips staying closed.

“Alright, night, sweetheart.” Y/n smiles.

Ella smiles back as Y/n leaves the room, shutting the door.

What Y/n didn’t know is that the moment she left Ella let out a puff of smoke from her lips, the thing she put behind her was the green mint vape.

Ella takes a couple more puffs, she’s not addicted, she told herself. I meant there’s no way if i just started, right?

In the middle of a puff, the worst of the worst happens, Matt walks in.

Matt’s smile he had plastered on his face drops slightly, “What are you doing?” He asks, soft tone to his voice.

Ella has smoke in her mouth as she hides the vape under her thigh, she shakes her head as her face starts to turn red from holding in the smoke.

“What’s the matter?” Matt asks, walking in her room now.

Ella shakes her head again, begging silently for her father to leave.

“Ella, are you-”

Finally Ella coughs, smoke releasing from her mouth, very visibly, Matt watching as this happens.

“What the hell was that!?” Matt snaps.

Ella coughs consistently, leaning over to grab water on her nightstand but as she goes so the vape slips from underneath her thigh and onto the floor.

“Ella, what the fuck?!” Matt yells.

Y/n rushes in the room immediately when she hears Matt’s yell.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why are you yelling?” Y/n asks as Matt picks up the vape from the ground.

As Ella recovers from her coughing fit she yells out, “Dad! Wa-”

His face red with anger, “Our daughter is smoking! Did you know about this?!” Matt asks Y/n.

Y/n shakes her head, putting her hand on her own chest as she feels heart broken, partly because her daughter is doing this but partly because her daughter didn’t tell her.

“Ella, seriously?” Y/n lets out a disappointed sigh, shaking her head as she rubs her forehead.

Ella gets out of bed, “This was the first time i prom-”

Matt cuts her off, “Yeah and your last time, your last time for everything, you’re grounded, your phones getting taken, no TV, no nothing, you are-”

“Dad!” Ella yells as she tears up.

Y/n puts her hand on Matt’s shoulder, “Okay, Matt, i think we should all take a breath-”

“Yeah, not a hit of a vape.” Matt snarks, him rubbing his stubble.

Y/n starts to bring him out of the room, “Now, you’re being ridiculous, and i think you should go calm down before you say another word.” Y/n says, holding onto Matt softly.

Matt looks at her, tilting his head slightly, “But-”

“Now. Please.” Y/n pleads. Matt looks at her and sighs before nodding, walking to their bedroom.

Mailo comes out of his room, “Is everything okay?” He asks his mom, looking at Ella’s bedroom door before Y/n’s and Matt’s bedroom door.

Y/n smiles, “Everything’s fine, you’re fathers upset. Go to your room, sweetie.” Y/n says softly, kissing his forehead.

Mailo nods and goes back to his room.

Y/n walks into Ella’s room, shutting the door behind her as Ella was sitting on her bed crisscross apple sauce, sobbing in her hands.

Y/n climbs on the bed with Ella and wraps her arms around her.

Ella wraps her arms around her mother and sobs into her chest, “I’m sorry!” She sobs out, it was heartbreaking.

Y/n shakes her head, “I’m not mad at you, okay? I’m not mad, i’m not disappointed, i love you so much. I don’t care what you do. I just wish you would’ve came to me first. I’ll always have your back, El. Through the good and the bad, for the better or the worst, i’m here, baby, i’m here.” Y/n says, kissing Ella’s forehead.

Ella cries for about 5 minutes more before she starts to talk again, her head still on Y/n’s chest. “I didn’t want to, mommy.” Ella whispers.

“I promise, i didn’t want to b-but then Gavin started saying i wasn’t cool and everyone else was just doing it so i figured why not, and then he gave me one to take home, so that’s why i have it.” Ella explains.

Y/n nods, running her fingers through Ella’s hair, “Okay, okay. You were peer pressured, baby. And that’s not okay but that’s not your fault, you said no and then they insisted, that’s totally not your fault.”

Ella sniffles, “I’m sorry.”

“Look at me, Estrella Leylani.” Y/n uses her daughter’s middle name.

Ella looks up at her mother, “Stop apologizing. Okay, you’re good.” Y/n says.

Ella shakes her head, “Dad hates me. He was so mad and disappointed. He doesn’t love me.” She tears up again.

“No, baby, no. Not at all. He does. I’m gonna go talk to him and then he’ll talk to you. I’ll calm him down, alright?” Y/n asks, Ella nods.

Y/n smiles, kissing her daughter’s forehead one more time before walking out of the room and into her and Matt’s room.

Matt looks up, he was pacing around the room, him biting his nails.

He wipes his hands on his pants, “Why would she not say anything? i mean, what has gotten into her? There’s no-”

Y/n grabs Matt’s hand and stops him from pacing, “Matt, baby. Listen to me. For a second, slow down.” Y/n says softly.

Matt takes a breath and looks at her, standing still now.

Y/n let’s out a breath, “She was peer pressured, some kid told her she wasn’t cool because she didn’t vape and everyone was so it just happened.” Y/n explains.

Matt’s angry expression drops, “But- she- why- who would even-”

“So, you can go and talk to her, but seriously, lose all the negativity you have because right now she thinks you don’t love her, and she’s really fucking upset.” Y/n tells him.

Matt lets out a shaky breath, “Okay, but i do love her, so much, she’s my baby.” Matt says in a quiet tone.

Y/n nods, bringing her hands up to his cheeks, rubbing back and forth on his stubble, “I know that, she knows that. But she’s not really feeling much of the love, Matt. You scared her, you swore at her.”

Matt scoffs, “I was just mad-”

“I know, baby. I know. So, go and talk to her. She needs you, i know she does.” Y/n says, putting a sad smile on her face.

Matt nods, leaning down and kissing Y/n softly. “Okay, i love you.” He says, resting his forehead on hers for a second.

“I love you too.” Y/n whispers before Matt leaves the room.

Matt slowly walks into Ella’s room, seeing her on her bed, picking at her fingers as she sits up, sniffles coming from her.

“Ella?” Matt says softly.

She looks up, noticing him now. “Daddy? i’m so sorry.” She sobs.

Matt shakes his head and comes over to her, embracing her in a big hug. “I’m sorry, i shouldn’t have snapped. I should’ve asked you why, i love you, i’m not mad at you, baby. I’ll never be mad at you and i’ll always love you.” Matt rants.

“I didn’t want to!” Ella sobs into his neck.

Matt tears up, “I know, my love. I know. And i’m sorry i swore at you, i didn’t mean it, your mother and i love you so much and we just want the best for you, okay? We good now?” Matt pulls away to look at Ella, wiping her tears with his thumbs, his hands staying on her cheeks.

She nods and sniffles, Matt places a kiss in the middle of her forehead before hugging her again.

Y/n walks in the room and joins the hug, “Mailo!” Y/n yells.

“What?!” He groans from his room.

“Get in here, buddy!” Matt yells as they all continue to hug.

Mailo then comes in the room, “I’m not joining that.” He says shaking his head in disgust, talking about the hug.

Matt scoffs playfully before pulling away from the hug, going and picking up Mailo and throwing him on Ella’s bed as Y/n and Ella laugh.

“Dad!” Mailo groans as they all hug each other.

Safe to say after this Ella stopped smoking, continued to stay friends with Shay and Shawn but dropped Gavin, Jackson, and Hailey.

—————————

alright i’m done for tonight i hope you guys liked this long fic

taglist: @sturniolosmind @novasturniolo03 @hearts4chriss @vinniehackerslefttoe @christhopersturniolo

#matt sturniolo #chris sturniolo #nick sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #christopher sturniolo #nicolas sturniolo #spotify #sturniolo #matt sturniolo x reader #matt sturniolo x you

[irelanddesires]

Ny Början- Chapter 1

Pairing:  André Burakovsky x reader

Warnings: Fluff, eventual smut, hockey violence, domestic violence (in the beginning), idk probs more.

Summary:  With the help of a group of unsuspecting heroes you are saved from a toxic relationship. One of your saviors goes above and beyond anything you could ask for. A friendship is forged and after awhile feelings happen. Could ths be your happy ending? 

A/N: Hi I’m trash and this idea has rolled around in my head for w e e k s. I’ve played hockey for a really long time and the Avs are my team... Burky happens to be my hockey crush so I figured I would share this. IDK what it is but this challenged me a lot and I can’t write a guys perspective to save my life ffs. Dialogue is hard my doods. Anyway, enjoy and let me know what you think! 

Going to the club was the last thing you wanted to do. Between working two jobs and trying to stay on top of your classes it didn’t leave much free time and you didn’t want to spend that sparse time dealing with drunk people and loud music. Your boyfriend, Matthew, had insisted that this was exactly what you needed after the week you had. At this point you both had been there long enough to see friends call it a night and you were pretty sure that Matthew was one drink away from making a fool out of himself. 

“Matt, can we please go?” you asked, hoping that he would finally agree. 

“Loosen up! We never get to spend time together. Let’s enjoy this!” he practically yelled. 

“We’ve been here long enough. It’s late and I have an early shift tomorrow.” you urged. At this point you wanted to go home, get out of this dress and crawl into bed. Nothing at this bar held your attention. Matt’s had grabbed your arm, his face inches from yours.

“I said no. We’re not going anywhere. I’m not finished here.” he ground out. 

The look on his face left little room for argument and was quite scary. Matt was usually a nice guy, the perfect boyfriend, but after drinking he could become a totally different person. Matt had never hit you but the emotional toll it took on you could be just as painful as a physical blow. After the week you’ve had of working 12-14 hour days just to come home and clean before passing out just to do it all over again made you throw all caution to the wind. You wanted to go home for fucks sake, not be here. 

You snached your arm from his grip, looking him in the eyes, “I’m tired, I’m going home. You can stay if you want but I’m not.” 

Before he could say anything you spun on your heels and marched out the side door that led to a less busy street. You hoped this would give you some peace and quiet as you ordered your Uber. Just as you tapped the app to get an Uber the door behind you swung open. Matt stumbled through the doorway and onto the sidewalk with you. 

“You can’t leave me,” he said. 

“Matt, I’m going home to sleep. I don’t care what you do.” 

“I said no!” he roared. Before you could comprehend what was happening your head snapped back and you were pushed against the outside wall of the bar. The brick dug into your skin as you tried to struggle against the hands holding you there. 

“Why don’t you ever listen to me you bitch.” he said as his fingers dug into your throat, “If I tell you to do something you fucking do it!” 

Panic seized your chest as his hands circled around your throat. The throbbing in your head forgotten about as your fight or flight instincts kicked in. You tried to kick him as hard as you could but it seemed like he wasn’t phased at all by it. Your hands grabbed onto his, your fingernails digging into his skin trying to get any distance between his hands and your throat. Just as spots began to dance around your vision the same door you both had exited from swung open and a group of people spilled out. 

Before you could try and scream for help one of them turned around and spotted you. His face went from relaxed and playful to murderous in seconds. You didn’t have time to gather your thoughts before he was charging both of you, shoving Matt off of you. You fell to the ground in a pile, your muscles felt like jello but your brain screamed at you to run. Looking up at the situation happening in front of you all you could see was the back of the stranger that had come to your rescue. His friends had caught on quick and made it over to stand around you too, like shields between you and Matt,  as you gathered yourself. 

“Is there a problem?” One of them said, the voice sounded like it came from the one that had charged Matt but your brain couldn’t comprehend everything that was happening. 

Matt stumbled to his feet before looking at the mystery men. “Mind your business” he slurred. 

“I don’t think so. You want to get to her, you have to go through us.” a voice called out. 

For a moment it looked like Matt was considering it. His eyes scanned each guy before landing on you. 

“This isn’t over you fucking bitch!” he yelled before turning around and making his way back into the bar. 

The door didn’t have time to shut all the way before one of your saviors crouched down in front of you. His hazel eyes searched your face, “ Are you okay?” he asked 

As much as you wanted to tell him your entire body felt weighed down, you bit back your weakness,

 “I’m fine.” you said as you began to try and stand. It took a couple tries to get your feet under you. You tried to use what energy you had to stand, you were nearly there when your legs went to give out. Hands caught you around your waist and pulled you the rest of the way up. 

“You don’t look fine” the mystery man said and he held onto you, carrying the majority of your weight. “Look, let me get you somewhere safe and I can take you home”

You looked at him, searching his face for dishonesty. At this point you figured that someone, or a group of people, that came to your rescue surely couldn’t be bad people. You silently agreed for his help with a nod of your head. 

The rest of the time you spent with the group of them went by in a blur. They all talked amongst themselves in whispers, every now and then you caught words. At one point you caught the name “André” and you assumed this was the name of the guy holding you up. Before long a car pulled to the curb and your stranger opened the door for you before helping you inside. None of the other guys followed so you assumed they were getting their own Uber. 

The ride was silent for a few moments before his voice broke through, “I’m André by the way” 

“Y/N” 

“I didn’t know where you would want to go so I figured you could come to my place and then decide what you want to do,” he said. 

You looked at him and nodded, whispering a “thank you” as you settled into the seat. You shouldn’t feel comfortable about going home with a guy you just met outside a bar but for some reason you felt safe with him. He gave off a genuine arua of concern and wanting to help. Before you could think about it too much your world faded to black and you let your exhausted and battered body rest. 

_______________________________

Having a night off from hockey was rare. What was even more rare was being able to have a guys night with some of the team. Most of the time when games weren’t being played or practice were being held, everyone would go their own ways. Some would spend time with their significant other, some would spend time alone or some would visit family if the break was long enough. 

Tonight a few of us had decided to let loose and bar hop across Denver. Usually this time of year the weather was starting to get cooler which made bar hopping more of a chore. Tonight however, the weather was perfect which gave us plenty of reason to have some fun. 

The first bar we went to was picked by Miko. He said this was the best bar in Denver with the hottest chicks so more than a few in our group were eager to get there. 

The outside of the building was modern with sleek black walls and the walls that weren’t stone were see-through glass. Through the windows we could see people dancing with lights strobing through the air.

 We quickly made our way inside and were ushered to a VIP section, one of the many perks of playing professional sports was getting recognized when out since it usually led to getting a more private area. The captain of the team was with us so of course we were bound to be recognized. 

We all bounced around from group to group chatting and drinking. Some of the guys had found partners to dance with while the rest of us just hung out. Time passed and we all were eventually some level of intoxicated, some more than others. Nate brought up the idea of heading to the Pur, a rooftop bar with a chill atmosphere. A group of us thought that was a great plan. The constant bass and flashing lights got old as the night wore on. 

The five of us; Gabe, Nate, Miko, Gru and myself headed toward the back door. We hoped we could escape quietly and back doors were usually best for doing that. 

The heavy door swung shut behind us as we spilled into the cool Denver night. A noise caught my attention, turning my head to see who else was out here, I was met with a scene I wasn’t expecting. A man had a woman pinned to the side of the building. Her feet dangled off of the ground and her hands gripped his that were circling around her throat. Time seemed to stop and instinct took over as I rushed to them. Before I could comprehend what I was doing my fist was sailing through the air, connecting with the man's face before he fell to the ground. The girl slumped to the side of the building in a heap. Concern for her swam through my body but I knew this guy had to leave before I could help her. 

The man stumbled to his feet. By now the guys had joined me, putting ourselves between the pair. 

“Is there a problem?” Gave asked

“Mind your business” the man mumbled. 

Rage burned through my body and it took everything in me to not pummel this guy. 

“I don’t think so.” I called out. 

The man took a moment. His eyes scanned each one of us. He must have eventually decided he was outnumbered and didn’t want to take his chances. 

“This isn’t over you fucking bitch!” He yelled before stumbling through the door we had just come out of. Relief flooded me now that we didn’t have a fight on our hands. A whimper from behind me had me turning and dropping to my knees. 

“Are you okay?” I asked. My eyes scanned over her checking for major injuries. Her breathing hitched as she tried to push herself up to stand. Halfway up her legs seemed to give way. Before she could tumble to the ground I grabbed her, hauling her to her feet and holding as much of her weight as I could. 

Her hands tangled in my shirt holding on for dear life. There’s no way she would be able to make it home and I didn’t trust leaving her like this with a stranger. Looking around the group of guys, Gabe was the first to speak up. 

“What’s your plan? Get an Uber?” He asked. 

“Yeah, I think I will take her to my place. I have a spare room she can sleep in and she can figure out something in the morning” 

The guys nodded in agreement. No one wanted to leave her alone right now. Especially not with her angry boyfriend, or ex boyfriend I hope, on the loose. 

“I’ll get you guys an Uber,” Gru piped up. 

“Thanks” I muttered, turning my attention back to the girl clinging on to me. 

The rest of the wait was quiet. No one talked about going anywhere else for the night. I’m sure at this point everyone wanted to go home and decompress from what had happened. Before long the Uber pulled up and I shuffled us around to open the door. With some adjustments I was able to sit her down and close the door before nodding to the guys and making my way around the car to climb in beside her. 

The driver took off immediately, glancing in the rear view mirror between the two of us. We didn’t make it far before i turned to her, 

“I’m André by the way” 

Her sad eyes met mine and for a moment I didn’t think she would say anything until I heard a whisper. 

“Y/N” 

Her voice sounded awful and the emotion behind her eyes told me how exhausted she really was. 

“I didn’t know where you would want to go so I figured you could come to my place and then decide what you want to do,” I told her. 

She looked at me again before croaking out a “thank you”. The rest of the ride was quiet. Once we arrived at my place I figured out why it was quite. At some point during the drive Y/N must had fallen asleep, her head was leaning against the window and her body was curled right around herself. 

I climbed out of the car and went to her side. Carefully I opened the door, catching her head when it went to fall. Surprisingly she didn’t wake so I slid my arms under her lifting her out of the car and pulling her against my chest. 

Unlocking the door and navigating through my apartment while carrying another person was harder than I would have imagined. I made it to my guest room and laid her on the bed. Not wanting her to wake up uncomfortable I took her shoes off before covering her with blankets and shutting the door on my way out. 

I settled on the couch with a beer from the fridge before releasing the breath that seemed stuck in my chest. The last thing I thought about before drifting off was the broken girl sleeping in the other room.

#andre burakovsky x reader #andre burakovsky #nhl #hockey #colorado avs #colorado avalanche #gabe landeskog #gabriel landeskog #nathan mckinnon #philipp grubauer

[davidpastrsnack]

no control - matthew tkachuk

a/n: i was in the mood for dirty matty so this is what we got! it’s filthy but it’s also a little soft. hope you enjoy!

It was one of the few Saturday nights that didn’t include a Flames game and the organization was taking advantage by hosting one of their annual charity events. Matthew was already ready, waiting for you as you finished up your hair and makeup in the bathroom. You laughed to yourself as you heard the TV turn on from the living room, the voices of the Sportsnet announcers carrying through the apartment. Even on his day off, your boyfriend couldn’t resist the chance to get a dose of hockey. 

After just a few more minutes, you were finally feeling satisfied with your appearance, moving to the bedroom to slide off your robe and change into your dress. You grabbed it off the hanger, slipping the ivory silk fabric over your body, taking the time to appreciate the high slit once it was fully draped over your frame. 

“Matty?” you called, wanting his opinion on your shoes before you sat to put a pair on. You could hear him shuffling towards you, the clicking of his dress shoes against the hardwood getting louder as he neared. 

Matthew’s feet stopped short the second he looked up and saw you in front of him. The soft material of your dress clung to every one of your curves perfectly and the slit on your left leg made his mind wander to what he was going to do when you got home later. 

“Matthew,” you repeated, gesturing to the two pairs of shoes in your hands. “Which one?”

“Oh um,” he tugged his curls as he tried to pull himself together, “Black?”

You smiled, agreeing with his decision, and stood up on your toes to press a kiss to his cheek before sitting on the edge of the bed to tie the straps of your heels. He walked back out of the room to turn off whatever game he was watching, sensing that you would be ready to leave any minute. He was right, and you came out just as he was putting on his suit jacket. You walked over to where he was leaning against the kitchen counter, running you hands across the crisp white dress shirt on his chest. 

“You look good, Matty,” you whispered. He was wearing your favorite combination, a dark navy suit that made his bright blue eyes pop with a brown belt and shoes.

“No,” he chuckled, “Y/N, you look good,” he countered, his hands grabbing your waist and lifting you onto the counter. 

You gasped at the sudden movement, recognizing the look in his eyes right away. 

“You look too good, princess,” he groaned as he leaned down to press kisses to your exposed neck and collarbone, the skimpy spaghetti straps of your dress giving him plenty of room. 

You couldn’t help but let your head roll back at the feeling of his mouth, he knew just how to work you up in a matter of seconds. You were finally mustering up the strength to tell him to stop because you couldn’t be late when you felt his hand start to slip beneath the slit of your dress. Your breath hitched at the contact, his thick fingers inching closer and closer to your core. 

“Matt- Matthew,” you softly moaned, already feeling yourself fall under his spell, “We have to go,” you pleaded. 

He picked up his head from your chest, pouting his pink lips. “But baby you’re killing me, just lemme get you off real quick,” he begged, his big blue eyes staring up at you. 

Despite how much he was testing you, you eventually came to your senses, sitting up straighter and pushing his wrist from its post under your dress. 

“Come on, we really can’t be late,” you rationed, Matthew rolling his eyes at your words but still moving towards the door in defeat. “Plus, you always ruin my makeup which we definitely don’t have time for,” you mumbled as you slid off the counter. 

He turned on his heels to face you with a shit-eating grin on his face, “I’m that good, aren’t I?”

Now it was your turn to roll your eyes, giggling when Matthew patted your ass while he held the apartment door open for you. 

-----

Once you arrived at the event, it was the usual small talk and ass kissing from the start. You did the first round of hellos and introductions with Matthew, and like always he made sure you had your glass of rosé before a woman from management pulled him away to charm the important guests. He glanced over his shoulder shooting you an apologetic smile, but you simply nodded to the group of girls that you were going to visit, reassuring him that you were okay. Matthew was quickly becoming the face of the franchise and both of you had to navigate the new responsibilities that came with it. 

Over an hour later Matthew and the rest of the guys were released from their obligations for the night, everyone sitting at the tables waiting for dinner to be served. The alcohol was flowing, and it was clear the team needed a night together with each other and their partners to relax. Just as you were laughing at the story Gio was telling about one of his kids, you felt Matthew’s hand lift from the back of your chair where it had been resting and slip down to lay just above your knee. You leaned into his touch, which was nothing out of the ordinary and seemed harmless. 

But it didn’t take long for you to realize that it was not, in fact, harmless. 

Every few minutes he moved it higher up, his thumb swirling gently circles against your skin, until he eventually slipped it under the slit of your dress. You turned your head away from the conversation, giving him a stern look that said it all. 

Matthew simply raised his eyebrows silently asking you what was wrong, as if he didn’t know, all while trying to suppress a grin that was fighting it’s way across his face. You glanced down at your lap, the tablecloth thankfully covering his lack of restraint. You grabbed his hand with your own, squeezing tightly to warn him that he needed to stop, but you knew that was no use and you couldn’t deny that this was hot. His strength easily overpowered yours, and he gently moved his hand up to finally graze the delicate lace of your panties. You had to hold in a gasp as he started rubbing his thumb against your clit, hand circling so slowly that you couldn’t even tell his arm was moving at all from the table. The only thing that would give anyone a hint something was going on was your own reactions. Great. 

Matthew gulped as he felt you growing so wet beneath him, his fingers quickly coated in your arousal as you soaked through the lace. It was becoming harder and harder for you to keep a straight face, your cheeks starting to flush and your nails digging into his thigh. You grabbed your wine glass hoping to distract yourself somehow from the pleasure slowly building between your legs, nearly choking on the liquid when he applied more pressure to your clit right when you took a slip. You turned your head to look at him and it was apparent that he was enjoying this more than anything. He again was fighting to hide his smirk while he watched you struggle to keep it together, nodding along to something Noah was saying. 

Now he was feeling more confident, starting to pick up his pace and you knew this had to stop soon before you had no control of what you did or said. 

“Matthew,” you spoke, louder than you intended, making everyone look at you. “Can I talk to you please?”

“Sure, baby,” he calmly replied, taking his sweet time to move his fingers, dragging them down your inner thigh to wipe them clean before standing. He put out his hand for you to grab, which you did and quickly pulled him away, but not before he could say, “We’ll be right back,” to the table.

You urgently lead him out of the dining room in search of a secluded place to yell at him, Matthew with a self-satisfied smile the whole time he followed you. You reached a part of the hallway that was seemingly empty, finally turning to face him. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Matthew?” you whisper screamed. 

“I told you I wanted to get you off, princess. You should have let me do it at home, huh?” He teased, hands moving to snake around your waist. 

You scoffed at his words, “Can you please just be an adult and keep it in your pants until we get home?”

“I probably could. Or we could go into that storage closet,” he paused to point across the hall, “And I could finish what I started.”

As much as you were annoyed at him, you couldn’t deny that he had worked you up so much that you were actually agreeing to his ridiculous proposal. 

“Just hurry up,” you groaned as you led him into the closet, hearing his soft chuckle behind you.

Matthew seemed to understand that this was a time sensitive situation, wasting no time to press you against the door while he sunk to his knees. He lifted your dress above your hips, swearing as he saw the wet spot on your panties he created just minutes before. 

“You really need me, honey, don’t you?” he questioned, finally pulling your panties down your legs. 

“Matty, please,” you whined, not in the mood for anymore teasing. 

“Okay, okay, princess,” he cooed before attaching his mouth to your core, licking a long stripe up your soaking slit. He groaned as he tasted you, the vibrations sending shock waves through you. He alternated between flicking your clit back and forth with his tongue and sucking it into his mouth, both making you cry out for him.

He pulled back, “You gotta be quiet for me, princess. Can’t have the whole team knowing I’m tongue fucking my pretty girl in a storage closet.”

You nodded, just wanting his mouth back on you, and he quickly obliged but this time he slipped two fingers inside you as well. His mouth encircled your clit again, his fingers curling perfectly to hit your g-spot repeatedly and before you knew it you were covering your mouth as your climax washed over you. Matthew milked you through your high, moving down to clean you up himself considering the circumstances. 

“Such a good girl,” Matthew mumbled in between kisses across your inner thighs. He pulled your panties back up, helping you adjust the lace around your hips, and smoothed your dress down, making sure there were no obvious wrinkles. 

“Still mad at me?” He grinned as he rose to his full height and pressed a kiss to your lips. 

“I guess not,” you laughed against his mouth, grabbing his hand so you could rejoin the event and hopefully not let anyone figure out what you had just done. 

-----

Matthew behaved for the rest of the night, but all bets were off the second you arrived back home. As soon as the apartment door was unlocked you were pressed into it, his lips attacking your neck, marking you up like he couldn’t hours before. He was already hard and heavy against you, forcing a whimper from your lips as you felt his bulge rub your leg. He pulled the straps of your dress down, trying to get access to as much skin as possible when you stopped him. 

“Matty, wait,” you pleaded and he paused to meet your eyes right away. 

“What, baby?” he asked, concern lacing his face. 

“I just really like this dress so I would love if you didn’t rip it,” you said with a smile. 

He laughed at your words, moving his hands to grip the back of your thighs and carry you to the bedroom. “I can do that, sweetheart,” he mumbled against your lips, “I like this dress too,” he teased. 

Matthew dropped you onto the bed, carefully unzipping and removing your dress, before he started kissing down your body, his destination obvious. 

You tangled your hair in his curls making him look up at you, “I just want you inside of me, please,” you begged. 

He nodded, swiftly removing his clothes and your panties before pressing his lips to yours again. Matthew gently pulled away, whispering in your ear, “Flip over for me, princess.”

You did what he said, arching your back with your ass up just how you knew he liked. 

“Fuck,” he groaned, teasing your entrance with his tip as he took in the view before finally pushing into you. 

It didn’t take long for him to find the perfect pace, your moans filling the room as he hit so deep inside you. One of his hands was gripping your waist while the other rested around the back of your neck, squeezing slightly to get the leverage he needed. 

“Fuck, Ma-Matty,” you whimpered, “I’m close.”

“Yeah, princess?” he egged on as his hand slipped down to rub tight circles on your clit, “Go ahead, cum all over me, honey.”

You did exactly that, your body collapsing as he fucked you through your high, finally reaching his own as he felt you clenching around him. His body fell over yours, his groans filling your ears as he released inside of you, your moans loud at the sudden warmth. 

“So good for me, baby,” he cooed as he pulled out, kissing between your shoulder blades while you winced at the loss. 

Matthew helped roll you over so you were resting on your back as your body came down. He grabbed a damp towel from the bathroom, gently cleaning you up before tossing it and climbing in bed beside you. You curled into his side and he wrapped you up in his arms, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. 

“I can’t believe you were so horny that you got me off in a storage closet in the middle of a charity event,” you thought out loud, his body shaking beneath yours as he laughed. 

“Yeah well I can’t believe you let me,” he chirped back.  

“Fair enough,” you chuckled, “I love you, Matty.”

“I love you more,” he whispered, holding you tight as you fell asleep in his arms. 

#matthew tkachuk #matthew tkachuk imagine #nhl imagine #hockey imagine #nhl smut #my writing

[bkfics]

II.

You’re now sitting on the bench with your pen and notepad, ready to write down datas from the match but.. You can’t. You can’t concentrate on the match, you can’t shake this anxiety away and you keep thinking about what happened in the hallways a few minutes ago.

[15 minutes ago, hallways]

You see Sakusa coming towards you, step by step, he’s closing the gap between him and you, but all you want is to get away from him, everyone is really confused because they can see how he wants to reach to you and also how much you’re so nervous and shaking from the moment he opened that damn door, almost having a panic attack.

You can hear the others whispering: Do they know each other? Why is she shaking like she just saw a ghost? Is she okay? Then it becomes silent..

You want to answer but not even a single sound is coming out, it’s like your vocal cords just disappeared, you just hope for someone to break this awkward silence.

You know that someday you would meet him again, but the timing is really messed up, you’re not ready to meet him, you don’t know what to say to him and you didn’t prepare anything or YOURSELF.

He keeps walking and you start thinking things like: Is this fate? Is this the time to tell him everything? That he has kids? But if he knows, he’s gonna get mad or mess up his focus during the match. Is he even gonna accept it? What if he thinks that you’re crazy? What if everyone thinks that you’re crazy? And if you tell him, are the kids going to accept it? If they do, will you be able to accept it? You worked your ass off to raise the twins. He doesn’t know what you’re been through. Well, you never told him about your pregnancy, so he really might think that you’re crazy and you’re just trying to get back at him as a revenge for leaving you. He never contacted you asking how you were doing, for 4 years.

‘Y/N-‘ before he could’ve even say something, he get interrupted by the arrival of Coach Sazaku of ADLERS and Coach Foster of MSBY.

‘Ahh, you’re both here, the match is about to start so.’ Coach Sazaku says loudly to you and Kageyama.

‘Let’s go and do some stretch.’ Coach Foster continues. You think how can they be so coordinated. Well. They’ve been friends for a long time. But still, it’s weirdly cool.

You feel a bit calmer now, but the anxiety is still there, so you go first inside to prepare the towels and water bottles for the guys.

_ _ _ _ _

Sighing after thinking of that event, you don’t notice a ball coming straight at you.. Bam! Before blacking out, you hear the twins and Ryota yelling out your name..

After the one who spiked that ball landed, he got slapped on his back.

‘Man, Omi-Omi, you really don’t have any mercy wether it’s a guy or girl, huh?’ Atsumu says while shaking his head.

‘Huh?’ Sakusa replies dumbfounded.

‘I know that “lose” doesn’t exist in your vocabulary, but man, I don’t think you had to spike that hard this time, even though you were getting blocked..’ Says Bokuto joining in the conversation.

At this point Sakusa is getting drilled by the teammates’ questions.

‘W-What are you talking about?!’ He asks like he got caught for cheating on a test.

‘Omi-kun! Y-You didn’t kill her, right?’ Hinata asks really worried for Y/N

‘Wha—‘

‘Their beautiful manager, you knocked her out. Like, you hit target. Bullseye. 100 points!’ Hinata jokingly says, but still serious.

After he turns his head towards the bench on the other side and sees the commotion that’s going on, the realisation of having hit Y/N felt like a truck coming straight at him at full speed. The coach asked for a time-out to tend the injured, the match stopped and the players started gathering in a circle around you.

Sakusa instinctively sprints towards you and wonder if you’re okay, but he sees Ushijima with you in his arms to lay you down on a matt behind the bench, after the paramedics assured everyone saying that you just fainted and there were no problems or any grave injuries, they also said that you’re waking up soon, so everyone calmed down.

Sakusa immediately apologises to the coach and the team.

‘She’s still alive, right Omi-kun?’ Hinata asks still worried and because he got blocked by the other players in the front and can’t see anything from his spot.

Sakusa didn’t hear Hinata, he’s too worried for you.

‘BOKE! HINATA BOKE! How can you kill someone with a spike?!’ Kageyama answers him back like they were still in high school.

After a few minutes, the MC announces ‘We apologise for the inconvenience. The match is resuming.’

Everyone are going to their respective positions, Sakusa keeps thinking about you and still apologising to you in his head. Overthinking is winning over his focus on the match, he hasn’t seen you for 4 years. He really wanted to call you, or at least send you a message, but he had always practice and friendly matches, and when he had free time, he used it for resting. Then he meets you again, still beautiful like a fresh rose under the sun of spring, he was shocked to see you again and didn’t know if asking how were you doing was the right question to ask you, when he started walking towards you and greet you, he got interrupted and lost his chance.

The match is starting and he can’t concentrate because he’s now having thoughts and questions in his head..

Why were you shaking back then? I thought we ended things on good terms, so why? Are you still mad that I just broke up with without any warning? It was a hard decision for both of us, so.. Y/N, did it hurt so much? Did I hurt you? So the smile back then.. was it to hide the fact that you were breaking apart? That it was to not make me feel any guilt? Why? Was it for my good? All I really want right now is to talk to you, to have a long conversation over some drinks like we used to. But now you’re lying there unconscious, because of me, i’m really sorry.. 

Even tho he’s making little mistakes on the court, he keeps glancing at you and he really admires you, still cares for you and his heart agrees with that.

The game is still going on and he wants his team to win no matter what, so he slapped his face to focus again.

You slowly open your eyes as you’re waking up, your head still hurts from the ball that hit you. Where were you? Did you guys win the match? What was the score? Wait.. THE MATCH!

Then you quickly sit straight and that’s really a bad idea.

‘Easy there, Y/N. Here, drink some water.’ Captain Hirugami offers you.

‘How are you doing? Are you okay?’ He continues.

‘Doesn’t matter, what about the match?’

‘What do you mean it doesn’t matt-‘

‘The. Match.’ You say while glaring at him.

‘W-Well, we’re on the lead and it’s currently the third set.. ah wait, let me help you.’ He offers you his arm for support and he walks you to the bench.

‘Oh, btw, there’s a blonde guy with two kids upstairs behind us, they kept asking if you were alright.’

Then you turn around to look because you have no idea what he’s saying since you still feel a little bit dizzy and you see Ryota with a worried look, but you assure him with a smile and saying that you’re okay without any sound and you give the kids a thumb up.

‘Family?’ The captain asks and you nod your head with a smile.

‘Your little siblings are really cute.’ He says giggling .

You want to deny that they’re not your siblings and when you’re about to say it, you get interrupted by the referee whistling for the point, unfortunately the point is made by the MSBY.

‘They’ve already caught up.’ He says annoyed.

Suddenly you hear the coach shouting ‘Time-out!’ to the officials, then you stand up, clear the bench ready to hand out the towels and water bottles with the help from the reserves.

You start giving them and someone says ‘You’re awake already? We were worried for you, you know?’ Ushijima says with a plain face ‘yeah.. thank you for your concern, Ushijima-kun.’

‘Yeah, Sakusa-san even came here just make sure you were okay.’ adds Kageyama.

Your eyes widens by hearing that and you ask them ‘Did he?’ while picking up some towels that were dropped.

Then Romero joins the conversation saying ‘Well, he was the one that spiked the ball.. ending at your face..’ and he adds ‘Although, it’s our fault for not blocking it. We’re sorry, Y/N-chan.’

You shake your head reassuring them that it wasn’t their fault at all, you don’t need apologies from anyone, because it was you fault that you got hit for getting distracted.

Then the coach starts giving instructions to the boys while they’re catching their breath and resting, you’re tidying up and decide to take a glance at the other team, specifically at Sakusa, but you get surprised by him already looking at you.

Sakusa felt a sense of relief after he sees that you’re fine, but he got sad real quick when you looked away to avoid eye-contact with him, but he already knew that you would look away.

The time-out is done and the boys are walking to the court when you suddenly say ‘Hmm.. i-‘ and everyone stops to look and listen to you ‘know that i’ve been absent for almost the entire game but i..’ you’ve always been direct to them, but you feel a little shy right now because they took care of you, they’re also tall, handsomes and gentlemens, who wouldn’t get shy or feel intimidated?

‘So please, don’t get down just because of a mistake and give your best! And the most important thing.. have fun!!’ You finish while blushing hard, but still giving them a big smile stamped on your face.

Then you hear them yelling ‘YESSS MA’AM!!!!!!’ while also wearing that warm smile.

‘Am i dreaming? You all heard that, right? I’m not the only one, right? This is the first time that Y/N-chan said something like that.’ says Hoshiumi charged up after hearing those cheering words.

‘Y/N-chaaaan, please keep cheering for us!!’ says the libero, Heiwajima while jumping and smiling back at you.

They’re all now in positions, ready to win.

The guys really worked hard for it, but.. after the MSBY made 2 consecutive points, the referee blew the final whistle, signalling that the opposite team won. The MSBY players were celebrating and jumping around for winning the match, while on the other side of the court some were lying down catching their breath and complain about how tired they were, while some were trying to not fall.. but Kageyama was facing Hinata over the net with a big smile ‘Welcome Home’ he said with a handshake.

They were all smiling even though they lost, they had fun at least.

You couldn’t help but tear a little bit because you know how hard they trained for this match, but you accept the fact that you lost and just smile saying ‘Thank you for your hardwork.’ to them with a bow.

After a few minutes, the people start to leave and the players start to do their post-game stretching and you start cleaning and tidying up everything, you then hear someone call you from upstairs ‘Y/N-cchi, can we go down there? The twins really want to come down.’ It’s Ryota.

‘Of course, I think it’s time to let the team meet the kids.. just be careful while stepping down the stairs’ you reply back ‘ah, also, Ryota-kun, welcome home.’ You add with a big smile

He answers back with a smile too ‘Tadaima.’ (I’m back home)

Most of the players are pretty done with their stretching, Kise made it to the court and was walking towards Y/N with Kisara on his arm while Kazuhiko was running around.

Ryota shouts ‘Kazu-chan, be careful not to trip and hurt yourself.’

‘Yes, otōsaan!!’ Kazuhiko happily answered.

Then Kise reached and gave Kisara to Y/N.

‘Okāsaaaan, are you okay? You weren’t waking up for such a loong time.’ Kisara immediately asks.

You reply with a big smile ‘Yes, honey, don’t worry, it didn’t hurt, I’m super okay!’ 

‘Are you sure? We’ll drop by the doctor to make sure, alright?’ Ryota says super worried.

‘Oh, but where’s Kazu-chan?’ You ask.

‘Ah! He was just behind us, wait i’m gonna pick him up.’ Ryota answers and goes off immediately.

[On the other side of the court]

Sakusa was done with his stretching and he was changing his wet jersey to put a clean t-shirt on when suddenly someone bumped into his leg. It was a kid. Kazuhiko.

‘Hey, have you gotte—‘ he was gonna say something that he would usually say to his teammates but he rethinks and he asks ‘What are you doing? Did you come to see your big brother? Where are you parents?’ 

‘Uh, i come to see my mom, she works with many guys that have white clothes.’ He answers with his cute little voice.

Was he looking for the manager of the ADLERS? But mom? Maybe this is her brother or nephew.. 

‘Then let me take you there, is that okay?’ He asks while taking Kazuhiko’s little hand. Sakusa doesn’t know this feeling. He just takes the little kid’s hand and he’s feeling some kind of connection; for the first time, he takes his hand without thinking about his germaphobia. What is happening to me? He asks himself .

‘Yes, thank you onīsan.’ Kazuhiko answers with a smile.

Sakusa started melting Inside when Kazuhiko smiled at him ‘But onisan? Why does calling me onisan doesn’t feel right to me?’ he thinks to himself.

When they’re about to go, someone comes up to him and says while bowing ‘Sorry if he’s caused you any trouble-‘ he looks up and sees Sakusa ‘Oh, you can let go now. I’m here to pick MY. KID.’ It’s Kise Ryota and he’s a little annoyed, he’s smiling, but it’s insincere.

‘Otōsaan!’ Shouts little Kazuhiko.

‘Come on, Kazu-chan, okāsan and Kisara are waiting for you.’

‘Right! Let’s go to them!’ says the determined little Kazuhiko already running towards you.

‘Oh, before i forget, take these, I know you need ‘em.’ adds Ryota while throwing some wipes and a little bottle of hand sanitizer for kids to Sakusa.

Now Sakusa thinks.. Huh? How did he know? Do i kno-

Before he could finish his thought, there goes Y/N in his sight.

‘Hey Y/N-‘ Sakusa says while waving.

‘Kazuhiko, my baby, where were you??’ You ask him.

‘I was looking around and i met that cool oniisan’ he answers.

‘Oniisan?’

‘Yeah, he was going to take me to you.’

‘Oh, let’s thank him properly then.’ You say and start to walk with him while you’re carrying Kisara. Then you see Kise talking to someone and think that he might be the kind person that Kazuhiko was talking about.

When you reach them, you didn’t think that Sakusa would be there, isn’t he a germaphobe? What is he still doing on the court? Doesn’t he usually go straight to the locker room after every match? The Kazuhiko suddenly shouts ‘Otōsaaaaan! Okāsan came to thank the oniisan!’

You’re speechless.. you are now in front of the twins’ real father, and the real father is now in front of his kids.. oh no.. 

masterpost | I. | III.

FACTS: 

The team respects your privacy so they never ask about your private life, that’s why they don’t know that you have two kids, the only one that knows is the coach

Kise is purposely being rude to Sakusa because he knows who he is 

Hinata really finds you beautiful

@rrroadkill @samwise-though @lola2001 @velociraptorenthusiast @mjade1321 @farmertoshi @kurosiee @googiembul @hohoshiumi @floralkawa @miwtze

#msby sakusa #sakusa kiyoomi #sakusa kyoomi x reader #sakusa kiyoomi x you #sakusa x you #sakusa #sakusa fic #sakusa x y/n #sakusa x reader #sakusa imagines #hq sakusa #hq x y/n #hq x reader #hq imagines #hq fanfic #hq x you #hq #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu!! #haikyuu x you #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x y/n #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu sakusa #kuroko no basket #knb #kise ryōta

[dulcettonesofmattsimmons]

Halloween Incident (Matt Simmons x Reader)

Prompts / MasterList

Before anything, no hate. I love Kristy and the kids.

6 Years Later Matt knows that once Joe was born, there was going to be some problems since Joe was his and Y/N’s child. The kids are still learning that Joe isn’t fully their brother. So Joe got to stay back with Matt and Y/N while the other four had to go to Kristy’s house after the weekend. Matt knew that eventually, the kids will complain about having to leave while Joe gets to have them for himself. Moving to the holidays. Before Matt would be able to come over a while and celebrate but once Joe was born. The kids would either celebrate with Matt early or after the actual date. Joe gets to see the team a lot more than the four. He got to go to the get-togethers Rossi would make for the team.

So when Halloween came around, Matt was away for a case but the team managed to finish the day before Halloween, So Matt told Kristy that Y/N and Joe were coming to the office since Joe really wanted Matt to see his costume.  So Kristy and the kids were waiting outside to wait for the team.

“Wow guys, you look out of this world,” Matt said smiling at his kids dressed up. “Mom said that we’re going to trick or treat after here. Are you going to come with us?” Jake asked. “I don’t know bud, we still have to do some papers to do for the case but I can try,” Matt spoke. “Penelope just texted me that Y/N and Joe are already there with Will and the kids. She even brought Roxy and dressed her up.” JJ said looking at her phone. “You let her dress up Roxy?” Tara asked looking at Luke. “She asked so many times that I finally gave in.” Luke sighed smiling. The team chuckled and continued to walk inside, Kristy and the kids, following.

Once they got into the office, they saw that everyone was there already. “Hey, where are the kids?” Jj asked confused to see Penelope, Will, and Y/N but the kids were nowhere in sight. “They wanted to put on a small show for you guys saying that since you guys were off working hard, why not give you guys a costume show for your hard work. Henry and Michael are in the meeting room, waiting for their cue, Roxy is hiding under Luke’s desk and Joe is here in the chair” Y/N pointed to the chair that the chair was facing backward. “A show you said, Well we’re ready to see” Rossi spoke clearly fond that kids wanted to give them a show.

“Okay, Roxy is first,” Penelope said excitedly. She patted her leg and Roxy came up next to her. “Wow,” Luke said in shock. Roxy was wearing a bullet vest that is made for dogs. “Do you like it?” Penelope asked nervously. “I love it,” Luke said smiling walking up to Roxy.  “Thank you, I thought since she’s working with you in the rangers. She could be her true self. A true badass” Penelope explained smiling. “Well done Garica,” Prentiss said smiling. “Thank you,” Penelope smiled turning to Will. “Alright, the boys’ turn” Will smile and turn to the meeting room door. “I proudly present Henry and Michael LaMontagne” Will spoke loudly and both boys ran smiling. Henry was Spiderman and Michael was Hulk. They pretend to fight villains. Everyone just claps for them. They run to JJ. “You guys look amazing,” JJ said smiling, hugging them. They both said thank you.

“Now for the final trick or treater is Joe Simmons,” Will said, nodding to Y/N, who was giving the boys a high five. “Yes now, Matt knows that Joe originally told us that he wanted to be The Flash but last night, Joe told me he changed his mind. He wanted to be his all-time favorite hero.” Y/N said smiling, making Joe kick his legs in excitement. “But I thought that The Flash is his favorite hero,” Reid asked confused, making Matt nod looking confused. “Well, last night he changed his mind. So I present you Mr.” Y/N started, she spun the chair around to reveal Joe wearing a small white v shirt and jeans making him look like a version of Matt. “a small version of SSA Matthew Simmons” Y/N finished. Everyone quickly let out an aww at Joe.

“He wanted to be me,” Matt asked in shock, walking up to Y/N and Joe. “Yep, Garica helped me find everyone I needed to make the clothes,” Y/N replied, Matt, picked Joe up and pulled Y/N in for a kiss. He kissed Joe on the cheek. “Did you like it, daddy?”  Joe asked excitedly. “I loved it, Bubba,” Matt answered, smiling. Joe just smiled and hugged Matt tighter. “So I’m your favorite hero,” Matt asked, tickling Joe a little bit. “Yes,” Joe answered shyly.  Matt turns to Y/N and puts an arm around her. “Am I yours?” Matt asked jokingly. Y/N made a thinking face. “ I don’t know, The Flash is faster” Y/N spoke but quickly shook her head and kissed Matt. “You’ve always been my favorite hero” Y/N whispers.

Kirsty cleared her throat making Matt and Y/N pull away. Y/N smiled at them.”Hey, you guys look amazing” Y/N said looking at the kids. They all smile and let out a thank you beside Jake. “If I finish the paper that I need to fill. I will join you guys.” Matt said. “What if we wait for you,” Jake asked. “If your mom wants to,” Matt asked, looking at Kristy. “Sure why not,” Kirsty answered. Matt grabs the paper and sits down with Joe in his lap. Jake got more mad that Joe was sitting in his dad’s lap. Y/N walks over walks over to talk with Penelope. Kristy joins them, leaving the kids and Matt.

Matt was trying to rush doing everything he needs, he loves spending time with his kids. “Okay, I need to go grab a paper from the meeting office. I will be right back.” Matt stood up and sat Joe down on his chair.  Joe sat there still since when Y/N placed him early, he almost fell down since he was moving around a lot. “Why don’t you get off my dad’s lap, maybe he can finish faster,” Jake said annoyed, he felt like Matt was taking forever since Joe was in his lap. “Okay, just let daddy come so he can put me down on the ground. I don’t know how to get off.” Joe nods, Y/N always told Joe to be nice. He understands that maybe his siblings want to hang out with Matt since they don’t see him a lot. “You don’t know how to get off,” Jake asked annoyed that Joe won’t leave soon.  “No, my mommy told me to wait until she or daddy can do it,” Joe explained.

The rest of the kids understood but Jake was always annoyed. He walked up and grabbed the chair and pulled away from the desk. Not expecting the chair to move, Joe fell to the floor but he managed to hit his side on the desk. He instantly started to cry from the pain on his side. “JAKE WHY DID YOU DO THAT” Lily yelled in shock. Everyone runs over but Y/N got there first.

She put Joe in his lap. “What happens? What hurts bubba” Y/N asked checking over his body. “I fell,” Joe let out in the middle of his sobs. Matt looks over the kids. “What happened?” Matt asked. “Nothing” Jake quickly let out but Lily rolled her eyes. “Jake asked Joe to get off your lap so you can finish faster. Joe agreed but he said to wait until you or Y/N can bring him down from the chair. I don’t know why but Jake pushed the chair backward fast so that Joe lost his balance and fell. He hit his side on the desk” Lily explained.

Matt and Y/N quickly made eye contact. “I’m going to take him to get checked out.” Y/N told Matt standing up with Joe in her arms, who was silently crying holding his side  “I will go with you,” Matt said standing. “What about trick or treating with us, you promise,” Jake said in shock. “You don’t have to” Y/N whisper to Matt. “I want to know,” Matt replied, turning to Kristy and the kids. “Do you work tomorrow?” Matt asked Kirsty, who shook her head. “I will come over tomorrow okay?” Matt said. Kristy nodded. Matt and Y/N both headed out.

————-

Next

#matt #Matt Simmons #Matthew Simmons #matthew simmons x reader #matthew simmons imagines #matt simmons x reader #matt simmons imagine #matt simmons imagines #Matthew Matt Simmons x reader #Matthew Matt Simmons imagines #criminal #Criminal Minds #minds #CM

[raysofcrosby]

NOW THAT I FOUND YOU – M. BARZAL

requested: yes | no

warning(s): cursing, slight mentions of sex, but other than that, nothing.

word count: 5,868

authors note: welcome to my new series :) i have no idea how long this is going to last, but i’m pretty excited for it. so, first things first, considering what i have planned for the character of jeremy, i didn’t want to use a real rangers player. so jeremy is a fictional dude on the team. i think that’s it for now, i’m not really sure what else i can think of about this series. so, oh well, enjoy :)

my masterlist | stuff i have planned | who i’ll write for | requests

"I can't take it anymore!" Tito said, storming into the locker room and stomping his way over to his cubby. "I am literally going to take her to the Brooklyn bridge and throw her into the Hudson."

Mat looked up from his skates and over at his best friend as he plopped down into his cubby, huffing, and puffing as he got undressed. He looked over at Anders, who was looking at Brass...the three of them all sharing confused looks at their locker neighbor. "Uh, you okay over there Tito?" Anders asked, looking at Mat for at least the slightest hint as to what he could be rambling on about.

"No clue," Mat mouthed, shrugging his shoulders and looking back down as he continued to tie his skate.

"No, I'm not okay," Tito tossed his sweatshirt into his cubby and stepped out of his joggers. "Does anyone want a newly 22-year-old female college student? Because I have one and I'm not opposed to passing her off before I result to murder."

"I'm pretty sure that is illegal, buddy," Jordan said, walking by and patting him on the shoulder. "Both are, actually. Like, highly illegal."

"Oh, God Tito," Matt said, coming out from the bathrooms. "What are you bitching about now?"

"She ironed my underwear." Tito tugged on his pants over his compression shorts and sighed, shaking his head.

"What?" Mat laughed, reaching behind him and grabbing his compression shirt.

"Y/N...she ironed my underwear," he stood up and turned towards his cubby, pulling a pair of ironed boxers out of the duffle he had carried in with him and turned back towards the guys. "I went to grab a pair this morning and I was greeted with this! They're stiff, feel powdery and quite frankly smell like shit–"

"Are you sure that's the soap and not just your horrible hygiene?" Matt joked, tossing a water bottle at him.

"Manchuk...Matty," Tito smiled, turning in their direction. "How do you two feel about having a live-in nanny? Her cooking skills are subpar unless even worse if the recipe comes off of Pinterest. She consumes more wine than water– but she's great with kids."

"I'm just finding it hard to believe your only problem with Y/N is the fact she ironed your underwear," Jordan said, shaking his head. "What's the catch?"

"Yeah, there's got to be something else that has you considering pre-meditated murder," Matt chimed in with a loud laugh.

"I NEED TO GET LAID, all right?!" Tito yelled, tossing his ironed pair of boxers back into the duffle bag. "I need to have hot, drunken sex with a stranger who lets herself out in the morning! I need to get laid so fucking bad, but I can't do it with my sister in the room across from mine! It's gross."

The locker room was silent as his teammates just stared at him. Mat wanted to laugh at his best friend but didn't want to do it at his expense. Sure, he'd been there a time or two, what young guy in his 20's hasn't. But never had he yelled about it to his teammates in such an exaggerated fashion. "Have you thought about telling her that?" Mat asked, grabbing his practice jersey and sliding it on over his head. "Y/N's pretty reasonable, I'm sure she'd agree to go to a friends or something for the night."

"Oh yeah, let me just go ahead and tell my little sister, 'hey, do you mind getting out of the apartment for the night? I need to get my dick sucked. Thanks, don't tell mom!'" Tito sat down to put on his skates, giving Mat a sarcastic look. "Does that sound good to you, Barzy?"

"I don't know about Barzy, but that sounds great to me," Matt laughed as he tied his pants. "Why is she staying at your place? I thought she was in Uni? Doesn't she have a dorm?"

"Nope, she followed her doucheface of a boyfriend down here and he convinced her to stay in his apartment instead of getting a dorm." He stood up and reached into his locker, grabbing his practice jersey. "Next thing I know, she shows up at my door crying, saying they broke up and she's been at my place ever since."

Mat remembered that night. He and Tito were pre-gaming, finishing off their drinks, and waiting for the uber to arrive. They were coming off of a high, absolutely destroying the Maple Leafs 5-0 and that high followed them home. Everyone on the team was going out– it was a well called for a celebration, even the guys with families at home. Normally, the team would pregame together before taking ubers over to whatever club or bar they decided to take over for the night. But those who did have kids at home wanted to stop at home and say goodnight to their wives and kids before heading out.

They were talking about whether or not they wanted to wait up here for the uber or wait down on the street when a knock barely made noise about Tito's playlist. Mat thought he had heard something but wasn't sure if he had confused it with the bass or not. So, he brushed it off. It wasn't until a small break in the song when the two of them could hear three rapid knocks, followed by the sound of your voice coming from the other side of the door, did they know that you were there.

Mat was closest to the door, so he was the one who walked over and looked through the peephole. He knew it was you just based on the sound of your voice from when you knocked, but, it didn't hurt to be safe and check to see who was at the door– that way Tito couldn't blame him if he let a random into his apartment. He recognized the hoodie you were wearing, it was the Beauvillier Islanders hoodie that Tito had gotten you for your birthday just this past summer. Mat told him it was a stupid gift, but Tito laughed, saying that it was his way of tricking you into finally wearing something in support of him since you had stopped wearing Islanders gear the moment you started dating Jeremy last fall. A Rangers player you had met on a girls' night out in the city. "A mix of interests" as your excuse, and Tito was bothered that his sister wouldn't wear his team's logo anymore– but instead, the logo on their top rival.

It was a mess, but one that Mat never, ever wanted to get involved with.

But there you were, dripping wet from the thunderstorm that had been hovering over the city from the moment he walked into Barclay to play. You had the hood on your head and you were avoiding eye-contact with the door– but he knew it was you. So, he opened the door with no hesitations, barely getting out a simple hi before you brushed by him and darted down the hallway, a door slamming behind you.

Tito, in true fashion, paused his music and stomped after you, mumbling about how you were just going to stroll into his apartment, that he pays for, and slam his doors without even saying hello. Mat remembered laughing, just because the Beauvillier sibling dynamic was an interesting one. He came back a few moments later, shoving his phone into his pocket and walked over to Mat. He said that he couldn't get much out of you but the fact that you and Jeremy had broken up and he needed to pay the cab driver downstairs $40 for driving you from Manhattan.

Tito was a good brother. He could be a huge pain in the ass, sure. You and he had had more than your fair shares of endless, rigorous chirping fights that most of the time, left Mat standing there just looking between the two of you like he was watching a match. But still to this day, Mat could never understand why Tito didn't seem all that bothered about how abruptly you had walked into his apartment. Tito had you and Francis, and more often than not, always brushed you off as one of the guys thanks to your tomboy upbringing. Mat had a sister and she's dated one too many assholes for his liking, so he could spot it from a mile away.

Your face was swollen and red and he was more than positive that you had cried the entire car ride there.

And you've been living at Tito's ever since.

"I'm serious, I need her to leave," Tito was following behind him as they left the locker room to head out to the rink. "And I can't just kick her out."

"You literally just talked about shoving her into the Hudson," Jordan laughed, shaking his head. "I think you can do something as simple as, 'hey, maybe you should find someone to stay with for a while.'"

Tito just rolled his eyes as he stepped out onto the ice, skating beside Matt. "I'm serious Barzy, I think she's driving me insane."

"It was one incident, Tito," Mat said, shaking his head. "Y/N isn't that bad."

"It wasn't just one incident," they cut the corner, Mat pushing himself ahead. "She almost burnt down my kitchen trying to make breakup cupcakes. She's redecorated my bathroom with bath bombs and make-up, she even got rid of my Shrek shower curtain!"

"To be fair, that's your guest bathroom and that Shrek shower curtain was hideous"

"Regardless! She's slowly taking over my entire apartment and turning it into her...her...her stupid lovesick breakup reno project!" He tossed his arms up in the air, letting them fall back down and almost hitting Brass in the head. "Oops, sorry bud!"

Mat laughed as they cut another corner, shaking his head. "Have you ever tried talking to her?"

"No, because then she'd get her puppy eyes all going and I'd feel like even more of a douche for wanting her out." He huffed, shaking his head. "I need an excuse, something to just...get her out for a few weeks until I can find her someplace to stay for the rest of the year. Then plead with her housing office to find her a dorm."

"I don't know what to tell you, man." Mat said, skating ahead.

"I'll come up with something, I'm sure I can cash in a favor somewhere." Tito sighed, as the two of them joined the rest of their team at center ice for stretching.

Mat just laughed, shaking his head at his best friend. Sure, if he was in the same position, it wouldn't exactly be his ideal living situation to have his sister living across the hall– but he definitely wouldn't be as against it. At least, he didn't think so.

~

"I've figured it out."

Mat felt his foot slip against the wet tile and his heart practically jumped out of his chest as the slipping feeling. He held his right arm out, holding himself steady against the tile before ducking his head beneath the shower head, letting the conditioner rinse from his hair. He looked over his shoulder to see Tito standing at the opening of the shower area, freshly showered with a towel wrapped around his waist. "Yeah, can we not talk about this right now?"

"I'm just letting you know, I figured it out." Tito smiled, nodding before walking away from the shower.

Mat shook his head, spitting out some water before turning off the water and grabbing the towel he had hung up just to the right. He wrapped it around his waist, shaking his head as he ran his fingers through his hair to get all of the excess water out. He almost dreaded making his way back towards the locker room. Tito had been pestering him all practice, trying to make him come up with ways he could kick you out.

Fake an insect infestation? No, then he'd have to leave his apartment too.

Figure out a way to get some flooding in her room? But then he'd have to hire someone to clean up all of the water.

Every outrageous idea possible had crossed his mind and Mat had to listen to it for the entire practice. As if the practice itself hadn't been draining on him, listening to him go on and on was even more.  But, he was playing the best friend role, and did say he would help him on one condition– it didn't involve hurting your feelings.

"Great, you're here, now listen–"

"No to the insects. No to an animal break-in and we already decided that pouring water on her stuff and saying a pipe was leaking wouldn't work," Mat said, sitting down in his locker and looking at Tito. "What in the hell could you have come up with now?"

"Remember how I said I could cash in a favor?"

Mat nodded, standing up and grabbing his street clothes as he turned his back to Tito. "Yeah, did you figure it out?"

"I sure did."

Mat stepped into his boxer briefs and dropped the towel as he picked up his joggers. "All right? And who's the poor sucker?" Tito hadn't replied as fast as he had been and Mat would be lying if he said it wasn't a little concerning. He tugged the waistband of his joggers up before turning to see Tito smiling at him. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm looking at the poor sucker who owes me a favor." He had his classic shit-eating smirk on his face, the kind cameras always zoomed in the moment he checked someone hard.

Mat blinked once, twice, three times before the reality set in. His brain was racing through every recent time he spent with Tito, never once remembering an event where he said that he owed him a favor. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You owe me a–"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you said," Mat put his arms through his sweatshirt, tugging his down and over his head before running his fingers through his hair again. "But I don't know what you're talking about. When did I ever owe you a favor?"

"When I saved your ass that night at Nest when you were picking up the redhead but that hot tinder girl with blue hair you invited showed up." Tito stood up and walked over to Mat, still smiling. "I performed the perfect, switcharoo maneuver so that the redhead never noticed you took tinder girl home."

"You took the redhead home! How is that helping me?" Mat turned towards his locker and grabbed his phone and Gatorade, shaking his head. "Besides, that was two years ago."

"It was a win for both of us! You didn't get totally bitchslapped in the club and I got laid," Tito followed behind him, staying on his heels. "It may have been two years ago, but you still said, 'Tito, man...I owe you one.'"

"I don't–"

Tito cut him off, standing in front of him as they stood in the hall. He crossed his arms, his smile falling from his face. "And now I'm cashing it in. You're helping me get Y/N out of my apartment."

Mat rolled his eyes, resting his hands on his hips. "And how exactly am I supposed to help you with that? You've literally exhausted every plausible option." When Tito didn't come up with a reply, Mat just shook his head and brushed by him.

"I've got an idea bro, I swear," He jogged up behind him as they walked out of the arena to head towards the parking lot. "But, you're probably not going to like it."

As the crisp fall air greeted them, Mat could hear the voice in the back of his head telling him not to entertain Tito. A gut feeling deep inside that this wasn't going to work out– none of Tito's ideas ever worked out. "What is it?"

Tito hesitated, unsure just how his best friend would reply. Sure, he's had plenty of other crazy ideas before– but this one might just be way out there. But he didn't care, he was a young, physical and thriving man in his early 20's– and at this point, he didn't care about logical reasoning. He just desperately needed to get laid. And if that meant brushing his sister off onto his best friend, he'd do it.

"You're going to pretend you're utterly heartbroken from some break up and can't be alone–"

Mat stopped in his tracks, whipping around to Tito with wide eyes. "Dude what the–"

"Y/N is a total empath and when I tell her all about your emotional turmoil and that I don't know how to help, she'll no doubt step in. Then I'll just figure something out to keep her out of my apartment and boom, problem solved."

"Problem not solved!" Mat yelled, waving his hand at Tito. "Your problem literally has about a million plot holes in it!"

Tito closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sighing before opening them and looking at Mat. "I'm going to need you to hear me out before you say no– which, may I remind you, isn't an option anyway."

Mat took a deep breath and sighed, knowing damn well that somewhere down the line, he'd regret this very moment he even gave Tito the chance to explain. Even his initial explanation seemed so fucking stupid that there was no way it could ever work out. But maybe, if he allowed him to explain, he'd realize just how unrealistic his plan was, and just drop the entire idea then man up and tell Y/N to stay with a friend. "Fine," he stopped at his car, unlocking it so Tito could get into the passenger seat. "But you're buying lunch."

~

This was such a bad idea– he knew it would be. From the moment the suggestion left Tito's mouth the first time, Mat knew it wouldn't work. There's no way it could. Hell, even Liana said it was when he called her for advice after his lunch. And as far as common sense goes, he likes to think that Liana has a lot more

Tito's plan stayed the same– Mat was supposed to play brokenhearted and after lunch, the two of them would go over to his apartment, where you would be home from class. Tito would comment on how Mat 'hasn't been the same' and make a joke about how the two of you should just live together in your misery. You, the empath that you were, would take an interest in Mat's "broken heart" and offer to help in any way. Tito, knowing Mat was actually in the middle of turning the third guest bedroom in his apartment into a man-cave/gaming room and how much you love decorating, I.E. his bathroom, would suggest that maybe you could help him with that too.

It wouldn't work, Mat was convinced of that from the moment the entire idea left Tito's mouth. He'd known you almost as long as he knew Tito, meeting you the summer after the 2015 IIHF World U18 Championship. You were only a year younger than them both and for the three weeks that Mat had stayed with your family, he felt like he got to know you pretty well. You guys weren't best friends by any means, but you were definitely good friends. Your friendship growing when you decided to transfer to Fordham and when you weren't hanging out with Jeremy or your classmates, you were with Tito, Mat, and their teammates.

Needless to say, he was confident walking into the apartment knowing that there was no way that you would fall for this horrible excuse. You wouldn't leave your room in Tito's apartment to come and stay with Mat because he was "too brokenhearted to function." But leave it to Tito to think that you would fall for it. He tried not to break character, he really did. But how the hell was he supposed to pretend to be brokenhearted from a failed relationship, when he's never felt that?

He's had relationships before, sure. Break-ups? Absolutely. But none so bad that he felt like he wanted to drink himself into a slumber or just hide under the covers for the rest of time. He had outlets to get out any negative emotion. He had hockey and he had the boxing classes he attended with Tito every now and again. Besides that, he never had strong feelings for someone to the point where he was feeling what you were feeling.

As predicted, you had agreed to go with Tito and Mat over to Mat's apartment to see just what he had to deal with. He felt a twinge of guilt when you started to ask the simple questions:

How are you feeling?

Do you want to talk about it?

What happened?

He and Tito hadn't gotten that far in the plan– creating a backstory, which should have been another sign that this was never going to end well. So, on the ride to his apartment, he just stuck with short answered replies– "fine" "not yet" "it's still too soon." And he wanted nothing more than to smack Tito in the passenger seat, who was trying his damndest not to laugh.

When they got to the apartment hours later, Mat led you to the third guest room, showing you just everything he had. In a corner on tarps, he had three cans of paint, all unopened and a bunch of painting supplies. In the middle of the room, boxed furniture he'd been too lazy to move. He was barely focused on what you were saying when he felt his phone vibrate and saw Tito nodding at him.

Tito: see? i told u. total diy/renovator. you could get free labor out of this.

Mat: one problem there, bud. she doesn't seem too keen to get out of your apartment. all she's done is offer to take me to lunch for the next week to 'talk about my feelings'

Tito: okay? go talk about your feelings.

Mat: I DON'T HAVE ANY FEELINGS

Mat: I DON'T HAVE A RECENT EX-GIRLFRIEND

"Are you two okay?" You asked, almost scaring the two boys. Mat shoved his phone back into his jacket pocket, staring at you with wide eyes. You had an eyebrow raised and looked awfully suspicious of them both.

"Do you guys want dinner?" Tito asked, already heading towards the door. "I can order some pizzas from down the street."

"That's okay," You said, following him towards the door. "I've got this new enchilada recipe I wanted to try and–"

"No!" Tito couldn't be any less obvious that he didn't want you to follow him, his raised voice causing you to step back and look at him in shock. "I uh, I mean...I already ordered them. Barzy and I talked about it...right?"

Mat glared at Tito, wishing deep down that this plan would fail, but knowing that he couldn't leave his best friend out to dry. "Yeah...we did." He turned to you, crossing his arms. "Hope that's okay."

"No, it's fine," you replied, nodding. "Pizza is good."

Tito clapped his hands together and smiled. "Great, I'll be right back!"

He couldn't have run out of the apartment any faster, leaving you and Mat there standing in the middle of the room. This wasn't part of the plan and Mat was pissed. He stared at the door, contemplating telling you about your brother's ulterior motive to all of this– but it wouldn't hurt Tito...it would hurt you. So he decided against it and turned to you, sighing. "We can go wait in the living room for him to come back."

You nodded and followed him out of the guest room, walking down the hallway. "Can I have something to drink?"

"Water? Wine?" He asked, waving you over to the couch as he stopped in the kitchen. "Tequila?" God, how he wanted a drink. At least it might alleviate the headache Tito's antics were causing.

"It's Monday," you laughed, leaning against the back of the couch. "I guess I could go for some wine."

"White or Red?"

"You have both?"

He laughed, turning around and placing two unopened bottles– one of each. "My mom likes red, I like white. It's her leftover bottle from when she was here a two weeks ago."

"I'll take a glass of white, thank you."

He nodded, putting the bottle of red back into the fridge before moving towards his cabinets and opening the drinking glasses– reaching up to the top and grabbing two wine glasses. When he turned back around, he looked over at you, ready to say something, but he stopped.

You were still leaning against the back of his couch, left arm draped across your stomach as the other held onto your phone. You were chewing on the inside of your cheek, your eyes glued to the screen. He normally wouldn't think anything of it, except for the look on your face. Even from where he was standing, he could notice the frown and the way that your eyebrows were burrowed towards each other. He noticed your fingers on your left hand were fidgeting, plucking at your Fordham long sleeve. Everything about you standing there was just...small, quiet– radiating energy that said, 'I don't want anyone to see me.' Which, in all of the years that he knew you, was the complete opposite of who you were.

He couldn't help but wonder what the hell Jeremy did to screw you up this bad.

He poured your glasses, putting the cork back into the bottle, and made his way to you. You were so lost in your phone, that it wasn't until he cleared his throat, that you realized he was standing there.

"Oh," you stood up a little straighter, putting your phone into your front pocket before taking the wine glass from him. "Sorry, I was just..."

"No need," he said, waving you off. "I don't need an explanation." He walked around the couch and sat down, nodding at you to join him.

You sighed, taking a sip of your wine before sitting down beside him, sinking back against the cushion. "So, Tito hasn't tried taking you to a strip club to help you out of your breakup funk?"

Mat laughed, his head leaning back against the cushion. "No, he hasn't," he took a sip of the wine, tilting his head to the side. "I don't think he'd leave if he did."

"He tried to offer to drop me off at that knockoff Magic Mike, two days ago." He looked at you like you had two heads, his mind spinning in circles at just how long Tito has been trying to get you out of his apartment. "It didn't work, it's not my scene."

"Male strippers?"

"Male strippers that aren't the cast of Magic Mike," you joked, laughing softly as you stared down into your wine. "I don't know, I just haven't really been in the mood to do anything besides go to class and sleep."

He wasn't sure how to reply. Even with Liana, he'd never really been that open with talking to her about his relationships or hers. That was a no-touch topic in their siblingship– only ever talking about it, just to say that they were seeing someone new. Never what happened during or after. Not to mention, he was supposed to be like you, heartbroken. He tried to copy your mannerisms– slumped into the couch, relaxed face– he even went as far as to try and tell himself to copy the tone in your voice.

But all he felt was guilt for playing into Tito's scheme and a genuine need to talk to you about what happened. He just didn't know how to go about it.

Your phone rang before he could ask you the dreaded 'how are you feeling' question, and you sighed, digging your phone out of your pocket and putting your wine glass down on the table. "What, Anthony?"

Mat held back his laughter as he took a sip of his wine. One thing was for sure, your attitude towards your brother hadn't changed from pre-breakup. He looked at you, your eyebrows knitted together as you brought your hand up to your forehead, rubbing it. "What do you mean? Is my stuff–" you sighed, closing your eyes. "No, you won't get electrocuted if you–"

He reached out, bumping his elbow against yours and raising an eyebrow. "Everything okay?"

You looked at him, shaking your head as you pulled your phone away from your ear. "He forgot his wallet at home and went back to the apartment– I guess something leaked and my bathroom and room are flooded."

Mat had to act like he was surprised, but if anything he was pissed. This was the one scenario that they didn't agree on– simply because it wasn't fucking plausible. "Well have you talked to him? Maybe there's–"

Your head fell back against the cushion and you closed your eyes, sighing. "I didn't leave a faucet on, I didn't even go into my bathroom before we– can you stop interrupting me?"

He could hear Tito rambling on through the other side of the phone, no doubt barely giving you time to talk because he didn't want you to fill in the gaps of his fake story. "Well, where am I supposed to go?"

Mat chewed on his bottom lip, bringing the glass up to his lips as he knew this was when Tito was suggesting that you stay with him. He couldn't look at you because the guilt was taking over. He could tell you were stressed and obviously, Tito hadn't been exaggerating at just how bad you were after the breakup with Jeremy. And if he looked at you any longer, the guilt would swallow him up and he'd cave in and tell you everything.

"No, I'm not asking–" you sighed, taking a few deep breaths and exhaling before speaking again. "Because Anthony, it's rude! "

Mat felt like reaching over and grabbing your phone, ending the plan then and there. But again, he knew that the Beauvillier sibling dynamic was a lot different than any other one. Tito knew when to stop pushing, you were his sister after all. So, he sat next to you, sipping on his wine and waited for you to ask the question they'd been pushing you to do all along.

"Can you just...ask, please?" His eyes went wide the moment he heard the emotion in your whispered reply. "I can't just...move everything, I don't even have everything. It's all at Jer–" you stopped yourself, sitting up and hunching over, resting your head in your free hand. "And he said that's all that was available?"

He kept sneaking looks at you from the corner of his eye, trying to gauge whether or not the emotion in your voice was leading to tears. He brought his phone out of his jacket, opening to type a message to Tito.

"Fine, I'll...I'll just ask," he froze as you turned to him, holding your phone away from your ear. "Hey Mat?"

He placed his phone face down and away from your sight of vision you couldn't see that he was about to send a text to Tito. "Yeah?" Yikes, that wasn't casual enough. "What's up?" Better.

You were holding back tears and for the first time, he could see the dark circles beneath your eyes, still peaking out from whatever make-up you had put on that morning. Yeah, this plan wasn't good– this on was definitely a punch in the gut. "Do you think I could stay here? I don't have much and I–"

"Yeah, no," he cleared his throat. "No, I mean yeah...you can. I've got the guest bedroom."

You nodded, looking away from him and brought the phone back up to your ear. "There, happy?"

Oh, you have no idea how happy Tito was, was all that Mat could think as he brought his phone back out. "Can I at least come and get some stuff to– Yeah...okay. Yeah, see you."

You hung up the phone and your head fell back against the cushion, eyes closed. Mat looked at you, wondering whether or not he should dare to see if you were okay. He started to reach a hand out to nudge your arm when his phone vibrated.

Tito: IT WORKED! I'M FREE!

Tito: well...at least for the next week i am. i’ll need to figure out another excuse for the extra week i guess.

Mat: dude...i don't think this is a good idea. y/n's like...really emotional right now.

Tito: AND I'M GOING ON A TWO WEEK DRYSPELL.

Mat: okay, get laid tonight and let her come back.

Tito: nope. i'm using all seven days of this time and look on the bright side, now you'll get the guestroom done faster than you planned.

Mat: are you at least coming back with the pizza?

Tito: no, just her clothes. caroline is coming over in an hour.

He laughed in disbelief, shaking his head as he looked at you– still lying in the same position from when you hung up the phone.

Mat: dude, you so owe me one.

Tito: 👍🏻

Mat put his phone back into his jacket pocket and turned to you. He was sure that the movement on the couch would have been enough to get you to open your eyes– but you didn't budge. He reached out and nudged your arm and you opened your eyes and turned to look at him. "What do you think about Chinese?"

"Let me guess, he's not getting the pizza?" You asked, drained of any energy.

Mat bit the inside of his cheek, shaking his head. "No, he said they were packed," the lie was a lot better than telling her the truth. "If you're not feeling Chinese, we can go to Chipotle?"

"I don't know," you sighed, picking up the wine glass and taking a long sip. "Do you think we'd miss him?"

Not in a million years. Even if they did, he'd just drop the bag of belongings in front of Mat's door, no doubt.

"I'll buy you a large guac and a large queso," He smiled, shrugging his shoulders. "Free of charge."

"You had me at large guac." You looked at him and then back at your wine glass, downing the rest before placing it back onto the table and turning towards Mat. "Besides, he's the one who didn't bother to offer me the couch in the new 1 bedroom he'd be staying in until everything is fixed. He can wait a few extra minutes if we're not back in time."

Mat just nodded, standing up with you and playing into your mood. "Yeah, fuck that guy."

You laughed, and for the first time since he walked into yours and Tito’s apartment...he saw you smile. He felt proud of himself for being able to cheer you up in some way. And maybe, he thought, if Tito wasn't going to look out for you...he could.

It was only for seven days, how bad could it be?

#mathew barzal #mathew barzal imagine #mathew barzal writing #mathew barzal oneshot #new york islanders #new york islanders imagine #new york islanders oneshot #new york islanders writing #hockey oneshot #hockey imagine #hockey writing #my writing

[mrallnight57-blog]

The Crystal of Mordokia

Chapter 6

Gothic Mirror stood on the second floor, above the stage watching the Punk Rockers, and other members of the Gothic Lights prepare for tonight's event. Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder.

    Gothic Mirror didn't like being touched, especially by those he felt were inferior. He slowly turned to the man touching his shoulder, and gave him a stare that showed he greatly disapproved of the man's actions.

    The man tapping his shoulder was one of the Punk Rockers. Gothic Mirror noticed that the name on his jacket said Spin Doctor. When Gothic Mirror began staring at him. The man immediately put his hands up to try and show, he was not there to cause him any trouble.

   "Hey... uh Gothic Mirror was it? I'm not here to start any trouble... I.. I'm just here to ask a couple of questions."

    Gothic Mirror just stared at Spin Doctor in silence. Spin Doctor looked away, and began scratching his head. It was at this point Gothic Mirror realized he needed to say something, or the complete moron was just going to keep standing there, and not say anything. So Gothic Mirror broke his silence. "What? What do you feel you need to ask me?"

     "Oh... uh... thanks." Spin Doctor smiled. He was happy he finally got permission to speak. "So The Disciples aren't going to be playing there music until midnight tonight. What are your plans until then?"

     Gothic Mirror seemed confused by the question. "What do you mean?"

    Spin Doctor began to elaborate. "Well, you don't have any food, also I imagine there probably not going to be any music until the band plays. So I was wondering what you had planned."

    Gothic Mirror stood there puzzled for a moment. "Well I rarely plan events like this."

    Spin Doctor scratched his head again. "Wait. You're a leader of a new religion, and you don't plan events for your followers."

     Gothic Mirror began to get offended. "I'm a very busy man, and I depend on others to get the message out!"

    Spin Doctor backed away. "Dude! I'm trying to help you out here. Look, before I joined the Punk Rockers, I was a dj. Let me get the boys to go out and get some food, and I'll go back to our hide out, and get my music."

    Suddenly Gothic Mirror noticed Mr. Tucker and some teenagers enter the room below. Gothic Mirror then turned back to Spin Doctor. "Okay. Do what you think is best. I have business to tend to."

    "Cool." Spin Doctor smiled. "What kind of music you want. Rock, heavy metal, alternative. I also got some rap and hip hop."

    Gothic Mirror reached out with both hands, and grabbed Spin Doctor by his jacket. "Heavy metal and alternative is fine, but heaven help you if you play any rap or hip hop in this building! If you do, I will have you pissing your pants, and hiding under your bed for the rest of your life!"

    Spin Doctor was shaking. He swallowed hard. "O..okay, well, I will not grab those cds then."

   Gothic Mirror let him go. "Good. Now begone with you." Gothic Mirror began walking towards the stairs, so he could greet Mr. Tucker.

     "Oh yeah! One more thing." Spin Doctor had called out to Gothic Mirror.

    Gothic Mirror was getting agitated. He turned to Spin Doctor and yelled. "What!?!"

    At that moment Gothic Mirror could hear Mr. Tucker telling his guest. "Don't be afraid. Our leader is actually a very kind man."

   Gothic Mirror felt a rush of embarrassment come over him. Normally he could keep his cool, but the stress of the event, and the inoance of being bothered, got the best of him.

     Spin Doctor took a deep breath, and very quickly said, " I just wanted you to know that Rolo was preparing The Disciples dressing room. So that when they got here, they would be comfortable."

     Gothic Mirror was trying to calm down. "Excellent. Tell Rolo thank you for putting me in contact with them." Gothic Mirror then turned, and made his way down the stairs.

    Once Gothic Mirror got down stairs, he began making his way to Mr.Tucker and his students. Once Mr. Tucker spotted him. Mr. Tucker began walking towards him to greet him. "Master it is so great to see you. It's been quite sometime since last we saw each other.

   Gothic Mirror rolled his eyes, they had actually saw each other that morning, during the break at the government lab. In fact the break in had caused Tucker to be late for work.

    Gothic Mirror gave a faint laugh. He was pretending to be happy to see Tucker, but truth be told, he could care less about him, or anyone else for that matter. People were just tools to him, and the moment they lost their usefulness, he throw them out, or dispose of them.

    Gothic Mirror looked over at the students. "I see you brought some fine re...cruits." Gothic Mirror trailed off for a second, because one of the students took him by surprise.

    Gothic Mirror stared at Franklin. He was a little confused by why someone like him would be here. "An African American?"

   Franklin's eyes widen. It was at this point he noticed Gothic Mirror staring a hole through him, and all he could think was. Oh shit! This guy is racist. After a few seconds of awkward silence. Franklin decided to say something. "Um... you can just say black."

    Gothic Mirror gave an awkward laugh, he realized he was freaking the boy out. He also didn't want the boy to think he was racist. Truth be told Gothic Mirror wasn't racist at all, because he hated everyone equally.

    Gothic Mirror smiled at Franklin. "I do want to say, and I mean no disrespect, and I want you to know all is welcome here. I was just taken off guard, because..." Gothic Mirror paused trying to think of a polite way to say what he wanted to say.

    Franklin finally intervened. "I think you're trying to say, you never met a black person interested in the a cult.

    "Exactly!" Gothic Mirror smiled.

    "It's cool man." Franklin said with a smile. "You see,  my boy Matt and I have been friends since kindergarten, and when he started getting into it. I sort of got into it too. I actually hear that shit all the time, my parents hate that I'm into it. They were hoping I would get into basketball, or football instead. So I'm use to people being shocked, that this is what I'm into."

    Gothic Mirror turned to Matt. "Ah so you're the one who has brought this group together. You must be a very wise young man."

    Suddenly Gothic Mirror heard one of the young ladies clear her throat. "Actually I'm the one who brought us together."

   Gothic Mirror stared at the young woman, and under his breath muttered. "Of course it was a woman who brought them together." Gothic Mirror hated young people. Even though he himself was only twenty nine. He felt that he was more wise and mature than people three times his age. Most young people were rude and felt intitled. Which was the biggest reason why he didn't want to deal with them, but he needed them to spread his message.

    

      He also currently wasn't very fond of woman and girls. This was for an entirely different reason, which he didn't want to think about it at this moment.

    Gothic Mirror turned to the young woman who spoke. "And you are?"

    "Samantha!" The girl extended her hand.

     Gothic Mirror stared at her hand for a second before reaching out and gently grabbing the tips of her fingers, giving it one shake and letting it go."

     Samantha looked at her hand to make sure nothing nasty was on. Normally guys couldn't wait to touch her hand, or some part of her body, but for some reason, this guy seemed  to want nothing to do with her. For a second she thought. Maybe this guy is gay.

     Mr. Tucker approached Gothic Mirror and put his arm around him. Gothic Mirror stared coldly at Mr.Tucker as to tell him, that he did not want him to touch him. Mr. Tucker seem to ignore the que, and began whispering in his ear. While pointing at the tallest member of the group. Which happen to be Tim.

     "Look at this young man over here. He be perfect for... Mr. Tucker paused. Then nodded towards Tim. "The plan."

    Gothic Mirror smiled. "Ahh, yes this lad would be perfect."

   This got both Tim and Katey's attention. Mr. Tucker turned to them and said, "Tim tell our wonderful leader about your time playing football."

    Tim was taken a back by the inquiry, and didn't understand why his time in football mattered. "Well, I was middle line backer last year, and I did it, was because my parents forced me. I actually hate football."

    Gothic Mirror removed Mr. Tucker's arm from around his shoulder, and stepped towards Tim. "Yes. I agree. Football is a barbaric sport, but seeing that you are a powerful young man. We could definitely use someone like you."

   Katey was beginning feel uncomfortable, while Samantha fully confirmed to herself, that, yup the man was gay. Katey didn't like how these older men were talking about, and looking at her Timmy. In fact Mr. Tucker just freaked her out in general, and his so called Master, seemed like a scum bag. Katey just couldn't stay silent for any longer. "Hey! Aren't you guys suppose to be showing us a Demon!?!"

     Gothic Mirror and Mr. Tucker looked at each other and laughed. Gothic Mirror then turned back to Katey. "The Demon is not set to appear until after the concert."

   Katey folded her arms. "You know. I'm starting to think you guys are full of shit!"

    Gothic Mirror smiled, then began walking towards Katey. Katey's friends began urging her to calm down. Tim even said, "Babe, be quite. You are going to fuck things up." But before anyone else could say anything. Gothic Mirror was in front of Katey.

    Gothic Mirror smiled, and placed a finger on Katey's temple. She tried to back away, but for some reason she couldn't move. It was like her body completely froze.

   Gothic Mirror leaned in close to Katey and whispered. "You want to see a Demon. I'm going to show you a Demon.

#horror #supernatural #super hero #my writing

[uwua3]

imposter.

🌸🎮 chigasaki itaru

summary: rule #1 — never take off your helmet

dedication: shy anon 🧡 :)

warnings: angst, betrayal, death(s), gore, heartbreak, lying

author’s note: this is set in an among us universe :D please be mindful of the concept of the game as you progress forward in the writing! this is an overdue halloween–piece that will bring the chills even in november! (this is the first time i’ve written in first person... :O) ♡ to shy, i hope you especially like this!

word count: 2,550

music: hit and run – lolo, as the world caves in – matt maltese

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

October 31, 20XX ☆ 05:24

There is only one rule on the spaceship everyone follows: NEVER TAKE OFF YOUR HELMET.

Ever since the report of an alien specimen being on board, the entire crew has made it mandatory that we remain in uniform. I’ve slowly forgotten the faces of my crewmates, all I can see is the color of their astronaut suits. Every day is the same: waking up to do tasks, all whilst hoping not to die.

Luckily, we haven’t had to call an emergency meeting in months. Or, so I believe. Time passes differently in the middle of the solar system. How long has it been since I’ve talked to someone outside of maintaining the ship? Days, weeks, months, years? The threat of an invader walking among us has taken over our ship for the worst.

I have to do my tasks now.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 1, 20XX ☆ 06:30

Today, a new crew member joined us! From what the captain told us, he goes by the name Taruchi. He wears an orange uniform and doesn’t seem to talk much, only really spends time on his government-assigned phone.

I’ve introduced myself to Taruchi at the mandatory staff meeting, but he didn’t seem to be too interested. He just nodded and went back to tapping away on his screen, playing something that looked like shooting asteroids.

To be honest, no one knows exactly why it took this long to replace White, who was tragically murdered by the Imposter not too long ago. I assume it’s because no one wants to work on a spaceship where the alien is still on board. Taruchi’s got guts, that’s for sure. Or, maybe…

Is it just me… or is Taruchi sus?

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 2, 20XX ☆ 15:43

Red died.

Right before the lights had to be fixed in Electrical, I noticed an orange suit out of the corner of my eye. Taruchi leaned against the wall in the Storage corridor, right beneath the blinking security camera. He was on his phone again, almost pulling it out of his pocket before stopping, looking up to meet my gaze.

I swear my heart stop. Even with both of our helmets on, I could feel the piercing stare of this unknown crew member. Taruchi straightened his posture, and I could feel how tall he truly was. He tilted his head, presumably looking me up and down before tapping a button on his phone. The last thing I felt was the unfamiliar buzz of notification against my belt strap before it went all dark for a few minutes.

Red’s body was reported by Purple in Electrical, a location Taruchi and I were just around the corner of. By the time everyone entered the Cafeteria to vote, Purple’s finger was pointed directly at me. It was the first time I’ve been accused of being the Imposter. Purple, a friend who I had known ever since we both joined this Skeld map together, thought I had murdered Red in cold blood.

Taruchi spoke up for the first time since he arrived. His voice was smooth with a tone of calmness that fit his casual stance around the ship. Taruchi jumped so easily into the conversation, I couldn’t help but stare in awe while he sat beside me.

“They were with me in Storage, they’re safe.” Taruchi vouched for me, turning the conversation to a dead end. We all ended up agreeing to skip the vote, even if it was against Purple’s will at the end. When we rushed to finish our tasks for the day, all I remember was Purple staring at me for a moment too long before heading in the direction of the Upper Engine.

It was just Taruchi and me in the Cafeteria with the emergency button going through its cooldown again. I nearly couldn’t believe it, I was suspected. I would have to be careful of where I was next time.

Taruchi turned towards me as if wanting to say something, before sighing and shaking his head. He moved to stand up and stopped by the entrance to Medbay, turning around while knocking his knuckles onto the wall once as if he already didn’t have my undivided attention.

 “Be careful, okay? There’s an Imposter among us.” I swore I could see him wink before he disappeared. Taruchi’s words didn’t leave me for the rest of the day because I had realized something.

We haven’t had a death in so long, until Taruchi arrived.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 5, 20XX ☆ 17:12

One crewmate had died today: Purple.

It was a hit and run in the Lower Engine. At the second body reporting of the day, Cyan claimed they were on cams duty in Security, but they didn’t see a thing. Purple was found in the Lower Engine in the lowest corridor to the left, making it an easy kill for the Imposter. Once I had found out the news, I was the immediate suspect.

If it wasn’t for Taruchi again, I would’ve been kicked out into space. I would’ve been the third death, but Taruchi had once again saved me.

 Prior to Purple’s death, I was in the Reactor trying to start it. Taruchi walked into the room, nearly making me yell out of shock from how quiet he was. Taruchi raised his hands as if trying to prove he was innocent, helping me up from the ground with a small laugh.

 “Hey, hey, hey. Calm down, you’re okay.” Taruchi reassured me, making sure I could stand on my own two (2) feet before letting me go. For some reason, even if every sign pointed to him being the Imposter, I believed him. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, nodding as I managed to thank him. Taruchi just waved his and, signaling for me to not worry about it as he caught sight of the keypad in front of me.

“Oh? You got the ‘Start Reactor’ task, hm?” Taruchi said, moving in closer to see my progress. I hadn’t even started yet, and that became embarrassingly obvious once Taruchi let out another laugh.

“You haven’t started? How long have you worked here?” Taruchi joked, knocking his fist into my helmet lightly as if to tease me. I swatted back, trying not to show I was flustered beneath my mask. Though, sometimes it felt like Taruchi could see right through me despite only being here for four (4) days or so.

“I’ve always been awful at patterns.” I admitted quietly, looking away as Taruchi tried to hold in his laughter this time around. It took a moment for him to compose himself before Taruchi exaggerated a sigh, taking my position and pressing in the pattern quickly without even hesitating.

Right as it reached the fifth stage, Taruchi looked over his shoulder to hold his hand out. “You have to clean up the Halloween decorations around the ship with me or else I’ll leave you to this task alone.” Taruchi compromised, waiting for me to accept this dal as the timer began counting down.

 “Taruchi, you’re kidding.” You paused, waiting for him to say he was joking but that moment never came. Cleaning around the Skeld was the worst job possible, even if it got me out of a day of tasks. Before the last second disappeared, I took his hand with a loud “Fine!” and his other hand entered the code without even looking at the same time. Gamer hands were impressive, to say the least.

“Good little astronaut.” Taruchi patted my helmet as I watched the taskbar go up on my phone. “I’ll see you tomorrow in the Cafeteria at 0800, then, little one.”  

Before I could respond to the new nickname, both Taruchi and I’s phone screens lit up with the notification of Brown reporting Purple’s corpse.

Taruchi’s fingers tensed around his device as he looked at me solemnly. “I’ll defend you in Cafeteria, don’t worry about it.” Taruchi promised, leaving first as I regained my senses and followed after him.

Taruchi lived up to his word, even when Yellow brought up how Purple was dead after accusing me a few days ago.

“Purple’s dead after they targeted you? Seems sus to me.” Yellow scoffed, kicking their feet up onto the table and crossing their arms. Murmurs spread around the cafeteria table, my own crew mates beginning to further doubt my allegiance.

“They just did a task in Reactor. Can’t you see it in the taskbar?” Taruchi retorted back, holding up his own screen as evidence. The rest of the crew checked to confirm, and voiced their agreement.

“How did you know that, Orange?” Blue questioned out of nowhere, leaning forward to stare at Taruchi and me. I didn’t know what to say, should I admit I was with Taruchi or would that make both of us seem suspicious?

“Stalked them from the vents, of course.”

It went so silent I could hear the beeping from navigation. Everyone was looking at Taruchi at this point. The vent from Lower Engine did lead to Reactor… but, that made no sense. Taruchi had walked into the entrance, he didn’t vent up.

“Haha, just kidding.” Taruchi said after a moment too long, leading to everyone relaxing after an uncomfortable but relieved sigh. I didn’t know why I didn’t defend Taruchi immediately, except... I did. I just didn’t want to say it out loud. Even I wasn’t sure if Taruchi was another Impostor or not.

Two (2) imposters on one (1) ship… I shuddered at the thought.

Once again, we ended up skipping. I think the crew was afraid of what would happen if we lost another innocent. Everyone else left to mourn yet another death as Taurchi and I stayed behind again.

Taruchi couldn’t be Imposter. Not when I felt this safe with him. Taruchi was the one to stand up first again after he noticed I wasn’t saying anything. This time, he leaned over me instead.

“Your helmet isn’t put on right, it’s not adjusted correctly.” Taruchi reminded me, fixing it so we both could hear the latches hook onto the helmet. I wondered what his hands would feel like without those orange gloves, but, I nodded instead.

“Remember tomorrow, here, 8, got it?” When I nodded again, he laughed. It was a sound that made me feel relaxed even when the rest of the crew was on high alert.

“It’s a date, then.” Taruchi added on before strolling out towards his dorms, I assume. I just waved goodbye before freezing. Huh? What did that mean? Was it actually a date?

Even when my crew mates were facing the threat of death, I couldn’t help but get excited over seeing Taruchi tomorrow morning.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 6, 20XX ☆ 12:07

Taruchi took off his helmet today.

He said to stop calling him that alias, his real name is Chigasaki Itaru. Itaru… I like that more than Taruchi.

His eyes are the same color as Pink’s uniform, with blonde hair that fell over his forehead after wearing his helmet all day. When Itaru saw me stare, he smiled and it only made my heart beat faster.

“Uh oh. Does someone have to go to MedBay to check their vitals?” Itaru joked, nudging me with his helmet. Itaru had broken rule #1 of the spaceship, he had taken off his helmet… for me.

“See? I told you I wasn’t Imposter. I could tell you were thinking that, but, I promise, I’m on your side.” Itaru didn’t ask me to take off my helmet. He just put his back on and we continued taking down the Halloween decorations.

Taruchi—no, Itaru, wasn’t an Imposter. I knew that for a fact.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 15, 20XX ☆ 02:52

I really like Itaru. I want to play this game with him forever, but, I can’t.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 24, 20XX ☆ 23:11

Itaru and I were watching the stars as we patrolled Navigation for the night. As we slowly made our way through time and space itself, I could hear Itaru turn on automatic cruise control. I looked towards him as he yawned despite being the biggest night owl on the ship.

When Itaru took off his helmet and shook his head, fixing his hair in the process, he leaned back in his pilot seat with a lazy smile.

“Me, you, and the stars. What could be better than this?” Itaru sighed, as if at peace after leaving the tense atmosphere of the ship. Now that it was night, the suspicion was asleep as everyone took their appropriate night shifts.

Underneath the starlight, I couldn’t help but admire him yet again. Itaru was beautiful and I found myself subconsciously smiling at him like a fool. Itaru glanced at the sky before meeting my sight, seemingly lost in a daze for a second before swearing, taking his feet off the control panel.

“I can’t see you, but goddamn it, I want to kiss you so bad.” Itaeu put his head in his hands, his words muffled but clear enough to make my heart skip a beat. Before I could stop myself, I revealed what I’ve always wanted to say ever since I met Itaru.

“I trust you, Itaru. Kiss me.”

Itaru slowly lifted his head, silently asking if you were serious. I leaned in closer, pushing my chair towards him as if giving him permission. Itaru was in shock and disbelief, before breaking out into a wide smile as if this was the highlight of his night.

When he leaned in as well, his hands ghosted over the latches of my helmet warily, meeting my eyes again to confirm. I nodded, and right before Itaru took it off, he whispered his last confession.

“I love you.”

Black alien tentacles pushed past the opening in my helmet and wrapped around Itaru’s throat without any warning. The helmet clattered to the floor noisily as tens of intergalactic limbs spread out and searched for their next victim. It had been so long since I last killed that my extraterrestrial tentacles were deathly hungry, and Itaru was next.

Itaru was lifted into the air, his feet dangling as he desperately tried to grab the tentacles off him. I couldn’t help but smile even as I watched the light fade away from his eyes. My parasitic tentacles squeezed tighter and tighter around every square surface of his body. It wouldn’t be long before he exploded all over the entire Navigation room.

“Rule #1: Never take off your helmet, Itaru.”

I dropped his lifeless body onto the floor without a care in the world. Orange’s suit was stained with blood with what was left of him. I put my helmet back on, wiping the evidence away like I’ve done many times before.

I made sure to set off O2 malfunction on my phone before I hopped into the vent, quickly coming out of Shields before running with the rest of the group. When I managed to report Orange’s body, I watched his corpse float millions of light years away in the distance.

Itaru was not the Imposter.

I am, and I’m going to win, no matter who died.

#chigasaki itaru #itaru chigasaki #a3! act! addict! actors! #a3! #act! addict! actors! #a3! actor training game #a3! one shots #act! addict! actors! one shots #mankai a3! #mankai company #a3! x reader #a3 x reader #itaru x reader #a3! itaru #a3 itaru

[starrbomb]

I was nothing before you saved me pt6

The months seem to drag on, Allura and Coran seeming to push them a bit further every time they trained. Of course, no one could really blame them after finding out about Lance. But she knows that she is being too tough on them, the way that Hunk has to catch his breath time and time again, and the way that even Shiro looks like he is about to collapse in exhaustion by the end of the training sessions. But she needs them to be at the top of their game. She can’t lose these paladins, as they are the only ones who can help her get Lance back.

It actually reminded her of when she was learning how to train with the staff, Lance would always tell her “being determined to learn and grow is a valuable tool when studying anything, from history to how to use a staff or sword, however you must learn to pace as well. Your mind and body are just like a sword; you use them constantly and the more you use them, the more skilled you are, however if you do not take the time to take care of them, they will become unusable. Make sure to take time for yourself Allura, to make sure you are as sharp as any blade in the castle.”

It was months before they made any kind of break on where Lance was. They knew that he was within a gladiator ring, however what Shiro did not know was which one it was, as there were multiple rings throughout the Empire. It was during one of their missions that Pidge was able to download information from one of the computers, in hopes of finding their brother. While it did not have information about Matt, like she had hoped, it did however have information about all of the gladiator rings in the Empire.

“Looks like the general running that base was a gambler with a nasty habit, there are even notes next to them about when the next fights will be and which ones he was already banned from and which ones he owes money too.” She comments as she shows the map of where all the gladiator rings are, each point highlighted a different color and small notes connected to each point.

“Good. Now we know when we can start looking. Shiro, i know that you do not wish to remember much from that time, but do any of the names here look familiar at all?” Allura asks, trying her best to give Shiro a chance to say otherwise. She knows just how hard it was for Lance to talk about his past with fighting rings, and how he would have nightmares from that time. She did not wish to put that same pain onto Shiro, but she was also desperate. She needed to know.

“No, sorry Allura, I was never told the name of the ring itself, and I barely remember how I escaped to begin with.” He says mournfully, rubbing at his temple in either aggregation or possibly due to disappointment. Shiro, besides Coran, was also one of the few who also wished to help free Lance. While the others may not know him, and he may not know Lance himself, being able to see him helped to cement his need to help him escape as well.

However ,as Guardians of the galaxy, they must put other missions before their own personal ones. But they do their best to work on finding Lance. Whenever they are in the area, they scout out the arenas, making sure to note and document every weakness that they can find. They know that they can not strike yet, as everyone agreed that they wanted to demolish every arena and free everyone from having to fight in these death matches; But they can’t until they get Lance. If they try to start now, the Galra Army may catch onto what they are trying to do and may move Lance somewhere else and make it impossible to find him.

Everyone also agreed that during these scouting missions, that Shiro would not come with them, as thy all understood that it would both put Shiro in danger as well as the missions, and they did not wish to put Shiro into a situation where he would have a flashback and go through that pain again.

Weeks of searching through darkly lit arenas, and saving planet after planet, turned into months as they narrowed down which arena he would be in. They were stopped multiple times to stop the beasts that the witch would send their way, but Allura knew that with each battle her paladins were growing stronger.

Their plans to find the arena Lance was held captive in were put to a halt, as she was taken by Glara forces during one of their information missions. It was the only thing she could do to make sure that Shiro also wasn’t taken captive either. As she was dragged into the throne room, all she could think about was how different it was compared to the throne room back on Daibazaal. The old one felt som ugh more welcoming, the lighting never felt as obsessive as it does here; instead of the expecting impending doom and pain in every corner, it was always warm and filled with smiling faces.

Never has she wanted to punch someone so badly as she did as when Zarkon was standing before her, talking down to her and demanding that she make the paladins hand over the Black Lion.

“You will never get the Black Lion, you lost all rights to ever be her paladin again after what you did!” She yelled, “ you betrayed us! You betrayed me, the alliance, the Paladins, my father, Lance! How could you betray Lance of all people! He trusted you the most! And you killed him!” She screamed, all of the hate and anguish that she has felt over the past few months bubbling over and spilling out of the part of her heart she has tried to keep bottled up for so long; but seeing the one man that is the cause of all of this pain, all she could do was let it out.

It was silent as Zarkon glared down at her, she wishes that she could see what was going on inside of his head, but his stone cold expression gave nothing away.

“Take her to the dungeon. It does not matter if we force her to give the Lion to us; they will be coming to get her any moment. And then I will be able to get the Black Lion.”

Rough hands pull her away from the throne room and through multiple corridors before finally being thrown into a small holding cell, the shielding coming down before she was even able to get her feet underneath her and trapping her inside of the room.

As she is left alone, she can’t help but panic.

She knows that the paladins will be coming; just as Zarkon said. There is no way that they would leave her behind, no matter what she would have said. If they come, she knows that Zarkon will try to take control of the Black Lion again, which could be disastrous; as their connection to the lions, while strong and growing stronger each day, won’t be enough to stop Zarkon from hijacking the Black Lion from Shiro’s Control. She also gave away that Lance is still a sore spot for her, and they could use that to their advantage….and use Lance as a hostage against them. Against her. She was so stupid! Why did she bring up Lance?! They were so close to finding him, and now that may be all dashed away if they figure out she actually knows he is alive.

Allura wanted to cry, so badly. It felt like everything was falling apart all because of her, and she didn’t know what to do to fix it.

How can she fix this?!

All she can think of…. in that one moment….

“What would Lance do?”

#voltron #voltron lance #altean Lance au #bodyguard au #guess who is back from the dead #langst #Allura angst #Shiro #Coran #Zarkon #Voltron au #Lance #bet you weren’t expecting this to come back #season 1

[tiikeria]

No Roads Left to Run

Title: No Roads Left to Run Ship(s): None Rating: T Warning(s): Minor Character Death, Language Words: 3,577 words Summary: Everyone thought they knew the legend. The story of the king who wished for the go and was punished for his greed when he couldn’t eat, and when his beloved daughter was turned into a golden statue of herself. When he begged Dionysus for a reprieve from his mistake, he was given a way out: wash anything he turned to gold in a river, and they would return to the way they were.

That was how the story went, at least. The story of Midas.

It couldn’t be more wrong.

Notes: What is it, 2016? I’m writing fic? Something ain’t right. But, this is based on an AU I have with a couple of friends that we started, oh, 4 or 5 years ago. This fic was started in 2016, actually, with a certain person as Akakios. Obviously that changed.

Always, enjoy the fic and hit me up if you’d like to chat!

The rain had started to fall on the docks as the last terrified scream echoed against the concrete buildings and steel containers surrounding them, trapping them in, looming over them like a silent jury. Looming over him. His hand lowered shakily and the gold marks along his skin faded into nothingness as he let the power drain from him, no longer necessary now that the threat was eliminated.

But now…now he had a different problem. One gold couldn’t fix. One he couldn’t fix. 

As the rain became heavier and thunder rumbled in the distance he could feel their gazes on his back, and he could imagine the expressions on their faces if he would turn to look. Fear. Horror. Possibly betrayal.

He had lied for so long. Lied to them all. He had hidden who he really was under the guise of protecting them. Instead, he had only been selfish. He had lied to them because he cared. And because they cared in return. They cared for him, and not for the gold that formed from his fingertips so effortlessly. He didn’t want to lose that feeling of belonging that he hadn’t had in decades. So he lied.

And now he lost it anyway.

He couldn’t turn, couldn’t face them, their disappointment, their fear. Everyone feared him in Los Santos; they feared who he truly was, to be exact. Few feared the Fake’s Golden Boy. But many feared the God that owned the city.

No one had known that they were one and the same. Until now. Until he had no choice. Until he had to give everything up in the name of protecting them from being gunned down in a planned massacre.

At least they were alive. That was his only solace. They were still alive.

Without turning, he spoke, voice just loud enough to reach them above the rain and thunder, “I’m sorry.”

And he ran.

Everyone thought they knew the legend. The story of the king who wished for the golden touch and was punished for his greed when he couldn’t eat, and when his beloved daughter was turned into a golden statue of herself. When he begged Dionysus for a reprieve from his mistake, he was given a way out: wash anything he turned to gold in a river, and they would return to the way they were.

That was how the story went, at least. The story of Midas.

It couldn’t be more wrong.

Midas wasn’t born a king. He wasn’t even born a mortal. He was a demigod, son of Dionysus and a blind peasant woman named Theodosia. Born of trickery, when Dionysus disguised himself as the woman’s devoted husband, Akakios, as he was out to market. She only discovered the deceit afterward, but it was too late. She would birth the God’s son when the time came.

They called him Midas, and Akakios loved him as if he was his own blood. After all, the two had desperately prayed for a child and if this is how the Gods chose to grant their prayers, then so be it.

Midas grew into a curious and playful young boy before they discovered his gift. His gift of gold. He didn’t understand why the King of their small island called his Mama and Papa and him to see him. All he did was make a flower pretty and shiny for his Mama. Was he in trouble?

He would later say he was.

The King was a greedy man, always coveting the wealth of the larger islands, of the grander Kings. And he saw Midas as a way to achieve that wealth; a child who could make gold on command was his gift from the Gods. So, he offered the peasant parents a deal: he would ensure they had food on the table, and clothes on their backs, as long as the child would create for him.

Without a way to truly say no, they agreed, and Midas went into the employ of their King. He still remained with his beloved Mama and Papa, growing stronger every day as he helped with their modest farm. But the calls to create were getting more frequent and more elaborate, and Theodosia and Akakios worried when it would no longer be enough.

The answer came on the eve of Midas’ thirteenth birthday, Akakios out at market two days away, with a promise to bring his son a wonderful gift. The King had not called in a few days, which had become a bit of an oddity, but they thought nothing of it. If he didn’t call, Midas stayed home, and stayed strong. Too much creating and he would grow tired and weak.

They should have worried more.

The knock on the door came as the moon was rising over the coast. Midas would always regret opening that door.

Soldiers grabbed him as soon as the door opened, their grip tight on the boy’s arms as he struggled. He heard his mother cry out for him, reach for him. She was yelling at the soldiers to release her son, that they had no business taking him.

“By decree of your King, this boy is now property of the Kingdom and shall be escorted to the palace,” one soldier spoke, his voice cold and level. He cared not for this woman’s concern, for her upset. At least, until she grabbed at Midas.

A sword was drawn in an instant, blood on the floor as she dropped. He vaguely remembered screaming for her, trying his best to get to her. But it was too late. Far too late.

The last time Midas would ever see his first home was that night, as flames licked the sky and destroyed everything he ever knew.

Gavin was good at hiding. He had done it for centuries under different names, different faces. He had run for years, for decades, without so much as a second thought. So why was it so hard to leave now? Why couldn’t he find himself away from Los Santos, away from California, away from the States?

Why wasn’t he back in England with Dan? Why was he still watching them from a distance?

Because he cared. For the first time in many, many years, he cared.

So he stayed.

He spent three years as a slave to the King. Three years of nothing more than creating for a man who cared not for him as a person, only as means to an end. Gone was the curious child with the golden smile and bright laugh. Gone, like his home. Gone, like his family. He was alone, and only had himself to blame.

Him, and his golden curse.

It was three years before anyone would come for him. Dionysus himself coming to collect his son from the tyrant who had made him a slave. Dionysus didn’t take kindly to the treatment of his blood, to the murder of Theodosia, whom he still cared for.

It wan’t Dionysus that found him, though. It was a satyr named Pan. The God of Nature himself.

“Midas?” He questioned, looking into the eyes of a boy who had seen too much, “It’s time to come home. Your father is here.”

“Akakios?” Midas would ask, knowing he would be wrong. He wondered if Akakios would have ever come for him if he knew where he was. If he knew he was alive. Midas’ power took everything from Akakios; he had no reason to seek out the bastard child who ruined his life.

“No, boy,” Pan predictably told him, something kind in his gaze, “Dionysus. He’s been looking for you for quite a while; no child of his shall be a slave.”

“He’s a few years too late,” Midas told the God, but followed him despite his cynical words.

Dionysus couldn’t have been more different than Akakios had been. Akakios was a quiet, thoughtful man. Dionysus was loud, boisterous, and quite temperamental it seemed. But, he was Midas’ escape from this prison, and he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Midas had his suspicions as to what happened to the King, but he never asked. He never cared. If the King was dead, then everyone was better for it.

He allowed Dionysus and Pan to lead him away to yet another place he didn’t know. Another place that wasn’t home.

He had never been more homesick in his life.

The crew was searching for him. They had been for the last week since he disappeared. He saw Michael’s fires, and Jeremy’s fights. He saw Jack’s helicopter combing the hills and Geoff’s car on the streets. He saw cameras searching for him, Matt on the other end. He heard Trevor digging for intel, and Alfredo searching by scope. And there was Lindsay, causing chaos as if they hoped it would be a siren song for Gavin to come back. To help them cause it.

But it wasn’t any of them who found him first.

No, it was the one who grew up in Los Santos. The one who knew the stories. Who knew where you turned when your luck had run out.

Fiona arrived to the modest plywood stand in a damp alleyway in La Mesa with a bag full of gold pinched from the crew and a determination unlike any other. She was the one to call him back, unable to ignore a request from his own altar.

“Fi? Why are you here?”

She graced him with a narrow stare, arms crossed, anger and concern in her veins, “ Why do you think I’m here, Gavin? I’m here because you left. You left and you haven’t come back.”

Stepping from the shadows, he gave her a tired, golden-eyed once over, ‘I’m not coming back, Fiona.”

“Like hell you aren’t!”

He lifted his head, standing straight, looking very much like the God he was, “Go home, Fiona. Forget Gavin Free. Forget me.”

He didn’t stick around to hear her reply.

He was eighteen now. Two years with Dionysus, and two years since he was no longer a slave. At least, in normal terms. Now…now he was a trophy. Dionysus’ favored son; not because of himself, but because of his mother. His mother Dionysus still loved. He was nothing more than his remaining link to the past.

He was no more his own man than a child.

But, he did have solace in one other. Pan, the Satyr God, had become his closest friend. He taught him how to control his power, how to shape it, how to bend it to his will. He taught him about the shepherds who called to Pan for blessings, and the animals they herded across the land. Pan taught him about nature, and showed him how to respect it.

But, most of all, Pan taught him he belonged to no one.

The Gods of Olympus also seemed to take a shine to him. Artemis taught him the hunt, and how to feed himself should he require it. Hephaestus taught him the forge, another way to bend his powers into beautiful and useful shapes. Apollo taught him medicine, how to heal himself if a fight went wrong. Athena taught him wisdom, and how to find one with unpleasant intentions.

Hades gave him the greatest gift of all.

In a small temple on the coast, a lone keeper watched over the altar of Hades. Devout in his care of the temple and his prayers to the god, Hades had been curious what this man had lost to cause him to be so pious to the God of the Underworld. Hades appeared to the man one night, as the keeper was finishing his evening prayer, and he asked. He asked what the man prayed for more than anything.

“The happiness in the afterlife of my wife and son,” the man answered, eyes awed, but tired, as if he had lost the life that once resided in them.

“What is your name, Keeper?” Hades asked of him, not unkindly, “And what were your wife and son called?”

“Lord Hades,” the man replied, “They call me a Ghost now, but once my name was Akakios. My beloved was Theodosia, and my son Midas.”

Hades knew then he was looking at the man who raised Dionysus’ golden son, the same one Pan had been searching for in an attempt to bring happiness back to his friend. Dionysus had never truly been a father to Midas. But Akakios had. And it was only right the boy was returned to his father.

“Devout Akakios,” Hades spoke, “I wish for you to meet someone. You have been praying to me for many years, and I wish to reward your selflessness. You cared not for your own gain, but for the souls you have lost. Come with me, Temple Keeper. And I will give you a gift.”

Akakios had no reason to deny his Lord, so he stood, approaching the God of the Underworld with the lack of hesitation reserved for men who welcomed death. Together, Hades whisked them away from the temple on the coast, to a grove surrounded by trees, the smell of earth as strong as the scent of sea salt had been before.

“Hades,” a voice called, “What do I owe the pleasure?”

Akakios never dreamed of meeting one God, let alone two, but before him stood a Satyr, flute in hand, a crown of leaves and flowers adorned his head. Pan, the god he once prayed to for the safety of his flock.

“I found him, Pan,” Hades said, gesturing to the man beside him, “You were correct, he did yet live. He’s been one of my most loyal followers, but he is here now. Pan, may I introduce you to Akakios.”

Pan seemed quite overjoyed to meet this mortal man, and it only confused Akakios more when the satyr…hugged him?

“Oh, he’ll be thrilled, Hades! He’s nearby, wait here!”

Akakios looked to his God for answers, but found nothing more than a kind smile.

“Pan!” Another man’s voice echoed through the clearing, “What is this about, my friend? I haven’t seen you this excited since the last revelry!”

The voice was so familiar, yet so different. Who was Pan leading back down the path?

Akakios’ breath left his lungs as a golden-eyed boy — no, man — followed Pan back into the grove. It couldn’t be, yet here he was, alive and breathing and looking at him like he had seen the ghost he had been called.

“Midas?”

“Father?”

“I hear you’re looking for him.”

The crew was no stranger to the black-clad figure in their living room. He had his own reputation, but seemed to exist only when he wished to exist. The city called him The Ghost, the specter in black with the blank white mask that haunted the streets.

Rumor also had it that he was Midas’ only priest.

“We are,” Geoff said, eyeing the figure warily, “But not for a favor.”

“No, you’re looking for him for personal reasons, I am aware,” The Ghost said, glancing out the windows overlooking Los Santos, “I know who you are and what he means to you. A friend, not a God. Something he desperately needed after so long alone.”

Jack cocked her head, “So you are connected to him.”

“You could say that, yes. I know you know how to contact him. One of you already has. But it will take more than gold and pleas for him to come back. He’s frightened.”

“Of us?” Fiona pipes up, brows burrowed in confusion, “Why?”

“Almost everyone who has ever known his true nature has turned on him. Used him for their own gain. Or, has cast him out, shown him hatred and distrust. He doesn’t want that with you. He cares too much; it’d kill him if you cast him aside.”

“I don’t care if he shits diamonds!” Geoff exclaimed, “He belongs here.”

The Ghost cocked his head, and they could almost sense he was smiling, as if they had passed some test of his when it came to Gavin. Maybe they had.

“Go to his altar. All of you. Bring your tributes. He cannot ignore a call from the altar; he refuses to. Tell him what he means to you. He will listen, but this may be your only chance to get him back.”

“What’s your angle?” Jeremy finally asked, arms crossed, “Why help us?”

The Ghost laughed, something soft in it, as he pulled off the mask, showing them a olive-skinned man with dark hair pulled back and sharp, clever steel-gray eyes assessing them, “I’m simply a concerned father, looking out for his son.”

Midas would run many, many times in his life. Whether from those with foul intentions or from lives run their course. But none were more important than when he ran from Dionysus that first time, Pan and his father by his side. He was a free man, now. Free to be who he wanted.

It wouldn’t be the last time he’d be Free.

He gained a reputation in the cities they passed through. He would set up a small stand, selling jewelry and golden trinkets. The nobles loved his work, but the peasants were the ones who praised him more. He would take the coin he earned and buy them food, buy them cloth, buy them whatever they needed. He never kept for himself. He, nor his father, nor his brother. They gave to those who couldn’t provide.

“We’ve been where you are,” they told them with sincere kindness, “If you ever are in need, pray to the one they call Midas. He will answer.”

Gods are only as strong as their following. And as Midas’ following grew, the stronger his power became. Everyone prayed for gold. But he wasn’t just the fledgling god of gold. No, he was more. God of the Outcasts. God of the Impoverished. For they coveted gold in the purest form. They only wanted to provide for themselves and those they loved.

So, while Midas charmed the nobles, he truly became a man, a God, of the poor.

Years would pass, and he would gain many names. He would become many men. He would help many more. He would learn at the greatest institutions, read the greatest literature, and see history unfold right before his eyes. The rise and fall of empires, the invention of wonderful and terrible things, religions growing and dying. He watched it all.

And beside him stood his friend — his brother in all but blood — Pan, now often called Daniel. And on his other side, bearing a gift from Hades himself, stood Akakios, his beloved father.

And he? Well he became fond of a certain English name. Gavin.

He was tired. Tired of hiding. Tired of trying to decide to run, only for his heart to bring him back. He was tired.

He was tired of lying to himself that he didn’t care anymore.

So when he got the call from his altar with a very familiar feeling, he wanted to ignore it. But, his promise always brought him back. Midas would always answer.

“Fiona,” he started, appearing in the alleyway without preamble, “I told you to forget-“

“Yeah, and I think she probably told you that wasn’t gonna fucking happen, Boi.”

Midas froze, taking in the nine people before him, staring at him, having called him here. They were all there. His crew. And on the altar was his own gold aviators, among gold trinkets he recognized. The crew loved calling him a magpie, always picking up something gold and shiny for them when he could. There sat his gifts to them. In a gift back to him.

“Midas,” another voice chimed in from behind him, and he didn’t have to look to know who it was, “Listen to them. They care more than your fear leads you to believe.”

“We miss you, buddy,” Geoff looked torn between reaching out for a hug or throttling him, and Midas’ heart ached for how normal that was, “Come home. I don’t care what magic shit you can do. You’re still our favorite dumbass that makes stupid bird noises and makes up words because you can.”

“I’m a God,” Midas choked out, “I’m not like you. I never should have been close. I never should have pretended.”

Lindsay smiled gently, their hand reaching out to him, “I’m sure even Gods need friends.”

“You…you really…don’t care?”

“I mean, we kinda would like an explanation, but for the superpower shit, not really. I mean, it was pretty fucking cool how you made goddamn statues of those guys,” Jeremy’s grin was lopsided and Midas could have hugged him too for how normal they all acted. It was as if nothing changed. Had anything changed? Well, yes, they knew the truth. They knew their Golden Boy was a Golden God.

But they didn’t care. And now he felt foolish for thinking they even would.

“Go home, Midas,” Akakios said quietly, “They’re as much your family as I am. Go home and be happy. You deserve it.”

Slowly, Midas stepped towards his crew, and they could see a change in him. Something different. Something more familiar.

Gavin Free had returned to his family. He had stopped running for the first time in a long, long time. And they were there to welcome him home with open arms.

#ragehappy #my fic #fahc #midas gavin

[oskea93]

My Heart Has a History (3)

Everything was set for the dinner.

I had made Matthew's parents favorite food and even a few things that Wyatt could eat. Vivian Abbott was the epitome of a sophisticated lady. She spent most of her days at local country clubs, playing tennis and eating meals that cost more than the food in my fridge. She would go on shopping trips with her girlfriends every other weekend and vacationed in the most elegant places. Matthew's dad, Brian, was on the quiet side. He didn't talk much other than the simple hello and goodbye. From what I've heard about Matt's childhood, it seems that his dad wasn't always there. He was a true businessman and it seemed that having a child hindered that in a way. Matt was basically raised by nannies and those that worked for his parents. I couldn't imagine living that kind of life or even having my children being raised that way. I guess that's why Vivian and Brian have never been partial to having Wyatt around when they visited… "Do I look okay?" Matthew's head snapped up from his phone. "Do I look presentable?" I stared at my reflection in the mirror, already second guessing my outfit. I had bought the outfit at one of the maternity stores in the mall without trying it on, which I was regretting at this point. I wanted to be able to look sleek and professional seeing as that's how Vivian and Brian always looked. If it were up to me, I would be wearing Nike shorts and tank top right now. "You look great, babe." Matt spoke as he walked over to me, wrapping his arms around my middle. "Very sexy." I rolled my eyes as I pushed him away and went back to the bed. "What's the matter?" I let out a sigh as I folded up a random shirt. "Did I do something wrong?" I shook my head as I took a seat on the bed, having Matt follow suit seconds later. He took my hand in his, drawing circles with his thumb. "Everything okay?" I nodded my head as I made eye contact with him. I didn't know how to word what I wanted to tell him or even how he would take it once I did tell him. "I'm just worried your parents won't like everything. I wanted everything to be perfect and it seems like it's all going to hell." Matt let out a sigh. "I know how much your mom and dad like fancy things and I figured that making a four-course meal and buying a nice dress would do the trick but the dinners burnt and my dress barely fits." Jonathan let out a chuckle as he wrapped his arm around me. "You worry too much, babe." He started. "The dinner is perfect and you look amazing in that dress." He pressed his lips against the side of my head. "I hope you're right." I muttered…

Vivian and Brian arrived 10 minutes later and I was a nervous wreck.    My heart was thumping in my chest as they greeted their only child. Wyatt was standing next to me, impatiently waiting to be greeted as well. I knew that Matt's parents weren't very fond of Wyatt. He was the product of a marriage that their son was not a part of and they had no reason to accept him into their family. It was as if Wyatt wasn't even there at times. At this age, he didn't care because he didn't know them that well. To him, they were simply strangers who came over once in a blue moon. The only thing that worried me was once the baby was born, they would be gushing all over her and he would be left out in the cold. "Presley-" Vivian's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "You look darling." I gave her a smile as she pulled me into her arms. "You look great as well, Vivian." I replied once we were face to face. "I love the dress." I could have kicked myself at that moment. All she did was smile and turned her attention back to Matt. I looked down at Wyatt and gave him a small smile. "Can we eat yet?" He asked aloud, causing everyone to look at him. Matt let out a chuckle as Vivian looked a bit annoyed but struggled to hide it. "Why don't we go into the living room and Presley can get Wyatt something to eat." Jonathan suggested. I agreed as I grabbed a hold of my son's hand and led him toward the kitchen. "Mommy, is daddy coming over tonight?" He asked once I set him on the counter. "He said he would come over and tuck me in." I let out a sigh. I didn't know whether Wyatt was just thinking that Jax would be over or if he was indeed coming over without me knowing. If he was to come over, hopefully it would be later when Vivian and Brian were gone. "I don't know baby; I haven't talked to daddy in a while." A little pout formed across his lips. "We can call daddy here in a minute if you want?" I tried to compromise. He quickly nodded his head. "Okay, we'll call daddy after dinner." I opened the fridge and found the meal I had prepared for him since he wouldn't have eaten what everyone else was having. He was just as picky as his father. I could hear the others talking and laughing in the other room but I wasn't in a rush to join them. Wyatt was my priority, not Vivian Abbott. "Let's get you off the counter so you can eat." I picked him off the counter and placed him on the floor. He raced to the table where I had already set up his utensils and had a glass of apple juice waiting for him. I brought his dinner over and made sure to cut everything up before he could eat. He was so much like Jax, especially when it came to food. "This is good, mama." He said in between bites of chicken. I let out a chuckle as I watched him eat. "Presley?" Matt asked as he came into the kitchen. "Babe, my parents want to talk to you." He sounded a bit annoyed. "Wyatt's eating." I simply told him. "I'll come out when he’s done." I could tell that he wasn't happy with my answer but decided not to protest. He made his way back out the door while Wyatt and I stayed in the kitchen. "I don't like those people." Wyatt spoke. I looked down at him, not knowing what to say. I couldn't tell him that I didn't like them either but he was right. Vivian and Brian were not children friendly, they weren't even people friendly…. I must have sat there with Wyatt for close to thirty minutes before he decided he was done with dinner. It was almost seven and I knew Brian and Vivian were madder than a bunch of hornets. I didn't realize that time had gone by so fast or else I would have fed Wyatt at the table with us, but then again Vivian would have been pissed about that. I picked Wyatt up and walked us into the living room, earning daggers from Vivian as I walked in. "Presley, you shouldn't be carrying that child around in the condition you're in." She protested as I set Wyatt next to Matt. "He could have kicked you in the stomach and injured the baby." I mentally rolled my eye as I wedged myself onto the couch. The dress I was wearing was starting to piss me off more than being with my mother-in-law. "So, can we eat now or do we have more children to feed?" Vivian smarted off. I could have leapt off the seat and punched her in the face but I refrained from doing so. "We can eat now." I sneered back. I wanted to come back with a smart ass comment but I wasn’t in the mood to start a fight with her or Matt…. The dinner went well and without confrontation. I minded my own business and only talked when I was asked a question. Wyatt would occasionally talk here and there but Vivian and Brian payed no mind to him. Everything was going okay until the door opened and Jax's voice rang through the house. "Daddy!" Wyatt jumped out of his seat, causing his desert plate to fall to the floor. Matt whispered out a string of curse words as he quickly got up to clean the mess. I caught Vivian whispering in Brian's ear, causing him to shake his head in return. I scurried out of my seat and stomped towards my son and his father as they hugged. Jax was the first to notice my presence, a smile forming on his face. "You look nice." He smirked as I stood there with my arms crossed and a sour expression. "Have you ever heard of calling or texting?" I tried my best to keep from yelling. "You can't just barge into someone's house without knocking." He rolled his eyes as he perched Wyatt on his hip. "I did knock, twice actually." He held up two fingers for dramatic effect. "I take it the in-laws are over." Before I could respond, Matt rounded the corner. "Jackson- "He began. "I didn't know you were paying us a visit tonight." His body was stiff as he placed his hands in his pockets. Every time Jax and Matt were in the same room, it was filled with nothing but tension. "Yeah, well I promised Wyatt that I would come over after I got back." Jonathan just nodded his head as he placed an arm around my waist. Jax's eyes drifted to where his arm had gone but kept his mouth shut as his eyes returned to mine. "Daddy will you tuck me in?" Wyatt broke the ice as he grabbed a hold of Jax's hand. "And read me a story." Jax looked down at his son and smiled. "I sure will, bud." I gave Wyatt a smile as he pushed past Matt and I, dragging his father behind him and up the stairs. "I'll be up in a few, baby." I told him before he was out of sight. The air between Matt and I was tense as we both stayed silent before he finally spoke. "We'll talk about this later." I looked at him a bit taken back, seeing as there was nothing to talk about. It wasn't my fault that Jax just showed up, I'm not his keeper. I let out a sigh before I followed him back into the dining room where his parents awaited us…. Jax's POV "I want you to stay with me, daddy." Wyatt pleaded as he held onto my shirt. "Please." I bent down and kissed his blonde head. "If I could I would, buddy." I could tell my answer wasn't what he wanted to hear but it was the truth. There was no way Matt was gonna let me stay in his house overnight with my son and ex-wife. "I want to go home with you then." Wyatt protested. "I don't want you to leave me." I let out a sigh as I wrapped my arms around his small body. I lifted him into my lap as I cradled him close. "Listen-" I began. "When I get back home, I promise you can stay over for the night if it's okay with mommy." He didn't say anything. "We'll have a big party with chips, cookies, and everything else mommy doesn't let you have." A small smile began to form on his face as he snuggled further into my chest. "Can mommy come?" He whispered. The smile dropped from my face as I stared straight ahead. "I don't think mommy will be able to stay the night, bud." I knew that everything was starting to get confusing for him. His favorite question when it came to his mother and I was "why." When Presley and I divorced, Wyatt was almost two years old. He didn't realize what was going on at the time but now that he's older, he wants to know why his mom and dad aren't together like the kids he goes to school with. Hell, half of those kid's parents aren't together either but at least they aren't married to other people. I stayed with Wyatt until he finally fell asleep. He tried his hardest to stay awake as I told him stories from my childhood but he just couldn't keep his eyes open after long. I made sure to tuck him under the sheets and pressed a kiss against his forehead before leaving the room. As I made my way down the stairs, I could hear Matt and Presley having a heated conversation. I didn't mean to be nosey but once I heard my son's name along with my own come out of Matt’s mouth, I had to stay put and listen to what he had to say… Presley's POV "I don't like how he just barges into my home. He acts like he owns the place, Presley." I rolled my eyes as Jonathan continued to drill his anger into me. "I feel like you're not even listening to me right now, Pres. My parents were here and he has to walk into my home like he's still married to you." I let out a sigh as I took a seat at the table. My feet and back were killing me and I wasn't in the mood to get lectured from my current husband about my ex-husband. "I don't know what you want me to say." I spoke up. "I have no control over what Jax does and doesn't do and I'm not gonna keep him from seeing Wyatt just because your parents have a problem with it." His entire back became rigid. "Jax told me that he knocked before he came in and I believe him, Matt. Jax would never enter a house that wasn't his own without knocking.” "Whatever-" I watched as he threw down the dishtowel. I kept my focus on my mug as he stormed past me and up the stairs to the bedroom. I couldn't believe that he was upset about all of this. If his parents hadn't of came, we wouldn't be bickering about anything. I had a feeling that tonight was going to suck but this was just ridiculous…

#Jax Teller #jax teller fanfiction #jax teller imagine #Jackson Teller #soa #sons of anarchy #sons of anarchy fanfiction #sons of anarchy imagine #Charlie Hunnam

[certainglitterhologram]

Lysander Scamander and Lily Potter II

I have a feeling that growing up, Lily and Lysander were best friends. Lorcan was super, super, SUPER close friends with Lily, and obviously Lysander, since they are twins, (trust me on this,), but Lily and Lysander just shared a bond the tiniest bit stronger. 

Lily being an adventure seeking, adrenaline junky, while was Lysander, also adventure loving, but with limits. He knew his boundries and where to draw the line, but struggled to show that line to Lily, who would just jumped into every tree, every river, wanting to ride the hippogriff that she found in the woods behind the Scamander’s house. 

Lysander putting his head into his hands each time, saying “Lily. It’s dangerous. It could bite you, you could fall off, it could have rabies, fleas or something even worse. “

Lily rolling her eyes and attempting to do it anyway, running up to the hippogriff and almost getting trampled to death. Like Scorpius’ dad, but actually life threatening. 

After getting her out of there, Lysander smirked at her and said, “Don’t really wanna say I told you so, but....... *Pause* Oh who am I kidding, of course I do. Never tell me I’m wrong Lily, and expect to succeed in whatever dumb thing you’re doing. Lily just scoffing and said “I’m Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley’s daughter. The only reason I almost got trampled was obviously because the hippogriff sensed you behind that tree.”

Lysander, used to these egotistical comments, says “Oh yes, how could  I be so stupid. It’s not like I’m the great-grandson of Newt Scamander, or anything. And the situation we are talking about involves a damn hippogriff. “

 On the Hogwarts Express, Lily, Hugo, Lysander and Lorcan in the same compartment and a tall, lanky dark haired boy comes in. He introduced himself as Matthew Corner, and Lysander, being the best with people, gets up and politely introduces himself, and introduced the others.

Matt is immediately liked by everyone in the compartment, and they form their own little quintet, bonding over candy and pranks in the compartment. 

When Albus and James come in to check on Lily, she just giggles and waves, before redirecting her attention to Lorcan, who had eaten one of those cool sweets that make you grow features of an animal, that Hugo had brought on the train.

The Sorting Ceremony went as expected, really.

Matthew, was one of the first, and had barely sat on the stool, before the hat shouted “RAVENCLAW”

Hugo went next. He was on the stool for a long time with that hat on his head. Not enough to be a hat stall, but just enough to be notably long, before the hat yelled “HU-GRYFFINDOR!”

When Lily was called, she sashayed up to the stool, with an overwhelming amount of confidence, and James yelled “YES, LILS! WHOO!”. The hat suprisingly sat there for a while, debating between Slytherin and Gryffindor, before ultimately deciding on Gryffindor. 

Lysander had a feeling of dread at that moment. He did have seperation anxiety from Lorcan, just a mild case, but enough to make him dread the thought of them being in different houses. He hadn’t thought of it until that moment, becuase Lorcan and him were so alike. He ruled out that thought, and focused on relaxing himself

Lorcan jumped on the stool and only had a couple seconds of deliberation, before  “HUFFLEPUFF!”

Lysander knew even before going up there, that there was no way he would be in Hufflepuff. He wasn’t exactly the definition of hardworking. Not that he wasn’t, no, he just had a tendency to quit things that no longer interested him, rather than working throught it.

When his name was called, he was immediately sorted into Ravenclaw. He knew he should feel proud, as he was taking after his mother, and had one of his closest friends with him, Matthew, but being away from his twin, best friend and other close friend, was paining him. But Lysander was known to almost always be happy, so shut these feelings down, sucked it up and got used to it. Eventually, he found that it wasn’t that bad, and that Lily and him were still best friends, and Lorcan was still his right hand man. And vice versa.

In their second year, Lily tried out for the Gryffindor quidditch team, and made it, as their Seeker. A few weeks into the season, it was Lily’s third match, Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff and literal miliseconds after Lily caught the snitch and secured the win for Gryffindor, in a rage, one of the Hufflepuff beaters bat a bludger straight at the back of her head, knocking her out. 

Lysander, Lorcan, Hugo and Matt sprinted down the stands, running over towards her. She was crumpled on the grass and being levitated onto a stretcher by Headmistress McGonagall. 

The culprit of the injury had jumped on his broom and flew towards the castle, and Lysander was trembling with rage. He snapped at the other boys (Hugo, Matt and Lorcan,) to follow him to see if they could find the boy. They found him trying to run into the castle without being seen, but Lysander jumped on him, and pinned him down, so he couldn’t get away, while Lorcan and Hugo sent red sparks to the teachers, letting them know the found him.

Then, of course, Lysander did the unexpected. Just when the teacher and the student were coming into view, he let go of the boy and punch him straight in the nose, breaking it, as soon as the first met the boy’s face. A single punch before Lysander pulled him close and whispered in a deadly calm tone 

“Never. NEVER touch my Lily, EVER again.” Dropping the boy on the ground, before walking over to a shocked twin and Matthew. Leaning against the wall behind them and wiping the blood from the boy’s broken nose in the white-blond hair, not even caring at the streak of red in his hair. 

Consequently, he recived three weeks of detention. Could have been worse, I suppose, was his attitude. For the next month, he recived fist bumps from James in the hallways and tiny smirks from Albus, telling him, they were proud. 

Three years later, in fifth year, Lysander was noticing that he was catching feelings for Lily, but then, Matt had shyly asked her out, and she replied with “Why not?”.

Everytime they held hands, hugged, kissed or did anything of the sort, Lysander felt a rage build up inside of him. But for Lily’s sake, he tried to be happy. For Lily. 

Lorcan noticed immediately, and after teasing that Albus owed him 12 Galleons, comforted him and said that he was sure that Lily felt the same way, but just hadn’t noticed it yet, and told Ly to just play along and calm down.

Hugo noticed it in History of Magic, his first class after breakfast, where after seeing Lily and Matthew snog right in front of him, Lysander had crushed a goblet with his hands. After giving him some kind of twin telepathic look that Hugo couldn’t interpret, Lorcan sighed and muttered “Reparo”.

Hugo thought it was weird, but thought not much of it until he realized in the middle of HOM. (He is Ron Weasley’s kid. Ofc he wouldn’t fucking notice.) 

Hugo sent a note to the table where Ly and Matt were sitting, across the room, in a oragami swan (^-^) that read on the outside

Matt, if you’re reading this, just give it straight to Ly. Nothing really that interesting here, 

In it, read 

Lysander, mate...I realized you like Lily. Or Matt. I’m not sure, mate, i’m not going to make any assumptions. If it is Matt though, good for you. If it’s Lily, It was kinda obvious, so maybe, don’t crush a goblet next time they snog... just trying to help, but just know, that if Lily doesn’t choose you or doesn’t feel the same way, (Which she does.) the whole Potter-Weasley-Granger-Johnson-Delacour clan is on your side. 

If you need anyone to talk to, I’m always here, mate. Just say the word.

-Hugo

and Hugo got a paper dragon back, saying

Well, I shouldn’t really suprised, but it’s Lily. I’m not fucking gay. But thanks for being supportive. Love you, bro.

~Ly

Lysander walked out of that class feeling a lot better,  while Hugo felt smug. Hugo ran up to Fred II saying how he was about to have won his little bet with Rose. But they walked into the middle of the hallway to see Lily and Matthew, both looking solemn, (which was a first for Lily, who was almost always happy.)

They were speaking in hushed tones, Matt nodded and hugged Lily in an almost friendly manner, before walking away, with a smile on his face.

“What happened?” Lysander asked Lily, plainly curious.

“Oh, Matt and I both agreed that this relationship wasn’t working. We did like eachother.. but we agreed that being friends was more benefical for both of us. 

Lysander tried very hard not to break out into a grin, while saying “Aw.. You two were cute together. “

Lily snorted and just walked into the Transfiguration classroom and plopped down in her chair.

During the passing period after the next class, Lysander quickly told Lorcan the news, who encouraged him to ask her out at dinner. And Lysander agreed

Lysander worked up his courage to ask her out and was about to walk over to the Gryffindor table, went she walked into the Great Hall, smirking. 

“YOU!” she yelled, pointing at Lysander. The hall went silent. 

“ME!” Lysander yelled back, sticking his toungue out at her. 

“GO ON A DATE WITH ME ON THE NEXT HOGSMEADE TRIP?” Lily shouted, across the hall and out of nowhere. 

“ANYTHING FOR YOU LILS!” The sentence slipped out of Lysander’s mouth before he could stop it, but he was glad he did. 

Lily ran over to them, while Lorcan and Matt nudged Lysander, but Lily ignored them, pulling Lysander into a kiss that lasted a good forty five seconds. 

The Great Hall cheered, and Lily whispered “I saw you crush that goblet at breakfast today, Ly. I didn’t even remember it until an hour ago. I knew you felt the same as me, so I did something so you wouldn’t have to ask me out. Carriages to Hogsmeade at 10 sound good?”

Lysander couldn’t say anything, so he nodded. 

“Perfect! “ And Lysander watched Lily walk to her awed girl friends and a particularly smug Hugo. 

Let’s just say a lot of money was exchanged that day.

#Hp #harry potter #harry potter next generation #hp next gen #hp next gen headcanon #Love #first kiss #harry potter oc #Lily Luna Potter #Lysander scamander

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten Twice Stupid prt.59

Three weeks passed without a word from Pidge, Lance feeling helpless. He’d turned off his private phone in the end, and kind of guilt tripped Coran into letting him stay for the time being. He knew his moods were up and down, he also knew he couldn’t ask Keith to stay when they were. He’d had a word with Coran about Keith working, he wanted things to be clear. When Keith was meant to be working, then he wasn’t allowed down to visit Lance. Keith wasn’t thrilled, but Lance felt it necessary, or he’d spend every moment thinking about his boyfriend rather than pretending he was being useful to Allura.

Allura was nice about everything, like she usually was. He didn’t push her about her friendship with “Loturd”. Keith had accidentally let the name slip, after his boyfriend came to see him. His and Shiro’s furniture had finally arrived. Keith bringing his favourite blade to show Lance, and Kosmo. Lance missed having Kosmo around. He had Blue for company, but Kosmo was too adorable, and his precious princess was hoing herself out for pats and attention from everyone she came across. When they’d agreed Lance could stay, he’d asked Shiro if he would Keith take Kosmo home with him. He wanted his boyfriend to have that feeling of coming home to his waiting puppy. If they were going to be out overnight, Kosmo came for sleepovers. Keith was such a proud dog father that Lance kind of felt like the only time he was happy was when Keith was gushing over his fur son.

Lance’s mood hadn’t gone unnoticed. Allura had planned a “spa night” for the both of them. Curled up on the sofa with face masks on, they’d watched movies and Lance painted her nails for her, and complimented her over perfect skin. It struck him how lonely it must be for her, and he silently swore to himself that he’d find a way to invite her out for some fun on the town. His Mami had noticed his mood. Luis wasn’t there the first time he visited after the “accident”, meaning he had his Mami to himself. Climbing into bed beside her, he’d fallen asleep in her safe and loving hold, her cold hadn’t progressed into pneumonia, proving there was plenty of life left in her. He hadn’t been to see her with Keith again, she understood he had work, so Blue came in her carrier.

Called to Allura’s office, through the personal phone he had in his room, Lance powered down his laptop before heading out. He had a nicer room now. His single bed now a double, plus there was a desk and wardrobe and space for Blue. Matt had come to check on him, apologising for what had happened. They’d hugged it out long enough that Shiro tugged Matt off of him. He hadn’t heard from Pidge either, so it was what it was. Leaving Blue sleeping on his bed, Lance headed out. He’d kind of been pretty much an errand boy for Allura, “helping” by making copies of things or running things between her office and the labs. His mood had picked up when he had something to do. It got him out of his head and not thinking about how much he missed his best friends.

When Lance reached Allura’s office, he knocked lightly on her door before opening it. His eyes totally bugging out as he eyed his boyfriend. Dressed in tight black jeans, a black T-shirt, a cropped red leather jacket and a thick pair of leather boots, his boyfriend looked hot. Hot and happy. Clapping her hands together, Allura looked particularly proud

“Lance! Excellent. Now, you may be wondering why I called. You and Keith are going on a date today”

Lance raised an eyebrow. He didn’t particularly want to leave the complex. He’d only left to see himself Mami and that was it

“I am?”

“Yep! Consider this a little thank you for allowing us to steal Keith away. The work he’s doing is vital to help ensure Platt remains relatively peaceful. Plus, you haven’t had a break in the last fortnight. Tonight is completely on me”

“You’re kicking me out?”

Lance was half joking, maybe more like he hoped his tone his that he was serious. He wasn’t supposed to go anywhere. His pheromones could be a serious issue. Allura didn’t see it as a joke, quick to give a shake of her head

“Not at all! I love you having here. No, I thought you and Keith might enjoy each other’s company. Keith has proved himself a valuable asset, and we want to thank him for his work”

“What she means is they think I might snap if I have to go one more undercover mission”

“You have been rather stressed of late”

So stressed Keith had snapped at him for not understanding. It’d been a small fight, Keith easily brought back under control when Lance wrapped his arms around him and told him while he didn’t, he was still there for him. It was weighing heavily on Keith not to be able to tell him everything. In some ways being in Platt made it harder for both of them, another reason Lance didn’t want to move in with Keith. He wanted Keith to have that safe place at the of work to relax and destress. Keith sighed at Allura, Allura ignoring it

“Now, you have a few hours before your dinner reservation. I’m sure the pair of you can find something to do. I don’t want to see either of you back here tonight. Keith, I give you permission to discuss things with Lance, though that is left to your discretion”

It was now Lance’s mind went into panic mode. He wasn’t dressed for a date. He wasn’t dressed any different from normal. His hair wasn’t tamed. He wasn’t wearing nice clothes. He didn’t know how to date! He’d never done a “date” date. And Keith... Keith was standing there looking calm and collected! What... what was he supposed to do? Why couldn’t he remember what normal people did on a date? Keith wanted to go on a date with him? Him of all people? What did they talk about? What did normal people talk about? What did Keith like to talk about? Letting out a squeak, he could have died on the spot of embarrassment. Keith hiding his laughter behind his hand

“I think you broke him”

Allura giggled, playing along

“Oh, dear. Don’t tell me you don’t want to go. Keith and I planned this days ago”

“I... me... you... we... date?”

He was short circuiting. Keith’s goddamn smile made him feel all goopy inside

“That’s how a date normal works, babe. Do you not want to go with me?”

“Yes! Date me!”

Now he was yelling? And Keith was laughing again. What was he even saying?

“You guys have fun tonight. I’m leaving him in your hands, Keith”

Allura left them. Lance covering his burning face with his hands. Coming up to him, Keith kissed him on the forehead, Lance peaking up at him

“It’s okay. I didn’t plan much”

“I... are you sure you want to go with me?”

“Well, you’re the only one I’m dating. Plus, you’re not the only on freaking out”

“What are you freaking out for? You’re all dumb and hot and smiling and can work English”

“Because I’m going on a date with you”

“But you planned it!”

And he was yelling again

“I’m freaking out because it’s a date with the guy I’m dating”

“But I’m me”

“That’s why I wanted things... You know, what, let’s just go”

“But... I’m... not even dressed”

“Pretty sure you’ve got clothes on, babe”

“That’s not what I mean. You’re all... hot”

“Do you want to get changed? I think you’re fine in what you’re wearing”

“But... I look like me”

“And I like you. God. You’re making me even more nervous and shit”

“Can’t forget a good shit”

Lance swore he could almost see his soul escaping from in the inside. Groaning, he slid his hand back up

“Just leave me here. Here lays Lance. Killed by his boyfriend’s niceness and unfair hotness”

Keith wrapped his arms around him. A date with Keith... an actual declared date. Like a boyfriend date. Keith’s scent was wonderful, Lance’s knees going a little weak

“Oh, babe... hey, if you’re not up to this, that’s okay too”

Nope. Keith had said date. He was having his date. He was having this date and going to prove he could function like a normalish human not a mess of a vampire

“No. I want to... God, I want to. How are you not making a fool of yourself?”

“I already made a fool of myself asking for the day off. I asked Allura, because I know you two have been hanging out...”

Allura hadn’t told him, see if he was going to braid her hair again when she couldn’t even give him a heads up

“I feel really happy right now... and like I’m going to throw up”

Keith’s hold meant everything, his boyfriend hiding his face against Lance’s shoulder. Fuck... it should be criminal to be this awkward

“Me too... okay. We’re doing this. Just two boyfriends going on a date. Doing boyfriend things... and shit”

Keith wasn’t going to let him forget. So he was going to have to make him forget

“I’m going to date you so fucking hard you’ll forget shit”

“I’m looking forward to the full Lance experience”

Lance huffed, feeling like someone more adult should be supervising them

“You just had it”

“Over so quick? Babe, I knew I was good, but damn. Should you be bragging about it”

Oh fuck... now he was thinking about sex...

“Shut up. God. Let’s go already before I really do expire from embarrassment”

*

Keith’s brought his motorbike. Keith had brought his motorbike and Lance wasn’t sure how to feel. With his arms around his boyfriend’s waist, he spent the first 5 minutes trying to accept he was on the back of a death machine with Keith weaving in and out of traffic like a mad man. He felt like he’d left his stomach somewhere behind on the trip, the vibration and noise taking a bit of getting used to. Keith called him brave, but Lance liked to think he was more like Hunk in this situation, safely cautious.

Despite his nerves, Lance felt strangely disappointed as Keith pulled up to a stop. His ears still ringing, despite the helmet he was wearing deadening some of the noise. Raising his head, he questioned Keith’s idea of a date. The sign above the door read “SPlatter-field”. A not so clever play on the business being in Platt. In the window was a sign advertising it being a shooting range. Climbing off the back of the bike, Lance tried to hide his confusion, and some of his disappointment. Dates meant romance. He wasn’t sure how guns said romance. Keith climbed off, pulling his helmet off as he did. Noticing Lance hadn’t taken his off, his boyfriend’s face fell

“You don’t like it?”

Keith had gone to a lot of effort to plan this date. He probably wanted to do something different and unusual. Pulling his helmet off, Lance shook his head

“It’s not that. I just wasn’t expecting a shooting range”

“Allura said you went hunting as a kid.... I messed this up...”

Keith was crushing his heart right now

“No. No. Look, sure, not a place I would think of, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun. Besides, I’m a total crack shot at fair games”

“You don’t need to try and make me feel better”

He was a dick. He’d hurt Keith’s feelings

“I’m not. But you better be prepared to have your arse kicked”

“So it’s okay?”

Lance gave Keith the warmest smile he could muster

“It could be fun”

“If you don’t like it, we’ll go”

“Okay. Let’s give it a shot”

With Allura being Keith’s co-conspirator, she’d given Keith his wallet ahead of time. Lance hadn’t even noticed it was missing. Which probably said a lot about how distracted he’d been lately. The man behind the counter didn’t seem so sure about him being 26, but his ID was valid and he was forced to swallow his tongue, as they signed all paperwork related to their outing. Trying to remember the last time he’d held a gun, he flushed at the memory of telling Keith to shoot him. God. He’d been so lame. He was struggling to remember ever being “cool” in front of his boyfriend. Allocating them two hand guns each, Keith produced his firearms licence, which was enough to let the man take over explaining how things worked. Lance was pretty sure Keith hadn’t meant it as a bragging move, but he did delight in the man being taken down a peg. Which was probably his ego showing.

Following Keith through to the range, he found they were the only two there, other a bored looking supervisor who made to follow behind them, Keith leading them to the last two cubicles, before turning hot instructor of him, Lance blocking out the man watching

“I know you know how to use a gun, but it’s important not to treat it like a toy”

“So I don’t point the end at my feet and pull the trigger?”

His boyfriend scowled

“No. Each magazine holds twelve rounds. You fire all twelve then put your weapon down on the desk. Seeing you’ve got a sight advantage and I’ve got an experience advantage, we’ll set the targets at the furtherest points. On the paper there’s zones, each zone is worth a number of points. I know you don’t want to shoot to kill, but I think it’s important you train up on your skills”

Lance jerked back a little, not expecting Keith to be so serious. Behind him, the man supervising the range backed off

“Should I be worried? Am I in danger?”

“No. But if you ever are, I want you to be able to protect yourself. The investigation is getting nowhere fast... and... the targets are all vampires. I know we could have done this at VOLTRON, but I didn’t want you to feel self conscious while handling a firearm. Taking the shot is never easy. Even when you tell yourself it it. I’ve had to shoot before and the first time left me messed up for days”

Keith was chasing a vampire killer? Lance tried to pretend he was surprised... Well, more surprised. He wasn’t actually all that surprised given vampires were most douches. Now it made sense. Keith wanted to make this as stress free as possible, knowing he disliked guns and the Coran would fuss if he was training with them

“Okay. I understand”

“Now, the way you hold the gun depends on the make and model. We’ll use two hands on these. There’s a little bit of a kick back, so when you press the trigger, make sure you’re not squeezing or you’ll end up shooting something you’re not meant to. I’ll set the targets up. Put your safety glasses and earmuffs on”

Lance did as he was told. Keith knew his way around a shooting range. Lance wondering if the one at Blade Headquarters was anything like this. Probably not. He could picture a whole wall of guns and other dangerous weaponry. Sending the sheets to the back of the room, Lance was starting to feel nervous. A shotgun wasn’t the same as a hand gun... or one of those weighted guns at a fair. He didn’t feel guilty for winning at a fair when the owners used cheap tricks. Coming back to his side, his boyfriend tugged Lance’s earmuffs off his ears

“I’m going to show you how to stand and how to hold the gun. It’s important to control your breathing”

Lance rolled his eyes, Keith didn’t find it funny. He needed to be serious. Gun’s weren’t toys. He knew guns weren’t toys. His ego was flaring again, and he kind of wanted to shoot himself for it

“Sorry. I’ll behave... please teach me all you know, Samurai”

#oncebittentwicestupid #once bitten twice stupid #ashratherose

[anika-ann]

Heart Too Cold, but Friends of Gold - Pt.7

The Fall

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader     Word count: 1850

Summary: Avenger!reader AU. Part 2 of Melting Hearts series. Part 1 HERE.

Time flies and yet it doesn’t. Least for Steve. And just when he thinks things can’t get worse... his past comes back to haunt him.

(Short dealing with CA:TWS )

Warnings: swearing, angst

Story Masterlist

────── ·❆· ──────

Time flew and yet every second felt like forever. After a year of searching, something in Steve broke.

Maybe it was the pitiful looks, because despite everyone missing Frosty – and everyone called you Frosty by now, a sort of a tribute that felt like a punch to Steve’s solar plexus –, they all knew Steve was the one closest to you; after all, your relationship had been very intimate even before it had transformed into a romantic one.

The one-year anniversary was painful. Funnily enough, he woke up shivering from cold and that was perhaps the worst of it all, the most obvious reminder of what day it was. The girl who controlled ice and snow was missing by his side and the cold was getting to him every day of her absence, a sensation he had seemed to be immune after spending seventy years in ice; that had been until you had left.

Waking up on the couch, once again alone and cold, he actually found his eyes watering right in the beginning of the day. You were still gone. It was as if you had disappeared into a thin air. Even after such a long time, even after so many missions they had been through, after all the attempts to find you when discovering the tinniest lead; he still remembered what had happened right after you went under.

The unconscious bastard was lying at his feet as Natasha had delivered the final punch. He wanted to shoot her a murderous look for cutting off their source of information, but the truth was that there was probably nothing more Michaels could tell them. He had said enough. He had told them how he had manipulated you into running away.

Steve clenched his jaw, his mind racing as he paced out the cell, passing his friends on his way. He went straight for the elevator.

“Hey! Rogers! Where do you think you’re going?” Natasha yelled after him, barely keeping up with his long rapid steps.

“JARVIS, gimme the e-mail she sent. Now.”

“Captain Rogers, I’m not sure Agent Romanoff should be present for-“

“NOW.”

The elevator door was closing when Clint’s hand slipped through, stopping it. Both Barton and Stark stepped into the cabin to feed Steve’s annoyance. They hold the elevator for Banner too.

Well, then the whole team would hear the message.

“What about her GPS?” Natasha offered as Tony continued drawing on his tablet and ordered the staff to relocate Michaels to a cell with an actual door; Steve didn’t even feel guilty for ruining it, it had gotten into his way and he had needed to move goddammit.

Tony’s brows furrowed. “Negative. It was the first thing I tried. She must have turned it off.”

“She can do that?” Clint questioned with his eyebrow raised. The look in his eyes was surprised, but serious and calculating. His thoughts must have been changing within fractions of seconds too, trying to figure out your possible next steps.

“Well, yeah. I didn’t want her to be able to do that, but someone insisted that she had the right to keep her privacy when going out and stuff.”

Steve’s fist collided with the wall of the rising elevator before he even realized he lifted his hand.

“Hey! Cool it, Rogers!”

Steve’s teeth grinded at Stark’s admonishing. “Can you re-activate it?”

Tony remained silent, a clear indication that things were bad enough to shut up his witty mouth. He didn’t need to reply for everyone to know that the answer was no.

“I already put my eyes on every camera in States and started a search for any weather anomaly, especially temperature drops. She might be a bit emotionally instable-“

Steve glared at him.

“-you know what I mean. She was misbehaving a little when stressed by the kidnapping. She could slip. And when she does, we’ll know and find her.”

The cabin fell into silence.

“But she won’t,” Clint stated, his voice thoughtful and regretful. Steve eyed him carefully, his heart clenching. You couldn’t be gone so easily, right? They would find you. Even if the price was you failing to keep your powers in check.

“Why would you say that?” Bruce questioned.

“He’s right,” Natasha agreed, her lips thin line. “She won’t. This is different – there’s no immediate danger, it’s not up to her to save someone. Her only goal is to remain hidden so no one will find her and use her to get to Steve. She’ll be focused on that part.”

Steve swallowed loudly as he realized Natasha and Clint were right. The redhead knew you too well and despite how hard she would try to deny it if anyone asked, she had a special connection with you just thanks to being a woman. As for Clint… he was good at predicting behaviour since he was often observing from a distance.

Steve should be better than them. He should know you better, you spent the most time with him, but somehow it didn’t feel like he did.

What would you do? Where would you go? How would you do it? He needed to get his thoughts straight, goddammit.

Steve tightened his fists, returning his attention to Stark as the elevator dinged and its door opened.

“Keep looking. Natasha, call Fury. We need to close every single airport,” he barked orders, heading for his and your room.

“What are you gonna do?” Tony shouted after him. Steve only got a murmured reply he couldn’t hear.

“I’ve got an e-mail to read.”

It hadn’t been a surprise when he had found the e-mail explaining what Michaels had told you and asking Steve not to look for you. It was about as shocking as him not complying with your wish and starting the search. He had called Matt Murdock back then, begging for him to prick up his ears and immediately let them know if you contacted him or if he overheard any tiny bit.

Needless to say it had been all for nothing.

A year of searching and no result had popped out, not a real one. Steve was done.

That day, he came to conclusion he couldn’t stand being in the Tower anymore. He moved to Washington D.C., claiming it was advantageous for him to be closer to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. He was lying through his teeth and everyone knew it, yet no one said a word.

Natasha followed, using the same excuse. Everyone knew she was lying as well and no one called her out on that either.

────── ·❆· ──────  

For all the people he had lost, Steve found comfort in Peggy Carter. Now it would be a lie if he said that there was no pain in those meetings too, seeing her after her whole life happened during his time as a ‘Capsicle’, only space for more regrets remaining, but at least she was still here.

Close to the headquarters, he could afford going from one mission straight into another, yet being ready to take off if any new information about your whereabouts popped out.

After the fiasco with hostages on the Lemurian Star and Natasha’s separate mission, after Natasha keeping secrets from him – her from all people, one of the rare species he had trusted with his life –, it would be an understatement to say he had doubts about S.H.I.E.L.D. and its methods. Talking to Peggy helped, but words could only as much.

But remembering you, remembering the agency once helping you – even though that was mostly Tony and his tech – was one of the reasons he was staying. Together with the fact he had no chance of finding you without the agency’s resources and tech support.

When Director Fury was murdered, things spiralled. HYDRA turned out to still exist and what more, to be still very much active. It left Steve with no doubts of who was truly after you, but finally discovering it was no comfort at all. He and Natasha becoming the most wanted was just the cherry on top. At least he found a friend and an ally where he hadn’t expected it.

────── ·❆· ──────  

Natasha was in the shower and Steve didn’t feel like explaining their situation to his new friend Sam on his own. He needed a minute to breathe and while he knew it was a luxury he couldn’t quite afford, he decided it couldn’t do that much harm.

He pulled out the photos he kept in his wallet – there was a line at each of them in the middle as he had been unfolding them too often. Both were of you.

He stared at the one where the two of you were together, lying on a hospital bed, cuddled impossibly close to each other. There were plenty of photos of you two that the team had snatched during your time together without either of you two noticing, but this was his favourite, no matter how strange it may seem. It was a reminder of the moment when you had told him you loved him for the first time, the careful declaration that had had a hidden meaning at the time; and on top of that, it reminded him how fragile you could be and how he had to appreciate every moment with you, because you might not be there the next. He would know that for a while now.

Steve sighed, sparing one more glance at the picture before folding it again and hiding it with care. He unfolded the other one, his lips curling up in a fond smile automatically.

It was an old photo as well, only this time it was just you. It was when you had been getting a hold of your powers; the photo captured the moment you had created a tiny spiral of ice growing from your hand. Your eyes in the picture were wide and shining in awe, the first spark of true happiness since you had gained your powers. You were watching your creation as if it was magical, your expression one of the astonished ones that the kids wore when seeing a Christmas tree for the first time in their lives. Steve remembered you had looked at him after the photo had been taken, giving him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, so grateful and so blinding for him. He had fell in love with that smile, with you, just like that; it had been when he had realized for the first time that you somehow managed to steal his heart.

“That Frostbite?” a voice startled him from behind and Steve winced.

A pang of shame coloured his cheeks at being caught, but more importantly, the two simple words made his stomach clench.

“She hated that alias,” Steve whispered, not quite caring if it was appropriate to share. He needed someone to listen, just for a second. He had been pushing it all away for so long… and he needed to correct Sam. “It fed the guilt in her – she wasn’t too good with her powers when she first discovered them.”

“Sorry. She looks… happy here. Harmless. As if all she ever wanted was to create an ice slide for kids or something.”

One corner of Steve’s lips quirked up involuntarily. “Yeah… I think she would like that.”

“That why she retired? …what? I do catch up with the news, you know. She hasn’t been seen for a while.”

“She… she went under. Someone – HYDRA, I presume now – was threatening her. Hurt her parents and threatened m-“ he stammered, not wanting to say the word ‘me’ out loud and admit it was all on him. “-and threatened some more.  She wanted to protect--- them. No matter the cost.“

He licked his lips, taking a deep breath, swallowing against the lump growing in is throat. He couldn’t make himself meet Sam’s eyes, the heavy feeling of guilt, the feeling of failing you falling on his shoulders with a weight heavier than ever.

On the other hand, maybe it was good you weren’t with him now. They had a lot on their plates – and a whole lot more people coming after them. The last thing you needed was another spotlight on you.

Actually, maybe this whole mess could help you stay hidden beeter; they sure were distracting HYDRA enough. Of course, the circumstances were less than ideal. And he could never be sure that HYDRA hadn’t got you already.

“Sounds like your kind of person,” Sam offered gently and Steve snorted humourlessly, putting the photo away. Something in Sam’s tone told him he was aware of how much of ‘his’ you were. Or had been, anyway. “I’m sorry, man. So you’re looking for her?”

“The whole S.H.I.E.L.D. is looking for her. Including HYDRA, apparently. If they haven’t found her already.”

Sam’s hand landed on Steve’s shoulder. “Hey. I don’t know her personally, but she seems pretty badass. I’m sure they didn’t get to her, otherwise you would know. From what I heard and saw, she can take care of herself. No doubt learned from the best.”

“Damn right, Wilson. Are we doing things now or what?” Natasha entered the room with her voice firm and determined.

“Yeah. Let’s talk about how to bring those sons of bitches down.”

“…we?”

────── ·❆· ──────  

The fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and hopefully the leadership of HYDRA felt like pressing a restart button. Steve had run to Washington to escape the suffocating air in the Tower where your perfume seemed to linger and all he got was this. Too many things had happened. When adding Bucky to all the mess…

It was as if he kept losing people he loved, as if he kept failing them. He couldn’t do that anymore. He needed to go after Bucky and trust Natasha to search for you; it was one of the hardest decisions he had ever made. He wasn’t giving up on you – hell no. But unlike with Bucky, there were no leads on you. Even with all HYDRA secrets uncovered and uploaded on the internet, there was no word on you; but it was a little comfort that they probably didn’t have you.

Fury went under, giving his goodbye to the trio by a gravestone with his name. Steve and Natasha parted ways, Sam joining him; the ex-military understood the urge to go after a friend, himself not being able to save his own. Steve was grateful.

The world he was finally getting to know fell apart once again. He couldn’t help but wish you were with him to help him survive the fall.

But you weren’t.

────── ·❆· ──────  

Part 8

────── ·❆· ──────  

Tags:  @mermaidxatxheart​​, @murdermornings​​, @elisaa-shelby​​ @ask-hellbent-tweek​ @cxptain​, @kallafrench​​, @smilexcaptainx​ @scentedsongrebel​, @orions-nebula

────── ·❆· ──────  

Such a huge time skip. But well, I wanted to get it out of the way. I’ll deal with Age of Ultron with a little more plot, I promise;)  Thank you for reading!

#marvel #fanfiction #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers imagine #captain america x reader #captain america x you #captain america imagine #steve rogers #captain america fanfic #captain america #steve rogers fanfic #avengers #avenger reader #heart too cold but friends of gold #anika ann

[pynkhues]

Prompt for PH: One of Kenny’s friends develops a big crush on Beth.

OKAY! Managed to get a whole bunch of prompts in this one which you can see in the note over on ao3 ;-) 

(Also your lowkey reminder that in the C&C universe, Rio has two older sisters – Carmen’s the oldest, an ER doctor, who’s recently gotten divorced from her husband. They have two boys Raf and David. His other sister, Aida, is an artist and a graphic designer who has an off-again-on-again girlfriend and no kids.

Ages of the kids in this one:

Sadie & Sara – 16/17Kenny – 15Rafael ‘Raf’ (OC, Carmen and Matt’s son) - 14Danny & David (OC, Carmen and Matt’s son) – 12Emma – 11Marcus & Harry ‘Lil Money’ – 10Jane – still 9 and annoyed about itDakota – 4)

-

“And then what?” Aida asks, sitting forwards in her seat, a wide grin on her face, and Beth can’t help it, she chances a look at Rio, who’s just - - rolling his eyes, of course, but also his lips are tugging up – maybe – just a little, despite himself. There’s something about it that settles warmly in her, the softness in his look, and she drops her hand to his leg before she can think any more of it, squeezing lightly.

And she smiles, almost shyly when he glances down at her hand, then at her, a look of surprise briefly passing across his face that quickly smooths into something steadier, something good. She knows she’s still not the best at this - - touching him first, especially not in front of people, but it’s getting easier, or - - no. Not easier. Rather it’s getting harder to control the impulse to.

The arm he has tossed over the back of their couch shifts suddenly behind her, bending, until his fingers smooth over the back of her neck, the skin revealed from where she has her hair up in a messy bun, making her shiver.

“Well,” Annie replies, lurching to her feet off the couch and heading over to the bar cart. She waves the bottle of merlot around, gets a yes from Beth, Ruby, Aida, a no from Stan, Nancy, Carmen – before she can wave it at Rio or continue on with her story, they all hear a loud, young voice sound from upstairs.

“No.”

Which proves enough to make them all pause. Beth’s gaze darts back to Rio, but he’s squinting above them, like his eyes can burn a hole through the ceiling, through the floor above them, straight into Marcus’ room.

It’s Ruby who breaks the silence in the end.

“Hmm,” she supplies, turning pointedly towards Stan. “Doesn’t sound like one of ours?”

“Nope. Lil’ Money does not have that set of pipes on him, and I’m pretty sure Sara’s still teaching Emma how to French braid in the family room.”

Which in turn is enough to make Beth lean sideways in her seat, half across Rio’s lap, just enough she can see down the hallway to where Sadie, Sara and Emma are watching To All the Boys I Loved Before on low volume in the family room, Emma sitting on the floor between Sara’s legs as Sara does her hair while talking to Sadie over the movie.

“Or mine,” Annie agrees, like she’s seeing what Beth’s seeing, despite the fact that there’s no way she could, and Beth chances a look over at Rio again who looks apprehensive at best, his jaw rocking as an explosion of tense childish chatter erupts from upstairs. “Or yours, Nance, so seriously chill.”

“I hate it when you say that,” Nancy says, prickly as she eyes off the stairs. “Do you think Dakota woke up?”

“You literally have a baby monitor in your hand, you would’ve heard. Plus I’m pretty sure Beth and Rio’s room is like, sound proofed so the kids don’t hear - - ”

“Annie,” Beth says sharply, glancing sideways at where Carmen’s rolling her eyes and Aida’s about three seconds away from faux retching.

“Please, we all know you two exist in a constant state of foreplay. Your hand is practically on his dick right now.”

“OKAY!” Ruby says suddenly while Beth snaps her hand off of Rio’s leg, something that only makes Rio level a heated glare at Annie across the room. “Who’s checking on the kids?”

“It’s probably one of mine,” Carmen says with a sigh, finishing off her drink and dropping her wine glass to the coffee table. “At the moment, they’re just - -”  

She waves out an exhausted hand, and Aida and Beth both offer her sympathetic looks.

“Divorce can be hard on them,” Beth says. “It’s just an adjustment though. You’ll all get through it.”

Rio grunts in agreement, and Carmen nods, grateful, as she gets to her feet. She opens her mouth to reply, when they hear footsteps pounding down the hallway above them, and then they can see it – Jane and Marcus at the top of the stairs. Beth bites back a groan, at where Jane’s party dress is already torn at the back.

“Just go play with Emma,” Marcus whisper-yells, his little face stern. “This is boys only.”

“Mom says there’s no such thing as boys only,” Jane hisses back, yanking her arm out of his grip, hard enough she wobbles a little at the top of the stairs, and Beth’s heart lurches as she pushes off the couch, ready to race up if she needs to. “You’re just worried that they’ll like me more than you, and then you’ll have to go and watch dumb, kissing movies with Sara and Emma because nobody will want you on their team anymore.”

Marcus scoffs, curling his lip, but before he can say anything, Jane’s bolting down the hallway, back towards what Beth can only guess is Marcus’ room and god, she’s fast, but Marcus has hit his growth spurt, is practically more leg than boy these days, and Jane - - well, Beth’s pretty sure Jane is destined to be Annie-sized. Beth rolls her eyes, hearing them start to scuffle, and she’s starting towards the stairs when Rio gently knocks her back towards the couch, a silent directive to stay, and starting up them himself instead.

Which - -  fine, he can handle it, she thinks, reaching for her drink when - -

There’s a slam, a crunch, a wail.

Suddenly Beth can hardly breathe andRio’s running and everyone else is on their feet, Carmen pushing past to get tothe front. 

“First aid kit?” she asks.

“There’s one in both of the bathrooms,” Beth says quickly, getting to the foot of the stairs only to see Rio sitting on the floor in the hallway, Jane hysterical in his arms, her fingers purple even from here. Marcus’ door is open again at least, and he’s standing in it, ashen faced, all the other boys tucked in behind him. Carmen ducks up past her and Beth starts to herself, only to have one of Carmen’s boys – David – suddenly bolt down the stairs past her, trying to escape the inevitable punishment, almost barrelling her over. She throws out a hand to stop him, and he looks up at her with wild eyes. Beth gives him a disapproving look.  

“Jesus,” Annie says somewhere behind her, not to her. “Doesn’t it make you glad our kids are old?”

“Makes me glad I don’t have kids period,” Aida adds, and as if on cue, the baby monitor in Nancy’s hand goes off with Dakota’s four-year-old bustling. She yelps, leaps to her feet, pushes past Beth who’s still trying to get hold of David to get him back up into the kid jail upstairs Rio’s inevitably creating when she hears Stan stepping up behind her.

“Not all our kids are old,” Stan calls back to Annie, smiling softly at Beth, before wrangling David and taking him up the stairs towards the other boys. “And those pipes before might not have been Lil’ Money,” he says, raising his voice firmly but gently, just to make sure Harry hears. “But boys only sounds like somethin’ that kid’d be a part of, so.”

Beth moves to go with him, but only makes it up two steps when she hears:

“Is everything okay?”

With a blink, she turns on the spot to see Kenny suddenly in the downstairs hallway beneath her, shadowed by his friend, Mason. She nods, painting on a smile for them, even as her gaze flicks back up to where Rio’s still comforting Jane, Carmen now beside him, trying to get a look at her fingers.

“The boys just got a little boisterous and Jane got hurt. It’s okay,” she says, watching as Rio shoots his most disappointed stare down across all the boys, but levelling something that must be particularly sobering at Marcus and Danny, as it has the latter recoiling and the former bursting into sobs of his own.

“Does Rio need help?”

Beth blinks over at Kenny again, who stares earnestly, honestly back at her, and Beth smiles softly, shaking her head and reaching out to straighten the collar of his shirt. He likes to iron them himself these days – something that she’d thought perhaps had been at Rio’s insistence until Rio had denied it. It was all Kenny, which was all sorts of lovely, despite the fact that he wasn’t actually all that good at it. She looks at the creases, at the upturned corner, and like he knows where she’s going with it, Kenny rolls his eyes, batting her hand away.

“Cool, well, we just wanted to tell you Mason’s going home.”

Straightening, Beth glances behind him to where Mason shuffles a little on the spot, his blond hair floppy, his forehead peppered with zits, his eyes bright and green. Behind them, she can hear Aida and Annie laugh about something in the living room, behind her, she can hear Stan’s gentle, but firm reprimand.

“How are you getting home, sweetie? Do you need a ride?”

Mason shifts his weight, plays a little with his backpack strap, and shakes his head. Somewhere upstairs she can hear Carmen insisting Rio let her look at Jane’s hand, only this time she hears Rio insisting he’s got it covered, which is typical, really. He always thinks he knows best, even though Carmen’s an actual medical professional and his expertise consists of patching up his own gunshot wounds. Beth inhales, sharper than she intends, itching to get up there.

“No, I’m okay, Mrs. B. My mom should be here any minute. She’s coming straight from work, so.”

Beth nods, glancing up again briefly at where Rio’s finally stood up, finally let Carmen lead him and Jane into the bathroom. Rio’s hand is tight on Jane’s back, her arms curled desperately around his neck, and - - he has it covered, Beth reminds herself. She looks back at Mason.

“Okay, well, let me grab you some leftovers to take home for your mom.”

“Mooom,” Kenny groans, embarrassed, and she’s back down the stairs and halfway down the hall before she hears Kenny lean over to Mason. “Sorry, it’s kind of her thing. Everyone always leaves with something.”

Which isn’t untrue, but still. She knows Mason’s mother is widowed, knows it wasn’t a year ago that his father died, knows his mother works hard, long hours, so it’s the least she can do to put some of the dinner aside for her, and maybe a little extra, that they might get another meal for both of them out of it too. It’s not like she didn’t make enough – a slow cooked lamb pot roast with almonds and pomegranate. She grabs a few slices of the spiced bourbon apple pie she’d made for dessert too and a few of the practice-round peach and candied ginger muffins too (the good ones had gone to Demon and his wife as a thank you for taking care of the kids at the warehouse last week when Beth and Rio had had a one hour meeting turn into a half-day one. She’s not sure Demon will ever recover from managing all five of them). She pops them all into containers, spinning on the spot, her party heels clipping on the floor as she walks back to them, surprised to find only Mason.

“Where’d Kenny go?” she asks, blinking, and Mason shrugs, fiddling with his bag strap again.

“Sadie wanted to show him something. I said it was okay.”

Beth sighs, glancing back upstairs at where the crying seems to have died down and where Stan’s leading Harry, Marcus, Danny, and Carmen’s boys – Raf and David, down the stairs towards the family room. Beth mouths okay? And Stan nods.

“Bruised, and a bit of a nasty cut, but they’re not broken,” he adds. “She’ll be fine.”

She smiles gratefully, before turning her attention back to Mason.

“Sorry for the chaos,” she says lightly, and Mason laughs.

“It’s kinda cool. I don’t have any brothers or sisters and like, only one cousin who’s way older. Like she’s already married and stuff.”

Beth hums, opening the front door and stepping outside with him into the cool evening air. It’s breezy enough to billow her dress slightly, and she smooths it down with one hand, still clutching the containers of food to herself as Mason moves to stand beside her.

“What you made for dinner was pretty awesome,” he tells her, and Beth smiles over at him, mind already back inside, hoping the boys don’t ruin Emma, Sara and Sadie’s movie. Raf in particular isn’t particularly good at hiding when he finds something boring, after all. Hopes it gives her enough time to go up, inspect Jane’s hand for herself, to lay kisses on it like she’d do when they were all small, like it might make her feel better. “Like, and the fact that you made a dessert with bourbon in it - - that’s pretty fuckin’ dope.”

Beth arches an eyebrow at that, pulled back to the moment, and it’s all it takes for Mason to pink at the cheeks, shrugs.

“Sorry,” he says quickly, and Beth laughs.

“It’s fine, nothing I haven’t heard before, I can promise you that,” she replies easily, and Mason wrinkles his nose, still smiling, still blushing a little in embarrassment, and Beth softens before she can help herself. They’ve been seeing so much of him since his dad died, since his mom’s working more, and he’s a good friend to Kenny and a sweet kid, and god, if maybe she doesn’t look at him sometimes and remember  - -

Well.

Remember.

“And thank you,” she adds. “It’s nice to know my cooking is fucking dope.”

She winks at him, and Mason’s blush only deepens, his feet shuffling. He opens his mouth to say something to her, what, she’s not sure when suddenly a car pulls into their driveway - - or, at least, it tries to – not an easy feat with all the other cars there.

Beth waves as Mason’s mom pokes an exhausted head out of the car, and Mason moves to grab the containers from Beth.

“Thanks again, Mrs. B,” he says, and Beth nods, smiling.

“Get home safe now.”

Mason smiles, waving as best he can around all the containers before darting off towards his mother. She watches him go, get in, waits for them to drive off before turning to go back inside. It’s not a new habit exactly, but still. She’s had enough reminders of what she and Rio do for a living to like to see people off these days, whoever they might be.

Stealing back inside, she can hear Carmen’s voice peel down the stairs:

“Y’know, maybe if you got out of your goddamn helicopter right now, this would go a lot faster.”

Rio snaps something back at her, his voice too low, gruff to be heard, but it’s enough to make Carmen huff out that irritated laugh in reply that’s so much like Rio’s Beth’s head briefly spins. She thinks about going up but then - - Jane’s not crying anymore, and besides it sort of sounds like the last place she wants to be right now.  

Shaking her head, she makes her way towards the living room instead, smoothing out her dress as she goes.

“ - - because they’re like her little groupies.”

It’s Annie who says it, leaning forwards in her seat and raising her glass as if to punctuate a point, and Beth blinks, not entirely sure what she’s walking in on.

“Right?” Nancy says, somehow having gotten back into the living room, standing up as she rocks a dozing, four-year-old Dakota, who’s draped across her chest like a monkey. Her voice is too loud as she makes wild eyes at Annie. “Did you see the way he looked at your sister when she was hand whisking the cream for dessert? His eyes were like - - bulging. He looked like Jim Carey in The Mask.”

Annie looks far too amused at that, looking over at her with a grin.

“Wow, Nance, dated reference.”

Nancy holds up the hand not clutching Dakota still to her chest in a very highschool talk to the hand gesture, opens her mouth to say something when Ruby suddenly coughs, breaking up everyone’s laughter. And then - -

Well.

Everyone’s eyes are on her.

“Did I interrupt something?” Beth asks slowly walking towards the bar cart to pour herself a drink, and it’s Stan in the end who takes pity.

“Your sister’s just talking about your fan club,” Stan tells her. “Kenny’s little friend over there looked like the president of it.”

Beth blinks, jerks her head back and just - -

What?

“Fan club?” she says, and Annie crows.

“Told you. B’s always been totally oblivious,” she leans forwards towards Aida conspiratorially. “I mean, your brother is a master of eye fucking and it still took them like, forty years to get together.”

“Annie,” Beth hisses again, as Aida clenches her eyes shut, holds a hand up to Annie’s face, and says:

“Please never talk about my brother’s eye fucking again.”

It’s enough to make Annie cackle – rocking back in her seat and then forwards again.

“Seriously though. They come around after school all like - - limbs and body odor and cystic acne, and sit around the table and just like - -watch her, it’s kind of creepy.”

Gaping, Beth stares at Annie, waving her drink around.

“What are you talking about?”

“All of Kenny’s weird, horndog friends,” Annie insists, and Beth blinks, because surely she doesn’t mean - -

“Are you talking about his study group?”

“They’re studying something,” Ruby says lowly, and Beth turns around to give her her most betrayed look, before Ruby laughs.

“It’s just a part of growing up, B, and honestly, they’re nice boys. They’re just teenagers and you’re the hot mom in their little clique,” Ruby shrugs as she says it, and Beth blinks as Stan, Aida, Nancy and Annie all nod, like this is just some sort of universal fact.

“I am not - - ”

Beth flails, and Ruby gives her a look.

“Bitch, do not start with me. You are. Deal with it. I can tell you from experience, it’s a blessing and a curse. You know how many of Sara’s friends got crushes on Stan? Particularly when he was in uniform? I felt like I was going to have to start wiring jaws shut with the way these girls would hang around with their mouths open like - - ”

She does an impression – eyes wide, lips parted, and Stan laughs, pushing gently into her side.

“You’re one to talk. Sara’s first boyfriend followed you around more than he did her.”

“I did say it was from experience,” Ruby agrees, more than a little smug. She gestures between the two of them. “Two hot parents under one roof. Should be illegal. I feel bad for our kids.”

Laughing loud and hard, Stan nods, leaning in to kiss her, and Beth half rolls her eyes and half melts, because - - cute, okay, while Annie fakes a retch in the background.

“Speaking of hot dads, that’s going to be a serious problem for you,” Nancy tells Beth, wide eyed, still rocking Dakota while she stands. “Like, I’ll be the first to say Chris is not my type, but that man is - -“

She sounds a little breathless, rolls her eyes to the ceiling, mouths oh my god, and Annie laughs at her.

“You’re a freak, Nance.”

Nancy flails out with her free hand – just enough to whack Annie pretty well upside the head.  

“One of the boys does have a thing for him though,” Annie adds, and okay, that Beth does know.

“Tommy?”

Annie blinks over at Beth, grins, impressed.

“Well, look at you!” she says. “Picking up on the lust of a teenage boy. I reckon that kid jacks it to your not-husband at least twice a day.”

“Annie,” Beth groans again, a sentiment echoed by everyone else in the room, and at least that’s enough to make Aida jump in.

“God, I’m having flashbacks to highschool,” she says, waving a hand around. “All of Chris’ weird, baby gangster friends would come ‘round and just like - - totally fuckin’ perv on me and Car. One of them used to hang out the front of the bathroom while we were in there until our mom threatened to run him over with her car. I think he might have been listening to us pee?”

Which - - is awful, but also just helps Beth to double down on her point.

“Yeah, well these ones aren’t perving,” Beth says, finally sitting down again beside Annie. “They’re children.”

Aida blinks, looking sideways down towards the family room, as if gauging the ages of the kids sitting in there, which means it isn’t much of a surprise when she says:

“How old’s your kid again?”

“He actually turns fifteen in two weeks,” Beth says, unable to bite back the smile, because he really has just been so excited for his party. He’s one of the last kids in his class to have his birthday, and he’s treated every other birthday party he’s been to this year as little scouting missions, talking Beth through what he thought was cool and what was totally lame – the fact of which had amused Beth to no end.

(“Would be good if he could put this much effort into school,” Rio had said gruffly after Kenny had talked them through all the good and bad things of the last party he’d been to, and Beth had just laughed.)  

“Yeah, they’re pervin’,” Aida says, making Beth startle, and Annie crows happily, holds up her hands and says something that sounds like preach, sister, which - -

Beth opens her mouth to reply, when suddenly Carmen appears in the doorway, swearing colourfully in Spanish as she flops down onto the couch beside Aida. She grabs her drink – which Annie had topped up while she was upstairs – and throws it back in one gulp, before looking over at Beth.

“You ever finally murder that asshole, please call me so I can make sure you’ve finished the job,” she says, and Beth can’t quite hold back the laugh.

 *

 Rio exhales, content, pulling out and rolling off her. He stretches a little back on the bed, his spine cracking as Beth grabs a few tissues from her bedside table, cleaning up between her legs. She still feels a little hazy – probably should have skipped the last two glasses of merlot, but she also feels pretty good, fucked-out good, tossing the tissues into the bin and wriggling into Rio’s side. She preens happily when he turns just enough to brush the hair back off her face, and leans in to kiss her.

After Carmen had come down, Beth had gone up, finding both Rio and Jane in Jane’s bedroom, her little hand tightly bruised, band-aids on almost every finger. She’d stopped crying, but collapsed into Beth’s arms the second she’d seen her, and Rio had pressed his lips to both their foreheads before heading downstairs. It had been late enough at that point that she’d eased Jane into sleep, and found herself back at the party before long, the conversation of Mason and Kenny’s study group forgotten, at least until the end of the night when Annie had made some bad joke about Beth’s boyfriend hopefully not coming back tonight – which had gone over about as well as anyone could’ve expected given Rio hadn’t been there for the context of the joke.

“Annie was a lot tonight,” she says, thinking more on it, and Rio hums.

“Yeah, she’s always a lot, mami,” Rio replies, shrugging a little as he folds back down into their bed. “Don’t help when she does shots with Aida before dessert though.”

Beth snorts, looking over at him, taking in the slope of his nose and the fan of his eyelashes. He’s looking rested at the moment, which is a way she’s recently learnt she’d never seen him look. Something fresher about him, since they dropped two of their more problematic clients from their books. They don’t need the money after all. They’re doing – all in all – pretty good.

The thought settles happily, but still - - Beth can’t quite help but poke at tonight.

“That thing about my boyfriend too,” Beth adds, shaking her head. “You’re lucky you missed it – she called Kenny’s study group my fan club.”

And he does laugh at that, amused in a way that Beth laughs too, because he gets it, thinks it’s as ridiculous as she does, and Beth wriggles a little further down in her bed.

“Fan club? Shit, I woulda said groupies.”

And - -

“What?”

Rio hums, looking over at her, amused.

“What?”

“Groupies?”

“Mmm,” Rio hums again, gaze flicking down to her sheet covered body. “Three minutes away from throwin’ their boxers at you, since hittin’ on you ain’t gettin’ them nowhere.”

Beth wrinkles her nose, and Rio laughs, leaning over to bite it, before reaching over her to turn off her bedside lamp. Beth waits until he’s off her and lying back down to reach over and turn it back on.

“When?” she asks, sitting up in bed, clutching the sheet to her bare chest, and Rio blinks up at her, forehead furrowing in confusion.

“When what?”

“I mean give me an example of when they’ve - - ” she flails a hand out. “Hit on me.”

And she squints a little, immediately annoyed at the too-big, too-bright grin that spreads across his face. He turns a little over in their bed towards her, popping an eyebrow and not even bothering to hide his amusement which is frankly rude. Beth squints harder, holds the sheet a little tighter.

“You wanna know when Kenny’s classmates hit on you?”

He says it with such heavy disbelief, that Beth latches onto it, widening her eyes and nodding.

“See? It sounds ridiculous.”

“Only sounds ridiculous coz you ain’t seein’ it.”

She rolls her eyes, thins her lips down at him, and Rio laughs, propping himself up on his elbow so that he’s sort of half raised to meet her, and she has to resist the urge to flatten her hand on his face and push him back down onto their bed.

“’Sides, they ain’t hittin’ on you, they’re just checkin’ you out, prob’ly seein’ which one can get the best look down your blouse,” his eyes slip shut again as he yawns and says something that sounds suspiciously like horny motherfuckers. Beth frowns. Thing is, she’s barely even noticed them looking at her. They’re a study group for goodness sake, it makes sense they’d want to spread out around the dining room table while she’s making dinner in the kitchen, or working on something she brought home from the office at the kitchen island.

They come in sometimes to talk to her, but that’s just because they’re polite, and usually it’s to ask her if she can make them a hot cocoa or something, and okay, maybe she did look up the other day as she was stirring in the cocoa powder and Mason was staring at her chest or - - that was probably nothing, she reminds herself. God - -  

“They’re children,” Beth insists, and Rio laughs again, a little exasperated this time. He shakes his head, before glancing back up at Beth, his eyes wider than they have any right to be, inquisitive almost.  

“How old’s Kenny turnin’ next week?”

And right, Beth thinks. That’s exactly it!

“Fifteen,” she says, punctuating her point, and Rio holds his hand out like it proves his.

They both just stare at each other, briefly confused how the other can’t get it, and Beth finally scoffs, flopping heavily sideways into her pillow, resting on her elbow, mirroring Rio’s pose so she can better argue with him.  

“Please, when I was fifteen I had only just started dating Dean and we were like,” she flails a hand out. “Babies. We thought the sexiest thing in the world was holding hands at the drive-in. We didn’t even kiss until my sixteenth birthday.”

He gives her a look at that which is simultaneously incredibly amused and incredibly judgemental.

“Yeah, coz that dumbass ex of yours couldn’t close a deal if it came pre-signed,” he says. “Wanna know what I was doin’ at fifteen?”

Which - - well.

“No,” she replies petulantly, because while she knows Rio’s history is certainly - - extensive to say the least, she can’t say beyond brief bouts of insanity she’s ever had any desire to know the details. Rio grins again, huffing out a laugh.

“Look, it ain’t that deep. You’re their friend’s mom, you got this whole too-sweet, Martha Stewart energy in this stacked, Jessica Rabbit package. They know they ain’t got no chance beyond lookin’ down your shirt and standin’ a little too close, but they gonna try it anyway coz they’re young and they’re really fuckin’ dumb. You get uncomfortable with it, you tell them to take a walk. They don’t, you snitch on their horny asses to their parents. That don’t work, you tell me, and me and them can all have a little talk.”

He shrugs, like it’s the simplest thing in the world, and Beth stares at him, irked by the blasé authority of his tone, like he knows what this is, like - - like it isn’t the first time he’s going through this with a kid too.  

“I’d rather you didn’t pull a gun on a group of teenagers for looking at me,” she says dryly, before adding: “Which I’m not even convinced they do by the way.”  

Rio rolls his eyes, looking briefly at the ceiling before back at Beth.

“Then what are we talkin’ about?”

And - - well. She doesn’t even really know. It had just surprised her – how Annie and Ruby – god, even Stan, had been so certain that Mason had a crush. Little Mason, who’s been coming around since Kenny started at Glenvale almost three years ago, bright eyed and sweet and helpful and a child and if Mason’s growing up, then that probably means Kenny is too.

She feels her lower lip wobble before she can even help it, and sees Rio clock it, frown, but before he can say anything, Beth quickly cuts him off.

“Well Annie thinks one of the boys has a thing for you,” she says, putting on her best know it all voice that both Rio and Ruby say is going to get her in trouble one day, and for a minute, Beth doesn’t think he’s going to let her pivot, but in the end he just lets loose a smug grin, shrugging knowingly.

“Mm,” he hums. “One with the glasses and those ugly ass sneakers?”

And just - -

Okay.

That’s not fair.

“His name is Tommy,” she sniffs, but dammit, he is the one with the glasses and the ugly sneakers. “How do you even know that?”

“Just because it takes someone proposition’ you in the passenger seat of your mama van to realise someone’s checkin’ you out don’t mean we all got that problem.”

Beth blinks, a flush finding her cheeks, sliding down her chest before she can help it, and Rio’s tongue darts out to wet his lips and she knows he’s going to press them to the bony cup at the top of her sternum before he even does. He likes that, she knows, to taste her blush.

She shivers pleasantly, raking her nails down through his hair, feeling him purr against her chest.

“It didn’t take that, just so you know,” she tells him. “I knew way earlier.”

Well, a little earlier, not that much earlier, but - -

He makes a placating noise, but she knows he doesn’t believe her. His hands glide down over her naked sides beneath the sheet, pulling her hips against his and Beth lets herself be pulled, despite still feeling a little sore from doing all of this fifteen minutes ago. His recovery time really is pretty unbelievable.

Lifting his head, Rio just stares at her for a minute, like he’s trying to read something on her face, when suddenly he says:

“You gonna make all this a thing?”

“No,” she replies quickly, and Rio makes a noise like he doesn’t quite believe her, and Beth grins, leaning in to kiss him, snaking her hand down between them. It’s not like they’ve never used sex to distract each other before. Besides, it’s not a thing.

She doesn’t think it’s a thing?

(It’s probably a thing.)

 *

 Or - - at least, it’s not a thing until the following week, when she’s tossing the salad for dinner and Kenny strides in the backdoor, his hair still wet from swimming and the faint smell of chlorine lingering around him. She flicks her gaze up, checks the clock.

“You’ve got about fifteen minutes to shower if you want to before dinner,” she tells him, holding out her cheek for Kenny to lean down and press a quick kiss too (he’s already so tall, almost eye-to-eye with Rio and she knows he’ll be at least a head taller than him in no time).  

“Thanks, I showered at the pool though,” he replies, disappearing briefly into the laundry to put his swimming things on to wash before getting back to her, sliding into one of the stools at the kitchen island, his fingers drumming a little on the counter.

“You sure?” she asks, squinting a little, amused, back at him. “You smell like you could strip the wallpaper in your sisters’ rooms.”

Kenny rolls his eyes at her, and Beth has to bite back a grin, grabbing the cucumber and starting to dice it for the salad.

“How was school?”

“Good,” Kenny offers easily, leaning back a little in his seat. “I got a B- on my history exam.”

Beth stops, dropping the knife to look at him properly, a big grin painting her face. “That’s amazing! The one on the Industrial Revolution?”

Kenny nods, and Beth glows.

“I’m so proud of you, honey. I know how hard you worked on that.”

Because he did, is the thing. Kenny’s not studious like Emma, nor naturally smart like Marcus, nor creative like Danny. He’s not even like Jane, who - - well. Beth resists the urge to entertain that particular point of annoyance.

(“She’s practically gifted,” the teacher had told them at the last parent-teacher meeting with an exasperated shrug. “She picks up on things incredibly quickly, she’s a natural problem solver, she just - - would rather use those talents to disrupt the class instead of be a part of it.”

Rio had ranted the whole way home.)

“You can put it on the fridge,” Kenny jokes, and Beth gives him a look, because she absolutely would if he’d let her. Kenny’s always hated that sort of thing though – particularly because his B- will be sitting on a wall of Emma and Marcus’ perfect scores.

“SO,” he says suddenly, smacking his hands lightly down on the kitchen island. “I’ve been thinking - - when was the last time you and Rio went on a date?”

Which - -

What?

Beth blinks wildly, neck jerking back, before she firms herself back up, narrowing her eyes at him in suspicion.

“We go on plenty of dates,” she tells him slowly, her hands starting to steadily chop the cucumber again. “Why?”

Grabbing his cell from the back pocket of his jeans, Kenny scrolls easily through something before finding whatever it was he was looking for and presenting it to her to read – an online ad for the Detroit Food and Wine Festival. She blinks, briefly touched, before her eyes scan the rest of it and see the date.

“That’s on Saturday,” she says, adding: “At the…same time as your birthday party.”

“Oh! Is it?” he asks innocently, looking at it again. He shrugs, practiced, and Beth feels her jaw tighten before she can help it. “Oh, man, that sucks. But y’know, this doesn’t seem like the sort of thing you’d wanna miss. Whereas like – my birthday – you’ve been to fourteen of those already, and I’m gonna have like, a hundred more or whatever.”

Beth stares at him, shifts her weight, before dropping her attention back down to her chopping.

“And what about your father? He’s driving over from South Haven.”

“Well, I mean, if you and Rio are going to this, it’d be kinda weird if he was the only parent, and y’know, it’s so far to come anyway and he doesn’t really like the drive anymore. Besides, he’ll be here next month for grandma’s birthday, so we could just do something for mine then too.”

“And your brothers and sisters?” she asks, her voice tight, and Kenny shrugs, but seems to briefly waver, realising he’s sprung.

“Sleepovers?” he offers, and Beth drops the knife, the irritation in her suddenly bubbling over. She wipes her hands furiously on her apron before just - - fisting it a little, shaking her head.

“Kenny - - I - - ”

“Josh’s party was unsupervised and it was the best one!”

It’s dropped so quickly, with such urgency, it takes a moment for the words to catch up with her, and when they do, she finds herself reeling forwards in fresh anger.

“Josh’s party was unsupervised?”

“I mean, no,” Kenny tries weakly, realising his mistake before shaking his head. “But it felt like it! His parents were out of town so it was just his sister, and she was really cool, and it just felt like - - better, y’know? I don’t want to have a bunch of little kids around screaming like Jane or doing weird things like Danny, and my parents hanging around being embarrassing. I want to just hang out with my friends.”

Outside, Beth can hear Rio pull up to this house, can hear the kids tumble out of it from after school activities, a bustle of chatter and heavy backpacks and still-little feet, and Beth finds herself gritting her teeth.

“Birthdays are about family,” she tells him, her voice tight. “The party and the friends are a bonus. Besides, I’ve been cooking already and I have some special treats planned and some games and - - ”

“What?” Kenny says, slouching back in his kitchen stool, huffing out a sullen breath. “A bounce house and a clown cake? Mom, I’m fifteen not five. Save it for one of your other kids, it’s not like you didn’t have enough of us.”

“Excuse me?” Beth says sharply, and Kenny glares at her, sliding to his feet, and striding off down the hall, and it’s typical, that Rio would walk through the front door right as Beth is yelling: “Don’t walk away from me, mister, we haven’t finished talking!”

But Beth’s left only with Rio’s raised eyebrow and set jaw, Kenny upstairs and out of sight.

 *

 “It’s not funny!” she insists, irritation still sparking in her belly as she slips into her nightie, but Rio just keeps laughing, sprawled, nude in their bed. She glares back at him, and he looks practically delighted back up at her, which is exactly what she needs right now - - truly.

“Mami, it’s hilarious,” Rio says, and Beth scowls. “Shit, that kid really think Imma let a bunch of teenagers go unsupervised in my house?”

“Our house,” Beth corrects, grabbing her tube of lotion from the top of her chest of drawers and moving to sit on the edge of the bed. Rio waves a hand at her like same difference which is categorically untrue, particularly when it comes to him. She squints at him, purses her lips, but doesn’t say anything as she uncaps the lotion tube.

“I mean, shit, that paintin’ in the hallway alone would pay for at least one of their college tuitions.”

Which sure, Beth thinks, rolling her eyes, and having to bite back the urge to say let’s sell it then, because despite everyone else apparently thinking it was dope she mostly hated it. Still, they’d agreed to compromise – Beth had gotten her super comfy pear-green couch for the family room after all (Rio had wanted brown leather, a fact Beth had adamantly disagreed with).  

“That’s not the point,” she tells him now, spreading the lotion on her legs.

“What’s not the point?”

“The - - ” she waves a hand out at him. “Unsupervised part.”

He pops an eyebrow in question, and Beth sighs, annoyed that he’s not getting it.

“He tried to uninvite us to his birthday party.”

Even saying it aloud somehow makes it that much more real, digs the knife in that little bit deeper. She’d made three stress cakes after he’d gone upstairs as a result, the fact of which had made everyone in the house nervous. Jane had even come over and given her a hug which was – Beth was pretty sure – one of the seven signs of the apocalypse. Right now though, Rio just shrugs.

“Only surprise about that is that he ain’t tried to do it sooner.”

Which - - no, Beth thinks, spinning on the spot in betrayal, her hand clutched to her chest, and Rio stares at her, shocked by her reaction, before shaking his head, exasperated, half sitting up.

“He’s turnin’ fifteen, ma! What do you expect? He don’t want us around, crampin’ his style and whatnot.”

“What style?” she scoffs. “He still has Star Wars bedsheets.”

“Not for long,” Rio sing-songs, flopping back down in the bed. When Beth just stays there, sitting up, her legs only half-lotioned, he turns around to look at her, laughing again. “Aw, I’m sorry, baby. You hurtin’?”

Which - - okay, she is, but if he’s going to make fun of her for it, she certainly won’t be having that conversation with him.

She glares at him, and when he reaches out to pull her towards him, she stands up, striding over to her chest of drawers to put the lotion away, and she’s thinking about going downstairs to do the frosting on one of the cakes she made earlier – still too annoyed for bed – when she feels herself being grabbed from behind.

Gasping, she flails as Rio carries her back to bed, depositing her heavily enough on the mattress she squawks, but before she can move to sit up, he climbs – still naked – on top of her, pausing only when they’re eye to eye, him on his hands and knees above her, giving her enough room to wriggle out if she really wants to, and then he just - -

Stops.

Stares at her, like he does sometimes, somehow both soft and firm, blinking slowly, and Beth stares back at him and just - - frowns. Rio sucks in his lips, thinking, before he sighs.

“Gotta leave the nest sometimes,” he drawls, and Beth’s frown deepens.

“He is not leaving the nest yet,” she says sharply, and Rio nods above her, takes her in again, shrugs, and his voice is softer when he says:

“Startin’ to flap those wings though, huh?”

Beth’s lower lip wobbles, and she looks away from him.

“It’s a good thing,” he tells her. “You want him independent. Don’t wanna be tryna cram him back inside you like your sister doin’ with Sadie.”

And - - well. Beth gives him a look at that, because he’s not exactly wrong. Annie’s not at all ready for Sadie to disappear off to college next year, but then - - god, Kenny’s not that far behind. Still, above her, Rio laughs softly, reaching down to brush her hair off her face.

“’Sides, we got more,” he tells her. “Don’t think Danny’ll ever move out.”

“Yes, he will,” Beth says, sighing glumly. “They’ll all leave me.”

“Well then you got your sister,” he replies dryly. “Don’t think we’ll ever get rid o’ her. Kenny’s gonna go away to college and she’ll probably take over his room, pretend she always lived there or somethin’. Move her girl and Delaware in.”

And okay, maybe that makes her crack a smile. She arches an eyebrow up at Rio.

“I know you know his name is Dakota.”

“Know it’s a stupid name still too,” he tells her with a shrug, and when he leans down to kiss her this time, she lets him.

 *

 “Wait, does that mean we were uninvited too?” Annie asks, eyes wide as she helps lay out the food for the party on the table on their back deck, and before Beth can even think to reply, Ruby scoffs loudly.

“Bitch, why would he want us here if he doesn’t even want his mom and stepdad there?”

Annie curls her lip, gesturing wildly between them all. She looks good at least, in her black romper, her hair newly bleached, her lips bright red.

“Because we’re about a million times cooler than Beth and - - okay. Not Rio. But definitely Beth. I’d want me here.”  

Ruby rolls her eyes, before grabbing another platter of the little cucumber and sesame sushi rolls Beth had made to lay out. She looks good too – in a white blouse and black skirt, a black bow at the neck of her shirt. She pushes the platter back on the table, fitting it between the rice paper rolls and the little chicken meatballs.

“It’s tough, I get it. You should have seen Stan the first time Sara said she didn’t want us at her debate – get this - - apparently our cheering is embarrassing now? It was like she ripped his heart out of his chest.”

Beth gives her a commiserating look, before moving the punchbowl to the other end of the table, taking a moment to look over her handywork and - - well. It looks great. She knows it looks great, just - - it’s also now what she’d been planning. She’d abandoned more than a few of the things she’d organised after Kenny had been so rude – even after he sort of, almost, half apologised – which meant there was no longer the popcorn machine or the ping pong table she’d hired, or the retro, inflatable couches. Instead, she’d stuck to streamers, food, a few iceboxes, a killer punch (if she did say so herself) and a birthday cake that Marcus had studiously helped her make.

“It looks killer,” Annie says, like she’s read her mind, reaching over to squeeze her hand.

“Very grown up,” Ruby adds, and just - - Beth frowns, because it does, but also maybe she’s not entirely ready for that. She opens her mouth to say something along those lines when Emma suddenly appears in the doorway of the house, and Beth gasps, a wide grin spilling across her face.

“Honey! You look beautiful!”

Emma practically glows at the compliment, giving them a spin in her pink and white gingham dress and tan sandals, her long, dark hair fanning out like a cape. Annie instantly starts singing the walk walk fashion baby part of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance and Emma sucks in her cheeks like a model, catwalking out to them in a way that makes them all hoot and Emma burst into giggles, flushing bright and pink.

She spins again when she gets to Beth, and Beth stops her, turning her around so that she can tighten the straps on her new bra (and maybe that had been kind of a fun growing up thing, Beth thinks. Emma had been so excited, and they’d found her some with polka dots and glitter and a set with unicorns that had even Jane nodding in approval).

“Do you know if Mason’s coming?” Emma asks suddenly, kicking a little at the deck floor as Beth finishes fiddling with the straps on Emma’s bra, and Beth blinks, glancing quickly at Ruby and Annie who both purse their lips and raise their eyebrows.

“I think he might be,” Beth replies slowly, and Emma blushes all over again, spinning around to face Beth, blinking her big, blue eyes back up at her.  

“Can I borrow some of your lipstick?”

And - - right, she looks back at Annie and Ruby again who shrug, and finally Beth gestures for Emma to lead them back into the house, trying her best to put aside the instant grief she feels at even the thought.

She’s sitting on the floor in their en suite with Emma, onto their third shade of pink lipstick, when Rio pokes his head in through the door, having just gotten back from the grocery store picking up ice and soda.

“Dean’s here,” he grunts, and Beth looks over, leaning back from Emma in the process, and she sees it – the moment Rio clocks the make-up. It really isn’t much – a brush of mascara and the lipstick, just enough to make Emma feel grown up, but still. Rio arches an eyebrow at Beth, before looking back at Emma.

“Look at you,” he says softly, and Emma smiles tentatively, eyes darting between Beth and Rio before she clasps her hands together in her lap.

“Do I look pretty?”

“You always look pretty, darlin’,” Rio replies easily, striding towards them and leaning over Beth’s back to kiss the crown of Emma’s head. It’s enough to make Emma glow all over again, and Beth can’t quite help the smile, even if she feels that increasingly familiar clench in her belly at the thought that this first will soon turn into something normal. “You wanna try and get your sister ready? I gotta talk to your mom about somethin’.”

Emma nods, standing up and darting out of the room, already calling out to Jane by the time she’s in the hallway, and Beth calls out, “Get your dad to help, honey!” because god help the person who tries to get Jane ready for anything on their own.

She starts putting the make-up away, surprised when Rio stays lingering in the doorway, looking down at her. When she looks up at him, Rio gestures to his face.

“That new?”

Beth gives him a look, because she knows he knows it is. Still, she wrinkles her nose a little, a soft smile on her lips.

“I think she has a crush on Mason.”

The news only serves to make Rio raise his eyebrows, a decidedly unimpressed look on his face as Beth finishes putting her make-up away.

“Mason? Fifteen-year-old Mason?”

“You know another one?”

“She’s eleven.”

“Only surprise about that is she ain’t got one sooner,” Beth says, imitating him from the other night and laughing when he gives her a filthy look. She shakes her head, holding a hand out and letting Rio help her to her feet. “Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing. Besides, according to both you and Annie, Mason has a crush on me, anyway.”

Rio makes a noise in the back of his throat at that, but doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t let go of her hand either, at least not right away, squeezing it softly in a way that makes Beth squint a little at him.

“What?” she asks tentatively, and god, he better not have to go, he can’t leave her here with a million children. Rio lets go of her hand, taking a slight step back out of the doorway and into their bedroom, like he’s thinking how best to say something, and finally, he just says it.

“Kenny asked me to pick him up some beers.”

It takes her a moment to even comprehend the words, to wrap her head around them, and when she does, she feels a bite of fury she hasn’t felt since Kenny uninvited them the other day.

“What?” she hisses, because god – the audacity of that kid.

Rio hums, like he’s read her mind, stepping back towards the bed and picking a bottle off their dresser that he must have brought in with him.

“I got him some.”

“Rio - -”

“Got him some o’ these,” he says, passing the bottle to her and it’s a type of beer she’s never seen before with a bright label and a European name. She glares at him as she takes it, turning it around, anger churning inside of her, gaze flicking back down to the label, spots a zero amidst all the writing on the back and then she - - pauses.

“These are non-alcoholic,” she says slowly.

“Mm,” Rio hums, amused at himself, when Beth arches an eyebrow back at him. “Told him it was some real high-end shit, y’know? Ain’t in English, so they ain’t gonna know.”

“What if they look it up on their phones?” Beth asks, but she can’t quite hide her own amusement now either, the lingering anger reserved only for Kenny.

“Then he can be pissed at me later,” Rio tells her with a shrug. “Means right now though he ain’t gettin’ his friends to raid their parent’s liquor cabinets coz he thinks he got cool parents.”

“We’re not cool at all,” Beth tells him and Rio laughs, shaking his head.

“Nuh,” he agrees, grinning at her, and Beth leans in and kisses him.  

“Speaking of parents’ liquor cabinets, have we - -“

“Locked it away last night, mami.”

“Hmm,” Beth hums, feeling her eyelids drop a little, her gaze settling on his lips. “You’re sexy when you’re being all responsible, keeping our kids safe,” she purrs, and Rio leans in closer.

“Yeah? You sexy in this dress.”

Beth grins against his lips, hooking a finger in the collar of his shirt, yanking it down just enough she can press a kiss against the tattoo on his neck. He makes a noise that vibrates against her lips, and then suddenly his hand’s at her chest, squeezing her breast, and Beth gasps, enough to give him the momentum to press his lips against her own again, pushing his tongue into her mouth, and - -

“Beth! Kids!”

Rio sighs at Dean’s voice calling up, breaking the kiss to push his forehead against hers. He squeezes her breast again for good measure and Beth steps back, out of reach.

“Later,” she promises, and Rio smacks her ass on the way out in agreement.

 *

 “How many kids did he even invite?” Ruby asks, and Beth groans, looking out across her backyard.

“He told me thirty,” she insists, taking a sip of her glass of wine as another few teens stride past them and out onto the lawn, talking loudly about how much somebody’s ass jiggles? Which - - Beth flushes, pulls a face, takes a longer drink of wine. Thing is, it probably is only the thirty – along with maybe a few plus-ones, just they seem to sprawl, to kick out into every crevice, a mess of gangly limbs and potent body spray and oily foreheads.

It doesn’t help that Kenny seems to have disappeared. She’s not sure she’s seen him since she got him to go talk to Dean for a while – he had driven out and miraculously gotten here on time after all, even helped set up some of the iceboxes with Annie and Sadie.  

“The beer was genius by the way,” Ruby says, watching some boys’ cheers at the end of the lawn, yell something about getting turnt, and Beth grins, nodding, as Ruby adds: “Stealing it for Lil’ Money. No way that kid isn’t going to be like, stealth wild. I’m calling it now.”

Beth hums in agreement, because Harry really is sneaky like that.  

“Just like Marcus,” Beth says, and Ruby laughs.

“Sure, I think you might be in for a bit of a harder time with that guy though,” at Beth’s questioning look, Ruby adds: “He’s got his dad wrapped around his little finger and he knows it. At least Stan can still smell Harry’s bullshit.”

Beth laughs, nodding in agreement again, because honestly. Marcus misbehaves plenty, but every time he gets caught, Rio acts like it’s the first time it’s ever happened. It doesn’t take much either – a wobbly lip, battered eyelashes, slipping in a daddy instead of dad like he’s still six and not recently ten. Rio will still dutifully dole out the punishment, but he’ll be back to pretending Marcus is the best behaved kid on the planet and whatever he’d done was out of the ordinary instead of - - well, the ordinary.

“Jane too, huh?”

Blinking, Beth turns to look at Ruby again, her forehead furrowed as Ruby watches her.

“What?”

Ruby shrugs, a knowing look on her face.

“He ran when Marcus slammed her fingers in that door at dinner the other week. He didn’t come down any time soon either.”

He hadn’t, of course, and Beth smiles, warm, feeling the condensation pearling on her wine glass. She’s thought more about him upstairs with Jane than she cares to admit, the way he’d stroked her hair, the way even the next day he’d peeled the band-aids off to carefully check the cuts, comparing them to the scars on his hands to make Jane feel tough.

“It’s cute,” she says, and Ruby shakes her head.

“It’s a lot more than cute, B. He’s really in it.”

Which - - Beth looks at her, and Ruby tilts her head to the non-alcoholic beers, then suddenly out again, and Beth follows her gaze to where Dean is talking to Emma on the other side of the deck, and - -

Beth frowns.

Dean says something, loud, unintelligible, gesturing broadly, then laughs at whatever it is he said, and Emma tucks her hair behind her ear, shifts her feet, presses her soda with her favourite pink curly straw in it to her chest. She looks - - uncomfortable, but more than that – like she’s trying too much, a half, uncertain smile on her face, a tittering, pretend laugh on her tongue, and Beth’s frown deepens. She glances back at Ruby, who gestures like it’s okay, and Beth gets up, starting towards them, and she’s barely halfway there before Dean leans down, ruffles Emma’s hair and starts towards Beth.

She opens her mouth to speak, but Dean cuts her off, a strange look on his face.

“Beth, what is our daughter wearing?”

And just - -

What?

Beth blinks, looking back at where Emma is standing, alone now, in the corner of the yard, the curly straw in her mouth, her pink gingham dress hanging sweetly from her shoulders, looking out across the party.

“What?”

“Isn’t that dress a little short?” Dean insists, leaning closer to her, and she can smell the alcohol on his breath, and Beth rolls her eyes, feels herself smarting.

“It’s hot, and it’s almost to her knees anyway,” she tells him, and Dean scoffs, rolling his eyes.  

“She looks - - ” he waves a hand around, and Beth pushes out a hip, annoyed before she can control it.

“Looks what, Dean?”

He flounders for a minute, gesturing wildly, looking back at Emma across the yard, who’s pointedly not looking at them – knowing that they’re fighting, and god, Beth thinks, she - -

“Older.”

Which, obviously, Beth thinks, and she opens her mouth to reply that yes, she probably does, given it’s been almost two months since he’s bothered to see them, when suddenly Dean gestures to his chest, cups his hands there, and Beth sees red.

“Yes, Dean,” she says through clenched teeth. “Your daughter is wearing a bra now. She got her first period last month too, if you’d like to know just how much older she is.”

Dean flushes, like that was the last thing he wanted to know, and Beth rolls her eyes, shaking her head and looking at Emma across the party, on her own now since Dean’s abandoned her, sipping shyly on her soda, looking around and she can see it – the exact moment Emma starts to crawl back inside herself, anxious with the volume of people, of older kids, the swell of noise, and Beth’s heart lurches, is just about to abandon Dean herself and start towards her again when Annie suddenly materialises at Emma’s side. She doesn’t know what she says, couldn’t hear her if she tried, but whatever Annie does say makes Emma Emma again, her face brightening, her little shoulders shaking with giggles.

Annie throws an arm over Emma’s shoulders, pulls her into her side, says something else that has Emma nodding adamantly and then chattering away, and thing is - - Annie is a lot, always, but god, Beth thinks, smiling, despite herself. She’s a lot of the best things too. She watches her guide Emma towards Ruby, where Sadie and Sara now are too, the latter perched on the arm of her mother’s chair, and Beth just - - feels overwhelmed with gratitude.

Thing is, Ruby was right. Rio is in it, she knows that – knows if she trains her ears, she’ll hear him inside with Danny and Marcus and Jane, with Raf and David too, who arrived with Carmen an hour ago, but - - so are Ruby and Annie.

It’s been a long time since she felt alone.

Her gaze flicks back to Dean and she finds her anger dissipate when she sees the look on his face. Sees him watching Emma too – seeing how easy it is for Annie, how simply she can talk to her, how easily she can make their daughter happy, and then Beth just feels pity.

“She’s growing up, Dean,” Beth says with a sigh. “They all are. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not going to stop.”

And - - right, she thinks, looking across the yard at Kenny’s friends, gangly and surly and pubescent and - -

Right, she thinks again, her gaze flicking back to Dean.

“Jane and Danny are inside with Rio and Marcus. It would be nice if you could talk to all the kids before you leave.”

“I’m not leaving yet.”

“Good,” Beth says, shrugging. “And I’m just saying I’d like it if you talked to all your children before you did leave. They haven’t seen you in months.”

With that, she turns on her heel and back to the others.

 *

 “Too big?” Beth asks, and Marcus laughs, shaking his head, and Beth hums a little, moving the knife aside to make the slice a little bigger. “How about now?”

“I could eat the whole thing,” Marcus insists, grinning, and Beth gives him an amused look, cutting off a big chunk of the gingerbread fudge, and passing it over to him, watching him shove the whole thing instantly into his mouth.

“You choke on that I’m gonna hear about it from your daddy,” she tells him, and Marcus makes a production out of pointedly chewing in a way that makes Beth laugh.

She opens her mouth to say something about being a little too smart when suddenly she hears Kenny’s laugh out on the other side of the window. She pauses, unable to stop herself, and god, she thinks - - didn’t she just have this conversation with Dean? Still, she thinks, biting the inside of her cheek. Kenny hasn’t talked to her all night, had vanished amidst the crowd of his friends, and to hear his voice so suddenly - - it’s weird. Like it’s been more than just hours.

“Yeah, he’s pretty cool,” Kenny says.

“More than cool,” a girl’s voice replies. “Like, I don’t want this to sound weird, but your stepdad is kind of a DILF.”

“Oh my god, Lex - - ” another girl says, but the first - - Lex - - keeps talking.

“No, like, I don’t know if you’ve seen most dads, but that whole dad-bod thing like - - it isn’t the compliment some people think it is, you know?”

“Like, it’s not something to aspire to,” the other girl says, and Lex hums in agreement.

“Right,” Lex says. “And like – honestly – your mom is kind of hot too. It’s super weird.”

“Super weird,” the other girl says.

“I’m kind of like, shipping them?”

“Oh my god, is this your first het ship?”

Lex laughs, and Beth pretends she knows a single word that’s coming out of these girls’ mouths. She glances at Marcus, who raises an eyebrow at her, listening too.

“What’s that mean?” she whispers conspiratorially, and Marcus swallows the fudge thickly, before saying:

“It means she thinks you and dad are good together,” he says, and Beth blinks, smiles, preens a little, because that’s nice, she thinks, turning her attention back to slicing the fudge.

“Yeah, they’re like - - in love, I think,” Kenny says, and Lex and the other girl aww in a way that makes Beth pull a face in amusement. “It’s like good and bad because I mean, my mom was not in love with my dad at all, and it really sucked, but at least I didn’t have to listen to them bone all the time, you know?”

Beth cuts the fudge a little harder, a heat finding her cheeks, and she looks sideways suddenly at Marcus who’s looking pointedly away (even though his fingers are inching for another slice of fudge) and just - - great, she thinks, trying to swallow her embarrassment.

Perfect.

Outside, the girls’ squeal.

“Oh my god, old people having sex is so cute.”

Which - - okay, not helpful, Beth thinks, pushing her hip out and jabbing the knife into the fudge. She should really try and move Marcus away from this conversation but - -

“Do you think he has more tattoos than just his neck one?”

“What?”

“He’s got to. Nobody has just a neck tattoo. It’s pretty hot though.”

One of the girls’ hums in agreement, and then the two of them descend into chatter about how tattoos are sexy and dangerous and Beth blinks in amusement, pushing the fudge onto a platter to take outside when suddenly Kenny says:

“Yeah, I’m gonna get one - - a neck tattoo. Next year probably.”

And then it’s silent, or - - maybe not. Maybe it’s just Beth, standing there at her kitchen counter, her eyes wide, her hands stilling on the knife in her hands, because what?

“Don’t you have to be 18 for that?”

“Yeah, but only if you don’t have permission,” Kenny says easily, almost too coolly, and Beth blinks hard. “I mean Rio got us beer tonight, so.”

“Hot,” one of the girls says – whether to Rio buying (non-alcoholic) beer or Kenny’s potential neck tattoo, Beth has no idea, and she just - - is having trouble processing right now. Might be having trouble breathing too? It’s hard to tell. She swallows thickly, glancing sideways at Marcus who’s looking wide-eyed up at her, and Beth opens her mouth to say something, what, she has no idea, when suddenly she feels a hand tug on her sleeve.

Spinning on the spot, still wielding the knife, Annie ducks back.

“Woah!”

Beth flounders, putting the knife in the sink and shaking her head.

“Sorry.”

“Totally cool. Uh - - soooo, I don’t want to freak you out of anything, but someone has definitely spiked the punch.”

Her eyes widening, Beth looks down at Marcus, who’s eyebrows are practically up at his hairline right now, and Beth turns back to Annie who passes her a cup and - -

Yup.

That’s some college-style, budget vodka with that familiar nail-polish-remover aftertaste. Beth cringes, blinking up at Annie.

“And you - - just discovered this by drinking it?”

“Mmm, more by Mason hurling in your rose bush,” Annie says with a shrug, and Beth groans, throwing off her apron and hurrying outside, leaving Marcus with Annie, and - - right, she thinks, pushing past a boy filming Mason on his cell, shooting him a filthy look as she crouches down into the yard beside him.

To say he looks a mess is probably putting it mildly. There’s vomit down the front of his button-down shirt, his floppy hair is stuck with sweat to his forehead, his eyes are glassy, and for some reason, he’s missing a shoe. Beth waves the other kids watching off, and leans forwards to push back his sweaty hair.

“Hi, honey,” she says, and Mason blinks sleepily up at her, a flush finding his cheeks.

“Hi, Mrs. B. Sorry about - - “

He flounders, leaning back in the grass, green around the gills, and Beth shifts enough to try and haul him up, Ruby suddenly appearing at her side as they drag him past the fray of kids, bumping through the crowd, up towards the house.

“Bathroom?” she asks, and Beth shakes her head.

“My en suite. I’d rather the kids didn’t see him.”

Somehow, they manage to get him up the stairs, and roll him into the bathtub, pulling off his vomit-drenched shirt and grabbing a washcloth from the drawer in the vanity. Wetting it, Beth starts to mop him up when Ruby rises to her feet beside her.

“I’ll grab some of Kenny’s clothes.”

“Thanks,” Beth says, and Ruby just nods, ducking out of the bathroom and leaving Beth with Mason in the tub. She really has no idea what time it is, but it’s got to be close to ten, the nighttime light filtering in through the bathroom window, the sounds of the party loud below them. She makes quick work of grabbing a cup off the sink and filling it with water, getting it into his heavy, wobbly hand and encouraging him to drink while she mops the vomit from around his face, and - - god, it’s all in his hair too. With a sigh, she pushes the sleeves of her dress up, praying that Annie, Rio and Dean have control of everything downstairs between them.

“You look really nice tonight, Mrs B,” Mason says, or - - well, doesn’t say. Slurs, Beth thinks, and she smiles at him, grabbing the cup of water before he drops it. “I mean, you always look nice, but you look like, super nice.”

“Thanks, honey,” she replies, wetting the washcloth again as Mason swerves.

“By nice, I mean hot,” he tells her, voice lowered conspiratorially, and right, Beth thinks, amused but also kind of wishing the earth would swallow her whole. She wipes another bit of vomit off his cheek.

“You’re very sweet,” Beth tells him. “But I am much too old and much too unavailable for you. There are a lot of nice girls downstairs though. And boys too. So - - how about we clean you up, and you can get back out there where you should be, huh?”

Mason sort of nods, mostly, but sinks back into the tub, his narrow chest somehow looking all the skinnier here, his face rounder, more boyish with it’s drunken flush and his wet eyes, and then - - not wet eyes, Beth realises.

Teary eyes.

She sits back, rinses out the washcloth before wetting it again, and sitting by the edge of the tub, and she just watches him for a minute. All gangly limbs, his chin dropped to his chest, his mouth set into a hard little line, and Beth exhales softly.

“It’s been tough at home, huh?” she says gently. “Since your dad died.”

It’s instant then – the way Mason bursts into tears and Beth sighs, heart full in her throat, and leans across the tub, pulling him against her as he sobs against her chest, and when she glances up next, she sees Ruby in the doorway, holding a towel, a few slices of buttered toast, and a set of Kenny’s clothes.

And well.

Ruby’s all in it then too.  

 *

 “You changed,” Rio says, tugging at the strap of her new dress, and Beth spins into him too easily, pressing her chest to his. She’d had to – between Mason’s vomit and tears. Still, she’d come back down to find Annie sitting back with Sadie, and when she’d asked after Rio, he’d been getting the younger kids ready for bed, and the relief Beth had felt at the thought had been close to overwhelming.

“There might have been an incident,” she hums, and Rio arches an eyebrow at her, hands finding her hips. “Drinks may have been spiked.”

Rio grunts, like it isn’t much of a surprise, and says, “We tried, mami,” and well. Beth’s inclined to agree.

She presses further into him then, or maybe presses is the wrong word. Sinks maybe. Collapses probably. All of her exhaustion catching up to her, and she lets Rio sway her gently, glancing over his shoulder to where the swell of the party is still thriving, and she just sighs.

“How do we even break one of these things up?” she asks with a groan, and Rio hums against her, hands moving from her hips to knit together around her, to rest, clasped, at her lower back.

“Say the word, and I’ll get it done,” he tells her. “Sooner, yeah? Kinda want these kids outta my house.”

“Our house,” she corrects again, and Rio laughs softly, swaying gently with her, only to suddenly stop. The movement is enough to make Beth stop too, to look up at him, her eyes tired.

“What?”

“Gimme a sec,” he says, letting go of her, and Beth frowns as Rio steps back from her, striding outside suddenly, and Beth blinks and then - - she smells it too.

“Is that marijuana?” she hisses, and Rio nods, rocking his jaw, and she can see it – the irritation heavy in his look.

“Yeah, fine if he wanna smoke, but he ain’t smokin’ some lowgrade shit when there’s kids sleepin’ upstairs,” Rio says, and Beth blinks.

“It’s fine if he wants to smoke?” she hisses, shrill this time, and Rio waves a hand at her, striding promptly outside and Beth stumbles out after him, following him off the deck past Annie and Sadie (the former of whom makes a joint gesture at Beth who nods in reply), and around the side of the house to where Kenny’s standing in a cluster of kids, passing around a joint.

“Yeah, nuh,” Rio says, grabbing it out of Kenny’s hand, flicking it out into the grass. “Party’s over,” he decides. “You, upstairs. Ladies, you wanna call your parents, or you want us to?”

The girls either side of Kenny blink wildly, flustered under Rio’s full attention, and Beth steps closer to stand behind him.

“Rio - -”

“Nuh, man, we had an agreement – only thirty kids – there’s more than thirty here, only the beer I get you, there’s more than that here too, and no drugs around your kid siblings or your mom, so.”

Beth blinks wildly, staring at the back of Rio’s head, because what agreement? But then her gaze finds Kenny’s – who’s staring, mortified between Rio and her, his mouth open, before finally settling on Beth.

“Mom - -“ he starts, and yeah, that’s not gonna happen. Beth folds her arms over her chest, pushing out a hip.

“Don’t know why you’re looking at me,” she says. “I wasn’t even invited.”

Somewhere behind her she hears Annie yell BOOM! And Sadie laugh while groaning mom, and Beth stands up a little straighter, thrusting out her jaw when Kenny finally scowls. He opens his mouth, but Rio must give him a look because suddenly Kenny’s storming past them, back into the house, a gangly, teenage thundercloud amidst the silent storm of his friends, and Beth reaches out, squeezing Rio’s shoulder.

It’s quick then, loud – Annie leaping up behind them, cupping her hands to her mouth and yelling:

“You heard the man, move out! Moooove out!”

There’s a chorus of groans, but the kids all start to pack themselves up, and it’s not long before their front yard is packed with fifteen-year-olds texting their parents for pick up and - - well, it’s almost midnight at this point anyway, so she doesn’t feel too badly.

She sits on the front step of the house with a big glass of bourbon, watching the crowd and next year she thinks maybe they’ll hire somewhere. Somewhere with security, she thinks dreamily, and other people to clean up. Somewhere maybe her and Rio can leave them. She bets Demon would know a place. Probably Annie too.

She’s still thinking about it when she feels a weight press against her back, and she glances up, surprised to see Danny hanging over her.  

“What are you doing up?” she asks, and Danny shrugs, moving to flop down beside her on the step.

“I don’t like these parties,” he tells her authoritatively. “There’s too many people and you can’t even hear anyone and everyone pretends beer makes them fun when it makes them boring.”

Blinking, surprised, Beth hums, pleased. She runs a hand back through his blond hair, pulling him against her side, inhaling deeply. He smells like soap and sleep and boy, and god, he’s older than Emma, but it doesn’t always feel like it.

“Yeah,” she says softly, eyeing off the crowd again. “I’m going to remind you you said that when you turn thirteen next year, and every year after that too, you know that, right?”

Danny blinks up at her, his blue eyes wide, and Beth grins, pressing a kiss to his temple. Still, he sits with her as they watch the kids disappear from their front lawn, the faint sounds of Annie, Ruby, Rio and even Dean helping tidy up inside, broken up only when Annie finds one of the abandoned joints and says, “Blergh, this weed is awful,” at the top of her lungs.

 *

 She’s still tucking Danny back into bed when Rio appears in the doorway, leaning there like he too often does, just watching her. Danny’s probably too old for this really, but he seems to still like it at least, these quiet moments with her, or perhaps he knows she maybe needed this tonight, needed to put one of her kids to bed like they were still small, and it’s too easy to reach out, cup his jaw as he yawns, blinking sleepily up at her.

“’Night, honey,” she whispers, and he mumbles something like ‘night, mom back, and Beth kisses his forehead, steals out of the room, taking Rio’s hand as she goes.

“Everyone’s - - ”

“Gone home,” he finishes. “House mostly back together, enough you and me ain’t gonna want to set the place on fire tomorrow. ‘m savin’ the yard for Kenny though.”

Which - -

“Good,” Beth says finitely. “I can’t believe him. He just - - didn’t care.”

“Didn’t think,” Rio corrects, and when she looks back at him, he shrugs.

“Fifteen, ma. He’s got a lotta fuck ups left in him. That’s okay. We catch him and we check him.”

With a sigh, Beth nods, rubbing a little at her bleary eyes. She’s still annoyed at Kenny – at him uninviting them and still, somehow, expecting so much – the beer and the food and the - -

She squints.

“You had an agreement?”

Rio hums, tilts his head.

“You wanna fight about that now or in the mornin’?”

Staring at him, she thinks it over, any real anger in her blanketed by exhaustion, and so she shakes her head, waves a hand at him and says:

“In the morning.”

Making a sound of agreement, he starts walking them both back to their bedroom only when Beth slows her step, laughing, the thought suddenly having found her again.

“Be prepared for him to start asking you to take him to get a tattoo,” she says, and Rio pops an eyebrow.

“That allowed?” he asks her, and Beth gives him a look that just makes him laugh, pull her up just short of their bedroom, crowding her back against the wall.

“You did good tonight,” he tells her. “They’re lucky to have you.”

“You  too,” she mumbles, because it was good - - to not have to think about everything. To know he’d be there, to catch whatever she didn’t, to keep the kids happy and occupied when she couldn’t, to clean up when she was too tired to. She smiles, raising a hand to hook beneath his chin, pulling him in to kiss her, and Rio does happily - - more than happily, sinking his hips instantly against hers, pushing her flush into the wall, and god, just - - the weight of him against her, it still just does things to her.

“It’s later,” he purrs against her mouth, and Beth grins, nipping at his lip, running her hands down his back to grab his (non-existent) ass.

“You know what?” she hums. “I think it is.”

He grins, squeezing her breast like he’d done in the bedroom at the start of the night, and Beth giggles, yanking them back into it, walking them backwards, blindly in the dark towards their bed, tumbling down onto it, his mouth on her neck, only to hit - -

Another body?

Another, yelping body?

Beth gasps, and Rio springs forwards, tense, ready for a fight, only to throw the light on, and oh god, Beth thinks, flushing pink to the roots of her hair.

“Mason! Honey, I am so sorry, I completely forgot you were in here.”

That she’d put him in here, Beth thinks, mortified, after her and Ruby had mopped him up and moved him to sleep it off in Beth and Rio’s bed.

“Uhhhhh,” he squeaks, eyes wild, and Beth flounders.

“Let me - -“

“I might call my mom?”

Behind her Rio nods sharply, and Mason nods adamantly, moving tenderly, but quickly as he darts down the stairs, and god, Beth thinks, groaning covering her face. She feels it before she sees it, Rio’s hands dropping to the front of her dress, and she glares at him, about to bat his hands away when she glances down and sees that he’s fixing it, and - -  

“Oh my god, did he see my - -”

Rio kisses her quickly.

“Don’t overthink it,” he says against her lips, and Beth groans, louder this time, letting Rio deepen the kiss, but not for long. In a few minutes, she’ll need to go apologise to Mason. In a few minutes, she’ll offer to drive him home, and then she’ll do it, making awkward conversation the whole way and pretending Mason isn’t staring at her like she’s - - well. Like he’s seen her at second base with her - -

With her Rio.

It’ll be an hour before she’s home, an hour before she gets back in bed, and Rio will be asleep, and soon so will Beth. In the morning she’ll argue with Kenny, but he’ll clean the yard, make promises she knows he won’t keep, and she’ll tell Rio maybe growing up is good – because shipping Kenny off to college sounds really good right now, and Rio will lower his voice, laughing, and purr to her all the things they can do once all the kids are out of there, and for the first time maybe the idea sounds like something that could be full instead of empty.

But that’s later.

Right now, Beth digs her nails into the base of his skull and kisses him properly.

#beth x rio #beth boland #rio #annie marks #ruby hill #stan hill #nancy #annie x nancy #dean boland #kenny boland #danny boland #emma boland #jane boland #marcus #ben marks #sara hill #harry hill #the center and circumference #my fic #this is SO long #and so silly haha #anyway #i hope you like it