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xetswan · 2 months

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Unknowing- Florida

(Alice x Reader x Jasper)

[One] [Two] [Three]

Warnings: a little spicy?

Learning to be a hybrid was... in less than two words; different. I don't use my werewolf ability at all.

But having that in me I can sense more than I ever have before. Hunting is something new as well. I can see better in the dark. The taste was more bearable- speaking of taste I can eat human food again too.

Now when I eat in front of Charlie it's not tasting like sand anymore. I can go out in the sun as well, I don't sparkle like the others.

I'm still immortal, I still need to drink blood to survive and not get thirsty. My abilities are enhanced. I can take energy from electronics now, and plant-life.

Getting back to school, everyone was curious about where I was, having to tell them I had to get surgery done in a different state. Angela was the most worried, and concerned. Jessica acted like she cared but we all know how she really felt.

Today, I decided to sit at lunch before Jasper and Alice joined me. "My fellow students. Cool, right? Wow, okay, right? We are the future. Anything is possible... if you just believe." Mike reads out loud as he is writing on what Jessica should say since she's valedictorian. "Nice." Angela mumbles, not really paying attention.

He rips the page from his notebook. "Blah, blah, blah... Perfect. And you got yourself a speech." He hands the page to her.

"No, this will be my speech when I want everyone to throw their diplomas at my head. So... Thank you." She crumpled the paper, tossing it at him.

"Ya gotta embrace the cliches, Jess." Mike tells her.

"They have the bread and butter of all valedictorians." Eric chimes in. "And that is why you are not valedictorian. And Jess doesn't need cliches. Her speech is gonna be epic." Angela hypes up her close friend.

"Epic? It'll change lives." Jessica grins, and after that Alice and Jasper abruptly appear, carrying food trays as if they're going to eat them.

They sit on either side of me. Jasper kissing my temple. "I decided to throw a party." Alice announces with a huge grin.

"After all, how many times are we gonna graduate high school?" Jasper asks in a teasing tone that only Bella, Edward, Alice and I are going to understand. Edward and I stifle a smile.

"A party? At your place?" Angela questions. "I've never seen your house." Jessica says. I lean my head onto Jasper's shoulder. "No one's ever seen their house." Eric points out.

"I have." I raise my hand a little bit, Eric and Jessica give me a look and I chuckle. "Another party, Alice?" Edward looks at her.

"It'll be fun." She assures them.

"Yeah, that's what you said last time." Bella comments, I give her a dirty expression, reaching over to smack her arm. She says ow and I quietly give her a "what the fuck is wrong with you?" before looking back at my girlfriend who is currently freezing, having a vision. Luckily no one is noticing.

"Well cool, that's really uh... normal of you. What time?" She doesn't answer. "Dress code?" Still nothing from her. "Bring anything? Cheetos?"

I shake her shoulder a little bit, "Wake up, Alice." Edward speaks up. "She hasn't been getting much sleep lately, senior jitters." Jasper covers for her, which I'm proud of him for talking more to everyone.

Getting his thirst under control.

Alice wakes from her vision. She gives me a worried expression.

"Oh, babe, can you come with me to your car? I left something." I ask her with a sweet smile. She looks taken back but us three get up and leave the table. I glance back to Edward who gives me a small nod.

"What did you see?" I questioned her as we walked out of the doors of the school. "I- You can't tell Bella. Edward doesn't want her to know." She starts, I nod my head. Edward's been protecting her. It's been a little extreme but Bella's stubborn so I appreciate him for it. "Okay." I motion for her to continue.

"Before I do, babe is new." She mentions what I said earlier. I shrug, holding back a smile. "It kind of just left my mouth. It was too late to go back on it." I mutter. I then hear a dean start walking to the doors, cutting her off before she can say anything else. "Let's go to the car." I tell them, we hurriedly head over to the car before anyone sees.

"It was brief, it has something to do with Victoria and newborn vampires." She says, holding her head as she remembers everything. I let out a breath, I wasn't scared about Victoria anymore.

This might come across as cocky but I have every right to be. "This weekend, she's going to try something. Do you think you would be alright going to Florida with your sister and Edward?" Alice looks up at me, something that I could never get used to.

Another thing that's changed in my transformation is my height. Being 5'8 now, closer to Jasper. Also having a muscular build.

"If it's to protect my sister, of course." I cross my arms, glancing down at her then to Jasper who's smiling at me. "What?" I furrow my brows.

"Nothing." He chuckles, the bell rings and I let out a sigh. "You think Edward will let me take his ability for this test?" I jokingly ask them as we go back inside the school.

"He might if you coerce him." Alice laughs, holding on to my arm. My next class is with him so I actually could if I wanted to. "Might lecture you about it." Jasper disagrees, I press my lips together.

"Shall we see?" I smirk, we stop in front of my class. "We'll see you after class, Darling." Jasper playfully rolls his eyes, both of them waving as they walk to their own class.

I enter the class, noticing Edward already staring at me. I grin, going over to the table we sit next to each other at.

"No." Is the first thing he says. "What?" I act as if I don't know what he means. "You're not taking my ability."

"What do you mean?" I raise a brow, acting confused. "Don't play dumb." He scoffs, but I can tell he finds it amusing.

"I don't know why you're so accusatory. I would never want to use your ability so I could cheat on this test and get an A." I put my hands up defensively, getting out a pencil for the test.

"You're so subtle." He says, then as the class begins the teacher has a student pass out the papers. Edward puts his hand in front of me, tapping the table three times.

A smile grows on my face. The tapping means he's letting me use his energy. He used to do it before I had to go through the transformation. No one knew because everyone thought I was getting better.

He obviously knew I didn't want to worry anyone. Edward's the reason I didn't have to go through it sooner than I wanted.

Two papers are placed on our table, I give one to him.

"So, what was that at school? What did Alice see?" Bella questions Edward and I as we enter the Sheriff's station. "Nothing. Something about Jasper. It was innocuous." Edward lies, my sister glances up at me. I nod, agreeing with her boyfriend.

"I know you know what she saw. Tell me." She demands from him. "It was nothing." He continues.

"You looked worried." Bella points out. "Just that everyone would notice how strange Alice is." He comes up with a cover up. "I think that ship sailed long ago." I cleared my throat, shaking my head at her.

We all look at Charlie who subtly gestures for us to keep our distance. "I wonder what's wrong." Edward says.

"There's someone missing in Seattle, over a year ago. Charlie is doing what he can, but... Do you know something about this?" Bella quizzes suddenly.

"We've been tracking the situation in Seattle for a while. Unexplained disappearances, killings... If the situation gets more conspicuous, the Volturi will step in." Edward explains, I cross my arms, remembering them asking me if I could use Alice's ability to see more.

Using the other's abilities with my situation, we've learned I can experience more enhanced usages. I can barely get anything though.

"If they go to Seattle, they can come here. They can see I'm still human." Bella worriedly expresses. "We won't get that far. But we'll go to Seattle if we have to." He reassures her concern.

"I'll fax these down first thing." I hear Charlie say.

"Thank you." The older couple walks off, he then approaches us.

"Hey you two." He does a short wave.

"Hey." We say almost in unison. "Are you guys ready for dinner?" He asks, I nod my head as Bella verbally answers him. He puts a picture into his case. I take a peak seeing the name and face; Riley.

As we stand there I feel the tension between Edward and Charlie. "It is still just us three, right?" He questions.

"Yeah, I'm just dropping them off. See you later." He gently passes my sister, but before he gets far he stops. "Oh... Bella. My parents wanted to remind you about the... Airline tickets you got for your birthday." Edward refreshes her memory.

"What airline tickets?" Dad asks. "A round trip ticket to see Mom in Florida." She says.

"Wow, that was generous."

"And it expires soon, they say you might wanna use it this weekend." Edward mentions, eyeing me quickly, not even able to be catched by Bella and Charlie. "Well, I can't just drop everything and go."

"It might be your last chance to see her before you graduate." I can tell that sentence hits Bella a certain way. "Well. It might not be a bad idea. Get you both out of the town for a couple days, get some distance." The last part was directed to Edward.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing mom... As long as you use the companion ticket." Bella then turns to her boyfriend, I suck at my bottom lip trying my best not to laugh at our dad's facial expression.

"Wait, three tickets? Super, that makes me really happy." The sarcasm in his voice almost made me lose it.

Before leaving for Florida Alice and Jasper took me out for a date. Kind of? We went to our usual spot in the woods, sitting on a blanket. "What's all this for?" I question, sitting between them as usual.

"Just wanted to make you feel special before you left." Alice smiles, kissing my lips catching me off guard. "Mm, alright." I lay my head back on the boulder behind us.

"I feel like this is to talk about something serious." I call them out.

"It really isn't, love." Jasper lays a hand on my thigh. "We just want to spend time with you, it feels like it's been a while since we've been able to really be alone." Alice chimes in. Then I lifted my head, her tone of voice felt different.

"Mm, yeah?" I hum out, realizing how close they really are now.

"Tonight is gonna be all about you, Darling." Jasper takes my hand, sliding it into his as he then kisses it softly.

Alice comes closer to my face, I lift my free hand to the back of her head and roughly smash my lips upon hers. I feel Jasper's lips lead up to my neck.

I feel my face warm up intensely. I feel Alice bite my bottom lip and I let out a low growl in response, laughing at her antics.

Jasper was still attacking my neck as Alice and I were making out.

It's been a while since we've gotten to do anything. All the drama of our weird lives we live.

I'm not going to give too many details of the night.. Just know the sun was out when it was over.

"Aren't you two going to miss this? Don't you just feel the vitamin D soaking up in your pores?" Renee questions us, we both told her our plans after graduation.

She thinks that Bella's going to the University of Alaska. And I'm going with Jasper and Alice to the country of Europe to travel mine's not exactly a lie though. Right now we sit in the sun, lying in lounge chairs that are pushed tightly together.

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss this." Bella admits. "I was never one for the sun." I comment, our mom sighs out a small snicker. "I remember." She smacks my knee in a playful manner.

"You know, colleges in Florida are a lot sunnier. I'm just saying Bella, if you go to the University of Alaska... I'm never gonna see you." Renee frowns, attempting to change my sister's mind about the Alaska thing.

Renee is excited about my traveling, I told her she could join every now and then when we first got here. She takes our moms hand. "They have a really great science program."

"You mean Edward program." She nudges Bella who smiles, looking inside the house. Edward was sitting in a chair with a view of Bella, offering a small wave to her then continuing back to a conversation with Phil who was lying on the couch.

"The way he watches you... It's like he's willing to leap in front of you and take a bullet or something. Have you noticed that [Name]?" She points out to Bella and then looks at me. I just shrug my shoulders in response. "Is that a bad thing?"

"It's an intense thing. You're different with him. If he moves, you move. Like magnets." Renee tells Bella, not upset about it."I don't know, we're just... In love." Bella doesn't exactly know what to say.

"I get it. I just want to make sure you're making the right choices for you. You know, cause you're the one who's gonna have to live with them." She's being a mom which is understandable, if only she knew what the both of us really have to deal with. Bella takes the information in though.

Our mom notices her in her own head so she changes the subject. "Alright, enough with the heavy." She reaches under her chair and pulls up two large boxes.

"Mom." Bella starts. Renee places one on both our laps. "Congratulations, my girls." She clasps her hands together. "I didn't want you to spend your money." Bella frowns.

"I didn't, come on." She rushes us. "Thank you, mom." I smile at her. "Open it before you thank me." She motions for me to get to it. We open the box to find quilts, we unfold it and see what they're made of.

"Are these all our old trip T-shirts?" Bella grins, shocked by our gift. "I saved them all. I thought they'd make a good quilt. To keep you warm in Alaska. And you warm wherever you travel if needed." She tells us both. "Remember this one? Ensenada." She points to one of the shirts on Bella's quilt that's in a different place on mine. "The snake pit." Bella nods.

"Yep. But this one is my favorite. Here..." She points to the one on mine. "The three-headed lobster in Maine." I comment. "This is amazing." Bella hypes up the gift.

"No, honey. I'm glad you both like it. I just figured, you know, when you two get older, have kids. We can add to it. Maybe go visit... the world's largest catsup bottle or something." She explains the gift. Both of us go quiet. She wraps us both in the quilts. "Oh... I'm glad you like it." She smiled sweetly. Bella hugs Renee tightly.

My chest tightens, knowing this could be Bella's last time, Bella waves to me to join so I place the Quilt down and join in the hug. I feel my mom's arm squeeze my back to bring me closer.

"I just thought, you should have a little piece of me, up there in Alaska, and wherever your heart desires, [Name]." She says, I back away from the hug.

"Mom." Bella begins. "Yeah."

"I miss you." She says truthfully. "Oh, honey. I miss you, too." I could tell she was surprised from Bella's emotional state but continued to hug her.

I call Alice and Jasper every like three hours to check in with everything.

I could tell Bella was getting nosey so when I did it I went to the ocean to have a walk or outside where Bella couldn't hear what I was saying.

Everyone, including the wolves, are chasing after Victoria now.

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deanmarywinchester · 4 months

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previous years: 2022, 2021 / list of worst sf/f/horror

the bangers were BANGING this year, I kept mentally readjusting my top 5 list every time I read something good so the honorable mentions are extremely honorable this year. I hope you read anything that sounds good from this list and tell me about it!

top 5:

chain gang all stars by nana kwame adjei-brenyah: when I say that this book is like the hunger games for adults, I’m not making a glib comparison between two books about fighting to the death, I’m saying that I haven’t felt so intensely about a book since I stayed up late to tear through the hunger games and sob about it when I was thirteen. this book is satire as real and devastating as I’ve ever read, with action scenes that feel like they’re being dripped directly into my hindbrain and a unique and believable love story. put it on hold at your library literally RIGHT now.

the actual star by monica byrne: about a post-climate catastrophe utopian society built around a religion started by a teenage girl in 2012 based on mayan traditions, and also about the teenage girl, and also about the maya. this book made me crazy because the future society felt real enough to touch, with its radical openness and collectivity solving problems that exist today but causing new ones that are totally novel and meaty and interesting to dig into. read it if you’re interested in different ways of being.

the spear cuts through water by simon jiménez: really, REALLY good, fresh, original epic fantasy. jimenez picks a few perspectives to stick to but hops fluidly into bystanders’ brains to give you their perspectives, so even background characters feel fleshed-out and no one’s pain is dismissed as a side effect of heroic battles or whatever. highly recommended if you like framing narratives and stories about stories, and like epic fantasy but wish it wasn’t mostly about finding acceptable enemies to slaughter with cool swords

the dispossessed by ursula k. le guin: I love how much this book is about hope as clear-eyed commitment to the boring and difficult work of a brighter and necessary future. sometimes the work of the glorious anarcho-communist revolution is leaving your university post and romantic partner for months at a time to dig irrigation ditches so nobody starves when there’s a drought. read this book for diplomatic conniving, a clash of values between a capitalist planet and its dissident moon, and hope.

imperial radch trilogy and its spinoffs by ann leckie: what if you were built to be a weapon of the empire, a serene sentient battleship with thousands of human bodies all containing your consciousness, and you lost all bodies but one and had to figure out how to be a person, singular and alone? what if you were a 19th century british military officer and you slept for a thousand years into the decline of the empire? what if you were grown in a vat to be a facsimile of human and then told off for eating all your siblings even though eating them was SO interesting? what then. leckie’s prose is incisive and funny, her unreliable narrators are wonderful, and her stories are intimate even though the backdrops are insanely huge. 👍.

honorable mentions:

house of leaves by mark z. danielewski: guys? anyone hearda this one? anyway. Something Is Wrong With This House horror with themes of storytelling and grief. recommending that you slam this book as fast as possible like I did so you can hold all its layers in your head at once.

the lathe of heaven by ursula k le guin: i thought I didn’t like ursula k le guin, and then I read this book, went OH and immediately devoured the hainish cycle. im so sorry miss ursula. this book about a hapless pacific northwesterner whose therapist is making him dream different realities into being is so sharp and sly and funny. themes of choices, ends and means.

he who drowned the world by shelley parker-chan: I liked the prequel to this addition to the radiant emperor duology. I LOVED this book. parker-chan has invented new and exciting modes of fucked-up codependency and im obsessed. historical light-fantasy with themes of ideals vs what it takes to reach them, gender, and regret.

babel by r. f. kuang: found the didacticism of this book annoying, but i really loved the concept of this novel and the way it slowly ratchets up the stakes. this novel is for people who want to smash the fun of the magic school genre against the reality of universities’ complicity in the imperial machine.

piranesi by susannah clarke: im late to this book but it’s such a weird little gem. peaceful yet unsettling. a man takes care of an endless house with an ocean inside it until he realizes the house is stealing his memories. themes of memory and devotion.

hell follows with us by andrew joseph white: I can only read YA these days if it’s a reread or if it’s genuinely good and really really strange. this is that. weird gory fantasy about a trans teen who escapes his militarized post-apocalyptic christian cult and finds himself turning into something Different. my only gripe is that he uses 2023-perfect language to describe transness and I think he should be inventing genders weve never even thought of. such is YA.

some desperate glory by emily tesch: a rolickin’ good space opera time with terrible women <3. a thriller about how the golden child of her isolated human-supremacist space station cult deprograms and the consequences of it. this feels like a grown-up SPOP until the theoretical physics gets involved. big fan

the library of mount char by scott hawkins: this book is harrow the ninth in suburbia until it becomes a more macabre version of the absurdity of the gomens apocalypse. God raises his children, sometimes brutally, to hone their powers in a neighborhood that mysteriously keeps out outsiders. came for the dysfunctional mess of the god-children and now I can never look at a grill the same way

runners up:

bunny by mona awad: books that make you WISH you were in mona awad’s MFA program where she must have been having a terrible time. the weird one out in an MFA program accepts overtures into the unbearable rich-girls’ clique to find out what they’re Up To. themes of aimlessness and the intersection of class with the art world

camp damascus by chuck tingle: have you ever wished that you were simply too autistic to be successfully demonically brainwashed into not having gay thoughts? horror-flavored thriller that was just fun

light from uncommon stars by ryka aoki: this author put a bunch of genres in a blender and came up with something fun and surprisingly cozy. an immortal woman must sell violinists’ souls to the devil in exchange for their fame, or he’ll drag her to damnation instead. there might be aliens and coffeeshop romance involved. definitely a blender.

the fragile threads of power by v. e. schwab: if you haven’t read a darker shade of magic and you like tightly paced high fantasy and historical fantasy elements, political intrigue, and pirates, read that first. if you have, there’s more now! lila bard are you free on thursday when I am free

the library of the dead & our lady of mysterious ailments by t. l. huchu: a teenage girl provides for her family in soft-apocalypse magic edinburgh with a job carrying messages from ghosts to their living relatives. an ongoing mystery series about the intrigues she uncovers among the dead.

severance by ling ma: this books is on the list of media that is the terror to me: it's about an apocalyptic disease that makes people reenact their routines mindlessly until they collapse. intimate apocalypse novel with themes of late capitalist malaise.

ocean’s echo by everina maxwell: i didn't really like winter's orbit because i'm just not a romance guy, but this second novel stands alone and the romance is more insane and less of the entire point of the novel. (also it's between essentially Discworld's Carrot and Moist Von Lipwig, which is. really something.) in the Space Military, a buttoned-up mind controller must pretend to bend a socialite with illegal mind-reading powers to his will. what if fake relationship but the relationship they have to fake is "brain linked master/servant pair."

the murderbot diaries by martha wells: novellas about a misanthropic security android who jailbroke itself in order to watch tv. the name "murderbot" is a joke but it very much did kill people <3 themes of paranoia and outsiderhood, corporate wrongdoing, repentance, and trust

black water sister by zen cho: zen cho is good at any kind of fantasy she writes, including this, her first modern fantasy novel. a closeted lesbian has to move in with her family in malaysia after college in the US, only to discover that her dead grandmother has some unfinished business involving a local goddess and a conniving real estate developer. themes of family, gender, and place.

the way inn by will wiles: a man who’s paid to pretend he’s other people to attend conferences in their place gets trapped in an endless Marriott. has the sharp humor of a colson whitehead corporate satire until it becomes more straightforwardly horror-flavored.

#yearly book roundup #reading tag #my posts #it was a good year for my like. ideological and political development and im so serious that some of these books helped almost as much as #the nonfiction i read #reading about totally different and new ways of structuring society and morality are an antidote against knee-jerk reactionary thinking #like. 'life doesnt work like that' okay but what if we could make life work like that? what would it take? why does life work like THIS now #you know. anyway stream the dispossessed and the actual star especially

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helloalycia · 3 months

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𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐃𝐋𝐘 𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐒 [𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄] — 𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐂𝐈𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐍𝐀𝐌-𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐘

one / two / four / five / masterlist / wattpad

summary: it's four years into your relationship with Alycia but you're still not on the best terms with her parents, so you're forced to spend a week at their mansion and grow closer. Of course, it's not so easy when her dad hates you.

warning/s: none.

author's note: here’s part three, hope someone reading likes it haha. also i’m trying out a new layout for my imagines with hopes it’ll speed up putting it together on tumblr (as i copy it over from wattpad and have to format it which is annoying lol) - feel free to let me know what you think or if you prefer the old layout! :)

Four years later...

"I'm still not too sure about this, Alycia."

Alycia looked at me and raised an eyebrow playfully. Her blue-green eyes were practically bursting with amusement, and she obviously found my discomfort hilarious, as usual.

"For the millionth time," she said, and she wasn't exaggerating, "it will be okay! They know we've been together for a few years now, and they know that you mean a lot to me, so stop panicking!"

As always, I nodded and released a breath I was unaware I was holding. Despite having met Alycia's family a few times before, I was still nervous because this time was different. It wasn't a meal at night and then say goodbye, it was staying for a week and getting to know them better. Sounds easy, right?

Wrong.

Not only were her parents insanely intimidating, but they were also loaded with millions of dollars, and they didn't seem to like me very much.

"Miss Debnam-Carey, we have arrived," the driver from the front of the car informed Alycia.

Yeah, a driver. Her parents sent for someone in a car (that probably cost more than all of my belongings put together) to pick Alycia and I up. All through the journey, I had been freaking out internally and failing to hide it on the outside.

"You ready?"

It took me a moment to realise that Alycia was talking to me. I looked to her, and the humour that was painted on her face throughout the whole journey was gone and replaced with reassurance.

"As ready as one can be when they are about to epically embarrass themselves in front of their loved one's parents."

Her adorable giggle echoed in the backseat of the car as the vehicle came to a halt. "I got you, Y/N. Don't worry."

The door to my right was opened by the driver, who had stepped out of the car without me noticing. I took a deep breath before stepping out of the vehicle. Only for my jaw to drop. Their house was beautiful.

Or should I say mansion.

The whatever-it-was was huge, spreading across a large amount of land. Only in front of me I could see a white, stone-carved fountain that was spouting crystal blue water, which was obviously artificially enhanced but beautiful nonetheless. Around the fountain was a cobbled pathway that led to the front door and around the driveway. Surrounding the mansion was acre after acre of empty land, being used for various rich-people activities.

If this was what the front of the grand house looked like, how did the rest look?

I felt someone's hand push my jaw close and I looked to my left to see that humoured grin on Alycia's beautiful face again. "Don't want to catch flies now, do we?"

I rolled my eyes but smiled, already feeling better knowing that she was still the same old Alycia I had fallen in love with. Despite the millions her parents owned.

"Come on," she said with a smile, lacing her fingers through mine and tugging me to her side a little. "I'll show you around."

—

"And that's the golf course," she finished, releasing my hand and looking to me with a bright smile. "What do you think?"

Alycia had shown me around the whole of her home and it was pretty hard for me to stay sane when her mansion of a home was freakin' beautiful. The amount of facilities that she had was unbelievable and it only made me realise how much harder this visit would be.

"It's amazing, Alycia," I responded, smiling weakly. "This is going to be an awesome week."

She smiled at my response, but when she saw the worry in my eyes, her smile faded away and she grabbed my hand once again. "Y/N, what did I tell you about worrying?"

"To only do it when I'm worrying about whether there's a ghost living in our flat?"

She sighed and cracked a smile, knowing humour was my defence mechanism to hide my feelings. "I never said that."

I scoffed. "I mean, have you seen the way our doors keep swinging close without anyone touching them?"

"Y/N–"

"Like, seriously. I'll literally be on the other side of the room and bang! The door shuts–"

"Y/N–"

"–and I'll spend the whole day wondering if somebody previously died in that place or if I'm just losing my mind–"

I got cut off when I felt a soft pair of lips press against mine. It was only short, but boy was it amazing. Alycia pulled away and laughed at my expression, which probably resembled a younger me getting my first kiss off Alycia a few years ago.

"You really need to quit babbling sometimes," she said, knowingly, patting my cheek with her hand.

"Sorry," I mumbled, taking her hand and kissing it gently. "I'm just being stupid. I promise I'll act normal now."

She shrugged and grabbed my hand, leading me back to the house. "If you say so, but you can't act like something you aren't."

It took me a few seconds to realise what she'd said since it was said so casually, but when I did, I gasped and looked at her, feigning offence.

"I'm kidding," she said in between laughter. "Sort of."

I waved my hand dismissively. "Oh, okay. That's fine. I guess I'll be sort of kidding when I tickle you!"

"Y/N, don't," she warned me, losing her amusement, and when I took a step forward, she backed up. Green eyes fixed on mine and she repeated, "Don't."

I quirked a brow, resisting the urge to smile. "Don't what, darling?"

It was silent between us, her not moving a muscle as she waited for me to dare make a move. All it took was for me to step forward and she yelped before running away.

"Alycia!" I shouted, chasing after her, but damn she was fast.

She kept looking back every so often to make sure I was far enough from her, so I ran that extra bit faster, closing in on her until we finally reached the house. Running inside, she was out of sight and I immediately slowed down upon entering the main atrium.

Too uncomfortable to be alone in someone else's house, let alone a rich person's house, I forgot what I was doing and tried to swallow down my nerves.

"Alycia!" I whisper-shouted, eyes scanning the space to try and find her. "Where are you?" The uneasiness settled in when there was no sign of her. "Alycia!"

Just when I was about to give up and ring her, I felt someone jump on my back and I automatically caught their legs, holding them upright instinctively.

"Hey, loser," Alycia's voice said into my ear, sending uncontrollable shivers down my neck. She leaned down further and kissed me on my cheek.

I craned my neck so that I could see her face, only to see that annoyingly attractive smirk on her lips all over again. "You're actually so annoying. Why am I even with you?"

She laughed it off. "'Cause you love me, duh!"

"Sure I do," I mumbled, before looking around.

She had shown me around earlier, so I remembered seeing a couch to the side which gave me an idea.

"Giddy up, horsie!" Alycia shouted, whilst patting me on the back simultaneously.

I smirked and walked forward, towards the couch. "I'll show you just how much I love you, Alycia."

She didn't respond, but I could sense her confusion. I headed towards the couch and turned around so that my back was facing it. She eventually realised what I was going to do and tried to jump off me, but I sat down before she could escape.

"Get off!" she ordered, trying to escape from my weight of a body that was currently crushing her and preventing her from standing up.

I purposely pressed myself down on her even more and laughed at her helpless struggling. "I just love you so much, Alycia. I can't help but be close to you!”

Her body was shuffling about beneath me and I could hear her whimpers as she tried to shove me off, but she wasn't strong enough. I thought she would give up, but instead, she began to use her hands, ruffling my hair and slapping my face with them.

"Not–" slap, "so–" slap, "funny–" slap, "now–" slap, "–is it?" she asked between laughter, making me squeeze my eyes close as she slapped me wherever she could.

Even without turning around, I could already imagine the obnoxious smirk adorning her lips.

I stood back up to get away from her, but she clung onto me from behind and began to slap my face again. I tried running away from her, but she wouldn't let go, her arms and legs clinging to me like a koala.

"Alycia! Let–" I tried prying her off me, but it wasn't working. "–go!"

"Then say–" she smacked my forehead, "–you love me!"

We were both as stubborn as each other, so the next minute consisted of Alycia smacking me and clinging to me, and myself trying to pry her off but failing miserably. We were so caught up in annoying each other that we didn't even realise we had an audience.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat on purpose.

Alycia and I paused and turned to the left, only to see Mr and Mrs Debnam-Carey standing there with raised eyebrows. I looked back to Alycia and saw her mid-smacking my face, and I didn't look any better as I attempted to throw her off me. Oh, God.

"This looks a lot worse than it is." I laughed awkwardly, letting Alycia down off my back gently.

"Mum, dad!" Alycia yelled happily, immediately running to both of her parents and embracing them in a tight, loving hug.

They returned the hug, but their eyes were studying me up and down over her shoulder, and I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable under their gaze. Talk about bad timing.

"You guys know Y/N," Alycia introduced as she motioned to me.

I stepped forward and Alycia grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently for reassurance. She sent a hopeful smile my way and I felt the majority of my nerves die down. Her smile always made me feel ten times better; she had a certain power to make me feel good, and I loved her for it.

"Lovely to meet you both again," I greeted her parents, smiling nervously. I put my right hand out and they both shook it.

"You, too, Y/N," her mum responded, smiling a little. "We're glad you could join us for the week. It'll be good to be able to get to know each other properly."

I nodded in agreement. The reason I'd been with Alycia for so long and not gotten to know her parents as much is because it took her a long time to feel comfortable enough to introduce me, and when she did, I got the vibe that her parents didn't like me as much. It had been really difficult to 'befriend' them, if you will, which is why they invited me over for the week.

"Has Alycia shown you around the house?" her dad asked, seeming as if he were ready to snap his fingers and have someone give me a full-blown tour. Which to be honest, he probably could.

I nodded again. "Uh, yeah. You both have a lovely home by the way."

They smiled kindly and nodded their heads as a thank you. I internally relaxed, glad that I'd said the right thing. So far, so good.

"I'm sure Alycia can show you where you're both staying," her mum explained. "You can freshen up and then you'll be joining us for dinner tonight. We're having lamb. Sound good?"

"Yeah," I said with a nod, before smiling. "Thanks."

They smiled my way before leaving the main atrium. When they left, I let out a deep breath that I wasn't even aware I was holding.

"You looked like you were about to combust into thin air," Alycia noted aloud, an amused smile on her lips. "You okay?"

I flashed her a small smile. "Perfect."

—

Dinner rolled around quickly enough, too quick for my liking. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Alycia and I unpacking and messing about in our room, which was huge by the way. It was beautiful, though, especially with its balcony that overlooked one of the many grounds that the Debnam-Careys owned.

"So Y/N," Alycia's mother began after we had all dug into our meals and awkward small talk was made. "What have you been up to lately? You're doing a teaching degree at university, right?"

I was surprised to know that she actually remembered from our last chat which was a pretty long time ago, but nodded nonetheless.

"Uh, yeah. It's going well. It's kept me pretty busy, but I know I'll achieve something at the end of it, so I don't mind."

"Not too busy to keep Alycia happy, though, right?" her dad teased playfully, though I could tell that he genuinely wanted to know. I always got this vibe that he didn't like me as much, at least compared to her mum.

His comment caused Alycia to flush with embarrassment and sink lower into her seat to avoid being seen, though it made no difference.

I chuckled and glanced at Alycia, lacing our fingers together underneath the table. "Alycia's happiness will always be my top priority," I spoke with sincerity, smiling at the embarrassed Australian beside me.

Neither of her parents responded, but when I looked back at them, her mum was smiling as she looked between us. I wish I could say the same for her dad, but he was studying me like a battle plan, detecting whether I would make the right or wrong move in the future. And so returned my nerves...

"How is your company doing?" I asked them both, hoping to make good conversation and not say anything wrong. "I heard its picked up quite a bit recently. There was that new TV advertisement, right?"

The Debnam-Careys were rich because of their world-renowned summer camps, ironically where Alycia and I first met and she tried to pretend it was her aunt who owned it. It was their number one achievement, I had learnt, and sometimes I was sure that they were more proud of that than they were of Alycia, but I never said anything because it wasn't any of my business.

Alycia's mum finished chewing her food and nodded her head, saying, "It's definitely getting more popular. The advert helped, yes."

I nodded and tried to think of something else to ask or say, but I didn't know what. And all whilst I was trying to think, a good two minutes had passed, it being full of an awkward, uncomfortable silence. And this is exactly what I was dreading.

The whole meal was filled with random small conversations that soon ended with silences, and it was the most uncomfortable thing I had ever had to endure. So, you can imagine how happy I was when it was over.

"They hate me," I repeated for the millionth time, all whilst pacing up and down in Alycia and I's bedroom. "I probably looked like some boring person who has no interests."

Alycia sighed from where she was sat at the edge of the bed, and ran her hands through her hair. "You always overthink things, Y/N. It wasn't as bad as you're making it out to be."

I paused and looked to her with a raised eyebrow. "Are you kidding me? The highlight of the evening was you dropping your fork under the table, only to drop my fork under the table too."

She chuckled and stood up, moving closer to me and taking my hands in hers. "I only did that so I could talk to you under the table."

"I know." I cracked a smile. "And I appreciate the mini pep talk you gave me."

She did that cute smile she does, where her nose scrunched up and her eyebrows furrowed together, and I felt the need to lean in and give her a small but tender kiss on the lips. It certainly took her by surprise, and when I pulled away, she smiled at me with confusion.

"What was that for?"

I moved a piece of hair from her eyes and smiled down at her. "I don't really tell you enough, but I appreciate you a lot."

She chuckled gently. "I love you too, you idiot."

I rolled my eyes playfully, not bothering to explain what I meant. Instead, I leaned in again and kissed her, appreciating the way she relaxed and began to kiss me back. I was certain I'd never get tired of her lips against mine.

—

"You're kidding me, right?"

Alycia laughed and shook her head. "Honestly, I'm not."

I raised both of my eyebrows at her, still not believing a word she was saying. "You've got to be joking! You're seriously telling me that you and your parents did this 'afternoon tea' every single day for three years?"

Alycia nodded and took a sip of her tea. "Between the ages of 9 to 11. They believed it was the key to developing my social skills." She bit her lip as she thought to herself, before adding, "Evidently that didn't work since I'm super awkward with people I don't know, but yeah."

I couldn't help but laugh at her seriousness. We'd been here two days and Alycia had invited me to 'afternoon tea' with her and her parents. Of course, they'd said they were going to be a little late, so Alycia and I got started as they'd wished.

Honestly? It was a little weird, but the little cakes were delicious and Alycia's table etiquette was a sight to see, so this was all worth it.

I wasn't really sure how Alycia's parents felt about me at the moment to be honest. It had only been two days and yet they still made no effort to show me what they were thinking. Alycia assured me that was just their personality, but I wasn't so sure...

"Oh, look, my parents are here," Alycia pointed out, her eyes on the door.

I followed her line of sight, looking to the door on the side of their house (mansion) that led outside where we were sat, overlooking one of their many well-kept gardens. She was right – her parents were here, but they weren't alone.

"Erm, who's that?" I asked, quietly, so only Alycia would hear me. There was a random man stood trailing behind her parents as they approached the table we were sat at.

Alycia was smiling on the outside as the two of us stood up, but I could see the confusion in her eyes. "Not gonna lie, Y/N. I have no idea."

I wasn't really liking where this was going, especially since Alycia was as clueless as I was, but nonetheless, I plastered a smile on my lips and watched as the three figures stopped by the table.

"Ah, girls, sorry we're late," her father apologised, and honestly, I'd never seen him look so happy in the whole time I'd met him. Something wasn't right. "I was waiting for Clayton."

At this comment, he patted the guy's – I guess, Clayton's – back, causing them both to chuckle. The guy was pretty tall, young, handsome, well-dressed... well, shit, I definitely wasn't liking where this was going.

"Sweetie, sorry we're late," Alycia's mum apologised to her, and when she looked my way, I felt like she was apologising to me too, but rather more for what was about to go down. Shit, shit, shit.

"It's fine," Alycia got out, keeping up her smile. She spared Clayton a glance before meeting her father's eyes. "I thought it was just us for tea, dad?"

Her father merely shrugged before motioning to Clayton. "Yes, but I bumped into Clayton here yesterday and thought he'd make a great addition to this event! You remember Clayton, right, sweetie?"

Alycia's forced smile was slowly being replaced with a look of confusion. Meanwhile, I was awkwardly rocking back and forth on my heels and trying not to think about what was happening.

"Charlie and Maggie's boy," her dad explained. "Remember?"

Alycia still seemed lost, and as each second passed, I was slowly losing my mind.

"We were in primary school together," Clayton spoke, a smile on his lips. "We had Miss Penny together?"

Alycia narrowed her eyes as she studied him, attempting to put two and two together. "Clayton... Clayton... wait, I think I– Clay? The kid who had that massive nosebleed in the school play?"

Clayton chuckled awkwardly, looking down to his shoes. "That was– yeah, that was me.

Alycia stifled a laugh as she nodded. "Wow, it's been a long time. I guess, how have you been?"

"Good! Good...," he said cheerfully. I wanted to fall asleep right now, that's how dry this conversation was. "I'm actually in the estate agency business now."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah..."

"Pretty big step up from primary school, eh?" I joked as I tried to make myself present, only to cringe internally at my choice to speak because literally everyone looked my way. The only person who didn't have daggers in her eyes, excluding Alycia, was Alycia's mother. She looked like she was amused, if anything.

"Erm, this is my girlfriend, Y/N Y/L/N," Alycia introduced me. "Y/N, this is–"

"Clayton from primary school, I got that," I cut her off, smiling dryly. Thankfully, nobody got offended, but Alycia did send me a confused stare.

"Girlfriend...?" Clayton seemed surprised, but he overcame that pretty quickly as he smiled in my direction. "Nice to meet you, (your name pronounced wrong)–"

"It's Y/N," I corrected him through gritted teeth and a fake smile.

"Right," he did the same. "Sorry."

There was an awkward, tension-filled silence in the air as Clayton checked out Alycia pretty obviously. I didn't bother hiding the glare I was sending him.

"So, shall we get started?" Alycia's dad asked rhetorically, clapping his hands together.

I clenched my jaw as I looked between them both. I didn't think I could stand sitting through a bloody afternoon tea with this guy. God help me.

—

"...and so I knew I had to buy the car off him," Clayton was telling another one of his boring stories as I sipped from my tea. "It holds too many good memories to simply let go of!"

Alycia's dad chuckled like he'd said the funniest thing in the world whilst Alycia and her mum smiled politely. I wanted to leave. I hated it here and it was very obviously why Alycia's dad had invited Clayton here in the first place. Clayton was just as I expected him to be – rich, boring and ogling my girlfriend – and there was nothing I could do except sit and put up with it.

All tea time, Alycia's dad was asking Clayton questions about his life, whilst trying to involve Alycia and engage them both in conversation. Not once had I been spoken to, unless you counted the few times Alycia tried to involve me with an apologetic look in her eyes. So, I hated it here. And I wanted to leave.

"I've actually bought the car with me if you want to see it," Clayton said to Alycia's dad. "It's parked out front. A wonder, really."

"Oh, how exciting!" he exclaimed, before looking to Alycia. "Why don't we go and take a look?"

Alycia quirked a brow, trying to remain polite. "As much as I'd love that, I'm actually a little tired. I think Y/N and I might go upstairs to relax a little."

Yes, yes, yes. We can leave!

"I'm sure Y/N won't mind if you meet her up there, right, Y/N?" her dad asked, looking to me, before saying to Alycia, "It'll only be a moment, darling, c'mon. Clayton is a guest. We can see him off also."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, but said, "It's fine, Alycia, I'll see you after. Your father is right. You should see off your guest.”

Even saying it aggravated me, but the sooner she went, the sooner Clayton would be gone and the sooner I wouldn't have to see him again.

"Very well," Alycia agreed reluctantly, before standing up. "Shall we?"

We all stood up and I was relieved when I walked in a different direction to them, instead going upstairs to our room to collapse on the bed and mentally switch off.

I'd love to say that that was the last I ever saw of Clayton, but it wasn't.

The next morning, when I thought I was going to eat breakfast with my girlfriend in peace, we came downstairs to find Clayton in the kitchen chatting with Alycia's parents. There was an assortment of muffins and pastries in a basket next to them and I instantly where this was going.

"Alycia, my dear, good morning!" her father said with a smile, stretching out his arm to hug her.

She was as confused as I looked, but hugged her father. "Morning, dad. What's all this?" Glancing at Clayton, she nodded. "Clay, hi."

"Clayton here thought he'd stop by to surprise us with breakfast," her dad explained. "Isn't that thoughtful?"

"Sure is...," Alycia agreed awkwardly.

"Your dad said chocolate croissants are your favourites, so there's a few in there for you," Clayton added with a smile, and the way he was staring at her was enough to make me want to throw up, but I simply stared daggers into his head instead.

"I really appreciate it," Alycia said kindly, "but Y/N and I were actually going to head out for breakfast."

At this, everyone looked to me and I was so used to being ignored in that moment that I suddenly felt nervous.

"It was very nice of you to get the muffin basket though," I said uncomfortably. "Looks like some... great options."

Just kill me now.

"Right... well, Clayton is going to be hanging about here today. We're talking business. So, if you're up for a good old catch up, you know where to find him," Alycia's father said to her.

"I will, dad, thanks," Alycia said with a small smile, before approaching me.

I nodded at him before letting Alycia drag me out of there. Only when we were gone did she stop to look at me apologetically.

"I had no idea he was going to be here again," she said guiltily. "I don't know what my dad is up to, but it's certainly not fair on you."

I shrugged uncomfortably. "I knew he didn't like me, but this is a little weird."

"I'll talk to him," Alycia promised, cupping my face and finding my eyes with hers. "He shouldn't be doing this."

I nodded, not sure I could do much else other than agree, and she pulled me in for a tight hug before letting go.

"Breakfast's on me," she promised, kissing my hand. "Let's go."

—

So, whatever chat Alycia had with her father didn't seem to do the job.

Later that same day, I was lounging around and watching TV by myself whilst Alycia was supposed to be hanging around with her mum. But when I finally got up to find her, hoping to join them to cure my boredom, I couldn't seem to locate either of them. And it definitely didn't help that the Debnam-Careys residence was too large for me to search without an inkling to where they could be.

I tracked down one of the staff members, finding the nearest one and hoping they could help. She was a young-ish girl, older than me but still younger than the other staff here, and seemed friendly enough.

"Sorry to bother you, but have you seen Alycia anywhere?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, she's out horse riding," the girl answered with a smile.

Barely remembering where she could be doing that since Alycia's tour had already flown from my mind, I asked the staff member, "Thank you. Sorry, what's your name?"

"Millie," she quipped, before suppressing a laugh when she saw my confusion. "Do you need directions to the field?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Am I that obvious?"

She chuckled before saying, "It's just outside. Walk past the shed over there–" She pointed her finger out of the doors from the dining room, "–and it's the one on your left. You won't miss her."

I sighed with relief. "Cheers, Millie. You're a lifesaver."

She nodded. "Anytime."

Following her instructions, I headed outside and tried not to get lost amongst the greenery. Just when I was on track, I turned to the left and indeed found the correct space where Alycia was horse riding. I began to smile as I approached, but then I stopped when I saw she was with Clayton. What the hell was he still doing here?

Her father was there too, watching from the sidelines, but my eyes were glued to Alycia who was sat on her horse as Clayton sat on his, the two of them side by side and chatting with smiles on their faces. I knew Alycia probably got dragged into entertaining him by her father – she had an inability to say no to her parents, I'd noticed. And I also knew that she didn't like Clayton like that, but it still stung a little to see them together.

Despite her wealth and class, she'd only ever been my Alycia. Nothing intimidating about her. And it was definitely more of a me problem, but seeing her like this... horse riding for God's sake, and with a handsome man who was dressed to impress and had heart eyes for her, only made me feel like I didn't really belong here. She was the daughter of a bloody millionaire and I was me. I'd never even saved ten grand, let alone millions.

And yes, this wasn't her problem. She still loved me for me. And I wasn't usually the insecure type. But right now, seeing her, maybe I was starting to become that.

Not wanting to interrupt and definitely not in the greatest of moods anymore, I returned to the house, sulking.

"Did you find her?" Millie asked, and I was surprised she cared enough to.

"Yeah, thank you. She's horse riding alright," I answered, before scowling to nobody in particular. "With Mr Sucky-Handsome Face."

Millie frowned a little, sensing my disappointment. "Is everything okay?"

I sighed deeply. "Oh, yeah, everything's great. Just having the time of my life watching some dude check out my girlfriend in front of me and try to steal her away. Nothing much."

Okay, so I was salty and it was very unprofessional of me to air my grievances to the staff, but I couldn't help it. Alycia wasn't here and I had nobody else to talk to.

"That's shit," Millie said, surprising me. "Sounds like you need to take your mind off it.

I smiled dryly. "If only it were that easy."

"Well, I was going to start baking some dessert for dinner tomorrow," she said, before suggesting, "Maybe you'd like to help? You could prepare something special for Alycia. I'm sure she'd love that."

I glanced at her. "Really? I can do that?"

Millie laughed. "Of course you can! C'mon. Kitchen's this way."

Surprised that she was offering to cheer me up and also that she was so chill to be around, I smiled a little. "Wow, thanks, Millie."

I spent the remainder of the afternoon helping Millie bake some cupcakes in the kitchen, whilst she also helped me put together a little cake for Alycia. We only got as far as baking the cake part since she had to do her other duties as a staff member, but she promised I could help with the icing tomorrow and to say I was a little excited was an understatement. It certainly did the job of helping me forget about stupid Clayton and his inability to leave my girlfriend alone.

By the time the evening rolled around, Alycia and I were eating dinner by ourselves in one of the many dining rooms of the household. It was nice to finally have her to myself, since she'd been MIA all day, though at no fault of her own.

"So, I should probably tell you if you didn't already know," she began, "but I was hanging out with Clayton earlier today."

And just when I thought I'd forgotten about that.

"It was solely because my dad invited him over and basically dragged me away from my mum," she continued to explain, a hint of regret in her voice. "I really didn't want to."

I shrugged, focusing on my dinner plate. "You can't help it if your dad makes you. It's fine, Alycia."

"I told my dad to back off," she assured me, finding my hand on the table. "He claims it's a business venture. An opportunity."

I almost snorted, but remained cool. An opportunity, sure. An opportunity to steal my girlfriend.

"I don't know what he's told Clayton, but I've made it very obvious I'm taken," she said with conviction, tugging my hand and finally earning my attention. Her eyes were searching mine. "He's nothing to worry about, okay?"

I awkwardly began to smile, really not enjoying this conversation. "I know, Alycia."

She didn't seem convinced, but clearly sensing my discomfort, she dropped the topic. With a nod, she let go of my hand and grabbed her fork to twirl her pasta. Meanwhile, I felt icky at the mere thought of Clayton hanging around her again. Why did Alycia's dad hate me that much that he'd try to set his daughter up with some guy whilst I'm right here? Talk about rude!

"So, what did you get up to today?" Alycia asked, thankfully changing the subject. "You weren't bored, I hope?"

As I remembered this afternoon's events, I began to smile, excited to share with Alycia. "Not at all. There's this girl that works here. Millie? Well, she let me help her bake some cupcakes in the kitchens. Which, by the way, your kitchen's huge."

Alycia tried not to laugh as she watched me. "That sounds lovely. So, where are these cupcakes? Do I get a taste?"

"They're not finished yet," I told her with amusement. "Tomorrow's dessert, love. Also, there may or may not be an extra surprise for you."

"Oh, now you have to tell me more," she insisted, and I laughed at her curious expression.

"It wouldn't be a surprise then, idiot," I reminded her. "Tomorrow. You'll find out tomorrow."

She sighed dramatically but nodded. "Very well. It better be dessert-related. All this talk of cupcakes is making me hungry."

"So what I'm hearing is you wanna go on a dessert run," I said with a nod, already convinced.

Her smile widened. "Hell yeah. Finish your pasta and let's go."

I rolled my eyes at her childishness, but did just that. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all and I was just overthinking it.

#alycia debnam carey #alycia debnam carey x you #alycia debnam carey x reader #alycia debnam carey imagine

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rzyraffek · 1 year

Note

Hewos!

I was hoping to request some soft moments with the Sinclair Brothers, Brahms, and Billy Lenz?

Thank you! Have a good day/night :3

Yall wtf I come back home and i got 4new requests??? I am famous or something THANK YOU ALL FOR REQUEST!!! Some of them are sus but ily all still💖💖 But this request is very cute!!

They/them, sfw, Request open

Fluffy times with slasher

Billy Lenz

He might be a weird creep but he also is a huge cuddlebug

Like everytime they wanna relax and watch movie or do something fun this guy will litteraly lay on them

My guy turns into tomato everytime s/o cups his cheeks, or holds his hands gently😳😳

Also if s/o is a gamer he will watch them play and be theirs number one fan (tbh whatever competitive hobby they got hes nr1 fan). Shit talking people with Billy>>

He moves a lot in his sleep, kicks too, and probably talks aswell. He is very active sleeper.

Also he is a night owl but he goes to bed with s/o so they can lie toghether. And he will stare qt them (litteraly just like in the movie btw)

Get him some headbands those hair are getting into his eyes

Bo Sinclair

Okay but he loves when they grab his arm when they are walking together. Or when s/o kisses him, he doenst care tbh everykiss from them is wonderful

His arm always lands on them during sleep, and he snores too

He loves borrowing his hoodies and shirts to them but he smokes so everything he wears smells like nikotine, and he too smells like it. So hopefully they dont mind it

If they are upset he gonna get so protective, like ?who hurt you? Why are you crying?? And a lot of touches too

Vincent Sinclair

Quality time with vincent inculdes: teaching them how to make wax figures, go on walk with a dog, braid eachother hair, and gossip. Yeah gossip i know this guy doenst look like it but he lives for drama. Talking shit about rude and disrespectful vitims is great

Hes increadeably patient! When he was teaching them how to use make stuff out of wax no matter how many tries s/o failed and how many tiems tjey said that their work looks ugly and well- bad he was like "nononono try again but like this *shows some epic wax strategy*"

His brothers are very happy that vincent is socialasing! He usually just hangs out with bo or lester, god he doesnt even interacts with his victims???

His hands are shaky

He sleeps like lil babi, he 100% does 'ah mimimimi ah mimimi' when asleep, also he is very nervous to hug them while in bed and when he wakes up to them hugging him, he will turn tomato

Brahms Heelshire

Guy has skin walker vibes. Like s/o gonna just vibe in bed trying to zzz and this guy will just stand in dark corridor, staring, with absolute darkness behind him. And it doesnt help that he is very skinny and has long long arms

He loves cooking together!! Helping in kitchen is such fun job! But he won't clean the dishes! he is disgusted by wet food

No pets in house!! He would be 100% jealous!! And he already has 50rats in walls I think that's enough animals for now

When he talks about stuff he enjoys he moves his hands alot!

He loves playing hide and seek! And scaring s/o when they don't see him😈😈

Asa Emory

Rich bitch

You calling him at 3am because you hungry and there's no food in fridge? Uhh yes honey lemmie just finish this victim of and-what? You want Chinese food this time? Hmm yeah that sounds tasty

He gonna spoil them!

Hes very animalistic tbh, but he is also a gentleman. He gonna ask for consent everytime he even gets near them "can I kiss you?/is it okay if I do that" ect ect

Sleeping with him is scary. Fr. He gonna just randomly disapear in middle of night and come back 9hours later. Or he gonna be missing for almost whole day and just comeback while s/o is eeping and just go to sleep like nothing happened

Also he purrs

Yall I got alot of requests now so I might do them slowly! If you requested anything lately dont worry I will write that I just need time!!

#slasher x reader #slasher headcanons #billy lenz #billy lenz x reader #brahms heelsire #brahms x reader #asa emory x reader #the collector x reader #the collector #house of wax #vincent sinclair x reader #vincent x reader #vincent sinclair #bo sinclair x reader #bo sinclair

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cartoonyfangirl · 6 months

Text

Okay! After watching Once Upon A Studio the 100th time, I'm just gonna say it!

Disney! CAN WE PLEASE HAVE THIS SHORT BE A SHOW OR A SHORT SERIES!

Like you have all of these characters both 3D and 2D, and I know darn well that you guys know that this short is a huge success, jump on that train!

You know what! I'm just gonna put down how this show would be, and my exceptions and nots

(Exception 1 - The only other characters that would appear outside of WDAS would be characters from DisneyToon Studios, so like characters from the sequels, A Goofy Movie, Ducktales! Treasure of the lost lamp, and the Tinkerbell characters. I still would not include Pixar, Marvel, Muppets, Star Wars, and etc, that would be more if Disney wants to do a full on House Of Mouse sequel, but if it's a spiritual successor, then this would be at the studio

(Exception 2 - However, some characters from those said IP's can be mentioned as like a cameo or name mention, just because they don't appear, doesn't mean they can't be mentioned)

Okay, now for how the show/short series plays out

(The show/short series would take place at the Walt Disney Animation Studio in Burbank, since I think that's where the short took place.)

(When everyone leaves, that's when the characters come out, and thus, whatever plot takes place, that's when the episode/short begins)

(Characters can appear on the sidelines, making sure that it adds character and life into this, rather it be them just talking and walking, grabbing some food, or just causing mischief)

Now for some ideas for episodes

(A New Rabbit - Oswald notices that he is the odd one out in the huge group, so with the help of Mickey and his pals, they try to give the Lucky Rabbit a makeover only both Walt and the fans would love. This would be the Epic Mickey design that we all love, and Frank Welker would return to voice the rabbit once more!)

(A Royal Night Out - Tiana plans a huge night for all of the Disney Princesses and Princes, and Asha feels worried that she might stick out in the group, since she is the newest princess in the studio lot. But over the course of the short/episode, we not only see her get comfortable around the princesses and princes (They would be such gentlemen to her), but also stuff that maybe the voice performers can ad-lib in, to make them feel more natural!)

(Father/Son Meeting - Goofy realizes how many Disney parents and children have either a father/son and or father/daughter dynamics, and so he plans out a huge evening where the pairs would get to know each other, and discuss the situations they were put through, Max would make his first appearance in nearly 20 years in this, helping his father, and also getting to know the rest of the other kids that also go through what Max dealt with in his films)

(These ideas are from @shellyswirlz I was given permission to share and give some disney touches to these!

(Puppy-Sitting) - Kristoff, Ryder, and Honeymaren are asked upon by Roger and Anita if they could take care of the puppies while they take Pongo and Perdita on their evening walk, to which the three say yes to (Because I feel like Kristoff would be a dog person for sure!) Cruella sees this as her opportunity to try and get the dogs again, but this time from different people. Over the course of the episode/short, the puppies get into some trouble, from either running around the animation building, to hiding in some of the shelves. This causes problems for both Kristoff, Ryder, Honeymaren, and even Cruella, who misses her chance every time. In the end, it's Anna, Elsa, and even Olaf who would help wrangle the puppies back together again, and just in time before Roger and Anita get back. Cruella would be upset that she didn't manage to snag any of the puppies, but her anger would instantly disappear when she sees the other animals, and soon begins hatching plans for that

(Tinkering About) - Some of the Disney kids are drawing some of their favorite characters from their favorite shows and films, and Tinker Bell watches from afar, thinking of a fun, yet mischievous plan. Once the children leave to play outside, Tinker Bell uses her magic to make the drawings come to life, and soon, they begin to cause mischief around the building and even the studio. For the doodles, this would be the only time characters outside of WDAS would make their cameo appearances (Such as Sulley, Kermit and Gonzo, Grogu, and etc). Mickey and Oswald notice the weird drawing creations, and soon begin to place them back into the paper they came from. They soon figure out that Tinker Bell is behind the tinkering, and soon, Peter Pan manages to stop her before she could make anything else pop out. She realizes her mistakes, and apologizes, Peter Pan, being the only one that can understand her, accepts it, but he tells her not to do it again, or else she wouldn't be allowed to be with him.

(A Caballero Reunion!) - Donald is overjoyed once more to see his pals Jose and Panchito again! Jose comes up with the idea of performing for the whole group, like they did back in the beginning when they first performed. Donald and Panchito agree, and soon throughout the episode, we see them getting ready, reminiscing on the days they first interacted, and even recalling some of their favorite moments from their film. Towards the end, they would have a huge performance, but soon realize that some of their instruments have become worn out from years of not being used. But soon some of the other Disney characters would join in to help, and soon, the Three Caballeros would sing their iconic song, alongside the rest of the Disney crew!

Those are what I have so far, but please, if anyone has any ideas/scenarios/and HC's for this, either tag this post, repost and add your share, and or comment down below!

(Cricket In A Lamp) - Jiminy Cricket rushes to Pinocchio's side, once again after accidentally oversleeping once more, but just as he's about to get to his side, he falls into Genie's lamp. Pinocchio is beside Aladdin, learning about what he, Jasmine, and the others went through in their film, and tells him that he's lucky to have The Genie by his side. The Genie soon appears, and decides to get some rest, but when he tries to get into his lamp, he isn't able to. Aladdin thinks this is a joke, but soon, they hear Jiminy's voice coming from the lamp! The three soon try to figure out how to get him out, considering it's a magic lamp, and messing with it can cause trouble. After a few different tactics and even some characters making their honorary cameos, it seems like it's hopeless, until some of the smaller characters decide to help out, and ask if they can be lowered in, so they can grab Jiminy out (I'm thinking it might be Bernard, Bianca, and the rest of the other small Disney characters). After some time, they managed to get Jiminy out, and of course Pinocchio was overjoyed to see him safe and sound. Genie apologizes for the lamp trouble, to which Jiminy cuts in, saying he fell in on accident, and that he should be more careful in where he's running to.

(I'm Late! I'm Late! For A Very Important Dinner Party!) - Mickey and Minnie decide to plan a big dinner party for the newcomer Asha, and soon get the help from some of the Disney Characters to deliver the invitations to the party. Once night falls, everyone arrives on time, except for one! The White Rabbit! He notices that the time on his watch is all wrong, and he quickly hurries to the dinner party. This episode would mostly be shenanigans and even ad-libbed stuff from characters old and new, and of course The White Rabbit dealing with his troubles as well! In the end, he makes it towards the end of the party, and enjoys the last few minutes with those that care about him

(This Is Dedicated To The Toon I Love!) - For the first time in nearly 25 years, Sylvia makes her return appearance in this episode/short. Goofy and Horace write love letters to Sylvia and Clarabelle. But when Horace accidentally leaves his name out of his letter, Clarabelle thinks that it's from Horace, wanting to see if they can rekindle their relationship. At first she is ecstatic, but then realizes that he couldn't possibly be in love with someone like her, and soon, she dismisses the first idea, and thinks who would have a crush on her. Shenanigans would pursue, with her going around the studio lot, basically seeing who is catching her eye. After hours on end, Clarabelle breaks down, seeing that there wasn't any signs that someone loved her on the lot, and she would never find out who wrote her the letter, Horace, Goofy, and Sylvia find her, and Horace bashfully admits that he wrote the letter to her, but he forgot to place his name down. Clarabelle becomes overjoyed, and the two share a kiss. Goofy is happy to see his long-time friends get together once more, and decides to have a double date with him and Sylvia, and Clarabelle and Horace!

@rikareena @silliesbillies @imaginationinstitutes

#once upon a studio #show idea #what if once upon a studio had a show/short series #disney #disney100 #spirtual successor #house of mouse but modern disney

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beehawk4 · 10 months

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i read lu-is-not-okay's sin analysis guide and it made me think about outis some more (mainly base outis)

TL;DR for the guide: Each sin's meaning is likely different from the mainstream interpretation of them (e.g. Lust does not necessarily mean being horny), and an identity's skills represent the layers of their psyche (With s1 being the surface layer and s3 being the deepest layer of the mind)

I should note that this draws from my previous theory of Outis's story so it might be needed to check that out to clear any confusion. Also, since Outis's story isn't going to be released for a very long time, this is really just conjecture.

Anyway...

Outis has a sloth s1 (Pulled Blade), a pride s2 (Backslash), and a gloom s3 (Piercing Thrust), right?

Going by the guide, Sloth S1 represents Outis's resignation to her circumstances. She's given up on hopes of ever returning home after the Smoke War, believing it to be totally impossible.

Pride S2 likely alludes to a fatal mistake Outis made out of hubris during the Smoke War, one that could possibly even be the reason why she cannot return home. Since we don't have her story yet, this is more based off of Outis's source material.

In The Iliad, the protagonist Odysseus had been captured by a giant called Polyphemus. When he demanded his name, Odysseus told him his name was "Ουτις" (Outis), which means 'nothing' in Greek. Odysseus later blinded the giant, who screamed "Outis (nobody) is killing me!" (and thus leading the other giants to ignore his pleas) and allowed them to escape.

However, before leaving, Odysseus revealed his true name to Polyphemus in an act of hubris, taunting him. As a result, Polyphemus was able to pray to his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus to “[never] reach his native land, to [never] come once more to his own house and see his friends again” and to “let him come late, in evil plight, with all his comrades dead, in someone else's ship, and find troubles in his household."

Sounds pretty familiar to Outis's predicament, right?

Afterwards, gaining a grudge against Odysseus, Poseidon began sabotaging Odysseus's journey. All of which would have been prevented had Odysseus's arrogance not gotten the best of him.

Returning to Limbus Company Outis, I feel like Pride S2 would represent her invoking catastrophe the same way as Odysseus -- in an act of arrogance, she will make a huge mistake with terrible consequences (perhaps being the reason why she cannot return home?). Could be her revealing her identity to the enemy to brag -> said enemy pulls a few strings and finds a way to prevent her from returning home, or it could be something less 1-to-1 with The Iliad. Either way, the skill would allude to her ignoring the consequences of her actions in that one moment.

Alternatively, it could refer to her participating in the Smoke War, not quite aware of the potential consequences that could result from leaving her home.

Finally, Gloom S3. This one is a bit hard to pin down with actual evidence because, again, we know very little about Outis's actual past. Additionally, nothing really suggests that Outis is "overwhelmed" with negative emotions at the time of this post. In fact, she's known for being the most rational and collected sinner, despite her obsequious attitude towards Dante. (There's probably something from The Iliad that I could connect to here, but I honestly don't know that much about the epic.)

That being said, I imagine it'd have something to do with regret. Whatever conceited mistake Outis made came back to bite her in the ass, and now she can never return home to those that wait for her. Indeed, she would definitely dwell on her unfortunate circumstances even if she is resigned to them. "If only I hadn't let my hubris get the better of me."

As for appearing rational and seeming the exact opposite of "overwhelmed with negative emotions"...

I have nothing to support this, but it's possible that Outis's implied duplicity through her sycophantic behavior towards Dante is a front. She's well aware that all of the other Sinners and Vergil think she's going to backstab them at any moment -- that's the point of it. It's a smokescreen to cover up how she actually feels, which is intense lament due to being unable to see her loved ones ever again.

That doesn't necessarily mean said treachery is "fake", since she could still backstab them (although you could argue that if she really did want to betray them, she wouldn't make it so obvious). It's just that she intentionally uses said sycophancy and hints of disloyalty, however genuine they may be, to mask her actual issues and her past.

#sorry for the scuffed iliad summary i just took it from the entry on outis on the lcb wiki. ive never actually read the iliad #also lu (if i can call u that) ur analysis is really cool and made me think :]#outis lcb #limbus company #limbus company spoilers

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talesfrommedinastation · 3 months

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On Neurodiversity and Parenting

Before I get into the meat of this, let me tell you about one of the best vacations I’ve ever had as a parent.

It was a group of my good friends, all alumni of the same university. We all graduated in the same year, we had all been roommates, the works. But we are now super busy professionals, and hadn’t seen each other in years.

So, we organized a 5 day long extravaganza in the desert. We rented a massive house with a HUGE, gorgeous pool, a game room, volleyball court, and plenty of bedrooms for the people coming. We had two married couples, two single people, and 4 kids in between the ages of 1 to 7. The area surrounding us had museums, outdoor activities, and a few breweries.

It should have been hell, especially for someone like me, who has mild ASD, shoved into this house with all of these people. Noise, socializing, the whole kit and kaboodle.

It was awesome. Why?

My daughters (both of whom are very young) were always fed, watched over, and entertained by the two other kids and at least another adult at all times. Responsibilities were shared, and communication was crystal clear. I myself was never stressed out, worried, angry, or overwhelmed–all things that happen when you have ASD and loud, social activities are happening.

We, as adults, all took turns with the kids and allowed ourselves to retreat and relax when it was needed. The kids, as a result, were all conked out by 7 pm, allowing us to mingle and chill on our own time. It was one of the few vacations I’ve taken as a parent where I came back refreshed and recharged.

I bring this up, because many times, neurodiverse individuals are often infantilized, belittled, or even mocked when we talk about having families. Worse is the borderline eugenics comments, the ‘do you want more people like you in the world’ remarks. Which is disgusting, but not unexpected.

I’m also writing this because our favorite neurodivergent clone, Tech, finds himself as the father of a small daughter in Far Past the Ring. I went through this storytelling route as I wanted to not only explore Belter vs Clone biology (more on that later) but also how neurodiverse folks can successfully parent.

Far Past the Ring is not meant to be a found family fluff piece–it is an epic story of two cultures meeting, working together, and fighting for their right to live.

It’s also about the growth of Tech from a defective commando in a massive army to becoming a leader amongst his chosen people, the Belters of The Expanse.

Besides, I do not like most of the formats in which Tech is presented with kids when it is written–he’s often seen as bumbling, cold, or irritated, none of which is flattering, or, to be perfectly candid, canon (The man can handle himself in battles and facing monsters, but not a whining kid? Come on now, his brother is Wrecker). I think it paints an unflattering picture of how neurodiverse people are interpreted as parents, and I find that both ableist and, quite frankly, ignorant.

I say this, again, as a neurodiverse mother of two neurotypical girls, both of whom are bright, happy, loved children.

So, let’s dive in.

How to Successfully Parent as a Neurodiverse Individual:

- Support: Teamwork makes the dream work. This is one of the biggest things in successfully raising children, and one I hope you’ve gathered from both the story above and in Far Past the Ring. But it especially rings true for the ND parent, who might be exhausted socially and psychologically from being ‘on’ with a small child, constantly.

I myself have struggled with this, as my daughters love their mama, and often climb, grab, yell, and scream, even when it makes me anxious and worked up (being touched out is AWFUL, let me tell you).

But having other outlets of affection and support for children helps an ND parent. Knowing that they had other people to help them makes me a better parent, and my daughters are confident in knowing that so many in this world love them.

One especially cruel comment screamed at Tech by his daughter’s aunt in Far Past the Ring is that he is ‘not wanted, nor needed’. While this is tragic that Tanke Drummer said this to him (and has extreme ramifications throughout the story), she was not entirely incorrect.

Omega 'Meg' Drummer, Tech’s daughter, was currently being raised by not only her mother, but also by two aunts, an uncle, and older cousins that were always there to take care of her in a massive family compound. She was also being raised in a culture that is very community oriented: a necessity for Belters to survive in a dangerous environment such as space.

Hence why Sjael Drummer, Meg’s mother, is not especially angry or resentful when she sees Tech again. She’s had help and support, no questions asked, in raising their little girl. As she says in Into the Techiverse, Tech is a piece of the puzzle that fits in perfectly when he does arrive.

The story would be much, much different if it was just Tech and his child’s other parent doing it alone. There would be a lot more stress, anxiety, and anger, no doubt.

But they are not, and that makes the difference.

Because of the communal nature of the Belters, not unlike those of the clones, and the large network of friends and family that live and work together on Medina Station, Tech and Sjael are not overwhelmed or stressed with their daughter. Additionally, Tech came into the picture when Meg was a toddler, not as an infant, so things are bound to be different.

Later, when Tech becomes more entrenched within the Drummer family, when he’s worn out, there’s other family members to help, the man doesn’t even need to ask. Homeboy won the support lottery, per se. Speaking of which…

- Communication: It was mentioned in previous author’s notes, but being able to effectively talk to your parenting partner is even more crucial than your romantic partner, simply because you have other lives depending on you. In the case of my vacation example, my friends and husband are all massive talkers with no filters.

Passive aggressive hints that my ND self would have missed–well, that just didn’t happen! When someone was exhausted, needed a break, or needed to do something (cook, clean, etc), it was either verbally stated or texted, and quickly adhered to.

Tech, luckily, managed to knock up a Belter. The Belter culture of The Expanse is not only community oriented, but their communication style is very forward and blunt. Passive-aggressive, subtle behaviors are a waste of time to them. If something is needed by another person, it is stated quickly and without issue.

After all, Belters are people who spend their entire lives in space. As a result, things must happen efficiently, or terrible occurrences can happen. Not only that, but Sjael Drummer lives with her extended family, where everyone is either talking or communicating via text or message on their comms devices, a necessity for space living and survival that is a common part of Belter life.

If our neurodivergent prince needs help, he can easily blurt it out and be helped, no judgment at all. And having that takes a massive load off of your back as a parent, especially if you are ND.

- Have A Retreat: Admittingly, living in a house with tons of other people can be hell for the ND individual. I struggled with that as a kid in a massive Catholic family, but luckily, had a retreat for myself when I was overstimulated via my bedroom. Thus, I’ve learned, having a recharge station (like an office or a bedroom) is necessary for a successful ND parent. Currently, I have my office/studio in my home.

As for Tech, he starts off with Sjael’s room, followed by other spaces as the story unfolds, such as spots on the Rocinante and the massive apartment that Clone Force 99 moves into at the very end of Far Past the Ring. Keep an eye out.

Additionally, he’s never overstimulated by his child, thanks to the supportive network he has. This stems from both from his brothers and his daughter’s extended family, going right back to the communal nature of The Belt.

I say all of this not only as a parent and an ND individual, but as a friend of many on the spectrum as well. I’ve seen some really struggle, and it’s usually due to one of the mentioned things above not being met properly. Where the ND parent is anxious from overstimulation, overwork, or just feeling too much, having help, communication, and an outlet makes them a successful parent.

Actually, I think it would help all of us as parents, now that I think about it.

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your-divine-ribs · 2 months

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Expectations (Dad Van)

Words: 3.2k

Valentine’s Day when you’re heavily pregnant, no warnings just fluff 💗

Dad Van Masterlist Main Masterlist

It wasn't getting any easier. You were eight months pregnant and ready to pop. Your back ached, your muscles were strained and you were bone-weary tired. Since your perfect little rounded baby-belly had grown exponentially with no signs of slowing down you'd barely had more than three hours unbroken sleep, tossing and turning in bed at night in a fruitless attempt to get comfortable and getting up for frequent toilet breaks, and that wasn't the only problem. You felt like your body wasn't your own anymore, that the baby wasn't just taking up temporary residence but had moved in and completely taken over. The feeling was akin to being a lodger in your own house.

Of course you didn't begrudge the little one, you already loved her more than life itself and you'd not even met her yet, but boy were you impatient now. The pregnancy glow had dissipated quickly as you'd entered the third trimester and now you just felt huge and cumbersome and heavy and just so bloody exhausted, not to mention thoroughly undesirable. Not that your boyfriend would agree. If anything he just craved you all the more, showering you with affection and compliments and tender touches that quickly turned needy. He literally couldn't keep his hands off you, and who were you to deny him when he made you feel so good?

It had been a long day at work and you let out a drawn out sigh of relief as you pulled up on to your driveway. The promise of maternity leave was now only two weeks away but it may as well have been two years the way the days stretched on ahead of you seemingly endlessly.

"Hey, I'm home!" You called into the quiet house, ears straining for a response, a smile stretching on your lips at the faint call of "up here love... come on up... I've run you a bath..."

In truth you were envious of the way that Van's career gave him the freedom to work the hours he chose, letting him shun the 9 to 5 rat-race that you were embroiled in, but at times like this you were thankful. Now you were on the home stretch of your pregnancy he'd cancelled all touring and engagements and he was there waiting for you each day after work with a warm hug and a smile. He wasn't the typical house-husband type and his domestic skills left a lot to be desired, but he was trying so hard, and that was the important thing.

You hung up your coat and trudged up the stairs, the effort quickly leaving you panting for breath, unbuttoning your blouse and shrugging out of it as you went.

"Did ya have a good day love?"

Van looked up as you entered the bathroom, his eyes quickly leaving yours to trail over the expanse of your swollen belly. You didn't think it was possible to convey love as much from just a look but it was blatantly obvious the way that his eyes lit up as he gazed on your heavily pregnant form. It caught you off guard every time, a warm glow erupting in your chest as he quickly crossed to you with his arms outstretched.

"It was okay I guess, just the same old shit every day. I'm just so tired and everything aches. How about you? What've you been up to?"

Van's hands curled around your hips as he looked down on you. "Well I finished painting the nursery at last. It's looking really good now, all ready for our little princess."

Again his gaze sank to your belly, a hand tenderly brushing over your skin as he crouched down to talk directly to the large bump. "And how's my little lady doing? You been behaving yourself for mummy today?"

He was answered with a kick and you giggled at the perfect timing. You were certain that your unborn daughter could pick out Van's voice as she often responded to it, livening up immediately when she heard him. You often found yourself day-dreaming, fast-forwarding in your head, picturing Van and her laughing and playing, cooking up wild scenarios and going on epic adventures limited only by a child's imagination, the perfect duo. You just knew that they were going to be partners in crime and you'd probably end up on the receiving end of their mischievous pranks before she'd even learnt to talk properly. And you couldn't wait.

"She can hear you, she's kicking! Here... put your hand right here!"

You placed your hand atop Van's, sliding it across your tummy to where a little foot or hand or elbow was currently pummelling you from the inside, watching Van's expression turn to wonderment as he felt the vibrations through your skin.

"Yeah, yeah I can feel her! Hey little one! Whatcha doing in there?" He looked up at you. "She's got a right kick on her hasn't she? I swear she's gonna be a footballer." Back to your belly. "You gonna play for United yeah? Make your daddy proud?"

You rolled your eyes, laughing. "More like a boxer I'd say. She's been kicking the shit out of me all day, using my bladder as a punch bag!"

Van chuckled, leaning in to plant a kiss just above your navel and then rising to his feet and indicating the bath.

"You gonna get in then before it gets cold? I've just got some stuff to do downstairs."

Your brow creased into a little frown, disappointment flickering through you. "You not joining me? You know... 'cause it's Valentine's Day and all that? Make up for not even bothering to get me a card or a bunch of roses!"

You narrowed your eyes at him, letting mock-annoyance tinge your words. You weren't really bothered. You knew that he hated the commercial side of Valentines and to be honest you did too, but you couldn't resist teasing him. His eyes widened, feigning offence.

"You really need me to get you a sappy card and a bunch of over-priced flowers to show my love for ya? Nah... that just won't cut it. Got something else planned haven't I? And it's much better than all that..."

He trailed off, his voice mysterious which instantly kicked your intrigue into overdrive. He was wearing that cheeky little smirk on his lips now that made your pulse quicken and you wondered what he had planned.

"Are you gonna make love to me on a bed of rose petals?" You grinned up at him, watched him shake his head. "Whisk me off to Paris maybe?" He pulled a face.

"You'll find out soon enough. Now go on, have your bath... relax for a bit. Then come downstairs straight after, yeah?"

"Okay, okay. This'd better be good McCann!"

"Oh it will be!"

He shot you a cheeky wink and leant forward to press a small kiss to your cheek, then he was darting out of the bathroom and bounding quickly down the stairs, his footsteps receding as you heard him moving down the hallway.

The bath was just what you needed and you sank down into the fragrant bubbles, feeling the knots of tension loosen as your muscles soaked up the heavenly warmth. You didn't even realise that you'd fallen asleep until a loud crashing sound wrenched you out of your slumber and you sat bolt upright, water sloshing over the side of the tub.

It was completely quiet and you began to think that maybe it was the remnants of a dream, but then you heard another noise, a metallic thunk followed by a string of curses. What the hell was he doing down there?

The piercing sound of the smoke alarm gave you your answer and you groaned out loud. Van's disastrous forays into cooking were almost legendary and you were still haunted by the time he almost set the kitchen on fire trying to flash-fry a steak. Thankfully catastrophe was averted and the only casualties were his singed eyebrows and a bruised ego, but it could have been a lot worse. Heaven knows what carnage he could be causing downstairs right now.

So you reluctantly hauled your pregnant frame out of the bath tub and dried yourself down with a fluffy towel which you quickly secured around your chest, opening the bathroom door and calling down the stairs.

"You alright down there? What's going on?"

The reply was immediate, shouted back up with gusto. "Yeah, everything's fine! Don't worry! Got everything under control babe! Just had a... minor mishap..."

You sighed, considering returning to the bath, but the warmth had started to leech from the water and the skin on your fingertips had started to shrivel so you pulled the plug and turned to look at your reflection in the large mirror situated over the sink, letting the towel drop to the floor. Wiping away the condensation you were met with a version of yourself that you barely recognised. Your skin was stretched tightly over your stomach which was now protruding that much that you could no longer see your feet. Your breasts were swollen and heavy, having gone up two cup sizes... much to Van's delight. Then there were the stretch marks. A network of fine red stripes stretching all over the underside of your baby bump. Tiger stripes. You hated them with a passion, even knowing that eventually they'd fade to faint silvery lines, but Van wouldn't hear you moan about them. You smiled to yourself as you recalled him kissing them tenderly, telling you that they were simply part of you, so he loved them just as much as the rest of you.

Another barrage of curse words drifted up from downstairs, snatching your attention away from the mirror and you grabbed for your fluffy robe, slipping into it and padding downstairs quickly on your bare feet.

You could smell the acrid scent of burning and see the air thick with smoke before you'd even pushed fully through the kitchen door and you braced yourself when you did, coming to a stop with your mouth agape, stunned by the sight before you. There were discarded pans in the sink coated with congealed burnt on food and boiled over pots on the stove. Dark splotches of a thick red sauce was sprayed up the usually pristine white cupboard surfaces. But that wasn't what really caught your attention.

There in the midst of it all was Van, his face creased into an awkward smile, splattered with pasta sauce... completely stark bollock naked apart from a garish pink novelty Valentine's apron bearing the words 'Will You Be Mine?'

"Alright love," he said meekly. "I really wanted to make you a nice dinner, but I think I might have fucked it up a little bit..."

You were quiet for a moment, taking in the scene, but not for long. How could you dwell on the kitchen chaos when you were faced with that?

"Oh my god... what the hell are you wearing? Or should I say what aren't you wearing?"

Van's face instantly cracked into a wide playful grin. "Ta-da!" He smirked proudly. "You like it?"

"It's... it's..." you trailed off into another fit of giggles as Van held out his arms and gave you a twirl... and an eyeful in the process. "I don't know what to say! I'm actually speechless for once!"

"How about 'come ere sexy?'"

You crossed the kitchen in a few steps, straight into his waiting arms, both laughing as he tried to pull you in tight for a hug but your huge baby bump prevented your bodies from meeting.

"Think something's come between us!" You quipped, then you pulled back, eyeing the gaudy apron with amusement. "So this is it, eh? This is my big Valentine's present? You practically naked? I'm surprised you didn't jump out of a giant cake or wrap yourself up in shiny paper with a big ribbon or something!"

"You can still unwrap me if ya like love?" He grinned, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Maybe after dinner?"

"Dinner?" You echoed, your eyes darting to the chaos behind him, your nose wrinkling in distaste at the pungent smell of burnt food. You'd long gotten over the nausea of morning sickness but the idea of trying to stomach one of Van's culinary creations was making your gut churn. "So... what did you make?"

"Well... it was supposed to be some posh pasta dish... saw Gordon Ramsey cooking it online. It's just not turned out quite how it was supposed to. I mean, we might be able to salvage it..." he paused, the sheepish look returning as he glanced behind him at the mess. "Or I could just do us beans on toast?" His voice rose up hopefully, face scrunching doubtfully. "Or there's some pizzas in the freezer... or maybe we could get a takeaway?"

"Takeaway sounds good!" You hurriedly blurted, relieved to have a choice that didn't involve Van's cooking, grabbing hold of his hand when you saw the disappointment etched on his face although he was trying to hide it. "Hey, all this is great, I really do appreciate it you know. Don't feel bad about it."

"But I do feel bad love. I really wanted to do something special for you, make it romantic. You do so much and you never complain and I'm just a bit..." he paused, shrugging whilst he searched for the right word. "Useless..."

"Awww don't say that!" You made a grab for his other hand, drawing him close and looking up at him. "You've been doing loads recently. You've completely decorated the nursery, you've been out buying loads of stuff, you've come to all the ante-natal classes with me..."

"Yeah, and I about bloody passed out when the midwife was going through your birth plan. What am I gonna be like at the real thing? I'm probably just gonna go and let you down."

You giggled. "You'll be fine, honestly, you'll see. We both will be as long as we're together."

He smiled then, gave a small sigh and a shrug, and then a little frown creased his features. "I'm trying Y/N, I really am. I've wanted to be a dad for as long as I can remember and I'm so excited, but now it's only weeks away I keep stressing, worrying I'm not doing enough. I wanna do as much as I can, look after you, and the baby when she's here." His eyes strayed down to your bump, glowing fondly. "Wanna take care of both of you."

"You're doing great Van, you really are," you assured him. "I certainly got no complaints."

He didn't look convinced. "But I can't even cook a simple pasta dish! And you should have seen me painting the nursery earlier. I swear I ended up with more paint in my hair than than on the walls! I'm just rubbish at all this 'hands on' stuff. And what about when the baby's here? What if I do something wrong? What if I'm a shit dad?"

He looked so earnest it made your heart ache. It was only a few weeks back that you'd been wracked with worries and doubts yourself when you'd been packing your hospital bag in advance as instructed. It had suddenly all seemed too real and too imminent and you'd panicked, wondering how on earth you were actually going to physically birth the baby and then feed and look after her. Van had been right there at your side, a comforting arm around your shoulder, his free hand brushing away the tears that had rolled down your cheeks as you'd offloaded all your worries on to him. His gentle caresses and words of comfort had eventually coaxed you around to a more positive state as he'd told you how strong you were and how much he admired you and how you were going to be "the best mum the world had ever seen". Then he'd made you laugh when he'd backtracked and added, "Just don't tell my mum I said that or she'll kill me!"

Now you'd switched roles and you were the one building up Van's wavering confidence. Few people saw this side of him. He was always outwardly so self-assured, but you knew the real Van. The one who took so much pride in everything that he did that anything short of perfection was deemed a failure.

You disentangled your fingers from his so you could reach up and cup his face with both of your hands, thumbs brushing his freckled cheeks.

"You are so not going to be a shit dad!" You told him, your voice coming out firmer than intended which caused his lips to curl into a smile. "You're one of the kindest, most caring people I know. Fair enough, you're a crap cook..." You paused, a laugh bubbling up which Van echoed. "But our little girl is going to the luckiest girl in the world to have a dad like you. I bet there's not many babies that've already got about three albums worth of songs written for them before they've even been born! You're gonna be a great dad and she's gonna love you so much."

He hung on your every word, his smile growing as you spoke, his hands sliding around your waist.

"And I'm gonna love her too. I already do. You wouldn't believe how much Y/N... I didn't even think it was possible to ever love anyone as much as I love you, but I do. And that's a whole lot of fucking love!"

He chuckled, his fingers flexing on your waist, squeezing you gently. You felt so much love and affection at that moment you were sure that you were positively glowing with it. And he hadn't finished yet.

"Honestly babe, I don't know what I did to deserve you. You make me so happy."

"And I love you too," you replied, pushing yourself up on to the balls of your feet as you tilted his face down to meet yours. "Come here you big softy!"

You pressed your lips to his and he practically purred in appreciation, his hands sliding further around your waist as he pulled you as close to him as your baby bump would allow. The kiss was soft and sweet and his lips were warm and enticing, moving slowly against yours, savouring your closeness.

Your hands fell away, reaching for his hips and you smiled against his mouth as you felt the bare skin there. You'd almost forgotten about your Valentines surprise, such a typical Van gesture.

You pulled away, fixing him with a sexy little smile as your fingers located the apron string, tugging on it until it came undone. He smirked down on you, his eyes simmering with a gentle kind of heat which warmed you through.

"What're you doing love? Thought you were gonna unwrap me after dinner?"

"Yeah well... I changed my mind. Maybe I want my dessert before dinner..."

Then you were both laughing, smiling into the kiss, wrapped up in each other's arms.

#dad van #catfish and the bottlemen #van mccann #van mccann x reader #au fanfic #vanfic

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christinesficrecs · 1 year

Note

Hi!! Do you have any fic recs where derek is completely head over heels for stiles from the very beginning?? Like completely in love and smitten ♡ it can be AUs or teen wolf universe ♡

Well, I might know a few. ❤️

Derek's Epic Love Story by arrowofcarnations | 11.5K | Explicit

Derek Hale is good at getting what he wants. Unfortunately, what he wants now is Stiles Stilinski, who doesn't exactly seem to be in the mood for his shit.

Scrubbing Bubbles by MargaretKire | 46K | Explicit

Stiles thought it would be easy doing janitorial work for an office. At first, it really was. The job only took a few hours in the evenings and it helped pay for rent and college. Sure, Hale Industries took up an entire floor in one of the downtown financial buildings, but the place was new and easy to care for. He didn’t even have to spend much time cleaning the huge corner office, because the trash was nearly always empty and the office itself was spotless, like no one used it.

It was basically the perfect college job. At least, until the boss started staying late.

Sidequest by bleep0bleep | 11.4K

Agent Derek Hale has been working up the courage to ask his partner Stiles out on a date (finally!) when he heads out on a solo mission—without Derek. Eager to provide support, Derek arrives in Beacon Hills, only there is no mission, and Stiles' dad thinks Derek is Stiles' boyfriend. Well. It could be worse.

If being sexy was a crime, you’d be guilty as hell. by DropsOfAddiction | 14.3K | Explicit

Derek tries and fails to shut his gaping mouth as Stiles arrives at his desk, heartbeat rabbiting a little faster than usual.

Stiles grabs a file out of his desk, muttering something about forgetting to mail it yesterday and needing to get it down to filing by Monday. Derek’s barely paying attention, unable to concentrate with the scent of him right under his nose.

He leans over Derek to grab an empty envelope from their shared stationary tray and Derek knows he’s absolutely fucked when he sees how his trousers are moulded to his perfect ass.

“So.... how do I look?” Stiles asks casually as he stands back up, as if his very presence hasn’t just given Derek a very sudden and uncomfortable boner.

He looks like he should be on the cover of GQ.

You’d Be So Good To Come Home To by SylvieW | 5K

In Stiles’ final year of college, Derek decides to rebuild the Hale house. He keeps asking for Stiles’ opinion on the house plans. Stiles doesn't realize that Derek is building the house with a mate in mind.

Put Out the Fire (but not the one in my heart) by omelet | 2.8K

Derek thinks this is getting a little out of hand. Because honestly, he never would have guessed that he would one day come to own a firemen-themed calendar.

I Intend to be Independently Blue by Loz | 21.7K | Mature

Stiles is the worst thing that could have happened to Derek. He hasn't been wolfing out at inopportune moments since his teens, but only because he has a system in place. And this is where Stiles comes into play. Because he's been messing with this system, and doesn't even know. Also, there's a wendigo.

sing me a song, piano man by bleep0bleep | 2.2K

Derek’s worked at McCall’s for three years, just about as long Stiles has been the pianist, and not once has Stiles ever sung a song about him.

Queer Your Coffee by alisvolatpropiis | 3K

Derek's just over the city line when he sees a sign for an independent drive-thru place, Full Spectrum Brew. There are three cars in line when he turns in, which annoys him but gives him hope. Not that he really trusts the people of Beacon Hills to have much taste when it comes to coffee (god, he is a snob), but the shop’s popularity does seem to bode well. The line of cars moves way more slowly than he’d like, each customer in front of him seeming to take way too long to order, and then lingering when they get their coffee. He’s irritable from lack of sleep and an even more detrimental lack of caffeine, anxious to get out of the car. Finally it’s his turn and he slowly rolls up to the window, turning the radio down.

For a second, he thinks he must have fallen asleep while he was waiting, because what he sees when he looks in the window surely must be a dream.

Stunning brown eyes like glowing honey and sweet little nose, slightly upturned; a shapely pink mouth, bottom-lip pierced by a thin black hoop that he's worrying with the tip of his tongue as he smiles a gorgeous hello.

He's the most beautiful man Derek's ever seen.

And he’s shirtless.

Mating Habits of the Domesticated North American Werewolf by lielabell | 35.4K | Mature

Derek doesn’t do pining. He doesn’t. So when it becomes clear that Stiles is much more interested in having Derek as a new best friend than a boyfriend, he puts on his big boy pants and makes it fucking work. He becomes the best goddamn friend a spastic teenager could ever hope to have.

The Love You Save (May Be Your Own) by Nokomis 17.5K

Everyone falls magically in love with Stiles. Well, except for Derek, who is suspiciously immune.

Wet T-Shirts For Charity by LadyDrace | 2.4K

Derek takes his car to a charity car wash. He didn't realize the wash came with a side of sexual frustration and pining.

How Derek Got His Groove Back by WhoNatural | 4.3K | Explicit

Cora kicks him under the table. “Do you have the hots for the baby lawyer?” she hisses urgently, and Derek blinks at her, feeling his face heat.

“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s young enough to be my--”

“Younger brother,” she cuts in, and shakes her head. “Age difference excuses do not fly with me. Are you gonna ask him out? Derek, you need to do something about that.”

“About what?” he says, frowning, watching as Stiles sits down at a table with a group of older, lawyer-types.

“The fact that you’re both about one drink away from sex in some janitor’s closet.”

#asks #sterek fics #ficrecs #pining!derek #mutual pining #idiots in love

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imzadi-caskett-huddy · 6 days

Text

Hell Hath No Fury (17/?)

I’m glad you all seem to like the liberties I’ve taken with Jim’s personality and building up Johanna’s as well. The show didn’t provide a ton of information, so I’ve tried to take Kate and divvy up some of her personality between the two of them.

Some of you commented that you thought they made up a little too quickly, that Kate should have still been mad at him. I just want to point out that the reason she was upset with him wasn’t a HUGE reason…their argument definitely wasn’t of the epic proportions of their “Knockout” or “Always” fights. Plus their relationship is still relatively new…I felt it could be worked out with Kate having some time to get through the worst of the anger and then actually trying this talking thing that makes relationships successful. She IS trying to be better for him.

This chapter is going to set up the July 4 holiday. The last chapter I’ll place as the last full week of June, so this would take place about a week later, right before the long holiday weekend.

I still don’t own Castle.

xxxxx

The Harley eased into the garage before coming to a stop. The back passenger climbed off the bike first, waiting for the driver to kill the engine. She removed her helmet and shook out her chestnut hair as the driver made sure the kickstand was down and then jumped off the bike, excitedly removing her own helmet to shake out her red locks.

“I did it!” Alexis exclaimed excitedly.

“You did great, Alexis,” Kate smiled. Of course, they had been working together for about 3 weeks, and Kate had made sure she’d driven the bike around the yard and the driveway safely, then had her drive on the street in front of the house, and then rode with her on the street in front of the house, before she’d suggested they take the bike around town. She’d made sure Alexis was ready and capable before she’d suggested letting the girl test out her driving skills further than a few hundred yards.

“Really? I felt like there were a couple of times I kind of messed up a little,” she critiqued her performance. She was such a perfectionist.

Kate gave her a reassuring smile. “You’re a quick study. And to be your first time out on an actual road, you did a great job. You remained calm, you were safe and cautious. Really, it was an excellent first real ride.”

Alexis grinned and impulsively hugged her. “Thanks, Kate.”

The hug surprised her, but she recovered quickly and returned the gesture. “You’re welcome,” she told her softly.

“I thought I heard my little rebel!” Castle called teasingly as he came out to the garage with a smile. The sight that greeted him of his girlfriend and his daughter in a hug only made his smile grow. “Have a good ride?”

The girl pulled away from Kate and left her helmet on the bike before running over to hug her dad. “I did! Kate let me drive! It was just around town, but I did it, and it was so much fun! She’s a great teacher.”

He kissed the top of his daughter’s head as he hugged her tightly. “I’m glad,” he couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm.

“I’ve got to go call Ashley and tell him!” she said excitedly, giving her dad a kiss on the cheek before running inside.

“She kind of idolizes you a little bit right now, you know,” Castle told Kate with a smile as he moved to wrap his arms around her waist and kiss her softly.

Kate’s arms slid around him, giving him a smile as she broke the kiss. “I doubt that. She was just excited,” she shrugged it off. “She’s a great kid.”

He smiled proudly. “She is a great kid. And she definitely idolizes you a little bit.” Seeing her look, he chuckled. “I mean it, Kate. I know my daughter…I know that look.”

“Well, I’m honored,” she smiled, moving for another kiss.

“So…you going to offer to teach me to drive your motorcycle next?” he asked her before her lips could claim his.

Her laughter was caught by his mouth. “No,” she pulled away with a grin.

“What? Why not? You taught Alexis!”

She laughed again. “You’re right, I did teach Alexis. Alexis is a model student. She learned all the

rules of the road, took 2 online safety courses, and learned every part of the bike and what the function of each part is. She is an excellent listener, and she follows instructions.”

Castle gave a small pout. “I could do all of those things!” he insisted.

“Yeah right, Castle,” she snorted, shaking her head. “The last time I gave you instructions to follow, my dad walked in on us having sex on the kitchen counter. Or would you prefer to talk about all the times I've told you to stay in the car?” she arched an eyebrow.

“I can follow instructions when it’s important,” he insisted.

“No,” she shook her head again with a smile. “I don't know if our relationship could survive me trying to teach you to drive a motorcycle. If you want to learn to ride, you can get yourself an instructor who is not sleeping with you…who you won’t try to do something stupid to impress…who you aren’t going to try to cop a feel on…and who you aren’t fantasizing about in black leather,” she laughed.

Castle was going to argue, but when he opened his mouth, he realized she was right, so he couldn’t really deny it. “Well…that’s just mean.”

She smiled, clearly amused by him, as she moved back into his arms. “Maybe I just like giving you a ride…” she trailed off suggestively, her eyes growing a little darker and her voice dropping lower.

His hands tightened on her hips slightly, his own eyes darkening at her suggestion. “You don’t need your bike to give me a ride…” he murmured lowly.

“Castle!” she laughed. “That was a horrible line…” she laughed even harder as he tried to kiss her.

“Was not!” he insisted with a pout.

She pressed a gentle kiss to his lips to soothe him before pulling away with a smile. “Well better to get it all out now instead of your party this weekend. You try lines like that in front of Espo and he’s not going to let you forget it. You’ve seen how he treats Ryan,” she warned him with a grin.

He’d been feeling better, and as such had started to get a bit of cabin fever; plus he missed their friends. He loved his mother and daughter, but not really having much social contact with anyone other than them, Alfred, his doctors, or Kate when she was there was starting to make him a little crazy.

When she’d suggested he have a boy’s night, she’d meant he should go back to the city for a

few days or coordinate a time with Ryan and Espo to play their video games online together, or even host a poker game. What she hadn’t expected was for him to decide to combine a boy’s night with the holiday weekend and suggest inviting their friends, and even her dad, out for a long weekend at his place in the Hamptons for the Fourth of July.

Of course, inviting their friends meant they would be outting their relationship in a way; everyone other than Espo, Ryan and Jenny already knew; they didn't feel right asking their families to lie for them, and neither Castle nor Kate had any desire to give up touching or kissing simply to pretend they weren’t in a relationship in front of their friends, and she really didn’t see the need to lie to two men she trusted with her life. So they had simply decided to just act normal and let the others put the pieces together on their own.

“You’re sure you’re up for this many house guests?” she asked him, lacing her fingers with his as they walked back into the house.

“Kate, I’m fine. Alfred is taking care of all the work, so I haven’t had to lift a finger. On his days off, I’m pretty sure I can handle grilling, and I’ve got you and Alexis to help me out as well. I’m fine,” he assured her with a smile.

“I’m more worried about you trying to show off in front of the boys and doing something stupid,” she murmured.

He chuckled softly. “I promise. No showing off. No stunt dives off the diving board. No overly physical games,” he promised. “And if by some chance I do end up hurt, Lanie’s coming. She’s a doctor,” he pointed out.

She narrowed her eyes. “If you do anything that requires her to have to practice medicine this weekend, you’ll be sleeping on the couch in your office instead of in your bed with me,” she warned him, only halfway joking. While she might not completely kick him to the couch, she most definitely would not be letting him touch her if he acted recklessly.

“Scout’s honor.”

“Try again. You were never a scout,” she arched an eyebrow in his direction.

“It’s just an expression,” he sighed. “I promise. Ok?”

She studied him for a moment. “Ok,” she nodded.

xxxxx

After dinner, Kate and Castle had taken a walk on the beach to have some romantic alone time and watch the sunset. They were laughing as they came up the steps to the back porch, Kate

leaning into his side with her arm loosely across his waist at his back and his arm around her shoulders. They both stopped when they saw Alexis waiting for them.

“Hey Pumpkin, is everything ok?” Castle was the first to ask, noticing his daughter was worried about something.

“Yeah, Dad. Everything is fine. I just need to talk to someone.”

“Yeah, of course. You know you can always talk to me,” he moved toward his daughter. Kate released her hold on him and started to go inside to give them some privacy.

“Actually, I kind of would prefer to talk to Kate,” Alexis gave her dad a tiny smile.

Kate stopped at those words and looked first to Alexis and then to Castle. That was as surprising as the hug she’d gotten from the girl earlier that afternoon. She was under the impression Alexis talked to her father about pretty much everything.

“Oh…yeah, no problem,” Castle tried to shrug it off. He wasn’t used to his daughter wanting to talk to someone other than himself about things that seemed to worry her.

“Sure, Alexis,” Kate said with a smile. She turned to her boyfriend and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Go get the wine and bubble bath ready. I’ll be in to join you in a bit,” she told him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips to get him moving inside so that the younger woman would feel comfortable talking about whatever it was that she didn’t want her dad to know about. Once he was inside, she gestured for Alexis to take a seat in one of the chairs.

The girl instead paced a little bit, causing Kate to smile slightly. She was all too familiar with the need to move in some way when she was feeling overwhelmed. Alexis finally stopped pacing and leaned against the railing silently. Kate joined her, remaining silent. She was also comfortable with the silence and an expert on not rushing someone into talking before they were ready. She would patiently wait until the girl had the words to speak whatever was bothering her.

“How do you know you’re ready?” Alexis finally asked.

Kate had to shake her head, not following. “Ready?”

“You know…ready. Like…with a guy?” she met her eyes.

It took Kate a minute, but when she saw the tips of her ears turning pink along with her cheeks, she put the pieces together. “Oh. Are you and Ashley?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Alexis answered. “But…he’s getting ready to go away to college on the other side of

the country…we’ve been together a year…and I really like him.”

“Well…just because he’s going to California in a couple of months doesn’t mean you should do something with him that you don’t really want to do, especially if he’s pressuring you,” Kate started softly.

“He’s not pressuring me. He hasn’t even brought it up. This is my idea,” Alexis told her honestly. “It’s just…neither one of us has ever….and…I don’t know, I guess I thought being each other’s firsts would be like a special bond that would make our relationship stronger while we’re apart,” she tried to explain.

“Ah…” Kate nodded her understanding. “Your first time is a special experience you only get to have once in your life. You should make sure it’s something you really want to do with a guy you really like. I know you really like Ashley…but if you’re suggesting this because you think your relationship needs it to survive the distance, it’s not going to be enough to make it last,” she started. “But, if it’s something you’ve thought about…which you obviously have…and it’s something that you want because it’s actually something you want and not to please him or try to make your relationship last…then you should do what feels right,” she advised her.

“You don’t think it’s irresponsible? Or that I’m rushing into something? Or that it’s a bad idea?” Alexis asked.

“Alexis, you are one of the most responsible people I know. You’re talking to me about it, which means you’ve given it a lot of thought, and it’s not some decision made in the heat of the moment. And it’s only a bad idea if you do it for the wrong reasons and you’re not careful. I think that you’re as ready as every other 17-year-old girl out there who is in love for the first time,” she smiled.

The younger girl was quiet for a minute, seemingly digesting the advice from the older woman. “I do think I love him,” she smiled. “Thanks, Kate.”

When Alexis turned to go inside, Kate reached out to stop her with a hand on her arm. “Hold on. Just…a little more friendly advice that I wish someone had told me at 17…” she started. “Don’t ever depend on a guy to be prepared with protection. You should have some with you if you’re planning to do that, and I'm not just talking birth control. Don’t ever let a guy talk you out of using it either, and trust me…they will absolutely give you every excuse in the book. Don’t believe them…they’re lying,” she advised her.

“Don’t let a guy make you feel like you can’t say no. You can say no at any point, alright? Even if you’ve said yes, you can change your mind and say no. And if anyone hurts you or isn’t listening to you saying no…or if any guy makes you feel like you can’t say no and you’re uncomfortable or just need to get out of there, call me. I don’t care what time it is or where you are. I’ll come to

get you, and your dad will never know unless you tell him, ok?” she promised her, meeting her eyes so the teenager would know she meant every word. “I’ve got your back, Alexis. Whatever and whenever you need.”

Alexis nodded and for the second time that day, wrapped her arms around the older woman in a hug. “Thank you,” she murmured.

Kate was prepared this time and immediately hugged the girl back tightly. “You’re welcome.” She waited until Alexis had loosened her embrace before releasing her. “How about we head inside now before your dad has a stroke coming up with all kinds of bad scenarios we could be discussing with that imagination of his,” she suggested. Noticing Alexis’s pause at the mention of her father, Kate smiled. “The only thing I’m telling him when he inevitably asks is that we had some girl talk. Your secrets are safe with me, I promise,” she assured her as the two headed inside.

Neither woman was surprised to see Castle waiting in the kitchen, trying his best to seem nonchalant. “Oh, hey…I didn’t realize you two were still out there…” he tried with his most innocent smile.

“Yeah right, Dad,” Alexis rolled her eyes. “I’m going to head up to bed. Goodnight, Dad, Kate,” she told them, giving her dad a kiss on the cheek before heading up to her room.

“So…” Castle tried with a smile.

“So, what?” Kate asked him, grabbing two wine glasses. “You were supposed to get the wine and fix the bubble bath…not wait in the kitchen for us to come back inside.”

His shoulders sagged a little. “You’re not going to tell me what you two talked about?”

“Nope,” she answered honestly, moving to open a bottle of wine to share in their bubble bath.

He pouted at that. “But I’m the cool dad!”

“I don’t care. I’m not breaking the sacred bonds of sisterhood no matter how cool you think you are.” When he crossed his arms and stuck out his bottom lip in a true pout, she had to laugh. “Are you going to stand there and pout all night, or are you going to join me in a bubble bath?” she asked him. When he didn't answer, she shrugged. “Fine, but I’m taking one with or without you,” she started for his bedroom.

He sighed and followed behind her. “That’s not fair. You’re not sisters,” he pointed out.

“The sacred bond of sisterhood has nothing to do with being biological sisters, Castle. It’s about

the shared female experience. I promise you, nothing she said is anything you need to know or worry about. Her safety is not at risk, and she’s not in any kind of trouble. So don’t worry,” she assured him.

“You’re really not going to tell me?” he asked once they were in his bathroom. He started the water in the tub and dropped in some bubble bath.

She placed the bottle of wine and the two glasses near the tub before giving him a smile. “You really want to know?” Seeing him nod, she smiled a little more. “Girl talk.”

“Kate…” he whined.

“No, Castle. That’s all you’re getting from me. Girl talk. That’s what we talked about. If you want anything else, you’re going to have to ask Alexis. And I already promised her that her secrets are safe with me, so you’re not going to be able to trick her and make her think I told you anything to get her to talk,” she informed him. “Now stop pouting, take off your clothes, and get in the tub. Or get out of here so I can enjoy my bubble bath in peace. Those are your options.”

He gave one last huff, crossing his arms. But five minutes later she was settling with her back against his chest in the tub, sipping her glass of wine with her eyes closed, a small smile on her face as his arms wrapped around her.

He placed a soft kiss on her shoulder. "I love seeing you with Alexis like you were today...just not when the two of you team up against me."

She gave a soft chuckle. "I like spending time with her. I meant what I said earlier...she's a great kid. And I care about her a lot."

He smiled, tightening his arms around her. "I love you," he murmured, his nose nuzzling her neck.

"I love you, too," she smiled, turning her head so she could capture his lips for a deep kiss. When she finally broke the kiss, she took another sip of her wine before allowing her body to completely relax back against his, losing herself in his embrace.

xxxxx

So I realize that the detail surrounding Alexis learning to ride the motorcycle is most likely not accurate at all, but it worked for my story, so if you actually do know how to ride a motorcycle and how to teach someone, please just overlook the inaccuracies that I’m sure you’ll spot.

And also, I realize most people assume in fics that Castle’s Hamptons house only has like

4 bedrooms, but I looked and I don’t think it’s ever been said on the show how many rooms it actually has. So for the purposes of this story, it’s going to have 6 bedrooms, because that’s how many I will need it to have, lol. I did look at some places, and it’s not uncommon for Hamptons houses to have that many bedrooms…they are expensive houses, after all.

The next couple of chapters will cover the July 4 holiday…with all the house guests, lol. I hope you guys liked this chapter! I realize there was more Alexis in it that some of you like, but I really want to develop a good relationship between her and Kate, which is something I wanted to see so badly in the show, but we never really got developed. I look forward to your comments!

#castle #caskett #kate beckett #richard castle #castle fanfiction

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oonajaeadira · 5 months

Text

Tree's up.

Hazel (@grogusmum), you're gonna like this.

OH I'M SORRY

DID YOU NOT EXPECT MARI LWYD?

GET OUT THE TREATS IT'S TIME FOR HAVOC.

EPIC RAP BATTLE STARTS NOW.

Okay, so it's not a horse skull, but the sentiment stands.

But for reals, yo, I was WFH today and didn't have much on my plate so I decided to finally start cleaning up the house (it's been a shambles since September because rehearsals then shows then vacations then a busy week). The ofrenda got packed away and the tree came out...

And I gotta be honest, kitkats. I just didn't have it in me this year for the huge roll of lights and all the bulbs.

I'd just done some organizing of my craft stuffs lately and didn't have a place for this mask I got for my Halloween times and absently wondered if it would be fun to put it on the tree.

And then I was like....WAIT. I just unearthed a shitton of ribbon I stashed lately. And recently got all these keys in an auction. And I've had this weird LED light strip forever and haven't put it away or done anything with yet (OMGS Y'ALL, THE COLORS IT CAN DO). So I only dug out my animals and woodsy ornaments, strung up some shiny things, and there you be. Pagan Yule Tree.

Just nobody tell my sister and we'll be fine.

Also, nobody inform my family that the tree wasn't Christian in the first place. It's not gonna go well.

Flashback to my mom visiting once: "Why do you have a menorah? You're not Jewish."

"I have a nativity set and I'm not Christian. I have a tree and I'm not pagan."

"A tree isn't pagan! I have a tree and I'm not pagan."

"You could try."

" And yes you are Christian."

"Make me."

#just felt like a shake up

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theladyragnell · 1 month

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Hello....If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them?

Thanks if you want to answer....

This is a hard one for me, largely because I have a huge recency bias with my own fic! I've improved massively over the years, and even though my fics these days are often less read than the ones from my early days of fandom because I have been in really niche fandoms for a long time now, my recent writing is hands down my best writing and that's what makes me love it.

But, for a scattering of let's say five fics from across the years that are particularly dear to me, let's say:

We're Leaving Our Shadows Behind Us (Tortall, Kel/Neal/Yuki, 70k), an epic that ate my entire fall last year. I think it's good writing, and an interesting take on the canon, just a solid read! I was inspired to write it because I am easily suggestible and my friends are terrible enablers, largely.

a phenomenon no one can explain (The Campaign of Five Dragons (my old D&D campaign), my PC/an NPC, 18k), as a stand in for all my D&D fic, which is for obvious reasons not widely read but which has a lot of writing. I picked this one over, for instance, my Pride & Prejudice AU because I really experimented with POV in this one and I'm proud of that. Inspired by a conversation between myself and my fellow players!

a house down the road from real love (Killjoys, Fancy Lee/D'avin Jaqobis, 16k), which I think is a really solid fic where I started to be very comfortable with and good at canon-based AUs, which are now one of my favorite fic genres to write after many years of largely writing setting AUs! This one is tense and the characterizations worked, and if there were three of me I would have written the next several seasons of this one already. Inspired by prompts, since it was written for the Yuletide fest!

Keep It Kind, Keep It Good, Keep It Right (Les Mis, Enjolras/Grantaire, 13k), solely for the opening scene, which is one of the most evocative bits of character work I've done, I think. And the fic as a whole was inspired solely by that first scene, which was originally written as a ficlet here on tumblr!

You Dance Dreams (Les Mis, Enjolras/Grantaire, 60k), because it's a really solid romance and I'm really proud of what I did with the dance scenes in here! It was inspired partly by another fic I wrote and partly by the sheer thought of the casting in the premise.

#answered asks #dnana 2809 blog

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sleeper9 · 2 months

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Do u have any longer Beatles fics you recommend? (J/p preferred)

WOW I never get asks I’m so excited to answer! I feel like I’m not gonna say anything that’s too surprising but I’ll try my best! You’re also in luck cause I love long ones myself

My absolute favorite right now is the I Need You Darlin ! I’m literally Re-reading it again and I just reread it like 2 months ago. I love it I wanna live in that story. abo

One of my absolute favorite is kissing the blarney it’s so so so sweet and chefs kiss 😘 … it just made me feel all kinds of sweet pain

Next would be the very iconic The Birthday Party . I just absolutely adore this one I’ve read it like 5 times. Just very very funny and angsty and good. The Jumper should also be read if you haven’t cause it’s equally fun and iconic though shorter.

A kind of another short long one is Sunday Driver . Wonderful wonderful tension and angst. John and Paul at a party at Tara Brownes house.

Now if you want a REALLY long one then you’d have to go for the absolutely epic Wednesday Evening Salons series! Technically it doesn’t “end” but considering it’s like over a million words long??? Eh it’s worth it. It covers a LOT of time. It’s probably one of the first mclennon fics I ever read and it had a huge impact on me. I can’t say it’s like the best one to exist but it’s a old classic. I’m pretty sure it took me like 2 months to read. Also Johns written pretty real by which I mean crazy. I like it because it’s realistic. although probably Paul is written a little too nicely.

Boy you’ve been a naughty girl ; iconique, I love in this fandom there’s so much blending and melding of gender and gender roles, it’s very very … good.

I just read On Our Way Back Home. I think probably another staple? Idk. I was pretty engrossed in it… 👍🏼 Paul time travels and has a second chance with John

I also recently read this one off to get nowhere it’s very cute once they get together but also it was not finished 😔. RIP fic

I’ve done art for well how did I get here so obviously I must include that ! Another time travel conscience travel but it’s John to his future.

Some rapid fire ones under the cut

I’m looking at my history and here’s some other random ones I’ve read: Arrow Through Me , Our Version of Events (cute, giddy at John reading fanfic), I can only speak my mind (dumb Paul doesn’t understand feelings, love that), brother dearest , build a ladder to the stars (there’s something about this trans John that somehow reminds me of the John from I need you darlin, anyway I liked it) and For Auld Lang Syne (another tense party!)

There’s also so many I have saved to read I’m only starting to get in to the fanfiction world myself these last few months but I really tried my best!

#personal #asks #fanfic #rec

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mask131 · 1 month

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French fantasy review: Les flammes de la nuit

I do wonder why I make these posts – about French novels that I do not think were translated in English, reviewing them in English on an English-speaking website… I do know that some French people are lurking around under a mask of Englishness, but still, most people here are those that I guess will never have access to the novels I review… But oh well, I’ll do what I’ll do, as bizarre as it may sound: and what I’ll do is talk about the French fantasy.

I already translated a long time ago some articles written about the French fantasy literature, but here I will share my personal thoughts and favorites when it comes to this genre of fantasy that is considered “foreign” and “exotic” by the simple virtue of… not being written in English. France is the land of literature, and has already bred, nursed and thoroughly exploited and theorized the two genres that gave birth to the fantasy and yet are so hard to translate in English: the merveilleux of fables and epics, the fantastique of 19th century supernatural tales… Why wouldn’t France have fantasy too? The name of the genre stays English, unfortunately, but it has enough echoes and roots within our own féeries and surnaturel to find a place prepared for it since centuries…

Anyway, enough lyrical: let’s get into the meat of the subject, let’s dig to the bone, and I want to begin with “Les flammes de la nuit” (The flames of the night) by Michel Pagel.

When I picked up this book I was not expecting anything precisely from it, I was just curious. I had only ever heard of Michel Pagel through a huge and dark series of his called “La Comédie Inhumaine” that everybody loved and that was renowned as a dark and violent fantastique, but I never read it. The reason I picked up this book was due to its relationship with fairytales. If you do not know I am REALLY into fairytale stuff, I even have an entire sideblog just to talk about fairytales ( @adarkrainbow ). And this novel was advertised as being a fairytale subversion, so I thought, let’s get into it! [EDIT: I actually also had heard of Michel Pagel through another work of his that now I will definitively read, Le Roi d’Août, a supernatural historical novel that faithfully retells the biography of the king Philippe Auguste… While filling some historical blanks in his life by the intervention and encounter of the supernatural folks hiding within the French landscape.]

Most notably, when I checked briefly online reviews to see if I should get the book, all agreed on a same thing: all said that the book was absolutely great, with wonderful ideas and powerful characters… until the very end which had disappointed everybody (at least at the time the reviews were made, so by the 2000s/early 2010s). As a result I went into this novel saying to myself “Okay, the beginning and middle will be great, the end will be bad, get ready”. And… what a surprise! The ending was not bad at all. A bit confused and rushed but… it was a good ending. Or rather a fitting ending (because it is not a happy or positive one, nor is it a negative one – it is a grandiose, tragic, bittersweet but hopeful ending perfect for the tone of the novel and the project the author set upon himself). If you ask me, all the reviews were wrong – and I had been deceived for the best, since the novel surpassed what I was expecting. Now, I won’t throw the stone, I actually understand why these readers were disappointed with the ending and I’ll explain why (spoiler: it is a question of context and point of view). For now, I’ll simply say that I greatly love this novel which definitively goes into my top French fantasy novels.

In terms of editions and publications, a few indications… This is one of those typical edition thingies that are so peculiar to France. The novel was originally published as a series of novellas. Four in total, between 1985 and 1987, in the “Anticipations” collection of the Fleuve Noir publishing house (it was still in this era where in France fantasy and sci-fi were sold together as one and the same). Later, the four novellas were collected into one full volume, one novel divided into four parts. This complete volume was published in 2000 (in a small format by the J’ai Lu Poche Fantasy, in a large format by Denoël collection Lunes d'encre), and it is both the version I read and the one most people refer to when talking about “Les flammes de la nuit”. I do not know if the text was edited or slightly rewritten for this new format – I don’t think so, but I have to admit the text felt so much like an early 2000s story I was quite surprised it came from the mid-80s… There’s quite notably the fact the main character is openly bisexual, but hey, the 80s in France were quite a time too… More recently in 2014 Les Moutons Electrique republished the integral in a large format, and then in 2022 in a middle format, proving this novel’s great and enduring success.

[Note: As I am writing this post I made a quick checklist and I just discovered that Michel Pagel actually was the French translator of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys and American Gods, as well as of Gary Gygax’s Monster Manual for D&D… Wow, that was a total surprise – and it does explain some things, I notably see how Neil Gaiman’s writing could have had an influence over this novel…]

Let me briefly set you in the mood the very first pages plunge the reader into… We follow an old man who is travelling on a pilgrimage to a great lake at the center of a medieval kingdom name Fuinör. He isn’t just any old man: it is but one of his masks. He is the Enchanter, a great and powerful wizard as old as the universe itself, a supernatural being known to take many forms, and who can be as much a wild animal of omens as a seducing woman luring knights to an uncertain doom… Once he reaches the great lake, called the Mirror for its still waters form the perfect reflection of the sky and the sun above it, in a great burst of light, the sun disappears… and reappears. But the sun is not golden anymore: it is green. And with the sun everything changed color within Fuinör: the sky is not blue but indigo, the sea is the color of emerald, the trees have blue leaves, human skin is orange… And this is perfectly normal, for in the world of Fuinör, every seven years the sun is reborn above the lake, turning into a different color, and with it everything in the world also changes its hue. And as such, seven year by seven year, the light goes through all the seven colors of the rainbow…

This sets the stage for what “Les flammes de la nuit” is. And it is many, many things, a story which likes the sun of Fuinör undergoes different stages and tones (the serial publication helps this feeling of slow transition and evolution throughout the novel).

The story opens as an open, cynical and dark parody of fairytales – for the world of Fuinör is a world of stock fairytales. It is a world in which, when the king has a daughter, seven fairies, each for each color of the rainbow, arrive to bless her with all the usual gifts – beauty, grace, singing – while carefully avoiding anything like strength or intelligence, for these are male gifts for those destined to rule. It is a world in which, when the queen gives an heir to her king (and there is always only one king and one queen), she must die in labor – and if she happens to survive… then the royal doctor must prepare a certain powder to make sure the queen respects the tradition. It is a world where barons often declare themselves vile rebels and wicked usurpers and try to overthrow the high king… but they are always defeated because the law claims there can only be one rebellion at a time, and each baron must warn in advance the king and let him decide how, when and where he wants to do the battle. It is a world where there is a land for each thing – quite literally. Fuinör is divided into different “countries” each dedicated to a specific area: there is a land of Hunting, where the hunts take place, and any hunting elsewhere is outlawed. There is a land for War, and nobody would ever think of waging war elsewhere than there. There is a land for Love, and all love and romance and sex can only take place within its boundaries. Such as the laws, and the customs, and the traditions, and they have always been since the beginning of time…

Fuinör is a mix of all the classical fairytales and the traditional medieval romance and Arthurian tales – but all taken to an extreme. Fuinör is a world stuck in an endless cycle of loops, where the events all repeat themselves in the same way with predictable end, where everyone is given a specific role and fate since birth, where everything is stuck under an order that has been decided by ominous gods a long time ago, and where no surprise and no disorder can ever happen. The brave knights in shining armor always win the heart of princesses, the high king is always victorious of anyone that tries to take his throne – and if someone ever does, THEY are the rightful high king and the other is the usurper – and the peasants… well who cares, they don’t count, they’re not even considered human, they are just here to work and be background props.

But things will change… Things will change thanks to the Enchanter, who decides that when the new princess of the kingdom is born, little Rowena, she shall receive a gift no other princess ever received… the gift of intelligence. An intelligence that will allow her to understand the absurd logic of her world, and use the sclerosis of archetypes and the rigidity of millennia-old customs to her advantage. An intelligence that will make her greater and more powerful than anyone – an intelligence that will threaten the very existence of Fuinör… Thus is the beginning of “Les Flammes de la Nuit”.

The beginning of the novel, Rowena’s own youth and story, is clearly designed to deconstruct all the archetypes, stereotypes and point out all the bad side of both the generic fairytale (especially Disney’s version of fairytales – the novel is filled with jabs at Disney and the “Americanized” fairytale, the seven fairies being basically Disney’s fairy godmothers mixed with Glinda from The Wizard of Oz MGM movie) and of the Arthurian romance as we know it today. It does not mean Michel Pagel hates those genres, quite the contrary! This book heavily pays homage to both domain, in which Pagel has clearly a great interest. In fact, this book is much more “medieval romance/Arthurian epic” than fairytale in tone, and while anybody who saw the Disney movies or read Perrault will get the fairytale references, I do believe someone with zero knowledge of the Arthuriana will miss a LOT of cultural jokes and clever references in this text. From the get go the Enchanter is clearly supposed to be inspired by Merlin from the Arthurian myth – but not the Disneyified, Americanized Merlin. The original Merlin, Myrddinn, the mythical, legendary, ambiguous and terrifying entity that exists beyond shapes and times and manipulates fate as he pleases… In a similar way, if you haven’t done any research on the evolution of the legend of Avalon you won’t get how twisted and cool the climax within the domain of the Fairies is… But I won’t reveal too much spoilers.

But loving doesn’t mean being uncritical, and this book is clearly the result of Michel Pagel thinking about what he adores, and highlighting in an entertaining way all that is wrong with those classical tales. The first part of the story is centered around Rowena, this intelligent and daring girl born within a world of the worst fairytale stereotypes and outdated medieval chivalry. And as she grows up she gets to explore what others were too afraid to explore, she understands what nobody understood, she gains power nobody had access to before… all the while suffering from what her world really is: unfair, classicist, sexist, misogynistic and abusive. And this begins already the bittersweet tone of the novel. At the same time we have a very funny parody that enjoys dark humor and plays all the code of the traditional “fractured fairytale”, and yet it alternates with very sad and dark moments where Rowena is confronted with the cruelties of such a universe and understands why being an intelligent girl in a world where women are to be submissive and stupid can be dangerous. But all is in fact set and prepared for her own fate, prepared by the Enchanter in person: for Rowena will become… the Witch.

And of course I love this, because who doesn’t get to love a dark retelling of fairytales, who doesn’t like a faithful retelling of medieval epics with an acute sense of modern values clashing with outdated morals, who doesn’t get to love the story of how a girl became a witch-queen? But… I think this is where the “fracture” with a certain part of the audience happened. I will return to the reviews I talked about above: many people thought the ending was worthless or were betrayed by it. Having read the novel I understand why they felt that: in their own words, they were sold and expected a feminist retelling of fairytales about breaking conventions and stereotypes. They were sold the story of a girl being a hero, and the old fairytale clichés being mercilessly mocked and denounced and beaten upon. And that was it for them. As such, yes, the ending probably disappointed them… Because it isn’t what the story is about.

It is made clear in the beginning of the story: being a Witch is not a pleasant thing. It is not a power fantasy. It might look like it, and Rowena uses it as such, but we are clearly warned that a Witch is still an unpleasant, dangerous and sometimes disgusting existence which will require suffering, both inflicted by the Witch and received by her. It is in such a path Rowena sets herself upon – and this is part of a greater scope of things. Rowena is the main character of the novel, but she is part of a wider plot by the Enchanter. The Enchanter wants to break the endless, frozen cycle of Fuinör. He wants to destroy those paralyzing traditions and this unnatural order. He wants to plunge back the world into chaos – a benevolent, needed, positive chaos, but a chaos still. And one of the very strong messages of this tale is: a need to go beyond Manicheism. To go beyond simplistic duality or archetypal characters. What Rowena, and the Enchanter, and others later, bring is complexity. The entire point of the novel is to go beyond the idea that there is all good and all bad, clear cut good and evil, black and white. As such, slowly as the cosmic battle wages on, as the Tradition and the Divine Law unravel, the characters grow into shades of gray as all their values, their positions and their allegiances are redefined, put to test or exposed, as the very machine of the universe starts to be pulled apart. Characters that start out as nice and lovable heroes turn into selfish villains. Characters that appear as flawed jerks and unsympathetic narrators learn from their mistake and grow heroic and wise. Courageous warriors grow into cowards, figures of sanity become mad, and this entire novel is the story of one huge revolution where everything changes: moralities, social hierarchies, laws of justice, and even genders! (The novel notably features an exploration of non-binary genders through one specific character – or three depending on how you count it – not including the various shapeshifting of the supernatural entities, which again helps make it resonate with a modern audience despite being around for quite a long time)

As such, no, this story is not a feminist power fantasy, and those that go in expecting this will be disappointed. It is a much, much larger and complex story about an entire world, about this fictional place born out of the classic fairytales and the medieval romances and the Arthuriana, and how this thing is confronted with its own choice of “evolve or die”. And this is still a very powerful and admirable story, which at the same plays subverts tropes, while also playing many clichés and stereotypes straight, but with a clear knowledge of this. Some people in the reviews said they were disappointed that ultimately, it seemed that Michel Pagel, in trying to break down and denounce clichés, ended up himself reasserting those same clichés. And I honestly do not think it is the case – as the novel is rather a strong defense of “We should get rid of all clichés and stereotypes, because they’re always going to trap us, no matter on which side they are”. But again, I can’t reveal too much without spoiling this long modern epic.

A good example of why for example this novel isn’t a pure “feminist fantasy” as many believed: Rowena is not the only main character. There’s another one, a “male counterpart” so to speak of the Witch-Queen in training. A character who doesn’t really have a name (well he has one but it is kind of a spoiler domain), and whose own backstory forms the second part of the novel (or the second novella of the series). A character who lives in a different part of Fuinör, and also should have been trapped in a cycle of millennia-old rituals and binding traditions and unfair customs, but whose fate changes completely due to the interventions of the Witch and the Enchanter… Except that, whereas with Rowena we had a bittersweet parody of Disney movies and traditional fairytales, with this second character we rather explore a deconstruction and attack of a different type of folktales. There is notably a brutal takedown of the whole “Journey of the Hero” system and the “Monomyth” idea. And I don’t say “brutal” lightly: this part of the novel is very, very brutal, physically speaking. Because this second main character is the helpful companion on the road in fairytales that helps the hero get the girl while himself having nothing. He is also the stock archetype of the Fool doomed to make mistakes and be ridiculed or punished. And he is the False Pretender, the False Hero of fairytales here to put in value the True Hero… Except we are told the story through his point of view. Except he is not evil, he is a guy who is trying his best but is put in an unfair position and only gets endless bullying. Except the True Hero doesn’t seem to be deserving of his position, and the question is raised of “Maybe the other guy should have been the Hero”… But here we shift into a fantasy version of what Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” was and we fully explore the magical dystopia that is Fuinör.

Overall I do have to say… I think so far the closest thing I have seen in terms of overall tone and ambiance, in the English-speaking world, to compare these works… would be Dimension 20’s season “Neverafter”. Both works deal with a very funny parody but also very dark twisting of fairytales and folktales. Both deal with characters being abused and going through horrors at the end of great cosmic powers and otherworldly narrators. Both tread between comedy and horror ; and both deal with the protagonists’ attempt at breaking endless cycles set upon by fairies (because, in both Pagel’s novel and Dimension 20, the fairies are one of the numerous antagonists as the ruthless and terrifying enforcers of the “laws of fairytales” that get everybody stuck in their roles and functions). Of course, the two works are very different beyond that… But there is a common bone.

A final element I need to add so that you get a full understanding of this novel: Michel Pagel placed his book under the patronage of Shakespeare. And if the fact every part opens with a quote from one of Shakespeare’s play, from Hamlet to Macbeth passing by Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and more, wasn’t enough, anyone versed in Shakespearian studies will see how among the many archetypes and stock tropes of the novel, those of Shakespeare also regularly pop up. Someone once wrote that this novel started out as a fairytale parody, but slowly evolved into a Shakespearian tragedy, and I cannot agree more. It does start out as a dark and morbid but entertaining parody – and then things get really brutal, really violent, really sad, really serious, and we enter a terrible and dreary fantasy, but still very poetic and very human, that moves towards a universe where all of Shakespeare’s greatest cruelties fit right at home. The novel most notably has a lot, a LOT of fun exploring the Shakespearian archetype of the “Fool”. There’s almost two handfuls of characters that each is meant to explore a different aspect of the Shakespearian Fool, each expressing a difference nuance of it (the famous non-binary character is one of them, paying homage to the typical gender-plays and gender-questioning within Shakespeare’s plays) – and I am glad to be a Shakespeare enjoyer when reading this novel because again, a random person with zero Shakespeare knowledge would miss a lot of things. (Which again is I believe the reason the Internet reviews attacked this novel, there is a certain degree of medieval and literary knowledge needed to get the parts of this novel that pay homage to the older texts and more ancient roots of the clichéd, Disneyified myths we have today… Without it the novel can still be read, but it might seem much weirder and bleaker than it truly is)

Finally a flaw, because there needs to be a flaw in every review, it can’t all be glowing: I do admit that of the four parts composing this novel, the fourth one did felt unbalanced. Notably the author seemed to spend too much time, description and effort on characters barely introduced (which at the ending climax of a story is not good), and not enough on the characters we were following since the very beginning… But I will blame that on the fact the fourth part was originally meant to be an independent novella read one year after the last part was published. I do believe that, while putting the full series in one volume is quite convenient if you want to buy something to read over holidays, it does make one feel a bit tired by the end since you literally absorb four years of writing into one go… So, my advice would be to enjoy this book by making pauses between each part, to not do an “overdose” that would be too abrupt.

Or two flaw, I feel generous: when it comes to the second part, it felt a tad bit repetitive. A tad bit too much repetitive. I get that we are supposed to have a hopeful character that is trying his best to make things work and obtain what he wishes for, and we are supposed to fully get the injustice of the situation and the hardness of this world… But precisely because of how it explores casual violence and vicious brutality, the repetitiveness is felt more. It’s a type of “break the cutie” (who isn’t here so much a “cutie” as a morally neutral human being) scenario, and I am not well placed to say if the author did just enough or too much.

[Edit: I do love how the original covers for the 80s series tried their best to make it seem like a full horror series... when it is not]

#fantasy novel #fantasy #book review #fantasy book #french literature #french novel #michel pagel #les flammes de la nuit #french fantasy #medieval romance #dark fairytale #neverafter #fairytale parody #deconstruction #subversion #shakespearian #shakespeare

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rocknrollsalad · 4 months

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☃️ characters/pairings: steddie, clarkson

❄️ @it-gets-worse-at-night "requested" some snowed in steddie and I felt too compelled to deliver. So here's the boys going to get supplies after a few days snowed in the munson trailer

🛷 content/trigger warnings: being trapped inside, snowstorms, loads of discussions about various sexual activities, implied sex, injury discussions, couples fighting, heavily implied drug use, pov switch

😚 word count: 4660

“Wayne practically threw you off that porch,” Steve said as he crowded into Eddie’s space.

“That’s just how he is, you wouldn’t understand.”

“We’ve been trapped inside your trailer with him and Scott for three days, I kind of want to push you out the door and send you on a meaningless chore.”

Eddie stopped to look at Steve, “You don’t mean that.”

Scrambling to a stop of his own, trying not to regret the borrowed boots, Steve gave Eddie a wide-eyed stare. “We’re all on top of each other in a tin can, Ed. There’s no power, no hot water, and we're running out of food. We can hear Wayne chew from your room. With the door closed. Where's the fun?”

“Oh, that’s nothing new,” Eddie said with a laugh and got himself started again, carefully taking steps on what they were hoping was the road. “You’d have never survived the storm of ‘78, things were out for a week. I had to climb on the roof so many times.”

“I was alive in ‘78,” Steve tossed back, not even trying to hide the annoyance.

“Yeah, it was probably real tough in that castle.”

Steve didn’t miss that Eddie wasn’t looking at him. Obviously, he’d made a misstep here and not the expected ones into a ditch or on some patch of ice. However, they had been caged up and Steve wasn’t the sort to just sit and take shit either. “If you want to know the truth, your trailer is way easier to keep warm and I didn’t pay enough attention in science class to know the fire I’d made was trying to heat the whole house.”

“Yeah, but your parents knew.”

“Maybe, they were in Boca. It’s sort of their thing. They don’t really like winter.”

“And why weren’t you with them?”

“Because I was thirteen and the last thing I wanted to do was go hang out at some resort with a bunch of grandmas. I asked to stay.”

And like that, Steve had Eddie back. With a little jump and turn, more than he should have been trying, Eddie was walking backward. Huge grin on his face as he said, “Good to know you’re not one of those guys really into old women.”

“I was thirteen, my tastes hadn’t formed yet,” Steve scrunched his features together, mocking Eddie.

“So that’s why you asked Mrs. Allaway if you could get her anything while we’re out. God, I’ve got to be one epic disappointment.”

“At this point if it were between you in this storm and the grandmas on the beach, I hate to say it…”

Clutching his chest in a gesture that brought the disc sled they were towing up to smack him in his knees, Eddie played his part. Wounded and not walking, it would normally be amusing but Steve wished there were bushes to be seen so he could shove Eddie into them.

Stopping just short of colliding, Steve rolled his eyes. “Mush! Let's go.”

“You’re so cranky. Where's this guy been all my life? Like, yowza. Who needs all these layers with you making me this hot?”

“I’m just not used to being s-so supervised,” Steve snapped. Immediately he flinched at the sound of his own voice. He hadn’t meant for that to come out but they’d been circling it enough the compliant sprouted legs.

“Oh, alright, yeah. Let it out, man,” Eddie laughed, unbothered.

“I was supposed to take you out but Wayne said the weather was gonna turn and, whatever, yeah. Sure, he was right but, man, we should have gone to my place. They know everything we do, I can’t even kiss you without a comment.”

Eddie pressed closer, as near as he could get without them touching. Or they might have been, they were both wrapped in enough layers that Steve couldn’t be sure. “You could now.”

“You know what’s why they kicked us out right?”

“Because you want to kiss me?” Eddie said through a laugh.

“No, because they were smart enough to get the trailer to themselves. Your uncle is absolutely giving it to our old science teacher right now.”

Gagging, Eddie stepped back. “Thanks for that image.”

An evil grin flashed in place of laughter, poised in his growing frustration. “I'm just saying and it could have been us if someone hadn’t ruined it.”

“Who, Scott?” Eddie asked with that innocent confusion he was too good at faking.

“Yeah, him,” Steve deadpanned, pushing past Eddie to carry on. It was a long walk to civilization. “Definitely not you with your ‘you can borrow clothes! We’ve got enough to fit you!’ eagerness.”

“How was I supposed to know?”

“If it was any more obvious, Wayne and Scott would have caught on. I mean, I wouldn't have had to say anything. I mean, what? 'Why do YOU two go and we’ll stay here because I haven’t got off in four days and, well, ya know what? Really if you just check the mail the problem would be sorted' It wasn't even subtext, man.”

Eddie covered his mouth but Steve still heard the laugh. “Look, I wanted to get out of the house.”

“I know and you needed to, you’re climbing the walls, but also we could have used that energy in a better way than a two-hour quest through the snow or whatever you called it.”

“We could…fool around out here.”

Steve didn’t respond, just waved his hand over his body to present the biggest obstacle. Whether he meant all the layers or being without them, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps both.

“Alright fine, then we do a little over-the-clothes action. It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve cum in your pants,” Eddie said with a level of pride that did things to Steve.

He was almost willing to take him up on the offer. Again, it wouldn’t take much effort. “As much as I’d love to spend the rest of the walk to the store with my dick frozen to my leg hairs…”

The act dropped as Eddie paused to entertain Steve’s statement.

“I wouldn’t love that,” Steve whispered, glaring at Eddie. Shocked that needed to be said.

“So, fine. We go back then.”

“And say what? Mr. Munson? Mr. Clarke? I really need to fuck Eddie right now so if you could go get the groceries we were halfway to, that’d be swell.”

“Why did you call him Mr. Munson in that scenario?”

Steve scrubbed his hand over what stinging cold skin he still had exposed.

“And we’re not halfway. A quarter of the way at best.”

“Eddie, I’m going to murder you. I’m going to murder you and leave your body in the snow then I’m going to jerk off in your bed when your uncle comes out looking for you.”

“I mean, that sounds like an amazing night.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Him too, huh?”

“You know that movie where the guy goes crazy and tries to kill his wife in the tree maze?”

“You’re so close but yes.”

“I get it.”

“All work and no play, huh?”

There wasn’t anything Steve could say. He was aware of his sour mood which was because of so many things other than his ability to have a bit of fun with Eddie. Being trapped was huge but they were out walking around so maybe it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

Hearing over and over how it’s just a snowstorm and everything would be fine was also going to bring Steve to murder. Like Wayne and Scott had any clue what they’d been through, the horrors Steve knew and the way feeling helpless ate at him. Sure it wasn’t the same but the feelings were too close for Steve’s liking.

Add to that Steve didn’t think people were meant to spend this many consecutive hours together. He was ready for his solitude back. And for the snow to leave.

Wayne was taking care of them and well. He knew all the tricks and how to make things work, he kept the peace pretty well, and Steve likely was being as difficult as Eddie. They probably both needed to be kicked out.

“I think I’m just gonna walk back to my place after we get you loaded up.”

“What? Why? You’re going to make me carry everything back by myself?”

“You have the sled.”

“It’ll be heavy though! You have all those muscles!”

Steve rolled his eyes but took the compliment.

“Look, it’s not a full plan,” Eddie started. “But maybe you’re right. We can go back.”

“How?”

“If you faked hurt.”

With a shake of his head, Steve said he didn’t understand and waited for Eddie to offer more.

“I was thinking about it, right? You have to be the one who’s hurt because you’re a guest and my uncle can’t demand you go to the doctor since you’re not his kid. Even though I’m the better actor.”

“You’re more dramatic, it’s not the same thing.”

“One day we’re going to be stuck in the snow without Wayne to save u-no wait, that wouldn't be a problem wouldn’t it?”

“Probably not.”

“Well, being bitchy now doesn’t melt the snow or whatever so we’ve got my plan or we go to the store and return. Together.”

“Let’s hear it,” Steve resigned.

“You’re hurt, right? Something easy, no broken bones or anything, so you just have to have bed rest and aspirin. I get you back to the trailer in one piece since I'm obviously the hero of this story. Wayne and Scott go get supplies since we failed. Blammo! The house to ourselves.”

“So, what? We were goofing off when we weren’t supposed to be, I got hurt, and we didn’t make it to the store.”

“Perfect, right.”

“More than enough for me,” Steve said, spinning on his heel and heading back the way they came.

Getting out of the trailer wasn’t all it was cracked up to be in this sort of cold. They’d made it a considerable distance and Steve felt like that part was out of his system. Maybe he just needed to take a little walk every day like some sort of pet. However, he was nearly sprinting back to the trailer. Desperate for warmth and the promised alone time in said warm trailer.

Eddie struggled to keep up but his snowsuit didn’t fit like it used to, he claimed. Limiting his movements. He had to shout to stop Steve before he rounded into the trailer park, they had to sell this. And Eddie was right, acting wasn’t Steve’s thing so he called upon everything he had. This rested on his performance. So he climbed onto the sled and let Eddie pull him from there.

Alerting the whole place to the problem, Eddie called out Wayne's name long before reaching the Munson home. Steve wanted to needle and make jokes about getting into Eddie’s head and what the men were up to but he’d done enough damage today.

As expected, Wayne came scrambling out onto the front porch, nearly kicking through the snow that had piled up from the roof. Steve watched the emergency response turn into disappointment.

“What the hell have you boys done now?”

“If you didn’t want us to play in the snow you shouldn’t have given us a sled,” Eddie said.

“Here I thought you were grown up enough,” Wayne mocked. He stuffed a hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

“Wayne,” Eddie said with so much seriousness. “It’s a sled. It’s bright green. I’m an adult but I’m still human.”

Steve shrugged a shoulder, it was a valid point.

As Wayne exhaled the first drag, he waited for an explanation. Something people seemed to do a lot around Eddie. Steve wasn’t sure if it was annoyance or understanding they all had but it was neat that they all shared it.

“Maybe we were goofing off a little bit, whatever. We’ve been inside for days! If I crashed into him because no one can control one of these things then that’s between me, him, and the woodland creatures. Especially the birds that all scattered at the deafening sound of his knee…”

“Dislocating,” Steve filled in.

Steve’s contribution stopped Wayne and he looked down at him on his pathetic sled, snow-covered and freezing. Again, he waited for more to be said.

“My knee popped outta place. It’s happened before. I was a bit worried about it because, ya know,” Steve motioned around him to the snow, “But it popped back in so I knew it wasn’t gonna be that bad.”

Wayne grumbled.

“It’s not a big deal, everything kind of goes black for a minute, like,” Steve held his hands out past his head and brought them to a point.

Scott appeared over Wayne’s shoulder looking like he’d run a few laps around the trailer to get here. “Is he alright?”

“He’s an idiot but he’ll live,” Wayne said, tapping the cigarette over the snow and having Steve oddly feel like part of the family. “Get him inside, Ed.”

They’d pulled it off. Steve was really starting to doubt things for a second but it looked like this was working. The hardest acting of all of this was not celebrating. Talking about his knee was easy, he retold a basketball injury, but this was different.

Not as hard, though, as having to act like he couldn’t walk. Wayne wasn’t looking at them but he was always watching. Eddie wasn’t much help. Had Steve seriously been hurt, crawling into the trailer would have been easier than this Three Stooges brand entrance into the home.

Steve ended up moving himself up the stairs though, backward and very carefully. Eddie crashed into the walls of the trailer trying to get Steve on his feet, and a very doting Scott came and helped Steve hop to the couch. He prayed he was selling this but between the concern and the clown, his performance was overshadowed.

The performance was worth it when Scott helped Steve get his leg up on the coffee table (with a few pillows, of course) and then instructed Eddie to “help Steve get out of some of those layers”. The overzealous “gladly” that Eddie rushed out had Scott turning several shades of red and spinning in a circle, not sure if he should chastise Eddie or leave the room. Steve wondered if now was the right time to tell him he’d skipped a button in getting dressed. Really pile on the embarrassment.

As usual, he was saved by Wayne who showed up dressed in his winter gear. It wasn’t anything close to Eddie’s navy blue, puffy overalls but it looked as old and well-used. Mission-driven Wayne was not a man one talked to. Eddie fell back immediately, getting out of the way.

Scott moved forward. “You’re not going out there alone!”

“You stay and tend to the boys, I’ll be fine,” Wayne answered, not welcoming a discussion as he grabbed his scarf and gloves.

Risking their whole plan, Eddie and Steve’s heads whipped toward each other. They hadn’t planned for this.

“I’m a science teacher, not a nurse, there’s nothing I can do for him that Eddie can’t. I’m not having you wandering around in the snow alone.”

“Nothing your teaching stuff could do for us out there either,” Wayne offered.

Again, Eddie and Steve shared a look but it was sympathy for Scott. And a bit of guilt for bringing this on.

“We’re absolutely going to pretend you didn’t say that because I doubt you mean it. Give me two minutes.”

Wayne growled but he stopped wrapping his scarf around his neck. As Scott dashed off to find things to stay warm, Wayne turned his attention to the boys. “He alright?”

“I dunno, I think we might have to amputate,” Eddie answered.

Steve looked up at his boyfriend confused but it brought a laugh from Wayne. Things weren’t as bleak as they looked and somehow Eddie knew that. He deserved a bit more credit than he got sometimes. Steve probably owed him an apology or two.

“Well, I trust you know what you’re doing. Give him a belt to bite down on and remember bone is harder to cut through than you think.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Eddie said in a way that made it sound like he’d done it a dozen times.

Whatever was going on made the room feel lighter. Steve may not have understood but he was thankful.

“We let a lot of the heat out getting you two inside so-”

“Yup,” Eddie said.

“And…sorry for before. You two were just having fun.”

“We were being dumbasses too. We knew better.”

“Nothing wrong with that you just, you gotta be careful. You both are more fragile than you used to be.”

Eddie’s shoulders dropped but Steve stared at Wayne in disbelief. Was all of this because they’d gotten hurt and not because they didn’t finish the mission? The guilt started to weigh enough Steve feared an actual injury. He wasn’t hurt and they were dumbasses. Not anyone worth this much fuss.

Scott showed up looking ready to explore the Arctic, he even had goggles. He was too easy to make fun of. How this man survived middle school on a daily basis had to be a miracle. Steve knew he was at his meanest then, honing the craft if you will, and Scott begged to be mocked.

As if reading their minds, Wayne shook his head but nodded toward the door. Moving things along in a way only he could. Giving them another look, a nod of their own, Scott followed Wayne.

Hot on his heels, Eddie stood in the doorway as he sent the troops off to war. “We were going to spend all the money on beer and sour candy so, ya know, don’t do that. Or do. I still want some candy.”

Steve didn’t need to see Wayne to know the eye roll the comment received. “Close the damn door, boy.” was the parting comment.

Like that, Steve and Eddie had the place to themselves. They got out of the grunt work and they got a weird bonus of being cared for. Maybe Steve could cook dinner or something. At a minimum, he could stop complaining. He was building quite the debt for this and didn't have a clue how to pay it off and ease his conscience.

Eddie peered through the window, fogging up the glass as his uncle stomped his way out of the trailer park. While Eddie kept watch, Steve shed some layers. Waiting for the go-ahead, the all clear. If there was going to be this much guilt, they better do what they came back for!

---

Scott stood on what he thought was the Munson’s driveway, looking back at the homestead he’d been lucky enough to have through this storm. Normally he weathered the snowdays alone. It was never a hardship, there were plenty of projects calling his name and even the loss of electricity didn’t stop him. Spending the days trapped inside with three other people didn’t look like the preferable choice but Scott hadn’t minded.

At least until cabin fever started to claim everyone else. Steve was the first to go. They were twelve hours away from rash decisions or a knife fight. Wayne was next but it was hard to know if it was cabin fever or the teenagers they were crammed in the trailer with. Eddie seemed to not have an off switch and Steve was teetering on the brink. They'd drive anyone to madness.

Thankfully they had their own space but without the distraction of music, television, and the hum of general appliance usage, Scott and Wayne could hear their every conversation. To make sure they didn’t fall victim to the same, Scott and Wayne kept it light and did a lot of reading.

Watching Wayne stomp down the steps to blow right past where Scott stood, they were either going to find a way to say even less as they walked to the store or too much was going to be said. As weird as it was, Scott hoped for the latter. Wayne wasn’t great at talking about what he felt but there was more going on here and it shouldn’t stay in.

Scott struggled to find the boy's tracks, the wind filled in most disturbances. Soon it’d all be compacted and turned into a slushy mess. For now, it was almost majestic. The sort of stuff that made Scott wish he was better with a camera.

He slipped a few times, the soft snow crunching down further on one side than the other and costing him his balance. Wayne would have caught him, surely, or at least laughed along but he was already in the next county. If he’d gotten any farther ahead of Scott, he’d have to take offense. The neon green sled helped Wayne stay visible at least.

Near the end of the street, Wayne turned around and closed the gap. “We shouldn’t have asked them to go, they aren’t responsible enough.”

“Try again.”

“They’re just kids, Scott. It’s our job to go and what’s worse, we’re fooling around like we’re the teenagers.”

There was a drastic shift in attitude from one comment to the next. Scott was pretty sure the problem here after that second addition but he stood tall and firm. “Keep going.”

“What if something serious had happened? Eddie was in the hospital for eight months, Steve half that time. They could have done something, who knows. I mean...”

“They could have but they didn’t," Scott said firmly. "We can’t worry about the could haves.”

“I just saw Steve on that sled and thought they could have been hit by some idiot thinking they could drive in this and we wouldn’t have known. We’d’ve been at home complaining about how long they were taking.”

“Okay,” Scott said, nodding and taking this in.

He didn’t have any kids of his own, adoptive or biological. Scott had far too many opinions on raising kids but he dealt with parents choices day in and day out. Of course, there were ones he worried about sending home each day but it was nothing like this. Eddie was Wayne's responsibility, his burden.

Wayne was an amazing parent and this showed why. Doing his best to take in the concern and not respond too coldly or calculated, Scott touched the sleeve of Wayne’s coat to let him know he was there.

“You wanna say something ‘bout them being fine, don’t you?”

“Is that going to change how you feel?”

“No.”

“Then it’s not helpful. At some point, you’ll have to let the boys make their own mistakes. They’re adults now and they aren’t always going to have you to come home to but that doesn’t mean you have to stop worrying.”

“Hmmm.”

Scott smiled, “Those two boys know that no matter what happens, they can call on you and that’s not something most have in life. You getting a few extra gray hairs means they know they’re loved.”

“Well, we don’t gotta go that far.”

“But it means you have to let them try to fly too.”

“Y’know, I’ve never been able to stop Eddie from doing much but it really should have been me and you that did this in the first place.”

“Aw, are you saying you didn’t have fun being the ones left behind?”

“Now, don’t fight dirty, Mr. Clarke.”

“I’m simply pointing out that sometimes it’s okay to let them try. Fun, even.” though it couldn’t be seen, Scott raised an eyebrow.

It all earned a laugh from Wayne that felt like a major victory rather than a half-a-second reaction. This wasn’t going to ruin their day, it was barely going to ruin the next five minutes, so Scott walked along quietly and left Wayne to his thoughts. Enjoying the peace of mind that things weren’t going to explode any time soon. The volatile conditions weren’t going to go away but if they continued to be careful, they’d survive this.

By the walk home, Scott was tired but filled the crisp air with words. Lamenting the state of the store and how overly optimistic it’d been to think there’d be anything worthwhile left this deep into the storm. If they couldn't drive Wayne's truck through town, deliveries weren't getting in either. Which brought on other worries but it was too late for any preventative measures.

There wasn’t a drop of liquor left in the store, not even cooking sherry, but they did get sour candies for the boys. Wayne had to suffer and get a different brand of cigarettes but Scott wasn’t about to add withdrawals to this situation so he'd put them in the cart and silenced the complaints. Just because he had more patience than the rest of them, didn’t mean it couldn’t run out.

Back at the trailer, things were suspiciously quiet. They’d made good use of their time alone given it smelled like a family of skunks had a party under the trailer. Wayne shook his head, not a battle he wanted to (or could) fight. It was something Scott was still getting used to, especially the reflex of years spent with the expectation he would kick down doors and put a stop to recreational drug use.

Wayne traipsed into Eddie’s room with the comfort that comes with “I pay the bills here” and gave the boys the rundown. What was out, what they got, who they’d run into. Steve was lying on the bed with his knee propped up on every spare pillow the trailer had.

As Wayne spoke, Scott glanced from Steve to Eddie; something happened here. Nothing looked out of place and neither of them seemed different but Scott knew something was going on. For a moment he thought about asking, to point out the way things felt, but he’d spent too much time scurrying after Wayne in the snow to ruin the good mood it’d brought back.

Instead, Scott listened to Wayne talk about some guy he knew from work. Through narrowed eyes and finally unfogged glasses, Scott watched the kids. Trying to decide if it was the weed or they’d broken grandma’s heirloom vase or whatever the Munson equivalent was. Scott waited for Wayne to make his exit. The promise of some meal that didn’t make sense to Steve or Scott came as Wayne walked out to hang his winter clothes up to dry.

“I don’t know what you two are up to,” Scott whispered, pointing a finger from one to the other before settling it on Eddie. “But I know it’s something and your uncle is out there feeling like a failure as a parental figure because he sent you two out in the storm. Which means whatever it is stays a secret. You hear me?”

They both nod, wide-eyed and sitting a little straighter in the bed.

“Good. Because if he finds out–”

“There’s nothing to find out,” Eddie said, falling so easily into that cornered cat persona.

Meanwhile, Steve looked like he’d been stopped by the police. Caught mid-crime and coming to terms with the terrifying prospects of prison, he shifted his injured leg. Scott silently emphasized the warning before saying “Good.”

With that, he left. He’d spent so long trying not to be Mr. Clarke and to not see those two as former students but it was the only way he knew how to do something like that. Rather than sit around and watch it implode, Scott fell back on the skills he’d honed. If he used them for good it couldn’t possibly be a problem, right?

And the man standing in the kitchen clutching a cup of coffee like a lifeline, with its warmth and normalcy, as he assessed their haul was the best cause of them all.

#will i remember to put this on ao3 later??? probably not #steddie #clarkson #not for a challenge but possessed by the spirit #hey everyone come see what i wrote now #also i could be easily pushed into another over lapping third part

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