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topguncortez · 1 year

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Do I Wanna Know?

synopsis: It's your friend's bachelorette party, and she drags you to The Hard Deck where a certain brunette stripper catches your attention

word count: 3.3k

warnings: stripping, mentions of drugs, mentions of violence, mentions of being cheated on, sexual tension, mentions of prostitution

A strip club was not on the top of your list of things to be at this Saturday night. You could probably name about a hundred other places you would rather be at, but it was your best friend’s bachelorette party. Even though you had been hailed with the lovely title of maid of honor, you left the party details up to her sorority sisters from college.

You loved Malia with all your heart. She had been your longest friend, sticking by your side through everything. Your bond was really sealed when she stood in the same handicap bathroom stall as you took a pregnancy test at some random Walmart. But that bond had become somewhat weak when she went to NYU for college and you stayed back and got a two year degree at the local community college.

“A strip club?!” Malia’s cheery voice sounded out from the middle of the party bus. Also, not your idea whatsoever.

Malia seemed to be having the time of her life as she wore a white fringe dress with a sash across her body and in glittery gold writing it spelled ‘future bride’. One of her sorority sister’s had given her a sparkly white cowboy hat to try and complete the look. Everyone else was told to wear black, so you dug out a black off the shoulder dress from the deepest parts of hell, aka your closet. You were surprised that you even still had this dress.

“Everyone deserves one last dance!” Jessica, no Jennifer, you were pretty sure her name was Jennifer, shouted and held up her red solo cup. That was one thing you didn’t like about sorority girls, they never seemed to grow up.

You walked somewhat behind the group as they got off the bus, your feet were starting to ache from bar hopping earlier. You were probably the more sober one among the group, choosing to opt out of the fireball shots at the last club. One of the girl’s gave her name to the bouncer, a tall tan man with a mustache, who smirked and then walked their group into the club. You rolled your eyes at the sign above the door.

‘The Hard Deck’

You knew it was a play on words since the club was near the port. San Diego was known for its dirty dingy clubs that were more than just strip clubs. With the military base so close by, restless sailors were always looking for a way to blow off some steam when they reached port. But this club was a lot nicer than most, whoever owned it obviously took pride in their business.

The bouncer led your group to a section right at the front of the stage. The sorority sister who booked the section winked at the bouncer before he left. You huffed as you sat down in a chair as far away from the stage as you could get.

“Hey,” You turned your head to see Malia sitting down next to you, “Thank you for coming out tonight. I know none of this can be easy. It totally sucks that Justin broke-”

“Let’s not talk about my sham of an engagement,” You shook your head and grabbed Malia’s hand in yours, “This is your night. You’re going to be the future Missus Malia Pfifer.”

Malia squealed and stomped her feet. You couldn’t help but giggle at her excitement. Malia always reminded you of a golden retriever, constant energy, always a ball of sunshine. You were truly happy for her and her fiance Max, it was the timing of everything that couldn’t have been worse.

A week ago you had walked in on your fiance Justin, who was Max’s best friend and best man, in between the legs of your coworker. He had tried to justify the scene, telling you it was an accident, but you were smart enough to know that you don’t just fall in between someone’s bare legs. You threw the ring at him, as well as some other items until he got out of your house. You called Malia in tears and she was over so quickly you knew she broke traffic laws. She spent the night helping you dump glitter into boxes of Justin’s clothes and put them in your driveway for him to get in the morning. You knew that if you needed to hide a body, Malia would be the one to call.

But you also didn’t want to be the dark shadow in her way. Her wedding was three weeks away, and this was her night to let loose before she took on the role of the doting wife. She had already accepted that role so well and there weren't any legal ramifications about it.

“Well, as long as you are having fun. And hey! Who knows, maybe you’ll meet your future husband here!” Malia smiled.

“This isn’t Magic Mike, Mals,” You chuckled. Malia just shrugged and kissed your cheek as a redhead, who you think is named Amanda, walked over with a fat stack of ones and a tray of shots. You sucked in a breath and looked around the club. If you couldn’t beat them, you might as well join them.

— — —

Everyone had their own pre-show prep. Some of the guys went over their new dances in their heads, some of them lathered oil on their abs to make them shine just that much more, some popped pills and snorted white lines on a tray, some of them did a last minute workout to make their muscles plump a bit more, and some of them sat on their phones and looked through tiktoks.

Rooster was the last of the options.

He felt confident in his dances for the night. He hardly changed up his routine from week to week, knowing that simple was better. He worked out a couple hours before work so he had time to shower and knew for a fact that he didn’t stink. He also hated putting excess baby oil on him, it made everything slippery and he has had one too many slips on stage. And he stayed away from the drugs that floated around the locker room. He had seen one too many guys get hooked on the junk and fired for not being able to perform. Stripping was about all Rooster had going for him, and he was not about to do something stupid.

No, working at a strip club wasn’t what he imagined he would be doing when he was a little kid. He thought he was going to be a pilot, but one stupid mistake cost him his whole future. He had nowhere to go, no higher education than a high school diploma, and was facing jail time. That’s when he stumbled across the Hard Deck. It was the middle of the day, and from first glance he thought it was just a regular bar, but when he walked in, he quickly learned it was not. He was about to turn around when a sweet voice called out to him.

“Boys! I told you to keep the bathrooms clean! I am not your damn maid!”

Rooster looked up from his phone, hearing that voice that had called out to him all those years ago. Penny Benjamin, aka their house mother and partial owner of the club. She had welcomed Bradley with a plate of food and a place to lay his head. The only thing she asked in return, is that he worked to pay his keep. At the time, Rooster didn’t know a single thing about dancing let alone stripping, but Penny told him not to stress about it. Declan, the MC and mainshow boat took Rooster under his wing and taught him everything he needed to know about working the stage and getting the tips.

“Sorry mom,” Rooster said and gave Penny a lopsided smile.

“Not your fucking mother, Rooster,” Penny pointed at him, “Keep this shit clean, or I’m taking wages for a cleaning fee.”

“Payback said there’s a bridal party in the house,” Jake said, taking a seat next to Bradley. He was one of the ones who lathered more oil than necessary onto his abdomen, “You know what that means.”

“Horny middle aged women trying to pull my pants down?” Bradley said, looking up at him.

“No, more tips man,” Jake rolled his eyes, “Bachelorette girls are fucking crazy. Fucking wink at them and their pulling their panties to the side.”

Bradley tossed his phone onto the counter in front of him and looked at himself in the mirror. His hair started getting a little long, but the women in the club seemed to dig it. He trimmed up his mustache a bit and put some light makeup over his face. That was another thing Bradley never thought he would do, put makeup on his face. But Declan said it helped bring in tips, so Bradley wasn’t complaining as he put foundation powder on his nose.

“Declan also wants us to do It’s Raining with the new kid,” Jake said and Bradley groaned. He looked over to the other side of the room where Bob, the newest recruit, was going over the steps to It’s Raining. It used to be a trio between Bradley, Jake and Javy. Bob wasn’t the average looking stripper. He wasn’t supper ripped, or had an oversized ego. He was cute, and had just the right amount of muscle on him. He also looked no older than eighteen, which made the two-time divorced mothers go absolutely feral.

“Fucking Coyote just had to get a concussion,” Bradley mumbled and pushed himself up from his chair, “What are you doing tonight?”

“Thinking about a lil Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,” Jake smirked at himself, flexing his abs in the mirror. He wore a pair of tight Wranglers with an obnoxious belt buckle. He was shirtless and had a red bandana tied around his neck. He picked up his black cowboy hat from the counter and put it on his head, “What about you? Another 80s rock song?”

Bradley rolled his eyes, “Not sure yet. Depends on the crowd. If you crash and burn then I know that I shouldn’t do country.”

“Ha, ha,” It was now Jake who rolled his eyes. He took one glance at himself in the mirror and winked at his reflection, “See you on the flip side, Rooster.”

— — —

You hate country music. And what made it even worse was the blonde haired green eyed stripper who was dressed as a cowboy, grinding his junk into your friend’s face. He traded his black cowboy hat for her white one, and pulled her up on the stage. You stifled a laugh as you watched Malia turn as red as a tomato as he dragged her hand down his abs, landing on his crotch.

So far you had been impressed with the guys that had been up on the stage. You felt a bit uncomfy with the baby-faced one who danced to some remix of Toxic and Pony. He might’ve been slender but he sure could move his hips. You thought Jennifer was nearly going to have an aneurysm for how much she screamed for the stripper’s attention and stuffed money into his jeans. You also found it quite comical how red he turned when he had to push her hands away from him and scramble for his shirt before going off stage.

“Alright, alright,” The MC, who had introduced himself as Declan said, walked back out on the stage. Your eyebrows raised as you noticed him now wearing a tight pair of leather shorts, “A little birdy told me that we have a bride among us. . .” He talked low and slow, trying to be seductive, but you could not take a man in short shorts seriously, “Where is the lucky lady?”

“Right here!” Malia said, shooting her hand up.

Declan’s eyes went to her and he kneeled down right in front of her. Malia blushed profusely and bit her lip, “Your poor husband is going to have to ward off men for the rest of your lives.” You rolled your eyes, “Do you wanna know your surprise?”

“Oh yes! Yes!” You choked on your whisky at the breathless pleas from Malia. If you didn’t know better you would think she was getting railed instead of standing in front of a forty year old male stripper. Declan smiled and stood up on his feet.

“Well, ladies, I think you better take cover, would hate for you to get. . .wet. . .”

“Of fucking course,” You rolled your eyes at the entrance of the song, meanwhile the other girls lost their damn minds.

Three men stepped out on stage as smoke filled the stage. You recognized the two from earlier, they had changed into black jeans and yellow rain jackets. You had to give it to the Hard Deck dancers, they could actually do more than grind on the ground and do body rolls. You sat back in your chair and watched as the three of them moved on stage, and turned around to face the crowd. Your eyes locked on the tall brunette in the middle with the ridiculous porn stache. He caught your eye and winked at you as he slid forward on his knee, pushing his open raincoat back to show off his abs.

— — —

Bradley hated this song more than anything. He thought it was a cliche and Bob was half a count behind. It had been Declan’s idea about a year ago, and it had become almost a weekly thing that they’d do for the bachelorette parties in the club. It wasn’t that Bradley hated sharing the stage with others, it was that when the three of them were on stage, women tended to look at Javy or Jake more. But not her. Her eyes were locked on him, roaming over his abs. He smirked as he moved forward, as Bob and Jake took the sides of the stage. Bradley felt the confidence go through his body as he tossed his head back and held on to the ridiculous yellow rain hat, and thrusted his hips into the air.

When the song ended, Bradley was out of breath and had probably 200 hundred dollars shoved into his waist band. Jake took extra time getting off stage, enjoying the young women swooning over him, and returned the white cowboy hat back to the bride to be. He knew that she was engaged but he couldn’t help that electric feeling when she placed a quick kiss on his cheek before placing his cowboy hat on his head.

“Did I do alright?” Bob asked, huffing and puffing for air. He grabbed a water bottle from the mini fridge and handed one to Jake and Bradley, “I know that’s yours and Javy’s thing.”

“You did alright, Floyd,” Jake said and took a gulp of water, “It’s just this part. . .”

Bradley ignored whatever Jake was explaining to Bob about the dance and walked over to the DJ booth, telling him what song he was going to do tonight. He had spent the last two weeks working on it, and it was Declan approved yet, but Bradley didn’t care. He knew that it would catch the eye of the girl in the crowd again.

Bradley quickly wiped the sweat off his body, and change out of his yellow rain jacket, deciding to just go without a shirt. He peaked out from behind the black curtains and noticed her still in her spot, a bit behind the group of young women who stared up at Fanboy with wide eyes like kids on christmas. She looked bored and for whatever reason, that spurred Bradley on even more.

Call it what you want, but Bradley Bradshaw liked women who could give him a run for his money.

Fanboy walked off the stage giggling, running a hand through his curls. That was one thing that Bradley liked about Fanboy, he was the comedic relief they all needed sometimes. He told Bradley to break a leg and patted his shoulder before dipping back into the dressing room. Bradley let out a breath and shook out his shoulders as his song started. He nodded his head to the beat and when the guitar started strumming he walked out on stage.

He could hear the whistles and cheers of the women, but he wondered if she was cheering for him. The DJ had placed a black chair in the middle of the stage for Bradley to use. Usually, he’d pick a girl from the audience to sit in it, but it didn’t feel right unless he was picking her.

Bradley closed his eyes as the voice of Alex Turner filled his head. His body moved with muscle memory as he struted around stage, using the chair to his advantage. He opened his eyes as he turned the chair around backwards and sat down, rolling his hips as he did. She still had that same bored expression on her face and it fired him up even more.

He wasn’t sure what caused him to do it, maybe it was the eye roll or maybe it was the way she sipped whisky from a rocks glass, but he jumped off the stage and swaggered his way over to her. The same bored expression never leaving her face as he flooded her personal space.

— — —

Malia’s jaw hit the floor as the porn stached man jumped off the stage and walked right to you. You clenched your jaw and tightened your grip on the glass. He was skilled, clearly spending more time practicing his routines than anyone else here. You wondered if maybe he was an actual dancer before he decided to strip.

He was intoxicating and you thought his song choice was interesting. You sucked in a breath as he stood in front of you, he rolled his hips, pushing his junk towards your face, but you kept your eyes trained on his face. His eyes were dark, but you could see that they were honey brown. He smirked as he dropped to his knees in front of you. And damn you for opening your legs for him to slot in between them.

You knew the rule of the strip club, no touching costumers unless they consent, and he did a good job at remembering that. He placed his hands on either side of your chair as he lowered his head towards your lap and snaked his body back up to look at you. He was trying to get a rise out of you, to see you break and stick money into his waistline. But you were not about to give him that satisfaction.

‘Crawlin back to you, never thought I’d call’

He was going to push the limits, you could tell by the smirk on his face as he grabbed your glass of whisky from your hand, and took a drink. There was a glint in his eye and you nodded your head subtly, giving him permission. He grabbed your jaw, digging his fingers lightly into the skin to get you to open your mouth.

You kept eye contact with him as he spit the brown liquid back into your mouth. You swallowed without a second thought, your eyes on him the whole time. He smirked and wiped a dribble of whisky from your lip before setting the glass back in your hand and going back to the stage, making sure to put an extra swing into his hips.

“Dude!” Malia swatted your arm, snapping you out of your trance, as the Arctic Monkeys' song came to an end, “What the hell was that!”

Your eyebrows furrowed as you looked down at your now empty drink and then back at your friend, “I’m not entirely sure. . .but I liked it.”

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pinkcrocss · 2 months

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Limoreau #1: Sharing is Caring

A/n: This isn't really one of the two long-form fics I mentioned that I was working on, I just had an idea and wanted to write to out. Please be gentle, I really have like no writing experience. I'm literally just trying it out.

It's the end of the semester AKA the busiest time for Professor Brink's only TA, Jordan Li.

Jordan's closest friends are worried because no one can ever pull them away from work when they get like this.

Well... maybe not "no one"

1,200 words

“- so, of course professor Ravi would assign me an entire 10 page paper just cuz I missed a couple dumbass participation points. It’s not like you need to attend every lecture to pass the class… GOD! That guy’s the worst! I mean, you had him last year Jordan, he sucked, right?”

“Mmh.” A short grunt was the only response Andre received as Jordan continued typing rapidly on their laptop.

It was nearing the end of the semester, and as Brink’s TA, Jordan was as swamped as they could possibly be. Grading finals, marking late submissions, final papers, etc. Why Brink decided to take on 4 different courses this year, they couldn’t figure out. Maybe because he knew he could offload all his work to Jordan, a niggling, bitter voice seemed to whisper in their ear, before they shook their head and got back to work.

The other inhabitants of the picnic table watched them with varied looks of exasperation and bemusement. Usually at this point in the semester, Andre, Cate and Luke were lucky if they could catch a glimpse of the shifter outside of their dorm or Brink’s office, much less have an actual sit down conversation.

The trio had been lucky enough to catch Jordan unawares as they had been crossing the quad on their way through campus. They had quickly joined the unsuspecting supe at their table, hoping to entice them to spend a little time socializing, to no effect it seemed.

“Dude! Are you even listening?” Andre carried on with an air of frustration.

“Mhmm.” Once again came the lackluster response, as Jordan still wouldn’t look up from the screen.

Andre glanced at the other two occupants of the table for help, as Luke decided to toss his hat in the ring.

“Say Jordan, I was thinking, how about you and I take some time to spar today. Feels like I haven’t had an actual challenge for some time now.”

Jordan, ever the competitive overachiever, usually jumped at any chance to prove themself, especially against Godolkin’s own #1 ranked student. Luke had been sure to throw in some subtle ego stroking at the end too. He was sure it would be a guaranteed hit, until..

“Sorry, dude. Really busy. Maybe another time.” Once again, Jordan never glanced up from the screen even once.

Incredulous, he and Andre exchanged a look before turning to Cate who just rolled her eyes.

“Don’t bother guys. You know how they get around this time. I don’t think even a meteor could get their attention now.” She giggled.

As she continued to glance across the quad, Cate’s eyes suddenly widened as if she’d caught sight of a miracle.

“Oh! Hey Marie!”

Immediately, Jordan’s head snapped up almost unconsciously. They watched as the infamous freshman made her way towards their table.

Marie looked pretty as always, with her locs flowing freely down her back, her big doe eyes and her signature red lip. However, as she got closer, Jordan noted that she wore a tired smile and her eyes almost seemed to squint away from the sunlight.

Jordan had spent a lot of time observing Marie as of late. Initially rejecting her from Brink’s intro to crimefighting, the ever tenacious freshman was able to make a name for herself after seriously saving Andre’s ass during a stupid incident at a seven tower party that she had attended with their group.

She had finally been able to convince Brink to let her take the course, and after a few weeks of frosty silence, had actually started to warm up to Jordan once they had mustered the courage to offer a proper apology. Now one of the most diligent students in the class, they often spent hours together working side by side during Jordan’s office hours.

Jordan had grown to really enjoy her company, as well as a massive amount of respect for her work ethic. If their heart seemed to beat a little bit faster, when she would lean into their space to ask a question, or when she would hit them with one of her big, blinding smiles every time they praised her work, well that’s something they could investigate whenever they got to it.

Marie having finally reached the table, Cate was the first to call out.

“Marie, are you okay? You look totally out of it!”

“Ha.” Marie gave an awkward laugh, as she waved away the concern. “No biggie, just this headache’s been bothering me all morning.”

Andre opened his mouth, as if to offer some commiseration. But before he could speak, another voice cut in swiftly.

“Did you get enough sleep last night?”

Turning to Jordan, Marie offered an answer just as swiftly. “Yeah. No less than usual. I’m not sure if that’s the issue.”

Looking pensive, Jordan glanced down for a second before looking back up at Marie. “When’s the last time you drank any water?”

“I-” Marie paused to think about it before staring at the ground sheepishly. “Probably yesterday afternoon.”

“There it is! I told you, you never drink enough water! Didn’t I say it would come back to bite you?” Jordan now had a smug look on their face. Looking livelier than they had all day.

“Whatever, Jordan. I’m glad my pain is amusing to you.” Marie said, rolling her eyes fondly.

The other forgotten inhabitants of the table watched the exchange with slight surprise and bemusement.

“Here you go.” Jordan said, pulling a plastic water bottle out of their bag. They handed it to Marie, who received it nervously.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to take your only bottle.”

“It’s fine Marie.” Was the glib reply. “Unlike you, I actually remember to keep myself hydrated. And I have more in the office.” Jordan continued to rummage through their bag.

“And here.” They handed her a protein bar. “If you went this long without water, I’m assuming you skipped breakfast too.”

Marie received the snack gratefully.

“Thanks Jordan!” She mumbled, almost nervously. “You’re actually the best.”

She bent down to give Jordan a brief hug, which was unexpected going by the surprise on Jordan’s face, before waving goodbye to the rest of the table and heading off.

Desperately trying to tamp down the blush on their face, Jordan slowly zipped up their bag and slid it underneath the table. Looking up, they were shocked to see the amused faces of their three friends, looking like they were barely holding in a laugh.

“...what?” They asked hesitantly

“Nothing.” Cate replied, obvious laughter in her voice. “Just making some observations.”

“Whatever.” Jordan replied, looking back at the words on their laptop screen. For some reason, they were no longer as inclined to lose themselves in the flow of grading and reviewing essays. Thoughts of Marie, the warmth of her body when she’d embraced them, the vanilla scent of her skin, swirled around in their head.

“What the fuck?! They're still smiling!” They could hear Andre poorly attempting to whisper across the table. And with some measure of satisfaction, Jordan realized that they were.

#gen v #jordan li #fanfic #jordan x marie #marie moreau #limoreau #gen v fics #Sorry if this sucks lol #Jordan being a tsundere

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minami97 · 1 year

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Ugly Sweaters In Spring - Modern!Aemond x Reader

Pairing: Modern! Aemond Targaryen x Reader

Genre: FLUFF

Warnings: None, but be bamboozled that I gave Aemond a knitting hobby

Spring has been here since March, bringing a variety of colors and pleasant scents to the cosmos. Aemond Targaryen, who lives with his siblings and crush in an expensive high-rise apartment, started knitting during the break. He had been knitting hats, sweaters, scarves, and mittens all winter, and to his brother, the ever-flaring Aegon, it is a silly hobby.

"Aegon, just leave your brother alone. You can't deny they kept us warm last winter." You nagged from the dining area.

The elder Targaryen only scoffed and left his brother to his own being. Curious as to what Aemond was working on, you left your work on the dining room table and went to watch him knit.

"Aem, what are you knitting?" you asked in a cute way without looking up from his project, Aemond just gave you an appreciative look but did not answer your question. Not wanting to give up, you just sat down next to him and put your head on his shoulders, "A sweater." He replied, still knitting the half-finished project of his.

The fact that your best friend and crush were knitting a sweater piqued your curiosity and prompted you to look for more answers. "Who is it for? Is it for Helaena? I'm pretty sure whatever you knitted last year would last until next year."

"Hmmm. Not for my sister. It's for someone else." He replied and continued knitting. "Is it Alys, then? I thought you guys broke up after what happened last year." You felt yourself choke as you said her name, "Neither is she, and I haven't talked to her since we broke up." And knowing that the sweater wasn't for her, you let out a small sigh of relief.

After countless attempts to elicit from Aemond who the owner of the sweater was, and his vague and unsatisfactory answers, you returned to the dining table to finish the work you had abandoned.

About a week later, there was a box on your bed with a beautiful card with your name written on it in cursive, and you opened it out of curiosity. Inside the box was a sweater with kitschy patterns knitted in your favorite colors. You examined the ‘ugly’ sweater and contemplated trying it on.

"Don't be shy, wear the sweater. I worked hard on it." Said Aemond, leaning against your open door with a sly smile. You turned to look at him, "Do I've to? It's spring and tacky sweaters are part of Christmas." You tried to wiggle out of it.

"Don't worry about it, I knitted it to match the spring, I'm not stupid. So, put it on." He asked. Reluctantly, you put on the ugly sweater. "You're lucky I like you a lot." You grumbled against his ear as you walked out of your room and into the living area.

"OH MY GOD! HA HA HA HA! You look so stupid in that thing. Y/n!" Aegon burst out laughing hysterically when he saw you in the ugly sweater his brother had knitted. For the whole day, you wore the sweater and became Aegon’s target of mockery until nighttime.

Before you retire with Aemond to your respective rooms, you give him a kiss on the cheek, "You know, that sweater is not so bad, it's pretty comfortable. I love your gift. I'll put it on when it gets too chilly. Thank you." He gave you a smile, "You are welcome. Just so you know, I knitted my own sweater to match yours. So we can match."

The fact that you and Aemond have the same sweater puts a big smile on your face. "Is the sweater some kind of love token from you?" You asked him with narrowed eyes. "You finally figured it out. I was going to buy a ring, but matching ugly sweaters would have been the more obvious choice." He teased playfully.

You reach out and hug him, "Yes. We can wear the ugliest sweater together. I love you," you confessed as you snuggled against his chest. He wrapped his arms around you and returned your feelings.

#aemond targaryen x reader #modern aemond #modern aemond x reader #aemond x reader #hotd x you #aemond x y/n

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littlequeenies · 2 months

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Hello!

What kind of outfits/clothing pieces were a staple in Demri Parrott's everyday wear?

Thanks so much!

Barbara Dearaujo: “Demri was a fashion nut. She loved everything vintage. Victorian style dresses, 70’s stuff, overalls and combat boots. She wore things no one else could even try to pull off without looking like a weirdo but she always seemed to make the weirdest things look cute and cool. I’m pretty sure Demri was one of the girls who started the so-called ‘Seattle Grunge Look’, for girls at least. Demri was not a rocker chick, she totally had her very own style going on that we all secretly wanted to emulate.

In the early 90’s she dressed in all kinds of crazy yet cute clothes, anything retro or vintage. She loved long dresses, skirts, tutus, overalls and Doc Martins, hand-made clothes, she never really wore jeans and t-shirts, it was always something you’d never think of wearing but looked great on her and made you wish you would thought of this type of thing but even if you had it probably wouldn’t of looked as cool on you. She had that tiny little body that looks great in clothes.

She always wore her hair really long like to her butt or longer and she had thick wavy auburn hair. It was usually knotted and dred locked here and there but knotted or not it always looked cool. She wore black nail polish and when she wore make up she used maybe some black mascara and red lips but she didn’t usually wear a lot of make up, maybe except for lipstick when she went out. She was also the first girl I met who used her lipstick to add blush to her cheeks.” [5]

[Spring 1990 - by Krista Kay]

Ryan Kalsbeck: “Layne and Dem had that full on vintage clothing styles mixed with a hippie, new grunge rock twist. Homemade glass beaded long necklaces and bracelets, funky hats, hair sticks. Dem had pink lace and satin knickers that were real and from the 1900s.”

[1992 - By Alison Dyer]

Sherri: “She would always wear the rolled up overalls with black tights. She was so cute and original. Biggest smile, she always lit up the room. Heart of gold!”

[1991 - By Ed Chalfa]

Jacque: “As to her clothing style, it was kind of hippy chick but distinctively Demri.”

[1988 - By Krista Kay]

Kathleen Austin: “Someone once told me she would show up at a club in an outfit and the next night there would be several girls copying it.

She could pull articles of clothing that no one would think to combine and she would look adorable. She once designed a skirt from boxer shorts. I saw it on paper. As far as I know, it never came to fruition.” [6]

[Ca. 1990s - ByJack Plasky]

Shawna Murphy: “I had one of her necklaces ‘Forever’. It was like black cut glass stones, three strands with a gold clasp. She wore a lot of old-timey costume jewelry.” [6]

[Ca. 1990s - By Jack Plasky]

Tracy Johnson: “She did not want to be known as the girlfriend of a rock star and did whatever the hell she pleased but was friendly and personable to everyone she met. She wanted to be a model that’s why there are so many pictures of her posing. One thing that was funny. We were in Canada (canvouver, as we called it) and Dem couldn’t find Layne and was drunk and pissed off. But she has to pee, so we stopped and she walked in this alley, many people were around, and she just squatted and peed, then pulled up her long johns with her tutu tucked in the back of it and started to walk away. She was gonna find him come hell or high water, even with the whole backside of her tutu tucked into her long johns and wearing converse, of course.

A lot of things she wore didn’t go together, like long johns with big baggy overall shorts and a frilly blouse with cowboy boots. It doesn’t make a lot of sense but you would have to know Demri to understand.” [6]

[Summer 1988 - By Randy Hauser]

Hope that helps :)

Everyone please check the book we put together with our beloved friend Ana, you can download it and read it from *here*. There's all the memories sorted by subject like style,hobbies, voice, dreams...

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hypnotisedfireflies · 4 months

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Tommy and the Babysitter

The second advent reject from Cloud Nine & Other Stories. Set later in 2024 than the first reject and the eventual story, Luke is six months old.

“Tommy, baby, I love this kid, but we need a night off.”

Tommy looked up from where he was wrist-deep in pairing tiny socks. Maria was in the doorway, lightly bouncing a fussy six-month-old in her arms. The baby in question had a mouthful of her hair and from this angle, it kind of looked like he was sporting a dramatic moustache.

There were any number of appropriate babysitters in Jackson who could help the Millers out. The most promising was the one right across the street. Tommy knew how good his brother was with kids and Maria was kind of starstruck by Joel’s affinity for it, repressed for over twenty years, but comfortably finding its way back into Joel’s psyche.

“He’s always looked after someone,” Tommy explained later as they packed Luke a big bag. He would not be staying overnight – Maria didn’t feel ready for that – but it was a long enough time that Tommy felt the need to arm Luke with his own supplies in the case of any eventuality. “First it was me, then it was Emma, then it was Sarah – ”

He paused, then drew the zip decisively along its track.

“Then Tess, then Ellie. He can’t help it. He’s just hardwired that way.”

“Is Tess okay with this?” Maria passed him another hat, just in case the first vanished into thin air. “She’s – a bit less …”

“Tess and Ellie are goin’ round to Lachie’s.”

“And was that before or after Tess heard Joel was babysitting Luke?”

“I don’t know.” Tommy shrugged. Then, sensing Maria’s eyes still on him, he hoisted the bag on his shoulder and looked at her. “Don’t worry. We haven’t chased her out of home. Joel don’t do anything she’s not okay with, not even for me. And Tess has always been … Tess has always been …”

“What?”

“Particular about not comin’ between Joel and me.”

“If anything happens to her, it’s on you.”

Joel had threatened him with that two decades ago, when they left the mountains of Tennessee. And something had happened to Tess in Indianapolis, and Tommy had never quite been able to shake a sense of responsibility for it, even though Joel had never once used that warning against him.

“But did she?”

“What?”

“Come between you.”

Tommy lifted the bag over one shoulder. He thought about it for a moment. “No. There are a lot of things I can blame on Tess, but that ain’t one of them. And I would’ve been fuckin’ blind to ever think it could’ve been any different. Them two were meant for each other, right from the start. Anyone could see that.”

Maria raised her eyebrows, amused. “You liked Tess?”

“Am I in trouble, ma’am?”

She grinned. “No.”

“No,” he said, pretty sure that was true. It was a long time ago, after all. “People either loved Tess or hated Tess. She can be kind of divisive like that. I was one of the few inbetweeners.”

“Uh huh,” Maria gave him that irritating, knowing smile she wore when she thought she knew best.

Tommy rolled his eyes. She hadn’t been there, and she didn’t know. It was complicated back then. They were so young. The Outbreak was still with them, so fresh, and there was so much they still didn’t know about the fungus, each other, and most of all, themselves.

The truth was Tommy sometimes had difficulty connecting up the man he’d been then with the one he was now. He talked about it in the sessions he attended on Tuesday nights, a group of men around about his age. None of their experiences were identical but there were common themes across all their pathways. It was reassuring to be heard. It was easier to relate to pre-Outbreak Tommy Miller than it was with the man he’d become between about 2008 to 2018. That was surprisingly common amongst the men in his group. Stormin’ Norman called it the “do or die” time. It was the point where everyone lost themselves, tried different ways to make it, then found themselves on the other side trying to reconcile with all the things they’d done.

He wished Joel would go with him just once. Even if he didn’t talk. Just go once and listen.

“You right to go?” Tommy asked.

Maria nodded. She was already rugged up – scarfed and zippered and booted and behatted – ready for their precious few hours to themselves.

Joel met them at the front door, rubbing his hands together and turning his head from side to side to squint at the gently falling snow.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Maria asked.

Tommy could hear the slight catch in her voice. All her reservations about Joel were far from resolved. She was choosing to trust Tommy over her own instincts.

“I’ve got him,” Joel said, gently lifting Luke into his arms. “We’ll have fun.”

“Yeah, he’s a fuckin’ hoot,” Tommy commented as he eased the bag on to Joel’s shoulder.

He stepped back with a thank you on his lips and paused. Joel just standing there, looking down at the new, tiny baby in his arms. It could’ve been 1989. Tommy swallowed his words instead and backed away, nodding. His gloved hands found Maria’s.

Tommy and his wife headed down the road. Their breath escaped in warm puffs before them, caught in the twinkling lights. Fairy and streetlights were strung up all over, the network expanding further than it had the previous year as more neighbourhoods within Jackson opened up. Their population growth was slow and controlled. They had lost more people during the year than they had gained. But it was exciting to see the Jackson experiment was working.

“What are you thinking about?” Maria asked.

“Just – naw, it’s nothin’,” he answered, shying away from it. He nodded to the towering Christmas tree. “Every time I see that, I think I’m in a fuckin’ Hallmark movie.”

“Nothing wrong with one of those,” Maria replied, glancing over their shoulder to the blue house. “I used to look forward to curling up with one of those and a glass of wine.”

“I thought you liked those shitty action flicks.”

“I can like both,” she reminded him.

(I think the point of this was Tommy talking about finding something that worked for him, finally being part of something bigger, which was his core drive throughout Driftersverse but idk).

#driftersverse #tlou #tlou fanfic #the last of us #joel miller #tlou fanfiction #tommy x maria #tommy miller #maria miller

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impyssadobsessions · 2 years

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REVELATIONS CHPT 4

TOOK TOO LONG BUT I DID IT! Read the full version on Ao3, Excerpt at the bottom because I don't think tumblr like how long it is uwu''

“Okay, so Danny needs at least an outfit everyday. Knowing him, he'll wear same thing until it gets dirty, so at least five. New underwear, socks... Good thing he's easy to shop for. Wonder if I should get him medium or small. Hmm. He's lost a lot of weight recently I'm not so sure. Probably need to get onto him for that. I bet he's been surviving off of energy drinks and ectoplasm behind my back, again.” Jasmine muttered as she walked, mentally writing a list. “Okaayyy, but what about you?” Steph asked, as they passed the various shops in the large shopping mall. “You're the one without anything? Not that you look bad in my clothes. Purple's definitely your color.” Steph playfully winked. Jasmine puckered her lips in thought, sticking her hand out to count what she needed. “Hmmm. I'll need a few sports bras.. underwear.. socks.. Just some basic tops and pants. Its summer so I shouldn't need-hm.. But Danny's been making things chillier than usual. Perhaps a jacket. Hmm.. wonder if its been a growth phase or a traumatic response. I mean its definitely traumatic response, but is it just that-” “What about that store?!” Steph pointed to an accessories store, it was small but had a lot of different items on display. Immediately running off into it. “Cass look at this hat! I can look like Tim in the morning now!” It was a knitted cap, with cartoonish eyes with deep bags under them. She tried it on and pulled it down over her eyes. Cass silently chuckled running over to pick up another hat, that had an angry scowl on it. She put it on to pretend she was Damian. Jazz blinked, stunned for a moment from being interrupted from her thoughts. “But that's just-..” She paused as she watched the giggling girls. How long has it been since she just shopped for fun- well she supposed it was with Danny to get gifts for their parents, or new books from the store in town. But clothes shopping? No.. Well she did have an outing with her mom when she won a contest at school and had to travel to a different city to cite her speech in front of the capital. Her mom tried to get her a unicorn print dress or a teddy bear pendent. Even at the age of ten, she acted like she was too old. Her mother looked so sad, when Jasmine voiced her concerns. Jazz's lips twitched at the memory. They ended up getting her a pretty blue dress, but she still wore teddy bear earrings her mother got her that day. Reaching a hand to her ears. She needed to wear some again, maybe its already too late. Like most things...

#danny phantom #dpxdc #dp x dc #dc x dp #dcxdp #jazz fenton #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #revelations #fanfic #vacation crashers

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howdy-cowpoke · 11 months

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TIMING: Recent, before Monty lost his name LOCATION: The Zoo, The Pines PARTIES: Monty (@howdy-cowpoke) & Kaden (@chasseurdeloup) SUMMARY: Two dummies go on a date to the zoo & are having a great time until a wild ballybog makes an appearance and really ups the wow factor for them. It’s a day for firsts… CONTENT WARNINGS: Descriptions of hallucinogenic experience (from the ballybog toxin)

—

It was a lot easier to be brave over text than it was in person. In person, Monty had no well of charisma to draw from—hell, even online that well was more of a puddle. A tiny, insignificant little puddle, only learned from watching other people. And greetings, those were the worst. He never knew how to greet people, especially not someone he was meeting for a date.

Daisy had needed the truck for some errands and so had offered to drop him off outside the zoo on her way into town, figuring that Kaden could drop him off back at the farm later that night… or, you know, she’d see him tomorrow. The suggestion had managed to fluster him something terrible, and the woman was all laughs and lighthearted apologies as she smoothed a hand over his button-up shirt to fix a wrinkle, then picked a small stray piece of hay from the t-shirt he wore underneath it.

“I still think you should button that up,” she sighed as they turned into the parking lot. Monty just scoffed, refusing to look any kind of overdressed for this… date. “Don’t scoff at me, mister, exactly how many dates you been on in your life?” He… couldn’t answer that question, which she fully expected, and she looked over at him as she pulled up in front of the main gates. “Anyway, just… have fun, yeah? Don’t get all up in yer head, like ya do.”

Giving his friend a tense nod, Monty hopped out of the old truck and glanced around before waving her off. He’d gotten here first, it seemed. Good. Enough time to button up the stupid shirt. As a compromise, he unbuttoned the cuffs and rolled them up his forearms, then fussed with his hair for a moment, feeling naked without a hat of some kind on his head.

—

Kaden wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting in his truck at that point, but his fingers bounced on the wheel as he watched the clock. How early was too early to be at the gates? The hunter was pretty sure he was there first, but he didn’t want to stand out in front of the zoo looking like a pathetic idiot for too long. Twenty minutes was too long, that was for sure, but what about ten? Too soon? Five was good. But was it cutting it too close? Putain de merde He’d told himself he’d get out of the damn car when his nerves settled but it didn’t take long to realize that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. The seconds ticked by at half time, he was convinced, but the minutes added up all the same. Okay. One more. Just one more minute and he’d get out of his car and–

“Merde!” He noticed the truck pulling away from the front and a familiar face waiting there across the way. Putain, couldn’t even get there fucking first because he was too busy overthinking when he should fucking get out of his own fucking car. Kaden scrambled to grab his keys, wallet, and nearly threw himself out of his truck to rush over. Wait, no. He took a deep breath and made sure to check his hair one last time in the rear view mirror, messing with it a bit and then hopped out of the truck.

The instinct to sprint over was still there but he refrained, counting to three in his head before adjusting the hem of his shirt and then walking towards the gates like a normal fucking person. Shouldn’t be this damn hard to be one of those and yet, he still found himself struggling. He could only imagine how much Alex and Andy would be poking fun at him if they could see.

“Hey,” he called out when he was a few steps away, giving a small wave with his hand. Fuck. All that time in the truck and he didn’t have one damn clue how to greet the other man. He ran through options with every step he took. Handshake? No, felt like business. Hug? Wasn’t sure, that might be too much. Bisous? Not in America. Should he do nothing? That also felt stupid. Putain, he was nearly there and he could already feel his pulse rising with each footfall. Normally he was better at this. Then again, he usually opted for hook ups and not dates, so maybe he owed himself a little forgiveness. Maybe.

He reached Monty and… Yeah, still didn’t know what to do. Putain. “I, uh,” he huffed out a laugh as he ran a hand through his hair, “I’ve never been great at knowing how to start these things.” He offered a smile along with the honesty, hoping it would be received better than any other awkward attempt. Still, he wasn’t sure he trusted his hands not to do anything stupid if they stayed unoccupied and so he used one to reach up and rub the back of his neck. “Anyway how’ve you been?”

—

Spotting Kaden coming from farther than it was appropriate to yell, Monty suddenly (but not surprisingly) felt horribly awkward. Crossing one arm over his chest to grasp at the opposite bicep, he tried to look as… casual as he could until Kaden called out, to which he also lifted his free hand in greeting.

Hoping the other was going to take some kind of lead on this, Monty let out a nervous laugh to find that it was just as challenging for him. “Hey, me neither,” the zombie offered with a one-shouldered shrug, smiling through the uncertainty. “First time!”

Oh, jesus. Why did you say that? His dark eyes widened and he looked about ready to bolt, but instead just laughed awkwardly and made a grand motion with both arms. “Anyway, that’s fine! We’ll just call the start a wash and uh, better luck next time!” he tried, gaze darting from Kaden’s face to the entrance to the zoo. Now he was rhyming by accident. “I’ve been—good.” A lie, he’d been shit, thanks mostly to a nosy slayer. Not the same one as last time, either, because his luck was just that excellent. “Keeping busy. You know.” With great effort, he made a motion with his head and started to walk, leading the two of them to the short ticket line. “How about yourself?”

—

“First time?” Kaden said with a laugh. “First time, what? At a zoo?” It couldn’t be his first date, there was no way. No one that attractive had never been on a date before. Had to be something else.

There it was, the idiotic grin that had made its home on his face the whole damn time they were in the coffee shop. Kaden tried to bite it back but it was impossible, especially while he was chuckling at whatever gesture Monty was trying to make with his arms. “That’s fine by me. Especially the part where there’s a next time.” He had a feeling a hand was about to fly to Monty’s face and it only widened the smirk on his own.

“Good. That’s good.” Kaden followed him to the ticket booth but he wasn’t convinced by the cowboy’s answer. “I’ve been alright,” he said with a small shrug. “I can now say I chased a chicken from an art gallery and a vulture from a morgue.” Not the entire truth, they were both monsters but it was close enough. “Exciting stuff.”

“You sure you’re good?” he asked just before they reached the counter. “I just– I mean, you, uh, sounded a little off.” Kaden regretted asking before he got any response. He was probably prying. And this probably wasn’t the time, anyway. Especially with the teller about to ask how many tickets.

–

"… yes. Yeah. That," Monty responded with all the confidence of a kid in the classroom without his pants. "Never been to a zoo!" God, please buy it.

As predicted, a palm found its way to his face, sliding over one eye and then down his cheek. "Ay, Dios mío, amigo…" The sentence was left there, buttoned with a shy, breathy laugh as they made their way to the booth. During this span of twenty seconds or so, Kaden managed to start a story that had Monty’s eyebrows flying upward. "What—what?!" he laughed, trying to imagine both scenarios and finding them to be quite mad. "That's loco, Kaden. Your job is something else."

Before he could really comment further, the man was asking if he was all right, and his grin faltered. "I…" The teller looked at them expectantly and Monty floundered for a moment, glancing between him and Kaden. "Ah! Two. Gracias," he stammered, fishing some cash from his pocket and sliding it into the little scoop at the bottom of the window without looking. "It's… nothing. Honestly, it's stupid." Accepting the tickets and his change with a nod, the zombie eagerly got them out of earshot of anyone else. "Made the mistake of meeting a stranger in a bar and it did not go well. That's all." It left a lot unsaid, which was probably obvious with how much it seemed to have affected him. But today wasn't about that. He handed Kaden his ticket and smiled again, thinking he might just keep his stub as a keepsake, if this went well.

—

There was something odd about the way Monty answered. Like he was embarrassed. It didn’t make a lot of sense but Kaden brushed it away. He was probably reading too much into it. And it was easy to forget while watching the other man react to his work stories. And those were the edited versions. “It’s not boring, I’ll say that much.”

Kaden felt a tangle of emotions wrap around him. Why was he meeting strangers in bars? Did that mean– And if so then what was this? Should he ask if– No, that was– And what did he mean by not go well? Too many terrible scenarios ran through Kaden’s mind and his hand clenched into a fist. He wanted to knock this stranger’s teeth out, whoever he was.

Merde. All of that, in one flash. It was a lot. Too much. Part of him wanted to run away right then and there. It was too much, this was dangerous, terrifying. If he felt this much now–

Kaden caught Monty’s smile as he looked over to take his ticket. Right. He was here for that. The mess of emotions and panic melted away. Kaden’s hand opened up, fingers unfurling, and he held it out by his side for Monty to take. “Well, then. Let’s hope this goes better,” he said with a soft smile. “Come on. What do you want to see first?”

—

“Mm… it is what I get for trying to be more spontaneous in my friend-making,” Monty said gently, hoping that Kaden hadn’t gotten the wrong idea. He hadn’t gone out with that intention… he’d never go out with that intention. He didn’t even know how to wrap his thoughts around that intention, foreign as it was. Anyway.

His gaze danced down toward the hand that was being offered and he tried to quiet the butterflies in his stomach. He was a grown man, dangit. And he’d held hands with people before—mostly to hastily drag them somewhere, but that was beside the point. “Well… I’ve never seen a penguin before,” he started, sliding his hand into Kaden’s. Truthfully, he’d not seen anything that wasn’t native to either Mexico, Arizona, Texas, or here… so this would certainly be an educational outing if nothing else. Of course that was the last thing he was thinking about as they followed the signage to the snowy exhibits, far more concerned with the feeling of the other’s palm against his own. He hoped the ambient temperature was high enough to not make his own feel too suspiciously cold, though it would probably still feel off to Kaden. Well… nothing to do about that. Best to not dwell on it.

As they came upon the penguins in question, the cowboy quickly forgot what he was anxious about, his face lighting up at the sight of the little flightless birds diving into the water and jetting past the glass with impressive speed. The grin he wore threatened to split his face in two and his grip on Kaden shifted to lace their fingers and give his hand a squeeze. “Wow, he’s got some fancy eyebrows!” Monty laughed, pointing at one of the Macaroni penguins in the enclosure. “All he needs is… ah… el monóculo.”

—

Friend-making? Oh. Kaden felt a little silly now for thinking anything else. “Sounds to me like you just picked the wrong place to try that,” he said, offering a small smile, trying to brush past how foolish he felt. “Pretty sure it has nothing to do with you.”

Never seen a penguin? The hunter’s eyes lit up with a little bit of surprise, but mostly excitement. “Time to change that,” he said as he nodded towards the path that led to the penguin enclosure. Kaden couldn’t tell if the chill he got when Monty took his hand came from how cold the other man’s hand was or from the fact that his heart had skipped a beat. Not that it mattered, he wasn’t complaining either way. Also wasn’t exactly unusual for some people to have poor circulation or whatever. He was happy to help keep it warm.

Usually Kaden would have his eyes glued to the animals in front of him, but not today. He kept his gaze on the cowboy as they approached the black and white birds, watching the wonder wash over him when he saw them for the first time. Kaden loved being around the animals here (or anywhere, really), it was one of his favorite things, but sharing it with Monty – he couldn’t describe it if he wanted to. It was a kind of joy he hadn’t felt in a while. If ever. Merde, it was probably stupid to feel this happy over something so small, but even so, when he felt the grip on his hand tighten, it only made the smile on his face widen somehow. “Monóculo?” he repeated. The word made sense as he spoke it back. “Ah, un monocle.” He laughed at the thought. “Perhaps a top hat to go with it.”

His focus finally fixed on the birds darting under water and hopping around on land, watching all their little movements and interactions with one another. “Uh, you know, interesting thing about the yellow feathers on their crests,” he started, pointing towards the penguin with the longest feathers on his brow. “A lot of birds that are yellow get their pigment from what they eat. Like canaries. But these guys, they’re more like parrots where the yellow pigment is synthesized internally; it doesn’t come from their diet. Oh, and the rest of the feathers are pretty interesting, too. They’re covered in a waterproof oil that their bodies produce and they have all kinds of different layers and types of feathers to keep them warm in the arctic.” Kaden opened his mouth and almost launched into more detail when he realized how much he’d been talking. “Sorry. I, uh, I watch a lot of nature documentaries,” he said sheepishly. Read a lot of books about various animals, too, but he didn’t need to look like a complete weirdo just yet. “If it’s too much, just nudge me to stop.”

—

The mental image of the penguin squatting on the rock wearing a monocle and top hat drew a quiet chuckle from Monty, his free hand bracing against his cheek. Then Kaden was speaking again, and his gaze slid over to the other man, a genuine curiosity brightening his expression. He listened carefully, missing a few of the bigger words but figuring out what Kaden meant with context clues. His eager attention morphed to eager amusement, and he knitted his brows. “Too much? No, no! I love—” He seemed utterly baffled by the idea that Kaden thought sharing his knowledge was something worth apologizing for, interrupting himself with a scoff, “—listening to you talk about these things! This is a place to learn, no? Teach me.”

He looked back to the birds, nodding with a new appreciation and understanding of the Macaroni penguin that was waddling up to the edge of the water. “Yellow feather color comes from the inside, not the diet.” Then, with a sheepish sort of grin, he looked back to Kaden. “Ah… you mentioned canaries. What is it that they eat that makes them yellow? And is it true that flamingos turn pink from eating shrimp? Oh, I’ve never seen a flamingo, either.” A beat. “I do not think I will have seen most of the animals they have here, amigo. Unless there are farm animals. Or armadillos. I love armadillos.” Now it was his turn to shut himself up, realizing he’d not given Kaden any time to actually answer his questions.

—

Kaden couldn’t help lighting up as he watched Monty absorb his useless animal facts. “You do?” He had to look away for a moment to, hopefully, give his cheeks some rest from all the stupid smiling he was doing. “Guess I’m just used to my sister telling me to shut up.” The attempt at a laugh wasn’t as genuine as he thought it would be. Huh. “My mom always thought it was a waste of time. She would get so angry that I could remember all kinds of shit about hippos or camels or whatever but couldn’t pass any of my maths courses.” He sighed and tried to shake off the lingering memories.

The follow up questions were a relief; thoughts of his now estranged family didn’t need to rear their ugly heads today. “Canaries, it depends on the kind of seeds or other foods they eat. I think some can turn redder if they eat orange peppers around when they molt. And yeah the same for flamingoes. Same pigment, actually. But theirs comes from the shrimp they eat.” It was hard for him to imagine never having seen animals beyond the basic farm animal, but that was probably because Kaden took every chance to visit the zoo back home that he could. “Never?” He asked, looking at Monty. “You’re going to have a lot of firsts today, then,” he said, breaking out in a grin. “Over here.” Kaden gave his hand a small squeeze and led Monty around the corner towards the enclosure full of bright pink birds with long legs. “They may not be armadillos but they’re pretty neat.”

—

Hm. That wasn’t very nice of his sister or mother, was it? Monty couldn’t imagine how anyone could be annoyed by the man holding his hand trying to share his knowledge with them, regardless of his age at the time. It was nothing but endearing. “Hey, well… maths stink, anyway,” he offered softly, bumping Kaden’s arm gently with his shoulder, his own breath hitching at the contact.

Listening again with genuine interest as his questions were answered, the farmer kept his eyes on Kaden’s face until they were moving again, at which point he was eagerly on the lookout for the pink birds. It was a short walk to their enclosure, and the sight of them was met with the same enthusiasm that’d been granted to the penguins. “They are pretty neat!” he parroted the other, seemingly beside himself with each new creature they encountered after the flamingos. The names he knew, for the most part, but for many of them he’d only ever seen illustrations of them. A few were entirely new, which is when he asked Kaden for the most information, absorbing everything he was saying with gusto.

Next were some crocodiles, which he seemed familiar enough with on a base level. They’d had these on the coasts of Mexico, at least, so… he was standing tall at a good two for however-many-animals they’d seen so far!

Looking at the one closest to them lay there with its mouth wide open, Monty laughed. “I knew a hombre once, back in México, who almost lost all his limbs to these things. We were running from—” Bounty hunters, but he couldn’t say that, “—some guys he upset and had to take a shortcut through some wetlands full of mangroves… and crocodiles. He stepped on one of them, and it was just. Whew. Chaos. They were snapping at all of us, but he got a pant leg torn clear off. Idiota.”

—

When Monty’s shoulder nudged into his arm, Kaden could swear his stomach did a 180. His eyes caught sight of their hands still intertwined as he leaned over to look at the other man and it brought him to a full 360. It was silly, small – just holding hands, nothing earth-shattering. But Kaden wasn’t about to let go and he could feel the corners of his mouth peeking upwards when he realized that it seemed like the farmer had the same idea.

As they walked through the zoo, Kaden didn’t hold back on his dumb facts and trivia. The joy of sharing his knowledge with a rapt audience didn’t compare to watching Monty’s reactions, though. Each new enclosure, the hunter waited for the look of awe and amusement that lit up his face. He couldn’t help but feel lucky to get to be the one to share it with him.

“Putain, he was lucky the pant leg was the only thing he lost,” he said, laughing at the picture the farmer had painted. “I’ve never run into a crocodile like that before, but I have fought a–” Merde. He was about to start recounting an encounter he had with a vodnik. Couldn’t exactly detail that. “A, uh, what’s it called?” It was a little shameless to pretend the issue was a lost word or a bilingual slip up, but the hunter needed some time to think of another animal with big goddamn teeth. A shark? No, that was stupid, how was he going to spin that? An alligator? Too similar. “Un coyote,” he said, panicking. Bordel de merde, a coyote? Really? That wasn’t even remotely similar to a vodnik or a crocodile. Not to mention It was the same fucking word in English, just pronounced differently. Fucking hell, he was the only idiota here. “Anyway, I had a run in with a coyote that tried to take my leg off. Only got my shoe, instead. I had to kick it off and make a break for it. Never got it back.” That had been a fun walk back to camp through the mud.

Looking closer at the enclosure, Kaden spotted something that didn’t look quite right. He furrowed his brow, squinting as he leaned over the railing to try and get a better look. “Huh. These crocs must be well fed if that frog can just sit there like that.” It was hard to see what kind it was from where they were, the grass and mud camouflaged the amphibian. “Probably not poisonous, it’s not colorful enough. So I wonder why they haven’t taken a bi–” Before he could get the words out, something shot up towards them both.

Well that might explain why the crocodiles were leaving the frog the fuck alone. That was a goddamn ballybog. And its poison was all over Kaden. For the first time in a while, he let go of the other man’s hand, trying to shake off what he could of the poison. Looking down, he could see it on his shirt, his sleeves, and, worst of all, his arms and hands. Putain de merde. This was going to be a problem. His head snapped to Monty to see if it hit him, too. “Shit, you alright?”

—

“A… coyote.” To his credit, Monty did manage to appear genuinely concerned, though the desire to laugh at the image in his head did shine through a bit in his smile. “That must have been a scary coyote.” Okay, now the laugh pressed through the desire to be sympathetic, just enough to force a breathy chuckle out of him. “I’m sorry. You poor thing. I would have been terrified that it had rabies!” That was scary, yeah. At least for someone not already dead.

Looking to try and see the frog Kaden was talking about, Monty found that he couldn’t. His eyes continued to scan the ground in the enclosure curiously, narrowing like that would help him see better. Before he could respond—hell, before Kaden could even finish speaking, something was flying at them. The cowboy recoiled, stepping back from the railing and looking over at Kaden with a surprised expression. His date was busy trying to get the… whatever it was off of him, until his gaze snapped up to meet Monty’s.

“Oh, uh… yeah. I mean… ew.” It’d gotten on his hand as well, which he gave a good shake and then wiped on his jeans. “What kind of frog spits like that?” It was certainly something he’d never heard of before, not that that was saying much. Was the thing part camel? Damn.

—

“It’s, a, uh…” He’d have thought that years of hunting and having to explain shit to civilians would mean that Kaden was better at coming up with explanations by now. “Spitting. Frog.” Genius. Brilliant. Putain. “Usually only see them in Canada.”

Kaden was pretty sure he got most of the poison slime off his hands and arms. Still, he should probably wash it off. And so should Monty. “We should, uh, probably wash our hands real quick. Pretty sure you don’t want to hold this right now,” he said, holding up his hands that had just been covered in ballybog spit. The hunter glanced around and saw a restroom, nodding towards it as he led Monty that direction. It wasn’t far away but he could feel the world spinning a little more every step. Shit, shit, shit. If it was hitting him, it was probably hitting Monty, too. Maybe if they got to the damn sink fast enough and washed it off, they’d be fine.

He wasn’t sure he was walking in a straight line by the time he got to the restroom and found himself clinging to the sink, using it to hold himself up. Deep breath. Kaden scrubbed as much as he could, but it didn’t seem like it was helping. As he watched the water flowing from the faucet, it started to sparkle. Huh. Then it shifted into rainbows. That was nice. Kaden moved his hands through the rainbows, watching them float and bend around the restroom and his mouth fell open in wonder as the sights danced around him.

Right. What was he worried about again? Kaden looked over and saw his date. “Hey,” he said, a grin spreading across his own face. “You’re glowing.” Radiant sunbeams were reflecting off of Monty’s skin and Kaden reached out to examine his hand and arm. “How are you doing that?”

—

Perplexed, Monty still didn’t feel the need to question much else, at least not right now. Kaden seemed a bit… well, anxious to get the stuff off. Which was fair! It was gross. Nodding and trailing along lightly behind him, it wasn’t hard to spot the gradual lack of balance as Kaden led them to the bathroom. Concerned, the zombie kept close to the other, wondering what the cause could be. Was he just grossed out by it? I mean, sure, but it felt a little out of character for someone who worked with animals every day—

It was no better inside the bathroom. Getting his own hand clean pretty quickly, as Kaden had taken the brunt of the blast, he turned to the other man to see him bracing himself against the sink. He seemed entranced by the water, his movements having become less frantic and his eyes widening with… something.

“What?” Monty chuckled anxiously as Kaden looked at him and said… that. He took the cowboy’s arm in his hands, evidently looking for something, and Monty felt that familiar sense of unease start to crawl up his spine. Something was wrong. That frog had done something, though he didn’t know what. Kaden had just said it wasn’t colorful enough to be poisonous, so what was this?

“I think, um… let’s… come on,” he stammered, turning off the water in Kaden’s sink and grabbing him by the arm, gently tugging him toward the exit. Let’s not deal with this in front of a bathroom full of men who would absolutely just fucking stare at them. Once they were back out in the sun, Monty pulled him over to the side, away from other patrons. “Hey, are you okay? Do you feel okay?” he asked, looking hopefully up into the other’s face.

—

The world bent around them as Monty pulled Kaden out of the bathroom, but he hardly noticed. He was too focused on the other man, mesmerized by how he glowed and the outlines of color surrounding him. Yeah, he didn’t have to drag Kaden too hard, he was definitely going to follow his date wherever it was they were heading.

The sunlight beamed and wrapped the whole place in brightness and a visible warmth and Kaden could feel it enveloping him. He knew it was sunny and bright out but this was so much more somehow. Just as he was certain he was about to figure out what was new and different, they stopped moving. The world didn’t stop moving, though. Textures blurred and shifted around them, morphing into all sorts of shapes, like even the inanimate surfaces around them were alive and breathing.

None of that held his focus the way Monty did. He was beautiful. Not that Kaden didn’t know that already, it was hard not to notice, but now there were moonbeams bouncing off him and colors flowing around his every movement. The hunter couldn’t help but smile as he looked down at him, placing his hands on his shoulders.

He was so busy watching the soundwaves leave Monty’s mouth that it took him a second to figure out what he’d said. “Okay?” he repeated, tasting the word in his mouth before trying to find the answer. When it came to him, he chuckled to himself. “Yeah. I’m okay. I feel great.” And why wouldn’t he? All the world around him was heightened somehow, even beyond his hunter senses, he was there with someone he really liked, and–

Oh yeah. They were at the zoo. There were animals here. Excitement fluttered through him and he could see the vibrations ripple out around him. Kaden took a quick look around to try and remember exactly where they were. Before he could figure that out, something else caught his eye. “Hey,” he said to Monty, nudging him. “Did you see that?” He pointed across the way. “I think there’s a polar bear over there.” He didn’t wait for his date’s answer, just reached out to grab his hand as he wandered towards the massive white fuzzy creature he swore he saw marching peacefully through the crowd of people. Kaden wasn’t sure why they weren’t in a cage but it looked so soft. He wanted to pet it, and he was sure Monty would want to, too.

—

Oh dear. Okay, they needed to—Kaden needed to sit down somewhere and just relax, something was obviously wrong. It was good that he wasn’t distressed, but Monty knew that if it’d been him, he’d want to at least be taken somewhere that they could be alone, free of prying eyes.

But Kaden seemed to have other ideas, taking his hand again and pulling him toward a… polar bear? He didn’t see a—oh, no. There was a cart making its way through the crowd, transporting what were clearly zoo staff from one place to another. And it was white. And that’s what Kaden was headed for. The had to slow down as a rather large group of people walked by, which gave Kaden just enough time to catch up and hold a hand out to the cart, stroking one of the canopy poles affectionately.

All four of the zoo employees turned to look at them, expressions deeply confused and perhaps a bit disturbed. Monty was mortified.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” he laughed, taking Kaden’s other hand and trying to pull him back while still looking at the staff. “Sorry, he’s—”

“Is he all right?”

“Yes! Yes, everything is fine, we were just—um—”

“Are you sure?” They didn’t believe a word he was saying. It was clear that Kaden was high as a freaking kite. What they didn’t know was the source of that, so he tried to explain.

“There’s a frog! In the crocodile exhibit. It’s—it spit something at us, it—” They all looked skeptical, glancing between themselves as one of them started to lift their walkie talkie to their mouth. “Ah! No, you know what? It’s fine. Probably just… tired. Heat stroke. We’ll go, okay? We’ll go. We’re going.” This seemed to appease them somewhat and the one staff member lowered their walkie again, squinting their eyes at the pair as Monty shepherded Kaden away from the golf cart. “Hey, Kaden, look at me, okay? Focus on me. I want to show you something, ah? It’s this way.” He kept a firm grip on the other’s hands, switching between walking forward with them awkwardly tangled and walking backward to check on his date again.

Mierda. He got dropped off, he didn’t have a car. He’d have to… get Kaden’s keys.

As the pair neared the exit, the panic began to slowly ease off the gas. As long as they were away from other people, he could… handle this.

—

Kaden caught up to the polar bear and was in awe of the creature, carefully reaching out to pet the beast. It was weird, it felt cold and not as fluffy as he expected, but the aura around it was a glowing rainbow so this probably wasn’t a typical polar bear. Made sense. His jaw dropped when the bear started talking. Asking if he was alright. Wow, what a polite creature.

“Je vais très bien. Vous êtes extraordinaire,” he said as he continued to pet the polar bear’s cold fur. When he looked over to see if Monty was also able to pet the animal, the hunter became confused. He looked stressed out. “Don’t worry, he’s friendly,” he said to the farmer. “Did you know that they can smell their prey up to a kilometer away?” He was trying to remember what else was interesting about polar bears but it was hard to focus on anything. Especially now that the sidewalk was rippling and turning into floating icicles on the ocean.

Before Kaden could jump onto one to make sure that he didn’t fall in and have to start swimming, Monty pulled his focus. He didn’t have to ask twice for him to focus on his date. “There’s more?” he said, eyes widening in wonder. Something better than a polar bear? Kaden grinned and leaned in to give Monty a peck on the cheek before following along, hands linked. It was a good thing the other man held on tight because Kaden was pretty sure he would have fallen over a few times while trying to take in all the sights around him.

As they slowed down, at first, all Kaden could see was the flood of colors radiating off of Monty. Blues, golds, and greens swimming around him, framing him against the ever changing scenery surrounding them. His smile grew even wider as he watched it all, reaching out to put his arms around Monty’s waist and pull him in a little closer.

That was his plan, at least. Until he caught sight of the bies leaping out of the forest behind them, bounding towards them.

The hunter pushed the other man to the side, making sure to put himself between the beast and his date. He thought about grabbing one of his knives, but they were too well concealed for his fumbling hands. Instead, he glanced around and saw a sword and shield sitting on the ground. As the monster approached, he ducked and rolled, grabbing the weapons when he popped up. “Stay back!” he shouted, both to the bies and to Monty. He had this covered. Kaden charged in with his sword in hand, slashing and stabbing at the antlered beast attacking them both.

—

Well. The brief kiss to his cheek had been unexpected, but he didn’t have time to worry about that right now. He just needed to get Kaden out of the zoo, before— It was like an emotional whiplash as Monty gave a start, feeling the man’s hands slide across his hips, only to push him aside a second later. Struggling to regain his composure, the cowboy turned on the spot to locate Kaden again, watching him… tuck and roll. What the hell? He had an abandoned umbrella in one hand and a lonely trash bin lid in the other, and he was wielding them like a knight from the round table.

Monty might’ve laughed, if he wasn’t so worried about Kaden hurting himself. Or someone else, though most of the other guests were giving them a pretty wide berth at this point. Feeling the dozens of pairs of eyes on them, Monty hurried after him, watching in horror as he seemed to be beelining it for a poor person in some kind of mascot outfit, taking pictures with kids.

The children screamed and scattered, and the mascot looked over just in time to take one right to the head. What was that thing even supposed to be, an antelope? … That didn’t matter. Monty rushed to Kaden’s side trying again and again to wrangle him, shouting apologies at the person inside the suit that was hollering up a storm, getting whacked with a busted umbrella and yelled at by an extremely high Frenchman. “Dang it—why do you have to be so big?” he whimpered to himself, unable to stop the man by force alone.

“Wow, you did it!” Monty half praised, half begged, nudging the person with his foot and stage whispering at them to stop moving as he stepped between them. “Look at that! Definitely dead. Amazing. Let’s get out of here, okay? Before more of them show up.” He pulled on Kaden, throwing a pitiful glance in the mascot’s direction and mouthing an ‘I’m so sorry’.

From there, it was a matter of making it through the parking lot without any more incidents, and once he spotted the truck he knew belonged to Kaden, he pushed him up against it and splayed his hands on his chest. “Okay, I need you to just—Kaden, hey, look here.” God, it was like herding kittens. Violent kittens. Though that… had been pretty funny, in hindsight. Using an umbrella as a sword. “I need your keys, yeah? I am going to drive you somewhere. Okay?” He glanced down at the pockets of Kaden’s pants, not immediately able to see where they were, and… anxious about the idea of having to dig around for them.

—

The monster howled in pain and Kaden was about to stab the beast through the heart when he saw Monty in front of him. Woah, how did he get there so fast? “Get out of the way! You’re going to get–” He stopped to look over the cowboy’s shoulder to see the bies crumpled to the ground, defeated. He dropped his sword and shield, no longer needing them now that his job was done and the monster was slain, and gripped Monty’s hand again, happy to follow him wherever it was they were going.

On the way to wherever that was, Kaden watched his other hand as they walked. It was like moving through water but the light was the waves and he could see the sound all around them. He was so mesmerized by it all that he was caught off guard when Monty pushed him up against some sort of surface. The hunter looked back to see what it was. “Hey, that’s mine,” he said with a smile, pointing at his own truck. Putain, Monty was saying something. He had to pay attention to what it was. His hands were on his chest. That was nice. He wanted more of that. He reached out and put his arms around him and pull the other man closer.

Wait. He was still talking. He’d said something. There were words. He could see them floating around in the air, but he couldn’t make out what they said. He tried to play it back in his mind, but it was hard to focus. They were at his truck. They could go into his truck. Sitting sounded nice. And they could go somewhere else in his truck. But he’d need the keys to get into his– Oh! That’s what he said. “Right. Keys.” He nodded like he’d been following the whole time before reaching into his front pocket for his car keys. He turned to unlock the door and was about to get into the driver’s seat. He only stopped to ask, “wait, where are we going?”

—

“Ah. No, no, I am driving,” Monty insisted, gently taking the keys from his hand, fighting through the way being pulled so close to Kaden had made his thoughts turn to static for a good ten seconds. “You’re… well, I think you’ll just enjoy it more if you’re not having to pay attention to the road, you know?” He was bluffing as best he could, having no idea where they were going to go, other than knowing it needed to be somewhere quiet and where they wouldn’t be around other people. He didn’t need Kaden beating anyone else over the head with whatever inanimate object he got his hands onto next.

“It’s… a surprise! I know you will like it,” he answered coolly, guiding the other man around the back of the truck and to the passenger side. It wasn’t until he was safely situated in the seat with the door shut again behind him that Monty gave himself a second to breathe, holding a hand to his forehead as he rounded the vehicle again to get behind the wheel.

Whatever kind of frog that’d been, he had to be sure to never go near one again. Well, not with… anyone else, anyway. Why hadn’t it—oh. Right. Probably because he was dead, duh, that made sense. Rolling his eyes at himself, Monty put the keys in the ignition and backed out of the space, trying to decide where exactly he was going to take Kaden that would give him enough time to get whatever this was out of his system.

The farm wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t want anyone else to see the state the man was in, if only for his own sake—he had a feeling there was going to be some embarrassment for the animal control officer following his sobering up. Had to be quiet. There was a spot that came to mind, a little pond in the pines that he had happened upon with Habanero one time. There was a waterfall and everything, that would be relaxing, right?

Looking over at Kaden as he started the drive north, he offered the man a soft, sympathetic smile. It was… kind of cute, seeing him so outside of himself. Less reserved than he had been, and like Monty always was. Ah… crap. “How you doing, amigo?”

—

Kaden was confused for a moment. He wasn’t going to drive his own car? He didn’t care enough to argue, though, and he trusted Monty. “Alright,” he nodded as he walked around to the passenger seat with him, his fingers brushing along the edge of the truck as he did so that the sparks would fly around. “It’s a secret, I get it.” He put his finger to his lips as is to prove he understood before sliding into the car seat.

Yeah, sitting was nice. He could feel himself sinking into the cushions beneath him. The world was still moving around him, humming, but he was still. And also not still as the truck came to life and they started to drive away from the zoo. His brow furrowed and he narrowed his eyes. The world was moving too much, now. He put his forearm against the car door, but that didn’t help; not enough, at least. Kaden reached out and put his other hand on Monty’s leg. Better. There was less spinning now, more smooth waves. This was good.

It took a beat for Monty’s words to sink in, but Kaden turned to look at him once they seeped in. “I’m great,” he said with a smile. He still didn’t know where they were going or what had happened, but he was content all the same. “What about you?”

—

Straightening his back as Kaden’s hand found his thigh, Monty managed to not flinch away from the touch, though it was now taking considerably more brain power to focus on the several-ton vehicle he was piloting. His gaze snapped back to the road in front of them and he gripped the steering wheel a little tighter with one hand while the other raised to press his knuckles over his lips.

Question. Right.

“Perfect,” he chirped, voice nearly cracking beneath the metaphorical weight of the other’s hand.

Driving the winding, quiet roads through the Pines was relaxing, at least, even more so when they turned off the main stretch and onto a dirt side road that’d get them plenty close to the little grove in the woods. “It is a little secret between Habanero and I,” the zombie explained, finally getting used to the feeling enough to speak like he didn’t have a gun to his head. “But… I think you have earned a peek.” He’d earned something all right, even if Monty didn’t know what that was.

It only took a few minutes more down the dirt road before he was pulling off to the side, nodding his head at the woods that faced them from Kaden’s side of the truck. “It’s that way. Just a quick hike. Think you can manage?” The question was delivered with a cheeky smile as Monty killed the engine, waiting for the other to move first, not really knowing what to do about the whole… leg situation.

—

If there was any tension there in the truck, Kaden couldn’t feel it. This was nice, just driving through the woods. The deeper they got into the forest, the more he could feel himself relax. Something about the outdoors, it just felt better. Some of the colors outlining the road as they drove were starting to get a little dimmer by now, but not by much. The trees were still bending back and forth with the wind. “Really?” he said, looking over at Monty as he explained that they were going somewhere secret. “Is Habanero going to be there, too?” It was a sincere question. He sort of hoped the horse would be there. Manzanita, too. If nothing else because he liked horses and he knew Monty really liked horses.

It took him a second to realize the truck had stopped moving, probably because he was too busy looking over at his date and the last little part of the drive. “Hmm?” He looked out his window and saw the trail Monty was referring to. “Yeah I think I can manage.” He gave his leg a small squeeze before unbuckling himself and getting out of the car. He waited at the foot of the trail for Monty to lead the way.

—

“Hmm… only if he learned how to unlock his paddock,” Monty answered with a soft smile. “Which feels unlikely. But not impossible.”

Joining Kaden at his side once they were both out of the truck, Monty gave him a quick once-over. He had no idea how long these effects were going to last, but… “I thought, you know, that it would be nice to get away from people, ah? To have some… alone time. But together.” The words felt foreign on his tongue but he forced them out, if only to help ease any concerns Kaden might have about these secret plans… not that he seemed concerned about much of anything, unless he thought it was a monster that needed killing with an umbrella. Which was probably indicative of something, if only Monty would take the time to analyze it. But hey, maybe it was just the guy being protective. That was okay, too.

He seemed to have that effect on people, for some reason.

The dappled light of the afternoon created a vivid tapestry of color as they walked between the trees, around boulders and over fallen logs until the gentle rush of a small waterfall could be heard. “Ah, we’re getting close,” Monty announced, leading Kaden down and around a small dip in the terrain, which came around to reveal a beautiful little pool of water in the middle of a decently-sized stream, waterfall and all. Monty turned to look at Kaden, wearing a wide grin. “Ta-da!”

—

“Alone together,” Kaden repeated as a familiar smile fell into place on his face. “I like that. Sounds like… poetry or something.” He reached out and gave Monty’s shoulder a quick squeeze before they started hiking. “Or maybe it was a song.” The hunter tried to remember what song that could possibly be as they picked their way along the trail. It wasn’t long before he decided that he didn’t know and started humming some ABBA song instead, watching the notes dance in the air as they left his lips.

As they walked, he could feel some of the world slow down around him. Some of the feelings and sights and sounds were becoming a little less intense. It didn’t make the view any less impressive when they rounded the corner.

“Ouah.” His eyes lit up and his mouth fell open as he took in the sight of the water pouring down the ledge into a small pool that continued to wind on as a stream. He couldn’t tell if the glowing around the water was a part of the rest of what he’d been seeing or if that was just what it was like here. It didn’t matter, he loved it here either way. When he was able to tear his eyes away from the waterfall he took Monty’s hand in his and found a spot by the stream that looked flat enough. He sat down and tugged at the other man’s hand to sit there with him.

—

Complying when the other urged him to sit, Monty released a gentle sigh as he got settled and then looked over at him, trying and failing to gauge how he was doing based on his body language alone. Still seemed… probably a little off, yeah. But that was okay, they were here now and there were no more park employees to accost.

Rather than asking how he was doing, since he seemed to keep getting the same answer anyway, Monty just focused on the way it felt to have their fingers laced together, noting that in spite of his dulled sense of touch, he seemed to have a much easier time feeling things like this than he did when it came to injuries. Things that should’ve hurt. Perhaps it was an exposure thing—he’d been hurt plenty of times, but the number of times he’d been physically close to someone he could probably count on two hands. And even then, hugging was about as intimate as it ever got. Which was fine. Anything more was too daunting, which probably made going on a date with someone a little unfair, but… he felt selfish, today.

Fuck it, he felt selfish. He ran a hand through his hair to push it back, then gingerly leaned his shoulder against Kaden’s. “Let me know if you see any more wild critters coming to get us,” he chuckled breathily, “just so I can be prepared.”

—

He wasn’t sure if it was being out in nature or if it was because there was no one else around, but Kaden felt some sort of peace settling in, a calm. The wind through the branches still drew lines in the air like someone was drawing it in, but he could feel a veil lifting a little. And then he felt Monty’s shoulder up against his. The peace was interrupted briefly by his stomach turning over itself at the contact. It was nice, but he knew it could be even better. Kaden unlocked his hand from Monty’s and wrapped his arm around the other man's shoulders.

Was that too forward, too much? Kaden felt the prick of worry bubbling up inside him again, but it was easily popped. It felt like the right move, and he trusted that if it was too far, Monty could say something or move away. He hoped that wouldn’t happen, sure, but he wasn’t going to overthink things while he could still avoid it.

It took him a moment to figure out what Monty was referring to, but fear gripped him either way. Wild critters? Did he know that he was a hunter? Wait, no. He knew he was animal control. And… the bies. He’d fought the bies earlier. It had been a bies, right? Kaden wasn’t entirely sure right then but that didn’t matter. “I’ll keep an eye out, don’t worry.” His eyes swept over the landscape but he saw nothing but calm. “So far, so good.” There were birds chirping and hopping on a tree on the other side of the stream and a squirrel washing its face and hands by the water. But no monsters. Hell, he couldn’t even imagine a monster showing up here and shattering the peace.

Kaden was content to sit there, just watching the water and listening to the small sounds of nature around them, but he broke the silence to ask, “did you like the zoo?”

—

Some part of him wondered if Kaden would even remember this later. He couldn’t begin to guess what the side effects of that frog’s projectile spit had been, all he knew was that it had made Kaden a little goofy, but in an endearing way. Aside from the public embarrassment, he could have done without the questioning glares from those zookeepers, but whatever. That was then and this was now, and the mere idea that Kaden might not even be able to recall what he’d done, or what was said here… it gave him just a little bit of a confidence boost. Which was kind of sad in its own way, but Monty wasn’t going to dissect that right now.

Turned out to be a good thing, actually, even if it was depressing, because then Kaden was wrapping an arm around him, and he knew if he had a heartbeat, it’d be pounding against his ribs so loud they both would’ve surely been able to hear it.

“Sí!” he answered quickly, his voice taking on an earnest quality as he angled his head to look at the man. He didn’t want Kaden to think he hadn’t, even though he’d ushered them out of there after the frog attack. “I really, really did. I love how much you know about all the animals. I could listen to you talk about them all day.” He smiled. “Is there a subscription service I can sign up for? Daily animal facts with Kaden, eh?”

—

Some part of him knew it was probably stupid, but he couldn’t remember the last time he felt this… content. Maybe even happy. That word felt frightening to even think. Nothing good ever came when he thought he was happy. In fact, that’s usually when things shifted for the worst. Kaden inhaled and pushed all those thoughts away as he exhaled. He wasn’t going to worry about any of that now, he was just going to be there, in the moment and let that be whatever it was going to be.

Whatever it was that had affected him was slowly slipping away, but he couldn’t remember exactly what all had happened. He’d leave that for later, too. He couldn’t help but grin as he looked over at Monty, butterflies fluttering in his chest hearing that he’d had a good time. About a dozen more flew through when he said that he liked all the animal facts. “Well I’d talk about them all day if you let me, so be careful what you wish for.” Then again, he’d be happy to just talk to Monty all day, about anything, really. “I think I could make that happen. It’s a limited time deal, though. Only one available.”

The longer they sat there, the clearer and harsher things became. Reality began to sink in. Putain de merde. He didn’t remember everything just yet, but he knew it was embarrassing, whatever it was that had happened. Merde, he hoped like hell he never had to remember every last detail. Even if he did, he was going to make that something to worry about later. For now, he was there with his arm around Monty (who hadn’t run away screaming for whatever reason) in a beautiful spot in the woods. That’s what he was going to focus on.

—

“I don’t need to be careful, that sounds pretty great to me,” Monty countered, his grin widening at the following statement. “Oh? Well then I want it, give it here.” Close as they were, the nudge of his elbow landed somewhere around Kaden’s ribs, his gaze dropping to the stream that babbled along in front of them.

Maybe he wouldn’t even remember—

“I like spending time with you,” he said quietly, still staring dead ahead and noting how much heavier the arm around his shoulders suddenly felt. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just… alien, basically. He supposed there had probably been a time or two when Alan had done the same thing, but context was everything. This was very much not like any of his interactions with his best friend. “I don’t think I’d much care what we were doing, I… am pretty sure I would still have a good time.”

—

Kaden let out a soft chuckle when he felt the elbow in his ribs. “Alright, alright. I guess you can have it.” The truth was, there wasn’t exactly anyone else he’d rather bug with silly animal facts. It was just a bonus that he actually appreciated them. Or so he said.

As reality began to prick him like pins, Monty’s words brought him back somewhere up above the clouds; he swore he was floating. Kaden turned to catch a glance of the man who was still looking off into the distance. “Me, too,” he said, stupid smile plastered all over his face. He wanted to turn and look out at the waterfall, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away quite yet. Not before reality set in for good and dampened the moment. “I…” The bravado was slowly slipping away. No, not yet. Kaden wouldn’t let it fall away just yet. “I just really like you.” He wasn’t sure how long he could dare to keep looking over at Monty while the words hung in the air, waiting to either fall like a weight or float away.

—

There were a lot of things he probably ought to tell Kaden. Things that might make him change his mind about all this, but things he deserved to know. First of all, I’m dead. That was a pretty big one. That meant a lot of things, not least of all that he wasn’t aging and would outlive half the people he cared about without even wanting to. His dietary habits and the consequences that came with those were an entirely different matter. Secondly, I’ve never been on a date or spent time with someone who liked me the way you do. He supposed that could be somewhat incorrect, but to his knowledge, this was the first time. At least that someone made it obvious to him. And what did he do with that? That was the problem—he didn’t exactly know. For all intents and purposes, when it came to interpersonal relationships and tackling the hurdles that were intrinsic to a person’s first romantic encounter, Monty was just a kid that had no clue about this stuff. He’d never given himself the time or kindness to figure it out. He’d avoided it at all costs, and for whatever reason that he’d now stopped and decided to give it a try, here he was, not knowing what to say. How to act. How much of his life had to stay a lie and how much could be shared.

But maybe Kaden wouldn’t remember this, and none of that would matter.

“I really like you, too,” Monty responded softly, practically like he was afraid to admit it. He dragged his gaze away from the water and let it dart upward to meet Kaden’s, finding the smile to be somewhat reassuring, but the act of making eye contact itself while all these thoughts screamed through his mind was three times as difficult. “I, um…” His eyelids fluttered as he fought the urge to look away again, to give in to that desire to retreat back into his shell. “I have never… done this before.” It was barely above a whisper, and his gaze did jump from Kaden to some place beyond him in the trees, then back to him as he tried to piece together his words. “... let myself, ah… ay, chingado…” Lifting a hand to drag it down his face, he gave up on being brave. Bravery was for other people. Not him.

—

Kaden tried to keep his grin from getting too wide but he was pretty sure he’d have to bite half his lip off to manage that. But as much as he felt like the weight had lifted off of him, it didn’t seem like Monty had felt the same. Not yet. Concern wormed its way into his thoughts, but he’d wait to hear what the man had to say before letting it take root.

Things were becoming sharper, but not clear quite yet. His thoughts were still slower than usual and he wasn’t sure he’d heard Monty correctly. Never done… what before? Kaden tilted his head as he tried to figure it out. Did he mean…? There was no way, right? Sure, he’d said that it was his first time when they had met but he was sure that couldn’t be it. “Never… dated?” he said, testing the waters. Given his clear embarrassment, Kaden had a feeling he’d hit the nail on the head. That still seemed impossible. How could someone so kind and adorable and handsome not have anyone else knocking down his door? Ever? Sure, he said he hadn’t gotten out much in a while but that didn’t– Oh.

It finally hit him. He didn’t know for sure but if he had to guess, Monty hadn’t been out until recently. He felt his heart break just a little at the thought that he’d gone this long either not knowing or not allowing himself to be open. Not that he wanted to show that, potentially embarrass the poor man even more than he already was. Kaden took his hand and brushed it up and down Monty’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay.” He spared the man any further agony and looked back at the water. “Don’t crawl into your shirt, alright?” He took a deep breath, starting to feel his own shame sink in as his mind got a little sharper. Putain. “I’m pretty sure I have a lot more to be embarrassed about right now.” He huffed out a laugh and gave his shoulder another small squeeze, hoping it was some sort of comforting. “It really is okay,” he added, voice softer, still not turning back to meet Monty’s eyes. Didn’t mean he wasn’t trying to sneak a peek at him out of the corner of his vision.

—

The nod Monty gave in response to Kaden’s guess was probably easy to miss, small as it was. The way the man rubbed his arm to soothe his anxiety was… surprisingly welcome, actually, and Monty let himself lean against the other just a bit more. And just as his hand was reaching for the collar of his shirt, Kaden called him out on it. He couldn’t stop the awkward laugh that tumbled out of him, fist closing around the fabric instead and just holding it where it was. That laughter only pitched upward as his date brought up the, uh, antics at the zoo. Which must have meant that he was coming down from whatever that frog had done to him.

“Ah, no, that wasn’t your fault,” Monty assured him, taking a steadying breath and realizing that he was grinning a lot harder than he thought he ever would while being this close to someone. Normally, it was nerve-wracking. And it still kind of was, but Kaden was being very sweet, which helped a lot. “Besides… you defended me from that terrible mascot, wey. Quite a knight in shining armor, eh? Not sure how I would have made it out of that zoo without you there to protect me.” He was clearly teasing, but there was a genuine fondness in both his tone and his expression as he looked back up at Kaden.

—

Kaden tried not to laugh as he watched the farmer tugging at his shirt collar. Called it. Only he was about to do the same when he mentioned the mascot. “Is that what that was? Putain de merde.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. He must have looked like a complete fucking moron. “And here I thought I was slaying a monster with a goddamn sword and shield.” Merde, he was so glad he didn’t have to see what it must have looked like from the other side. “I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?” he asked, looking back at Monty. He was never going to live this down.

His brow furrowed when it occurred to him that Monty seemed just fine. And not just now, but the whole time. “You were alright, yeah? I guess the bally– frog must have missed you. Lucky you.” He shook his head and couldn’t help but laugh. “At least it wasn’t both of us out of our minds. That could have been…” Bad. Extremely bad. “So, uh, thanks. For, you know, taking care of me back there. Sorry you had to.” Putain de merde, what a fucking day. That said, if Monty still liked him after that disaster of a date, he was pretty damn lucky.

—

It came so easily, now—what was normally quiet, breathy chuckles evolved into a less reserved cackle that made him press a palm to his forehead. “You did such a good job, though! The umbrella sword was my favorite part. Very clever im… improvisation.” Shaking his head, Monty took a beat to regain his composure, dropping his hands back to his lap. “No, no… I think that person was more startled than anything. Those suits are pretty thick.”

The grin remained even as he lapsed into quiet thoughtfulness, wondering exactly how he was going to explain why he hadn’t also suffered the effects of the toxin, but… Kaden went and did it for him. Seemed that the details had gotten pretty fuzzy in his head—Monty just had to hope that he wouldn’t one day remember that he had gotten it on him, washing it off in the bathroom sinks right alongside Kaden. Or maybe it would be better if he did, the cowboy couldn’t be sure. It’d be a conversation starter, anyway.

“Don’t apologize for that. Taking care of people is what I’m good at,” he offered, feeling that shyness return now that he’d finished laughing at the other man’s expense. “And I like doing it, so… it really was fine. I’m just glad you seem to be, ah, clearer now. I was not sure how long we were going to have to sit out here, heh.”

—

“Putain, an umbrella?!” Kaden repeated. “Do I want to know what the shield really was?” His cheeks turned bright red as he remembered the “polar bear.” He knew he never wanted to know the truth on that one, the embarrassment might eat him alive. Even so, Monty’s laughter was infectious and it was definitely better that he was laughing about it than any of the alternatives.

His gaze drifted back to Monty as he spoke. He sure as hell couldn’t describe whatever it was he was feeling, but he knew he didn’t want it to go away. “Well, protecting people is something I’m usually good at. I think only one of us was successful today. And it wasn’t me.” He laughed, softer now than before, his hand absent-mindeldy running along Monty’s arm as he looked back at the falling water. It was constant, predictable, but never quite the same. He was pretty sure he could stay here for hours. “You know, on second thought, I think I’m still seeing rainbows. And fireworks coming out of the pinecones over there.” He snuck a glance back over at his date, hoping the ruse was obvious enough. “But, uh, anyway. I could stay here a while longer. If you want. Up to you.”

—

“A trash can lid, wey. It was a magnificent thing to watch.”

The idea of living unapologetically was one that Monty had only been trying out for a couple of years, now. And truthfully, if he had not found people like Alan and Daisy, he may never have had the confidence to try. It was still very much a work in progress, of course, as he often apologized for his mere existence; often wondered if he was good or interesting enough to be worthy of someone’s attention, but… Kaden, like the other two, even like Gael, seemed to make it easier. This list of people in his life who seemed more than happy to take him as-is was continuing to grow, to his surprise. But he wasn’t going to look a gift-horse in the mouth, so to speak. If Kaden wanted to sit here with him, enjoying the tranquility of the spot with or without any hallucinations, who was he to say no? He didn’t have to worry that Kaden was bored, or annoyed that he’d been dragged out here. The need for that sort of thing seemed to have dissolved over the course of the afternoon, and so he didn’t overthink it, instead simply nodding at the proposal.

“I would like that.” Truthfully, he was a bit sad at the thought of it ending, of him going back home to a house that’d been empty for five years, save for himself. And as he looked back at Kaden, he wondered if he felt the same. Probably, given the offer to stay, but—thoughts of ways that this day together could be extended further raced through his mind, unprompted and frankly, rather embarrassingly… even though Kaden had no way of knowing about them. He gave an awkward sort of smile in response, hands wringing themselves anxiously in his lap.

—

“Putain de merde, I’m never going to live this down.” At this point, Kaden wasn’t sure if his cheeks were ever going to stop burning from the embarrassment of it all. “At least it was you there and not my cousins. Andy and Alex would never stop teasing me about this. I’d be hearing about it for the next month at least.” Hell, they’d probably request the security footage of the moment so they could relive it for years to come. “I’ll try my best to be a little less, uh… that on the next date.” It was an assumption, sure, but he figured he might as well throw it out there now.

Kaden exhaled and settled against the rock at his back and leaned into Monty a little more at his words. He could stay there for hours, honestly. Until sunset if he had the opportunity. About the only thing that would make this better was maybe some wine and cheese and a dog or some other pet curled up with them. Even so, those would just be the cherry on top of a nice, normal moment. Peaceful and content and quiet and beautiful. In that moment, Kaden wasn’t a hunter. He wasn’t violence or death. He wasn’t his duty or a pawn in his family. He was just there, in nature, arm around a guy he really liked who had no business giving him the time of day.

The last time he felt anything even close to this content was back in France, on the couch with Damien, drinking beers and shouting at the football match on the television. He hated that the memory made his heart ache. What would Monty think if he knew? Any of it? Kaden’s past, what he was, who he was – who he’d killed.

He deserved better. They’d only met a couple of times now and Kaden already knew that much.

He inhaled and swallowed back the thoughts trying to poison the moment. That didn’t matter now. He was going to bury it all for now and let himself have one decent fucking moment. He looked back to Monty, trying to ground himself back in reality. The smile spread back onto his face and warmth filled his chest again and it was all too easy to ignore everything else. He didn’t know just how long they could realistically stay there, but he had no plans of getting up anytime soon.

—

He was so preoccupied with the amusing idea of harassing Kaden for his little display for months (he would never, honestly—he’d hate it if someone did that to him) that he nearly missed the confirmation of another date.

Nearly.

All those things he’d felt around Hector came rushing back. When their eyes would lock for a little too long and Monty would be compelled to push himself forward and close the distance between them… of course he never did, and Hector was always the first to look away, coming up with some quip or another to break the tension. But Kaden wasn’t deflecting anything, and he wasn’t looking away. And he wanted to see Monty again. And—

His stomach flipped over and his thoughts became static, his gaze landing on the other’s lips.

Mierda.

Without thinking, because if he even tried he’d start running for the hills again, Monty rocked himself closer, the arm that was between them bracing against Kaden’s shoulder, the opposite hand reaching to grasp fervently at his shirt. He was gentle about it, as he was with most things, but there was a very plain sort of desperation behind the way he kissed him, and a hesitation that came from inexperience. He held it for a moment or two before pulling back just far enough to breathe, realizing that his fist was was trembling against the other’s chest. “Oh—” he gasped, as if he was surprised with himself. Which… wasn’t far from the truth. “Sorry—”

—

It was tempting to lean in, to be the first one to go there and initiate but Kaden figured he’d done a lot of that by now. And after learning it was Monty’s first ever date? The last thing he wanted to do was put too much pressure on him. There had been plenty of that already.

Kaden was about to look away before he did anything stupid when Monty closed the distance between them. He was pretty certain there were no longer butterflies in his stomach but hummingbirds, flapping their wings faster than the eye could register. Somehow, he managed to remain steady as Monty’s lips pressed against his. They were colder than he expected, but he didn’t care. He still wanted to lean in and throw himself into the kiss, to take more. But he had a feeling there would be more later. For now, the most he did was slide the hand that had been resting on Monty’s shoulder down towards his lower back, almost in an attempt to keep the other man upright in case he panicked.

As he pulled away, Kaden realized something was vibrating against his chest. He had to hold back a small laugh when he looked down and saw it was Monty’s hand, placing his own around the fist to try and help keep him from shaking too much. His skin was as cold as it had been when he’d first taken his hand earlier in the day. Not that it mattered, he knew it would warm in his own eventually.

He shouldn’t have been surprised that Monty’s first reaction was to say sorry. Wasn’t about to let that lie, though. “Don’t you dare apologize for that,” he said, voice soft, before he leaned in to kiss along Monty’s jawline, his lips brushing up against the scruff of his beard. He breathed in the scents of hay and leather that lingered on the man’s skin before pulling away enough to look at him again, unable to remember what his face felt like when it wasn’t permanently wearing a smile at this point.

—

The hand on the small of his back. The other one that came to rest over his trembling fist, as if to calm him. All these points of contact made him feel like he was on fire, which was a decidedly new feeling for him. And confused, since he wasn’t supposed to feel much of anything, these days. Psychosomatic, probably. But the worst—or best—of them came after Kaden gently admonished him for his apology, then pressed his mouth to the cowboy’s jaw. The breath he didn’t even need to take still hitched in his throat and he felt a desperate need to—to—he didn’t know, but it whatever it was was manifesting as a shudder. His dark eyes fluttered closed for a moment and he let out a quiet sigh that ended with a soft groan.

When Kaden stopped and pulled back, he blinked them open again to refocus on the man’s face. Rather than smiling like his companion, he just looked… gobsmacked. Fully unable to conjure a single thing to say and entirely wrapped up in all of that that’d just happened, about one hundred and thirty-five years later than it should’ve.

Like a man dying of thirst in a desert, Monty went back in for more. The hand beneath Kaden’s stayed put, but his body twisted and leaned much more heavily against the other man, his other palm sliding cautiously upward until it found a home on Kaden’s neck. There wasn’t even a need to silence his own thoughts, anymore—they’d all left his head willingly, and he acted on instinct alone. Which was probably a bad thing, as it had gotten him in trouble in the past, but… fuck it. He couldn’t be bothered to consider the what-ifs right now. Maybe later, but not right now.

—

There was no hesitation from Kaden when the other man reached out for more. The chill from his hand, his lips, it was like a splash of cold water on a hot day: initially a bit of a shock but immediately welcome and refreshing. He tried to pull him closer, if it was even possible, daring to brush his fingers along the hem of Monty’s shirt, flirting with the possibility of his hand against the man’s bare skin. He didn’t have to think or worry anymore, just let himself drown in the moment.

He was happy to let that moment stretch as long as it could, resting his forehead against Monty’s, eyes closed, when he finally accepted that he had to pause long enough to catch his breath. He thought about saying something, but there were no words he could find in either language he knew that seemed good enough to break the quiet. The space allowed some of his thoughts to snake their way into his consciousness, all of them telling him this was probably a terrible idea. Yeah, well, those thoughts could fuck off. They could wait to haunt him whenever the day was over and he was trying to fall asleep on the goddamn couch.

Still, maybe they should slow down. Didn’t want that. Not at all. But probably should.

—

Relinquishing his grip on Kaden, Monty slipped back down into a more neutral position that was still pressed to the other’s side, that bewildered expression lingering as his brain caught up with his body.

Oh, boy. What the hell was that? It wasn’t that Kaden seemed put off by it, at all, it was just… so much. So much more of himself than he’d ever shared with someone before. Too much. God. Bringing a hand to his face, he physically stopped himself from apologizing again by pressing his fingertips over his lips and closing his eyes, counting to five before speaking in a low, measured tone.

“Would you believe me if I said I’m not normally like this?” The question sounded just as earnest as it was poking fun at himself, a smile finally appearing beneath those fingers, head bowing in embarrassment. Don’t apologize again. Stop it. He told you to stop. The urge was god damn overwhelming and he sort of hated that, but that’s who he’d become.

The question of what comes next? was so, so far from Monty’s mind, which was currently trapped in the past about, oh, two minutes ago. Utterly trapped, and perfectly content to remain there.

—

He didn’t want Monty to pull away, but Kaden knew that was probably for the best all things considered. He took a deep breath and tried to bring his heart rate back down with a slow, long exhale, leaning back against the rock to add to the steadiness. “Never would have guessed,” he said, huffing out a laugh. “I figured,” he added, gentler this time, just in case it was misconstrued in all of the, uh, everything. “I’m not normally high on a first date either. Or, uh ever. Usually.” Maybe he should thank those ballybogs to be honest. This date went better than it really should have given the circumstances.

Kaden sighed and stretched a little, still settling next to his date. “You know at some point, we have to get up and go home,” he said as he watched the water tumble and fall down to the rocks below it. “I’m not saying I want to, mind you. But I didn’t really plan on camping either.” Not that he even knew what to suggest at this point. He has no clue what time it was after the whole zoo ordeal.

—

“I know, I know. We should… sí, we should probably go.” It’d been late afternoon by the time they’d left the zoo, and with the sun’s descent beyond the horizon would come a chill that neither of them were quite dressed for. Not to mention all the other things in the Pines that would come out to play.

The question of when and how the hell was he going to share his affliction with Kaden still lingered at the back of his mind, but he pushed it away as they untangled themselves and got to their feet. Monty rummaged through his pockets for a few seconds before finding the truck’s keys, squinting at Kaden as if really assessing his sobriety before passing them back with a good-humored smile. “Think you are ready for these,” he joked, nodding his head in the direction of the vehicle before extending his hand to the other. “Vámonos. Before the beasts start to wake.” It was cryptic at best, but that was just Wicked’s Rest, for you.

#. thread ;#. with ; kaden langley #. alone together ;

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pbandjesse · 6 months

Text

We just left five guys after seeing two houses. And it was fun! My voice continues to be gone but despite that annoyance, today ended up being great. I really couldn't have asked for a better day, all things considered.

And!! It is my husband's birthday! Congratulations James for joining me in being in our early thirties! I woke up a little early so I could sit with them and open one of the three packages I made for them.

We started with the card I made them. It's a victorian purse card and I don't have space to include it in this post but I will make a post if it's own. James said they could tell how long it took and really appreciated how I tried to emulate notes being passed as a child.

The opened the first gift and it was sock and a new hat but also the shirt I design for them. "Lucky to have the best wife" with a bunch of pictures of my face. They laughed so hard. I wish I got it on video it was such a sweet reaction. They wore it for the rest of the day and looked so cute. I'm glad they liked it.

I had to leave soon for work though. After a few extra hugs I headed to camp.

I got stuck in some traffic but it was okay. I got to camp and drove around making sure the last things were set and ready. Celia was waiting at the office and I would let us in so I could get some things printed. She was not sure if the eyrie was unlocked and so she wanrd to wait. Despite me saying we haven't been locking it. But it's fine.

Elizabeth was a great support today. I was nervous about my voice but I was also hopeful. I went to the hacienda to wait for parents around 9. And they slowly made their way in. I kept apologizing for my voice. I was trying my best to be clear even if I wasn't able to be loud. I know everyone was struggling to hear me though. We realized pretty quickly that while in person they couldn't hear me, on the walkie I was more intelligible. So I got the idea to use two walkies as a mic. Elizabeth was not sure because of feedback but I was sure I could figure it out.

After walking the parents around and getting them settled I went to get the last parent who was at the pool house still. I walked her up and went to deliver popcorn that was dropped off to the Pueblo. And then I went back to the office to ask Elizabeth to print more maps and schedules for me. Because my laptop was plugged into the screen at the hacienda so I didn't have time to go back and forth. She helped me out and I was off.

And then the bus was there! Except they went to the wrong place. Ah well. Once they got to me they all came in and sat down and were so sweet.

I told them I could not get louder and I had a plan. And we tired the walkie and it worked!! Elizabeth was standing at the door trying not to laugh because I was also just being funny with an the PowerPoint. I was pretending to be a stand up comedian with my timing.

And it honestly gave me to much power after not being able to talk for almost a week. And so I talked for a half hour and honestly had the best time.

Even though the school came 15 minutes late I was able to get us back on time and we were able to do the fibers program. But at this point my voice was dead dead. I couldn't even really whisper, you can't hear me if there is any other noise. So instead I wrote down some instructions on paper and held it up like a ring girl. Just walking through the space and stopping so the 2nd graders could point and finger read. And then they would go "got it.". Thumbs up. And they were just great.

I would have to give some announcements over the walkie but I was very squeaky and struggling. I tried my best.

During the first program I cleaned the room so that the other school that was there today could have a horse hair free lunch. Then I was dropping off the check and getting my book. I posted up on a log in between where my programs were happening and it was just beautiful and I was feeling good.

Mostly. I am still coughing. But once I'm out in the nice air I feel a lot better. Plus it was just a beautiful day.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Everyone was doing great. I had to type out what I needed to say on my phone because I was so quiet. And that's when the main teacher apologized for being a little scatter brained. And she let me know that the raven group has no chaperone. Which means 8 second graders had been following the map and schedule by themselves all day. I was just like. Oh. Well they did a great job. But inside I was face palming and just being like. How did that happen and how did it take us 2 hours to notice. They did a great job though and honestly I would have this group every day. Excellent kids.

At the end of the day I went to the hacienda to start moving chairs and while I quietly did that while the kids were packing up and finding their things some of the parents, and then the kids too, started helping carry the chairs outside!! I hate asking groups to help but man does it make it faster. And the chairs weigh nothing because they are aluminum. So even the kids carrying two got to feel big and strong but no one needs to be worried about them getting hurt.

Nick, Sarah, Celia, and Dachelle came and helped clean all the tables and swept while I got all my materials packed up and out outside. They would go do a trash run while I started driving around and collecting my stuff.

Celia would join me and helped me pack my car before she went to go feed the animals.

I went back to arts and crafts to unpack and start repairing things. That's the big plan tomorrow. Some stuff needs to be replaced but mostly it's maintenance. As this was my last feildtrip of the semester.

I was a little upset to find one of my space heaters for some deer fur on the prongs of the cord and was burning a little. So dangerous. So I got that handled but it was a little scary!

Once everything was inside I started repairing some fire sticks. But at 330 I decided that was enough for the day.

I went back to the office and Alexi let me know there was a child abuse training I needed to do. But it wasn't loading on my old laptop so I promised to do that when I went home

And that I was leaving a few minutes early so I could go and get a pumpkin pie for my husband.

I went to the grocery store so I could go to their bakery, which is always very nice. Camp goes there for everyone's birthday. I first found a pumpkin pie dip?? Apparently they are known for it, and I got the recommended swedish ginger snaps to go with it. Then at the bakery counter I apologized for my whispers and ordered a pie. Which looked great. The boy at the counter whispered back which I thought was delightful. I love that that is what people keep doing. Just "oh we are whispering!!" It just seems very kind even if it's not necessary.

I went home after that. Got stuck in some traffic. Had to drive directly into the sun. But it was okay. I got home a little after 430.

And I was so happy to see my birthday bean husband. I gave them the treats, they opened the other presents. They loved the rocket notebook and the fidget and keychain tools I gave them. They also really liked the sterling frisbee charm I got for their necklace. Which I think looks so cute.

I would have to go jump into that training course. Which was just an hour. I did it very quickly while I also was cutting my cuticles. And when I was done it was basically time to go.

We went to see two houses tonight. One I liked a lot, though it was small, and one that was horrible.

The first one I not only liked the house, I liked the block. It has a community association building two doors down with a really cool mosaic mural outside. And no broken buildings at all. The inside though was very funny to me. It was yellow! Almost every room has the walls and ceiling painted yellow. It needs work, but only a little. It does need appliances but that isn't unusual for the ones were seeing. Will just have to factor that all in. But I really did like it. It has the landing space like the first one. It didn't have a finished basement but it did have a little backyard and backs up to a green space. The floor upstairs had a slope and it only has a shower in a really small bathroom, but I could see us being really happy there.

The second house though. This was not good. While the bedrooms and bathrooms were bigger, it has so much water damage. On the ceilings of both floors. It was kind of a mess. Like it seems poorly flipped but then just not taken care of while they waited for it to see. Not good. I also didn't like the block as much. It was honestly to dark outside. Ah well. Was still fun. We're seeing another place on Friday!

James and me decided to go to five guys for dinner. Which was fun but also they put to much seasoning on the fries. Still good. And I enjoyed James's company even if I had to text them every time I had something to say because I couldn't be heard.

It is frustrating. I feel like I'm straining so hard to get my voice out. And while it was better today then yesterday I for sure did not help it by using it so much. I need to have a voice by Friday. It's going on the right direction, I hope.

We are home now. When we parked James ripped down the broke branch on the tree outside that kept scraping the roof of the car. Then we flipped it off and were very dramatic. Now we are eating pumpkin pie and James is playing a video game. I am ready to go wash my face and go to sleep. My cheeks are flush and I am a bit exhausted.

Tomorrow I have no groups. And I am hoping to work on my program materials and putting them in storage until the spring. And then working on some of the projects Heather asked us to do. I hope it is a chill day where I don't have to talk much. And then I have my ceramics class! I am looking forward to tomorrow. I think it will be a good day.

Sleep well everyone. Be careful out there. And send happy birthday wishes to my husband. Goodnight! I love you!

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angelofthepage · 8 months

Note

Can you tell us about three of your favourite bits of backstory or character building for any of your OCs? :^)

Anon, you just made my entire day, thank you so much for sending this in! I would be delighted! Gosh, where do I even begin? There's so many ways I could answer this! I mean as the maker of an OC, you're they're number one fan, so there's a lot to love there. How do you pick a favorite part?

Over the last year or so (or at least, since a little before Dark Revival came out), I've let myself have more fun with Bella, an OC from my AU and fic Searching the Depths, and it's been very freeing. One of the biggest parts of her development that's been so fun to explore is just, letting her be a main character instead of denying myself that fun. It's made a world of difference and things are more fun to write now. She's gotten to be a little more frustrated as of late too. Much like Constance in TLO (and really, everyone in TLO), there's a lot of feelings she keeps hidden, but the more she's been exposed to the ink, the worse she's been at stifling her emotions. Turns out she's a very frustrated character who's fallen into the twisted thinking of 'if I just grin and beat it a little longer, it'll all be worth it' instead of taking care of/being honest with herself, and with the ink stripping her of a lot of her patience, that's harder to do. Same with lying. While working on my recent draft of Richard the Keeper, I've learned she has a really difficult time lying to Richard and Sammy. Truth by technicality, she can do, but straight up lying has become harder. I think these are some of the reasons why she and Sammy can relate. They were both people pleasers on different ends of the spectrum, and even though they butt heads, deep down they get that it's hard to function when those around you aren't meshing with how you do things.

In terms of backstory, here's one I don't get to talk about much: when I originally made Bella, she was an accident. She was my character for an RP blog my friend Margin used to run, Samsamthebandman. I hadn't roleplayed in a long time when we started doing stuff together, I was rusty and hadn't had a partner that let me contribute to the plot in any meaningful way in years. So Bella was a safe testing ground, and I'm glad I got to do that. Some of what we did there stuck when I went to develop my own stuff. Bella having a librarian friend named Cherie? That's canon to Depths, in fact Cherie is a lot more important than anyone knows just yet. I've mentioned her briefly in-fic, but just wait until you meet her. XD Same with Fiero, the candlestick toon, he was made around the same time and has stuck with me since. Bella being close to Sammy and seeing him as family was also a major takeaway from this.

Besides that, I'm pretty sure this is where the importance of the hat came from. Bella has this pageboy hat, which is based off of a hat I own. It was a gift from my senior ball date of all people, and I wore it a lot in college when I was having a bad hair day. X'''D The hat in-story was a gift from her father who passed away, and she's never without it for very long. Now, if you've seen anything with my art fight this year, you may have noticed that Bella has these massive sheep horns now (which have an amazing backstory let me tell you, please someone ask me about it it's SO FUN), so she's not wearing a hat anymore. Or at least, not on her head. The hat now lives tied to her belt loop, or in her hammerspace, always on her but in a different way.

Last note, I think one of the things I really love about her right now is the design upgrade. Like giving her curls and letting her be sheepy to match her name was great and I love it. But also, I love her name. The reason her name is Bella Ewe is so her signature can be B. Ewe, which out loud sounds like Be You. And ultimately, that's what her story is about, finding an identity for herself within the ink realm and moving forward from the death of her father. She has changed herself so much to fit what other people want or need her to be, that somewhere along the way, she got lost and doesn't know who she is anymore. In going on this journey with Sammy, Jack, and the rest of her new friends in the cycle, she's finding herself, not just existing to fill a gap in the group, but existing as the person she is, finding that she can be helpful and make a difference and still be Bella. And along the way, she gets to learn that Bella is a person worth loving, even when she's difficult, even when she isn't perfect, even when she breaks down.

That's been really valuable to write, and for me as a person, valuable to learn. Like, I don't get into it much, but I'm someone that spent a really long time feeling pretty worthless and unwanted, and moving forward from that has been really hard, but also rewarding to fight through. Bella isn't a self insert anymore, I've learned that we're very different people all things considered, but working on her has been healing for me. It means so much to me when people tell me they enjoy hearing about her and her story, that they think I have good ideas not just with Depths, but with all kinds of niche things in this fandom. I'm still shocked by the number of art fight attacks I got that were of her out of all the characters I put up this year, the number of kind comments about how cool her design is blew me away. Thank you guys for enjoying my silly little OC. She's my sheepy daughter, and I love her so much. It's nice to be allowed to talk about her. A few years ago I would've been told to shut up about something like this, expected to listen but never partake in the conversation. Now I get to share this part of what I do with all of you, and you're so kind about it. That's ultimately one of my favorite parts of all my OCs, I'm not the only one who enjoys them anymore.

#batdr #bendy and the dark revival #bella ewe #bendy ocs #bendy askbox #askbox #answers #thank you anon #genuinely you just made my whole day #ive been feeling like absolute crap all week #this was such a treat

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two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat · 4 months

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This is gonna be a kinda long post cuz I was looking through the pictures I took with my first digital camera and feeling nostalgic

Most of them are just pictures of layla and mercedes but theres a few of me

This was my friends bunny Radar

The year i got this camera was the year with the most snow ive ever seen. Think we had maybe 2 feet in one night?

One of my few blanket forts. I wouldve liked to make more but I always ended up getting frustrated when I couldn't find things to weigh down the edges of the sheets and they kept falling down. Honestly kinda surprised I managed it with the satin ones here cuz theyre extra slippery (I stopped using them on my bed cuz they slid off too easily and I got annoyed with constantly having to readjust them)

This dude freaked out all the kids in the neighborhood lol. We were convinced he was haunted cuz he would move around sometimes. I dont think he's been over there for several years so im guessing whoever owned him moved.

My friend Jared took this picture of me before English class one day. I wore that jacket a lot. I eventually had to get rid of it cuz I let layla tug on the sleeves when we rough housed and they were getting pretty shredded at the ends

I think this was also the first year I did an Easter egg hunt for layla

And the last time I went to silver dollar city. I'm not sure what I was looking at in that first picture. Not the camera, clearly. That was. Not a trip I enjoyed all that much. I mean it was fun but going on trip was always stressful for me and it was always worse when my dads parents were there cuz despite raising 2 autistic kids they did NOT know how to handle an autistic kid. My parents being with us on this trip made it a little better cuz my mom would set boundaries for me and told them to give me space after a meltdown.

But the small amounts of gender dysphoria I've experienced were a lot worse back then but I didnt know what it was so I also couldn't articulate why them buying me a dress absolutely did NOT cheer me up.

That second picture was the gemstone panning thing that silver dollar city had which is where I got a bunch of my smaller rocks. Mostly sodalite and calcite. Some garnet and different types of quartz. Also had some pyrite which I had in a small jar on a necklace but I have no idea what happened to it. Also not sure what happened to that hat from the last picture. I got it from a souvenir shop in downtown Branson. I still wish id gotten the blue one instead of the pink one.

Mercedes judging my messy ass room. Behind her you can see a bag i made entirely out of magazine clippings

Ok ok so this picture is actually half the reason I decided to look through the pictures from this camera. This was how I liked to decorate my room for Christmas in middle school. I also had 2 mini Christmas trees set up on my night stand. It had 2 levels to it (picture a step) so I had one on each level.

Also in my window sill is the aquarium part of the "self sustaining" aquarium/terrarium we made in 6th grade science out of old coke bottles. I kept that thing for like 2 years. The fish died pretty early on. Got eaten by the snail. Which somehow made MORE snails (I do not know how snail reproduction works) and I ended up with like 30 snails in that bottle. Eventually all the water evaporated out and my mom convinced me to throw the bottle away

THIS is the other picture I was looking for. Layla had a lot of Christmas sweaters cuz she got cold easily. The santa suit was also laylas but I would put it on mercedes sometimes. This is one of the few pictures I have of them dressed up together. I didnt put clothes on mercedes too often cuz she hated it lol

There was a less blurry picture right before this one but mercedes looks mad in this one and I felt it encapsulated her personality better. Also. Man almost forgot about that rocking chair. It was at my grammys for the longest time and then we took it at some point. It was ugly as hell but it was like a giant stim toy for me. Both for rocking but also I liked the rounded parts on the arm rests cuz I could rub my fingers in the divots between them. Mercedes was not happy when we got rid of that chair.

This was about as close as they ever got to cuddling. Mercedes was never a cuddly cat. She tolerated harley cuddling up to her when she was a kitten but I think thats just cuz she was old. She probably wouldn't have tolerated it at all when she was younger.

Is it weird that I can tell I was watching ncis when I took this just by that part of the screen. This was also when my recliner still reclined lol. The handle you had to pull to bring up the foot rest was a plastic thing on the end of a wire and the wire snapped....I think the first day after my sophomore year of highschool?

Aaand heres where I finally figured out I could turn off the flash on my camera in highschool lol

Mercedes after a haircut (while I was cleaning my room)

She looks so soft here 🥺 i miss her

#i miss both of them 🥺#layla and mercedes

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bmaxwell · 1 year

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Resident Evil Village

I have a handful of cherished gaming experiences with my children. Youngest staring down at her hands in disbelief the first time she put a VR headset on. Playing through Bastion to completion with middle child sitting on my lap. Having to take over firstborn’s Okami playthrough when they reached Old Man and Granny Tongue-Cutter’s house. These days, firstborn will join my partner and I in playing “choices matter” games such as Life is Strange, or the Dark Pictures games. We don’t play many traditional games together anymore, but when they asked if I was planning on buying the new Resident Evil game and could we play it together, well...I’m not going to say no to that.

Resident Evil Village follows the story begun in Resident Evil 7, which I played a few hours of and never finished because VR is the way to play that game, and holy sweet Jesus is that game scary in VR. Even when it wasn’t being scary, there was a persistent sense of unease and dread that eventually wore me down and stopped me playing. They make enough allusions to the events of that game that I can fill in the blanks and figure out where the story is at. And RE Village wastes no time in throwing you right into the shit. Ethan Winters sure gets dragged through it here.

Stuff Happens then you find yourself in an abandoned village in the middle of nowhere, beset by werewolf monster beast people. It’s not where Ethan wants to be. Also, it’s wintertime. There’s a big castle at the center of town and, if you find yourself lusting after 9-foot-tall vampire ladies with huge cans, this is the game for you. She ties you up, bites you, cuts a hand off, which is not appealing to me in any way but I’m not here to judge. Ethan didn’t consent to this, but I guess I did when I didn’t turn the game off.

The game starts off with that good, classic survival horror gameplay. You’re alone and desperate in a hostile environment, searching for a way out but also terrified to open any door. It’s got the old lock-and-key gameplay the series is known for, as well as limited ammo so you can’t just Rambo your way through things. Or, if Rambo is too dated a reference, you can’t John Wick your way through things. Especially since Ethan Winters isn’t much without his guns.

The game’s environments are detailed and unsettling, lending to the feeling of being an intruder in a very dangerous place. I remember a scene where Ethan is on a rooftop, crouching outside a window and eavesdropping on Lady Dimitrescu’s phone call with her mother. She then flies into a rage and starts destroying the room because she is looking for you. It is terrifying. I wasn’t dropping no eaves, ma’am! Honest! Also memorable is a scenario that involves you trying to find your way out of a pitch-black house while being pursued by a giant baby. I don’t know why that’s scary, but it definitely is.

The game’s cast of villains lends a lot of personality to the game. There’s the enigmatic Mother Miranda. We don’t see much of her, but she is spoken of in hushed tones of reverence blended with fear. We see her and her 4 children in an early cutscene. Her children are pretty fucked up and scary, and they’re frightened of her. That’s enough for me to steer clear. Each of her children has their own portion of the game world to be explored before defeating them. There’s the intense, tall steppy vampire Lady Dimitrescu, creepy doll girl Donna Beneviento, grotesque fish man Moreau, and sneaky, too-smart-for-his-own-good Karl Heisenberg. He has a very large hammer, and a brimmed hat. For some reason one of the biggest standout moments for me was when Moreau - clearly the least-loved black sheep among the family - excitedly screams “I’m the BEST!” while beating you down.

The game isn’t perfect. The most glaring flaw is the last quarter or so of the game feels like a pretty standard shooter, losing much of the personality that makes the rest of it shine. Overall though, I had a blast playing the game. The central mystery is compelling, and I loved seeing what the villains had in store for me. I’ve never considered myself a survival horror fan, but Resident Evil has changed that the past few years with RE2 Remake and RE Village. Can’t wait to play the RE4 Remake early next year.

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gladerwolfstarkimagines · 2 years

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Imagine having a crush on Camilo and being a mess whenever he teases or flirts with you.

Camilo knew the effect he had on you and so of course took every opportunity to embarrass you. Seeing as you were best friends with Mirabel and the same age as both of them, this happened a lot. At school he’s always find a way to sit near you in class and would turn randomly around just to make you blush. Every time you came to the house he’d find out within minutes (you were pretty sure he had a deal with Dolores) and he’d find you and flirt with you every time. Mirabel always groaned and left the room for a few minutes to give you "flirty time" as she called it. You secretly loved those moments even if you suspected he was just teasing you. Camilo was a people person who loved attention, it made sense he had a flirty extroverted personality, it didn’t mean anything. Plus everyone liked Camilo, not just people your own age but everyone old and young alike. He was a cheeky trouble maker but he was also so charming and quick it was hard to dislike him. Pretty much everyone adored him and the fact he could sing, dance and had a gorgeous grin just made everything worse. Leaving you hopelessly smitten and at the mercy of the shapeshifter.

You were contemplating all this as you walked to the Madrigal house for Antonio’s ceremony with a pot of food in hand. You had intended to show up early to help Mirabel but, late as usual, you arrived when the party was already in full swing. You’d barely been in the house 5 minutes when Camilo found you and honestly that was pretty slow for him. You were watching the wall play with hats amused when you heard a chuckle "did you really think my grandmother wouldn't make enough food to feed the whole of Colombia?" a familiar voice asked and you turned to see Camilo. He wore his signature smirk and looked as good as ever, but before you could reply he spoke again. "So what did you bring" he asked opening up the lid of the pot in your hands and you gasped swatting his hands away "get off! It's not for you Camilo". He smiled "well I mean you brought it for everyone so technically it is". "You're so clever" you teased sarcastically and he smirked, "I know but it feels so good to finally hear you say it". You blushed and Camilo smiled "come I'll show you where you can put it".

Camilo directed you to the kitchen, fighting through all the crowds to make a path for you and his over the top nature made you laugh and smile constantly. Finally you made it and he collapsed on the counter in *exhaustion*. “I didn’t think we were going to make it” he panted. You rolled your eyes smiling and set the pot down. Immediately Camilo popped his head back up, bringing it close to yours “so...you excited for the party? We’ve always been too young to enjoy them properly but now we’re finally old enough”. “I seem to remember you having a pretty good time at your own ceremony” you replied moving back and Camilo relented. “I’ll admit I can see why you’d think that” he shrugged. “You ate so much candy you threw up” you smirked laughing at the memory and Camilo blushed bashfully “yeah...I do not plan on doing that tonight”. “Doing what tonight?” his aunt said entering the room and more people pilled in after her. “Nothing tia!” he called as more and more people followed the magical healer into the room. As you and Camilo got pushed further into the back of the room he began the dramatics again. "Woah...house too small, even if it is magical. Abort y/n! Abort" he cried grabbing your arm. You laughed at Camilo’s performance "where?". "The window behind you, quick before we’re crushed!" he cried leaping out of it. You climbed out after him instead of leaping and smirked to see him laying down in the plants "so is there a reason you didn’t jump too?" he asked. "Because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself" you said pointedly and Camilo just turned on his side placing a hand on his hip "I have no idea what you mean". "Sure you don’t" you smirked knocking his arm so his head fell and Camilo leapt up after you as you started walking away. "Ow come on you know I can totally make the plant look work, I saw you checking me out". You blushed "I was not!". "You always do, whenever you think I'm not paying attention you're just eyeing me up and down". You were a red mess and went to dispute the claim when Camilo shrugged "hey I don't blame you I just wish you owned it more. Just walk in a room and yell Camilo twirl for me and I’ll happily do it. Not for just anyone of course but if you demanded it y/n then I would happily oblige". “I don’t need you to do a catwalk every time we see each other” you finally managed to reply and Camilo just smirked. “Sure but you’d love it I can tell”. You shook your head lost for words, utterly enjoying how carefree and fun Camilo was before the sound of the party inside brought you back to reality. "I should go find Mirabel" you said and Camilo went to joke before he realised why you needed to find her. "Tonight will be hard for her so I should go to her" you clarified and Camilo nodded, now all serious. "Of course, come on I know where she'll be". He again led you in through an unusual entranced (a window) but sure enough he found Mirabel. "There she is" he said "look after her and erm...hopefully I'll see you later?" he asked. You nodded blushing "you might do and good luck". "I don’t need luck I was born lucky" he said with a wink and he strut back into the party. You stated after him smiling fondly before you rushed to Mirabel.

“Let me guess” you called “you spent all morning helping to prove to your family you’re totally okay even though you’re feeling pretty crap?” you called. Mirabel smiled and hugged you “you know me too well...but what took you so long to find me?". You went to reply when she smiled "let me guess...he has curly hair, a huge appetite and can shapeshift into anyone". You blushed "Camilo was just showing me where to put the food I brought". Mirabel laughed "knew it! God the two of you are so predictable. When will you just confess your love to one another and start dating". "Never because it's not like that" you said knocking her with your hip "Camilo is just an extroverted socialite, he’s charming and he knows it, he’s just a huge flirt". "He’s a troublemaker alright but you're the only one he flirts with" Mirabel replied. You blushed and changed the subject.

Antonio’s ceremony was a huge success! He touched the door and animals began flooding to him, communicating with him in a way that was impossible for anyone else. Everyone swarmed into his rainforest room and you followed before realising Mirabel wasn’t coming. You grabbed her hand and squeezed “you want to go outside for a bit?”. “No i’ll be fine, just gonna go grab some water. You go ahead I’ll come find you”. “Are you sure?” you asked and Mirabel nodded “totally! Go on, i’ll be right behind you”. So you relented and walked into Antonio’s amazing room. It was so huge and cool you couldn’t stop staring and everyone felt the same. The celebration well and truly began and everyone began dancing and singing. You were called to join by some girls you knew so you joined in, you loved dancing and were so caught up in the celebrations you threw yourself into it.

You’d been dancing for a few minutes and were having lots of fun when you felt someone tap you on your right shoulder. When you went to turn around someone gripped your left hand and twirled you several times before they dipped you. "How did I never know you can dance?" Camilo asked his face appearing in front of you. You blushed realising he was the one who grabbed you and shrugged "I don’t do it often". "Well we’ll have to change that" he grinned and he brought you back upright but didn’t take his hand from yours. "Y/n will you dance with me?" he asked sweeping onto one knee in a dramatic show. You blushed as people stared but more because Camilo wanted to dance with you. You were slightly intimidated as you expected Camilo was a very good dancer, could you keep up? Would you make a fool of yourself? But the look on Camilo’s face told you he wasn’t taking no for an answer and so caught up in the feeling of happiness and joy you agreed.

Camilo cheered and leapt to his feet before he began dancing with you. It wasn’t as terrifying as you expected. You were mainly just dancing beside one another. Sometimes other people would join in and you were all together making it less scary. Camilo was completely focused on you throughout and he’d occasionally grab your hand or dance to you. He lifted you a few times and encouraged and excited you went along with it. Camilo grinned as you flawlessly dismounted from one of the lifts and the joy danced in his eyes as he grabbed you. “Y/n you're just so amazing!" he cried and in the excitement he leant in and pecked you on the lips. You froze bringing your hands to them and Camilo paused too. "You just...did you mean to do that?" you asked the party going on around you as if nothing had happened, making you feel like you and Camilo were in your own little bubble. In reply Camilo just shrugged leaning in closer "why, do you want me to do it again?" he asked. You felt as if a rug had been pulled out from under you and a shiver ran down your spine at Camilo’s words. Hearing your crush ask you that so confidently made you weak and Camilo’s beautiful smile as he gazed at you made it hard to focus. You very much did want him to do it again and Camilo seemed to sense that by the smile he wore watching you. Camilo went to speak, moving even closer when suddenly Mirabel appeared telling the house was in danger.

Of course that ruined the mood. Everyone rushed to the staircase to see what was going on but there was nothing. No cracks like Mirabel described and the candle looked fine. After a minute or two Abuela addressed the concerned crowd. "Everything is fine" she clapped "back to the party". You frowned at Mirabel’s crestfallen face and felt a hand on your arm "y/n?" Camilo asked. "I need to go after her" you said more than a little reluctantly but you were Mirabel’s best friend. That meant you couldn’t just dance and kiss Mirabel’s hot cousin while she was in a crisis somewhere. Camilo understood this and he nodded "no problem but about what happened back in there..." he said raking a hand through his hair "why don’t you come find me again later? If you want of course". You blushed but the look in Camilo’s eyes wasn’t jokey, he was serious and it made your stomach bubble in excitement. "Okay" you nodded and he smiled widely "great, well until then" and with a sweet charming smile he disappeared back into Antonio’s room. For the second time that night you stared after Camilo in a daze before rushing after Mirabel.

You found her in the courtyard and after getting her all healed you listened to her story. You assured her you believed her and would help her work out what was happening with the magic tomorrow. You asked if she’d like to rejoin the party or retreat to her room. She chose the latter and so you went with her, you stole tons of food and had a sleepover. You made it your mission to take Mirabel’s mind off the party and magic and when she finally started smiling and laughing again you were so relieved. You stayed up talking for hours until finally Mirabel fell asleep. You wrapped her up in blankets and laid next to her trying to sleep...but you couldn’t. You kept replaying the night’s events and it felt like sleep would never come, so you decided to go to the bathroom for some air and try again in a bit.

You left Mirabel’s room and made your way down the hall. On the way back you had a good view of Antonio’s room and were surprised to see there were still some people partying. You didn’t really pay attention to them until you heard a distinctive voice. You paused realising it was Camilo and looked over the bannister to see him...with his arms around two girls. He was walking with them to the door and seemed to be enjoying himself a lot. You couldn’t hear what he was saying but he seemed to be flirting or charming them. You stood frozen in disbelief, after tonight and that brief kiss you’d let yourself believe he liked you back. That he wasn’t just a flirt, a Madrigal boy using his gift to get girls but here you were. He spoke to the girls a bit more on the doorstep before calling good night and then he turned around coming back inside. You didn’t even realise he could see you upstairs until his eyes fell on you. He smiled before recognising the look in your eye and it clicked. "Y/n...it’s not what you think!" he cried racing up the stairs, cutting you off from Mirabel’s room. Not wanting to speak to him and being blocked from your escape you cried "how could you" and raced away. You also knew this house well and to the left there was a balcony with stairs leading downstairs into the garden. You didn’t really care where the staircase led you, you just wanted to get away from Camilo before he saw you were crying. You fled down the stairs faster than you’d ever done before but Camilo had his gift. He used his abilities to transform into someone with long strong limbs and practically leapt down the stairs landing right behind you. "Y/n wait" he said transforming back into himself, catching your hand in his, but you tugged it away "don’t touch me, don’t ever touch me again". Camilo nodded releasing you "okay but y/n please let me explain". "Explain what!" you cried "it was pretty obvious what was going on". "But it wasn’t! Y/n, please stop and just listen to me". "Listen to what? Your excuses? You trying to tell me those girls didn’t mean anything?". "Y/n they were my cousins!" Camilo cried and you paused "your...they can’t be I know your cousins Camilo". "They’re my cousins on my dad’s side" he explained "they're literally related to me. Nothing is going on with them I promise". You paused, the girls did look like Camilo’s dad Félix and you did remember Mirabel saying Antonio's extended family was coming to the ceremony. It all made sense and that made you feel like an idiot who overreacted when you and Camilo weren’t even officially anything. You wiped away your tears and looked down "ow...". "Ow" Camilo agreed and his expression softened into concern "y/n I'm sorry I hurt you". "It’s okay, I overreacted" you shrugged but Camilo shook his head "not at all! I get how it looked to you and I'd have been the exact same if the roles were reversed". "Really?" you asked and he nodded "of course! I don’t flirt with just anyone no matter my reputation. I've always noticed you and it’s taken me months of pretending i’m not flirting with you just to work up the courage to actually flirt with you! I'd be super upset if I found out you liked someone else...especially after that kiss". You blushed but couldn’t help but smile "it was barely a peck, are you telling me those 2 seconds were that good?". Camilo nodded "hand over heart the best 2 seconds of my life...but if you need further convincing?" he asked suggestively with a smirk. You blushed at the way he was looking at you and how close he was stood to you. "I think I do" you agreed and Camilo kissed you once again, this time it was more than a peck. It was officially your first kiss so it was still sweet and hesitant but so much better than the one earlier. This one lasted so much longer and you totally forgot the rest of the world existed...until it started yelling at you.

"Y/n, Camilo, are you two still arguing...ahhh" you heard someone cry and you both broke apart to see Mirabel, hanging out of her window now shielding her eyes. “Definitely done arguing!" she cried and slammed her window shut. You and Camilo laughed before you looked at one another and blushed. "So, how was it?" Camilo asked staring at you and you smiled "pretty good so I see what you mean". Camilo smiled, staring at you adoringly for a few seconds before he looked around "how about we go for a walk? I'm not ready for bed just yet" holding out a hand to you. You nodded and took his hand "me either".

When you returned to Mirabel’s room hours later dawn wasn’t far away and you accidentally woke her as you got in beside her. "Antonio!" she cried before she saw it was you and smirked "well well well...still want to tell me you don’t have a crush on Camilo after you spent how many hours together?”. You blushed “okay fine I admit I like Camilo...and we’re dating so that’s convenient". Mirabel threw her pillow at you before seizing you in a hug "I knew it! I'm so happy for you both!" she cried. "You two will be perfect together... but you better not prefer him to me. I'm still your favourite Madrigal". "Always" you nodded and settled down to go to sleep. You closed your eyes and let out a happy sigh, Antonio’s ceremony would definitely be one you remembered fondly.

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Camilo is an amazing charater and the more I watch Encanto the more I love him and Luisa. Plus Delores...and Pepa...okay I love all of the them.

Also my favourite character growing up was Leo Valdez from the Percy Jackson series and Camilo reminds me of him soooo much. The curly hair, the cheeky nature, similar heritage and bascially everything! So I was a goner for Camilo the minute I saw him.

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