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writerofadream · 4 months

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Fortune favors the Bold ⛓

TDI!Duncan x Juvie Bestfriend! Reader ⛓

Chapter Ten: How ba-a-a-ad can I be?

Duncan held his head in his hands as he listened to Sadie scream for Katie. Those screams sounded familiar. Those screams sounded like his mom. You were staring numbly at your hands. "It was a long goodbye." Bridgette explained once she had finally came back with the girl.

Finally, the other team showed up holding green jello with a worm in it. "We got some extra dessert after our tuck-shop party." Gwen explained. "Thought you might want some." Trent continued. "So what? Your just being nice?" Courtney asked mildly confused.

"Okay. Owen stank up our cabin and we needed some time to air out." Gwen finally admitted. Owen farted again causing Trent to give him an annoyed glance.

Beth brought the green jello over to Courtney who very quickly voiced her displeasure with the substance. "No!" She yelled causing Duncan to give her a strange look. "You on a diet or something?" Duncan questioned. "I just don't like green jello." Courtney hissed crossing her arms.

Beth then brought the jello over to DJ, Duncan, and you but the man beside you yelled "Snake!" and threw the plate of jello and Cody explained. "It's just a gummy worm." The boy said confused.

DJ apologized. "Snakes just freak me out." He explained. "I feel you, chickens give me the creeps man." Tyler put a hand on the mans shoulder.

"Your afraid of chickens?" Gwen asked. "Wow- that's really lame man." Duncan laughed causing you to punch him hard.

---

You looked dead in the cameras eyes. "Now suddenly these idiots are sharing their fears and I just know I'll lose my shit if someone asks me."

You leave the outhouse in a hurry.

---

"I'm not afraid of anything." Courtney says when someone asks her. "Baloney." in unison you and Duncan cough into your fists and suddenly the whole group is looking at you. "What exactly are your phobia's Mrs. and Mr. Fearless?" Courtney replied snarkily.

Everyone was looking at you both.

"... Ce-Celion Dion music store standees." Duncan admitted and you rolled your eyes. The way he discovered that fear was SO stupid. But that's a story for another day.

"Zombies, I guess." You sighed holding yourself in your arms. Trent explained what a standee was to Lindsay and Courtney made fun of Duncan which was quickly met with a protective (girl-) friend glare.

Oh she was so sure you two were dating.

Ten years ago

Duncan and you were walking through a mall. You were seven and he was eight. You came across a music store and you told him you'd be right back. You wanted to see if you could get a record for your mom who was becoming super sick.

He waited outside the store, tying and untying his shoes to keep himself busy.

You were taking a long time so he decided to go inside the store. He couldn't find you, but he wasn't worried. When he tried to exit the large store he realized he couldn't find the exit, he kept running into standees... Celion Dion standees.

When you finally found him it was when he was cowering under a table of records nearly pulling out his hair hyperventilating.

---

The next day at breakfast Chris announced the days challenge. "Okay campers, your next challenge is something I like to call 'phobia factor'." You had to laugh at how quickly everyones expressions changed.

"Prepare to face your worst fears!" He yelled across the tables. "Oh we're screwed." You laughed causing Duncan to pale. "How does he know?" Duncan muttered. "The cameras. The god damn cameras." You pointed out the obvious.

"First up: Heather, it's sumo time. Meet us at the theatre. Gwen, you me, the beach... a few tons of sand." The gopher team began to pale.

He went through the entire gopher team, some freaked out, some didn't. Then it was your turn, well more specifically, Duncan's turn. The standee was staring at you team in a creepy manner.

"I don't wanna." Duncan whined to you, but you saw past the facade. You saw the seven year old kid who was terrified and couldn't find a way out and kept seeing this creepy mother fu-

"You don't have too." You whispered. "We'll be fine without it." You grabbed his hand squeezing it. "Just do it." Tyler screamed. Then Duncan gave the creepy standee a hug, after the fifteen seconds were done you ran and gave him a hug.

Now it was your turn.

Chef Hatchet had nine interns covered in makeup. Your mission was too watch them. Chris buried them and your team left to watch you through a camera.

The interns broke through the sand, covered in the zombie makeup. But there was this one intern who got REALLY into the game, she started moaning and hissing. "Y/N, my dear, come back to me." and the worst part was, this girl looked exactly like your mom. She had the curly brown hair, and had your eyes. You felt this anxiety crawl at your throat.

Your mother died when you where eight, she had this disease that ate at her brain, so this intern, who had makeup on to look like she had her brains aten came crawling at your feet?

There was no wonder you began hyperventilating.

The zombie-boy interns grabbed your shoulders and began to drag you back to the 'cementary'. If you didn't stop the challenge by the time they dragged you back, you'd win.

But then the girl began holding onto your ankles with this creepy smile. "Oh my sweet bee, how I've missed you..." that stupid nickname your mama always called you..

When you regained conciousness Duncan was pulling you off the intern. "Dollface, let's go. You got us the points." He was yelling and finally you stopped punching the unconcious girl.

You were shaking.

"Yeah. Yeah let's go." You whispered and he lead you off.

You watched as your teamates faced their fears. Duncan turned to look at you and laugh after Geoff got pelted by the hail but found that you were gone.

He found you in the outhouse smoking.

---

"I wonder, how I haven't died yet." You whispered. "But then I feel this wind in my hair wiping the tears off my face, and new breath in my lungs and remember that the angel who's watching over me, is my mami." Your voice was shaking.

"She just looked, so much like my mom." You explained tears streaming down your face. "My mom, my mom, who I never got to say goodbye too." Your body shook.

Duncan opened up the door to see his best friend crying and smelling like weed. The second you saw him your rubbed your eyes and gave him a lighthearted smile. "Hi, Tarun." You waved half-heartedly.

He gave you a glare

"Duncan, I miss my mama." Your words turned broken, and you choked on a cry. "I know, sweetheart. I know." Duncan sat down next to you and you put your head on his shoulder.

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#Holyshit?

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The other team looked at you both wearily when you returned. Your knuckles were blood red and you had tear marks on your face. But you both were smiling which was a clear sign that you both got VERY high.

You watched everyone face their fear and you even cheered for both teams.

But when it was Tylers turn to go into the chicken coop you laughed behind your hand. "There's no hope for that one." Duncan chuckled.

Tyler had a panic attack on the floor and you bit the inside of your cheek to stop yourself from laughing, so hard that blood flooded your mouth.

---

Courtney was scared of jelly.

Green jelly.

Duncan was already making plans to dress up in a costume for halloween. All Courtney had to do... was jump... into... the jelly.

Your eye twitched.

---

You weren't surprised when she couldn't do it. To quote your best friend. "Coward fucking Courtney."

So of course your team lost... again.

---

That night at the elimination bonfire it went as usual. Chris offered you two marshmallows because he saw how upset you were, and had apologized for the interns behavior.

You expected Courtney to go home, you knew that Duncan had voted for her, as well as yourself. But in the end Tyler went home.

And in totally unrelated news, Duncan and you had put one hundred and four chickens on a boat that totally was not the losers boat. (If you hear Tyler screaming... don't ask questions)

---

Your team trudged back to your cabin in a sort of a depressed funk. DJ and you stayed outside in silence for a moment. "Can I be honest?" He sighed leaning back on the porch's stairs. "You never should be honest with an ex-con, but go ahead." You gave him this crazy looking smile.

"I don't get it." He admitted. "What?" You were confused. "How did they know your mama was dead? What do they have on you?" DJ questioned. That was a fair question. The only person who knew your mom was dead was your father, you, Duncan, one private doctor, Duncan's father-

Your heart skipped a beat.

"I don't know." You lied straight through your teeth.

"Well I'm sorry, kid. You've been through a lot haven't you?" DJ put a hand on your shoulder and you smiled weakly. "Lemme tell you about it some day." You smirked. "I'd love to hear it." DJ smiled warmly.

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twoidiotwriters1 · 3 months

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The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Ara being Ara -Danny Words: 2,298 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

II: Help! People Are Treating Me Like They're Supposed to and Now I'm Uncomfortable

"Your brother hates me."

"He doesn't."

Leo stops and looks at her. "That guy's going to throw me under the elephant at the first chance he gets."

Ara tries not to laugh. "Percy has a resting bitch face, that's all. You'll be best buds in no time."

"Sunshine, no offense, but you're too close to the danger to see it."

"He doesn't hate you," she insists. "But if he did, I'd still love you."

Leo smirks. "What if I turn into a worm, would you still love me?"

"We've already had this conversation," Ara resumes her walk.

"Last time it was a three-legged dog with rabies!" He quickly catches up with her. "But that one was way out there, so mad respect for saying yes."

She laughs. "That should make it clear enough, then."

"The dog still has some personality though," he teases her. "Worms don't even come in fun colors."

"Worms are useful. You could be bait in my direst moment of need," she jokes.

Leo holds her hand. "Okay, you win. I'm the best boyfriend ever."

"Well, what now?" Nico eyes my Tyrian cape and the laurel crown with little interest.

"I gotta move out of my cabin," I reply. "Preferably before the campers get here, Chiron doesn't want me to distract them."

"You can't stop that from happening," Nico raises a brow.

"Shut up," I reach up to take the crown off.

Lily stops me. "Wear that with pride. We broke out backs training so you could get it."

I glance at her hand, the scar on my wrist that used to match Lily's is gone, and I'm half glad about it, I won't be reminded of Michael as often now.

"Is there a rule that says she has to wear the whole fit from now?" Nico taunts her. "Please say yes."

"Can I slap him one last time?" I beg Lily.

Ara is starting to understand why Jason didn't escape this camp as soon as he got the chance. Everyone's seated where they please, old and young demigods—even older than Beckendorf—surround her and her friends. They all look healthy, happy, and like they've enjoyed a fulfilling life. If this is the one thing Roman demigods can aspire to have... she wants it too.

Everyone has been nice to her to a decent extent, except for the Octavian guy, but he's rude to everyone, so it doesn't matter. What keeps bothering her is that Percy isn't the only one staring at Leo weirdly. Hazel Levesque keeps stealing glances at him and Ara doesn't know how to interpret that.

Percy told Annabeth that she was someone else's girlfriend... but there's a faint lavender glow coming out of Hazel ever since Leo took the seat next to her. "...My brother, Nico, went looking for the doors," the girl mentions as they start talking about the prophecy.

"Wait," Annabeth frowns. "Nico di Angelo? He's your brother?"

Ara tenses. "About that... Can I talk to him?"

"Ara..." Percy stares at her with a look of warning.

"We're talking about a fourteen-year-old boy, tall and severely malnourished, right?" She ignores him.

"Ara," he presses.

Hazel tilts her head in confusion. "Wait, he's fourteen?"

"Nico Di Angelo has been here before, even though he's Greek," Ara continues, anger bubbling up in her stomach. Percy tries to talk but she lifts a hand to stop him. "He brought you here?"

"Yes, last September," Hazel replies awkwardly. "But he never mentioned your camp, I swear."

"Ara," Percy looks at her sternly. "Chill."

"I'm chill," she replies, clearly not chill at all. "I just wanna talk to Di Angelo."

"You can't," Percy continues. "Hazel was about to tell us what her brother was doing before he went missing."

Ara's soul leaves her body. "He's missing?"

The first time I met Nico and Bianca Di Angelo wasn't even the first time for real. We met in the Lotus Hotel, but I only remembered a year after we found them.

The first time we spoke isn't as important as the time we almost killed each other, anyway. The first time, I mean, when Nico shattered the Pavilion's floor. But you've heard that story, so I'll tell you about the first time I officially met the Di Angelo siblings.

Percy, Thalia, Annabeth, and I arrive at the creepy military school, where a monster is already there to welcome us. He didn't notice me at first, which was good, I could sneak my way towards Bianca and Nico without the monster knowing.

"Hi!"

Bianca gives a start. I've interrupted some kind of argument between her and her brother. "Hi?"

"I'm Ara," I reach to shake her hand. "Jackson."

It's not the first time I introduced myself with that last name, but it is the first time that sounds natural. Bianca shakes my hand. "Bianca Di Angelo. Are you new?"

"Yeah! And I saw you two from across the gym, you seem nice," I look at Nico and grin when I see the cards he's holding. "Cool deck! I have a friend who's a huge fan of Mythomagic."

The boy's eyes widen. "You wanna play?"

"Sure," I take a sit next to him.

He's the same age I was when I met Percy, and I'm the same age Percy was then. My vanity tricks me into thinking that's enough to dazzle the boy, but people aren't interested in age, just power. When I met Percy, he had my respect 'cause he was strong and cool.

It didn't matter if I was older, I was a nobody to Nico.

Ara makes an effort to be quiet now, too shaken to argue.

"The last thing he said to me was that he was going to look for the doors of death. That's all I know."

"We'll look for him," Percy assures Hazel. "Right, Ara?"

"Of course," Nico is annoying and difficult, but he's a camper, and he was her friend once, she doesn't want him gone and out of her life permanently. "But let's recap—The doors are in Rome?"

"That's what Thanatos said, yeah," Percy responds. "And finding them should be our priority anyway, as long as Gaea's army has control over them, the monsters will come back as soon as we kill them."

"Like water leaking through a dam," Piper mumbles.

"Yeah," Percy glances at Ara. "We've got a dam hole."

"What?" Piper blinks.

"Nothing. Inside joke. The point is we'll have to find the doors and close them before we can head to Greece. It's the only way we'll stand a chance of defeating the giants and making sure they stay defeated."

"You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship," Reyna says. "You do realize that the ancient lands—and the Mare Nostrum—are dangerous?"

"Mary who?" Leo asks.

"Mare Nostrum," Jason corrects him. "Our Sea. It's what the Ancient Romans called the Mediterranean."

"The territory that was once the Roman Empire is not only the birthplace of the gods," Reyna continues. "It's also the ancestral home of the monsters, Titans and giants... and worse things. As dangerous as travel is for demigods here in America, there it would be ten times worse."

"You said Alaska would be bad," Percy points out. "We survived that."

"Percy, traveling in the Mediterranean is a different level of danger altogether. It's been off-limits to Roman demigods for centuries. No hero in his right mind would go there."

"Then we're good!" Leo smiles. "Because we're all crazy, right? Besides, the Argo II is a top-of-the-line warship. She'll get us through—and Ara's the daughter of Olympus, she'll keep us safe."

"Ara can't look after all of us, it would be selfish to expect that," Percy scolds him.

"He didn't mean it like that," Ara is quick to intervene.

"Then he shouldn't say it—"

"Percy, don't start," Ara snaps at him.

Percy glances at Leo with irritation, and Ara wonders why is he so hostile towards the boy.

"We'll have to hurry, I don't know exactly what the giants are planning, but Gaea is growing more conscious all the time," Jason continues, nervously glancing at the trio. "She's invading dreams, appearing in weird places, summoning more and more powerful monsters. We have to stop the giants before they can wake her up fully."

"Seven half-bloods must answer the call," Annabeth quotes. "It needs to be a mix from both our camps. Jason, Piper, Leo, and me. That's four."

"And me," Percy nods. "Along with Hazel and Frank. That's seven."

"And then there's me..." Ara grabs a fistful of grapes from a passing platter and eats a bunch at once.

I blame myself for not trying harder. I keep thinking that maybe if I'd befriended Bianca, none of what happened would've happened. Not in the way it did, anyway.

I didn't understand why she left Nico. He was her family and she dropped him just like that? I begged for something like what she had my whole life, and this girl gave it up so easily!

I wasn't nice after she joined the hunters, and this caused Nico to attach to me. I was the same age as his sister and I was validating his feelings, I was Percy's sister as well, and he wanted to know all about him.

Nico punished Bianca by latching onto me and Lily, and that made her dislike us. In the end, Nico hated me for it. If I hadn't encouraged his behavior, the Di Angelo's would've parted on friendlier terms, and then maybe he wouldn't hold such a grudge towards me.

Despite all this... I still don't understand Bianca's decision, I gave up on having my own life to look after my loved ones forever, because that's what you do when your love is real.

Octavian stands up. "We're just supposed to accept that? Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without—"

"Percy! Ara!" Tyson and Mrs. O'Leary rush in, there is a harpy seated on the hellhound. "Ella is scared!"

"N-n-no more boats," the harpy shivers. "Titanic, Lusitania, Pax... boats are not for harpies."

"Did that chicken girl just compare my ship to the Titanic?" Leo asks Hazel.

"She's not a chicken," Hazel avoids Leo's eyes and blushes. "Ella's a harpy. She's just a little... high-strung."

"Ella is pretty," Tyson continues. "And scared. We need to take her away, but she will not go on the ship."

"No ships. Bad luck," she spots Annabeth. "There she is. Wisdom's daughter walks alone—"

"Ella!" Frank tries to stop her. "Maybe it's not the best time—"

"The Mark of Athena burns through Rome," the harpy continues. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won through pain from a woven jail."

Ara's eyes land on Annabeth, whose entire face is flushed. "Was that—"

"I know!" Percy interrupts her. "How about you take Ella to get some fresh air? You and Mrs. O'Leary—"

"Hold on," Octavian's hands twist a plushie anxiously. "What was that she said? It sounded like—"

"Ella reads a lot," Frank explains. "We found her at a library."

"Yes!" Hazel continues. "Probably just something she read in a book."

"Books," Ella hums. "Ella likes books."

Ara's skin tingles with curiosity. They want to keep that harpy away from Octavian, and she wants to know why.

"That was a prophecy," the guy insists. "It sounded like a prophecy."

Annabeth laughs, but Ara can tell it's fake. "Really, Octavian? Maybe harpies are different here, on the Roman side. Ours have just enough intelligence to clean cabins and cook lunches. Do yours usually foretell the future? Do you consult them for your auguries?"

While the rest of the demigods around them chuckle, Octavian seems to hesitate. "I, uh... No, but—"

"She's just spouting lines from some book," Annabeth dismisses the subject, "like Hazel suggested. Besides, we already have a real prophecy to worry about. Percy's right," she turns to Tyson. "Why don't you take Ella and Mrs. O'Leary and shadow-travel somewhere for a while. Is Ella okay with that?"

"'Large dogs are good. Old Yeller, 1957, screenplay by Fred Gipson and William Tunberg."

"Great!" Percy clasps his hands together. "We'll Iris-message you guys when we're done and catch up with you later."

Reyna's people look at her for approval whilst Ara's crew turns to her. The girls share a look, Ara would like to talk to Ella, but now's not the time, she doesn't want Octavian around for it, and he's clearly not well in the head.

Reyna raises a brow. Ara can read her expression easily: "Your call, General."

The girl leans back on her seat and shrugs, popping another grape into her mouth. Reyna turns to Tyson and Ella. "Fine. Go." She then turns to the others. "Octavian is right about one thing. We must gain the senate's approval before we let any of our legionnaires go on a quest—especially one as dangerous as you're suggesting."

"This whole thing smells of treachery," Octavian sneers. "That trireme is not a ship of peace!"

"Come aboard, man," Leo suggests. "I'll give you a tour. You can steer the boat, and if you're really good I'll give you a little paper captain's hat to wear."

"How dare you—"

"It's a good idea," Reyna intervenes. "Octavian, go with him. See the ship. We'll convene a senate meeting in one hour."

"But..." Octavian locks eyes with Reyna and grumbles the rest. "Fine."

"I'll go with you," Ara offers.

"No need, Arae," Leo winks at her. "We'll be back soon. This is gonna be epic."

Ara watches him walk away with a bad feeling, something rubbed her the wrong way, but she can't put a finger on it.

"Uh, Reyna," Jason speaks. "If you don't mind, I'd like to show Piper around before the senate meeting. She's never seen New Rome."

Ara wants to throw grapes at Jason's forehead. Can't he read the room? Reyna's been glaring at him this whole time! Poor Piper looks like she wants to crawl under the table and stay there for the rest of the day.

"Of course," the praetor responds tensely.

"Yeah, me, too," Percy adds. "I'd like to show Annabeth—"

"No."

"Sorry?" He frowns.

"I'd like a few words with Annabeth and your sister," Reyna explains stiffly. "Alone. If you don't mind, my fellow praetor."

"Okay," Ara stands and fixes her cloak. She's a good talker, this will be fine. "Lead the way."

Next Chapter ->

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#twoidiots writing #leo valdez x oc #leo valdez fanfic #pjo fanfic #pjo hoo toa #pjo fandom #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #heroes of olympus #doo

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wheredidalltheusersgo · 5 months

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The Stranded and The Scaly

Chapter 2 Day 2: Losing optimism.

Geoff awoke to Chris McLean's obnoxious camper-wake-up-call and groaned in annoyance as he covered his ears and tried to get some more sleep. However, he was hungry and he needed to find something edible for breakfast, so he reluctantly got up.

As he stretched, he felt and heard his spine pop a bit. "Aw, fuck..." He breathed. He'll definitely think twice before sleeping in an uncomfortable position again like he did last night. Man, he wished he brought his duffel bag with him.

Wait..... His duffel bag! He must have left it around the docks somewhere! He had a sleeping bag in that thing, after all!

Breakfast could wait, he needed to find that duffel bag!

Granted, he had to stay out of sight so neither Chris or the contestants would spot him.

As Geoff ran through the woods, he kept an eye out for anyone who could alert him to Chris, and when he finally got to where he left his duffel bag, he was panting and seriously out of breath. He hugged the duffel bag and slumped down against a rock. Okay, he found his duffel bag, now he needed to find something to chow down on. Maybe he could find some berries? Nah, too risky. He had zero clue which ones were edible or not. Maybe he could practice his fishing skills? That shouldn't be too hard. He'd already eaten the protein bar he had in his pocket last night, and he wanted to save the extras in his duffel bag for when he couldn't find anything else.

So, fishing it was.

First of all, he needed to put together a makeshift fishing rod. Chris had made them put together tons of cruddy things during their first season! Duncan was great at that kind of thing! And Izzy was great at finding all sorts of things!

....But they weren't here right now, and he missed them.

Geoff sighed sadly as he broke a long, thin branch off a tree. That should make for a decent rod! "Now for the fishing line..." he mumbled to himself as he rummaged through his duffel bag for the little container of dental floss he had packed. Once he found it, he tied one end of the floss to the end of the stick and grinned, he was proud of his handiwork, even if it wasn't much. The tricky part of this little project was finding a decent hook. There wasn't much Geoff could think of using, as there weren't many options.

He eventually gave up on looking for a hook to use and started inspecting the ground to see if he could find a grub or worm to use as bait. Fish liked that kind of stuff, right? As he scouted the ground, he listened to the new contestants doing their challenge of the day. He felt bad for them, stuck in Chris's shitty games.

Soon enough, Geoff was standing on the shore with his fishing rod in action, he really hoped this would work.

After an hour of two of impatience and hunger, he caught a fish and put together a campfire to cook it with. Despite the radiation in the air, the fish seemed pretty normal, and tasted normal! Though, he did wish it had some kind of seasoning.

After his breakfast, Geoff went for a hike in the woods to clear his mind and find somewhere nice to rest when night fell.

Okay, this island was NOT normal in the slightest. The animals were all mutated! While he didn't really like the island, Chris had NO right to disrespect the wildlife like that! The poor things... Bridgette and DJ wouldn't stand for this stuff!

He missed Bridgette and DJ...

He sniffled a bit and wiped any possible tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. "Where ARE you guys?.." he spoke to himself quietly as he kept walking.

As night fell once more, Geoff bundled up in his sleeping bag and rested his head on the duffel bag. At least this was better than yesterday!

He held back tears as he closed his eyes and let sleep reclaim him once more. -----

#total drama #td geoff #geoff td #The Stranded and the Scaly #fanfic #angst!!!#CHAPTER TWO LET'S GO #tdi #total drama island

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aquato-family-circus · 1 year

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Silly thought: It's quite common for trends to happen in any gathering of kids. One year it's friendship bracelets (They're always there, but some years they get more popular than others). Some years it's yo-yos, for a hot minute it was slap bracelets before they all broke.

For some strange reason, the *worst* pandemic of child's toys were the dreaded Worm-on-a-string. Some enterprising child must have packed a thousand of them in their suitcase. Every camper had at least a dozen. Sasha found them in his lab even though no-one but him had been to the GPC for weeks, Oleander found a few tucked into his ammunition belt (turned out to be a trend among campers). Milla thought it was adorable and praised some children for turning a bunch into a beaded curtain that still decorates her apartment wall at the Motherlobe.

Turns out, worm-on-a-string is a lot more popular when you don't need the string to make it move. It all came to a head one day when the camp bully of that week found a confiscated stash of them and -one half-failed blastokinesis attempt later: worms-on-strings could be found throughout the camp half-sizzled and hanging from every tree, lamp hanger, and annoyed adult's shoulder. It has since been dubbed "Worm Week".

(I am very sleep-deprived I really hope this silliness makes sense).

EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT WORM WEEK... NEW CAMPERS SPEAK OF IT IN REVERANT TONES....

#asks #honestmagpie #hcs #this is so funny thank u

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twilightteamm · 1 year

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📱➡️ #nikkireed: Been out on the land camp style. Nice to have some quiet time with no cell service or internet for a second. Found a new book that has become my bible. Meals were simple, most came from a crock pot I kept adding to as it got low. The goats chased each other in the rain and chickens ate more worms than their body weight. We lived in our puffy coats and wool socks because the heat wouldn’t come on and hot water decided not to work, slept in the camper at night and worked on the property during the day. We put a giant glass Tupperware on the floor with water boiled in the kettle and turned it into a bath. Dehydrated fruit from the land for snacks. Built clay figurines and made a papier-mâché unicorn, and used cardboard boxes to make dinosaur caves…the imagination of a child is something else. No tv. No phone. ‘Twas perfect, cozy, and a lot of work but so worth it. Now back to the million emails that have piled up! 🍋🌱🐐

#nikki reed

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shuffle-kerfuffle · 2 years

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I just had the most what the fuck dream I’ve had in a while

I was part of a very.. filthy family, trailer park trash if you will, and the dad decided we were gonna go camping. We straight up just lived in a camper, and it was just, Covered in filth, like it’s never been cleaned

Now aside from me and the dad there was the mom, an older brother, and a younger brother. The younger brother was nonverbal and just kind of did his thing, we all did, but he was constantly left unsupervised. During this trip we were only gone for at most two days before turning back and I think the dad was planning on just never going back

But on the second day of traveling everything just felt off, like things were fine but felt like they weren’t gonna be. The last I saw of the younger brother he was playing in the bathtub - absolutely caked in dirt and grime and probably anything else you can think of. He wasn’t any cleaner. Something broke in one of the rooms and the dad went to fix it and we just never heard from the two of them for hours afterwards. Finally the mom decided to check on the dad, and the door to the room he was in was stuck shut and me and the older brother just. Knew he was dead. When the door finally got opened we could see him crumpled on the floor

And then the mom found the younger brother dead, and I whole heartedly believe it was because of an infection of some sort. But she had to have been in a very deep state of shock bc she stayed quiet and made us “noodles”, which I ended up puking back up bc I wasn’t fully convinced they weren’t worms or had worms in them

#literally? could just be a fucking creepypasta #halfway to being a creepypasta #I think I’m gonna put this under bad dreams bc what the fuck #bad dreams ☁️🌙

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reidsnose · 3 years

Text

happy campers

overview: the bau goes on a team building camping trip but reader and spencer spend most of their time together

genre: fluff

a/n: ive been kicking myself for not posting in forever but i think this one is pretty cute! please lmk what yall think :)

masterlist

the stuffy, eight person suv finally rolled to a stop, the overgrown children that call themselves the bau tumbling out as quickly and gracelessly as possible. Morgan and Reid nearing the end of a 2 and a half minute long slap fight that you happened to be caught directly in the middle of. you looked at jj, pleading to make them stop with her mom powers.

"boys behave or ill ground you both," she sighed, going to help out with taking things out of the trunk.

they immediately stopped, muttering under their breath that the other one started it. but before they could start again, Spencer caught a glance at you. you were taking a deep breath, smiling contently, very clearly happy to get some fresh, forest air. despite being in direct sunlight, your smile was far brighter than anything he'd seen in his whole life.

before he knew it he was being snapped out of his daze and asked to help set up the tents. he was really hoping to have a chance to share a tent with you, like you sometimes had done on cases when hotel rooms were scarce. but he knew that almost everyone wanted a spot in your tent because you're that much fun to be around. Penelope would win, obviously, and he would be paired up with morgan again.

he let out a sigh as he finished up pitching one of the tents, pulling the corner and nailing it into the ground. as he did so, something caught his eye: a pink, round, fat little worm crawled out of the dirt.

his attention was now fully on the worm, ecstatic to see it because he had been reading up on worms for a while. he called morgan and hotch over since they were the closest to him, rambling excitedly all hes learned about them so far. he looked up and could see the disinterest behind their polite smiles. his own smile faltered for a second, until he saw you finishing up pitching a tent.

"im gonna go show y/n. shes gonna love this!" spencer giggled, already walking towards you.

"hey kid i dont know if she-" morgan began.

"reid she might not-" hotch started as well.

but he had already reached you, sticking out his hand and revealing the worm. hotch and morgan looked at each other worriedly, concerned that the tiniest rejection from you, even about something as small as a worm, would tear his heart to pieces.

their faces changed from worry to confusion as they watched a wide grin crack on your face.

"oh! a worm!" you exclaimed gleefully.

they observed as you put your hand out and Spencer dropped the worm in your hand. you watched it wriggle around and would occasionally look up and nod along with his rambling, asking questions and listening intently. hotch and morgan were speechless, knowing full well if they offered a girl they liked a worm, she would not have the same reaction.

you and Spencer started walking back over to the tent, where hotch and morgan tried their best to seem busy. you two were laughing, something about putting the worm back where he found it so it gets home safely. if there was ever any doubt that you and Spencer would be the perfect couple, its completely disintegrated now.

you and Spencer were typically joined at the hip, but after the worm encounter, you two were especially inseparable.

the girls went down by the lake to tan while you and Spencer tried to build a hut out of random sticks and logs you found around the forest. and while the guys were fishing on that same lake, Spencer and you were rock skipping, and he was explaining to you the physics behind it. and you were both scaring away any potential fish for rossi, hotch, and morgan to catch. so you two were banished back into the forest for the time being. when the rest of the team came back, you and him were up in a tree, eating some of the snacks they'd packed, talking and laughing and subconsciously leaning into one another. you didn't need to be a profiler to see the signs. you two were head over heels already, even if you guys didn't know it yet.

after a bonfire full of roasted marshmallows and scary stories, laughs and giggles. it was a wonderful, but tiring night and before you knew it you were getting ready for bed, sharing highlights of the day back and fourth with Penelope.

"i'm picking up on a bit of a pattern," she giggled, wiggling her eyebrows.

you wracked your brain, "what pattern?"

"all of your highlights included a certain adorkable genius."

"what? no we just...he's my best friend so we-cause its fun and i just-" you stammered, feeling your face heat up with every passing second.

"relax my love, i was just teasing," she chuckled, turning over to go to sleep.

"yeah i know. goodnight pen."

"goodnight lovely," she sighed, "but give some thought to lover boy."

you chuckled lightly before whispering to yourself, "trust me i have."

you woke up and checked the time, it was 4:47am but you just could not fall asleep. you crawled out of the tent, grabbing your blanket when you felt the cool morning air rush at you. you didn't want to wake anyone, so you made your way over to the little hill that the suv was parked on, stealing the keys from hotch's bag and crossing to the other side that faced east. the sun would be rising soon, it would be nice to watch; you draped your blanket across your shoulders. you heard footsteps coming from behind you, your blood running cold, immediately assuming the worst.

you turned around and were met with Spencer's sleepy smile. his hair stuck up in all directions and he looked perfectly adorable. you had to resist your urge to give in and kiss him right then and there.

"you scared me!" you whispered, trying to stifle a smile.

"im sorry," he giggled, "why are you up?"

"im not sure i just couldnt fall back asleep. why are you up?" you echoed.

"morgan keeps farting."

you and him let out hearty laughs, quickly covering your mouths as to not wake up the rest of the team.

you faced the car for a second, legs growing tired from standing.

"look how pretty the fogged up windows look," you observed, facing back and fourth between the colorful sky and the muggy version reflecting on the suv. you pressed your hand against the window, leaving a print, "so cold!" you chuckled.

spencer put his hand next your handprint, quickly recoiling, "you werent lying," he laughed, shivering a little.

you looked at the two handprints, his comically larger than yours and you couldnt help but smile to yourself.

"do you want some blanket?" you asked, opening your arms.

"i think im too tall," he frowned, "maybe if i crouch?"

"how about," you dangled the keys infront of your face before opening the trunk of the suv, "front row seats to the sunrise and some blanket."

"that sounds perfect," he smiled, begging his body not to redden his cheeks.

you two crawled into the trunk, draping the blanket across both of your shoulders, being pulled together by the small piece of fabric. you two were completely cuddled together, getting maximum warmth from the blanket and each other's body heat. a comfortable silence floated between you, faint bird songs and the others breathing filling it with peace. you felt your eyelids droop, despite the breathtaking rebirth of the sun happing in front of you. spencer was just so comfortable.

he felt the same way, his head falling to rest on top of yours as sleep pulled at his eyes. he yawned lightly, pulling you closer and breathing you in. you smiled. perfectly content.

about an hour later, hotch woke up, searching frantically for his keys. he ran up to check if the suv was still there, only to be met with your sleeping figures in the open trunk, wrapped up tightly in a blanket, smiles on both of your faces despite being asleep. hotch was good at predicting things, he saw scenarios play out fully before they truly began.

he snapped a picture, knowing it would be put to good use in a few years, he smelled a wedding.

spencer and you spent the drive home smiling like a couple of idiots, grins growing wider each time the sun hit the window just right, revealing your handprints.

ultra mega super cool taglist:

@mac99martin @imhreid @spencersmagic @hollydaisy23 @raelady1184 @a-broken-pact @padfootswife @hey-there-angels @star-stuff-in-the-cosmos @sonnydoesrandomshit @averyhotchner @laurakirsten0502 @reidyoulikeabook @rem-ariiana @spencerreid9 @vampire-overlord @takeyourleap-of-faith @spenxerslut @violetspoetic @aperrywilliams @b-a-utiful @eevee0722 @srhxpci @reidemandweep @imdefinitelyfloating @random-human-person @gurkiloni @luvspence @calm-and-doctor @ssavanessa22 @singularityjc

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cowardhe · 3 years

Text

hello everyone needs to listen to camp here & there Right Now.

it’s a horror comedy podcast that has given me extreme brain worms and the fandom is way too small. vibes are quite similar to wtnv, and possibly death by dying (the dbd fandom is also too small but that’s not the point right now)

selling points include:

main character is trans, autistic, and cursed by a witch to only be able to eat bread and butter

second main character is a repressed buttoned up dude doing illegal science

post apocalyptic (maybe?? I have no clue) summer camp complete with fucked up world and very chipper campers

some genuinely very cool worldbuilding and well written characters

original soundtrack written by will wood!!! and yes it slaps

told through audio journals and camp-wide tannoy announcements (we love a good found audio format here)

episodes release every thursday, and there’s only 9 out so far, so it’s a very quick listen to catch up

transcripts are already available here with different options for accessibility

the episode names all link to one another which I just think is fun

other, more personal selling points: chad bisexual dickhead of a counsellor who I adore, frankly concerning lunch menus, pet worms, and an abundance of goo

disclaimer that it is a horror podcast! it is rated 16+ and there are some mega creepy and gory descriptions and scenes to be aware of

but it is simply the podcast of all time I think

tl;dr - listen to camp here & there it’s a very fun horror comedy podcast please and thank you

#camp here & there #chnt #rec post #catherine reccomends things #only the second time I’ve got to use that tag damn #sydney o sargent #jedediah a.a. martin #death by dying #welcome to night vale #wtnv #podcast #joshua macheath #podcast recs #will wood #will wood and the tapeworms

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pythonmelon · 3 years

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Being a kid of abusive parents himself, how often does Loboto have to restrain himself from getting authorities involved anytime he hears about a camper with a less than stellar homelife (which seems to be hinted at with a handful of campers). How would he react to Raz if he ever found out that Raz was under the impression his father may actually wanted to KILL when Augustus actually just wanted to focus his attention somewhere else? We get to find out later that Raz just misinterpreted the entire thing, but Lobotos parents at least seemed to arrive at the point where they didn't care about hurting their own son anymore, so I think he would take things like this very VERY seriously.

I've mentioned that Loboto is VERY protective of the psychic kids, he knows people fear them and do awful things because of it, so hearing about the ones with bad or unsafe home lives really strikes a nerve. He's definitely talked about trying to find safer places for the kids in the worst situations (Clem and Crystal in particular he'd try to convince the other counselors about getting help for) but he's definitely heard something particularly concerning before and just-

Second Son time he can handle it.

When it comes to Augustus he definitely Heard Some Things, having heard how insistent Raz was that they didn't contact his parents and probably wormed some more information out of him during the routine first-day checkup. He very nearly ruined things when Augustus finally arrived in time to try and help Raz when he was entangled with Oleander's mind, confronting and refusing to let him approach until things got cleared up. Augustus still managed to break through in time to help, but if the misunderstanding hadn't been explained he would have gone in himself and it would not have been pretty.

Thankfully, things worked out.

#Camp doctor AU #Dr. Loboto #Caligosto loboto #augustus aquato #sasha nein #ask #pythonsart #here comes another python post #psychonauts #psychonauts au #au #bobby zilch

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egcdeath · 3 years

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Since you said we can send in request😄 how about a bachelor party for Steve and reader. Full of fun and romance.

bottoms up

summary: steve tells you all about his wild bachelor party.

word count: 1.2k

warnings: excessive drinking, terrible decisions, fluff, basically a crack fic, i barely use dialogue tags in this so you’re just gonna have to guess who’s talking

author’s note: this was supposed to be a drabble.

you can find my drabble masterlist here and my regular masterlist here <3

It had been a long, exhausting weekend of celebration. Of course, it was exhausting in the best way possible, but between the extensive spa days, bar hopping, and seeing more male strippers in one night than you'd seen in the entirety of your life, you were really looking forward to curling up in bed with your fiancée.

It seemed Steve was feeling similarly to you, as he was already pajama clad and sprawled across your bed by the time you arrived home.

You quickly freshened up and joined him on the mattress, slipping under your duvet and cuddling up to Steve.

“How was your weekend?” Steve asked, rubbing circles on your back.

“Exhausting. I could probably sleep for years.”

He chuckled softly at your statement, “well, don’t do that. Wanna talk about it?”

“I’ll tell you over breakfast tomorrow. I don’t think I have the energy to come up with the words right now,” you aimlessly played with the hem of his shirt. “What about you guys? Why don’t you tell me a bachelor party bedtime story?”

“It was… a lot. I almost called you several times. Let’s just say that Sam... stopped me.”

“That bad, eh? Tell me everything,” you gushed.

“Well we were supposed to go camping. I don’t know who decided that was a good idea. Actually I do, it was Thor. It took about half an hour before Tony was starting arguments with everyone. I think he was getting moody about having to be in the outdoors away from all his tech, and something about how bachelor parties aren’t supposed to be like this. We didn’t even get to dinner before he insisted that we find a nice hotel to stay at for the night, and go to a club.”

“You guys don’t really seem like campers anyway. What happened after that?”

“I was getting there before you interrupted me.”

“There was a natural lull in your story.”

“Whatever. So we pack everything up and go back out to town. There was some boujee ass hotel Tony knew about and took us there, but there were no rooms. So he was like ‘make room’ and the staff told him that they would try but they just needed a minute. So Buck suggested that we go to the hotel bar, and we did. The only problem is that alcohol doesn’t have the same effect on some of us that it does with others, so Thor had to break out the Asgardian mead. And he had a lot of it.”

“Oh no, I feel like this is not going in a good direction.”

“You’re absolutely right, because one second I’m sitting in a hotel bar, and the next I was half conscious on a private jet.”

“Steve! You did not black out. That’s not very responsible of you.”

“I was peer pressured! Besides, I don’t think I did anything too bad. Did you not get super drunk for at least one night?”

You pondered the question for a moment, “hmm. Go on.”

“So I wake up on a private jet, not like a Quinjet, but like, a real plane. No idea where I am or where we’re going. Sam is the most sober among us by the time I’m awake, but still pretty drunk. Keep in mind I’m also a little out of it. I ask him where we’re going, and he told me Las Vegas. At this point I’m not surprised, but I want to call you to let you know that I’m no longer in New York, and I start to take my phone out of my pocket to call you, and he flips his shit. He grabs my phone and dunks it in a glass of water, and starts saying that if I use the phone on the flight, our flight will crash.”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope. Now I’m phoneless, but I’m not really mad. Honestly, I thought it was funny in the moment. My memory’s a little blurry, but I feel like we laughed ‘till we landed.”

“Please tell me that the crazy events end here.”

“Oh, Sweetheart,” Steve chuckled.

“Christ, Steve.”

“So we get off the plane and at this point, I realize that Bruce must’ve left before we boarded. I don’t even blame him. This trip probably would’ve made me Hulk-out too. Anyway, we take an Uber to our hotel. Our poor Uber driver, he was so starstruck and excited to have Avengers in his car, but like, everyone was completely out of it. And to make things worse, Bucky threw up in the back.”

“No,” you gasped.

“Yeah. It’s only a matter of time before tabloids get ahold of that. Remind me to call our PR person in the morning.”

“Got it.”

“We finally get to this hotel, and I guess at some point while I was blacked out, Tony had booked us some penthouse suite at one of those really nice hotels. I can’t really remember how we got up there, but I know it was a struggle. I was just glad to be able to go to sleep in a real bed. By the time I wake up, I desperately need an Advil and a call home. Unfortunately, I can’t have either, since everyone starts insisting that the best way to beat a hangover is to drink more. To be fair, I slept in pretty late. So it’s kind of a reasonable time to drink now. If you consider time zone differences. That aside, I’m sipping on a beer when there’s a knock on the door-“

“I feel like I’ve heard enough of this story.”

“That’s fair.”

“But I’d also like to hear more. But this is stressing me out.”

“I made it back in one piece, what more do you want from me?”

“I want you to get a new friend group,” you whined.

“Is it bad that I want the same for myself?”

“I think that’s perfectly reasonable.”

“Okay, so back to the knock on the door. I’m getting a little nervous, because I specifically told the guys no strippers. That was just a can of worms I didn’t want to open. And I think there’s gonna be a stripper at the door, but nope. Who opens the door? Fucking Loki. I don’t know why they came, or how they found us, but they were ready to party. Suffice it to say I do not remember the majority of that day. All I can say is that there was way too much gambling happening, and if I found out that Tony is filing for bankruptcy, I would not be surprised.”

“That is… wow.”

“I’ll give you one more thing before you go to sleep. Someone got married to a stranger. They’re gonna get it annulled but.. I did attend a wedding ceremony where an Elvis impersonator was the officiant,” Steve leaned over to his bedside table and turned off the lamp that was dimly illuminating the room. “Goodnight.”

“You are such an asshole! You don’t get to leave me on a cliffhanger like that.”

“I need you to be excited and engaged for when I finish my story tomorrow!”

“Fair,” you huffed and snuggled closer to your fiancée.

“Was it Sam?” you asked after a moment of silence.

Steve quietly laughed at you instead of responding.

“Nope. It was definitely Bucky. I’m right, right?” you pressed.

More silence from Steve.

“No way. Thor?”

His snickers became louder at this, and you gasped.

“I said I’ll tell you in the morning.”

“I don’t like when you keep secrets from me,” you prompted, trying to guilt trip your partner.

“Fine. It was Thor. But that’s all you’re getting from me for now.”

“Oh my god. Why wasn’t my bachelorette party as exciting as yours?”

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers drabble #chris evans x reader #neptune drabbles

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peace-coast-island · 3 years

Text

Diary of a Junebug

Bake away the weekend with confetti cakes

There's soooo much cake in the kitchen, it's unreal. On one hand, I enjoyed making the cakes, but on the other hand, what were we thinking? I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean that as in it's so much work kind of way. Overall, all that hard work and effort was worth it as we got to enjoy a masterpiece at the end.

I think it helps that it was a group collab instead of a solo venture. If it's just me I probably would've used a cake mix and add one layer of frosting and call it a day. In this case, we had some friends visiting the camp and we all felt like doing something creative, so that's how this baking marathon came to be.

Although it was a lot of work - and a bit frustrating at times - making all these cakes from scratch and decorating them was fun and rewarding. To be honest though, I won't be doing that again anytime soon just because it takes up a lot of stuff and time, plus it's something you really have to be in the mood for. Still, I'd be up for doing something like that again, just not anytime in the near future.

Again, we made so much cake - I'm actually kinda worried that it might go to waste. Hopefully that won't be a problem, but still, seeing that much cake is a bit intimidating.

Visiting us at the camp is Sandi, Lea, and Chase, Lea's partner at the agency. Lea and the others have talked about Chase so it kinda feels like I sorta know him even though we didn't actually meet until now. Lea has been trying to get him to join her on her adventures with us but their schedules never aligned. I remember a couple years back he was planning to meet up with us but couldn't make it at the last minute. So it's good to finally meet him after all this time!

It's a bit unusual to see Sandi and Lea without DJ, Dell, and Em. I think this is the first time I haven't seen them all together. It's funny how you're so used to seeing one thing that when the pattern changes, it takes a bit of readjustment. Although Sandi, Lea, and the others are known as a team, they don't actually see each other too much outside of that.

They're practically family so they do keep in touch often but since Sandi accomplished her main purpose, everyone sort of went their separate ways. Not exactly disbanded as they still get together for missions once in a while, more like the whole crime fighting/retrieving lost treasures team is secondary compared to everything else going on in their lives. They pretty much admitted on separate occasions that the main reason why they continue taking on missions here and there is so they can have an excuse to hang out. Nothing like a good ol' heist to bring the team back together again!

When Sandi isn't out on missions, she's helping her mom out at the orphanage they run together. She says that she's really considering the idea of going to school to become a teacher, which I can totally see her doing. Problem is, how to get in, especially with an unusual background like hers. While reuniting with her mom has helped Sandi fill in some of the gaps of her past, there's still a lot missing and there's probably no way of knowing since her father's been dead for years. In short, what's stopping her is basically a potential legal nightmare - and given her history with some certain agencies, that just complicates things further.

Speaking of Sandi's complicated and cluttered past, an interesting development popped up. Something about an old acquaintance who turns out to be a half sibling through her father. What makes it complicated is that they both had agreed to leave that part of their lives behind so finding that out has left her with mixed feelings. It seems that the more she tries to dig up information on her father, she just gets left with more questions.

Lea and Chase are currently looking more into it, but it's a long shot. Apparently, Sandi's father was pretty much living a double life as his colleagues were unaware about Sandi and her mom for a long time. As for Sandi's friend, she, Lea, and Chase believe that it's likely that her dad never knew about him, or else they would've found something by now. In fact, how this information came out was pretty much an incidental finding, a random occurrence that wound up opening a can of worms.

Aside from that, things at the agency have been the same. Lea, as usual, solved cases with her vast knowledge on art and history while Chase did his part by wreaking havoc and catching the culprits. Sandi pops in once in a while as an informant, helping out in her own way. Given how they all are now, it's hard to believe that Lea and Chase used to work against Sandi and the others.

Them coming here was a bit of an impromptu trip. Lea and Chase had a bunch of vacation days they need to use up so they decided to plan something together. Then Lea extended the invitation to the others but they were unable to make it aside from Sandi, making it one of the rare occasions where it's just the three of them.

Chase has been described as a loose cannon, mainly by Lea. Compared to Lea and Sandi, he does stick out for being a bit extra, not in a bad way though. More like he tries, but ends up being clumsy and a bit of a mess, the kind who wants to help but ends up getting in the way. He and Lea are pretty much the brawn and brains kind of partnership where it doesn't seem like they'd get along but they surprisingly work together well. Sandi likes to roast him, as does Em and DJ, but they do admit that once they got him on their side instead of him working against them, he's actually a pretty cool guy.

Hanging out with them, especially outside of a mission or event has been fun. It's interesting and entertaining seeing Lea and Chase's dynamic - I can see how they get along at work. As for Sandi, she and Chase have a fun sibling-like kind of relationship where they mess around and banter with each other.

For some reason we all felt like we're in a baking mood so we watched a bunch of cake videos for inspiration. Between the four of us, we consider ourselves decent bakers so we decided to make a cake from scratch. It's not as intimidating as one would think, but it takes some prep work. But other than that, it's mostly just mixing different ingredients together.

Since we were feeling ambitious, we went for a bit of a complex recipe. By that, I mean we used a recipe from a pastry chef that takes a bit more work but isn't too hard to make. We went for confetti cake since we had all the ingredients. Plus it's been forever since I've had confetti cake and Sandi's never had it before.

And if baking a cake from scratch wasn't enough, we decided to make a bunch and decorate them! The first cake, our trial run, was a huge success so we made more. The recipe is really good - the cake is light and fluffy with a sweet vanilla flavor. Definitely something I'll be making again.

Now I want to try other recipes by Saffy like her chai coffee cake and Boston cream pie. But like I said, as much as I enjoyed making and decorating all these confetti cakes, I don't plan on doing that again anytime soon. You just gotta be in the mood for it, ya know?

We also used Saffy's recipe for merengue buttercream, which can be a bit finicky as timing's important - another reason why it's better to work in a group instead of solo. The result is a sweet, cloudlike frosting that goes well with the cake - or any kind of cake really. It's also fun to mix the frosting with food coloring, especially with the texture of the buttercream.

Along with decorating a bunch of small cakes, we put together a three tiered cake and went all out on that. I don't know how cake decorators do it, especially with big cakes. Shoutout to Chase and Sandi for doing most of the heavy lifting - literally and figuratively!

Decorating the cakes were a lot of fun. It kinda turned into a mini campsite event with various campers decorating their own cakes. Working on the big cake was fun and challenging but I think I prefer the simplicity of working on a smaller cake. Not too shabby for a bunch of first timers when it comes to the centerpiece!

As for the cake scraps, we made cake pops and decorated those too. It's so interesting seeing everyone's personality show through cake decorating. Lea goes for patterns, the methodical, organized type. I don't know how she has the patience to do all those details! Sandi likes to go for color with rainbows and star sprinkles. She also has a thing for galaxy and marble patterns. Chase goes for simplicity, usually with a layer of frosting and a bunch of sprinkles scattered about. And I, of course, went with florals and stars, though I still haven't quite gotten the hang of piping frosting yet so the flowers are a hit or miss. At least I can never go wrong with starry sprinkles!

Overall, I think the baking process was my favorite part of the whole thing. There's just something so satisfying about mixing together ingredients and watching them come together. Baking, as frustrating as it can be sometimes, is also fun as well as rewarding. It's a good thing we have Lea here to double check the measurements as that made things go by a lot more smoothly.

After the unveiling of the masterpiece, we threw a little party - with a feat like that, how could we not celebrate? At least we made a dent in our cake supply!

#animal crossing #animal crossing pocket camp #Diary of a Junebug #headcanon ramble

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pls-let-me-out · 3 years

Text

Invisible string

Chapter 2, 19th of December

The only light in the room was coming from the embers in the fireplace. Red embers, and Will’s widened eyes. Nico startled.

Was it a vision? A trick of the light? No, Nico rubbed his eyes, and Will was still there, kneeling in front of him, with a blanket that went around his head, and fell over his shoulders like a knight’s cape. And he was staring right into Nico’s eyes, like a puppy who has broken its favorite toy.

Nico groaned. “What is it now?”

Will came even closer, and his words came out as a whisper, as though he was afraid of being overheard. Like he wasn’t the one who listened to other people’s conversations. “Don’t be too nice, I might get used to it. So, listen, you know how I said we should both sleep in the living room?”

How he could formulate such complex sentences at –what was it? One in the morning?– was far above Nico’s knowledge.

“Pretty sure I was there,” Nico replied, covering his face with his arm.

Will pulled Nico’s arm away, eliciting another groan from him. “So, do you remember?”

“Are you seriously asking–?”

“I think I’m about to shit myself.”

Nico stared at him, his lips tugged downwards, and his tiredness didn’t seem so important anymore. “I didn’t spend the afternoon showing you the house multiple times, so that you could remember where the toilet was, to just hold your hand and get you there myself in the middle of the night. I swear to God, I’m–”

“No! Not like that, I mean, figuratively. Like, I’m scared.”

“Scared.”

“There’s strange sounds in this place. Like, I was just minding my own business, and suddenly the floor creaked. What floor creaks? Why would it? Is this place haunted? If you brought me to a haunted chalet, I’m suing you! Suing you!”

Will was resting his forearms next to Nico’s chest, and for the first time, he noticed just how close they were. If he leaned forward, he could just grab Will by the ear, and pull him back to the other couch to sleep. Not doing it was costing him a lot of self-control.

“What do you want me to do? Call the ghost busters?” Nico thought that pulling the blanket over his head and curling on himself would just put an end to the discussion, but he had never met someone as uncaring toward social signals as Will.

“It’s the middle of the night, they wouldn’t even be open.” He pulled the blanket away. “Can we go upstairs?”

“I’m sleeping, just go if you want to.”

“Yes, because I want to take the stairs alone. I had to give myself a one hour long pep-talk before crossing the distance between that couch and this couch, and I had to crawl. Crawl!”

There was something Nico’s father often told him. ‘You are stubborn. It will make for an interesting king, seeing as you don’t ever want to bend’. Well. Nico wouldn’t bend. He knew it. Everyone knew he didn’t bend.

Then, Will’s voice came soft, little more than a whisper, as he slowly set his hand where Nico’s was, only the blanket dividing them.

“Please.”

Nico’s eyes opened. Will was still there, in front of him, with those bright, puppy-like eyes, and he was staring right at Nico. From the window behind him, the snow glowed white under the starlight.

“I know there’s only one bed, I’ll just sleep on the floor. Just –I don’t want to stay here.”

Nico sighed, but for an entirely different reason, even he couldn’t quite pin-point. “Alright. Let’s go.”

He already knew he wouldn’t let Will sleep on the floor. When they arrived upstairs, he just tugged Will to the bed, where they both laid.

Nico fell asleep as soon as he touched the mattress.

The second time Nico woke up, the sun was shining in the sky, and the bed where Will had slept was cold. Nico himself was in the middle of it, which was strange, considering he remembered falling asleep on the edge of the mattress.

Shaking the thought out of his head, he slipped from the covers. He put on another sweatshirt, one he was pretty sure his grandmother had knitted for him.

Will was sitting at the head of the stairs, hugging his knees to his chest, and his expression light up when he saw Nico.

“I couldn’t find the kitchen!” he exclaimed, like it was something he was proud of.

Nico rubbed his ear. It was far too early in the morning for Will’s brightness. “Just snoop around next time. This place is yours too, now.”

It was something he said mostly to himself, he needed the reminder sometimes. With the constant, buzzing cheer around Will, it was hard to remember that he didn’t want to be there, he was forced to. What Nico really didn’t understand though, was why Will’s face fell so much when Nico said those words. After all, that was one of the pros. He was rich now, like filthy rich. So rich, every friend of his could be rich, too. Of course, that came to the price of being Nico’s soulmate. That wasn’t a path Nico wanted to go down, though. Not so early in the morning.

“Alright, let’s go eat,” Nico grumbled, stepping over Will to descend the stairs.

Will’s next words made him completely freeze.

“Wasn’t the fridge empty yesterday?”

Nico blinked. A strange thought wormed its way into his chest, but he pushed it away. “I mean, it’s always full of things.”

He could feel Will’s sharp eyes on the back of his head. “I take it you’ve never gone grocery shopping before.”

Nico fastened his steps, not at all worried. “I’m sure it’s full now.”

“Did you go grocery shopping while I was sleeping? Because otherwise you’ll just find it–don’t close the door in my face, you know I get easily lost!”

But Will’s anger was fast over, replaced by smugness, at the sight of the empty fridge staring back at Nico.

“Guess we’ll go grocery shopping, after all,” Will said.

“But that will take time, I’m hungry now.”

“Oh my God, you are adorable.” When Nico turned to glare at Will, he found him just staring back with those eyes wide open once again. “Come on, we’ll stop somewhere to get breakfast.”

The streets were packed with people, mostly tourists. Not many bothered to give them a second glance, but that was mostly thanks to the mix of low beanies and big scarves. Nico couldn’t bring himself to look at the people on the ski tracks, it would have just been a cruel reminder.

“Where do you want to go?” Will asked him. He seemed to like the city, or so Nico secretly hoped. He didn’t like the idea of boring Will to death. “Do they even sell Swiss chocolate here?”

Nico bit back a grin. “So that can be the first time you eat Swiss chocolate so close to Switzerland?”

“That’s very funny. I’ll let you know; I’ve been in Switzerland before. So keep your smugness down, fancy boy.”

The blush on Nico’s face was to blame completely on the cold. “Did you go with your parents? In Switzerland, I mean.”

Will scoffed in delight as he watched a woman put gloves on a little girl, no more than two years old. She caught Will’s eyes, and waved her hand. He winked back at her, making her giggle. “Yeah. We went there for my bro–for a birthday. I mostly stayed inside, though. I didn’t know how to ski, nor did I want to learn.”

Nico nodded. He ignored Will’s slip, he didn’t want to force details out of him. He’d understand Will’s need to keep things to himself, they didn’t owe anything to each other, after all. He pointed to a bar on the other side of the road.

“That’s where I usually go with Hazel. They are discreet.”

“Afraid people will take photos of you eating a croissant?”

Will had exaggerated the French pronounce so much, Nico couldn’t help a loud snort. In the back of his mind, he noticed how Will’s eyes lit up.

Inside the bar were enough people for the place to be filled with laughter and chatters. It was hot inside, and a nice smell of freshly baked goods filled Nico’s nostrils. Something bumped into his hand, and when he looked down, he realized it was Will’s own hand. Will, who was nodding toward a free table in the corner, far from the window. Though, when they sat there, Nico realized he could see the TV, and promptly froze, because as of that moment, there was a service about them.

Will followed Nico’s gaze, looking behind his shoulder.

“What do they say?” he asked, looking back at Nico. If only Nico were better at reading people… was it guilt written in his eyes? Did he have someone back at home, were they waiting for him?

“Nothing. Nothing much, they’re just showing our first meeting back at the palace.”

Will nodded. “Do they know we’re here?”

Nico took the scarf off his face, and brushed a hand through his hair. “I don’t think so. My parents made a statement, said we were taking some time off to privately get to know each other.” He shrugged. “No one thought we’d meet quite so soon, I guess. How did they even find you?”

This time, it was Will who shrugged. “A friend of mine is a YouTuber, there’s this scene from an old vlog, we were on his camper, it was after graduation. And I was sleeping, shirtless, he caught the mark in the frame. So, that’s how they got mine, I guess. It was an old video, though. How did they see yours?”

“My cousin Percy posted some pictures of our time in the military. In one of his I was in the back, shirtless.”

“Where’s yours?” Will asked, leaning forward on the table. His voice was so very soft in that moment. “Your mark.”

Nico put his hand on his heart, then trailed up. Just under his collarbone, a little to the left.

“Mine’s there, too, but on the back.”

“When did you get it?”

“Eleven. You?”

Nico opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted by the waitress asking what they wanted. Nico ordered for both of them in Italian, and by the time the girl left –she couldn’t be older than Hazel– the topic of their conversation changed. The closer the marks appeared on the body, the stronger the bond. Nico didn’t want to think about it.

“I’m just saying,” Will said, sometime later, when most of the people at the other tables had left and their spots filled by others. “That there’s no better love-trope than childhood best-friends to lovers, and the Lion King failed.”

Nico groaned. “We’ve been at this for an hour, it’s not Simba’s fault–”

“Of course it isn’t, he was a child! But the writers just have them running around, and suddenly they are in love?” Will looked like he’d just swallowed a whole lemon. “What even is that? Is it witchcraft?”

“They have known each other their whole childhood!”

“We have a very different conception of whole, darlin’. They have known each other long enough to sing one, and I mean one, song about how much Simba wanted his father to die so he could step up and take the throne–”

Nico swatted Will’s hand away from his face, his index finger had been once again waving in front of Nico’s face. “He didn’t know Mufasa would have to die!”

“That’s a hypothesis if I’ve ever heard one, and every single solution to every single issue in the American school system is a hypothesis–”

“What does that even mean, I’m–”

Will took one of the awful cookies they’d been gifted with their coffees, and stuffed it into Nico’s mouth. “Don’t interrupt me–”

Nico slumped back in the chair, a frown tugging his lips downwards. “You will never see the light of day again; I’m putting you in the fucking dungeons.”

“You dragged me to a haunted house, so that’s on you. What was I saying again?” He clasped his hands, attracting a few curious glances from the people around them. Nico sent them an apologetic look, but he couldn’t hide his amusement. “Oh, right! Simba’s sudden love. I mean, he just sees her and suddenly he’s in love? They just mistake past fondness for something more, that’s all I’m saying.”

“They have children together–”

“They are part of the same pack. There’s only one lion. They are half-siblings. And Simba takes after his father. He, too, is a whore, who sleeps with all the lionesses.”

Nico blinked, slowly. Will was unmoving, with his arms crossed on the chest, and his tongue sticking out of his left cheek.

“You–you know what? That’s all right.” Nico nodded, swallowing around a dry throat. “You are completely wrong, but I will let you have it.”

“I feel victorious.”

“You really have no reason to.”

Will’s lips turned into a white, thin, line, and he turned redder. Just as Nico started worrying that he was having an allergic reaction to something, Will fell forward on the table, his shoulders shaking as he laughed.

“We should get going, anyway,” Nico continued. “Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“I’m not the one who knows the city! What is even here to see? I saw a lake when we were arriving, are there ducks to feed?”

“You would come all the way to Europe to feed ducks?”

“I actually came here to marry you, but you do you.” Will’s eyes widened, Nico felt his own doing the same. Will coughed, drumming his fingers on the table. He didn’t look at Nico in the eyes.

“There’s actually a library down the road. You want to go there?”

Of course, Will couldn’t understand a single one of the book titles, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have fun. The Prince was bent forward, grabbing a book from what seemed like the most boring section of the library, but Will was no impartial judge.

“Is it just me or does that book seem very homoerotic?” Will asked, pointing to a book with a girl picking flowers.

The Prince stood in less than a second, flinching slightly, eyes widened. “Are you–?”

“Are you okay? Did you pull a muscle or something?” Will put a hand on the Prince’s forearm, but it was brushed off quickly. Will tried not to let it get to him, he was beginning to notice how little the Prince liked being touched.

“I’m fine. However, that’s a gardening book. Honestly, that’s a new kind of low even for you.”

Will stuck out his tongue at him. “Whatever. Are you buying that? What’s it called?”

“La collina dei conigli. Uh, the title is different in English. Like…?”

“Watership down.”

Both Will and Nico turned at the new voice. A man stared back at them. Man, he probably was around their age, and his English had an accent Will couldn’t quite place.

“I couldn’t help but hear you,” he said with a sheepish smile, shrugging one shoulder. “Sorry for intruding.”

Will spared a glance to the Prince, but he was just looking back at the man, seemingly at a loss for words, and his conversation with Hazel rang loudly in his ears, from his deepest memories.

‘Should you ever feel like he’s cold, you should check the YouTube compilation Prince Niccolò’s top 11 awkward moments. Believe me,’ she had squeezed his forearm. ‘It’ll make you feel better.’

Now, Will turned slowly toward the Prince, with both eyebrows raised.

“Oh, it’s no problem,” he told the man. “You’re helping us, so thank you.”

The silence turned awkward real fast. Will bumped his hand into the Prince’s.

“Oh, yes. Thank you,” the Prince said.

Why was he watching the man like a deer caught in the headlights? It took Will a few moments to remember that, just a day earlier, he had been at the other end of that gaze.

“I’m Will Solace!”

“Oh, uh, Paolo Montez.”

The Prince nodded even more awkwardly. “Niccolò.”

“Niccolò…?”

“Solace,” Will supplied. He sent Nico a sickeningly sweet smile, hoping he would be forgiven when he interlaced their fingers. “He still gets shy saying it.”

Paolo’s eyes filled with understanding. “Oh, I should have realized sooner! Congratulations!”

Will’s smile widened. With a twinge of guilt, he realized that Paolo was exactly the type of guy he’d get a crush for back in high school. He cleared his throat.

“Well, we’ll just go. You know, honeymoon business,” Will said. “Nice meeting you.”

Paolo responded, but Will had already dragged the Prince outside. The cool air kissed Will’s heated skin, making him shiver. For a moment, he wished he hadn’t fled so quickly.

“Are making a thief out of me?” the Prince asked, holding the book up. Then, he glanced down at their intertwined hands. “Will you ever let me go?”

Will let him go, and crossed his arms on the chest. “I’m not going back in.”

“I see. Wouldn’t want your crush to see you so flustered, would you, hubby?”

With a chuckle, the Prince turned back to the library, talking to himself in Italian. Would it be strange to ask the old woman with the Chihuahua to translate for him? Sighing, Will just waited.

“I’m sorry I grabbed your hand,” Will said, once they were walking to a restaurant. It was almost midday, and the Prince had promised to bring him to the Christmas market in the afternoon. “I noticed you don’t really like being touched, but it seemed like the best idea at the moment.”

The Prince shrugged. “I’m sorry I froze up. Sometimes I’m awkward.”

“Sometimes?” Will clicked his tongue. “Because I’ve heard it happened at least eleven times.”

The Prince stopped, raising the bookstore bag to his chest, his jaw opened so widely the scarf fell in his mouth. He sputtered it out, with an indignant scowl. Will felt the need to pinch his cheek, so badly his fingertips tingled.

“Did Hazel show you that?” The Prince asked. “I’m pretty sure she made it. She always brings it up.”

“I don’t know, I saw her struggling for half an hour with WhatsApp, searching for your father’s contact. She didn’t show me, though. She just told me to look it up.”

“I’ll try to be glad for that, but it’s really hard right now.”

“Oh my God, look there’s a little golden retriever! Isn’t it adorable?”

Before the Prince could stop him, Will was already halfway across the road, cooing at the puppy.

Will knelt on the ground, his hands buried deep in the puppy’s fur. The girl who held the leash looked up at Nico, a question clear in her eyes.

“Excuse him,” he said in Italian. “He gets excited easily when he sees dogs. I should probably get a leash form him, too.”

The girl laughed, but she was staring at them with eyes wide in wonder. “Are you that Prince?”

Nico’s eyes widened. Usually, children didn’t recognize him, and he was a bit rusty, to be honest. He hadn’t been under the spotlight for the past two years, he was out of shape with being recognized.

“Niccolò,” he said.

Will looked up, despite having missed the entirely of the speech. “I’m Will,” he said, beaming at the little girl. She couldn’t be older than eight.

“Emma,” she said, and when she continued in Italian, Will’s gaze turned confused, a little lost, but he didn’t drop it back to the dog. “I live there.” She pointed at one of the houses on the other side of the road.

“And where are your parents?” Nico asked.

She shrugged. “Home. I’m walking Stella.”

Nico pointed at the dog. “Stella?”

Emma nodded. Will looked up, and pointed at the dog again. “Stella?” Both Nico and the girl nodded, although Emma also giggled.

“You talk funny,” she said.

Nico translated for Will, a small grin on his face, before turning back to the girl. “It’s his accent. He comes from Texas, do you know where that is? It’s in America.”

“Why did he come here?” she asked.

“He’s my soulmate.”

“The TV said so, too! My parents are soulmates. Does he love you?”

Nico blinked, heat rose to his cheeks. “We’re getting to know each other.”

“But will he love you?”

Nico opened and closed his mouth, knowing he was gasping like a fish. Emma lowered her pink hat on her forehead, sniffling with her nose. Without a word, Will took a tissue from his pockets, and handed it to her.

“Do you parents know where you are?” Nico asked instead.

Emma nodded, and pointed toward the house again. “That’s my mom.”

Following her finger, Nico noticed a woman behind the window, with a mug in her hand, the other on her belly. She was pregnant.

Nico stood, fixing Emma’s hat on her head.

“Don’t get out of your mother’s sight. Oh, and don’t talk to strangers. Next time a stranger approaches you, let Stella bite them. Alright?”

Emma nodded. “I will!”

“See you around, then.”

“Wait! You are a prince.” She held out a gloved hand, with another giggle. “Shouldn’t you kiss my hand before going?”

Nico’s cheeks dusted in pink; Will rose from his feet beside him, still looking a little puzzled.

“You’re right,” Nico amended. “I can be a very forgetful prince.”

He bowed deeply, wondering what Emma’s mother was thinking about them. Did she think they were assaulters? He really hoped not to get followed by the police. But also, he hoped the mother didn’t trust strangers so close to her daughter.

“Will too!” She trilled, when they took a step forward.

Will, who had given her a wave and a wink, looked back at Nico. And so Nico translated.

Emma tugged Nico’s coat before letting them leave, only speaking when he bent down to hear her whispered words.

“You should make him fall in love with you.”

The hostess at the front of the restaurant brought them to the second floor, and gave them a table behind a black curtain. It took Nico probably more than socially acceptable to realize that Will wouldn’t understand a word of what was written.

“I honestly wouldn’t recognize them even if they were in English,” Will said, after Nico asked him if he needed a translation. “I’m sure you haven’t noticed, but I am, maybe, not in the same social class as princes.”

Nico shook his head. He never really knew what to respond to things like that. He had to admit that the trip was going well, at least now. They didn’t have many awkward silences, nor did they hate each other. Maybe Will hated him a bit, for everything he was taking. Sooner or later, they’d have to discuss about their bond.

“Can I ask you something?” Will suddenly asked, leaning forward on the table. “And if you say I already have, I’m going to throw a fit.”

“Well, that would be new. What’s it been?” Nico took his phone out of the pocket, checking the time. “Fifteen minutes since the last? A new record. You must have beaten every other toddler in the city.”

“You are so very funny, darlin’.” Will smiled at him from across the table, his freckles stretched on his nose and cheeks. “It’s just that I’ve seen a lot of guards around the palace, and we were escorted to the airport, but we’re here alone. I’m not complaining, far from it, but shouldn’t you always have a bodyguard? I thought that was just something princes did.”

Nico nodded. “Yeah, but other princes don’t have the same tricks as I do.”

He looked up at Nico. Back at his hip. Nico bit his lip to not burst out laughing.

“If you have a fucking gun, I swear I’m actually calling the police. Do you think it’s normal to go around with guns?” He hissed. His face turned red. He started waving his index in the air again. “If I wanted to feel threatened whenever I stepped out of the house, or god forbid that thing was actually under the same roof as me for all this time, I would have stayed in fucking Texas, with Johnny Red down the road from my house, with his cokes and the lined up bottle on the fence.”

Will breathed heavily, looking like he’d just run a marathon. He was waiting for Nico’s response, but when he received none, he passed his hands through his curly hair, messing them up even more.

“There were children downstairs! Children! And you are telling me you have a gun on you? With children in the building? God, oh my God. I know I said you were bad mannered, but that’s just terrible on a human level. Fuck.”

Nico couldn’t resist it anymore. He burst out laughing, throwing his head back, covering his mouth with his hands. He was hit by Will’s napkin, thrown right in his face.

“Don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare!” Will exclaimed. He shook his head, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair. He shook his head again, making his curls bounce. “Stop laughing!”

“I don’t have a gun, Will,” Nico finally said. He took the small box from his belt, hidden by the long hoodie he was wearing. He left it on the table. “I thought they’d given you one, too. The Queen seems to think you are kind of a big deal, you know.”

Will poked at the box, a blush dusted his cheekbones. He looked at Nico through his eyelashes. “What is this thing? It–it doesn’t look like a gun.”

Of one thing, Nico was very sure: Will was far more than pretty.

“Maybe because it isn’t one. I appreciate your thoughts on gun control, though. It’s a, uh, I don’t really know how you call it in English. Safety box? Should I ever be in danger, I’ll press the little button in that box, and bodyguards and policemen will come fast. Real fast.”

“Oh my God. You’re right. They gave me one, told me it was to keep me safe, and I lost it. Oh God. How much does it even cost? I’m already bankrupt. Hell, I’m far over bankrupt. I’m so bankrupt I don’t actually own anything. I’m not even wearing my clothes! This is all yours. Oh, God.”

Nico froze, staring at the Will, who now had his head in his hands, half slumped on the chair, probably more on the floor. The waitress was coming over, Nico gestured for her to come later. How did he even comfort Will? He should have let the waitress come, and embarrass herself. Now he was going to embarrass himself. Fuck.

Nico cleared his throat. “Isn’t everyone a bit broke?”

Will looked up from his hands, furrowing his eyebrows. Then he looked down at Nico’s finger, where his black ring shone proud.

“Everyone else. Except for me. If, if you take me out of the picture, everyone is broke,” he said. “Maybe not other royals. Or movie stars. Except the ones on drug, they always become poor after a while. Many public figures actually seem rich, but they aren’t. They are middle class, at best!”

Will looked at Nico. He looked at him for a very long time. Long enough that Nico realized what he had said, and starting pulling at the collar of his sweatshirt.

“You are so clueless,” Will said, a smile tugged his lips upwards. “You are so clueless, it’s amazing.”

Nico blinked. “Have you ever been told you don’t know how to show gratitude?”

“Oh, you’re welcome. God, I’d pay golden –well, actually, I wouldn’t, as you now know I don’t possess any gold– but I’d really like to see you for even just a day in New York City. Like, it’s actually crazy how clueless you are.”

“It really sounds like an insult.”

Nico couldn’t find it in himself to be offended, though. Not when Will sat straighter in his chair, without hiding his face.

“I would never insult you, like you would never mock me. It’s a crazy thought, Your Highness.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “Is that how you say it?”

“No, you say it in fancy. It’s Your Highness.”

“You said it like I did.”

“I really didn’t.” Nico bit his lips, but he couldn’t fight off a grin. “I said Your Highness. You said Your Highness.”

“Your Highness.”

“Your–you are mocking me again, aren’t you?”

Will didn’t look too annoyed when Nico bent over the table in laughter.

It was dark outside by the time they were back in the house. While the Prince tended to the fireplace, Will sat on the couch, the TV remote in his hands.

“So, I guess that’s a Smart TV, since you are the only not-broke person in the world,” Will said.

The Prince stilled, and looked at him from behind his shoulder. “What do you mean. What do you want to do.”

“I’m not Satan, stop treating me like that.” Will sighed, and took his knees up to his chest. “I just want to look into the last eleven awkward moments of your life.”

“I hate you.”

“Thanks, darlin’. Come here.”

Will made grabby hands at the Prince, until his hands were swatted away, though the Prince did sit, albeit with his hands crossed on the chest, and a frown marrying his features.

“Should we watch this?” Will asked, selecting a video from E!News, which talked about them.

The Prince shrugged. “If you want to know what’s happening with us, then I guess we could.”

It took Will less than a second to decide that he didn’t care about it all that much. However, he froze when he saw the video under that. It had more than three million views.

Apollo: between glory and reality. The trailer.

“You are a fan?” Nico asked, noticing where his gaze had fallen. “I met him once. He–he’s a bit full of himself, you know. He’s another one of the crazy rich people on Hearth.”

Will nodded, but his throat was completely dry. In the thumbnail of Apollo’s upcoming documentary, was a photo of his family, with a birthday cake in front of them. Without counting them, Will knew there are ten candles.

He put the remote back on the couch, and tried giving the Prince a smile.

“I forgot to–I forgot something. I’ll–I need to check it.”

Nico knocked on the bedroom door. It took Will a while to respond, long enough that Nico was sure he wouldn’t.

Will was sitting on the left side of the bed, where he had slept the night before. He had his knees up to his chest, and was hugging them tightly. Nico had thought he was calling someone, and that’s what was taking him so long, but his phone was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m ordering food,” Nico said. “What can I get for you? I don’t think there’s any Chinese restaurant around here. So…”

“Am I a bad med-student if I ask for pizza again?”

It was a strange sight. Will had looked so distressed just an hour ago, but now he was alright. All bouncy and himself again. Had Nico imagined his previous uneasiness? He was shitty at reading people and emotions, it wouldn’t be so strange. But Will was his soulmate, shouldn’t Nico understand him better than anyone else in the world? Hell, in the universe?

Nico nodded. “The worst, probably.”

“Well, then don’t snitch on me. So, can we get pizza?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Absolutely not.”

They ate pizza in bed. The smell of cheap pizza didn’t leave the room even when they opened the windows.

#riordanuniverse #solangelo #percy jackon and the olympians #nico di angelo #percy jackson #rick riordan #will solace #apollo #riordanverse #rickriordan #solangelo fic #solangelo au #solangelo fanfic

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7deadlycinderellas · 4 years

Text

No more math and history, ch5

AO3 link

Second session is on.

Second session is often sold as being for “adventure campers”, which works out to most of the campers being a bit older. Arya and Ygritte end up letting some of the riders at the stable canter and gallop instead of just trot, and there are trail rides into the forest every single Sunday. Ygritte’s even been mumbling about getting out the jumps.

The first weekend of session, Shireen’s new cabin goes on the ride with them. Arya is pleased, because Ygritte has been acting very withdrawn in the past few days, and she can’t figure out why.

“It’s the strangest thing,” Arya tells Shireen, as they bring up the rear of the group while Ygritte leads, pointing out interesting things along the path. “She never shuts up normally, she’s got an even bigger mouth than I do.”

“You’ve known each other a while?”

Arya nods, patting her roan mare on the rump so she would keep up.

“She started going out with my cousin Jon- sort of- five years ago. The next year was the summer my dad died. We hadn’t thought they were that serious, I mean, it was a summer camp romance. But after we left early, at the end of session she hopped off the bus at White Harbour and hitched a ride to Winterfell to come and check on all of us before she took the train north. She’s been a fixture ever since, holidays and summers both, even the ones she didn’t come here.”

She doesn’t mention the absolute minefield the grounds of Winterfell had become to wander if Ygritte was around. It had just been annoying at first, but about two years ago, when her and Jon had first begun having sex, it had become downright hazardous. Every Stark child had gotten an eyeful at some point, and some things just could not be unseen.

“I’m sort of jealous,” Shireen admits, “Getting to see the same people here every year. It makes me sad I started coming so late.”

Arya shrugs. She missed out on four years, but coming back to camp still felt like slipping on her favorite pair of pajamas.

“If you want to start making some of those great camp memories,” Arya starts off, “You should start hanging out at the docks after campfire, since that seems to be where we have all our heartfelt talks lately.”

The first night of second session, instead of Bran, the dock ended up being taken by Sansa, who was having a late night breakdown over what Mother would have thought for her plans for senior year.

Arya was happy enough to help her sister out, but she was rather glad that Gendry and she had found an alternative make out spot.

Shireen doesn’t get a chance to respond when they have to all stop, because one of the ten year old campers slips from her saddle and tumbles upon the ground. She’s more scared than hurt, but Arya gets to show off for the others why they always carry the first aid kit.

It’s the fifth day of second session when the worst sound Arya can imagine at camp comes over the loudspeaker.

The siren, wavering in and out, announcing a lost bather drill.

Arya remembers the procedure no problem. All campers, CITs and uncertified staff file to the mess hall to be counted.

And all red clipped staff head to the lake, strip to their underwear, and dive in. They suck in breaths and dive down as deep as they can, sweeping their hands against the bottom, before rising again. Then they repeat, until the all clear is blown.

Arya knows what they’re doing. They’re looking for a body. After hearing about Pyp last summer, she imagines Brienne and Beric must be making sure all their staff know exactly what needs to be done in an emergency.

And aside from that potential horror, there’s always the lingering embarrassment when everyone emerges from the water, soaking wet, shivering and half dressed.

As the lifeguard on duty, Gendry blows his whistle to declare the search over. He also, thankfully, has a pile of towels by his stand to pass out so they can dry off.

Arya rushes forward to grab one for Sansa, who’s trying to cover herself. Arya smothers a laugh, Sansa’s always been more modest than her, she used to be uncomfortable even wearing a bikini in public.

Sansa smiles in gratitude when she’s able to cover herself as she dries off. She doesn’t have to fear attention, because all the hooting at pointing this time is off to the left side of the group. The subject of the topic is Margaery Tyrell, who appears to have forgotten since orientations that these were a possibility on any day at all, and is wearing nothing more than a few scraps of purple lace.

To her credit, Margaery pays the hollars no mind as she redresses, even as her bending over to pick up her jeans gives the rest of the lakeside crowd a prime view of her entire bum.

Even Sansa can’t seem to take her eyes off her, her nose and cheeks lit up red. Arya doesn’t even get a chance to mock her lusty gaze, when she admits,

“I wish I had that kind of confidence.”

Arya rolls her eyes, but is distracted by Ygritte coming up to the group, already re-dressed.

“At least this means no one will remember the last one last summer, I was the one being hooted at then.”

Sansa regards her curiously.

“What are you on about Ygritte, don’t you usually wear men’s boxers?”

Ygritte runs a hand through her hair as she responds.

“Yeah, but it was also a day that I had decided not to wear a bra, and forgot that I’d decided.”

Arya is surprised when Gendry tosses a towel over her shoulders, she’d been so distracted by the others.

“My hero,” she says with a grin. She notices Gendry’s eyes still trailing her up and down.

She’s not wearing anything special, a black sports bra and ordinary striped cotton knickers. So she knows he’s not just looking, he’s looking at her.

“Nice to have an actual gentlemen in the guard’s chair,” Ygritte quips as Arya pulls her jeans and shirt back on and shakes off her hair, “You can bet Anguy wasn’t waiting here with a stack of towels after drills, he just laughed and catcalled while we shivered.”

Later that night, when Arya is pressed back against the equipment shack again, Gendry’s lips plundering hers, he pulls back for a moment.

“Sorry,” he says, with a grin that tells Arya he’s entirely un-sorry, “All I can picture is those stripes across your bum.”

Arya leans forward to briefly suck on his pulse point, which she has learned makes him emit a high-pitched whine.

“What’s wrong with stripes?”

Gendry retaliates by kissing her again while rubbing the back of her neck under her ponytail.

“Not a damn thing.”

Carefully, his hands move down her back and land on her backside, with a gentle pat.

“Well,” Arya says, “At least we know that if I ever take off my clothes for recreational purposes around you, you won’t expect me to be wearing a lacy push up bra and matching thong. Even if I owned anything like that, I wouldn’t wear it to camp.”

Gendry snickers in her ear.

“I would expect no different from you.”

His gentle pat turns into a playful squeeze.

“I still don’t think it’s fair for you to possess my mind like that hours later.”

Arya huffs.

“You don’t realize it do you? Men take off their shirts all the time, and no one thinks anything of it.”

She runs her hand down the side of his neck.

“You don’t realize it at all...you’re so-” she grunts in frustration, her hand moving back a moment to sort of gestures at his chest, “I still can’t believe you don’t have girls all over you.”

“I don’t want girls all over me though,” Gendry replies. “Hell, I don’t even understand the desire to date more than one at a time. How would you even remember anything about each of them?”

Well at least that’s something.

“But still, we’ll go out to the climbing wall and you’ll get all sweaty and take off your shirt, without even caring what it will do to me…”

Gendry snorts, rubbing his nose against the skin of her cheek.

“Is that your way of saying you want to go out to the climbing wall tomorrow since you’re off?”

It sort of is, but her words stand. Half the time she goes down to the lakefront, he’s got his shirt off and he’s all wet and she has to practically stop her stomach from growling.

The climbing wall had been brand new just the last summer the Starks were there. Conquering it had become Arya’s goal that summer. She had just barely made it before they had received the call about Ned’s death.

She’s surprised to find that it’s far easier than she recalls. Maybe she’s just gotten that much taller.

“That was amazing!” Shireen squeals, watching her as she returns down to the ground.

Arya grins. It’s not a hard course, but she’s glad for any appreciation. Gendry got caught up talking to Grey Worm and Loras while they demonstrate some of the others the safety equipment and rules. He’s stubbornly kept his shirt on, though the sweat is making it stick to him in very excellent ways.

“Well I used to do gymnastics…”

Shireen looks interested, so Arya goes on.

“There’s a story as to why I stopped. If you join Gendry and I at the dock tonight, I can tell it to you both.”

Because it’s a Saturday, Gendry’s even managed to obtain a bag of broken cookies from Hot Pie for them to munch on.

“So,” Arya starts, “Do you ever watch the Olympics, Shireen?”

“Sure,” Shireen says. She’s on her back, staring up at the moon, which is nearly full again. “I like watching the figure skating in winter.”

Arya smiles. She was immune to skating dreams mostly because of the dumb sparkly dresses for costumes.

“When I was eight, the summer games came around, that was the year the Northern gymnasts swept the medals and all I wanted was to be up on the winners podium with them.”

“I remember that,” Gendry comments, “It was on the telly the whole season.”

“Well, I begged to be able to take lessons, and Mum and Dad found a gym really close to Winterfell, a couple of the Northern team had even trained there. I think they were both hoping that the classes would burn off all the extra energy I used to use misbehaving.”

“That’s a laugh,” Gendry interjects.

“I loved it.” Arya admits, her knees pulled up to her chest. She misses it terribly, even now. “I’m actually planning to go back to the gym and work this school year as an assistant, now that it’s reopened.”

Gendry looks at her oddly at this point. As long as he’s known her, the Starks have always been well off, and it never really occurred to him that any of them would have to work. Arya’s said a thing or two about the company not being quite so stable, but he’s never really taken it in before now.

“I still love gymnastics, but I would never be involved with anyone aiming for the Olympics again. I saw girls there who had dropped out of school to train eight hours a day.”

Shireen’s eyes go wide. Arya has gathered from her stories that Shireen values education greatly.

“And there was this one coach- Coach Hagar, everyone called him Jaqen- who was...I hate to say it, but he seemed sort of like a cult leader. He was from Braavos and kind of a legend there. He hand-picked girls for his elite team, they were the real gold medal hopefuls. Everyone wanted to be one of them, including me. But he demanded absolute obedience. He discouraged any kind of outside activities, dating, even doing other sports. If he told you to do something to improve, you did it, no questions asked.”

Arya meets Gendry’s eye and the pair share a wink.

“I was never any good at that, so I was never going to end up there.”

Arya rolls flat on her back between the two of them.

“After I came home from camp, there were two deaths on Jaqen’s team, one after another. One died of an eating disorder. That was awful, but that’s a known among athletic circles. Then, less than a month later, one of her teammates slammed her head into the balance beam, trying a mount she wasn’t ready for. Broke her neck, she died less than a week later. If she’d lived, she would have been a quad.”

Arya bites her lip before continuing.

“But the nail in his coffin came when one of his team accused him of- of having, well, groomed her for several years.”

Shireen’s eyes go wide and Gendry rolls over so she can’t see his face.

“Her parents apparently didn’t believe her, but me and several others did, and we reported it. It made the news, he got fired, and the whole gym ended up closing during the scandal.”

Arya stares off at the moon.

“It’s strange. I was so sad, so down about Dad dying...that I don’t think I could have resisted the urge to join. Jaqen always seemed to want his gymnasts to think of absolutely nothing else, like he wanted them to forget who they were. At first, that was all I wanted was to disappear, to forget so it wouldn’t hurt anymore. That didn’t last, and I think the scandal helped. It pulled off the mask and made me realize I could never do that, I could never stop being me.”

“Was your Mum disappointed?” Gendry asks. Arya smiles, she knows she went on for so long about being scared her mother was always going to be disappointed in her.

“A little, I think she was mostly proud that I hadn’t let myself be dragged in too deeply. And after Dad passed, suddenly having one less expense every month was a good thing.”

Leaning to one side, Arya notices Shireen has an odd look on her face. There’s a pinch in her stomach and something nagging at the back of her mind,

“It is pretty late,” Gendry cuts in looking to Shireen, “Want us to walk you back to your cabin?”

Shireen swallows roughly, and shakes her head.

“It’s OK, the moon’s bright, I can make it fine.”

And with that, she stands and returns to camp.

“Did I say something wrong?” Arya asks, uncertain.

Gendry exhales slowly.

“No. It’s not what you said, sometimes things you don’t expect drag things up when you least expect it.”

He pauses before asking.

“You really think you could have lost yourself to training like that?”

Arya nods.

“It would have been easy. Dad always used to go on about how I could join the team during secondary school and get scholarship money. That seemed much more sensible, but the allure of the Olympics is hard to pass up for practical plans like that. I’m glad something stopped me.”

The two of them are silent for a bit. It’s such a serious spot to end the conversation, that she desperately looks for a way to change the subject. Arya pulls herself up to a sitting position, she raises an eyebrow at Gendry.

“So you, uhh, want to take this elsewhere?”

Arya’s actually really glad Gendry had admitted to not having much more experience than her, because this is uncharted territory. Not the kissing, she could figure that out just fine, but the process of getting to the kissing.

He turns a bit pink, but stands, and offers his hand.

Like this, how on earth are you supposed to ask someone if they want to go make out behind the equipment shed? Arya supposes she could ask Sansa, but there was still a chance she might roll her eyes. Like it was something she was just supposed to magically understand.

They’re sitting on the grass this time, Arya kind of half leaning over his lap while they kiss. Gendry raises his left hand and it lands between her shoulder blades, and she thinks he’s trying to pull her closer, but his hand presses, and then he kind of freezes against her mouth.

“Erm-” he starts. Arya can see him blushing even in the moonlight, she’s so close she could count his freckles, “How come you aren’t wearing a bra?”

Arya furrows her brow in confusion. The last several days had been unusually hot, even for the Stormlands in the summer, and she had changed out of her jeans almost as soon as she could. She’s in the same jersey and shorts she always wore to bed.

“Because I’m in my pajamas- I never- wait, Gendry, you do realize most women don’t sleep in their bras right?”

Gendry’s face is straight up glowing now.

“Never really thought about it.”

Arya snickers. At least she’s not the only one a little clueless sometimes. He looks like he doesn’t know what to do, so in a fit of impulsiveness, she grabs his right hand and guides it to her breast.

“And since we are actually friends,” she starts, while he squeezes experimentally, “maybe you could explain to me what exactly it is that straight men see in boobs.”

Gendry shrugs, his cheeks still aflame. She is almost sitting in his lap now, her knees bracketing one of his thighs. In a single movement, he turns her around so she is sitting full in his lap, but facing away from him. He squeezes her waist in one hand, and returns his other to keep touching her breasts through her jersey. He kisses the side of her neck.

“I just think they’re nice is all.”

Arya can’t restrain her snort.

“You know, that’s actually pretty much what Sansa told me when I asked her.”

As happy as Sansa had been that when she came out, Arya had accepted her no question. She had been less pleased by the cavalcade of inappropriate questions that she followed up with.

Arya cranes her neck so she can keep kissing him. The angle is weird, so she mostly contents herself with kissing his chin and throat instead. His hands feel good on her, and her mind starts wandering about all the other places he could be touching, places on him she could be touching.

“Hmm,” she says after several minutes, “We should probably go back. Don’t want to be too tired tomorrow morning.”

It’s a few more minutes before either of them disentangle and stand.

When she straightens her clothes, Arya is suddenly seized by an idea.

“Gendry,” she says, quietly.

When he raises his head to look at her, Arya grabs the bottom of her jersey and quickly lifts it up to her chin.

The stupid grin that appears on his face warms Arya to the core. She drops her shirt and giggles, unusually girlishly.

“Seven hells,” she whispers breathlessly, “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

Arya spins on one heel and leaves Gendry, still stunned, in the dust.

She returns to the cabin, still somehow feeling lighter than air.

She’s so lost in her own head that she doesn’t notice Ygritte, still awake in her bunk, staring silently at a letter.

#game of thrones #A Song of Ice and Fire #gendrya #fic #summer camp au

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this-is-what-makes-us-fandoms · 5 years

Text

Phobia Factor |Total Drama Island|

Summary: Duncan helps you with your fear of confined places on Phobia Factor.

Pairing: Duncan x Reader

Warnings: None

Words: 2.8K

The screaming gophers team members walked towards your team, who were all still feeling the loss of the challenge. Courtney took a stand and confronted them on them being here, thinking they were here to gloat. They tried to play it off as being nice by offering dessert but in reality, they were just out here to air out their cabin. Which Owen, their teammate, had stunk up with his disgusting gas fumes. Beth walked up to Courtney, showing her that they, however, really did bring dessert for them. She held a plate of green gelatin in front of Courtney's face, making her yelp and take a few steps back.

"No! I mean, no thanks. I'm good," She said calmly, trying to play off her disgust.

"What, are you on a diet or something?" Duncan asked.

"No, I just don’t like green jelly, okay," She replied,

Beth shrugged her shoulders and moved onto the other "campers", sticking the plate right in front of DJ's face. DJ shrieked when he saw the gummy worm inside, thinking it to be a snake and smacking the plate out of Beth's hands. It landed right by Cody's feet and he picked up the candy worm inside of it, showing that it's just candy and not an actual snake.

"Sorry for tripping, snakes just freak me out," DJ explained.

Tyler patted DJ's back as he sympathized on his fear. "I feel you, chickens give me the creeps, dude."

"You're afraid of chickens?" You remarked, giving him a look.

Duncan chuckled at that confession. "Wow, that's—that's really lame, man."

And just like that you were all having this big bonding moment with everyone spilling what they were afraid of. Like Beth went on and on about how she was deeply terrified of being covered in bugs. Harold shared that he was afraid of ninjas, which you didn't believe to be honest. Considering how he’s always doing something ninja-like or bragging about being a skilled martial artist. You were really shocked when Heather admitted she was afraid of something, the girl is her own type of scary, you found it difficult to believe that she had a fear. But I guess even monsters have their nightmares. She admitted to being afraid of sumo wrestlers, her confession making you stifle a laugh with your hand. She shot you a glare and would’ve said something but the conversation quickly moved onto Gwen. Lucky for you since you weren’t really in the mood to deal with Heather.

"What's my worst fear?" Gwen questioned. "I guess being buried alive."

You shivered a little, yeah, that didn’t sound like fun but you weren't afraid of that.

"Walking through a minefield...in heals," Lindsay said after Gwen finished.

"Flying man, that's some crazy stuff," Owen shared, Izzy nodding her head as she agreed. "I would never go up in a plane."

"I'm scared of hail, small but deadly," Geoff said.

"Being left alone in the woods," Bridgette confessed.

Beside her, Sadie, sniffled before sharing her biggest fear, she hated bad haircuts. Lindsay gasped and changed her fear, she agreed that bad haircuts were the worst thing ever. Cody went next, his biggest fear was having to defuse a time bomb under pressure.

"I'm not really afraid of anything," Courtney said smugly.

You and Duncan both coughed, calling her out on her bullshit. "Yeah right." "Baloney."

"Oh really? Well what exactly are your phobias, Mr. And Mrs. Know-It-All," She scoffed.

That was your cue to look away and pretend like you had no idea what just happened. Duncan looked like he had just been caught doing something embarrassing as he looked around to the others. They were all waiting for him, and you, to share their biggest phobia. Mostly because they wanted to know what the big bad Duncan was afraid off. And you, Miss Mysterious, seemed to know a lot about everyone but hardly anyone knew a thing about you.

Duncan sighed and gave up his fear. "Ce-Celine Dion music-store standees."

Beside him, he heard you stifle a laugh before his attention turned to Cody who spoke up. "Ex-squeeze me? I didn’t quite get that."

"Dude, did you say 'Celine Dion music-store standees?'" Trent asked.

"Ooh, I love Celine Dion," Lindsay cheered. "What's a standee?"

"You know, that cardboard-cutout thing that stands in the music store," Trent explained.

"Don't say it, dude," Duncan said with a groan.

"Kind of like a life-size but flat, Celine," Trent went on.

"So, if we had a cardboard standee right now," Courtney went on before being cut off by Duncan.

"That's kind of pathetic," You chuckled.

"Oh yeah, and what are you afraid of?" Duncan challenged.

"No offense, you're all pretty cool people, some more than others. But you're not the only ones listening in and I'd rather not tell the world what I'm afraid of," You said.

And just like that they all realized they were on TV. "Uh, well, I've got nothing to hide. I hate mimes, like a lot." Trent shared.

"Okay Courtney, you're afraid of something," You said, trying to get her to spill.

"Nope—Nothing," She said, that smug smile still on her face.

"That's not what she said last night," Duncan laughed, making you roll your eyes and divert your gaze.

You liked Duncan, that much you knew, since the beginning you two just clicked. But you had no idea how he felt about you, sure you had your moments but he loved to mess around. And he seemed to have a thing for Courtney, you weren't about to interfere with that. You saw Courtney stand up and leave, completely missing out on what happened. You looked at Duncan, no doubt that he had something to do with it but he just shrugged his shoulders. After that, everyone decided to head back to bed, wanting some rest before another gruesome challenge tomorrow.

You walked next to Duncan in silence before the two of you reached the cabins and went your separate ways.

You sat at the table that held all your teammates, eating Chef's "food" as Chris announced the next challenge. He announced the next game to be a game called 'Phobia Factor' where everyone would be facing their greatest fears. And this right here is exactly why didn't share what your greatest fear is, and why you never will.

He pulled out a card, announcing Heather as the first victim in this challenge, facing her worst fear; sumo wrestlers. He called on Gwen next, she was going to be buried alive, making her gasp loudly. This is when everyone figured out that everyone was actually facing off their biggest fear. And now everyone thought you were a complete genius for not sharing your fear.

"Chef Hatchet, didn't you have a special order for Tyler here?" Chris said.

Chef nodded smugly as he presented Tyler with a whole fried chicken. Tyler picked it up and brought it to his mouth, biting the head off, only for a live chicken to pop out. Was that even possible? Tyler freaked out, of course, but ultimately setting off the game.

The game went on pretty okay, with everyone being presented their fear. Beth was shown a large pool of bugs in which jumped right in and swam around. Nice one Beth, way to set the bar so high! Sadie and Lindsay were both made to wear mullet wigs all day to complete their part of the challenge. Izzy and Owen were taken up on a plane that was being driven by Chef. Harold faced off ninjas, or at least tried, he ended up smacking himself with his own nunchucks. Why did he have nunchucks at the ready? Lashawna ran away from Chef dressed as a spider, coasting her team a point. Heather went up against a sumo wrestler and actually won, by total luck though. But it made the score 2-0 with the killer bass, your team, losing.

Bridgette was lead into the woods to begin her six hours of total solitude. You watched in slight horror as Gwen was being buried, poor girl. DJ eventually scored a point for you team when he conquered his fear of snakes. But you were still one-point behind so not much of a victory for you guys.

Cody was let somewhere where a garbage bomb was planted, one he had to defuse. As Trent was being chased by a mime, the rest of you moved onto the next fear. Duncan's Celine Dion music-store standee phobia, all of you stood in front of cardboard cutout of her as Chris explained what you had to do.

Duncan stood there with a terrified face as you helped him out. "She's pretty, she's nice."

"Just one hug and you're done," Chris explained.

"That—That looks really real, man," Duncan said, fear evident in his voice.

"Dude, she's made of cardboard! Get in the game!" Tyler yelled from the sidelines.

"Hey, it's okay if you can't do it," You told him gently.

He sighed and reached out for your hand, causing your heart to skip a beat. "Fine, I'll try." He said, giving you a smile. He took a deep breath before running off towards the cutout, arms outstretched to give her a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug, scoring the bass another point. You smiled widely, ready to give him a hug but someone beat you to it. Courtney wrapped her arms around Duncan, cuddling up to him and cheering. That's right, he and Courtney had a thing that you weren't about to get in between.

You and the others walked over to him and congratulated him for his big win. The score was tied until Trent faced the mime and scored the gophers another point, leaving the score 3-2. Next up was Geoff with a mini cloud of hail just for him to pelt him with hail. But this reminded Trent about Gwen being buried alive, but she completed her task and the gophers now had four points while the bass had two. Owen and Izzy also survived their plane ride, scoring their team another two points. Looks like your team lost another challenge, even if Sadie, Bridgette, and Tyler completed their tasks.

Speaking of which, Lindsay and Sadie conquered their fears and went the whole day with bad haircuts. Making the score 7-3, let's hope Tyler can get over his fear of chickens and win your team other point. But with Tyler being the last challenge of the day, what hope did you team have? Especially since Bridgette lost and ran out of the woods before time was up.

"Actually, we have two more challenges," Chris announced.

You looked at him in confusion, you and Courtney both refused to say what you were afraid of so what could they actually do? Chris brought everyone over to a tub of green jelly for Courtney to jump into, after they deduced that she was afraid of green jelly. That was probably more pathetic than Tyler's fear of chickens but when she explained why you saw her reasoning. It did look like snot, it made you shiver as you thought about it.

"Ugh, that is just cruel! It's probably warm by now, warm green jelly. Snotty, bouncy, ugh!" Gwen said, trying psych Courtney out.

Courtney stood at the top, looking down at the tub in disgust. "It's okay if you can't do it, Courtney." Duncan said.

"It is? But won't we lose?" You retorted.

In the end she chickened out, walking back to her team in shame, while the gophers cheered. "Not so fast gophers, I said we had two challenges left." Chris said as he looked at you. "On this show, we like to do our research, and since you didn't tell us your fear we had to dig it up. Thanks for that, by the way."

"And what did you find?" You asked cautiously.

"Absolutely nothing!" Chris sighed. "Which is why, if you tell us your fear and complete it, I will give you triple points."

You felt everyone's eyes on you, while you looked at Chris with a harsh glare while he smiled smugly. What were you going to do? You could do the challenge and score three points or leave it as is. But three points wouldn’t give you the win, so either way your team still loses.

"That'd still be 7-6 though," You said.

"True, but at least your teammates can't say you didn’t try," Chris said. You gave him a look which made him roll his eyes and speak up once again. “Fine, I’ll also throw in immunity for you and another camper of your choice.”

Your teammates all looked at you eagerly, hoping that you would take the deal. And they were all hoping they were good enough friends with you that you’d consider one of them for immunity. But let’s be honest, even if you did do it and win, you’d choose Duncan as your immunity buddy.

You sighed heavily. "Fine, I don't like small spaces."

"That's it?" Someone from the gophers remarked.

You turned to look at them with a glare, pointing a finger at them. "You try spending two hours in a small closet because your so-called friends forgot to find you during hide-n-seek!"

And then is where your fear of confined places stems from, all because of a small incident when you were six. Chris chuckled in the back as he started to set everything up before leading you to your challenge. You started to quiver as the lot of you walked with him, the last time you were stuck in enclosed area you had a massive panic attack.

Everyone looked at you as they waited for you to go into the small spaced area Chris had set up. You couldn't do it, you really just couldn't, it was too much for you.

"Hey, psst," Duncan whispered beside you.

"Uh, yeah?" You said.

"Shh, keep it down. Take this," Duncan slipped you something before you were pushed into your small space.

The last bit of light was shut out before you were in complete darkness and confinement. You just had to be in here for ten minutes, you could do it and score you team three points. "Hey, you listening?" A voice came through somewhere, more specifically through the device Duncan slipped you, a walkie-talkie.

"Yeah, what's up?" You asked.

"Figured you might need someone to talk to while you did this," Duncan said.

"Yeah thanks," You replied.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Duncan asked sincerely, shocking you that he was being nice.

"Wow, it's not like you to be so nice," You teased.

"Keep doing that and I'll leave," He threatened.

"Sorry!" You yelped, not wanting to think about being alone. "So, uh, you and Courtney huh?" Now was your time to find out how Duncan felt about Courtney.

"What about me and Miss Loud Mouth," He spoke.

"You two are a thing, right?" You asked.

"No! What gave you that idea?" He asked.

"Well, you two seem so close and you ended up sleeping together on last challenge," You explained.

"Okay, that was a total accident and I don't like Miss I'm A CIT. I just like messing with her, she's too easy," He told you, laughing on the other end.

"Oh," Was your reply.

"Why the sudden interest, princess?" He asked.

"No reason, just trying to keep my mind off of other things," You said. "So how much longer?"

"You've got five more minutes. Anyway, no reason isn't a reason, why the question?" He pressed.

"It is a reason, geez, can't a girl ask a question," You sighed.

"Alright whatever," He replied.

Silence overtook the atmosphere, your fear creeping back up quickly. You took deep breaths as you tried to calm yourself down, you weren't going to lose, not like this. "Duncan, you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here," He said.

"Okay good," You said, letting silence take over again for a few minutes. "Hey Duncan?"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I like you, a lot," You confessed.

"I know princess. I actually like you too," He said.

You smiled to yourself and snuggled into yourself, waiting patiently for the end of your challenge. When you got out, everyone was waiting there for you, cheering at your successful challenge. They had to give it to you, having to spend ten minutes in total confinement was unthinkable. None of them wanted to do that, so yeah, kudos to you. And Duncan was waiting for you there as well, actually impressed that you did it. You lost the challenge but you conquered your fear and perhaps got a boyfriend too.

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