thanks for the Family Line song prompt

you'll never guess who suggested it

that's right, it's riptide2406 everyone say thanks for the angst!

Name a better time to get into the pool than midnight.

    In Piper's opinion, you can't. It was starting to cool into fall weather, and the pool felt like a hot tub. In the outdoor kitchen, sodas were in the fridge, and a bag of puffy Cheetos was in the cabinets.

    Piper grabbed two Coke cans, giving one to Leo. She looked across the pool to where Sadie and Shel were talking while making weird faces at Sadie's phone.

    Piper had known that Shel was hot. Everyone knew that. You can't think about Shelby Silva Hicks and not think she's gorgeous.

    But seeing Shel in a bathing suit really shoved that in Piper's face. Not that she was complaining, of course.

    She also knew what looked good on her. In this case, it was coral. So, Shel wore a coral tunnel cutout one-piece.

    And now Piper was staring.

    "Imagine being whipped," Leo commented.

    "Imagine pining on a guy that still likes you," Piper shot back.

    Without missing a beat, Leo said, "Imagine having your gay awakening be your girlfriend."

    "Imagine being single."

    "Imagine never cutting your fucking ends. Like, we need to have a conversation about that, they're fucking yellow."

    "Imagine not knowing that the sun lightens hair."

    "Imagine thinking that excuse would work in the fall."

    "Imagine always wearing the same fucking outfit."

    "Imagine being a victim of slander from your friend."

    Piper rolled her eyes. "I'm stopping this now."

    "You're no fun."

    "Shush."

    "No."

    "Okay, okay. Seriously though," Piper said. "I'm happy for you."

    "Bitch, why?" Leo asked. "I'm tragically single and I still haven't built a nuke made for Elon Musk."

    "Why would you be making a nuke for Elon Musk?"

    "To nuke him, why else?"

    "Valid." Piper placed her coke down. "I'm happy for you because you actually faced your emotions instead of joking your way through them."

    Leo's gaze softened. "Yeah, I'm proud of that too. I mean, I didn't really do it by myself."

    "Shel mothered you?"

    "I don't think mother is the word. It's more like that one aunt you trust more as a parent and friend than your actual parents. Like, she's actually helpful and solves problems rather than cause them!" Leo said. "But yeah."

-

Nico was, unsurprisingly, the last to fall asleep.

    After the pool, everyone took showers at the fucking speed of light and slowly drifted to sleep around 4am.

    Nico and Sadie were the last ones standing, running on two Red Bulls, and Nico was contemplating murdering his stomach with a third.

    "Do you ever wonder where you'll be when your older?" Sadie asked.

    Nico shrugged. "Not really. I already have a partner and career of sorts and I have a general plan." All of that was true. His social media presence steadily grew, and more people were interested in his music. He was getting paid to sing on the internet, which was great. He also had Will and couldn't imagine a life without him. "What about you?"

    "All the time," Sadie said. "I'm, like, really delirious, so this won't make any sense. But, like, I'm a mess. Everyone around me has a plan. They know what college they're going to attend, what they're going to major in, and what career they want." Sadie gestured wildly. "I have no idea! Like, I don't have a true passion. I just sit here, barely pass my classes, and use my liking of musical theatre to get enough credits to graduate. I don't want to do theatre as a career, but I'm not good at anything else. So I'm just this boring person who'll be some fucking manager at a department store, but I don't want that either." She rolled herself into a burrito. "I just--I don't know. I don't know."

    "Sadie, you're good at things! Like, you don't think you have the skills to do everything perfectly. But, like, neither does anyone else. The difference is that you aren't afraid to experiment with new things. I don't think anyone just knows major events of queer history while also knowing how to rock climb while also knowing how to sing. Like, you can do anything literally.

    "Actually, there are people whose entire careers are building enough stamina to do something for like, a week. Have you ever seen Michelle Kare's videos?" At Sadie's shaken head, which looked like a bit of a wiggle from the burrito, Nico continued. "You should check her out. I'll send you the link to her channel. Anyway, she literally makes new challenges every month where she tries a different career. You could do something like that, but instead of a job, you could do talents. Like...you rock climb, right?"

    "I'm not, like, a god. But I'll do it once or twice a month."

    "Okay, rock climbers are excellent--hear me out--at pole dancing. That could be the first thing you tried."

    "Nico." Sadie paused. "That is the best fucking thing I've ever heard. Can you imagine the power that I'll hold once I learn to pole dance? I'll be fucking unstoppable." With that, she passed out.

-

Alex hated testing seasons. But not for the actual test. She was OK at tests.

    No, she hated that whenever she came across a family, she'd see parents comforting their teen. It'll be fine, baby. It's not even the actual SAT, and you can retake the test. We will love you either way.

    Bullshit. It's all fucking bullshit because what did Alex ever do to deserve pain?

    What did Alex do to deserve this? How could anyone, especially a father, hurt a little kid?

    And you know what hurts the most? No one ever believes you.

    All everyone saw was a man who didn't talk a lot; he just took a walk around the block.

    But then he'd hit.

    And Alex never had a mother to say, "I'm leaving and taking the kids." No, her stepmother was fucking terrible.

    Alex was young, but she wasn't clueless. Someone who loved you wouldn't do this.

    But here's the kicker: Alex was clueless. If she wasn't, why did she stay with Adrian?

    It hurts the most to think that Alex looked just like her father and was a damned good liar. That came from her mother's side, where she told a million to survive.

    And look at Alex now! Paranoid.

    What's going to happen in a year when Magnus, inevitably, gets tired of her? What's going to happen when Samirah leaves her? When Shel and Sadie stop talking to her?

    Alex isn't even fazed by the idea of it anymore. It always happens. So, she had to enjoy it while it lasted. What a fucking way to live.

    Still, it was okay now. So she just needed to revel in this peace now.

    It'll all be over soon, anyway.

short ass chapter i know

anyway, hi violation beans

someone compared my hair to beyonce's hair and i might just ascend into the heavens

anyway, short chapter this is due to my lack of inspiration and also working on, like, a million fics at once!

ihbwyftbom (ofmg why did i make the title for that fic so long) is about 2,000 words long so far, which is quite scary!

i'm also working on a one-shot of sorts

and also i'm trying to think of more multi-chapter fics within the chat fic format

what happened to being gay doing crime? scrapped it.

it wasn't going anywhere anyway, it was just me playign with the format

i'm also kind of overworked emotionally

so like

this summer was good and bad

like

my dog died, my grandma got cancer, my cousins (who i am very close to) moved away yesterday, and i got braids in my hair today

i am in pain from all of those

anyway, i was like, may as well try and write a chapter for soulmates

and so i did

is it my best? no. is it fine? ye

anyway, i'm tired so imma go pass out

i shall see your comments in the morning

love y'all