Had a revelation recently and thought it might help other people too.
There is absolutely NO shame in having a ton of projects on the go and switching between or even dropping them on a whim.
Hobbies are meant to be FUN.
You can have 20 writing projects, or knitting, or whatever your thing is, and putting them down for a bit or abandoning them is a-okay.
I personally would never think that someone who started playing a video game and then decided to play another before it was finished was a quitter, so why am I so judgemental towards myself?
Doing your hobbies in a way that brings you joy isn't selfish or weak, it's...literally the whole point of them. Go nuts!
May I ask why you discontinued All I Want? It was so good and I love it with every bit of my heart. Its okay if you have writers block, or if you just don't want to write it, I'm not asking you to update it. I won't pressure you about your personal life, but may I know why you stopped writing it? A vague answer is fine, I just want to know something lol
Hi! Hello! Sorry, I’m just now seeing this! Usually I get notifications for asks, but I didn’t for this one and I haven’t been on much in the last month! The last chapter I updated was back in September of 2018, and I assume that I stopped bc I was in college and the work load and part-time job were making me too tired or busy to have time to write it. It wasn’t writer’s block per se bc I had an outline of where it was going but sometimes when you take a break for other things your motivation just isn’t there or you’re not as interested as you were when you first started. Hope that answered something for you :)
Sorry I haven’t been posting new chapters of Seasons of Love. Life literally sucks right now. I promise I’m still writing it I just can’t post anything because I’m so busy and stressed. I’ll post when I can. :)
Disclaimer: Moodboard made by me. Pictures found on Google!
Author: @cynicallystiles
Request: @itrocksmysocks basically requested this by making me obsessed with the triplets a year ago.
Warning: Swearing. Mention of depression and anxiety. Vandalism?
Notes: Chapter five everyone! Not me posting, like, two weeks late. I have zero excuses except that I keep starting new projects before I’ve finished the last ones. Thanks for your patience! Please COMMENT/REBLOG if you enjoy it!
Pairing: Kallie Hayes (OC) x Mendes Triplets
Masterlist Series Masterlist
Chapter Four Chapter Six
Words: ~5.36k
As July approached quickly, Kallie spent every night in Peter’s room. She tried to fall asleep in hers first, but she just couldn’t sleep alone without the fox one of her moms gave her in high school. So, she ended up cuddling with him each night.
She realizes that she could have spent these nights with Shawn. Heaven knows he’d be ecstatic for all the private time together. But, she hesitated to knock on his door. Maybe because even though he knows every inch of her body, sometimes she’s not sure if he knows every inch of her.
It might not be fair to make that assessment considering the weird circumstances of her friendships with the boys. She gave each of them a part of her that she didn’t give the others. It made it fair, almost. So while Shawn got her body, Raul got her emotions, and Peter got her mind.
If only she had known then that by crawling into bed with Peter each night, she was mixing territories. And the consequences of that would be far worse for her than it would be for the boys.
Soon enough, it’s the first day of July and the late morning light is sifting through the curtains in Peter’s room. Kallie and Peter lay on their stomachs with their feet tangled together as they sleep. Their peacefulness doesn’t last long when the thundering of footsteps comes racing down the hall.
“RISE AND SHINE!!!!” Shawn yells through the door.
Kallie shoves her face further into the pillow and groans. “Make him stop,” she grumbles and pushes Peter repeatedly by his bicep.
“Okay, okay!” He chuckles lightly, having an easier time in the mornings than her. Pulling on a shirt, he trudges to the door and opens it quickly. “Do you mind?”
There’s just a handful of fics I adore as much as I do this one!!!!! Holy fucking shit, every part is even better than the previous one, more intricate and complex and exquisite that the previous one. It’s just so human, so beautiful… that picture she took actually portays this whole damn masterpiece of a story you’re writing! Happy, home, sad, love. I absolutely love it with my entire heart!!!!
That being said, I don’t even know what to feel or who to root for (obviously Peter). Make up your mind and give us something, Kalliope!!! The flashbacks and funny parts also give me life 🙄 i cannot stress it enough, I LOVE this series and these characters!
Disclaimer: Moodboard made by me. Pictures found on Google!
Author: @cynicallystiles
Request: @itrocksmysocks basically requested this by making me obsessed with the triplets a year ago.
Warning: Swearing. Mention of depression and anxiety. Vandalism?
Notes: Chapter five everyone! Not me posting, like, two weeks late. I have zero excuses except that I keep starting new projects before I’ve finished the last ones. Thanks for your patience! Please COMMENT/REBLOG if you enjoy it!
Pairing: Kallie Hayes (OC) x Mendes Triplets
Masterlist Series Masterlist
Chapter Four Chapter Six
Words: ~5.36k
As July approached quickly, Kallie spent every night in Peter's room. She tried to fall asleep in hers first, but she just couldn't sleep alone without the fox one of her moms gave her in high school. So, she ended up cuddling with him each night.
She realizes that she could have spent these nights with Shawn. Heaven knows he'd be ecstatic for all the private time together. But, she hesitated to knock on his door. Maybe because even though he knows every inch of her body, sometimes she's not sure if he knows every inch of her.
It might not be fair to make that assessment considering the weird circumstances of her friendships with the boys. She gave each of them a part of her that she didn't give the others. It made it fair, almost. So while Shawn got her body, Raul got her emotions, and Peter got her mind.
If only she had known then that by crawling into bed with Peter each night, she was mixing territories. And the consequences of that would be far worse for her than it would be for the boys.
Soon enough, it's the first day of July and the late morning light is sifting through the curtains in Peter's room. Kallie and Peter lay on their stomachs with their feet tangled together as they sleep. Their peacefulness doesn't last long when the thundering of footsteps comes racing down the hall.
"RISE AND SHINE!!!!" Shawn yells through the door.
Kallie shoves her face further into the pillow and groans. "Make him stop," she grumbles and pushes Peter repeatedly by his bicep.
"Okay, okay!" He chuckles lightly, having an easier time in the mornings than her. Pulling on a shirt, he trudges to the door and opens it quickly. "Do you mind?"
Shawn can clearly see Kallie still sleeping, but he doesn't seem to care. "Of course, I mind!" He laughs. "It's Canada Day and you two are gonna miss the festivities!!"
"Bring it down three notches and we'd both be happy to attend your festivities," Peter pleads while rubbing his ear with one hand.
Thinking it over for a moment, Shawn responds in a volume significantly lower. "Deal! See you guys downstairs in thirty." He drums his hands on the open doorway before disappearing as quickly as he came.
"It's like he doesn't know this is my least favorite holiday," she chuckles sarcastically while she sits up.
Peter joins her on the bed and fixes some of her hair that's frizzy. "Oh, he knows," he laughs before continuing, "he just emphatically does not care."
"Guess we better get to it or he'll come back, eh?" She squints at Peter and he just nods grimly. The expression causes her to giggle as she pulls herself out of bed. "See you downstairs." She waves on her way out, pointedly only looking at the floor ahead for her steps.
For her to keep sleeping in that room, Peter had to put all the pictures of Kaylin's face down and the rest of the mementos hidden where Kallie couldn't see. Kallie never had the strength to go through and collect all of it after the funeral. He's worried about what will happen now that the sale of the cabin will be forcing her to.
The four of them meet downstairs in the living room, dressed and ready to participate in Shawn's organized activities. Raul is slouched in a chair with a hat tipped over his face as Shawn goes through the itinerary. Kallie notices and raises her hand quickly.
"No fair! Raul is sleeping!" She tattles playfully as she points. Peter snickers beside her on the couch and Raul silently flips her off. "Wouldn't you like to?" She retorts and rolls her eyes.
Shawn scoffs. "That's enough out of all of you. You're ruining my action plan meeting," he pouts. Kallie rubs her closed fist in a circle over her chest and mouths 'sorry.' While he thought it was cute she was using sign language interchangeably with her voice, he found it annoying that only Peter could understand her without her mouthing the words.
After another thirty minutes of briefing, the four split up for their festivity duties. Shawn and Raul head outside to grill while Kallie heads to the kitchen to get started on the desserts, and Peter runs to grab his photography equipment to capture the best memories.
Once the pastries are set aside for later and everyone has had a filling lunch, the four head to a nearby store to stockpile fireworks. They split up to pick out different ones and meet back at the register.
"Alright, show me what you all got!" Shawn demands. Raul brings his hands out from behind his back with the biggest and most booming package of fireworks there was. "Not bad. Not bad. Peter, you next."
He rolls his eyes and brings his hands in front of him to reveal fountain fireworks, Roman candles, and the little growing snake tablets. Shawn places his hand thoughtfully on his chin before nodding decisively. "Approved. Kallie?"
Sighing, she reveals her hands and fireworks. She had collected the best sparklers, smoke bombs, and several packages of snappers. He pretends to compose himself before he 'scolds' her. "Is that the best you could do?"
"It's not the worst I could do," she challenges and his lips immediately turn into a smile. "What did you get, Sir Colonel Mendes?" She questions with a wacky salute.
Grinning maniacally, he reveals a basket of so many bottle rockets and screamers. Kallie winces slightly. "Promise I'll give you earplugs this year." He winks. She chuckles in defeat as they check out and head back to the cabin.
They participate in several outdoor activities that Shawn researched and planned, and it was actually pretty fun. There was tug-o-war, games of horseshoes, and even three-legged races. Which were the absolute most fun and chaotic thing in practice over theory.
Kallie regrets not being able to spend this kind of time with them over the last few summers. But, she and they had to work the whole time and their schedules never lined up well.
Raul starts the grill again, this time for dinner steaks instead of lunch hot dogs and hamburgers. The sun won't set for an hour so the other three chill on the porch behind the screen, snickering as Raul swats at mosquitoes. "Need some repellant?" Kallie calls.
"Why ever would you think that?" He deadpans back to her. She giggles and grabs the tiki torches from the other side of the porch and sets them up around Raul. "I asked for repellant, not to be the center of a satanic ritual," he comments.
She shrugs as she goes about lighting them. "Actually, you didn't ask for repellant either." She stands there with a smirk for a moment while they burn.
"What just happened?" He asks, noticing that all the bugs suspiciously disappeared.
Giggling, she informs him, "Citronella torches, dumbass." Then, she walks back up to the porch. "Peter, come help me with the last dessert and we can pick what we're doing until October." She nods towards the door before entering the cabin.
What had started as casually teaching each other skills that the other didn't know (like ice skating or baking), had turned into an adventure agreement. Every three months, the pair of them pick something that neither knows how to do to learn. Sometimes it's a new language, or sometimes a new skill. At the end of the three months, they decide whether or not to keep learning it in their own time or to drop it altogether.
Sometimes it's also just them crossing off stupidly fun items from their bucket lists. Like riding a tandem bike, geocaching, or even attending as many concerts as they can. Peter would never tell Kallie, but he came up with the idea to give her something to look forward to every few months. It helps keep her in good spirits even when her depression hits hard.
Several years ago, when they were all about the age of sixteen, it was the first of July. AKA...Canada Day. Kallie and her family had been settled into the neighborhood for seven or eight years. Yet, a few people in town were still not as quite...adjusted to their type of family.
It was becoming somewhat of a tradition for their house to be egged or TP'd or sometimes both. It was also becoming a tradition that Kallie and Cassie would wake up before their moms to clean it all up so that they wouldn't see it. The nicest tradition of all, though...was the Mendes boys showing up to help speed along the process. And ever since meeting Kaylin, she would come help as well.
Nothing lifted Kallie's spirits more on such an unwelcoming day than being reminded that it doesn't matter what a few people think. What matters is the wonderful friends she's found since moving to Pickering that stand by her on days like these. They made the holiday so much more bearable by helping and then making her celebrate to forget.
So this year when the boys left their house to walk down the street, they expected the same old tradition. Cleaning up and then letting loose. But as soon as the Hayes' house came into view, they could tell something was wrong. Usually, by the time they showed up, there was already a good dent in the cleanup. Kallie and Cassie don't mess around. They get up at sunrise to start doing it.
But, here it was...nine in the morning, and not only did the yard still look massively wrecked...Cassie was the only one outside stuffing toilet paper into trash bags. The boys and Kaylin exchange worried looks and jog the rest of the distance.
"Where's Kallie?" Raul looks around as if she was just unnoticeable from a distance.
Cassie's shoulders slump and she lets the bag fall to the ground. "She's not coming out today..."
"That's funny," Shawn chuckles, assuming she was joking for some reason. His smile flickers when he sees the severity on her face. "Wait, you're serious?"
She sighs, going back to picking up the wasted tissue, "As serious as global warming."
"Oh my god..." Kaylin mumbles, finally looking around and taking in the damage. "Is it just me...or is it worse than last year?"
"That's not really the issue at hand here," Shawn reminds her.
At that, Peter frowns. "I'd say it kind of is. It's not just eggs and toilet paper this time. Whoever is doing this dug up the gardens and broke stuff this time. We have to call the police!"
"Vandalism can be reported and cleaned up later," Shawn assures him, "what matters right now is why Kallie isn't out here helping! She's usually bossing us all around the second she sees us..."
Cassie shakes her head. "You don't get it," she murmurs, angrily shoving trash into the bag, "She spent so much time out here with moms planting the gardens and everything else..."
"At least last year it was all easily fixable," Kaylin reminds the boys, "this will all take weeks if not months to redo. She must be so heartbroken..."
Her hand tightening around the bag, Cassie clenches her jaw. "On top of that..." She pauses, not sure if Kallie would want her sharing her secret with them all.
"What?" Raul asks, his usually emotionless tone now filled with worry.
Cassie groans. "She wouldn't want me telling you...but when she was in seventh grade she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression."
"W-what," Shawn chokes on his words, "no...Kallie can't be...I mean, there's no way she's-"
Kaylin glares at him until he stops talking. "Most of the time it's the people who seem the most fine that have it..."
"And she's on meds to help with that," Cassie reveals. "They don't always work so her therapist suggested having something to do to busy her mind until she feels better. So she wanted...this." She gestures around helplessly. "Planting the flowers and decorating the yard made her forget about bad things for a while..."
Silence seeps in around them as they all take a moment to process what she's telling them. "I'm gonna go see if I can cheer her up." Shawn nods decisively and quickly heads up to her room before he can be stopped.
The rest of them try to help Cassie mitigate the damage as much as possible in the meantime. About half an hour later, Shawn exits the house with his head hanging low. Everyone stops when he gets back to the group.
"How'd it go?" Peter questions.
He shrugs. "She was laying in her room in the dark and didn't say anything to me," he informs them, "like, nothing. I tried everything I normally do when she's sad. She didn't even react when I told her my stupid jokes. Just turned over..."
"Guess that makes it my turn," Kaylin announces nervously. Peter opens his mouth to suggest something but she breezes past him.
Cassie shakes her head while they go back to cleaning. "You're all wasting your breaths...It's already been bad for a couple of days and seeing the yard just put her over the edge. There's no cheering her up...only waiting for it to pass." Yet another short period later, Kaylin leaves the house hugging her chest. "Well?"
"I tried letting her know that I'm here if she wants to talk," she swallows, a little bit of hurt ebbing in her veins, "and she told me to leave her alone."
Raul shrugs. "Maybe we should just leave her be until she's done," he suggests. "Their moms probably already know all this happened, so we might as well clean up what we can."
"Yeah, you're right," Kaylin agrees. Shawn nods and they all split off to their respective sections to clean.
Only Peter stands alone, staring at the house and contemplating about what to do. He glances around to make sure no one is looking and then quietly heads into the house. As he heads upstairs to her room, he takes extra precaution to not creak any floorboards and alert her moms.
He knocks softly on her door. So softly, in fact, that he's not sure if she even heard him. Peter carefully opens the door and peeks his head in before allowing the rest of his body to follow. Kallie's room is dim, save for the small spots of light streaming through the crack in her curtain and the glow from her phone screen.
Peter stands awkwardly inside the now-closed door, watching her curled up under the covers and scrolling through her phone. It surprises him slightly to see that she's not just staring at the wall like Shawn implied she was. She stops scrolling momentarily and even though her eyes are still on the screen, he somehow knows that she's watching him.
Without a word, he kicks off his shoes and sits on the edge of the bed slowly. Kallie clicks off her phone and sets it on the nightstand before resting her hands in her lap. Peter reclines on top of the covers in the space next to her while mimicking her hand placement. He doesn't say anything or even look at her. The only thing he does is close his eyes as if he's going to take a nap.
The covers on her bed rustle before he feels a warm sensation pressed into his side and pressure on his bicep. He peeks his eyes open to see her resting her head on him with her own eyes closed and her body situated as close to his as she can get without actively cuddling him.
She lays on him like that for a little bit. Time is lost to them because of the lack of sun and also because of each other's company. After a while, he stirs as if they had fallen asleep. When he looks down at her she's got her eyes open, staring off somewhere.
"Thank you," she murmurs, startling him slightly. He doesn't reply because he's not entirely sure what he did to be thanked. "...for leaving me be, but not leaving me alone."
One corner of his lips curls up. "I'd never leave you alone when you're not feeling well," he admits. She hums with slightly more emotion than before. "Can I take you somewhere?"
"I don't know..." she sighs. Right now it felt physically impossible for her to sit up, let alone get dressed and go somewhere.
Peter notices her hesitation and quickly gets up from the bed. "It's just down the street to our house," he informs her, "I'll carry you and you don't even have to change."
"But when they see us leaving they'll want to talk," she argues. "I don't want to talk about anything..."
He shrugs his shoulders, an impossibly innocent smile on his face. "Then we'll go out the back and take the long way...duh."
"Okay." Kallie manages to swing her legs over the edge of the bed and sits there waiting for him to pick her up.
Peter wraps his arms around her waist, leaning over her so that she can koala onto him before he stands straight up. She wraps her arms around his neck and rests her chin on her arm while tightening her legs around his waist. After standing up, he respectfully holds her up by clasping his hands together under her thighs.
She expected him to struggle a little more considering that he was the youngest and always seemed less...fit than the other two boys. It was a nice surprise that he wouldn't struggle to carry her all the way to his house.
They duck out of the back door and begin taking the long way to his house in silence. It's almost as if he can read her thoughts when he speaks again. "Don't worry," he chuckles, adjusting his grip so he can pat her back briefly with one hand, "you're not heavy and I don't mind carrying you."
Kallie just buries her nose deeper into the crook of her arm and lets the rhythm of his walking soothe her. After a short while, they come to the back of his own house and he carries her inside. His parents were out with their friends for Canada Day until later when they'd all usually watch the fireworks together.
He sets her down in a chair that faces their piano and wraps a blanket around her. He pulls the lever so that she can recline while he bustles about without saying anything.
There was something about the way that he was treating her so...normally...that made her feel at ease. He didn't expect her to talk or smile or participate in whatever he had planned. Peter just simply wanted her around. No matter what state she was in.
"Why are we here, Peter?" She mumbles when he comes back from the kitchen with two cups in his hands.
Peter sets her cup on the table next to her and wanders over to sit on the piano bench before taking a sip. "I know you probably wanted everyone to stop checking on you...so I figured I'd just hide you away until you want to be found."
He shrugs and sets the cup on the top of the piano before playing with some keys. "Are you going to play me something?" She questions softly.
"If you want me to." He looks over the piano to smile gently at her. Kallie nods hesitantly and watches him look down at the keys as he starts playing.
His fingers glide expertly producing a melancholy but somehow warm tune. The notes make her eyelids flutter closed as she absorbs them. Peter closes his eyes while getting lost in the song and only opens them when he hears her bare feet pattering on the wood floorboards.
"Keep going," she murmurs, sitting next to him on the bench. He does as she asks and plays a never-ending stream of beautiful notes. Kallie hums, resting her head on his shoulder. "I wish I could play like you."
"You can," Peter says, "I could teach you."
She smiles softly and rests her fingers on the keys. "You can teach me but I'd still never play the way you do," she argues.
"We'll just see about that," he chuckles.
Kallie is in the kitchen bustling about making sure the desserts are properly cooked while Peter perched atop the counter. He kicks his feet childishly while his eyes watch her flit around. It was so adorable to him when she went all chef mode.
"I was thinking that we could do something that gets us outdoors more," she rambles while fanning the cookies she just took out of the oven. "I feel like the past few things have been doable from the comfort of a couch and we should branch out more."
He grins. "Well, I personally don't mind spending all of our time cooped up in our rooms or on the couch..." he admits and she rolls her eyes, "but if you want some fresh air, then I'm game."
"We could," she pauses, moving the cookies from the pan to a serving plate while thinking, "do Pokémon Go?"
Peter laughs and hops off the counter to wash the pan she just cleared off. "You know nothing about Pokémon," he points out.
"Well, yeah," she scoffs and digs in the fridge for the pies she made earlier, "that's the point of our adventure pact, is it not? To do stuff we've never done?"
Turning off the faucet and placing the pan in the drying rack, he turns around and crosses his arms. "It's actually meant for us to do stuff we've always wanted to try. You don't even like Pokémon, so why would you like the game?"
"Why is this getting harder every time," she groans and leans against the kitchen island. "I just want to do something new and fun and have a change of scenery. Is that so much to ask?"
"How about I teach you how to take professional photographs?" He suggests and her eyes twinkle letting him know that he's caught her attention. "We can do nature portraits and eventually people portraits...which will both require going out and finding new subjects."
Kallie throws her arms around him giddily. "Ohmygosh! It's perfect! You always have the best ideas!" She gushes and he squeezes her tightly to him.
"It's not a big deal," he downplays the magnitude of it, "I just happen to know what interests you..."
She pulls back and gazes into his eyes silently. Something clicks quietly in the back of her head but she doesn't know what. When she opens her mouth to reply, Shawn's voice carries into the kitchen. "Food's done! Better get out here so we can stay on schedule!"
"We're on our way," Peter calls back, letting go of Kallie with a rueful chuckle. "He's such a brat on Canada Day."
Kallie giggles and starts balancing plates of dessert to head out to the table on the porch. "As compared to every other day when he's not?" She jokes. He snickers while he follows her outside with the rest of the delicious snacks.
"What took you guys so long?" Shawn questions while taking the plates off of her arms to lay on the table.
Raul carefully brings the steaming plate of barbecue onto the porch to join them. "These look great, Kallie," he compliments her pastries while squeezing an arm around her shoulders to divert Shawn's curiosity.
"Thanks! I made sure everyone got at least one of their favorites this year," she eyes the plates as if to make sure that she did in fact remember everyone's favorites, "ya know...to make up for not being able to do this the past few years."
Once all the plates are set, Kallie heads inside to get the drinks. When she comes back out she walks around to the head of the table where all three boys reach to pull her chair out for her. She pauses while they glance at each other weirdly.
Peter is the first to back down, lifting his hands in surrender as he sits to the right of where she'll sit. After a threatening eyebrow scrunch from Shawn, Raul scoffs and sits across from her seat. With a triumphant hum, Shawn pulls out her seat.
"Thanks..." Kallie sets the drinks on the table and slowly sits down, unnerved by the strange interaction.
She tries to ignore it while they eat their meal, joking and laughing like they normally do. The sun starts to set around them while they finish up and the fairy lights in the trees illuminate the yard. Unlike usually, all the boys insist on helping clean up so that they can get to the fireworks faster.
After gathering what they bought earlier, they meet in the driveway where the scorch marks from the fireworks won't ruin the grass. Shawn inspects the area, making sure it's safe to begin. "All right! Let's do the stuff that doesn't light up before the sun is completely gone.”
They take turns lighting the smoke bombs and throwing snappers at each other while Peter captures the memories with his camera. Kallie steals it from him so that he can participate and light the snake tablets. Just before the last rays of light disappear, they all do sparklers together.
Peter sets his camera up on a tripod so that they can have pictures of the four of them together. They each take a turn hoisting Kallie up on their shoulders and do a silly one where they all hold her up horizontally. Once it's fully dark, Shawn makes good on his promise and gives her a nice pair of earplugs.
Then commences the lighting of all the ones that shoot up into the sky and explode or give off crazy amounts of sparks. Peter switches between video and pictures frequently so he can capture the beautiful chaos fully. He may or may not have taken more pictures of Kallie than anyone else.
"Hey, start teaching me something!" She demands and snatches the camera from him when all the fireworks are gone.
He chuckles and follows her to the backyard with the fairy lights. "What do you want to learn?"
"Hmm," she ponders his question while the other two boys meander into the backyard with them. Her eyes light up when she sees all three of them standing next to each other. "Teach me how to capture a moment and make whoever's looking at it feel what I feel!"
Peter lets out a low whistle. "That is a tall order for your very first picture," he chuckles. She sticks out her bottom lip. "We can try," he folds under her puppy dog stare. After spending a few minutes helping her adjust the settings and deciding the lighting and positioning of her subjects, he backs up.
"Alrighty!" She giggles excitedly. "My three favorite boys at my all-time favorite place," she sighs, bringing the camera up to her eye.
Through the lens she sees them wrap their arms around each other and smile, the fairy lights behind them giving them a nostalgic glow. Her lips curl up as she snaps the picture and the flash blinds them for a second.
"Ow!" Shawn says dramatically.
Raul rolls his eyes, walking to stand behind Kallie to look at how it turned out. "Well? Do we have another photographer in the group or what?" He places his hand on her shoulder while they wait for the image to load.
"Woah..." Peter breathes from her other side as the picture comes into view. "That's amazing, Kalliope!"
She blushes. "I mean, you did all the real work, I just clicked the button," she dismisses his compliment.
"I wanna see!" Shawn clamors behind her to look over her head and he gasps. "Kal, this is, like, perfect..."
Kallie shakes her head. "I didn't do anything really! Peter fixed all the settings-"
"Maybe," Peter cuts her off, "but you did the angle and even unfocused the background! I didn't think to do that in this lighting."
She can't fight the proud grin that takes over. "Really? You mean you guys can tell what I was feeling from the picture?"
"If we're guessing I think it gives off a happy vibe," Shawn suggests.
Raul shakes his head, scrutinizing it a bit more. "This picture makes me feel like I'm at home..."
"Which of them guessed right?" Peter questions, not wanting to give away the obvious answer.
Shrugging, she turns the camera off and turns to face them. "I guess, you're both right in a way...I am happy and this place feels like home. You guys feel like my home."
"Awww! C'mere!" Shawn pulls her into a hug and Peter and Raul follow suit for a group squish. "I'm gonna go pass out now," he announces while extracting himself from the group.
Peter laughs and takes the camera from Kallie to follow him inside. "I'm gonna make sure he makes it to the bed!"
"I can't with those two," Kallie giggles.
Raul looks down at her and the way the fairy lights sparkle in her eyes while she looks at the cabin. "We were both wrong, huh?"
"What?" She chuckles, bringing her gaze to Raul's stare.
"The feeling wasn't home or happy, was it?" Kallie scrunches her nose briefly and looks away. "You don't have to talk about it."
She breathes in deeply. "It was...love," she whispers, looking out at the stars reflecting on the lake, "and it was also..."
"Sad," he finishes her thought after a moment of her silence. "Because Kay should be here." She nods and he pulls her into a long hug. "Do you want to go to bed?"
Kallie shakes her head, burying it deeper into his chest. "Can we just make some hot cocoa and sit on the porch watching the stars for a bit? It was me and Kay's favorite thing to do after fireworks..."
"Of course, we can," he murmurs into her hair before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I'll make the cocoa and you can grab the blankets," he suggests.
Later, the two sit on the porch swing wrapped in blankets and sipping hot cocoa in silence while the stars moved slowly across the sky. She leans her head onto his shoulder and closes her eyes. No words needing to be spoken for him to make her feel better.
After her breathing evens out, Raul scoops her up and carries her inside. She stirs slightly when he walks up the stairs. "Where are we going?" His deep chuckle vibrates through his chest.
"I'm taking you to Peter's room," he informs her.
He wasn't dumb. Both he and Shawn knew she was sleeping in there because she didn't want to sleep alone. And if that's where she felt most at ease, that's where he would take her. "No," she mumbles, curling up further in his arms, "yours."
"You sure?" He looks down at her features which seem extremely innocent when she's sleeping.
She doesn't respond again so he sighs and bypasses Peter's room to go to his. He lays her on the bed and leaves to go clean up their nest on the porch swing. When he comes back, he sees her clothes on the floor and her curled up under the blanket.
He shakes his head and strips down to a pair of shorts. As he crawls under the covers and lays on his side, she scoots back until his chest is pressed against her back. Kallie grabs his hand and curls his arm under hers snugly.
Raul tries to slow his heart rate so he doesn't wake her. "Sleep tight, Kallie," he whispers before burying his nose into her hair and drifting off to sleep faster than he ever has before.
Speaking of which, the next chapter of Seasons of Love is postponed until next week because I started writing a Cobra Kai series and I’m like 17 chapters deep already and on a roll. Won’t be able to focus until I’m finished with it💀
Disclaimer: Moodboard made by me. Pictures found on Google!
Author: @cynicallystiles
Request: @itrocksmysocks basically requested this by making me obsessed with the triplets a year ago.
Warning: Swearing. Slight sexual content.
Notes: Chapter four is here! The whole thing still isn’t finished ahead of time like I wanted. Annnnndd I’m already falling behind schedule lol! Thanks for your patience! Please COMMENT/REBLOG if you enjoy it!
Pairing: Kallie Hayes (OC) x Mendes Triplets
Masterlist Series Masterlist
Chapter Three Chapter Five
Words: ~5.37k
“Kalliope!” The sound of her name accompanied by excessive knocking stirs her awake abruptly.
She startles and rolls off the bed onto the floor. “Ah! Jesus, fuck!” She groans and sits up, rubbing her shoulder.
“Is everything okay?” Her sister asks through the door, and Kallie can hear the amusement in her tone.
Pulling herself upright, she glances at the bed and sees Shawn’s smooth, muscular back. “Fuck,” she mumbles, barely holding in a laugh. “Uh…yeah! I just tripped getting out of bed!” She calls back with a little chuckle.
“It’s nine right now, goober. Figured you’d want to be up in time to shower and help with breakfast,” Cassie chuckles before her footsteps recede down the hallway.
Releasing a breath of air, Kallie turns back to the bed to find two brown eyes looking at her. “Jeez!” She gasps and closes her eyes to normalize her fast-beating heart. “When did you wake up?” She asks when she opens her eyes again.
“Hard to sleep with all the noise around here,” Shawn teases. He rolls over and stands, allowing the sheets to slide off of his almost naked body. Kallie’s eyes watch his muscles tighten as he stretches his arms above his head. “I can feel that ya know,” he laughs.
She scoffs and stands to make her bed as he finds his clothes. “No, you can’t,” she argues with warm cheeks as she finds a loose shirt to pull over her shoulders. “I told you you weren’t supposed to sleep here!” She groans and starts pushing him toward the window.
“Hey!” He protests as she gets the rope ladder. “You’re the one who told me to hold you more,” he reminds her and opens the window quietly.
As she secures the ladder to the window and rolls it down the side of the house, her eyebrows furrow. “No, I didn’t,” she denies, focused on making sure he won’t injure himself.
“Yeah, Kal, ya did,” he insists while hanging halfway out of the window.
Kallie shakes her head. “Well, I don’t remember. Now, go! Before, anyone sees you,” she giggles and places her palm flat against his forehead to push him down the ladder.
I am smiling like crazy and my friend next to me asked me what’s going on with me like 5 times while I read this part… i seriously cannot believe I had missed the whole thing, damn tumblr notifications.
But seriously, though, holy damn, your writing skills give me life!!!! This universe and the characters are so well built, your way with words is outstanding and it’s all a big fat masterpiece. I cannot wait for the next part!!!! And I’m already planning on rereading the whole thing tonight 🙄
Disclaimer: Moodboard made by me. Pictures found on Google!
Author: @cynicallystiles
Request: @itrocksmysocks basically requested this by making me obsessed with the triplets a year ago.
Warning: Swearing maybe. Slight sexual content.
Notes: Chapter three is here! The whole thing still isn’t finished ahead of time like I wanted. So, we’ll see if I actually stay on schedule with this one. Credit to @thotmendes for imagining the triplets into existence about a year ago! Thanks for your patience! Please COMMENT/REBLOG if you enjoy it!
Pairing: Kallie Hayes (OC) x Mendes Triplets
Masterlist Series Masterlist
Chapter Two Chapter Four
Words: ~4k
Shawn slides one hand down Kallie’s back to squeeze her ass gently, while the other traces up her spine to grip the back of her neck. She shivers as his lips cover hers and she grabs him by his angled jaw to pull him harder against her.
He bends over her slightly so his hand can reach the back of her knee and pulls on it. She follows his lead by hopping up and wrapping her legs around his waist. Shawn’s lips never stop rolling against hers as he spins toward the bed and tosses her gently onto it.
The small bounce causes her to giggle and he pauses for a second to watch. Kallie returns his stare with a smirk. “Are you gonna look all night, or are you gonna touch?” The tease in her voice drives him crazy.
He quickly pulls his shirt and hoodie over his shoulders while she watches, nibbling on her bottom lip. He fumbles with the tie on his sweatpants, while Kallie’s eyes trace every chiseled feature on his abdomen. A tiny moan escapes her lips as she lets her head fall back on the bed.
Shawn lifts his attention from his waistband to her. His eyes scan the valleys of her breasts as they rise and fall at an increasing pace. They wander down her arms to see her slender fingers clenching the fabric of her comforter. He bites his bottom lip to contain his groan and increases his urgency in removing his pants.
The way i am screaming with this series!!!! I cannot, I CANNOT!!!! This is absolutely amazing and it makes me happy and anxious and nervous, I’m kekfjf
Disclaimer: Moodboard made by me. Pictures found on Google!
Author: @cynicallystiles
Request: @itrocksmysocks basically requested this by making me obsessed with the triplets a year ago.
Warning: Swearing maybe.
Notes: The long awaited series is here! The whole thing still isn’t finished ahead of time like I wanted. So, we’ll see if I actually stay on schedule with this one. Credit to @thotmendes for imagining the triplets into existence about a year ago! Thanks for your patience! Please COMMENT/REBLOG if you enjoy it!
Pairing: Kallie Hayes (OC) x Mendes Triplets
Masterlist Series Masterlist
Chapter One Chapter Three
Words: ~3.6k
She cheers as she pumps her fist in delight. “Yess!” He chuckles while she jumps to her feet and does a cute little dance. “Can we go now??”
“After dinner.” He watches her push out her bottom lip and sit down next to him again. “Kallie,” he groans slightly. “Mom’s almost done with dinner. It’d be rude to skip,” he reminds her.
She sighs, scooting in and laying her head on his shoulder to watch the sunset. “You’re right,” she concedes. “But, right after?” She tilts her head slightly to look up at him.
“Right after,” he promises. She goes back to looking at the multitude of colors in the sky, while he rests his head on hers. He loved being the one that she counted on for comfort. It was something that had started on the night of their prom during their last year in high school.
Raul sat on the couch in his living room the night of their last prom of high school. He swirled the thumbsticks of his controller vigorously to complete a challenge while his brothers were in their rooms getting ready.
Prom was in about two hours and despite their and Kallie’s begging, he had decided he wasn’t going. He didn’t have a date (not for lack of girls asking), and he didn’t like dressing up anyway. It wasn’t his scene and nothing was gonna change his mind.
Peter and Shawn enter the living room in varying degrees of being dressed for the prom. Raul barely looks at them as he continues with his game. “Are you sure you don’t wanna come?” Peter questions.
“It’s gonna be our last big thing together before graduating,” Shawn reminds him. All he does is roll his eyes with a sigh.
Shaking his head, the only thing that sounds in the living room for a moment is the clicking of his controller and the low level of the game on the television. That is until a pounding sounds on the door. The two boys not preoccupied with the game look toward the front of the house.
“Who’s that?” Shawn questions.
Peter just shrugs as he takes a step toward the door. “Your fly is still open,” Raul points out without looking. Peter looks down and frantically zips it when they hear the door open and rapid footsteps head toward them.
Kallie appears in the entryway, hair already done professionally by the salon she loves but no makeup covering her ivory features. She’s breathing heavily and for a moment, Shawn thinks it’s because she sprinted from her house down the street.
But then he sees the light glint off of her wet cheeks and notices her red nose and the puffiness forming around her eyes. He rushes over as she fully enters the room and takes her by her shoulders to look over her.
“What happened?? Are you okay?” His eyes don’t see anything physically wrong, which is a relief. But, that still begged the question of why she was in such a state.
She sniffles loudly and opens her mouth to explain. “Eli…he, uh,” she tries to get through it but she hiccups and her face scrunches up in sadness. “He texted…” a whimper falls from her lips and she can’t even finish.
At this point, Raul has paused his game and is turned on the couch to observe the situation. Peter is standing in stunned silence by the other entrance to the room. Shawn carefully takes the phone clutched tightly in her hand to scroll through the messages from her boyfriend.
His eyebrows furrow together and he clenches his jaw. Make that her ex-boyfriend. Without a word, he pulls her into him and carefully lays his hand on the back of her head as not to mess up the stylist’s work. He doesn’t even care that he’s wearing pants without a belt and his shirt isn’t buttoned at all.
“I’m gonna kill him,” he promises through clenched teeth. No one hurts his best friend and gets away with it. He feels her shake her head as she pulls away.
“No,” she murmurs, the tears finally settling down. “I kind of felt this coming…I just didn’t expect him to do it on prom night.” She sniffles and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. “I don’t know if I can go alone and see him with her…”
Shawn shakes his head. “Of course, not. I’m gonna be your date now,” he offers.
“Shawn,” she sighs. “I’m not letting you ditch your date to take me.” Peter steps forward and opens his mouth. “No. Nuhhuh!” She warns as she looks between the two. “Neither of you are dumping your dates for me. I can suck it up for one night.”
Shawn and Peter frown. Neither of them thinks that she should have to go alone. How dare he ruin her months of planning to go with another girl. Their thoughts are interrupted by a serious tone, “No, you won’t.”
The three of them turn at the same time to see Raul standing up and the television has already been turned off. She sniffles again, brows scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he sighs, walking over to them. Peter silently does the same. “You’re not going to prom alone. I’m gonna take you,” he declares.
Peter snorts but quickly tries to cover it up and Shawn starts to laugh. Kallie just stares at him incredulously. “Wha-but you hate this stuff,” she points out.
“I don’t hate you.” He arches one eyebrow and looks away as if that explained everything. She gapes at him for a long moment. “What color is your dress?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Raul instructs and shoves his hands into his sweatpants. “Go home, finish getting ready…I’ll be over to pick you up in an hour and a half.”
Exchanging bewildered glances with Peter and Shawn, Kallie does as she’s told and finishes getting ready at her house. She sits on the couch anxiously after finishing up. Not five minutes later, there’s a knock at the door.
She quickly answers it to find Raul a couple of steps back with his head down. Hearing the door, he lifts his eyes from Kallie’s feet to her face. His eyes twinkle a tiny bit seeing her all dolled up.
Kallie notes how odd it is that his tie and pocket square match her dress so nicely this last minute. He pulls his hand from behind his back to produce a plastic box with a tastefully sized corsage and boutonnière made of actual lilacs.
She raises her eyebrows. The surprises just kept coming apparently. “Shawn and Peter are picking up their dates. They’ll meet us there,” Raul clues her in and moves to put the corsage on her left wrist.
Fastening his flower on the lapel of his black jacket, she whispers, “I’m not even gonna ask how you pulled this together so quickly.” A slight amusement tinges her voice and a smirk pulls at his lips. “But, thank you…”
“Any time,” he responds. She looks up from the lapel. Her green eyes pop against the black of her mascara and the light purple shimmer across her lids. His breath catches slightly before he clears his throat and offers his elbow. “Shall we?”
“We shall,” she giggles in return.
Raul was the perfect date the whole night. From pulling out her chair for her to refilling their drinks. Despite all the single girls clamoring for his attention (his bad-boy exterior had every girl crushing hard), he stayed glued to Kallie’s side.
And when she sat watching Eli, her ex, dance with the girl he left her for, Raul made sure to take her out to the floor to dance. He made a fool of himself with his long limbs and no idea how to use them. But, it brightened her mood and so he didn’t care.
He even slow danced with her, making sure that Eli was looking in her direction when he spun her under his arm producing her beautiful giggle. It was magical. After the king and queen were crowned, he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Wanna get out of here?”
Kallie nods immediately. Despite having spent ages planning and looking forward to this night, she wanted nothing more than to go do something else with Raul. He laces his fingers with hers and leads her out to his car where he holds open her door.
They find themselves at a local park, walking the concrete running path with absurdly large waffle cones clutched in their hands. She had traded her heels for silver sandals she had packed in case her feet started to hurt. His tie was abandoned in the car, leaving his shirt unbuttoned slightly.
The silence between them was comfortable. It always had been since they started hanging out. He wasn’t really much of a talker, and with her, he didn’t really need to be. She found comfort in the silence that filled the air between them and she liked that he wasn’t one for shallow conversations.
After finishing their cones, they wander across the grass to sit side by side on the swing set. She lets the tip of her toes slowly rock her back and forth. Raul grips the chains of the swing, allowing him to lean back into the open air lazily.
Kallie flips a curl out of her eye as she turns in the swing to face him. “Hey,” she says softly.
“Yeah?” He leans back up and shifts to look at her.
She smiles to herself and meets his soft hazel eyes that look more brown in the dark. “Thank you…for being my date tonight.” He chuckles slightly and rolls his eyes. “No, I’m serious,” she laughs. He returns his gaze to hers while she continues. “You didn’t have to save me from embarrassment and you did.”
“I didn’t,” he argues casually. Kallie’s eyebrows twitch together briefly. “You were never gonna be an embarrassment, Kallie. Date or no date, you were the prettiest girl there.”
A furious blush rises to her cheeks. “Thanks.” She smiles despite feeling suddenly nervous under his gaze. Her body shivers and she inhales slightly.
“You’re cold,” Raul realizes and moves quickly to take off his suit jacket.
“No, I’m fine-” she tries to argue but he’s already settling his jacket on her shoulders. Kallie watches how his brows knit together while he makes sure the jacket is securely resting around her. Her eyes flit to his hands where they linger as he plays with one of her curls.
When she looks back up at him, the distance between them is less. Raul looks back up from his hand to her eyes with a soft smile. For the first time since she’s known him, Kallie notices how innocent he looks. Normally, he’s a bad boy. A player. Innocent wasn’t in his vocabulary.
But at that moment, she remembers that he has the same face as her other best friends. The same one as Shawn, who cries while watching romantic dramas with her, and the same one as Peter, who doesn’t have an insincere bone in his body. And she wonders how she never saw it.
“It’s all fake isn’t it?” She blurts out.
He tilts his head curiously. “I don’t know what-”
“Your reputation,” Kallie interrupts. “You’re not a player at all…”
Raul chuckles and hangs his head for a moment. He looks back up and all of his aloofness is gone. “You figured me out.”
“Sorry, I didn’t sooner,” she whispers, her gaze flicking to the playful smirk on his lips. He shakes his head slightly, his smile growing.
Licking his lips, he leans closer. Her breathing gets shallow and her eyelids flutter closed. Raul’s lips brush against hers sending a shockwave of goosebumps over her. With a slight jitter, he slides his hand to the back of her neck and pushes his lips forward.
It’s a soft kiss. He doesn’t kiss too fast, or too much. Just his plush lips against hers for a few long moments. Raul doesn’t want to pressure her or make her uncomfortable. It was sweet. When he pulls back, he nudges his nose against hers and swipes his thumb along her cheek quickly.
She lets out a tiny, content breath and opens her eyes. Before she can say anything, a buzzing sound startles her. Kallie clutches her chest and giggles while Raul reaches carefully into an inside pocket of his jacket.
“Yeah?” He deadpans when he puts the phone to his ear.
“Yeah? Man, where did you guys go?! You’ve been gone for like an hour!”
Kallie chuckles when she hears the boys on the other side of the line. He rolls his eyes and responds, “We left. Whole thing was getting lame.”
She watches carefully at how easily he puts on the disinterested tone. It really marveled her to watch him play the part. As she tunes back into the conversation, she hears the end of it.
“Yeah, we’ll meet you at home. Drop your dates off at home…this is for Musketeers only.” With that, he hangs up and looks at Kallie with a wink. “Let’s go.”
He grabs her hand and stands up to lead her back to the car. When they meet back up with Shawn and Peter, the two automatically act like nothing had happened. But both of them never forgot about it.
It was an innocent kiss. One that was a result of being caught up in the moment. Kallie didn’t know why he had kissed her that night, or even why she kissed him back. But, she never brought it up. So, neither did he.
The two of them head back into the house and settle in at the table for dinner. Neither of them notices the slightly curious looks from Shawn and Peter. Or if they do, they ignore them. Dinner is yummy as usual, but a little less energetic than it would have been if not for the sale of the cabin.
Kallie and Peter help Karen clear the table and load the dishwasher before heading back into the living room. Shawn and Raul have already immersed themselves in a video game round and they’re equally matched. She clears her throat loudly from behind the couch.
Shawn answers before Raul can, “One sec, Kal. I’ve almost got him, then we can chill.”
“Sure, you do,” Raul chuckles as he promptly wins the round and sets the controller on the coffee table in front of them. “I promised her ice cream after dinner,” he explains as he stands up.
Peter plops down in his seat and picks up the controller to play with Shawn, but he sets his down as well. “Oh, sweet. Let me get my jacket and we can all get some,” he says happily unaware as he heads toward the stairs.
“Actually,” Kallie calls after him with an apologetic look, “this is kind of just me and Raul’s thing. Like a tradition…” Her voice is soft as she lets him down gently. It was never easy for her to exclude any of the boys from her activities with the others. But, they all had their separate things with her. It was only fair.
Peter sinks lower into the couch, the awkwardness from the exclusion making him uncomfortable. “Right…” Shawn concedes slowly.
It stung a little considering this was the first time she was admitting to having a ‘special’ thing to do with him. He was okay when it was with Peter because he didn’t feel threatened by him anymore. But, with Raul it’s different. He’s always had the jealousy bug when it comes to him and he could never quite shake it.
Seeing the disappointed look, she crosses the room and pulls him into a hug by his neck. He returns it gratefully while sneaking a glare in Raul’s direction. He just rolls his eyes at the envy. “Stop that,” she whispers, knowing what he thinks he’s getting away with. “I’ll text you after he drops me off,” she promises.
“Okay.” He grins into her shoulder at that comment, knowing that he’ll be the last one she sees tonight.
After releasing Shawn, she heads over to the couch and leans down to kiss Peter on the cheek. He returns the gesture softly like he always does. “See you at breakfast,” he says quietly with a smile. Peter never seemed to care that she split her time with all three of them. He was just happy that she enjoyed the time they spent together as much as he did.
“Not if I see you first, Picasso,” she responds playfully with a wink.
Raul grabs the helmets for his motorcycle and leads her outside. She gives one last tiny wave before closing the door. Shawn immediately sits back down to resume the game with Peter. As the two click away on their controllers, Shawn breaks the silence.
“You have to tell me that you’re at least bothered by her getting on that death trap with him,” he laments exasperatedly.
Peter shrugs one shoulder. “Yes! Of course, it bothers me,” he sighs. “But, I have to trust that even though he’s reckless…he would never be reckless with her.”
“…you’re right. That helps,” Shawn breathes out, a little calm washing over him at Peter’s wise words. Though he said the words out loud, and also had her promise, there was still a little weight in his chest that wouldn’t go away until the next time he sees her.
Later that night, Shawn paces around his room with occasional glances out his window to see if Raul was home. It was just before midnight and they had already been out for hours. There was no way that they had only gone out for ice cream. They had to be doing something else.
The rest of the house is asleep when the sound of Raul’s motorcycle cut through Shawn’s anxious thoughts. He quickly scrambles to turn off his desk lamp so it doesn’t seem like he was waiting up. Though, he peeks through his blinds to watch him walk up the driveway to the porch.
Once he was out of sight, Shawn jumps into bed and pretends to be asleep as he hears Raul try to creep past his door to his own room. He was terrible at being stealthy. Shawn waits for the opening and close of Raul’s door before sitting up in bed.
He glances at his phone, counting backward, “Three…two…one…” Like clockwork, Kallie’s name flashes across his screen and he grabs it on his way out the door. He didn’t need to read it, it always said the same thing.
He creeps downstairs, much better than Raul ever could, and quietly leaves out the front door. He pauses under the roof of the porch to throw his hood up and then takes off at a sprint down the street. Shawn hasn’t even broken a sweat by the time he reaches her backyard.
Shawn sends a short text as he looks up at her window and waits. The lamp next to the window turns on and it quietly shifts open. Kallie leans out over the sill to beam down at him. “You’re getting slower, Mendes,” she teases.
“As if, Hayes,” he scoffs. “Send it down,” he demands impatiently.
She rolls her eyes and disappears from the window before a rope ladder unfolds down the side of the house. He begins to climb the homemade contraption, quickly but carefully. They had to get innovative after Shawn almost broke the trellis he used to climb and they almost got caught.
After carefully maneuvering through the window, Shawn helps her tuck the ladder back under her bed for now. He kicks off his shoes and takes off his jacket as she closes the window and her blinds before turning back to him. She leans against it coyly with her legs crossed.
Shawn can’t help the way his eyes trail up the smooth skin of her legs to her pajama shorts. Kallie notices and raises a brow at him. “Stare much?” She chuckles as she stands and walks toward him.
“Well,” he begins, his cheeks slightly red. He meets her in the middle of the room at the foot of her bed. “I can’t really help it,” he laughs.
She looks up at him, the foot of height difference stretching between them. “Is that right?” She smirks. He shrugs, returning the same look. Slowly, she grabs the hem of her shirt and twists it over her head. Nothing underneath but bare, soft skin.
Shawn chuckles, the sound coming out strangled and weak. He chews on the inside of his cheek as he smiles reluctantly. “That’s not fair,” he groans out.
“It isn’t?” She plays innocent as she closes the space between them. He shakes his head, not hiding the flicker of his gaze to her chest. Kallie stands on her tiptoes as she rests her hands on Shawn’s chest to whisper in his ear, “Then, why don’t you do something about it?”
His eyes immediately gaze into hers, the lamplight making his usual dark brown eyes seem slightly golden. He grabs her suddenly by the waist, pulling her hips against his. She lets out a surprised gasp as her hands slide to his biceps. “I will,” he almost growls.
With that, he leans down and crashes his lips into hers.
Disclaimer: Moodboard made by me. Pictures found on Google!
Author: @cynicallystiles
Request: @itrocksmysocks basically requested this by making me obsessed with the triplets a year ago.
Warning: Swearing. Slight sexual content.
Notes: Chapter four is here! The whole thing still isn’t finished ahead of time like I wanted. Annnnndd I’m already falling behind schedule lol! Thanks for your patience! Please COMMENT/REBLOG if you enjoy it!
Pairing: Kallie Hayes (OC) x Mendes Triplets
Masterlist Series Masterlist
Chapter Three Chapter Five
Words: ~5.37k
"Kalliope!" The sound of her name accompanied by excessive knocking stirs her awake abruptly.
She startles and rolls off the bed onto the floor. "Ah! Jesus, fuck!" She groans and sits up, rubbing her shoulder.
"Is everything okay?" Her sister asks through the door, and Kallie can hear the amusement in her tone.
Pulling herself upright, she glances at the bed and sees Shawn's smooth, muscular back. "Fuck," she mumbles, barely holding in a laugh. "Uh...yeah! I just tripped getting out of bed!" She calls back with a little chuckle.
"It's nine right now, goober. Figured you'd want to be up in time to shower and help with breakfast," Cassie chuckles before her footsteps recede down the hallway.
Releasing a breath of air, Kallie turns back to the bed to find two brown eyes looking at her. "Jeez!" She gasps and closes her eyes to normalize her fast-beating heart. "When did you wake up?" She asks when she opens her eyes again.
"Hard to sleep with all the noise around here," Shawn teases. He rolls over and stands, allowing the sheets to slide off of his almost naked body. Kallie's eyes watch his muscles tighten as he stretches his arms above his head. "I can feel that ya know," he laughs.
She scoffs and stands to make her bed as he finds his clothes. "No, you can't," she argues with warm cheeks as she finds a loose shirt to pull over her shoulders. "I told you you weren't supposed to sleep here!" She groans and starts pushing him toward the window.
"Hey!" He protests as she gets the rope ladder. "You're the one who told me to hold you more," he reminds her and opens the window quietly.
As she secures the ladder to the window and rolls it down the side of the house, her eyebrows furrow. "No, I didn't," she denies, focused on making sure he won't injure himself.
"Yeah, Kal, ya did," he insists while hanging halfway out of the window.
Kallie shakes her head. "Well, I don't remember. Now, go! Before, anyone sees you," she giggles and places her palm flat against his forehead to push him down the ladder.
Shawn quietly enters through his front door and tries to sneak upstairs. His foot doesn't even hit the first step when a voice behind him makes him jump. "Where the hell have you been?" Turning, he sees Peter and Raul entering from the living room.
"Just went for a morning jog," he chuckles nervously.
Peter squints at his attire and crosses his arms. "You don't look like you went for a jog," he accuses suspiciously after seeing no sweat despite him wearing pants and a hoodie in hot weather.
"It was a light jog," he shrugs innocently, "didn't want to stink too much for breakfast since you two always take the hot water."
Raul rolls his eyes and shoves his hands in the pockets of his shorts. "Well, I showered last night. So, there's water left to clean up before we head over," he explains casually.
"Wait," Shawn stops leaning against the railing and takes a step forward. "You never shower at night," he states in confusion.
He just shrugs. "Yeah. Kal and I got a little messy last night," he chuckles and heads back into the living room, ignoring the twitch of Shawn's eye.
The boys arrive at Kallie's just as she's setting down the final plate of food on the table. Her hair is still damp around her shoulders from the shower, barely curling as it dries. Conversation flows chaotically while the boys catch up with Cassie and her moms.
Shawn catches Kallie's eyes as she takes the last sip of her almond milk. She asks him what's up by pinching her brows together. He nods subtly toward the kitchen. Concerned, she stands up.
"I'm gonna start clearing the dirty dishes," she informs everyone as she gathers some plates.
Shawn follows suit. "I'll help," he offers.
"But, cleanup is my thing," Peter points out in confusion.
Patting his shoulder, Shawn takes the dishes he's holding around the table. "Relax, for once. I've got it covered." He disappears into the kitchen after her.
"What's going on?" She asks in a hushed tone as she leans on the counter next to the sink.
Setting the dishes in the sink, he crosses his arms and turns to her. "What exactly did you and Raul get up to last night?" He sighs.
A chuckle slips past her lips before she sees the distraught in his eyes. "We just got ice cream and went to the park," she explains with a shrug.
"And that's it?"
Kallie lets her mouth part in surprise. "Should there be something else I don't remember?" She didn't like the accusation in his tone and Shawn's increasing jealousy was starting to irritate her.
"No," he deadpans, looking out the window above the sink. "It's just that Raul said you guys got messy but you didn't have dirt or anything on you when I came over."
Kallie clicks her tongue and scrunches up her face. "Are you kidding me?" She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms as well. "We got a little childish and were fighting with the ice cream, Shawn."
"But, you-" he begins but she inhales deeply and he cuts himself off.
"I got it in his hair, but he only got it on my arms. It was easy to wash off in the sink before you came," she scoffs.
He drops his arms and steps toward her. "Sorry, I just-"
"I know what 'you just'," she sighs in disappointment. "You can't keep getting jealous every time I hang out with him. Or Peter."
Looking at his feet, he mumbles, "I know."
"I think we should pause this," she declares quietly.
He quickly looks up to meet her eyes. "What? No! I'll stop being jealous. I'll-"
"It's not about that," she lies. She could feel things getting complicated between them and she didn't want that. "We're gonna be at the cabin all summer and there won't be time for it anyway. I don't want to ruin our last summer there with the drama if we get found out."
Nodding slowly, Shawn starts to calm down a little. "That makes sense. But, what about when we go back to university? I mean, we all still live together," he points out.
"I haven't thought that far ahead yet," she admits. "I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." As Kallie finishes her sentence, Peter wanders into the kitchen. "What's up?" She asks with a gentle smile, causing Shawn to look toward the door.
He shuffles shyly toward them, causing her to giggle. "It felt weird sitting out there not doing the dishes with you," he admits with a small grin.
"Then, come help me, Penguin. Shawn is terrible at rinsing," she teases. Shawn meets her eyes with a silent look of fading sadness as Peter sidles up close to her with an enormous grin at one of her many cute nicknames for him. He watches them bump shoulders and giggle before leaving with a sigh.
Later in the day, the boys help load Kallie's bags in the back of Shawn's Jeep before they start their trip to the lake. After hugging her moms and Cassie, they all head out of the house.
"Lemme guess...Kallie gets front seat as always," Raul teases, heading for the backseat.
Shawn nods with a cheeky grin, but Kallie also heads for the backseat. "Actually, I wanted to share the back with Peter..." She sneaks a glance at Shawn who has shock written on his face. He's worried that this 'pause' might be about more than she's letting on.
"Why though?" He clears his throat as Peter catches up to them after saying extended goodbyes to her family.
She shrugs while Raul is already riding shotgun. "This time we're learning sign language." Kallie then looks at Peter as she teases, "We've only got around two weeks left to become fluent."
His eyes flit between Shawn and her, picking up on the unsaid tension between them. He's quiet. But, he's not stupid. Peter lets his features melt into a smile that puts Kallie at ease.
"Sweet!" Peter jostles her by the shoulders excitedly before opening the door for her. With a small glance at Shawn, she gets in the backseat. "Wait...is the sign for 'cabin' this...or...this?" He asks to distract her from whatever is upsetting her. She chuckles as he slides in next to her practicing two gestures that look similar, but neither are anywhere close to meaning 'cabin'.
Clenching his jaw, Shawn slides into the driver's seat and pulls out of the driveway. The usually short two-hour drive to Muskoka was going to feel a lot longer without Kallie up front with him.
The first time that the Mendes' took Kallie to their beautiful cabin at Lake Muskoka was the December after she had first met the boys. Before she was allowed to go, their parents had to meet her parents. They ended up getting along so well that they invited her parents and her sister along as well.
After finally pulling up next to the cabin, Shawn flings off his seatbelt and races toward the door. "I gotta use the bathroom!"
Both of their parents chuckle. "We told you not to drink a whole hot chocolate before we even left Pickering, son," Manny reminds him playfully.
The adults work on unloading the bags, while the rest of the kids pile out of the vehicles. Kallie's eyes are immediately drawn to the lake nearby, covered in white. "Woah," she breathes out, a little intimidated by how big it is.
"You remembered your skates right?" Peter asks from a few steps behind her. She nods silently, not wanting to say that they all had to go out and buy new ones for this trip.
Before Peter can make more conversation, Karen calls out to them, "Lunchtime first! Then, you can skate all you want!"
"I'm starving!" Kallie declares with a giggle as she loops her arm through his. He's a bit surprised but he doesn't say anything as they walk quickly back into the house.
Peter is helping Kallie shed her coat just when Shawn comes back from the restroom. "Kallie, come sit next to me! I'll share my Oreos with you," he entices her.
"Oh, okay!" She says with a small glance at Peter. Shawn is so excited that he runs to the dining room without looking back to save their seats. Leaning toward Peter, she whispers conspiratorially, "You can sit on my other side if you want."
He nods happily and they join everyone else for a quick but filling lunch. Raul is the first to finish. He practically flings his dishes in the sink before issuing a challenge. "Last one on the ice is a loser!"
There's a brief second of silence before the sounds of chairs scraping on wood and dishes clanging overlap. Each one hurries to put their dishes in the sink and get their winter gear back on. Shawn is second out the door not long after Raul, both carrying their hockey skates by the laces.
Cassie and Kallie are neck in neck as they fly through the door in their many layers with brand new ice skates in their mittened hands. They get to the edge of the lake and make quick work of changing their footwear. Cassie throws herself onto the ice in third place, not even caring that she has no idea how to work the skates.
When Kallie knots her last lace, she stands up and puts her mittens back on to dust off the snow on her jeans. She hesitates at the edge, uncertain of how to get started. Her right blade almost touches the ice when she hears the door close in the distance. She looks back to realize that Peter wasn't racing with everyone else.
He takes his time to make his way to the lake while the grownups file out of the cabin behind him. They go about getting the fire pit going so they would all have somewhere to warm up in between activities.
Peter has a bag slung over his shoulder that looks a lot like the one he keeps his drawing stuff in. Kallie was going to wait for him to catch up, but Shawn skids to a stop mere inches from her.
"Let's go, Kal!" He urges and takes her hand to pull her onto the ice. "Once you get going, it'll feel easy!" She tries to protest as he pulls her further onto the ice, too far away from the bank to leap to safety.
Her skates glide along easily as Shawn skates backward, pulling her by the hands. She looks up to see Raul skating in a figure eight, while her older sister seems to be catching on fast. Raul breaks his formation to speed past and bump Shawn's shoulder.
"Hey! I'm gonna get you for that!" Without thinking, he lets go of Kallie's hands to chase after Raul.
She automatically bends over slightly to gain some kind of balance, arms outstretched in front of her in case she falls. Slowly, she pushes off one foot to slide a little faster. An excited giggle escapes her as she continues to practice this in a safe little circle.
Deciding that she's got the basics down, she stands up straight. Her arms stay poised to catch her if something bad happens but she manages to skate in a wider circle. She picks up speed and feels the cold wind whip at her face.
A little further ahead, she sees that her path is going to cross with Shawn and Raul's. The two of them were done with tag and were now racing in a circle. This makes Kallie realize very urgently that no one taught her how to stop.
Panicking, she tries to veer to the left. The tip of her skate catches a chip in the ice and sends her sprawling toward the bank of the lake. She sits up with a hiss, clutching the knee that took most of the impact.
"Kalliope!" She turns toward the sound of her name and finds Peter gliding toward her from the bank. She watches the way he tips his foot upward to use the back of his blade as a brake. He squats down beside her and looks at her knee. "Are you okay?"
She purses her lips and looks away, embarrassed about the crash and burn. "Yeah, it's just scraped," she mumbles, noticing his drawing materials scattered around his bag as if he dropped them in a hurry.
"Then, let's go again," he replies simply and stands up while holding out his hands for her. Kallie turns her head sharply toward him. "I promise I won't let go of you until you want me to."
His reassuring but crooked smile made all of her embarrassment go away. He doesn't care that she's bad at skating. It also made her happy that he would stop doing his favorite thing to teach her how to skate. So, she grabs his hands and lets him help her up.
Peter begins explaining all the "do's and dont's" of skating on lake ice. Apparently, it's different from skating rink ice. He tells her a fun fact about penguins and she laughs, bringing Shawn's attention back to her once again.
He skates over quickly and takes her hand that's not clutching Peter's forearm. "I can teach her from here! You probably want to go back to drawing anyway," he dismisses Peter.
"I don't wanna slow you down," she offers. "You play with Raul while I learn the ropes and tomorrow you can teach me hockey!" He looks at her skeptically, glancing to Peter on the other side of her who is pretending to be very interested in his skates. "Promise."
He nods. "Okay, if you're sure..." Kallie smiles in return and Shawn can't help but smile back. "Be careful, okay?"
"Always, duh," she teases before turning back to Peter. Shawn hears the conversation fade as Peter leads her around the lake. "So, penguins really build nests out of rocks?" She laughs.
He nods with a chuckle before spending the better part of two hours patiently teaching her how to skate. Once he's sure she's got it, he lets go and watches her glide ahead of him. She's so enraptured in skating that it takes a minute to realize he's not holding her hand.
Kallie immediately digs her heel into the ice and turns back. "Hey!" She crosses her arms with a pout as he skates up to her.
"What?" He laughs, "you were doing amazing!"
Her lip quivers the slightest bit and she avoids looking directly at him. "You promised you wouldn't let go," she murmurs.
"Kalliope," Peter breathes out her full name guiltily, "I'm really sorry. You were just doing so good and that's how mom and dad taught us how to ride bikes...so I figured..." he trails off with a shrug.
She sniffles and he's unsure if it's because she's sad or because of the cold. "Don't do it again," she pleads before carefully unfolding her arms to her sides.
"Promise," he instinctually replies. She raises her eyebrows at him. "For real this time." Peter grins and takes her hand tightly in his. Kallie can't help but smile as he pulls her along the edge of the lake.
"Moms! Look! I'm doing it!" She yells in excitement at her mothers. They both get up and quickly make their way to the edge of the lake with their cameras.
Proud looks cross their faces as they capture the two of them skating close together, hands tightly clutching each other. Manny and Karen come up behind them and share a knowing adult look. Cassie skates over to get in the pictures before Raul and Shawn join. Soon there's a picture of the five of them all wrapped around each other that they have framed and hanging on the living room wall of the cabin.
Kallie runs her fingers along the wooden frame of that picture in the living room, in the exact space on the wall that it's been hanging for about twelve years. She grins momentarily, the nostalgia quickly fading to sadness as the reality of it all hits her. This is probably the last summer they're gonna spend together here.
As the door creaks open and the boys clatter inside with arms full of bags and laughing, she shakes herself out of the sad mood. "I could've helped carry my stuff in, ya know!" She chuckles and moves to close the door behind them.
"That is absolutely not happening on our watch!" Shawn spouts nonsense while he struggles to keep a grip on her duffles.
She nods empathetically before taking them out of his hands with zero effort. "Seems like you need to hit the gym, Mendes," she digs at him as he automatically stands up straighter without the extra weight of her bags.
Kallie makes her way upstairs toward the bedrooms while the boys stare after her. "How is she doing that?" Shawn muses out loud and with a little envy.
"When did she get more ripped than you, bro?" Raul teases to Shawn's chagrin.
Peter interrupts as he walks backward toward the stairs. "She's always been able to carry her weight. You two have just always been too busy staring at her ass to notice." With a smirk, he spins around and jogs up the stairs, bags slung over his shoulders.
"Okay..." Shawn stretches out the word. "But, when did the runt start lifting like that?" Raul laughs out loud while he jostles Shawn's shoulders and shoves him toward the stairs.
When they were younger, the boys would share one room, the girls another, and both sets of parents had one to themselves. Since they're here by themselves, each could have their own for the whole summer. Kallie stands in the hallway debating which one to take as the boys catch up to her.
"What are you doing?" Raul questions with a chuckle. "Unpack so we can hit the lake before dark!"
She looks between the four doors and then the three boys. "Who's staying in what room, though?"
"Well, which one do you want?" Peter asks her and she quirks her brows together.
"Whichever one is left after you guys pick." She says it so simply. Like it's the most obvious thing in the world. The boys loved that about her. She always made sure they were taken care of.
"Dibs on mom and dad's old room, then!" Raul shouts before taking off toward the end of the hall.
"No fair!" Shawn shouts after him.
"I'm the oldest! Of course, it's fair!" He calls back.
Peter chimes in with a laugh. "Technically, Kallie is the oldest! But, whatever!" He shrugs.
"Guess I'll take our old room," Shawn sighs, unhappy with being cheated out of the master bedroom.
As he wanders back in the direction of the stairs, Peter touches Kallie's elbow gently. "You okay?" She'd gone quiet since looking at the door to the girls' old room.
"Mhm," she takes a deep breath and zones back in on Peter's concerned look, "promise." She forces a small smile.
"You can have the room your moms used," he offers kindly. "I don't mind staying in the smallest one."
When she glances back at the door, she can't bring herself to disagree. "Thank you..." she says quietly. He nods in understanding. "I haven't been able to go in there since..."
"I know." He takes her hand and squeezes it before going to settle into his room. She stands there for a second more before heading to her moms' old room and unpacking briefly.
That room holds a lot of memories for her. For all of them really. Not all of them good ones, though. She finds her favorite swimsuit and throws it on before putting her hair in a single braid. Meeting the boys out front, she doesn't fail to notice how all of their gazes linger on the dips and curves of her body. She shakes it off and heads to the water with them in tow.
Later that night after everyone's showered and dinner was long over, she sits on the bed in her room scrolling through Pinterest for new recipes to try. A knock draws her attention to the doorway where Raul leans against it.
"Hey," she sets her phone in her lap, "need something?"
He shrugs, almost stepping into the room but hesitating. "Just wanted to make sure you're doing okay," he confesses. Kallie takes a deep breath. "We haven't been back here since senior year..."
"Yeah, I know," she deadpans and looks toward the window. She closes her eyes and sighs. "Sorry. Thank you, I'm fine."
This time, he doesn't hesitate to enter and sit at the edge of her bed. "You don't have to apologize. It's okay to not be fine." He sets his ringed hand atop her knee over the blanket.
"I know," Kallie pauses, "I know that." She sounds like she's trying to convince herself more than him. "It just feels wrong to not be fine, ya know?" She shrugs and plays with the yarn of the blanket.
He chuckles lightly. "It's also okay to be fine." She glances at him before he continues. "I know you miss her. But, you can miss her and move on. Lin wouldn't want you to be sad forever. That's not who she was," he comforts her.
"I don't wanna move on, Raul," she whimpers finally and reaches her arms out to him. He instantly brings his arms around her waist and squeezes her tight.
"That was a poor choice of words on my part," he admits into her hair. "I meant..." he pauses, struggling for the right thing to say as he rubs her back soothingly.
Kallie rubs her nose along his neck and he stills. "I know what you meant." She sniffles and pulls back from him, wiping at her wet eyes. "Thank you."
"I'm just down the hall if you need anything," he promises as he gets up. She smiles softly at him as he leans in and kisses her forehead. Sighing at the soft gesture, her eyes close in response. "Night, Kit Kat."
She fights a grin. "Night, Playboy."
Kallie lays back on her pillows as Raul leaves. She's about to turn out the lights when Shawn walks by toward his room. "Hey," she calls softly. He freezes and backtracks a few steps to be in the open doorway.
"Hey, Kal," he replies while sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. Her eyes flick to his chest and his lack of a shirt before reeling in her thoughts. "Everything okay?"
He heads into her room and closes the door behind him by habit. Her eyes widen and he realizes what he did. Shawn turns back to open it but she stops him. "It's okay, you can leave it closed," she chuckles.
"Right..." He makes his way over to her and sits gingerly on the bed. For a minute, they just sit in silence. It stretches on awkwardly since they haven't really talked since she asked for a 'pause' on their pact. "I'm really sor-"
"I just wanted to-" They both pause after talking over each other and giggle. "You go." She nudges his hand with hers, leaving it close by but not touching.
He nods. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how I acted this morning," he begins timidly. "It was wrong of me to accuse you of anything and to not trust you."
"It's okay," Kallie responds automatically even though Shawn shakes his head. "No, it really is. I get the whole sibling jealousy thing. It's not as intense with my sister but I get it," she chuckles and he cracks a grin. "You're all my best friends and I don't want to cause trouble between you three..."
Shawn sighs. "Is that why you paused us?" He questions. Slowly, she nods and he closes his eyes to compose himself. "Thank god," he breathes out. When he opens his eyes, she has a confused look on her face. "I'm relieved that it's not because of me or something," he laughs.
"No!" She laughs too. "I guess I just wanted to cut it off before any complications started messing with our Musketeer dynamic." His eyebrows scrunch together, wondering what she meant by that. "Never mind," she scoffs, changing the subject, "I'm glad we cleared this up though, eh?"
He blinks a couple of times, his mind trying to find what exactly has been 'cleared up.' "So, this means..." Shawn stalls, hopefully sending the message for her to finish the sentence.
She giggles and finishes it, "That once we go back to Toronto...we can unpause." His lips pull into an elated grin, causing her cheeks to blush for no reason. "We're all gonna be really busy, but if our schedules allow...then, yes. We can unpause," she informs him.
"Yes!" He cheers before catching himself and regaining composure. Clearing his throat, he responds, "I mean, thank you. I would very much like that. And I promise to keep my jealousy in check from now on."
Kallie nods like it's an appropriate response. "As you should," she giggles.
"I'm gonna leave before you change your mind," he declares. Before he does, Shawn leans in and places his lips on hers briefly but passionately. He pulls back with a knowing look. "Just to leave you wanting more until the next time, eh," he teases as he practically sprints to the door.
She throws a pillow at him and misses. "Goodnight, you heathen!" He rolls his eyes and disappears down the hall.
After a moment, Kallie turns out her light and closes her eyes to go to sleep. She tosses and turns for a while before throwing the blankets off of her in frustration. She grabs her phone and unplugs her charger from the wall before creeping down the hallway.
Quietly, she raps her knuckles on the bedroom door a few times. A few seconds pass and she hears him call out in a whisper-yell, "It's open!" She carefully opens the door, trying not to make it creak, and peeks her head in.
"Hi." She hesitates in the doorway, looking around and then at her feet. Taking a deep breath, she tip-toes in, closing the door behind her with a light 'click.'
Peter turns his book over and lays it open in his lap when he realizes she just walked into the room she hasn't step foot in in almost four years. "Hey, Kalliope." She smiles softly as her full name leaves his lips. Kallie doesn't know why, but he's always called her by her full name. And he's the only one who does.
"I forgot to bring Copper," she admits, dragging her feet as she walks toward the bed. Silently, he flips the blankets over so she can crawl in next to him. He knows she can never sleep without her stuffed fox. The only way she can is if she can cuddle someone in his place.
Kallie quickly tosses him her charger to plug in. Then with a childlike grin, she crawls over him to settle in under the blankets. Peter looks away as the T-shirt that she's wearing lifts up, exposing her underwear slightly. He didn't want to, but he notices that they were men's boxer briefs and he has to stifle a laugh. Kallie always prefers comfort over anything else, gender norms be damned.
She's about to cuddle into his side when she realizes that he's shirtless. Swallowing slightly, she tries not to rake her eyes over his smooth chest and the way his butterfly tattoo accentuates his bicep. You wouldn't know it when he's wearing his sweaters, but Peter stays fit.
"I can put on a shirt if it'd make you more comfortable." He snaps her out of her daze when he notices her staring.
Kallie quickly makes her eyes meet his warm caramel ones. "No, you don't have to do that," she breathes out, "I was honestly just thinking about the last time I saw you shirtless."
"Oh..." A blush crawls along his neck and up to his cheeks. "It's been a minute, eh?" He chuckles. She tips her head to the side and pulls up one shoulder in a shrug with a giggle.
With a comfortable atmosphere, she scoots closer and he lifts his arm to make more room. Kallie leans up and kisses him on his cheek, lingering a second longer than usual. He breathes in deeply, notes of cherry blossom drifting from her hair. When she pulls back she looks at him for a second before laying her head down on his chest.
He makes sure she's comfortable before pulling the blankets back up and positioning his book so that he can hold it with one hand. His other gently caresses her side and rubs circles into her back. Peter begins to read out loud even though Kallie doesn't know what the book is about. Truthfully, she never cares. She likes him reading out loud to her because of the sound of his voice mixing with his heartbeat under her ear.
Occasionally, he lifts his hand up to play with her hair or run his fingers along her scalp. She hums contently and cuddles closer when he does. He finishes his chapter and sets the book on the nightstand before turning out the light. He wraps both arms around her and settles into the pillows.
His hand finds hers in the darkness laces their fingers together. Carefully, he brings her knuckles to his lips and lets them linger there. When he's finished, he rubs her knuckles with his thumb. "Goodnight, Kalliope," he whispers, assuming she's asleep.
Kallie's head nuzzles his chest and he feels her lips brush the skin of his collarbone before pressing in for a long moment. She angles her head up to his ear and whispers back, "Goodnight, Peppermint."
Disclaimer: Moodboard made by me. Pictures found on Google!
Author: @cynicallystiles
Request: @itrocksmysocks basically requested this by making me obsessed with the triplets a year ago.
Warning: Swearing maybe. Slight sexual content.
Notes: Chapter three is here! The whole thing still isn’t finished ahead of time like I wanted. So, we’ll see if I actually stay on schedule with this one. Credit to @thotmendes for imagining the triplets into existence about a year ago! Thanks for your patience! Please COMMENT/REBLOG if you enjoy it!
Pairing: Kallie Hayes (OC) x Mendes Triplets
Masterlist Series Masterlist
Chapter Two Chapter Four
Words: ~4k
Shawn slides one hand down Kallie's back to squeeze her ass gently, while the other traces up her spine to grip the back of her neck. She shivers as his lips cover hers and she grabs him by his angled jaw to pull him harder against her.
He bends over her slightly so his hand can reach the back of her knee and pulls on it. She follows his lead by hopping up and wrapping her legs around his waist. Shawn's lips never stop rolling against hers as he spins toward the bed and tosses her gently onto it.
The small bounce causes her to giggle and he pauses for a second to watch. Kallie returns his stare with a smirk. "Are you gonna look all night, or are you gonna touch?" The tease in her voice drives him crazy.
He quickly pulls his shirt and hoodie over his shoulders while she watches, nibbling on her bottom lip. He fumbles with the tie on his sweatpants, while Kallie's eyes trace every chiseled feature on his abdomen. A tiny moan escapes her lips as she lets her head fall back on the bed.
Shawn lifts his attention from his waistband to her. His eyes scan the valleys of her breasts as they rise and fall at an increasing pace. They wander down her arms to see her slender fingers clenching the fabric of her comforter. He bites his bottom lip to contain his groan and increases his urgency in removing his pants.
Once he kicks them to the side, he hops onto the bed playfully so that his body covers hers and he slots himself between her legs. They both chuckle and Shawn dips his head to suck near the hollow of her neck. She sighs and brings her hands up to his shoulders.
Kallie's fingers press into his skin as she slides them up into the hair behind his ears, tugging lightly as the energy inside of her buzzes louder. He groans, nipping at her neck in response. "Have I mentioned how glad I am that you grew your hair out enough for me to do that?" She asks between heady breaths.
"Mm-mm," he mumbles into her skin with a laugh as he drags his soft lips lower and lower down her body.
She grins to herself as he licks and sucks the sensitive skin just above the waistband of her shorts. He knows her body so well. Too well, even. Shawn was making it damn hard to want to go out and find a real boyfriend. Why would she want to teach someone new all her desires and every inch of her body?
Shawn already knows. He's had years of practice to get this good at sex with her, and it's the same for her. Kallie knows every little spot that makes him whimper, and with just how much pressure to touch him on his thigh to get him going. She should, considering they've been doing it since they were 18.
They learned how to do sex together. They're great at it. Nothing is appealing about starting over. But, eventually, they'll have to because they agreed from the beginning that they would stop if the time comes.
Kallie rests her head on her hand as Shawn drives the four of them back home from graduation rehearsal. Raul and Peter are as rowdy as ever in the backseat, too excited for what comes next. The radio plays at an intense volume so that it can be heard over the boys and also, the rushing of the wind coming through the open windows.
She watches the buildings of the town she grew up in fly by in blurs while Shawn sings beautifully to the radio. She loves his voice. Though all three of the boys are musically inclined, Kallie thought Shawn was the one that had the most potential to make a career out of it. But, he's determined to give the university a go like the rest of them.
They roll up to a stoplight and Shawn looks over to the passenger seat with a bright smile. "Kal?" He jostles her shoulder playfully.
"Huh?" She snaps out of her thoughts as she meets his eyes and glances in the mirror at the backseat.
They all chuckle at her absentminded behavior. Shawn keeps a peripheral on the light as he replies, "We were debating what we'll all be like by the end of university."
"See, I was betting that Shawn will be a dropout," Raul teases as he leans into Kallie's view. "And that he'd be playing the guitar on a street corner for loose change," he laughs.
She rolls her eyes, fighting the tiny smile that tugs at her lips. "That's not nice to say about your brother," she scolds. He looks down at his lap as the light finally turns green. "Apologize, mister," she pretend demands.
"Sorry," Raul mumbles with a fake pout before grinning wildly.
"Let's predict Kallie now!" Peter suggests giddily.
Kallie shakes her head. "No, no. I don't think I like this game," she chuckles nervously. The last thing she wanted was for them to blurt out her worst nightmares for how adulthood was gonna go.
"I'll do it," Shawn offers with a soft smile. She sinks back into her seat to listen reluctantly. "Kallie is gonna graduate with honor and distinction, whatever that is." She can't help but giggle at that. "Because she is the only Musketeer that uses both sides of her brain."
"Hey!" The two in the back protest.
"You know it's true," he dismisses them. "I don't know what her degree is because she'll change it seven times," he laughs, almost to himself. "She'll be dating some fancy guy who definitely isn't good enough for her, but is still planning to propose because she's way too good in bed to let her get away," he jokes.
"Woah, wait!" She laughs. "I'm getting a proposal based on sex skill? That's unacceptable," she argues.
"Let me finish!" He demands dramatically. "She'll obviously say 'no' because she realized that he would only drag her down."
"Much better," Kallie chimes in.
"Most importantly," he continues and takes a deep breath, "most importantly, she'll still be the best of us. Because she's Kallie." He finishes a little seriously, his gaze trained on something through the windshield.
She knows the game was meant to be just for fun, but she couldn't bury the irrational anxiety that came from Shawn's prediction. Soon enough, Shawn pulls up next to her house and she hops out. He notices how quiet she's been since the 'future game.'
"Everything okay?" He asks as Peter hops in the front seat.
She musters up a little grin. "Yeah! Great! You'll be back later to pick me up for the ceremony?" He nods, and she waves to the boys as she heads inside to get ready for graduation.
Later, the boys are almost finished getting ready for graduation. Each wears a simple pair of black slacks, and classic button-ups of different designs. Raul wears a dark green one, with silver dots all over it, top two buttons undone. Peter dons a plain dark blue one, with a bronze tie. Lastly, Shawn picked out a fancy red one with golden flowers that resembles a royal pattern.
They'd been coordinating their outfits for months to match their caps and their respective Hogwarts houses. Kallie was supposed to join them to complete the circle, but over winter break she had understandably decided to go with something else for her cap. Although, her dress would still match.
Karen and Manny corral them together for photos in and out of their gowns. They take turns getting in the pictures and taking single ones of each of the boys. It takes about an hour to do it all. As they all head toward the driveway and their vehicles, Shawn turns to Raul and Peter.
"Can you guys ride with mom and dad? Kallie was acting weird earlier and I want to check on her alone," he explains.
Peter furrows his brows. "How could you tell?"
"I just could, okay?" He looks from brother to brother, pleading with his eyes. "We'll make it on time, I promise."
Seeing the severity in his eyes, Raul nods. "If you're late, I'm kicking both of your asses," he chuckles and pulls him into a hug. "We've been planning this for too long to mess it up," he reminds him.
Shawn quickly jogs to his own car and takes off before the rest are even settled in their parents' vehicle. After driving down the street, he texts Kallie to come down. A few seconds later, the door opens and she strides out holding her cap and gown. Her family follows behind her and locks the door before going to their own car.
As her black heels click down the sidewalk, he admires the dress she picked out. She had found a golden yellow, vintage 1950's style dress with no sleeves. Around her waist was a simple black ribbon tied in a bow slightly off-centered to her left. She looks absolutely stunning.
Once Kallie reaches the car, she notices the others are missing. "What's going on?" She questions as she carefully lays her cap and gown in the backseat with Shawn's.
"Nothing major. They just rode with mom and dad," he explains. She mumbles a quiet 'oh' and buckles herself into the front seat before he pulls away from the curb.
The car ride has an awkward tension to it. Which concerns Kallie because she and Shawn had never had an awkward moment together in their lives. As soon as they're almost to the school, he decides to broach the subject.
"Hey, I wanted to ask you something," he tries.
She looks over at him casually. "Sure, fire away."
"Was there something I said earlier during that game that upset you?" He swallows slightly as a nervousness bubbles up in his throat.
She frowns slightly and looks at her lap. Looks like it was his fault. "I just..." She begins uncertainly and Shawn holds his breath. "It's so embarrassing," she groans and looks out of the window to see the parking lot come into view.
"What's embarrassing, Kal?" Shawn lightly chuckles, feeling that it's not as deep as he thought it was. He parks the car and turns to her. "When did you start being embarrassed in front of me?"
The question makes her meet his eyes. The sun was still bright in the sky and bounced off of them, illuminating the dark blue ring around her otherwise bright green irises. She bites the inside of her cheek, feeling warmer knowing she was about to embarrass herself.
"Maybe since we hit puberty," she mumbles, looking at her lap.
"What??" He laughs loudly while shaking his head. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asks once his chuckles start to quiet.
"I'm a virgin," she blurts out, changing the subject.
Shawn blinks slowly while his mouth parts in confusion, smile completely faded. "Wait, you and Eli never-"
"No," she answers before he even finishes the question. "He always wanted to...but, I guess I never felt ready? Which I'm grateful for now because he turned out to be a jerk. I mean, it would've been horrible to have to call him my first for the rest of my life if I-"
Kallie ceases her rambling mid-sentence when she sees Shawn's amused smile. She scrunches up her nose as she picks at her nails. "I'm not seeing the problem here," he chuckles.
"The problem," she enunciates the word, "is that we're about to go to university. We're about to be adults. And I have zero experience doing anything adult-like!" She throws her hands up in exasperation. Shawn tilts his head while he studies her. "Not that you would understand," she jabs.
"I think I'd understand more than you think," he promises.
Kallie scrutinizes him. "You're telling me you and Jenna never...?" She lets the question hang in the air incredulously.
"Nah," he shrugs like it's the simplest thing. "She always made me kind of uncomfortable when we tried to start it..." he confesses. Her mouth falls open in surprise. "Like, I think she was into Raul the whole time and I was the closest thing she could get," he laughs at the absurdity.
She frowns at his statement. "That is terrible! Where is she? I'll have words with her right now!" She pretends to almost get out of the car before giggling. "Seriously, though. That's messed up."
"Yeah," he sighs. "So why weren't you ready with Eli?"
She shrugs one shoulder. "I didn't really feel like he cared about me the way I did about him, I guess. I just want my first to be someone that I can trust and know will make me feel safe," she admits.
"Well, when you find the right person," Shawn begins, tucking her hair behind her ear, "you'll know it."
Grinning she squeezes his hand in hers. "Thanks, Mendes."
"Anytime, Hayes," he replies.
Feeling a little more at ease about the whole thing, the two of them catch up with Raul and Peter before entering the high school for the last time. They walk the halls together reminiscing about all their mischief and all their adventures that they'll carry with them forever.
Later, Kallie stands at the podium making the closing remarks on her speech as president of their class. She waits as the laughter of the crowd from her last joke dissipates. Looking down at her notes, she swallows.
"But, before we begin calling the names of those who made it here today..." her breath shudders as she looks out at the crowd.
All the seats of the graduates are filled. Her eyes roam to the side of the stage where a table sits with a white graduation cap and gown sat atop it. She feels the water welling so she quickly scans the graduates again. Thankfully, her eyes find three pairs watching her intently.
These three boys. Her best friends. They smile with an understanding nod, silently telling her she can make it through. She takes a deep breath and looks around the auditorium.
"Let us take a moment to remember the graduate who could not," she states, eyes looking downward to take another aching breath. "Today, we commemorate the life of Kaylin Pohler with a white cap and gown signed by her classmates. We also would like to present her family with a bouquet of yellow roses to symbolize the friendship and joy that she brought to our lives."
A tear runs down her cheek as she waits for a member of her class to present Kaylin's mother, father, and little brother with the bouquet. After a somber moment of silence, Kallie swallows and begins the rest of her speech.
"Kaylin was the kindest person I have ever met. She never had a bad thing to say about anyone. Even when they had things to say about her," Kallie pauses, her grip tightening on either side of the podium.
Her voice starts to waver slightly. "She knew exactly what she wanted out of life...and she would've gotten it," she chuckles sadly. "She should have gotten it." Kallie's brows furrow as the pain and anger come back from that night in December.
"Kal?" She startles slightly as a hand touches her shoulder. When she looks up, she finds Shawn next to her with puppy dog eyes scanning her teary ones. "Do you need me to finish?"
She looks around and realizes that she must've been spaced out for a little bit. Shaking her head, he turns to leave. But, she grabs his hand and holds it so tightly it almost hurts him. He places his other hand over hers and waits for her to continue.
"Sometimes the universe doesn't take into account what should and should not be granted," she takes a calming breath and stands up straighter. "Which is why...we have to have the drive and ambition to go out and take what we deserve! Fellow graduates, I implore each and every one of you to go out and live the life you want. Live it for Kaylin. More importantly, live it for yourselves!"
She pauses, letting that hang in the air. Peter stands up and begins clapping wildly causing her to giggle through her tears. The rest of the auditorium joins in and Shawn pulls her into a hug.
"Thank you," she whispers in his ear. He just shakes his head dismissively as he leads her back to her seat and then takes his.
The names begin to be called and Kallie is called a few minutes before the boys. As she takes her seat, the boys' names are called in turn. But as they reach the steps of the stage, the graduation march is cut from the speakers and another sound replaces it. She giggles as the boys rush up onto the stage to the Harry Potter theme song.
As they stand in the middle of the stage to tilt their caps to the audience, Professor McGonagall's voice can be heard over the theme saying, "Why is it when something bad happens, it's always you three?"
The crowd roars and if they looked hard enough, they could see the Marauder's Map painted across their caps with the catchphrase "Mischief Managed" on each of them. The principal shoos them offstage lightheartedly as the speakers resume the march music.
After the caps are thrown, the students all whisk away to each of their own graduation celebrations. The boys and Kallie enjoy a night with their families together before it draws to a close. She hugs Raul and Peter goodnight as Shawn offers to walk her home.
He follows her up to her bedroom where she carefully lays the white cap and gown across her desk while he closes the door. "I can't believe they let me keep this," she says so quietly that Shawn isn't sure if he was meant to hear it.
"Of course they did," he says, walking across the room to wrap his arms over her shoulders from behind and rests his head on hers. "Her family knew you were best friends. They wanted you to have something too."
She turns in his arms and hugs him tightly. He strokes her hair gently with one hand as the other brushes slowly up and down her back. Several minutes pass before Kallie pulls back, but stays in his arms as she looks up at him.
He looks down at her, his gaze traveling further to her lips without realizing. She notices, though, and does the same to his. "I think I have a crazy idea..." she whispers.
"What's that?" He swallows, gaze still trained hard on her lips forming the words.
She rubs them together as if she just applied chapstick and parts them. "You and me should-"
Before the words are even out of her mouth, Shawn's lips are covering hers quickly. His grip tightens on her back to pull him into her while his other hand stays in her hair. The more his lips slant against hers, the quicker the pace becomes.
Soon, he's backing her up to her bed and collapsing on top of her as his tongue starts to taste her lips. "Shawn," she breathes out, trying to make sense of it, but the sound of his name on her tongue like that sends a wave of heat rolling deep inside him.
"Mmm," he growls as his lips go to her neck and she rakes her fingers along his scalp.
She lets out a tiny moan as he sucks just below her ear. "We should really talk about this first, eh?" She chuckles but doesn't stop his movements.
"What's there to talk about?" He pauses his actions to hover above her. "You want your first time to be with someone you trust and makes you feel safe, right?"
Kallie nods, her fingers tracing his cheekbones and then sliding to the back of his neck. "And you want yours to be with someone who makes you feel comfortable, right?"
"Exactly," he chuckles and sweeps some hair behind her ear. "You're my best friend, and I hope I'm yours," he teases. "Who better to learn the ropes with? It doesn't have to be a serious thing," he promises, before adding, "unless you want it to be."
He brushes his nose against hers and she scrunches it. "I like the idea of learning the ropes with you." She bites her lip as he grins widely. "But, if we find people we wanna get serious with, we stop. Okay?"
"Sounds fine by me," he agrees holding his pinky out to hers. She takes it and he immediately presses his lips back onto hers.
That was three years ago. Both of them tried to date; sometimes, it almost worked out. Sometimes, it definitely didn't. It's not like they had to find serious people. They agreed they would stop if they did. It wasn't mandatory. It was just one option that was out there.
Kallie comes back from the bathroom and crawls under the sheets with Shawn. He lifts his arm so that she can cuddle into his warm, bare chest. He rests his hand on her head as he plays with strands of her hair.
"Don't do that," she hums, the words obscured by how her cheek is flattened against him.
"Why not? You love when I do this," he chuckles.
She sighs, shifting to get more comfortable. "Yeah, but we can't fall asleep. You gotta go home before breakfast." Though her words protest, she makes no moves to stay awake.
"I will," he promises, still stroking her hair. His eyelids felt heavy, but he lived for the aftermath of their sweaty sessions. The aftermath in which she was always relaxed more than she ever is at any other time.
Kallie wraps her arm around his torso and buries her nose into his skin. "Do the thing?" She requests with a sleepy voice.
"Thought you didn't want to fall asleep?" He grins at the top of her head.
She tilts her head to look up at him through her lashes with tired eyes. "Please?"
"Like, I would ever not do the thing," he whispers and leans down to kiss her forehead.
Her lips pull into a soft grin as she nuzzles back into a comfortable position. Shawn clears his throat and takes a few deep breathes before beginning.
"Sunrise with you on my chest..." he sings lowly. Shawn always sings her snippets of song lyrics that run through his head so she can fall asleep. He claims he's never written any full ones, but he's always able to sing her at least one verse and one chorus each time.
"Cause this was only ever meant to be for one night..." He sings until he feels her breathing even out, meaning that she's passed out.
Chuckling to himself, he begins trying to untangle himself from her. She can never seem to make it to a chorus this late. It's so routine by now. As he almost slips out of her reach, her hand reaches out to grab his wrist.
He freezes. This is something she's never done before. He's usually able to leave without a problem. "Hold me more," she almost whines. He furrows his brows together, not knowing if she's sleep talking for the first time ever in their lives.
A few seconds pass and her eyelids slowly open a bit so she can see him. "What's wrong, Kal?" He asks concernedly as he sweeps back into bed to cuddle her tightly.
"Things are changing," she whispers.
"What things?" He asks, thinking she's coherent.
"We are."
Shawn pauses, thinking about her ominous message. "'We' who?" The seconds tick by and she doesn't speak or stir again. Her words fade in his mind with his consciousness.
