I have a pretty serious "Xaden braiding Violet's hair agenda".
The door swishes open and I go to offer a grimace at whoever is joining me, a comb bitten between my teeth. Instead, I meet Xaden’s eyes in the mirror. He seems frozen, his gaze midnight as it’s trained on my face, flickering over my loose, mused hair. His eyes snag on the beginnings of a braid on the one side.
“Trying something new, Violence?” It should be teasing, but there is a hint of genuine curiosity.
I huff, shooting him a look, but keeping my voice neutral. “Yeah, when my hair is this long, the coronet braid puts too much pressure on my scalp sometimes.” I drop the strands I’ve been trying to weave again. “But clearly I’m not very good at any other type of braid today.” The frustration in my tone is directed at my hands and hair, not him, for once.
His smile is sly when he meets my gaze in the mirror. “Let me.”
I flash a disbelieving look as he steps forward, hands wide in an appeasing gesture. “I lived with Sloane for nearly a decade. I can French braid, or Dutch if you’d prefer.” He quirks his brow at me in our reflections, and truly, how is this man allowed to exist? I chew my lip before relenting and giving him a nod.
I lean into him, my face buried in his chest, his muscles firm and warm against my skin. I hum as I trace his spine, water following the lines my fingers draw, earning a chuckle from him.
“You like my back nearly as much as I like your hair.” I tilt my face up, asking for a kiss, and he indulges me.
“I don’t know if that’s even possible. Anyway, it’s gross right now. I really need to wash it after the lake.”
He cradles my skull in his hands, threading his fingers through the roots of my hair, pressing the pads of his fingers into my scalp. I moan, unabashed as he rubs circles into my temples.
“May I?”
My mind is blank, and I have to grasp desperately until I relocate the thread of our conversation. “Wash my hair?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
He runs his fingers through the tangle, reaching around me to grab my brush from the bag. He starts at the ends, holding clumps of my hair tightly in his hand to prevent any tugging from reaching my scalp. Once he’s worked through the ends, he rises up inch by inch. Using the brush, he detangles the rest until the bristles scrape against my scalp.
This is a one shot thats a lot like it sounds! Xaden and Violet knew each other is college, but not well, mostly connected through mutual friends but nothing more, then one day he happens to wander in when Violet needs saving...
“Violence?”
I never thought I would be so happy to hear that stupid nickname. Before he can ruin it, I leap to my feet with a smile that seems to stop him in his tracks, I suppose it’s not an expression he’s used to me giving him.
“Xaden!” His eyes widen, bordering on horrified. “It’s so nice to see you.” Then I launch my body towards his, wrapping my arms around him. He tenses for a moment before folding into me, curling his big body around my petite frame.
Fuck, why had I never hugged him before? The muscles on his back are insane, firm and—
Focus.
I’m glad he bent his head when he returned my embrace, because I only need to rise on my toes a little to whisper in his ear. “Play along and save me from this date. Please.” I dig my fingertip along the bumps of his spine as I say it, and he hisses against my neck.
“Save…” his voice shifts from curious to vicious in a breath. “Do I need to hurt him?” His arms tighten around my waist and I have the fleeting thought that I don’t think I’ve ever felt safer. Especially with the way his threat warms something deep in my abdomen.
I feel him stand behind me, reaching over me to slide a tray of cups on the shelf above to dry. He makes me feel so small, so delicate, but not fragile. It's a strange feat, and I wish I didn’t like it as much as I do. His hands drop, but he doesn’t step away, pausing a moment as they ghost past my arms and he weaves his fingers through the end of my braids and tugs.
“You should do your hair like this more often; it looks good.” He drops his head, tucking his face near my neck, “and I like watching you walk around knowing my hands are the ones that did it.”
My skin prickles as his breath warms my neck, then my back cools when he steps away. Leaving me gripping the counter in front of me, pondering Xaden’s possessive streak that should in no way surprise me.
Violet hates court days. It's part of the job, she gets that, and sometimes they’re even tolerable. This case, she knows, will be anything but. She’s surprised they’re even letting her testify, especially since she knew the victim. And the murderer.
“Well, Violence, aren’t you going to buy me a drink?” It pulls a smile to her lips, his eyes sidelong and steady.
“It's the least I can do.”
The grin he gifts her is worth it all. Looking at her, he’s 21 again, hair windswept, cheeks rosy and hers. “My thought exactly, Violence.”
This is my submission for @ficwip5k, and it's kind of derranged, but so is Riorgail, and that's why I love them.
Ah yes, snuggled up in the warmth all day, enjoying the view haha!
Ok, dealers choice is hard, but Ima go opposite of the current weather and talk broad strokes about my camp fic, Like the Sun carries the Moon, spoilers ahead ofc. I'll do a lil overall, and then 2 selected scenes, I probably shoulda picked a shorter fic haha.
The title is a lyric pulled from On Your Side which I also listened to a ton while writing this. A lot of the chapter names are too, it feels very them in this universe. "I'm on your side, baby believe me."
I started writing it in June last year, and was channelling a lot of warm summer nostalgia, but it very quickly became a story about grief
"Simp but in denial Xaden" is a line from my first ideation doc.
I also really wanted to explore a version of Xaden that was a little bit less traumatized.
This is probably my most personal fic, everything from it being set in the north east, Xaden being mixed/Puerto Rican, woodsy summer camp, and some of the interpersonal themes. I'm pretty proud of it, theres a lot of grains of "write what you know" in this.
Its also the first fic I had someone beta, and it would not be what it is without Jane ❣️
I did discover the magic of canva while writing this fic and oh my lordy, I will forever be insufferable and make chapter cards for ever long fic from here on out.
Chapter 1: it's all for show
The first scene I wrote for this was the first scene of the story, which as an ADHD girl, who rarely writing anything in order, is kind of interesting
Especially because I feel like it sets the stage for the fic in a lot of ways, its a summer night, Xaden wants to help Violet, but their dynamic makes that not very straight forward. And despite whatever else is between them, they seem to have an innate understanding of one another.
I also wanted to play a bit with this idea of them knowing each other a long time. In spaces like camp/school there are a lot of people you have a passing acquaintances with, that are fixtures in your reality of that place. And I wanted to have a little bit of that, "I have a crush but I'm sure its unrequited, even though to everyone else its obvious."
I also did go to summer camp in the woods, and bears by the dumpsters is a very real night time fear.
Chapter 14: Believe me, I'm on your side
The second scene I ever wrote for this fic began with the line:
A kickball flies across the room, nailing Halden in the face, and his arm drops from my shoulders.
Then I worked back from there to get this lovely, petty, canon converging reference scene in order to get Xaden nailing Halden in the face with a kickball because he touched Violet.
I only discovered in the comments of this fic that playing gaga indoors isn't just not the norm, but highly unusual. But I only have ever played it indoors. Lmao
I loved the idea of Xaden like on the ground, squatting in front of Vi while ignoring Halden, again an 'I don't answer to you' moment.
I also love canon Violet's sass back to Cat, but I wanted to one up it and disgust Halden in the process. Hence:
“but you know what I like even more?” I pause a beat, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “His tongue.”
Also in a more compacted story, I wanted to really drive home how utterly gone they both are, with their unique brand of borderline toxicity.
This is one of my fave passages:
“Oh, now you worry you went too far after disclosing our sex life to our exes.” My face goes hot, a flush spreading over my skin, and I want to squirm. But his affectionate expression holds me still. “No, Vi, not too far. There’s a reason I call you Violence, with fists or words, you can be devastatingly violent. Besides, I’m the one who clocked your ex in the face with a kickball because he was sitting too close.” He shrugs. “If you went too far, then so did I.”
Ok thanks for coming to my directors cut screening of Like the Sun Carries the Moon.
“Fuck Vi, I’ve been thinking about getting my hands on you for years.” His thumbs dig into my flesh, hooking under two of the straps.
I have to swallow a moan at his words. Years?
“But my thoughts have never been as filthy as the past couple of months. When you flashed me that lacey black thong, all I could think about for the rest of the meeting was about bending you over the conference table and working my cock into you, licking your clit until you were screaming for me.” His hands work fast on the button and zip at my waist. He bites and tugs one of the bands, releasing it to snap against my skin.
I whimper.
