#winnieblythe

[aidenjcarter]

Although Aiden had plenty of friends in town, most of them were already on their way to another part of the states to visit family or just go on vacation. Aiden wouldn’t really have anywhere to go to. He considered Wilmington his home. Though Aiden didn’t enjoy putting up Christmas decorations anymore, due to the fact that it hurt him too much, he was always more than willing to help out his friends who needed it. They mainly used him for his tall stature, but he was totally okay with that. Aiden drove over to Gray and Winnie’s place. Though Aiden and Gray have known each other for years, it wasn’t the same with Winnie. The two had met here and there, but Aiden wasn’t sure of Winnie. He figured if Gray was living with him, then Winnie must not be a bad guy after all. Aiden got out of his car and hopped on up to the front door, nearly going for the door handle before learning his manners and ringing the doorbell. “Santa’s here!” @winnieblythe​

[emmycahillarchive]

WHERE: the hideaway bar. new years eve. WHO: @winnieblythe​ & emmy.

Emmy was clutching Winnie’s arm at a near-death grip as they made their way inside. There was nothing about the already-chaotic bar that felt like a good idea. The suggestion-- or rather urging-- that they tag along with Aiden and Grayson for the holiday celebration had probably surprised her as much as it did Winnie. It made no sense, really, when she had the perfectly viable option to stay home. But when faced with the idea of sharing the house alone on New Years with only Winnie, she’d panicked. And that made about as much sense as suggesting they go out in the first place, but she was actively avoiding that train of thought. Avoidance had served her well thus far, so there was no point in switching tactics now. 

The music was loud, the lights were low, and Emmy was entirely out of her comfort zone. She swallowed thickly, her throat feeling dry and tight, and leaned into Winnie. “Okay, so, here’s my idea: we drink until it feels like we’re not in actual Hell. Deal?”

[owensfitzpatrick]

🌧🏹🐇

🌧- For a heavy, emotional secret

This is a difficult one because Owen is so incredibly blunt that I don’t think he has any secrets that manifest physically. That being said, his biggest fear is vulnerability, and I think he keeps that side of himself hidden from literally EVERYONE unless it happens to manifest itself in anger. As a child, Owen was always taught that real men don’t cry or show any weakness. A true victim of toxic masculinity, driven in by his father and society as a whole. The truth is, though; he’s miserable, and the only way to combat those bad feelings for him is through anger or stupid, impulsive decisions that come as distractions. He goes to confession often, truly believing that it will be the one thing that will absolve him from not only his sins, but his perpetual sadness. It’s a vicious cycle, one that no one -- not even his closest friends or family -- has been able to break. Not fully, anyway. 

🏹- For a talent they wish they had

Owen cannot sing. Like, it’s almost laughable how little he can carry a tune. Maybe it isn’t his ambition in life to become a famous singer, but he would love to be able to whip it out when he’s at a karaoke bar with some friends. 

🐇- For a secret item they keep (stuffed animal, comfort object, etc)

Owen keeps a half-empty bottle of his father’s cologne up on his nightstand. He’s never used it; the bottle is just as full as the day he passed over 10 years later.

[markusroman]

🌋

🌋- a memory about their first heartbreak

@grayfischer. The first and only boy that Markus has ever loved. Though, they never said it to each other. But looking back, Markus should have. He was always so scared of pushing Gray away. The night it all happened wasn’t even when Grayson proposed, it came a month later. Their relationship was already caving in on them and Grayson had finally asked him why he’d said ‘No’ in the first place. He couldn’t even begin to explain–his upbringing, his parents, his fear of relying on someone for love. It scared him and he yelled for a while, he had just been so angry. He hates thinking about it now because it makes him emotional and he knows things could never go back to how they were with Grayson.

[grayfischer]

📷

📷- A memory that comes with a picture they have

That one time Winnie couldn’t get into the bar just outside of town for his own comedy show because the bouncer refused to believe he was at least 21 and could actually be allowed in the doors. Grayson refused to go inside and fetch the manager for Winnie until he smiled for a picture.

[emmycahillarchive]

WHERE: the beach house. very early morning. WHEN: 12 january, 2020 WHO: @winnieblythe​ & emmy.

Emmy couldn’t tell anymore if it was her anger or her stubbornness that was keeping her in this stalemate with her roommates. It was some kind of sick punishment, some desperate, childish need to make them feel her absence the way she felt theirs. But the loneliness had sunk so deep into her skin she could feel it in her bones. The darkness haunted her, reached its long spindly fingers for her in the night. 

For a week and a half, she’d stuck it out. She’d refused to give in. But tonight, the silence was too loud. She tried to breathe through it, to will herself into sleep, to not need them. But it didn’t matter because she did need them. She needed them more than she wanted them to need her back.

She was out of bed and standing in her doorway with Noodle at her side a moment later, peering down the hallway in the direction of Grayson’s room. She didn’t feel welcome there. Not right now. Not yet. That thought settled to the bottom of her stomach like a lead weight. Such a stark contrast to the haven he'd always been to her. She turned in the direction of Winnie’s room, reaching down to twist her fingers into Noodle’s hair. She traced the shape of his door with her eyes and paused a moment, unsure. Fuck it. She took small, silent steps towards his room and her heart felt like it was beating in her throat. She hovered, unsure, by the slightly cracked door before the backs of her knuckles knocked delicately against the wood. Pushing the door open a little more, she leaned against the frame. Her eyes found him in the dark and her head bowed, eyebrows drawing together as she looked at him from beneath her lashes. “Hey,” she whispered. She paused, swallowing thickly between deep breaths. “...Can I come in?”

[emmycahillarchive]

WHEN: december 17. afternoon. WHERE: beach house. WHO: @winnieblythe​ & emmy.

Emmy struggled to find the right words to describe Winnie. Generally, it depended on the day. It had taken far longer than perhaps it should have for Emmy to warm up to the guy, mostly because she didn’t trust people that were that happy all the time. But he’d incessantly encroached on her space, forcing himself into her life with a kind of stubbornness that even she couldn’t contend with. Powerless as she was, he had this uncanny ability to drag up faint whisperings of a childlike wonder within her that she’d long believed to be dead, left behind to rot within the walls of that dark room she still so often felt trapped in. 

And then were moments like these when she’d pull open her door to an inflatable Rudolph, staring at her with soulless eyes and successfully blocking her way into the hallway. She let out a single, small scream, hand reaching out to wildly swing at the intruder before realizing what it was. “Winnie!” she shrieked, shoving past Rudolph, whose fist-indented face was fastly returning to its normal shape. “I’m going to set every single piece of Christmas in this house on fire.” An empty threat, a mutter under her breath, though she was fighting off a small smile. She didn’t know how he did it, but it was as if he could sense her moods through the walls. And in typical Winnie fashion, he could never let one go by without trying to make her smile. And he succeeded. Every single time. 

She leaned against his door frame, arms crossed over her chest, a single brow raised. “You owe me a hot chocolate for my pain and suffering. I will also accept payment in the form of cash or Starbucks gift cards.”

[emmycahillarchive]

WHERE: the beach house. new years day. WHO: @winnieblythe​ & emmy.

From an outsider’s perspective, there was nothing unsettling about the scene that currently made up the living room of the beach house. Emmy lounged out on the couch, Noodle curled up around her legs. The television was on, some mindless talk show host droning on about... something, and though she was, for all intents and purposes, watching it, her eyes seemed to bore right through. Her fight with Gray left her shaken and though she knew he had only retreated to his bedroom for the time being, he had never felt so far away from her. 

She didn’t know when she’d become this natural disaster of a person, but sometimes it felt like she had stepped outside of her body and could only watch on helplessly as her storm raged on, obliterating everything in its path. It exhausted her. And yet-- she had no idea how to stop.

Jaime still lingered on her skin despite the shower she’d taken, choking off in silent sobs as she’d scrubbed herself until she was red and raw. The sour taste of last night’s liquor still assaulted her mouth even though she’d brushed her teeth. And the ache in her chest clanged against her ribcage like a second heartbeat. She felt so incredibly alone-- a twelve-year-old girl in a dark room. A prison from which there was no true escape. 

Her eyes cut to the doorway and fell on Winnie. She hadn’t heard the front door open so his sudden appearance took her by surprise. A flood of feelings entirely too jumbled to even begin to sort through welled up inside her as she looked at him, and she wondered... if she were to look down at her chest right now, would she find it hollowed out? “Hey,” she rasped. Her voice was quiet and subdued, a stark contrast to the electric currents that buzzed through her veins. If her quiet greeting led him into any kind of false sense of security, it was immediately shattered when she spoke again, all barely restrained hurt and anger. “I made it home from the bar by myself just fine. In case you were wondering.”