CLOSURE.

despite the fact that there have been plenty of producer-admonished whispers between the islanders that family day was fast approaching, and even with the steady flow of vin diesel impressions angel’s been entertaining (bothering?) the group with in preparation, he still manages to afford the cameras an admittedly genuine look of surprise when the first family members stroll through the villa doors. hands are clamped on jude’s shoulders ‘til he’s pulled away by what he imagines is one of the guy’s sisters and it’s pure shock that keeps angel from instinctively following along. as giddy as he is to meet the people who begot his best friend, his attention is stolen by callie’s gleeful shout toward her own loved ones.

oh shit. oh shit oh shit oh shit. he’s good with parents, really, just by virtue of the fact that angel keeps generally unproblematic, but, to his anxiety’s credit, there’s nothing general about being on a national reality tv show. in fact, he can be assured that callie’s granny is privy to every specific, cringey detail of angel’s stay at the villa, from vaguely flirting with evie to literally piping her granddaughter. he doesn’t even want to contemplate her father watching the show. instead he lets his gaze pull like a wave toward a couple of familiar faces that trail in after callie’s family.

grinning uncontrollable, he slaps his dad’s hand before being brought into a bear hug, only barely bearish considering angel’s got a couple inches on his old man. he’s a little caught off guard that they didn’t bring in his mother, but is definitely unsurprised that his sister is also standing in the villa. he hooks a coltish arm around her neck and jerks her into a hug which she scoffs against, squeezing his middle before jabbing him in the ribs. it’s a bit difficult to handle the verbal ping-pong at first, his father rattling off business updates while juno simultaneously presses him about callie. “no, yeah, it’s… i dunno, it’s been really good. like, almost no drama. between her and me at least.” a sheepish smile accompanies the qualification. 

juno reaches out to smack his arm, looking sidelong at their father. “i told you, he asked her to be off-ish. they’re going steady now.” there’s a bit of accusation in her tone, the way siblings do when they know they’re saying something that’ll get their brother in trouble. his father laughs, sighs in the way old men do when they think they know better.

“little soon, buddy,” mitch lightly advises his son to which he huffs.

that’s when callie calls and angel gestures with acknowledgement to her. “just wait ‘til you meet her, dude.” he makes sure to smack juno back before leading his family over to callie’s. “hey,” he greets, throat clearing. he offers a hand out to her dad. “man, it’s really great to finally meet you guys. like, callie talks about you all the time. i’m angel.”

IT’S STRANGE GETTING TO MEET ANGEL’S FAMILY FOR THE FIRST TIME, but not for the reasons callie would think. the hardest part is probably how she hadn’t been able to see pictures of them before this, stuck in the love island bubble, thus leaving her mind to fill in the blanks of what they look like. angel’s dad is taller than she expected ;   juno and him don’t look as alike as in her head. but she likes them instantly, as if she knows them already, because part of her feels like she does. any nerves she feels are only from anticipation, smile wide and eyes bright as they come over.   

“ all the time, huh ? ”   of course her dad would get a kick out of that, smile smug in callie’s direction before giving angel’s hand a shake. it’s not lost on her that it’s the first time her dad’s met someone she’s dated before  ( in person ) ,  but if he recognizes it, he doesn’t show it.   “ it’s nice to meet you too. i’ve seen a lot about you, ”   he smirks, eyebrows arched playfully as he lets angel fill in the blanks of what exactly he’s seen. god only knows for as much as he has seen, there’s hours more of footage that hasn’t been aired. but then he just chuckles, because what else can you do when your only two children are airing their new relationships and dirty laundry out on global television ? 

admittedly it’s juno that callie’s most excited to meet, but it only seems police to greet angel’s father first, offering her hand.   “ it’s so nice to meet you, mr. reid. ”   it feels weird to call him mr. reid, never one for formalities, but what else is she supposed to call a near stranger ?   “ and you too, ”   she adds, eyes flickering over to juno.   “ i actually have, like, a hundred questions to ask you, and most of them are about embarrassing stories of your brother. ”   he’s had access to her own brother for far too long—it’s time she gets some ammo.

featuring :   @reigncore​

featuring :   @orumad​

THEY ALL KNEW FAMILY DAY WAS COMING, purely from the layout of the show and producers asking a couple days ago which family members they’d want to see visit, but when the first pair of families walked in callie still felt her heart leap into her throat in anticipation. jenny and jude’s family were first to come in, and even if the two of them hadn’t immediately leaped out of their seats at the sight of the four strangers, callie would’ve known who they were immediately :   jenny and her mom looked like they could possibly be sisters, and one word out of jude’s family and there was no mistaking that accent. it was disappointing that none of them got to meet the families other than waving hi from a distance, otherwise callie would’ve loved to hear what jenny’s mom had to say about anything at all. but they were in and out in about twenty minutes, and once they were gone, two familiar figures took their place. 

it was her dad she noticed first, the tall bloke he was, but halfway through her sprint over to them she noticed her grandma beside him, which caused her vision to blur from a few stray tears.   “ i can’t believe you’re here ! ”   she squeals as she wraps her grandmother in a hug, the much more surprising member of her family to be here. callie had told the producers when they asked that her father would definitely come, but her grandparents probably wouldn’t want to make the travel, with callie’s nan still not fully recovered from her fall, and her grandfather likely not wanting to leave her side. she had expected to see one of her friends with her dad, but this had been the best surprise. it’s not until she’s hugging her dad that she finally looks over to sneak a peak of angel with his own family, hugging his mom or sister or whoever came. the temptation to cut in and introduce herself is real, but the producers have already instructed them that they have to split up and talk to their families separately first.

IT’S A THURSDAY AFTERNOON, and romi’s tattoo parlor is busy. damnit. maybe this is why naomi had kept trying to tell him to give her a text before showing up at her place of work, expecting to have a catch-up session. but in josh’s defense, since getting out of the show romi hadn’t really reached out to him much. it’s not like they hadn’t been talking, or she was ghosting him ;   but maybe it’s the way they left things, but whenever she responded... it didn’t seem like she really cared that much about what he had to say. he’s fizzled out enough relationships in his life to know how that would go, and josh didn’t want to see that happen. him and naomi were already in los angeles for an event, so choosing to stop at her work place, unprompted and without warning, just seemed like the best way to go about this. of course, he hadn’t anticipated that she would be so busy—though in hindsight, probably he should’ve. 

usually, nico would hover over the pan, sample the sauce and criticize everything and anything – it was constructive. it always is! but today, he walks straight past the counter, grabs two wine glasses and fills them up with one of their good wines which are saved for special occasions. he looks up at her to see if she notices as he pours the wine. “ i have some excellent news, ” he starts, because he really can’t wait to tell her! he places a glass of wine besides her then moves to lean against the side of their fridge. nico is still amazed how they can fit everything into something so small. but they managed, and recently, that often felt more important than anything. “ i spoke with giuseppe. about many things. that man does not know how to run a business. but anyway. more importantly, he agreed to showcase your art. an exhibition of sorts. all for you. isn’t that wonderful? ” he says with a proud smile.

She just gives him a pointed look. Calling Michael a nerd for that would mean that he’s calling Harper a nerd– which would be true. Because she is a nerd and she takes pride in being one. C’mon harp, Harper hates how hearing the nickname actually works on her. Caden is trying and wants her happy, and if he thinks this party will help… then she’ll follow him. Even if in the end Caden leaves with a random sorority then so be it, she’ll just hit up Luce or VG to pick her up, or get an uber. Whichever comes first. Harper rolls her eyes, though she’s smiling now. She’s going to try, partly for herself and partly for Caden. “Is the fashion disaster trying to give me fashion tips? Yikes.” Though, she doesn’t want him to know that her wearing a skirt would be a good idea, though, she won’t do anything too short. For her own safety and comfortability for the night. 

“ oh shit, for real? see, this is what happens when you don’t have your friends on find my friends. ” you never know where any of them are! “ i’ve got a work thing here and actually i’m catching up with– ” he stops himself, pressing his lips together momentarily. “ wiiiiiith noah. but hey, it’s good to see you as well, dude! what’re you doing now? you got time for a drink? ”

“That’s good.” He misses Noah, though, he knows better than to reach out to her. “You’ll live,” Carmichael says and it’s true. Caden will be fine. Carmichael is a changed person, even if it’s hard to believe. He bites down on his bottom lip to keep himself from laughing because ha, yeah right! “I know a snake when I see one” then how come Caden wasn’t able to spot any of the double agents last year? “Well, it might be hard for you to believe but I’m really trying to do better. And I will do better, so get used to my presence until you graduate.” 

that stiffness in their body language is hard to ignore but he appreciates her effort to alleviate it with her smile, enough for him to offer one in return.  a curious eyebrow perks up at her confession that she has never left the country. “why? never had the chance?” bane honey, your privilege is showing. “no passport… okay. then we should get you one.” he’s quick to rationalize. “puerto rico doesn’t require a passport. we can go there in the meantime.” his tone is authoritative, a clear indicator that he is used to taking the lead. “does that uh, sound good to you?” he asks after a beat, hoping to hear her input. they are official partners now after all. on paper at least. “me neither.” he says, a little too thrilled to have something in common. “my parents are though. they send me a new bottle every other week. they would probably disown me if they find out i haven’t opened even half of the bottles they’ve sent me.” in his defense, it’s a lot and he’s not much of a drinker in the first place. his parents’ devotion to good wine does come in handy though because even if she says she’s not picky, bane can’t help but want to go all out. so he grabs the most luxurious bottle he can find ( the one that his parents swear is worth every penny ) and fills two glasses before making his way over to her. he offers one for her to take, his gaze landing on the picture that she is gesturing to. “shaanxi, china.” once his hand is freed up, he reaches out to grab the picture and angle it towards her so she can get a better view. “you see the stone wall? when we discovered this we thought it was supposed to be a section of the great wall of china. turned out to be a city buried underground. the infrastructure suggests that it’s at least four thousand year old. when i was there i–” normally this is the part when bane goes on for hours about the topic of his adventures but the last thing he wants to do it talk emilia’s ear off about things of his past. especially when he still has so much to learn about her. “sorry. i’m not trying to bore you with a history lesson.” he chuckles. 

BANE ASKING WHY SHE’S NEVER LEFT THE COUNTRY somehow tells her more about him than any knickknack in this fancy home of his could share. emilia glances back at his shelves for a couple seconds, turning her head away from him so he couldn’t see the face she knows she’s probably making at that question. subtly has never been her strong suit, but she’s going to have to get better at it eventually.   “ basically, yeah, ”   she tells him, not really looking to get into it. emilia’s a little surprised at how quickly he jumps to fix the problem, glancing back at him curiously. with money like this, there’s probably not many problems he can’t solve. but the offer of puerto rico may as well be the other side of the planet, and the small smile that graces her lips is genuine.   “ that sounds great, ”   she says, sincerely. his parents sound like snobs, and emilia hopes that meeting them isn’t something she’ll have to do for a while. she’d be happy to leave family out of it altogether, at least while she gets her bearings. but the wine is delicious, eyebrows raised after she takes a sip.   “ shit, that’s good, ”   emilia exhales. god only knows how much it costs. she’s perfectly content sipping her fancy wine and listening to her fancy husband tell her stories about his fancy life. he might call it a history lesson, but to her it may as well be storytime for a life so completely different than her own, away from new mexico deserts and useless mothers and never-ending bills due. besides, it’s easier to know how to deal with men when they’re the ones doing all the talking.   “ no, that sounds interesting, ”   she tells him, sincerely. but if he doesn’t want to get into it, she’ll point at another picture.   “ and this one ? ”

the entire experience still feel a little surreal to him but what else did he expect? it’s not every day that a man leaves his home a total bachelor and then returns later that evening with a wife. bane doesn’t know what’s more depressing — that he was stupid enough to put an ad on craigslist in search of a wife or the fact that it actually worked. it doesn’t feel real but it is, because she’s currently in the living room , familiarizing herself with his - er, their space while he digs through his wine cupboard  “so… emilia.” it’s a pretty name, one that still tastes foreign in his mouth despite him having said it evert chance he got during the evening.  ( again, what did he expect ? ). “do you have a place in mind for our honeymoon or should i surprise you?” does she even like surprises? obviously he wouldn’t know ! “also, do you prefer white or red?”

“Emilia! That is so rude.” Her brows furrow before she holds the puppy close to her. She doesn’t care that he stinks. It’s not his fault he’s a stray. She and Emilia will give him the loving home he deserves. “Don’t listen to the mean lady,” she tells him, giving Emilia a look that’s supposed to be scary and threatening, but it just looks funny coming from Gracia, who has the softest expression on her features on a daily basis. “No. He’ll always be our Ollie, no nicknames unless it’s something cute, of course.” She nods. “Yes, please. I can feed him some chicken now and try to bathe him while you go and eat some dog food.” Her brows furrow in concentration. “We need to get him everything, too. I can take him to the vet tomorrow for a check up and see what vaccines he needs.”

“That’s exactly what I think. A redhead has you wrapped around her little finger.” He lets out a chuckle at his words, shaking his head. “Nah, you couldn’t flirt with me because you know you’re no good, my man.” He reciprocates the grin. His new favorite way to annoy his best friend is to mock his flirting skills. “The next girl who gives you a shred of attention, go.” He doesn’t think Caden’s actually going to do it, because well, he has a girlfriend (his longest relationship, too, he’s still surprised), but it’s a funny conversation either way. “Well, my dad’s a piece of shit, too” he states, tilting his drink towards him with a chuckle before he downs the remains of it, scrunching his nose at how horrible it tastes, but hey, it’s doing his job. He’s not here for good drinks, he’s here to get absolutely trashed. “I see them every now and then, not as much as we’d like, but better than nothing. We’re all crazy busy.” 

“Well, I guess a picture would do as well.” Though that’s very much less romantic of a way to remember him, she knows that she shouldn’t be thinking about him that way in the first place. Attempting to remember what they had been like together at Gallagher, let alone what they had talked about, seemed nearly impossible. It wasn’t so much the memories that she held onto of him that told her she’d been fond of Tommy but rather the way that he made her feel now. The way that he was making her feel now. Like, they were always meant to be sitting here together in London of all places. As if the two of them were going to head back to his apartment afterward it was a routine they’d always had together. Maybe it was the fact that Stella and she had somewhat lost touch now that made her feel free to think these things. Maybe it was still just as messed up to see him with such eyes but she couldn’t help it. There was a tenderness she felt towards Tommy that perhaps would always be there. “The dessert was good. All the food at Gallagher was just too good for being school food.” Naturally, it wasn’t a normal school and there was a certain quality that had to be upheld in everything related to it but she was allowed to speak about it as a normal college because it was him. 

Now that all of the thoughts have started, she can’t stop them from continuing to come. From thinking about how close the two of them had sat together in the tower, laughing and drinking wine as if they’d known each other forever and not only passively. About asking for his number right away just so she could get him food or whatever at the Halloween party. It’d be a lie to say she never wondered where any of their endeavors could have led but both of her educations had always weighed heavier on her mind. She put her ideas of anyone else onto a backburners, started forgetting people she’d once been incredibly close to, practically what became of Gallagher seemed more story than memory to Maire. “A special tower just for us sounds like something Shrek would definitely be offering Fiona to woo her.” A laugh spills from her lips at this, she knows now how silly it sounds even if when she was younger it seemed partially serious. Maire had always been one to commit to the bit. “I mean, if you find one, I’m there.” But she’d be there wherever he wanted her to be. At least while she was here, it wouldn’t be an opportunity that she would find herself wasting. Not again. 

“This might be a little bold…” The words might seem sudden but it’s an idea that has been floating in her mind since the moment the two of them saw each other. There was work to be done on her end, she’s sure on his as well but right now it felt as if they might as well have all the time in the world to do as they pleased. Maire had always loved doing as she pleased and right now isn’t that much different. “I’ve got several bottles of wine back at my hotel room. Do you want to ditch this place and come over instead?” For the sake of privacy to talk about whatever they pleased which couldn’t exactly be disclosed in a public place but also for the idea that maybe they would sit close together on her couch. Maybe Tommy had also thought about her now and then during the past couple of years and perhaps the excitement of being in a different place together with no one else tying them to each other would feel different. A bit more exciting, a bit less forbidden. 

“ A PICTURE WOULDN’T BE THE SAME, ”   he points out, shaking his head. maybe it would be what she’s looking for, but tommy likes to think that portraits are made with heart, a peek into what the person making it sees in you. maybe not necessarily what’s there. tommy remembers maire’s portrait of him having a lightness to it that he doesn’t think translates the same in photos. he’s a lot of things, and has been a lot of things over the year, but soft has never felt like one of them. much less during gallagher, during probably his hardest year of uni. he wonders how maire views him now, if she can see the difference in him from then to now—a difference that goes past physical appearance. fingers running through his hair, he’s suddenly a little more self-conscious than normal of the small grey hairs that highlight his curls. there’s not many, enough to count on two hands, but being with someone who hasn’t seen him since a time when he never worried about getting older makes them feel more prominent than ever. seeing maire makes him feel aged, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

because he likes sitting across from her, reminiscing about a part of his life where he had thought everything was so do or die. a time where he could have a conversation about shrek with a pretty girl and he’d actually find himself wanting to see her again, instead of thinking she’s mental. then again, maire has always been a little mental. in a good way.   “ it was, ”   he nods.   “ i remember enjoying all the holiday feasts. ”   it almost made up for not being home for the holidays every year. sometimes tommy thought he was better off at gallagher for them. there’s something about being with maire now that reminds him of the feeling of those celebrations, like they were at gallagher but it didn’t actually count. it felt too nice to be real.   “ you’re ridiculous, ”   he chuckles when she brings up fiona and shrek, head shaking. he’s never going to be able to look at that stupid ogre the same way. it’s not even a movie he would’ve watched if not for maire.   “ if you can carve out any more time for me before you go, i’ll see what i can do, ”   he tells her, a little slyly. a little sheepishly. they clearly weren’t close enough to keep in touch over the years, so are they close enough to see each other twice in two weeks ?   he’s not exactly sure.