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onceupon · 3 years

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London Boy - Part 3: I like girls that dance

summary: It’s your first night out and your first real introduction to Westheath. Rafe is quick to find his way on your radar.

pairing: Rafe x reader (slowburn)

warnings: swearing, drinking

word count: 4.6k

a/n: the way I’m imagining Jack Harlow as I write Liam 😩✋also, im pulling these chapter titles out of my ass - but actually tho, go listen to Girls That Dance by Masego

Part 1 Part 2

Despite your doubts, you put on the sheer top and the black mini skirt Millie and Olivia had insisted you wear. Your favorite pregame playlist plays as you do your makeup in the mirror. You move as quickly as you can, in desperate need of a shot to calm your nerves before your flat fills with people. You’re also nervous about seeing Rafe after that encounter in the kitchen you just had.

As you run your fingers through your hair and put on your earrings, all you can see is his stupid (and annoyingly attractive) face, staring down at you with that dumb backwards cap, telling you that you guys should watch Game of Thrones together. Every time your mind starts to think if that means something, you quickly shut down the thought. Of course it doesn’t mean anything. Just because a boy wants to watch a show with you does not automatically mean he wants you or that this was going to turn into some kind of Netflix and chill situation. Or was this gonna be a Netflix and chill situation? I mean it was Rafe Cameron after all, the boy certainly had a reputation. But then again, hadn’t he just showed you that he’s different from what you had expected? Oh god this was all too much to think about right now, you needed a shot. Stat.

“Y/N!” Olivia shouts, swinging the door to your room open right on cue. “Oh. My. God. You look so hot!” she exclaims. “Here, this is for you,” she extends a shot glass toward you with a devilish grin.

“Oh god what is it,” you grimace. Shots always seemed like a better idea in theory than in practice.

“Try it and find out,” she smirks. You sigh and send the liquid to the back of your throat, immediately cringing at the sting of raspberry vodka, Olivia bringing a cup of cranberry juice to your mouth to chase.

“Don’t worry love, a few more and you won’t even taste it. Now come on,” she laughs, dragging you with her to the kitchen. The rest of your flatmates are already there, Millie bopping along to the music, giggling at whatever Topper is saying, Rafe standing close by sipping his drink.

“Y/n you hottie!” Millie cheers, looking up as you make your way into the kitchen. You pray to god your cheeks aren’t turning pink. You don’t dare turn your head, but you know Rafe is staring at you. If you looked at him now you’d be crimson for sure.

“Alright everybodyyy,” Olivia begins, pouring the same raspberry vodka into the five shot glasses she has lined up on the table. You can’t help but laugh at her infectious energy, this girl is nothing if not the life of the party.

“Cheers to our first night out as flat mates! Wooo!!!” she exclaims, as everyone grabs a shot glass from the table, Rafe instinctively passing you one, hands briefly touching during the exchange and again as you all clink your glasses. You down the contents, unsure if the heat forming in your chest is from the vodka or the feeling of Rafe’s passing touch.

Pretty soon people start to arrive, Olivia and Millie making sure to introduce everyone. The flat becomes a blur of bodies drinking, dancing, and mingling about, and somehow, despite it all, Rafe Cameron is the person you find yourself standing with. There was something magnetic about him that you couldn’t quite understand, but it kept drawing you near.

“What are you drinking tonight Cameron,” you nod at the cup in his hand.

“Jack and coke. Of course,” he scoffs with subtle sarcasm, which you instantly pick up on.

“Not straight whiskey? Wow. That’s not very Figure 8 of you,” you admonish playfully.

“Straight whiskey? L/n who do you think I am?” he twists his face in mock disbelief. “But I’m game to do a shot if you are,” he adds.

“Hmm that does-“ you begin, but you’re quickly cutoff.

“Y/n, babe, if I had known you’d be here I would’ve came sooner,” Liam greets you with a kiss on the cheek and a cheeky smile.

“Now how on earth do you two know each other,” Millie asks, walking in line with the boy.

“Umm,” you chuckle nervously. You could not have possibly felt more awkward at the conversation unfolding in front of you, Rafe standing by as witness to it all. “He’s that boy I went to the bar with the other night,” you explain sheepishly.

“That was Liam!? Chrissake. Well I apologize on his behalf for anything he said or did.”

“Hey I’ll have you know I’m a proper gentleman!” he defends, throwing you a wink as Millie rolls her eyes. Just at that moment, another group of people walk in through the door, conveniently coming to Rafe’s rescue.

“Rafe!” a girl calls and he clears his throat excusing himself, Millie following suit to greet the latest batch of guests. You watch as he leans in for a hug with the girl who’s just called his name. She’s twirling her hair and batting her eyes, confident, flirty, gorgeous - just his type. A sick feeling pools in your stomach, you don’t even realize you’re staring.

“Lily Colts, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Liam informs you as he takes the now empty spot next to you.

“Oh, um no, I was just uh-“

“It’s okay Y/n, I get it. So flatmate huh” he laughs, unbothered.

“No no it’s not like that at all I uh-”

“Alright. Y/n,” he says, jumping up to sit on the counter behind him, cracking open the can in his hand. “You know I think you’re hot and you know I like messing with you-”

“Actually I know neither of those things,” you reply indignantly.

“Yes you do, you’re not dim,” he bulldozes right on, “I can read people pretty well, and there was a vibe there.”

“A vibe?”

“Yeah. Between you and what’s-his-face. You should’ve seen the way he tensed up when I came up to you,” he snickers in amusement.

“Shut up. His name is Rafe, by the way, and there was no ‘vibe.’ Also why are you even telling me this?” you ask, growing frustrated with the cocky brunette.

“Y/n please,” he scoffs. “I told you I can read people, so let me read you. You’re out here in London right, far away from home, keen for a fresh start. You’ve never been one for meaningless flings, but fuck it, if everyone else can do it, why not you? Or so you try to convince yourself, but you know that’s not you. See, you crave that emotional connection, and when you find even a hint of it, you’re a goner. Which is why you’d never actually hook up with me and it’s why you’re staring at that boy from home even though you swear you don’t care, but you do - you feel something there.”

You’re dumbfounded by his ability to know things about you that even you yourself can’t recognize. “I liked it better when you were just flirting with me,” you grumble.

“No worries darling, I’ll definitely still do that. I’ll even dance on you in the club if you ask nicely, might make pretty boy over there jealous,” he motions with his eyes toward Rafe, at which you give his shoulder a shove.

“You’re an idiot you know, Millie was right on the money with that,” you quip, as the two of you head over to her, Liv, and the boys.

“Please, Millie wishes she could be right on something else,” he says as you shoot him a glare, trying your best to suppress a laugh. Liam was starting to become a pain in your ass, too smart for his own good, but at least he was a funny one.

—

Your first night clubbing was going great. The place was packed, the music was good, and you were having a blast dancing with Liv, Millie, and their friends. You couldn’t help looking around the club though, eyes scanning for Rafe in the crowd. He’d been hanging out all night with Topper and some of the guys from their new soccer team. You longed to be near him somehow, to interact with him again. All your conversations with him earlier today had left you with an excited buzz - you didn’t know what it was about this version of Rafe Cameron in London, but you were actually enjoying his company.

You try to push him out of your mind and just enjoy the moment. It’s not like there was anything between you and Rafe, you had just barely began to form a semblance of a potential friendship today, let’s not get carried away. Besides, you live with the boy, accidentally running into him wasn’t going to be much of a challenge.

“Anyone want anything from the bar?” you shout over the music to your friends.

“Vodka soda with lime please!” Olivia shouts back and you nod, turning to make your way to the counter a few feet away. You place your order and mindlessly tap your fingers on the bar as a figure appears beside you.

“Hey, Y/n right? Flatmates with Olivia, Mills, and the boys?” the girl asks, and you turn, now face to face with Lily.

“Uh yeah, hey,” you feign a smile back.

“I’m Lily, nice to meet you,” she smiles genuinely. “I’m friends with all the Westheath bozos you’ve probably been meeting tonight,” she laughs, “Callum and Henry over there are my best mates. They’re on the football team with Rafe and Topper, we were showing them around earlier. My god you guys have been hoarding some cute ones over there in America.”

You chuckle, “glad that Kildare’s presence can at least be of some benefit.”

“So, girl to girl here, what can you tell me about Rafe Cameron? He’s such a hottie isn’t he? Would love to get a taste of that,” she smirks, licking her lips.

“Umm I don’t really have much to tell,” you say, unsure of how to navigate this conversation. You could tell her what you thought you knew of Outer Banks Rafe - he’s a rich, party-boy player. But after today, that no longer felt right. You didn’t want to say or presume anything about him at all actually, it felt wrong to talk about him like that. God, what the hell was wrong with you? You spend a few hours with the boy and you already have a soft spot for him? You needed to get a grip. “Our families know each other but we don’t really hang out at home. He’s uh- he’s cool though,” you decide as a sufficient response.

“Any girl friend?” she asks, sliding cash over to the bartender as she orders a shot.

“Rafe’s not really the ‘girlfriend-type’,” you answer, bartender sliding you the drinks you ordered and Lily her’s.

“Well then cheers to that,” she grins, clinking her shot glass to your drink before she downs it, waving a quick goodbye. You watch as she makes her way back to Rafe and their group, adorning a flirty smile. You feel sick to your stomach. You wanted to hate her, you did. But you couldn’t. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was just confident, outgoing, and not afraid to go after what she wanted. There was nothing for you to be angry about, who was stopping you from doing the same?

But in the back of your mind you decided you could never go after Rafe like that. He would never be interested in you in that way, you were sure of it. You had a hard time believing your friends when they hyped you up, so you definitely weren’t going to believe for a single second that a boy you thought was cool could possibly look at you in the same way. Besides, the mere idea of being rejected by Rafe Cameron, and then having to continue living with him and eventually go back to the Outer Banks for everyone to find out you had been rejected by the kook prince, was so mortifying that the very thought made you want to crawl into a hole. So you promise yourself, right then and there, that you won’t let yourself get hurt like that. You could hang out with Rafe, get to know him, become friends even, but under no circumstances could you be caught wearing your heart on your sleeve. You couldn’t disarm yourself like that and give him the upper hand. You needed to look out for yourself first and foremost, preserving the little bit of control you still had over your life.

You walk back over to your friends, slipping Liv her drink as her and Jake dance together. Your new friends are all tipsy and in a world of their own, getting lost in the music and their movements.

“Dance with me,” you turn to Liam who’s right beside you.

“I said if you ask nicely,” he admonishes sarcastically, to which you roll your eyes.

“I’m not gonna beg Liam. You wanna dance or not?”

“Sheesh, Lily Colts got your panties in a twist like that?”

“Not. At. All.” You confidently stare into his eyes, sipping your drink. It’s no use, Liam knows you all too well by now, and you curse yourself for the way in which this boy is able to see right through all the walls you put up. You may think these walls are made of brick, but to Liam they’re glass.

He just laughs at you, shaking his head in amusement. He grabs your free hand and pulls you closer to him, your bodies now pressed together. He takes your hand and rests it on the back of his neck, his finding their way to your hips. He plants his leg in between yours and soon you guys are lost in the rhythm. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t enjoying every second. He spins you around and you lightly grind your ass against him.

“Damn Y/n, I didn’t know you move like that,” he jokes, as you face forward again. He leans in, his hand on the small of your back, and you feel his breath right against your ear, “he’s looking by the way.” Your breath hitches, but you know better than to turn around. Liam is already one step ahead of you, instinctively twirling you again so you can quickly catch a glimpse of Rafe’s eyes on yours without it being obvious. “Told you he’d be jealous,” he smirks down at you triumphantly.

“Shut up,” you reply, the slightest smile tugging at your lips as your sweaty bodies continue to move to the music.

—-

“Aw flatmate bonding you guysss,” Olivia gushes, as you all sit together at a booth. She had forced you all out of your beds this morning to get breakfast together. Despite being hungover and groggy, you all reluctantly agreed. “Mimosas anyone?” she jokes.

“If I so much as smell any alcohol I think I’ll vomit,” Topper groans.

“Aw, what’s the matter, can’t handle your liquor Tops?” Millie asks, quirking her head to the side.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny. Could ask you the same question. My room is right next to the bathroom, don’t think I didn’t hear your retching last night,” he snaps back, to which Millie turns bright red and soon you’re all hunched over in laughter.

“I think a mimosa would make me yak right now too, to be fair. Coffees all around!” Olivia asserts.

You’re seated across from Rafe as you both scan your menus, your eyes immediately fixing in on the pancakes. The waiter comes by to take all your orders and you can’t help but blush a little when Rafe orders pancakes and you have to follow with a “same for me.” Such a silly, meaningless thing, I mean everyone likes pancakes. But being the only one to have the same exact order as Rafe leaves you feeling embarrassed, for no good reason all the same. You all begin to scarf down your food as soon as it arrives, thankful to have something to soak up the alcohol in your stomachs, as you share stories and laugh about last night’s drunken antics.

“So how is it that we’re all flatmates and yet I only have Topper’s contact. Come on, add ‘em in,” Rafe says, sliding his unlocked phone to the middle of the table.

“Wait I want snapchats too. Oooh! And instagram!” Olivia pipes, whipping out her phone as well.

“I expect no booty calls Cameron. This is strictly business,” Millie jokes, typing in her and Olivia’s numbers before passing his phone to you.

“Am I allowed a booty call?” Topper smirks, extending his phone as well.

“I wouldn’t push your luck Thornton,” she smirks back and he pouts in response. You finish typing your name and number into Rafe’s phone and hand it back to him, skin briefly making contact once again. Even though you had known Rafe all your life, somehow you two never had a reason to exchange numbers, only following each other on Instagram which he never posted on anyways.

“Alright everyone, pull up your snapchat codes, I wanna make a group,” Olivia says and everyone obliges, arms crossing every which way as you all add each other. “What should we name our group chat? Ooo can we do a ship name of our schools - like Kilheath or Westare?”

“I like Kilheath,” Topper chimes in.

“Yeah I bet you do you psychopath. Sounds like the name of a bad horror movie,” Rafe laughs.

“Oooo there’s five of us, we could be the Spice Girls,” Millie beams.

“No.” Topper immediately shuts her down.

“What about ‘American Boys and Spice Girls.’ You know, like the Kanye West song,” you add.

“Ehh, we’re getting closer, but not quite there,” Rafe teases you and you playfully kick him under the table. “I’m hearing a lot of opinions and not a lot of contributions,” you cross your arms and raise your brows.

“Hey hey hey, I’m a critic, not a chef L/n,” he lifts his hands in surrender.

“Ooo I got it! We can call it the ‘Royal fam,’ like the royal family,” Olivia suggests, finally getting approval from the whole group. Breakfast is soon over and you all return to your rooms, eager to nap away the remainder of your hangovers. You lay in your bed and stare at the newly formed snapchat group on your phone. Royal Fam 🇬🇧🇺🇸 appears on top and you scroll down, looking at Rafe’s username and bitmoji on your screen. You laugh at the fact that even his bitmoji wears a backwards cap. It was weird, having him in your phone like this. You had known this boy your whole life, but you two had always operated in separate spheres. And here he was, in your Snapchat, a glimpse into the life of Rafe, of which you only ever got a birds eye view of back home. It almost felt like you were trespassing somewhere you didn’t belong, having access to him like this. You sigh and lock your phone. Rafe Cameron really isn’t all that bad.

—

The next few days fly by fast as you become acclimated to Westheath. You and the rest of the Kildare kids attend an orientation with Westheath’s exchange advisor, spending the whole time with your little trio: you, Rafe, and Topper. When you had first arrived abroad, you were deadset on forging your own path in London and steering clear of everyone else from OBX. But hanging out with Rafe and Topper made you all but forget. It was fun and easy hanging out with them, in fact, counterintuitively, they were helping you forget all about the Outer Banks, just as you had hoped to do. Your conversations centered around your interests, your new lives, on random jokes and made up bits. It was almost as if there was a mutual unspoken agreement between you, them also trying to escape and forget their lives in OBX.

Pretty soon classes began, and you were learning a new schedule and adapting to British schooling. Your evenings were spent singing and dancing in the kitchen as you, Liv, and Millie simultaneously cooked your dinners, getting pints at the pub around the corner with your Westheath friends, and playing card games at the kitchen table with Rafe and Topper, the smack talk between you three flowing strong. There’d be short moments where you’d find yourself alone with Rafe - he’d explain to you whatever Premier League team was playing that day, you’d show him how the coffee machine works, and the occasional passing comments of “so when are we finally starting Game of Thrones, Cameron?” “I’m ready whenever you are, L/n.”

—

It was a Wednesday night, and you were curled up in your fluffy gray blanket watching Gilmore Girls in bed. You found the show comforting and familiar, the small town of Stars Hallow reminding you of what you wished your life in the Outer Banks could be like. Instead it was more like the cold and pretentious atmosphere of Chilton and the older Gilmores’ Hartford life. Your phone buzzes, and you pick it up lazily to check, suddenly freezing at the notification on your screen.

Snapchat: Rafe Cameron

You had opened a few snapchats from the boy over the past few days, but they were always random ones he would send to the group chat. This one was just for you. You gulp and put your phone down, not wanting to open it too fast. A few minutes go by and you realize you haven’t paid an ounce of attention to the show on your screen, even though you’re staring right at it. Fuck it. You open your phone and tap on the unread snap.

When are we watching Game of Thrones L/n the snapchat says, a picture of his laptop on his bed and the HBO Max home page open, the series featured in the corner of the screen.

You snap back a picture of your blanket and the laptop playing Gilmore Girls in front of you: ready whenever you are Cameron.

Almost immediately you get a response back.

Rafe Cameron: wait are you home rn? His message is accompanied by a random picture of his room, a view you let your eyes linger on until the message expires. Another peak into Rafe Cameron’s world.

Y/n: Yep! You send a blurry selfie of you wrapped in your blanket.

Rafe Cameron: be over in 5

You leave that last message on open and your heart starts to race. Just breathe Y/n, breathe, you keep telling yourself. It doesn’t have to be a big deal if you don’t make it out to be. It’s just a show. Just a show. And besides, you guys are friends now, right? You sit up in your bed and grab your pillow, shifting over to sit horizontally on your mattress. That seems more casual to you, more ‘just a couple friends watching a show together at a comfortable distance’ and less ‘sitting right on top of each other Netflix and chill’. You gulp down some water to ease your dry throat when you hear a gentle knock.

“Come in!” you call out, and now Rafe Cameron is in your room, eyes absorbing all the details that are so you. The posters on one wall, film camera photos on another. The string lights which wrap around your room and give it a warm glow. The plants, the subtle scent of vanilla. The bag you always carried with you, hanging off the side of your chair. He almost felt like he was intruding, like he was getting an intimate glimpse of something that was for your eyes only.

“Whats up,” he says, holding his laptop and closing the door behind him.

“Ready to finally start the show,” you laugh, “it’s about damn time.”

“Hey, I’ve been ready, it’s you who’s been taking your sweet time.”

“Is that so?” you ask sarcastically and a smile forms on his face.

“What are you doing over there? Who sits like that on their bed?” he asks, now coming over and taking a seat on your mattress facing vertically, propping your other pillow behind his back. “Can’t even stretch out your legs or anything,” he continues, patting the spot on the bed next to him, signaling for you to come over.

“I don’t know, I think it’s comfy,” you lie as you crawl over to him, your first line of defense already shot down.

“Weirdo,” he chuckles to which you nudge him in the side with your elbow. “If Topper’s wrong about this I’m gonna give him so much shit,” he says.

“Topper does have a lot of questionable opinions,” you laugh, “but I have a good feeling about this one.

—

One episode turned into two turned into three, you and Rafe instantly hooked. The nerves you had felt earlier at sitting so close next to this boy in your bed had all but dissipated, you quickly acclimating to the space he took up next to you. Even though by now all your previous misconceptions about Rafe had disappeared, replaced with the boy you had come to know over the past week, there was a small part of you that was still waiting to see if he’d try to pull something on you, like the Rafe you imagined back home surely would. Of course he didn’t, watching and discussing the show with you, making you feel as comfortable as if you two had been friends for years. You almost felt bad for having had doubted him in the first place.

When the third episode ended and you two got into a long post-episode discussion, you hardly noticed when the conversation began to digress. You both started to sink lower and lower down into your pillows, until you were both laying on your backs, staring at the ceiling and lost in exchanges of words and thoughts. The conversation was different this time, more candid and open, as if the shadow of the night was inviting you to divulge thoughts you wouldn’t have shared in the day. He spoke of his strained relationship with his father and you shared the silly drama that had caused a riff between you and your former friends back home. He showed you pictures of his dog and you showed him the video you had been working on all summer long in OBX, not having anyone to hang out with before you left for London. He talked about how he felt so disconnected from almost everyone on that island, and you nodded, understanding all too well. The conversation continued to ebb and flow, the occasional funny video or meme pulling you two into fits of laughter before seamlessly delving into another vulnerable train of thought. You both had your Spotify accounts open now, taking turns sharing your favorite songs. You put on a playlist you had made over the summer, full of songs that made you feel at peace.

“This puts you at ease huh,” he says.

You turn your head to look at him, “how could you tell?”

“I don’t know. I guess just the way your whole body relaxed the second you pressed play,” he replies.

“Yeah,” you say turning your head back toward the ceiling. “I know it sounds cheesy, but I feel like these songs are speaking to my soul or something,” you whisper.

“Yeah I get that… I have those too,” he whispers back. Neither of you realize it’s already 5 am and neither of you notice as your eyes both get heavy and sleep washes over you, playlist in the background like a lullaby. And at some point during your deep sleep, Rafe’s arm has found itself unconsciously wrapped around you.

---

Part 4

a/n: lemme know what you think!(:

#rafe cameron #rafe cameron imagine #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x y/n #obx #rafe outer banks #outer banks #rafe cameron x you

136 notes · View notes

minimitchell · 3 years

Note

Thank you! I’m the one who asked about a ballum ff and there is no rush at all. It would include smut but that’s ok no 🙂 It would be Ben & callum travelling in a night bus (to somewhere) and they’d be in the very back of the bus and none of the other passengers would notice their little action time (bottom Ben straddling callum). There’s no plot lol. Callum would actually be asleep and Ben waking him, hands already all over him/under his shirt and he would have some convincing to do for Callum to be on board with it. Or something like that. Could include some funny/embarrassing moments (for Callum).Tx! .. no need to post this maybe. 😇 Or just call it the night bus request. 🚌 💕

the fantasy of you and i keeps me up awake at night (ao3 link)

sorry it took a while, anon, but here we go. also this is so outside my normal comfort zone for smut but i'm hoping y'all enjoy it anyway.

Taking a bus from London to Amsterdam might easily be the worst idea they have ever had.

The worst part is that there isn’t even a solid reason for them doing this. It’s not like they can’t afford a flight to Amsterdam, they definitely can. But for some reason Callum somehow managed to talk him into taking a Flixbus across the channel, just to save a few bucks. We’re homeowners now, he said. We should save money where we can, he said.

Ben kind of hates how easily he folds when it comes to his husband.

They’re about halfway through the hours-long trip, somewhere in France in the middle of the night, and the already quite empty bus is dark and mostly silent, except for that one guy near the middle who’s snoring like a small chainsaw. It seems like all the passengers are dead asleep right now - everyone except for Ben that is.

Him and Callum are in the very last row of seats; Callum in the window seat and Ben next to him. There are rows of empty seats in front of them, all the way up to the middle portion of the bus, so at least there’s some illusion of privacy. It’s definitely better than the bus being filled to the brim.

Callum is turned towards the window, a sweater bundled together to rest under his head like a pillow. He always does this on long journeys and Ben isn’t jealous of it at all, no way. He just wishes he could fall asleep in a car or on a train or on a plane, but sadly he can’t. Not like his husband can.

Ben has never been able to sleep in a moving vehicle. Ever since he was little he just couldn’t do it. It’s always too loud or not dark enough or he isn’t comfortable enough to fall asleep. Which is a pretty unfortunate circumstance when you’re trapped in a bus for hours on end in the middle of the night.

At first, he tried doing other things to keep himself entertained. He watched some videos on his phone, bothered Jay until he obviously fell asleep himself and then tried just looking out the window at the French countryside. Nothing helped alleviate his boredom and he certainly wasn’t going to spend the rest however many hours just sitting around here.

He needed something to tire him out or at least keep him occupied for some time.

And he has just the idea what that could be.

Ben leans forward into Callum’s space, letting his hand run up and down Callum’s arm, slightly shaking to get him to wake up again. He can’t have been asleep for long, or in a deep slumber yet, because he starts twitching almost immediately; that familiar crease between his eyebrows appearing like it always does right before he wakes up.

“Babe? Babe. Cal, wake up.”

There’s only a groan as a response, but Ben can tell Callum is well on his way to consciousness right now. Even if he’s probably still hoping Ben will just leave him alone if he doesn’t engage.

“What?”

Callum turns around to face him, eyes still stubbornly closed; almost like he’s planning on falling back asleep once Ben has told him whatever he wants to say. Not if Ben gets his way though.

“I can’t sleep.”

Ben can feel more than hear the annoyed sigh Callum lets out at that. He cracks one eye open, peering down at Ben beside him, and whatever he finds must convince him he’s not going to go back to sleep for a while, because the next thing he does is sit up straighter, opening both of his eyes now.

He’s probably used to it after well over two years with Ben. His inability to fall asleep on the road has come up time and time again since they got together. At first, Callum thought it was a cute little quirk; like you always do when you’re first falling for someone and everything about them gives you butterflies.

He still gets them now, the butterflies, but by now Callum is probably more than aware of the fact that Ben’s sleeplessness when travelling affects him as well. Because Ben expects to be entertained by him, or at least for Callum to stay awake with him.

For the most part, Callum is fine with that seeing as they’re never really going anywhere one of them doesn’t drive to but on rare occasions like this one, it’s pretty damn grating. Callum definitely knows they’re both going to be tired and grumpy when they arrive in Amsterdam and that isn’t really how he wants to start this little getaway.

“Have you even tried?”

Ben rolls his eyes in the dark of the bus, only illuminated by the passing streetlights outside. He’s glad it’s not enough for Callum to see his expression; he needs to be on his best behavior if he wants to convince Callum of this idea in his head.

“You could help me fall asleep, you know.”

Ben’s hand runs over Callum’s thigh and dips lower to the inseam of his sweatpants, fingertips brushing against his dick over the soft fabric. Callum doesn’t turn away from the touch, but he does lift his thigh a little so that Ben’s hand dislodges from his place against his cock.

“Ben! No.”

“Come on. No one will notice.”

He leans in close to whisper the words into Callum’s ear, making sure to dart his tongue out and trace along the lobe for good measure afterwards. He’s not above pulling out all the stops to convince Callum to do this with him right now. It might have just been a quick throwaway idea, but the more he thinks about the possibility of it the hornier he finds himself getting.

His hand dips lower again; fingers dancing up and down Callum’s shaft. This time, Callum lets him continue his actions; his dick slowly but surely hardening under Ben’s touch.

“Absolutely not.”

Callum’s protest is weak, his voice already way too breathless to be taken seriously by Ben. If he really were against this, Ben would stop immediately. But he knows his husband pretty well and he can read his body like a book. Every little reaction is telling enough for Ben.

It’s all the go-ahead he needs.

“S’not what your dick says.”

As if to prove a point, Ben tightens his hand, reveling in the hard intake of breath Callum does in response to it. He can tell his husband is trying his hardest to keep the noises in. So much so that Ben almost lets the desire to coax each sound out of Callum overtake him, damning any embarrassing consequences it could bring.

“Because you keep, hm, keep touching it.”

Ben barely manages to keep his gleeful laugh in when Callum pushes his leg out, opening his thighs wider and giving Ben better access to his dick. It means he can crowd in even closer and twist his hand just right, now firmly holding onto his husband’s length. Callum’s head tips backwards against his seat, eyes closing against the onslaught of arousal.

The taught, white skin of his neck is too inviting for Ben not to lean down and attach his mouth to it, trailing up and down.

“Ben, we can’t. Not here.”

Callum leans far enough back to catch Ben’s eyes. Ben thinks he’s trying to look stern and he’d probably succeed if Ben didn’t have his hard cock in his hand right now. The least he can do is offer him some relief.

Ben’s free hand runs up Callum’s chest, his fingers playing with the collar of his dark blue sweatshirt. He presses his nose back up against Callum’s cheek, looking up at him from under his lashes. There’s a smile playing on his face that always seems to come so naturally to him whenever he’s with Callum, even if he’s trying to be sexy right now.

“We’ll be quiet.”

“You’ve never been quiet in your life during sex.”

It’s a good point. An extremely good point considering how many pointed comments they received that period of time they were living at Stuart and Rainie’s flat. Or from Lola before that. So yeah, Callum does have a point when he says he’s not the quietest person during sex.

And it’s not like he can talk as well. Callum is incredibly noisy when he wants to be. Or rather, when he lets himself be.

Maybe Ben just needs to take it up a notch in order to get Callum on board with this.

“It’ll be a laugh. Come on, I know you, baby. You like it a little dangerous. Out in the open. Remember, I know all your fantasies, babe.”

It’s true. Ben had an inkling that there was a secret exhibitionism kink hiding behind Callum’s big innocent giant act when he had no qualms about getting hot and heavy in the park during their first intimate encounter together, but he had no idea just how much Callum gets turned on by the chance of them being interrupted or heard by someone else.

He isn’t opposed to the odd quickie in the car lot or at the Arches when Ben is supposed to be working and anyone could walk in at any time. There are times he gets his husband so riled up with little comments and strategically placed touches that he drags Ben into the toilets in the Albert to give his mouth and hands something else to do. And they’ve even revisited that park once or twice to pay a little tribute to the thing that started it all between them.

So he knows perfectly well that the thought of doing anything here, where any other person on the bus could easily wake up and figure out what exactly they’re doing, must be quite exhilarating for Callum. He can’t really play the purity card when Ben can physically feel him growing harder at his hushed words.

Like he said, he knows Callum. They’re open and honest about what turns them on and off, what they like and dislike. No one has ever known him as intimately and deeply as Callum does and Ben knows it’s the same the other way as well. Ben loves that.

It also means that he can pinpoint the exact second Callum lets himself give in and shifts into what Ben teasingly calls his sexy mode. It’s a win for Ben, for sure.

“You’re lucky I love you.”

Callum wraps his arm around Ben’s waist and tugs until Ben understands what he wants him to do. He sits himself square on Callum’s lap, legs resting on either side of Callum’s hips on the plush seats and fingers immediately finding a home in Callum’s hair, combing through the strands. He hasn’t had it cut in a while, too lazy to do it so close to their little holiday, and Ben can’t find the words to say just how much he loves it like this. He looks almost prince-like when it’s all soft and flat on his head and it’s the prettiest thing in the world to Ben.

“Thought you were gonna say I should be lucky I’m so fit.”

“Hm, that too.”

Callum’s smirk tastes a lot like bliss when their lips meet in a kiss, their tongues brushing almost immediately. Ben is trying hard to keep the sighs from escaping his throat, knowing they have to be quiet for this to go any further. But he can’t help it, kissing Callum is close to being the best thing he has ever gotten to do.

Even if he tried to convince himself otherwise at the time, Ben knew that first time they kissed each other that it was different with Callum; that it felt different with him. When their lips had met that night, he had felt it in his bones. Ben knows how rare it is to feel this way and Callum has never made him feel any different since.

Ben’s hands leave their place in Callum’s hair to travel down his chest, running over the soft fabric of his sweatshirt. He can feel the intake of breath Callum does when he reaches the edge of his sweatpants, fingers dipping under the waistband. Ben looks up to see if there’s any hesitation on Callum’s face, any sign that he isn’t one hundred percent on board with this, but Callum seems perfectly fine by the looks of it, with his eyes still closed like he wants to savor their kisses and the tips of his ears turning pink.

The grey fabric gets pushed down just enough for Ben to free Callum’s still hard cock, lazily sliding his fist up and down the shaft. Seeing Callum bite his bottom lip to refrain from making any noise at Ben’s actions fills him with a surge of heat that travels all throughout his body. Maybe they have to look more into this, if Callum’s inability to make much noise gets Ben so hot and bothered.

Right now though, he’s more concerned with getting himself undressed as well, just enough to get Callum in him. It’s a tight fit back here and Ben has to move around a fair bit to get his own pants far enough down to still be able to move on top of him. Ben has had sex in cars before so he knows how to maneuver himself, but a cramped seat on a bus is still vastly different from lying flat on your back in the backseat of a Ford.

They keep a small packet of lube in the side pocket of the backpack for situations just like this one and it turns out to be a godsend again and again, this time being no different. Ben is the first to admit he used to be a little bit slutty and while he doesn’t care for sex with anyone that isn’t Callum anymore, some remnants of that time in his life still remain. Remnants, for which having lube on hand at all times proves to be very helpful.

He’s glad Callum appreciates their spontaneity as well.

At any other time, Ben would let Callum open him up. His fingers are long and slender, thick enough to fill him just right, and they’re sure to drive him positively mad each and every time. Callum knows where and when to drag, to go fast or when to let Ben catch his breath to keep him teetering just on the brink.

But space is limited as it is and it’s easier for Ben to reach down and open himself up. Besides, seeing the way Callum’s face shifts into open hunger and desire as he watches Ben touch himself more than makes up for the lack of his husband’s fingers in him. There’s so much heat and open amazement for Ben in his eyes, it makes Ben breathless with want for the man in front of him.

The air around them feels thick and stuffy; charged in the best way possible. Ben keeps his lips firmly pressed together, effectively trapping in any sounds threatening to escape; his free hand digging into the skin of Callum’s biceps, making dents in the skin. They could easily be the only two people in this bus, in the world, right now. It feels like it; it always does.

Everything is zeroed down to just them when they’re together like this, like nothing else matters except for them making the other feel good. And he wants nothing more right now than to make Callum feel absolutely wrecked.

Ben detracts his fingers when he feels like he’s at least somewhat ready, reaching out to coat Callum’s dick with the excess lube on his hand. Before he can wrap his fingers around Callum’s length though, he’s stopped by a hand on his chest, causing him to catch his husband’s eyes almost immediately.

“Wait.”

Ben is about to climb down from Callum’s lap, thinking he has changed his mind about this and wanting to give him space, but Callum keeps him seated with a hand on his hip now. Instead, he’s leaning down himself, his other hand disappearing in the backpack still sitting in the space under their seat.

“What?”

The confusion doesn’t lift when Callum eventually finds what he must have been looking for, unearthing two condoms from somewhere in the bag. They obviously haven’t used condoms in ages but they still keep some just in case. Better than throwing them away, right? Ben just doesn’t understand what Callum wants with them now.

“I’m not about to get cum on this bus. And neither are you.”

Ben doesn’t really care about it, but he’s not going to start arguing with his husband when he’s this close to getting lucky. Callum could probably ask him to wear a clown costume and Ben would do it if it meant he’d get fucked by Callum in a timely manner. He’s that whipped for his husband’s dick.

He lets Callum roll the condom onto his dick, suppressing the moan clawing itself up his throat when Callum runs his fingers up and down the length of it for good measure. Maybe having to be completely silent while he’s getting laid is going to be more difficult than Ben had first thought.

Before Callum can put the condom on himself though, Ben stops him to do the honors himself, coating Callum’s dick with the excess lube still covering his other hand. He sinks down as slowly as he can, almost drawing blood from how hard he’s biting down on his bottom lip to keep quiet.

The fabric of Callum’s sweatpants is a stark contrast to his smooth skin and the feeling is simultaneously alien and exhilarating. They don’t have a lot of clothed sex, not like this anyway, and the almost foreign feeling against his bare ass is another stimulant for Ben’s already overloaded brain, all mixing together to create a mess of heightening arousal.

Ben eventually bottoms out, head tipped back and mouth open on a silent gasp. He can feel Callum’s heaving breaths where he’s pressed against him, his chest rising and falling in quick tempo.

“You good?”

Callum mumbles the words into Ben’s own shirt, pressed against his sternum. He sounds wrecked from just those two, little words; out of breath and completely wild. It’s one of the best sounds Ben ever got to hear; topped among other things only by Callum’s uninhibited moans when Ben makes him feel especially good.

Ben’s head tips back forward to nod at his husband, sealing their mouths back together when he begins to move. The rise and fall of his hips pushes sounds from him that he stifles by pressing his firmly-closed lips against Callum’s with all his might. Callum’s hands are fisted in Ben’s shirt, bunching up the back and wrinkling the dark red fabric.

It’s fucking good - it always is with Callum, better than anything he’s known before - but when Callum moves to adjust their bodies to meet Ben’s thrusts halfway, it becomes a little too good. On the next down movement, Callum thrusts up as well and the subtle change in their position means he’s now able to hit deeper, nudging right against that spot that makes Ben see stars.

Callum must be able to sense what this is doing to Ben, must be able to read his body and its tells better than he does himself, because he reaches around to clamp a hand over Ben’s mouth, pushing one finger in for Ben to bite down on it, nipping the scream that’s about to topple out of his mouth in the bud before it can be unleashed.

It would be a miracle if no one heard his moan, even muffled by Callum’s hand over his mouth, and Ben thinks they can really count themselves lucky if they didn’t manage to wake anyone up with it. He’d be more preoccupied with it, if he weren’t so trapped in the feeling of pure pleasure overtaking every nerve-ending in his body.

He’s panting hot against Callum’s hand now; heat spreading in his belly to announce his impending orgasm hurtling closer and closer. It doesn’t feel fair to Ben that he’s the only one struggling to contain his moans though; he thought Callum would have a lot more difficulties holding back.

It’s a good thing he knows Callum better than anyone; knows exactly what makes him lose control. It’s definitely a dirty trick to play but the whole reason they’re doing this right now is because they like it a bit dirty, right? So Ben doesn’t exactly feel bad when he lets one of his hands wander down to Calum’s chest, expertly finding his left nipple. He clamps his other hand over Callum’s mouth before he pinches his fingers, reveling in the way Callum’s hips involuntarily buck upwards in response.

Callum lightly bites the palm of his hand in retaliation and Ben can’t help but smile at it, even in the midst of heavy passion. He just really loves it when Callum is being silly and playful with him. Especially during sex.

The smile quickly dies down though when Callum’s free hand wraps around Ben’s cock, setting a punishing rhythm. Ben isn’t sure when this became seeing who can make the other come first, but he isn’t complaining. Not at all.

Not when it means he gets to feel that burning sensation take over his entire body, his muscles tensing and then relaxing as the waves of his climax wash over him. He must pinch Callum’s nipple again in his haze of pleasure, because he bucks into Ben again once, twice before he’s also coming. The hand that just moments ago had coaxed Ben’s orgasm out of him now snakes around his middle to pull him closer into Callum’s body.

They’re so close they might as well be one entity, one sole person. Their hands fall from each other’s mouths, wrapping around any skin they can reach to unite the two of them in a tight hug. Ben tucks his head into the crease of Callum’s neck, waiting until the tremors subside and their breathing returns to a normal pace.

It takes a lot longer than Ben would like to admit for him to regain the feeling in his legs enough to dismount and fall into the seat beside Callum again. He has just enough brainpower to take the condom off and tie it, thankful for Callum taking it off of him because he would have no idea how or where to get rid of it right now.

He pulls his pants and underwear back up, trying to make himself look at least a bit presentable, but his movements feel slowed down; his limbs already being pulled under the mantle of sleepy exhaustion.

Ben is still too out of it to notice what exactly Callum does to get rid of the condoms but whatever it is, it only takes him a few moments until he leans back into the seat, putting on his own clothes again as well.

“You okay, darlin’?”

“Hm. Tired.”

Callum lets out a quiet chuckle, pulling Ben into his side, letting him tuck himself into his body. He’s definitely all too aware of the fact that Ben always conks out almost immediately after sex and Ben feels his eyes fall shut as soon as his head is pillowed on Callum’s chest.

The last thing he’s conscious of is Callum pressing a kiss to his forehead, mumbling something about getting Ben to shut up, before finally, finally, falling asleep for the remainder of their journey.

He’ll have to keep this in the back of his mind for the ride back.

#ballum #ballum fic #my wriring #posting this now to hopefully get over that block i have about my bb

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jelzorz · 4 years

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57a

It’s not that Callum doesn’t like Ez’s toad. Bait can be cute when he wants to be and his generally grumpy disposition (if toads can be called grumpy at all) is a funny little personality trait that comes off closer to endearing than anything else. Ezran’s had him since he was six, and he was their dad’s before that—secretly, Callum thinks that he can’t be a normal toad because surely normal toads don’t live this long, but no matter—

He doesn’t dislike Bait and that’s the point of it. What’s not so clear to him is why Ezran needs a brand new terrarium for him.

“What’s wrong with the old one?” he asks. They’re pulling into the pet store in a little town just out of state, which is ridiculous on its own because there’s one five minutes from where they live, but Callum understands to certain extent. Once he’d driven out to Caldera just to chase down a specific brand of watercolour paints which is fair, in his opinion—it’s hard to get quality products for a reasonable price—but still. Caldera isn’t out of state.

It took them two hours just to get out here and it’s hot and humid and the air conditioning in Callum’s car failed two and a half years ago, and while Bait’s not with them, he’s probably grumpy enough to make up for it.

Ez rolls his eyes. “It’s ancient,” he says pointedly. “Dad got it second hand and it was ancient then. Bait deserves a better terrarium than that.”

“That still doesn’t explain why we had to come out to Silvergrove,” snaps Callum. He puts the car into park and turns the engine off with a scowl. “There are pet shops in Katolis City, what’s the matter with them?”

“They’re just not as good.” Ezran huffs, climbing out of the car. “The ones here are made with quality materials that are locally and ethically sourced. And we’re supporting small business.”

Callum bristles. “Now you just sound like Dad,” he mutters darkly. It’s not a bad thing. Harrow’s a councilman for a reason, and one of the better ones, too. He can’t dispute that. It’s only fair Ez takes after him. It’s still annoying, though.

The store itself doesn’t look particularly special. It’s got an old-timey sort of feel to it, and the hanging sign is weather worn and in desperate need of a new paint job. Callum squints at it and makes out a bunch of swirling letters that read The Shadow emPawrium: exotic pets and pet supplies before he rolls his eyes and shoulders open the door for Ez.

It’s pretty cramped. The air conditioning is a welcome change, but it feels like he can’t move in here without risking knocking something over. There are a bunch of fancy birdcages here, and cat trees taller than him over there, and a girl, silver haired and lilac eyed, sitting bored by the register with her phone in one hand and a stocklist in the other.

Callum feels his mouth go dry. She’s very pretty. Even the practised customer service smile she greets them with makes his heart skip a beat or two. Her name tag reads Rayla, and she sets her phone down as the doors swing shut behind them.

“Hey,” she says, Silvergrove accent obvious even in the single word. “Can I help you with anything or are you guys just happy to browse?”

Callum opens his mouth to answer her, but he feels the words get all jumbled up in his throat before he can even voice them. Ez, though, personable as he is, swoops in before Rayla (hopefully) notices.

“My toad needs a new terrarium,” he says brightly. “His is pretty old and I reckon it might be time to get him a brand new set up. The Internet said you guys had some really good ones.”

Rayla laughs–a sweet tinkling sound that makes Callum feel all hot and sweaty again in spite of the gentle air-conditioned breeze. “We sure do,” she says. “Just in the back corner over there. Can I help you pick out something specific?”

“Nah,” says Ez, waving her off. “We got it. Callum, come on.”

“What? Oh. Yeah.” Callum offers Rayla an awkward smile and trails after his brother with stiff, heavy legs. If Ezran notices, he doesn’t say anything–he’s happy to start examining terrariums and toad supplies without much preamble. Callum lets him at it and stares around the rest of the shop curiously. Once or twice, he catches himself looking over at Rayla. There’s a very specific moment when he actually meets her eye, and her lips tilt upwards into something a little more genuine before he has the sense to tear his eyes away–

But when he does, Ez is smirking at him with something like a smug looking grin. “See something you like?”

Callum flushes. “Um.”

“You can just go talk to her, you know.”

“That’s not what this is.”

“Isn’t it?” Ez snorts and jerks his head over at Rayla, knowing smile on his lips.“She’s been looking too.”

“I don’t–wait, really?”

Ezran lets out a huff, obviously amused and obviously done with Callum’s lack of nerve. He turns back to the terrariums, picks out one of the bigger ones, and does the next worst thing: he waves a hand and catches Rayla’s attention. “Excuse me!” he calls. “Hey! Sorry to bother you.”

Rayla glances up at them, sets her phone down once more, and hops off her stool “You’re no bother,” she says amicably, making her way towards them through the narrow aisles with a deft sort of grace that makes Callum want to look at her even more. He has to duck his head to avoid showing the very obvious blush rising in his cheeks, but then Rayla’s standing right next to him and he’s pretty sure there’s no point. “What can I help you with?”

“If I get him a new set up entirely, do you think it’s worth getting Glow Tonic too? It’s supposed to be really good for his skin but I’ve never tried it.”

Rayla hums thoughtfully. “It wouldn’t hurt,” she says. “It might help with the transition, y’know? Toads can be pretty nervous around new things. We don’t have any in stock though. I can order it in for you?”

Ez brightens (more, if that’s even possible), and he nods enthusiastically. “That’d be great! Do you think you could ring us when you get it?”

“Sure can,” chuckles Rayla. “What’s the best number to call you on?”

“Mm.” Ez sneaks a glance at Callum. “I never have my phone on me when it matters. Do you think you can call Callum instead?”

Rayla turns to look at him. Callum almost turtles into his shirt out of embarrassment. Ezran’s gall, honestly–but he offers Rayla a sheepish smile anyway and shrugs. “Yeah,” he mumbles. “It’ll probably be best just to call me. If–if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine,” says Rayla. She glances at her sneakers with that same little smile that makes Callum’s heart flutter, something pink in her cheeks, and swings her arms with a flattered grin. “Did you pick a terrarium?” she asks Ez after a moment.

“Oh, right, yeah.” Ez points it out to her and the rest is all business. She retrieves a flatpack one from the back room and heaves it to the counter, Ez pays for it, and then they wrangle it out to the car and set it carefully in the back.

Callum shuts the boot with a heavy thud and notices that Ezran purposefully makes himself scarce so that it’s just him and Rayla standing together by the back passenger door before, finally, Rayla unlocks her phone and holds it out to him.

“Put your number in that,” she says, lips tilted upwards, blush in her cheeks. “Callum, right?”

“Uh. Yeah. Thanks.” Callum only flushes more. His fingers feel sweaty as he taps his number into the screen, but she’s smiling the whole time and he’s almost certain employees aren’t supposed to take customer details with their personal phones, and he knows she knows what Ez was up to, but she doesn’t seem to mind. “You’ll–um–you’ll call me, right?”

“Yep. See you guys next time.” She takes it back and steps back onto the sidewalk as Callum climbs into the car, and she waves, even, as they pull out and Callum makes a U-turn at the roundabout a little way down the road.

For a while, Ez says nothing. And then he snorts and smirks at Callum. “Still think coming all the way out here was a waste of time?”

Callum has nothing to say to that.

#rayllum #in anticipation #and now back to your regularly scheduled fluff #the shadow empawrium

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creampuffqueen · 3 years

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Just Like This | Chapter One

Summary: Rayla and Callum have been best friends since elementary school. Now, years later, Rayla is discovering new feelings for her best friend. The only problem: she's about 99% sure he doesn't think of her in the same way. Not willing to risk their friendship, Rayla continues to hide her feelings for Callum. How long until the truth comes out?

a/n: Hey everyone! Here it is, the greatly anticipated Rayllum high school au! Please please please reblog this, because Tumblr won't show this post in the main tags due to an affiliate link! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Word Count: 3372

Warnings: Language

Read on Ao3

~~~~

Sunday, September 30th, 2020

Katolis Supermarket, 5:31 PM

“Who wrote this list?” Rayla complained loudly, stalking behind Callum at the grocery store, shaking the piece of paper in his face. Her fellow sophomore was pushing a cart around, eternally focused on the task ahead.

“Well, Claudia suggested it, but everyone else added on,” Callum replied, not even looking at her. Stopping in the middle of the isle, he grabbed a 12-pack of soda and loaded it in the cart. “What’s next?”

Looking over the extensive list again, Rayla frowned. “Uh, it says… ‘those little animal cookie things with sprinkles, you know the ones’.”

Callum finally turned to look at her, a wide grin on his face as they both said “Soren,” in unison.

“Jinx,” Rayla giggled, “You owe me a soda.”

“Okay… just take one from the pack when we get home?”

Both teenagers continued through the store, Rayla getting bored of walking and hanging off the front of the cart, laughing as Callum made a big deal of struggling to push them around.

She supposed they should be hurrying. Evening was approaching quickly, and soon all their friends would be over at Callum’s place to study. Callum had dragged her off to the grocery store to get snacks for their cram session, considering she lived only a street over and had a car.

“We’re all going to be sick by the end of the night,” Rayla sighed, loading more snacks into the cart.

“Well, at least we’ll be awake,” Callum, ever cheerful, turned his head around to grin at her.

At his smile, Rayla felt her heart give a small wayward flutter, though she squished it down quickly. Tonight was important; she needed to pass this test to keep her grade up, and it wouldn’t help if she spent the entire night mulling over how cute her best friend’s smile looked.

“Yeah,” She chuckled, trying to pull herself back to the present. Keep it together, Rayla.

They got their unhealthy amount of junk food, collectively winced at the price, bought it anyway, and set about loading it in the backseat of Rayla’s car.

In no time at all Rayla was driving, Callum reclining in the passenger seat. With the radio cranked up, neither felt the need to talk, content to sit in the comfortable silence.

It was hard to believe that they’d been friends for eight years now. Rayla could still remember the first time they met like it was yesterday.

She was eight years old, in second grade, having just moved to a new school after her parents left on a military tour and she went to live with her uncles. Her first day of school had gone off without a hitch.

That is, until she met Callum at recess.

Content to play by herself, Rayla had been making use of the free time by pretending to build a fort under the slide. While pretending to hammer in nails, she noticed a small group of kids nearby. Two boys and a girl.

While she couldn’t make out all the words, the body language she saw was more than enough. The bigger boy, a head of blond hair, was pointing at the smaller, brown-haired boy, and laughing. The girl, black hair tied in two pigtail braids, was looking between them, unsure of what to do.

Curious eight-year-old Rayla snuck up, for she’d always been good at sneaking, and listened in on the conversation.

“Soren, shut up, he’s going to cry!” The girl said.

“Oh, so little Callum’s a crybaby now?” The boy, Soren, taunted.

“I’m not a crybaby, Soren!” The other boy shouted, though he couldn’t hide the sniffle at the end of his sentence.

“Oooh, Callum’s crying! Who’s gonna help him, his dad? Oh wait-”

Soren didn’t get to finish his sentence.

Well, she thought as she sat in the principal’s office twenty minutes later, Runaan will be happy to know that I’m learning something in my karate class.

All four kids were in the office, sitting in chairs in front of the desk. Callum and the other girl, Claudia, were both still sniffling from residual tears. Soren, fresh from the nurse’s office, was holding an ice pack over a rapidly blackening eye.

The door opened, and in came the principal, shaking her head with a sigh.

“You three again?”

“We didn’t do anything!” Soren shouted, voice whistling through the new gap in his teeth. Oh yeah, she’d knocked a tooth out as well. “She started it!”

“Well you were being really mean to that other kid!” Rayla protested. She and Soren glared at each other from their respective chairs, accusatory fingers pointed straight out.

“I wasn’t being mean, I was just joking!” Soren explained, “Callum’s my friend!”

“Well Soren, what you said was really mean-” Claudia interjected, but the boy, who Rayla had learned was her brother, interrupted.

“Callum, you know I was joking, right?”

“Well…” Soren’s face fell as Callum dropped his gaze to his lap. “It did kind of hurt my feelings, Soren…”

“Wait, you’re friends?” Rayla exclaimed, glancing curiously between both boys. “I thought he was bullying you! And my parents and uncles always said you have to stand up to bullies and-”

“I’m not a bully!” Soren shouted. Voices began to rise between them again, and the principal was forced to interject.

“All of you, quiet down. I’m going to talk with you each individually, and we’ll see what happens then. Callum, come with me. The rest of you: play nice.”

In the end, Rayla got suspended for two days for fighting, and Soren got one day for bullying. Despite the massive lecture Runaan and Ethari subjected her to, Rayla couldn’t help but feel like she’d done the right thing in the end.

When she returned to school, she was surprised to find Callum approach her at recess, a little paper bag clutched shyly in his hands.

“Sorry my friends and I got you in trouble,” He said, passing the bag to her. Opening it, Rayla’s face split into a huge grin at the sight of two tart-things waiting for her, filled with jelly.

“Soren’s usually pretty nice,” Callum continued, “But he doesn’t know when to stop talking. If you hadn’t stepped in, he would have said something mean without thinking, I’m sure. So you kind of helped both of us, in a way.”

“Oh. Well, you’re welcome, I guess. And thanks for the tarts.”

She was about to turn away and enjoy her spoils, but then Callum kept talking.

“Do you want to come play with us? Me and Claudia are pretending to do magic, and Soren’s a knight. You can do magic with us, if you want.”

Well, this game was certainly right up her alley. “I’ll play,” Rayla conceded, “But only if I get to be an elf.”

Callum grinned broadly, pointing to where the two siblings were playing. “Of course.”

~~~~

“The snacks are here!” Rayla called into the house, arms laden with shopping bags. Callum shut the door behind them, similarly burdened with the case of soda.

The pounding of feet sounded overhead, and several heads poked over the stairwell to glimpse the pair in the kitchen. “Finally!” Soren cheered, racing downstairs to try and rifle through the bags Rayla was carrying.

“Not yet, you lump,” Rayla scolded, pushing past the senior boy, “We’ve got to get upstairs at least.”

“Thanks for going to get snacks,” Claudia called, and her thanks was echoed by the other kids there. Callum and Rayla both shrugged, and made their way upstairs to the game room, where they’d all be studying.

Sitting on the various bean bag chairs and couches, the rest of the study group cheered when the food and drinks arrived. Andromeda, Callisto, Ram, Skor, and Marcos all leapt up to snatch the snacks they wanted. When everyone was sitting again, food in hand, Callum gave a dramatic clearing of his throat, turning all the heads in the room towards him.

“So, uh, thanks for coming over. Hopefully we can all actually get some studying done, since, you know, that’s what we’re here for.” He fixed a firm glance on the two couples in the room. “Ground rules: no making out in my house, don’t be super messy, and also please actually study. Soren, no idea what you’re doing here since you’ve already taken this history class, but okay.”

The older boy shrugged, taking a big gulp of his soda. “Moral support. A welcome distraction.”

Callum clapped his hands together once. “Okay then. I actually made a schedule for this, and if we follow it, we can cover all of the sections by… midnight, I think. 11 pm if we work really fast.”

“You made a schedule for studying?” Callisto asked in disbelief. Andromeda laughed, throwing an arm over her partner’s shoulder.

“Yes, I made a schedule for studying, I think it’s going to be very helpful!” Callum defended, crossing his arms over his chest. Even talking with the other two people, his green eyes somehow still managed to find Rayla’s.

She met his gaze, just for a second, heart pounding, before she looked away again. “Well, guys, if Callum wants to make a study schedule, good for him. Let’s just get started; I really need to pass this test.”

“Since when have you been worried about grades, Rayla?” Skor snorted, reclining in a beanbag chair, dumping spicy chips into his mouth.

“Since I’m in four extracurriculars and if I don’t pass, I don’t play.”

“Try-hard,” Soren coughed from his seat. Rayla just flashed him her middle finger, eliciting wild laughter from the rest of the room.

“Guys,” Callum whined, “I’m trying to be productive-”

“Okay, let’s start,” Claudia said, placing a gentle hand on Callum’s arm. It took everything Rayla had not to glare at the other girl, biting back the unwarranted flash of jealousy.

That’s all in the past. We figured it out.

Usually, she could forget just how close Callum was with Soren and Claudia. But then, something like this would happen, and she’d be reminded that before he met her, it was the siblings who were his best friends.

Having known them his whole life, it was no surprise that he’d developed a massive crush on Claudia in middle school. And he never shut up about it.

His confession at the end of seventh grade had very nearly torn their friend group to shreds. He wanted to ask her to the end of year dance, and when Claudia accepted he was ecstatic. Rayla had been happy for him, and just hoped that when they started dating, they wouldn’t be weird about it and make her and Soren uncomfortable.

But as it turned out, Claudia only thought of Callum as a friend. When she told him, Callum was crushed.

Rayla could still remember opening up her front door to see her best friend standing there, tears streaking down his face.

“Rayla, I just- I can’t believe how stupid I am-”

She pulled him into a fierce hug, and didn’t relinquish her grip on him until his mother came to pick him up. At school the next day, nobody could stop her wrath as she stalked up to Claudia and demanded answers.

“How could you?! You know how Callum feels about you, and you led him on anyway!” Rayla shouted.

“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings!” Claudia insisted, “And I do know how he feels and I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea-”

“No, I know what flirting looks like, and you led him on! He believed that you felt the same way!”

Claudia looked on the verge of tears, and some sick part of Rayla was glad for it. Let her feel bad for her actions, let her feel the same way Callum was feeling.

“Look, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings. I just… I don’t see Callum in that way.”

“Then why’d you keep flirting with him?” Rayla’s voice was dangerously low. Their shouting match had attracted a small audience in the school cafeteria.

“I…” She was at a loss for words.

“You know what?” Rayla snapped, “Save it for someone who cares. Explain yourself to Callum, not me. It’s him who needs the apology.”

The next few weeks were tense. Hardly any of them spoke to each other. Even though Soren was in high school and had nothing to do with the drama, he still sided with his sister, like Rayla knew he would.

Things worked out. Slowly, but surely, they worked out. But not without a lot of tears from everyone involved, a lot of yelling, a lot of accusations. Things worked out.

But even after Claudia and Callum were on speaking terms again, he decided to ditch the dance. Rayla, who never was going in the first place, was more than happy to offer up her couch for a night of movie watching and junk food eating. And sure, Claudia’s Instagram photos were cute, but for Rayla, nothing could beat the fun she was having with her best friend, right here.

Rayla was pretty sure that was when she’d started to fall in love with him. Or, more accurately, when she realized that she already had fallen in love with him.

However, confessing your love to your best friend after a recent heartbreak seemed like a bad idea. So she kept it to herself.

Which, she supposed, was how she found herself here, three years later, still madly in love with her best friend who was none the wiser, getting jealous over a relationship she both knew was purely innocent and also she had no claim over anyway.

Cool, Rayla, very cool.

Shoving down her stupid feelings, Rayla listened as Callum went over his plan for the evening. Review through chapter 2, take a 15 minute break, review through chapter 4, continue pattern until they got through all the chapters they needed.

The plan was met with a loud groan of complaint from Soren’s end. “Callum, why are you even doing this? You literally have a photographic memory.”

“Well, you guys don’t, so really I’m helping all of you!”

“I mean…” Rayla snorted, “Soren does have a point. Why are you so worried about studying, Callum?”

The teenage boy scratched at his neck awkwardly. “Well, uh, it’s kind of embarrassing, but… I’ve only skimmed for answers this entire time. I need to actually read the passages to remember it.”

Rayla just rolled her eyes. “Callum. Everyone on earth just skims for answers. We know you’re all goody two-shoes, teacher’s pet, but chill. You’re going to be fine.”

“How are you so chill, Rayla?” Callum demanded, “Weren’t you just freaking out, like, two seconds ago? Hello, Miss I’m-in-every-sport-imaginable?”

“Changing the subject!” Rayla declared loudly, “Open up the textbook, Callum!”

~~~~

“Time check,” Ram moaned from where his face was pressed into one of the beanbag chairs, “How much longer?”

“We’re at-” Callum attempted to respond, but was cut off by a yawn.

“Chapter six?” Rayla asked, though she wasn’t too sure herself. All the words were beginning to jumble together on the pages. At some point her notecards had gotten mixed up, and random dates and events were scattered all over the room.

“No, the time,” Ram complained. The other boy sat up, brushing his shaggy white hair from his eyes. “What time is it? My curfew is 11:30.”

Callisto grabbed their phone and took a glance. “11:15.”

“Ok, let’s review,” Callum suggested. However, the entire room gave a loud groan of complaint.

“My brain is melting!” Soren cried, dramatically tossing his head into Marcos’s lap. His boyfriend rolled his eyes at his antics, though he threaded his fingers through the other boy’s blond hair.

“Soren, you don’t have to take this test tomorrow!” Claudia snapped, “Don’t start whining!” The girl looked almost ready to start pulling her hair out.

“Alright,” Andromeda sighed, “My mom’s calling; she’s probably here to pick me up. Thanks for this, Callum. If I find a quizlet I’ll send it in the groupchat, okay?”

“Yes!” Skor cheered, “Quizlet is my lifesaver!”

“Pass me some Doritos, Rayla,” Callum muttered in quiet defeat. Rayla hummed in agreement, grabbing the chip bag from the pile of snacks nearby. Her friend was so tired that he didn’t even complain when she took a couple for herself.

One by one, the room began to empty. Callisto’s dad came to pick them up, Ram agreed to drive Skor home, and Claudia, Soren, and Marcos piled into Soren’s little car to drive off into the night.

That just left Rayla. And Callum. Alone.

“Place is a mess,” Callum sighed, taking in all the damage. Although they’d started out pretty clean, as the night wore on everyone got lazier and started just piling the trash where they were sitting. Crumbs spilled over the carpet, and empty soda cans rolled about.

“Let me help clean,” Rayla offered, “I mean, some of the mess is mine.” She gestured to the notecards spilled everywhere. Her mind was a bit fuzzy from exhaustion, but she was pretty sure she and Soren had started throwing them at each other at one point.

“No, it’s fine-” Callum sputtered, but Rayla just rolled her eyes.

“Let me help. Then we can both go to bed and you won’t get in trouble for the mess.” She left no room for argument, and started gathering up all the garbage and stuffing it in the empty grocery bags.

They worked in companionable silence, just tidying up the room. Rayla knew his house well enough to know where everything went, and tossed out all the garbage and swept up the lingering crumbs. Soon enough, the room looked nearly spotless again.

“See, fast!” Rayla chuckled. She glanced at her phone. “Just in time, too. Runaan’s asking where I am.”

Callum surprised her with a sudden hug, catching her off guard for a moment before she returned it, trying to calm her fluttering heart.

It’s just a hug. Friends hug all the time, don’t get all excited.

“Thanks for coming,” Callum said, a tiny bit breathlessly, “I know you were worried about the test and I wanted to help, sorry it got kind of out of hand.”

“You… organized this all… for me?” Rayla hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“Well, yeah,” He laughed, “Even though you probably didn’t need it. You know all the material really well.”

“Only thanks to you, and you know that,” Giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder, Rayla couldn’t contain her grin. “I do feel better prepared, though. I’ll pass. If my brain doesn’t turn to mush first.”

“You’ll ace it,” Callum assured her, “I’m sure of it.”

His green eyes were so bright. And his smile so genuine. Rayla returned it, albeit with less enthusiasm. “Thanks.” Her voice sounded stupidly high-pitched, even to her.

He held her gaze for another long moment before glancing down, at the buzzing phone in her hand that she hadn’t even noticed, too caught up in staring. “You should go. Get some sleep for the test tomorrow, huh?”

“Yeah,” Rayla breathed, “You too. I’ll see in English tomorrow.”

It was an effort to leave the room. To walk down the stairs, quietly so she wouldn’t wake his parents, and out the front door. To open up her door and get in the car, turn the key in the ignition.

The entire street was silent. That’s how it always was, she supposed. The first to arrive and the last to leave. A glance up told her Callum was staring out his bedroom window at her, watching her leave.

With a heavy sigh, Rayla put the car in reverse. Pulled out of the driveway.

She wasn’t naive. Callum had always been big on physical contact, and it had never meant anything more than he cared. She wasn’t willing to put her heart on the line like that, not when she was sure he didn’t like her that way.

Rayla was a risk taker. Always had been. But this? To risk the relationship she already had with her best friend? That was one risk she would never be willing to take.

~~~~

a/n: Poor Rayla! I would like to apologize to everyone in advance; the pining is not going to get better for a LONG TIME

Tag List: (comment to be added or removed)

@hipster-rapunzel

#the dragon prince #tdp #mal writes stuff #rayllum #rayla x callum

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scarletemeterio-thesecond · 4 years

Note

hey, i saw you write for tdp, could i request a soren x reader imagine where reader is a half-elf or something like that? please make reader gender neutral if you can

Omg, my first request! I love this idea, there are not enough Soren imagines, and of course I'll make it gender neutral! I hope you like it! It's a bit long because I had to put some context in it, much love <3

•••

Uncovered Secrets (Soren x Reader)

Warnings: Mentions of death

Genre: Angst, a lil bit of fluff.

Fandom: The Dragon Prince

Summary: See request

Word Count: 1978

part 2

I've always had to hide myself from everyone. I had to learn from a young age how to do it. I've always been told how, when I was a baby, I was found at the border and given to my father after saying he would take care of me, and he has ever since. I'm a hybrid, half Moonshadow Elf and half human, so I had to learn as soon as possible how to do magic in order to create illusions to hide my appearance. I remember when I first did it at the age of ten, I was so happy, all those years of covering my head and half of my face were over, I didn't even have to paint my eyebrows anymore; I could finally be normal and treated like any other human in Katolis.

Life from that moment really changed for me. My father was a respected general so I'd always lived in the castle, but I started hanging out with the other kids, Prince Callum and Lord Viren's children. We quickly became inseparable and did pretty much everything together. I think it's safe to say that everyone knew about my special friendship with Soren. I don't know why, but we just understood each other even from a young age, and it only got stronger as the years passed. He was always there for me as I was there for him, he'd helped me a lot when my father passed away and I trusted him with my life, we knew everything about each other... except for what I really was. I thought about telling him a couple times but I knew it was wrong, and I knew how much humans hated elves, even Soren. But this was the life I had, I was destined to hide from the people I cared about the most. Or at least, that was until Rayla appeared in our lives.

The two Princes, Rayla and I discovered that the egg of the dragon prince hadn't been destroyed, and we were going to take it home to its mother. During our trip, I decided to tell them the truth, if Rayla had been accepted as our friend then there was no reason to fear anymore. Thankfully, I was right, nothing changed between us and I even stopped using magic to hide my true appearance. It was weird but at the same time it felt right, it was freeing.

We've been staying with Lujanne for a few days now, enjoying the little dragon's company and giving ourselves a little break. Rayla and I knew we had to go, though, but the Princes weren't very interested on leaving yet, so we agreed to stay one more day. Everything seemed fine but the elven girl and I felt a bit unsafe, so we decided to take turns and keep guard in case something or someone decided to appear.

It was my turn to keep guard so I was looking for Rayla to replace her but when I found her she was lying on the ground, surrounded by two people. I prepared myself to attack, thanking my father for all those sword and combat lessons he'd make me take, I wouldn't let them hurt her.

"Get away from her!" I yelled as I approached them, but I stopped when I realized who they were. Soren and Claudia were standing a few feet away from me and it felt like I hadn't seen them in a lifetime.

"Oh, great, another elf?" Soren said. "So what, there's like a whole other group of you?" I could sense the hatred and disgust in his voice. He didn't recognize me, neither of them did. Before I could say or do something, Rayla woke up and took them by surprise.

She started fighting with Soren and I got out of my trance only when Callum showed up, trying to calm everyone down. He was happy to see them and I would've been too, but I just couldn't believe what had happened.

"She kidnapped you and Prince Ezran, how can she be good?" asked Claudia about Rayla. "And it seems like she didn't act alone because there's another one of them too!".

"No, wait! There was no kidnapping, Claudia. We went with her by choice" explained the older Prince. "And what do you mean by 'another one of them'?"

"Well, what does that mean then?" said Soren, pointing at me. Hearing him speak about me like that was the worst thing I could've ever imagined.

"That is (Y/N)" answered Rayla, clearly annoyed at the blonde boy.

"What do you mean? (Y/N)'s hair is not white and they don't have horns, or pointy ears, or those weird things under their eyes! Stop lying!"

"Soren, she's right. It's me" as soon as I said that I used my magic to change how I looked, going back to how they knew me. "I'm a hybrid, I've been using magic ever since I was ten to blend in".

I could tell he was shocked and he opened his mouth to say something but the words never came out.

"Listen, guys, it's late. Let's just get some rest and cool off, okay?" We all agreed to Callum's words and went back with the others but I could tell there was a thick tension in the air. And that tension stayed there until we all went to bed.

When we woke up, we had breakfast together and I started using my magic again, at least when Claudia and Soren were around, I already knew what they thought of me and I didn't want to put up with their looks too. I spent all day learning some magic with Lujanne, it was nice to learn from an actual mage and it didn't hurt to get my mind off some things for a while.

When I was done for the day and ready to go to bed, I heard someone knocking the door.

"Come in" I said loudly.

"You'll never guess what happened today, (Y/N)" said Rayla as she entered the room, we had become good friends in the last couple days and it felt nice to have someone kind of like me around. She told me about what Soren had done earlier that day, and about how she tried to talk to Callum but he didn't pay any attention to her. "And I just talked to Lujanne because maybe she would help me and I realized that the only way for them to completely trust me is by telling them the truth, even if it hurts them".

"The truth? What do you mean, Rayla?"

"This is not easy to say but... Their father is dead and I've been wanting to tell Callum but I just don't know how to and I-"

"Hey, Rayla. It's okay, you're just trying to protect them, I'm sure they will understand. We're friends, remember?" I interrupted her, trying to clam her down. She let out a deep breath and nodded with her head. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course, (Y/N). We're friends, remember?" she said, repeating my words. I smiled weakly before continuing.

"I'm not totally surprised about what you said about Soren, not after how he reacted with me at least. And you know what's the worst part? I'm sure that his father is behind what happened earlier today. I know him but he just needs Viren's approval, you know? And it hurts, a lot actually. I just hope he realizes there are people who truly care about him before it's too late".

"You like him, don't you?" I opened my eyes at her words, trying to deny it but all she did was smile. "You're not very good at hiding it, (Y/N)".

"I guess I'm not. I just hope that deep down you are wrong and that they both realize that what they're trying to do is wrong".

"I hope so, too" she hugged me tight, wrapping her arms around my neck. "It's late, I think I'm gonna go to bed" she said as she started heading towards the door to go to her room.

"Go, I'll stay up a bit longer".

And suddenly that 'bit longer' turned into at least two hours. I couldn't sleep, I just kept thinking about Soren and his attitude. I decided to get out of my room and go to the Moon Nexus, if I was going to stay awake thinking about things at least I would have a nice view while doing it.

I was standing against the edge when I heard someone coming. I started hiding my true appearance out of instinct but was interrupted in the middle of the act.

"You don't have to do that". Soren's voice sounded loud in contrast to the silence of the night. I stopped using my magic and he came to my side. "Can't sleep?"

"Yeah... What made you change your mind?" He stood there looking confused, not understanding what I was talking about. "Yesterday you didn't even recognize me without the illusion and even looked disgusted at the sight of me. What's changed?"

"I noticed you hide your elf-like features when I'm around, but I've never seen you being more you than when you stop hiding" I looked at him confused, I thought I'd made sure to use my magic whenever he was around. I could tell he saw how disconcerted I was. "I saw you practicing your magic earlier today and then playing with the kids. I've never seen you so... Happy and free".

There was a brief silence between us until I broke it.

"That's because I've never truly felt like that, until I stopped hiding".

"I'm sorry for acting like that yesterday, I was a fool. And I think you look really cute like this".

"So you don't hate me?"

"How could I ever hate you? You're the most important thing in my life, (Y/N)".

I smiled at his words and turned my gaze to the water underneath us. I looked into his eyes again and we started getting closer and closer, but just when our lips where about to touch, I backed off.

"I'm sorry but I really need to ask you something. Why did you lie to the boys earlier, saying that King Harrow missed them?" he looked confused and a little bit scared.

"W-What to you mean?"

"There's no way you hadn't known that he was dead, you literally are a Crown Guard, Soren. So just tell me why you did it, please".

Again, there was silence, but this time it was tense and extremely awkward.

"I-I'm sorry but-"

"But what? You can't tell me? Why? Because it would ruin whatever plan your father has regarding the Princes?" I stopped to look at him but he was avoiding my eyes. "Because you don't want to admit that it was a strategy to be able to kill the boys a lot easier by making them trust you?" I said, remembering what Rayla had told me before about the zip line.

He just stood there, now a few feet apart from me and I could se how surprised he was, but I also could see something else, that I was right about my assumptions.

"You don't understand, (Y/N), I-"

"Oh, no, Soren. I think I understand really well".

As soon as I said that I left, going back to my room with tears running down my face, and ignoring Soren's voice calling for me. How could he even think about doing that? How would I tell the Princes? Would I even tell them at all or would I just try to keep them safe without destroying the image they had about his so-called friend? I had so many questions and not even one answer. I only knew that Rayla wasn't wrong at all.

•••

Oh, boy, this took a long time to write. I was thinking about doing a part 2 but I'm not sure about it.

-Mica :)

#soren x reader #the dragon prince fic #the dragon prince #soren fic #soren fanfic #soren tdp #soren imagine #soren the dragon prince #the dragon prince imagines #tdp imagines #tdp x reader

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lisbonsteresa · 4 years

Text

(@raylaswife, I don’t know if you actually wanted something written off that apartment post, but if you did I hope you like it.)

————

It’s not even that Callum’s luck was bad, not really. It was more...inconvenient. It had been inconvenient that he’d forgotten Soren “borrowing” the last of their milk for his protein shake and that he had to eat dry cornflakes for breakfast. It was inconvenient that he’d run to catch the bus to the art shop and gotten to the stop just as it was pulling away. And it was definitely inconvenient that he had forgotten both his keys and umbrella, which resulted in him dripping onto the doormat, still struggling with his bags, as he called to his brother through the door to their apartment.

He couldn’t blame his inconvenient luck for the silence from the other side of the door though. That was all him. “Ez?” he tried again, pressing his ear to the wood. “I know you’re in there bud; I can hear the tv”. A few quick shuffled steps were followed by the click of the remote, then nothing.

“Listen, Ezran....I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled like that”. He really shouldn’t have, Callum knew. But when he’d found the last piece for his portfolio not drying on his desk like he left it, but instead lying facedown on the kitchen counter, jelly toad - and finger - prints covering the edges of the canvas, he’d snapped. “I’ve just been really stressed out about applying to art school, but I know that’s not a good excuse,” There was no response from the other side of the door, but he knew his brother was there. That was one of the many great things about Ezran - no matter how mad they got at each other, he was always willing to listen when Callum tried to explain himself. “and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you”.

“Or Bait”.

Callum couldn’t help but grin at that. “Or Bait. It’s just with...” his head dropped down to lean his forehead against the door as the full weight of finishing his portfolio while also cramming for community college finals; of suddenly finding himself as the main caretaker for his brother; of all the things with their dad that he was still trying to avoid dealing with - huh. Maybe he should try calling that therapist Claudia kept not-so-subtlety recommending - hit him again. “everything; it’s been....hard lately”.

There was a soft thump as Ezran let himself lean against the door. “Yeah, I know.” he said softly, his voice sounding like he knew exactly which ‘everything’ was weighing on Callum the most. They stood in silence for a moment, the door between them, before Ezran continued. “Okay then. I accept your apology.”

Callum straightened up and reminded himself for perhaps the millionth time how lucky he was to have a brother like Ezran. “Thanks Ez.” he smiled, before shuffling his bags into more manageable positions and reaching for the doorknob, “Now just unlock the door and we can -“

“But Bait does not”.

Callum froze, his hand stopping just before the doorknob, barely catching one of the bags as it threatened to slide off his arm and onto the floor. “Wait, what?”

“Bait has heard your apology,” Ezran was interrupted by a large snort, and Callum pictured his brother holding his pet toad’s big grumpy face up to scowl at him through the apartment’s peephole. “but he is not convinced that you deserve forgiveness”.

Callum resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He thought they had stopped playing along with the idea that his brother could understand Bait back when Ezran was in middle school. Then he heard a faint sniffle through the door and realized that maybe the toad wasn’t the only one who hadn’t fully forgiven him. “I see. And what would you recommend I do if I wanted to get back into Bait’s good graces?”

A beat. Then: “Bait says that if you’re really sorry....you have to do the thing”.

“I - wha- Ez, seriously? Out here?”

“Hey, Bait makes the rules. I am but his humble spokesperson”.

Barely containing a snort of laughter, Callum relented and carefully dropped his bags to the floor. “Alright, I’ll do it. But tell Bait that he might have one less jelly tart on his plate tonight.”

“Bait has decided that is an acceptable price to pay”.

Grinning, Callum rolled his shoulders out, stepped to the middle of the hallway, then spun around and bowed to the peephole he knew his brother was watching him through. “Very well. Let’s begin”. And then he danced.

Honestly, he didn’t ever really mind the dance once he got started. It was all high kicks and flailing arms and whatever weird or funny faces he could think to make; and it was actually kind of fun. It helped to let off some steam and just be goofy for a few minutes, Ezran’s laughter and clapping egging him on to throw in even sillier moves.

“Bait says knees higher! Knees higher!”

“Bait can’t even see my knees!” Callum called through a laugh.

“He can tell by your steps that your knees aren’t high enough!” Ezran shot back. “Come on, up up up!”

Once his arms started to burn, Callum knew it was time to bring out his big finishing move. “Get Bait ready!” he called in the direction of the apartment door, “this is gonna blow his mind!”. He launched himself into the air, spinning around with his arms wide, before coming down to land on one foot and kicking the other up in front of him. “Ta-“

“You planning on keeping this up all night,” an amused voice called from behind him, “or can I use the intermission to actually get into my apartment?”

Callum spun around so fast that the leg he was standing on nearly gave way, only just managing to grab onto the doorknob of Unit 4C before he dropped - very embarrassingly - onto his rear end in front of a total stranger. What a first impression.

To her credit, the stranger looked more entertained than annoyed. She looked about his age, maybe a year older, leaning against the wall with a reusable grocery bag slung over one shoulder and her hair - so blonde it almost looked white - tied up in a bun on top of her head. She was watching Callum with a small smirk lifting the corner of her mouth, and he realized belatedly that the keys dangling from her finger were in fact for Unit 4C. He also realized that he was still hanging off her doorknob. He should probably get up. Why wasn’t he getting up?

To his dismay, the smirk dropped into a frown and she pushed off the wall, crossing her arms over her chest while never taking her eyes off of him. “Is this something you do often?” she asked, a slight accent lifting the end of her sentence - Scottish, maybe? Welsh? - “Staring at strangers?”

Callum sprang up straight, face heating as he tried to find some way to save any part of this interaction. “No! No. No, of course not, no, because that would be a, um, really weird thing to do...” his thoughts trailed off as he finally looked the stranger dead-on. “...You have really pretty eyes.” Why would he say that?!

She did, in his defense. Bright violet eyes that popped open in surprise over his complete inability to keep his stupid foot out of his stupid mouth. “Thank you?” she replied, looking confused; the tips of her slightly pointed ears turning pink. And now he was embarrassing her on top of everything oh god this was a disaster.

“Anyway!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together as if it might dissolve some of the awkward energy in the air. “Sorry about all the,” he waved his arms around in a bad imitation of his already bad dancing “...that. I don’t normally do that in that hallway. Or anywhere public if I can help it”. The stranger just kept standing there, watching his floundering with an at best bemused (and at worst annoyed) look on her face “It’s kind of this whole thing -“

“It’s Callum’s Famous Jerkface Dance!” Ezran’s voice called out from behind their door. Callum jumped - he had almost forgotten that Ez might still be within earshot - and the stranger whipped her head around looking for the source of the noise, pulling her bag closer to her as if she was preparing to defend it from an unexpected attacker.

“Sorry! Sorry.” Callum winced, rubbing the back of his neck and wondering how this conversation had gone so far off of normal. “That’s Ezran, my brother. He’s over in our apartment” he jerked a thumb behind him towards unit 4D “You can meet him later.” the stranger quirked an eyebrow. “Or not at all!” he continued in a rush. “Because why would you want to meet the brother of the guy who you saw doing the -“ he paused, risking a glance towards her, “um, how much of that did you see, by the way?”

The stranger’s smirk was back, but Callum couldn’t decide if he should take that as a victory or not. “Enough”.

Right. So he was never going to be able to talk to his new neighbor again. “Oh. Okay, cool, uh, yeah....” he stammered. “It’s just this thing that we agreed on when we were kids, that I do to apologize when I’m being -“

“A jerkface?”

“Yeah, see, you get it!” he was relieved to see that her smirk had softened. It seemed like she had decided he was in fact more entertaining than he was annoying. “Anyway, sorry you had to walk in on that. It’s pretty embarrassing”.

“Nah,” she replied, looking like she was barely holding back a laugh, “It was cute”.

Callum couldn’t really say for sure what happened after that. There was a roaring in his ears, and his grasp on the English language suddenly disappeared. He must have sputtered something though, because the next thing he knew the stranger actually was laughing at him. “Hey Ezran,” she called to the door behind him, her sparkling eyes never leaving his, “is your brother always this articulate?”

“Most of the time, yeah.” Ezran’s voice called out (sounding very amused by his brother’s suffering).

“Thank you for that Ez.” Callum hissed, his face burning red and hoping his brother could see the glare he was leveling at the peephole. He turned back to the stranger with an awkward laugh, praying they could both pretend he’d played this whole thing off much better than he had. “Family, right?” he chuckled, hoping to find some kind of ‘can’t live with ‘em’ commonality.

The stranger smiled back at him, but her eyes suddenly looked....almost sad. “Yeah, family...” she trailed off, twisting a braided string bracelet around her wrist for a moment before she blinked and seemed to come back to herself. “Well, anyway,” she lifted her grocery bag and avoiding his gaze “I’d better get this inside before my ice cream completely melts”. She spun around and started to unlock her apartment door, leaving Callum blindsided yet again. Had he said something wrong? Offended her? Should he apologize, or would that make things worse?

But before he could fall completely down that thought spiral, she turned back to him and her eyes were warm again. “But it was really nice to meet you, Callum. And you too, Ezran!” she called across the hall.

A happy “Mhmm!” came from behind the door of 4D; the sound of someone whose mouth was too full to actually speak. Callum couldn’t help but laugh: “He’s probably 6 jelly tarts in at this point, but take it from both of us that it was really nice to meet you too.....” he trailed off as he realized he’d never actually gotten her name.

“Rayla”. she supplied with a grin.

“Rayla.” he repeated, grinning back at her. It was a pretty name (though thankfully this time he kept the thought to himself). “So, I guess we’ll see you around then?”

She stepped into the doorway of her apartment and turned back to face him. “I hope so.” she replied, shooting a wink at him just before the door closed.

Callum stood frozen in the hallway for another moment before he could remember how to make his legs work. He walked as quickly as he could into his apartment and leaned up against the back of the door, trying very hard to ignore the urge to spend the rest of the day sketching his new neighbor’s pretty eyes.

(It was inconvenient to realize, half an hour later, that he had left his bags outside their door, but somehow he couldn’t find it in himself to complain.)

#also: 1. sorry @everyone i have no idea how to add a ‘read more’ to this on mobile #and 2. it’s been so long since i’ve written anything please accept this mess #rayllum #the dragon prince #longpost

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wherepoetswentodie · 4 years

Text

This is a thing I’m working on that will not see the light of day for ages because I feel guilty for being bad at updating and also this seems to be the only thing my brain likes to write at the minute so

----

Connor McKinley did not see the point in health class, virtual baby dolls (that might have been possessed by Satan himself, or at least a close friend) and going to BYU in the fall. What he was going to do, however, was go to health class, look after a virtual baby doll (that might have been possessed by Satan himself, or at least a close friend) and pretend he was going to BYU when (if) his parents asked, but actually get into the University of Michigan.

But as he sat in health class - a class of six people, so he wasn’t sure it could even be called a class - he was beginning to think that maybe he’d prefer to be at BYU. Which may or may not have been a death sentence for him. He had never quite worked out how homophobic it really was and hoped that he never would have to.

“Do you think this teacher is ever going to turn up?” Nabulungi, his best friend and ‘girlfriend’ when his aunties were curious, asked.

“I hope not,” Connor sighed, “I don’t trust babies,”

“They’re not real babies,”

“Somehow that makes it worse,”

He glanced around the class, trying to remember if anyone there had ever thrown homophobic abuse his way. Chris Thomas and James Church definitely hadn’t, considering they were his best friends and Chris was practically sat in James’ lap. He looked towards the back of the room and immediately groaned, shocked that he hadn’t heard Arnold Cunningham before he’d seen him. Or maybe his best friend, and unfortunately attractive republican, Kevin Price had finally worked out how to keep him quiet.

Connor might have actually tried to talk to him if it weren’t for the fact that his dad was the (incredibly homophobic) Governor of Utah

“Arnold Cunningham is in this class,” Connor muttered to Nabulungi who immediately brightened up and turned around to grin at him.

“He’s cute,” she whispered.

“No.” Connor said, “Nabulungi. No. Don’t. No. Don’t even look at me. I can’t believe - him? You think he’s cute?”

Nabulungi rolled her eyes and suddenly had a coughing fit that sounded an awful lot like “Steve Blade,”. Connor tutted and turned back to the front of class, if not just so he could pretend that his best friend didn’t have a crush on Arnold Cunningham of all people. He thought that he’d be able to deal with her liking Kevin, and that would probably come with a healthy dosage of hate crimes for all involved.

“You know if the teacher doesn’t turn up in 15 minutes we’re legally allowed to leave,” Arnold piped up.

Connor rolled his eyes and Nabulungi had the nerve to laugh and turn around to talk to him. Deciding that he should try and stop her before things got too serious, Connor turned around, only to lock eyes with Kevin who was looking between Nabulungi and Arnold like he’d never seen them before. Or maybe he was just shocked that someone was actually showing interest in Arnold. Perhaps he was just glad to find someone who might take Arnold off his hands. Connor had never really understood why the two of them were friends.

“You know Naba likes Arnold?” Connor whispered to Chris and James.

James frowned at him, “Who do you think she was out with when she couldn’t come out with us last weekend?”

Connor gaped at him, “Seriously? Are they - Are they dating?”

“I hate you,” Chris said, “Do you ever listen to any of us? That was their first date!”

“I thought she was joking,” Connor muttered, slumping in his seat and trying to block out the sounds of his best friend flirting with someone who dressed up as Luke Skywalker when he went to Comic-Con.

God, he hoped that Nabulungi wasn’t going to start going to Comic-Con with him. He was pretty sure that he’d have to stage an intervention. A little bit like the one that she had staged for Chris after his sugar addiction had stopped being a cute personality trait and had become a genuine health concern.

“Did you ask me to take this class because of Arnold?” Connor asked quietly.

“No, I asked you because someone needed another class to graduate or someone won’t be tap dancing around Michigan next year,”

“Are you going to Michigan, buddy? So’s Kevin!” Arnold said excitedly.

Connor froze and turned around to look at Kevin, who’s eyes were also wide, “University of Michigan or Michigan State?”

“University of Michigan,” Kevin said quietly, “You?”

“Same,” Connor mumbled, “I’m guessing you’re not doing musical theatre?”

“Probably economics. Or business. Or whatever else it is republicans do,” Chris said, “Oppress minorities?”

Before Kevin could argue back, presumably to tell them that he wasn’t going to be majoring in oppressing minorities because Connor didn’t think that was a valid major (if it was, he was definitely going to the wrong university), the door opened and their teacher, Mr. Name-Connor-Couldn’t- Be -Bothered- To- Learn walked in.

And even though Connor wasn’t going to bother to learn his name, he was thankful that he was their teacher. He was old, and retiring that year, which meant that he was long passed caring about actually teaching and would most likely pass them all without even looking over any of their work. They had basically signed up for another free period, and Connor was already planning on using this hour to work on his book and maybe even convince James to take some new headshots for him. Surely looking after a fake baby doll wasn’t going to be that hard. There was probably an off button that Connor was more than prepared to utilise.

“Get in pairs,” the teacher grumbled at them, “I don’t care who,”

Connor turned to Nabulungi with the intent to ask if she would grant him the honour of being the mother of his baby, just as she turned to Arnold to ask if he would be the father of her baby. He watched in horror as Arnold gleefully nodded his head and proceeded to stand behind Connor’s chair in a way that he understood meant ‘Please move’.

“Chris,” Connor said quickly, “Wanna-”

“No can do, buddy!” Chris said brightly, “Price needs a partner though,”

“I hate you both,” Connor told them before sitting in the seat that Arnold had previously.

The fact that Kevin didn’t seem all too excited about their predicament didn’t make Connor feel much better. Sure, he didn’t want to partnered with Kevin, but that was because he didn’t want to work with a raging homophobe and Kevin probably didn’t want to be partnered with him because he didn’t want to work with a raging homosexual.

Not that Connor really thought that he was a raging homosexual, but he had long since learned that homophobic republicans (Governor Price sprang to mind), didn’t see a difference between the tiny pride pin that Connor dared pin to his jackets and the Drag Queens that worked in gay bars. It was oddly progressive, in a way.

“Can you at least pretend to not hate me?” Kevin asked, “It’s not my fault Arnold’s dating your best friend,”

Connor rolled his eyes, “Can you actually not hate me? It’s not my fault I’m gay,”

Kevin glared at him for a second before he stood up to go and grab a baby off Mr. What's-His-Face’s desk. He completely bypassed the lone ginger baby in favour of one with dark hair, which Connor took as the first hate crime of the project. Perhaps he could do a second, smaller project on the side where he kept a tally of how many hate crimes Kevin committed over the next week.

And when Mr. Name-Connor-Really-Should-Learn told them that they would have to stay over at each other's houses in an attempt to really drive home the experience of parenthood, Connor predicted that the final total of hate crimes would be a lot.

“Sir?” Kevin said, sticking his hand in the air, “Why do we have to stay at each other's houses?”

“Because, Callum, we don’t want to encourage single parenthood,”

“My names Kevin,” he said impatiently, “But you’ll encourage gay parenthood?”

“He didn’t mean it like that!” Arnold said quickly, turning around to glare furiously at his best friend, “He just - He meant...He meant from like a Mormon point of view,”

“So still a homophobic point of view?” James asked lightly, “I’m not gonna sit and listen to him whilst he constantly attacks who I am!”

“I wasn’t attacking you,” Kevin snapped, “I’m just - my dad would-”

“-kill us all given the chance?” Chris said.

“My dad wouldn’t like it if he knew!” Kevin said quickly.

“Don’t tell him, Corey. What do you think he’s gonna do? Kill you?” Mr. Connor-Wanted-To-Say-Brown said, “You’re practically an adult, sort it out yourself,”

Connor sighed and slumped in his chair, glaring down at his desk. He wasn’t sure what was worse; spending a week with Kevin at his own house with his homophobic parents, or spending a week with Kevin and his homophobic parents at their house. Both seemed equally as bad and a very good excuse to throw himself in front of the school bus.

“You’re not staying at my house,” Kevin said quickly.

“Cute that you think I want to stay there,” Connor said, “I’ll give you a ride home,”

“I’m at swim practice after school so I’ll meet you there,”

“I have rehearsal,” Connor said, “I’ll meet you at my car. It’s the-”

“I know what your car is,”

“Oh,” Connor said with a frown, “Oh. Okay. Well, I’ll...I’ll see you later,”

--------

“Do you think I could steal this dress once we’re done?” Nabulungi asked, twirling around in her Belle dress.

“When are you ever gonna wear a bright yellow ball gown again?”

Nabulungi shrugged, “Target?”

Connor snorted and turned to stare at himself in the mirror. Playing the Beast was fun, but the costume certainly wasn’t. He blew some fur out of his mouth and turned to glower at Nabulungi, as though his quite terrible costume was all her fault.

“I’m uncomfortable,” he said, taking the mask off and dropping it onto a chair, “It’s really annoying that I can’t turn into the Prince halfway through instead,”

“That defeats the point of the show though. She falls in love with him when he’s a beast, not when he’s a Prince,”

Connor scrunched his face up, “That feels illegal,”

“It’s not real,” she reminded him.

“Never realised that, thanks,” he muttered, eyes darting around the room until they came to stop where they always did: on Steve Blade.

When talking to any of his friends, Connor assured him that he was very much over Steve Blade and was not at all bitter about the way that everything ended. In reality, he was very much not over Steve Blade and was extremely bitter about the way everything ended. It made playing the Beast opposite his Gaston extremely easy; their fight scene never felt forced and Connor felt like he didn’t need claws to rip his head off. Spite was enough.

Nabulungi tutted when she saw where he was looking and punched his arm.

“No.” she said, “Stop thinking about Steve Blade!”

“I’m not!” Connor exclaimed before very casually adding, “He text me last night,”

“If you text him back-“

“I didn’t,” Connor said, lying effortlessly, “I ignored him. I’m not gonna go back to him,”

Nabulungi huffed a little, “Good. He got what he wanted from you,”

“My virginity?”

“Yes,” Nabulungi said bluntly.

Connor sighed and turned away from Steve, thankful that he hadn’t done anything that suggested they had been talking for most of the previous night. Though that might have been because he was terrified of Nabulungi, Chris and James and didn’t want to get on the wrong side of them. (Again).

Not that Connor himself wasn’t scared of his friends, sometimes. Especially where Steve Blade was concerned. Still, there was nothing quite as terrifying as an extremely irate Stage Manager in the form of Chris Thomas. The only person he hadn’t shouted at all day was James, even though he was extremely behind in his set painting duties. Connor had gotten one entrance wrong and Chris had described, in great detail, how he was gonna murder him.

“Oh my god,” Nabulungi said in a hushed voice, “Did you know Elizabeth was still choreographing?”

“Huh?” Connor said, “I thought someone else had taken over. Chris said she was too ill,”

“Well, she's here,”

Connor glanced over at the door and unintentionally winced as Chris wheeled his twin sister in. She looked worse than the last time he had seen her, and even then he had found it too difficult to look at her.

The school had invited her back to choreograph the show (an unspoken “one last time” hanging in the air), and she had gotten through the first two weeks of rehearsal before she had to leave. Now, with only one week to go before their first performance, having her come back seemed pointless. As he thought about it, Connor realised it only seemed pointless to him because he (hopefully) had more shows in his future. It was very unlikely she had any.

“Hey, Liz!” Connor said cheerfully as Chris wheeled her over, “How are you?”

“Dying,” she said bluntly.

Connor froze, immediately looking up to Chris for some help. Elizabeth laughed and rolled her eyes.

“It was a joke,” she said, “Sort of. How are you finding the choreography?”

“Fine,” Connor said quickly, happy to steer the conversation away from death, “Yeah, fine,”

“‘Fine’ unless we’re talking about Tale as Old as Time,” Nabulungi said, “Which is really all he needs to do,”

“Drop me in it, why don’t you?” Connor muttered.

Admittedly, Connor was terrible at ballroom dancing. If he wasn’t tripping over his own feet, he was tripping over Nabulungi’s feet and if he wasn’t tripping over Nabulungi’s feet he was tripping over her dress. It only served as a reminder that he probably shouldn’t have been playing the Beast. He would have been more than happy with the ensemble, or maybe LeFou at a stretch, but Nabulungi had convinced him to audition for the lead, just because they’d probably never have a chance to play opposite each other again.

“I prefer tap dancing,” Connor said after Nabulungi had finished explaining that the rather large bruise on her thigh was a result of Connor falling right on top of her when he had tried to pick her up.

“Come on, then,” Elizabeth sighed, slowing getting to her feet, “I’ll help you,”

“Uh, what are you doing?” Chris asked.

“Teaching Connor how to dance, why?” she asked, taking Connor’s hand.

“You can’t! The Doctor said that-“

“-I still have 6 months,” she reminded him, “What’s one ballroom dance going to do?”

“Drop her, and I’ll kill you,” Chris snapped, before rushing off to snap at the poor lighting techs.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the back of Chris’ head as she placed Connor’s hand on her waist and began counting him through the steps. It was a lot easier, being taught by someone who actually knew what they were doing (the new choreographer had not offered much help outside of ‘smile!’).

“You are good at this,” she told him once the song had ended, “All you need is more confidence in yourself,”

“I don’t think ballroom dancing is my thing,” Connor sighed, “and also not dressed like this,”

“Dancing is your thing, Connor,” she said firmly, holding onto his arm as she, if possible, grew paler, “By the time you finish college, you’ll be top of your game,”

Connor smiled and helped her back to her chair, hoping that Chris wasn’t going to commit a crime because he had tired her out. Not that Connor could blame him for being so overprotective; he couldn’t imagine watching his siblings slowly die, and he didn’t even like them that much.

“You didn’t have to be here,” Connor said, sitting next to her and watching a run through of Gaston.

“I know, but Christopher can’t say no to me anymore,” she said, “and he always drives me to McDonalds afterwards. Plus-“ she broke off suddenly, frowning, “I can hear a baby crying,”

“Wha - oh, shit,”

Connor jumped to his feet and hurried underneath the bleachers. He had hidden Brigham the baby underneath there in the hopes that he wouldn’t be too loud. Kevin had point blank refused to take him to swim practice, and Connor was starting to think that he would be learning what it was going to be like to be a single dad.

“Sorry,” Connor said, awkwardly rocking the doll, “It’s my baby,”

“Health class?” she asked.

“Yep,” Connor said miserably, “He’s called Brigham,”

“Who’s your partner? Naba?”

Connor scoffed, “I wish. No, it’s Kevin Price,”

“The Governor's son?”

“Yeah...”

She stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter, “I’m sorry. I know it’s not funny but - oh, sweetie. Are they still doing the thing where you have to stay with your partner?”

Connor sighed and nodded, “I’m not going over to his house. Lord knows I don’t need to meet Governor Price,”

“So...he’s going to yours?” she asked in a small voice.

“It’ll be fine,” Connor said hurriedly, “My parents don’t need to know,”

When Connor finally got out of rehearsal and spotted Kevin awkwardly hovering by his car, he thought that his parents probably wouldn’t be too angry if Kevin was the boy he brought home. As this thought crossed his mind, he remembered exactly who his parents were and what they expected of him. They’d probably get angry if Joseph Smith himself was the boy he brought home.

Not that Connor would want to bring Joseph Smith home. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to deal with the whole Prophet thing.

“How are we gonna bring him home?” Kevin asked.

“I don’t know. He’s a doll. We’ll just put him in the back,”

Kevin tutted, “You can’t drive a baby home like that! I’ll hold him,”

“You know he’s not a real baby, right?” Connor asked slowly.

“I’ve never failed a class in my life, and you’re not about to make me,” Kevin snapped, taking Brigham into his arms.

“Alright, chill,” Connor muttered, “It’s not that deep,”

Kevin spent the majority of the car journey to Connor’s house glowering out of the window, Brigham held tightly in his arms. If it weren’t for the fact that Kevin was also male, it might have been the closest that Connor ever got to being straight. He had lost count of the amount of couples he had seen (mainly at Church), who so obviously resented each other but had had a child together so that they could live up to the Mormon standard.

It was probably the life that Kevin was going to live, and Connor felt sorry for him until he realised that he was homophobic and suddenly couldn’t care less.

As soon as Connor pulled up outside of his house, his mouth went dry and his palms became sweaty. This was not at all unusual, but it was even worse with Kevin being there with him.

Taking a deep breath, Connor got out of the car and waited for Kevin to do the same. He was taking an awfully long time, holding Brigham close to his chest as he carefully got out, and Connor wasn’t sure he could last a whole week without committing a felony. Or if Kevin could last a whole week without committing a hate crime.

“Are you gonna come in?” Kevin asked.

Connor’s neck snapped up to face Kevin, who was standing on the front porch.

“Get off there!” Connor hissed, lurching forward to grab his arm and yank him backwards.

“Watch the baby!” Kevin yelled.

“Shush!” Connor whispered, glancing up at the house and dragging Kevin around the side of the house when he saw someone inside - probably his mom - start to pull the curtains back, “Don’t yell!”

Kevin frowned at him, “What the heck is your problem, McKinley?”

“How long have you got?” Connor muttered.

He walked around the back of the house to where the basement door was, quickly unlocking it and shoving Kevin through it before one of his parents made an appearance in the back garden. And he couldn’t help but curse his best friends, because it would have been beyond easier to have just moved in with Naba or Chris for a week.

Kevin stood awkwardly in the middle of the middle room and it suddenly occurred to Connor that he was probably used to places that were more...grand.

“Is there a reason we’re in your basement?” Kevin asked, “Are you going to murder me?”

Connor tutted and walked over to his makeshift kitchen (a mini-fridge, kettle, toaster, microwave and mini-grill on top of his chest of drawers), beginning to make his usual after school snack of two Poptarts and a can of Redbull. If this was also occasionally his dinner, no one needed to know.

“Do you want anything?” Connor asked.

Kevin shook his head as he gently laid Brigham on Connor’s bed, “I brought something,”

“You don’t trust my cooking?”

“I follow a strict diet,” Kevin said, “I’m a swimmer, remember?”

“Oh, yeah...” Connor muttered, dropping down onto one of the beanbags that Mr and Mrs Thomas were kind enough to donate to him, “There’s an airbed for you. I’ll blow it up later,”

Kevin nodded and perched on the edge of Connor’s bed, his eyes darting around the room. Connor picked at his Poptart, feeling increasingly awkward. He would suggest that Kevin stay at his own house and lie to Mr. Teacher-That-Connor-Would-Probably-Never-Know-The-Name-Of, but he had a feeling that Kevin was not one to ever break the rules.

“Why are we actually in the basement?” Kevin asked, “Shouldn’t you tell your parents your home? And that I’m here?”

“No,” Connor said, “If it were up to them, I wouldn’t be in the house,”

“Um...”

“I’m gay, they don’t like it, they moved me into the basement because it makes them feel less guilty than if they actually kicked me out,” Connor shrugged, “on the rare occasion that I do actually see them, they remind me that once I’ve left for college, that’s it. I’m out, for good,”

Kevin stared at him, his mouth hanging open. Connor clenched his jaw and looked back down at his Poptarts, wondering if there was a worst person to have this conversation with. He didn’t even like talking about it to his friends, never mind someone he barely knew and who definitely hated him in the same way that his parents did.

Thankfully, Brigham started wailing and Kevin was too distracted to ask Connor anymore questions.

It was definitely going to be the longest week of his life.

#fun fact: I don't realy know what governors do but I am going to find that out before I publish this #I feel like America has too many political offices #Like calm down #For the sake of most of the world #and my fanfiction #kevin price #connor mckinley #elder price #elder mckinley #my writing #tbom #tbom musical #bom #arnold cunningham #elder cunningham #nabulungi hatimbi #arnaba #churchtarts

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iwillhaveamoonbase · 4 years

Text

Roller Rink

Just a self-indulgent roller skating AU inspired by Kylie Minogue's On a Night Like This. Perfect roller rink song.

------------------

Don't say it's like a fantasy

When you know this is how it should be

You kiss me, I'm falling

Can you hear me calling?

You touch me, I want you

Feels like I've always known you

Callum gulped as he tried to keep his knees straight on the skates. He, Soren, Claudia, and Ezran were at the new roller rink disco that opened up in town. He had little experience with roller skates but he had accepted Soren and Claudia’s invitation because he heard it was a popular spot with other kids their age. Callum didn’t see many people in uniforms like him and his group of friends. “Public school,” Soren had muttered.

Callum turned his head when he heard an accented voice say “YES. GAY ICON QUEEN!”

He turned his head to see a group of kids in street clothes laughing at the girl in the middle, her fist pumped in the air. “You’re Bi, Rayla. Shouldn’t you be excited about a Bi-con?”

“Get them to play ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You’ and we can have this conversation.”

“Leave her alone,” a tall guy with white hair said. “She grew up with two dads. She knows every single gay icon and disco star out there.”

“Not all of them. But, yeah, I grew up on Kylie, Madonna, Queen, David Bowie, Cher. You name it, I’ve probably heard it at least once.” Callum watched as she smiled. Her long white hair was in a ponytail and her face seemed free of make-up except for purple eyeliner that drew your eye to the startling purple of her eyes. “I’m gonna skate. This is too good to pass up.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No, thanks.” Callum couldn’t look away as she skated into the middle and began to dance as she skated around the room. Her full lips were either mouthing the words or she actually was singing along.

On a night like this

I wanna stay forever, stay forever

On a night like this

Just wanna be together

On a night like this

She passed him; their eyes made contact for a brief moment. Callum watched as her eyes took him in. They widened for a moment before lowering slightly. She smiled, gave a wink, and skated backwards, keeping eye contact with him. Her finger crooked a bit and she beckoned him forward.

For a brief moment, Callum forgot he could not skate. He let go of the wall and tried to skate forward. He fell forward on his face. ‘Great. Embarrassed myself in front of the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. Great.’

Now I'm getting closer to you

Hold me, I just can't be without you

He heard laughing. His cheeks burned, but when he lifted his head, he saw the pretty girl leaning down with a hand out. “You learning how to skate?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“No, of course not.” She smiled again. He could hear the sarcasm in her voice but didn’t detect any maliciousness. “You want me to help?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I require a price, though.”

Callum looked down. Of course she did. She probably saw his uniform and thought she could extort the rich kid. “Oh?” He winced at just how disappointed he sounded.

“Yeah. If you’re comfortable, at the end, you wanna make out?”

Callum stared at her. “Wha?”

“You’re pretty cute. I’m a sucker for a pair of green eyes and floofy hair.”

Callum looked at her bare arms, showing off toned muscle. “I’m pretty weak, though.”

“What’s your point?” Callum was quiet. Soren was always teasing him about his noodle arms and that he needed to build-up some muscle. “I know I look pretty buff for a girl, but I’m not into muscle heads. I like my SOs to be intellectuals. And you have to appreciate disco; just a head’s up.”

You kiss me, I'm falling

It's your name I'm calling

You touch me, I want you

Feels like I've always known you

Rayla helped him up, holding his hands. Slowly she skated backwards and led him forward. Callum found it easy to not focus on his feet as he was captivated by her mouth moving along to the song again. She was singing a bit. There was a haunting quality to her voice, like a siren calling to him. “You got it?”

“I think so.”

“OK. I’m gonna let go of one hand. Try to keep up with me.” That was all the warning Callum got before she let go of his hand and moved to skate beside him. He almost fell a few times, but the girl, Rayla, caught him each time. “By the way, I’m Rayla.”

“I know.” She raised a brow. “I heard your friends and you talking.”

“Ah. Well, then it’s so weird to say I’ve been watching you since you and your friends came in.”

Callum looked at her. “Guess not.”

“Your name?”

“Sorry. Callum.”

“Well, Callum, do you think you can skate solo?”

“I can try.” Rayla let go of his hand, skating circles around him as he tried to stay upright. He was still awkward and almost tripped, but he was able to keep his balance for longer than a few seconds. Rayla took his hand again and pulled him with her around the rink.

On a night like this

I wanna stay forever, stay forever

On a night like this

Just wanna be together

On a night like this

“Do you normally find strange boys around the roller rink?”

“Nope. You’re the first. Do you look for girls to teach you how to skate?”

“No. First time.”

Rayla side-eyed him. “What do you think of the song?”

“It’s pretty disco for being pop music.”

“Kylie Minogue. Australian goddess, gay icon, disco queen. My dads almost demanded my birth parents give me the name ‘Kylie’ because they all met dancing to a Kylie song.”

“What song?”

“The Locomotion.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard that one.”

“I’ll have to fix that.”

Callum blinked as Rayla led him towards the edge of the rink, right by the door. “Everything OK?”

Rayla looked up at him. “You comfortable paying my price?”

Callum gulped. “Yes and no.” She tilted her head, brow quirked. “I’ll pay it but I want your number. I don’t do casual…make-outs.”

“You got it.” Rayla rushed to pull off her skates, Callum struggling with the ties. When they were finally off, Rayla pulled him into a dark alcove of the rink. She was slow, gently taking his lips and moving against him until he was comfortable enough to move with her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, his winding around her waist. There was lightning shooting through him as Rayla ran a hand through his hair and tongue against his. When they pulled apart for air, they panted into the tiny pocket they had created for themselves. Her eyes glowed in the dark like two neon lights drawing him back in.

He took her lips, cupping one hand against her neck and holding her closer. Rayla responded by clenching her fist in his shirt. Rayla sighed against him, body relaxing for a moment. Without thinking, he ran a hand down until it reached her waist. He pulled her a bit closer, running his thumb along her hip bone. He froze, about to pull away and apologize for not asking, but she grabbed his hand and held him there.

“Don’t run away,” she whispered against his lips when they pulled apart.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“I’m not upset. Trust me, if I was upset, I would have slapped the shit out of you and walked away.” Rayla pulled her phone out and got his number, quickly texting him to give him her’s. “Call me. I don’t play games. You have 24 hours to at LEAST text me and let me know you’re still interested.”

“What if I send you a text in ten minutes?”

“That would be ideal.” Callum couldn’t even wait that long. He sent her a winky face emoji right then. She laughed. “I see.”

Forty minutes later, Callum walked hand in hand with Rayla out of the alcove. Their lips were thoroughly swollen, hair messed up and loose as well as their clothing being a bit wrinkled. Soren was the first to find them, surely about to give Callum a lecture about disappearing when he saw the two. He looked at Rayla and then back at Callum. “How did this happen?”

Rayla tilted her head. “He’s pretty cute.” She turned to Callum. “You’ll call me tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’ll let you plan the first date, then.”

“Art museum OK?”

“Of course. I go with my dads all the time. But I require a trip to the park for ice cream after.”

“Deal.” Rayla gave him a brief kiss for a moment before wandering off to find her friends.

Soren put a hand on Callum’s shoulder, squeezing it. “How did that happen?”

“No clue.”

“She’s hot as hell. You got lucky.”

“Yeah. I did.”

#rayllum #rayllum fanfic #tdp #the dragon prince #au #moonbase fanfics

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goddessofeternity · 3 years

Text

Chronicles of the Supernovas: Chosen

Chapter 3: Moving On

Nerissa

“I do not see why you dragged me along with you to this side of the galaxy…”

“Well for one thing...you said that you would treat me if I learned better control over my shapeshifting.”

“I am aware of that, but I meant getting you food. Not...this…” I smiled as he raised his arms up, several articles of clothing hanging on his muscular arms. I did want him to get me some food after this, but since he said he would treat...why not extend the scope of the offering? He didn’t seem to mind at first, but I think my indecisiveness was starting to work his nerves. I could admit that I took advantage of his care for me, but he never really complained about it. It had been some time since we last hung out together like this. He did give me quite the tug on my horn earlier after the prank Ka’seem and I did on him. It could have been worse in my opinion, we always had more ideas to rattle Nim. I know that he would always forgive me no matter what I did...maybe.

“Nerissa...are we finished yet?” I looked at his annoyed face and felt bad, so I nodded and he went to the pay for it all. Sitting in one of the chairs, I watched a family look over some matching outfits to wear. The daughter didn’t seem like she wanted to have anything to do with it at all, while her younger siblings looked ecstatic. Feeling my heart tug, I looked away from the happy family. It was funny to know that my heart still yearned and felt pain for memories that I could never have. It had been years since I saw my father, and even longer since I saw my mother. I saw my brother on a regular basis though and we were as close as ever. I often asked about our mother, but he only gave me vague answers. He told me that I should look to the future instead of the past, but a part of me couldn’t let her go. She used to care about me and love me, and that was the part of her that I desperately wanted to hold onto.

I had no doubt that my father must have done something to her. I couldn’t prove this fact of course, but it just seemed the plausible assumption. As much as I hated him, I never once tried to use my new powers against him. I was far stronger than he was and it would be easy, but I never liked doing things the easy way. Lady Serafina wouldn’t want me to give into anger and hate either, I know that she wanted to give him a harsher sentence, but my mother had made such a fuss that she left them alone. I wondered how she was doing, Celica had handled her punishment back then and it was hardly over.

Celica never gave me the fine details of it, but I never had any intention of asking about it, mostly because she always had a dark look in her eyes when it was mentioned. I flinched as I felt a tug on my horn, looking up Nim looked at me with a raised brow. I smiled and wrapped my arm through his and dragged him out the store. “Are you feeling ok Nerissa?”

“Just thinking about the past.”

“Why?”

“It happens sometimes don’t worry your cute little tail about it. I’m great, but we’ve talked about me enough for the day. How are you doing?”

“....”

“I figured that would be your response. I know something that will be more your speed. Why don’t you see how good my water control is? I’ve been doing some pretty impressive things lately.”

“Is it better now that you aren’t drunk enough to flood another planet?”

“......” I opened and closed my mouth before I laughed in embarrassment. In all fairness, it was a bet that I clearly was not ready to handle. Lady Serafina was so mad at me that day and I received an earful from Celica since the planet was under her watch. I never backed down from a challenge though. It was not in my nature in the slightest. “Listen, that was a simple mistake…”

“You almost wiped out an entire species.”

“I have no comment. Let’s go!” I laughed awkwardly as I dragged him away. He huffed and puffed as we went to a lake outside of the small town. After leaving Callum and Masami’s house, I took Nim to a small planet right next to it. Masami told me that the clothes there were really cute, so of course I had to sample them. I also noticed when we were coming in, that the lake here was large so I could play with it a little bit. We reached the lake and placed my stuff down and Nim leaned against a rock as I stepped out onto the lake. I slowly walked across the surface and held my hands out. I took a short breath before I slipped through the surface. I pushed the water away from my body so I’d stay dry as I touched the bottom of the lake. I looked up at the sun shining down on me as I parted the water and began to lift it. I laughed at the aquatic life swimming through the streams that I produced. As I raised it higher, I formed a sphere over my head. I winked at Nim as he looked slightly impressed at my water control.

“Well?! I know it isn’t my greatest achievement but my control is good. Not a single drop is falling and not a creature misplaced.” I smugly smiled at him as he folded his arms. “Oh don’t try and be stoic now Nim!” He scoffed as he pushed off the rock and walked towards the edge of the lake. I was about to comment on what he was doing, but the sparks of electricity told me enough.

“Wait! Don’t you dare-” I shrieked as he shot a bolt of electricity at my feet and the sphere over my head. A jolt of electricity shot up my spine and the sudden pain sent the water falling out of my grasp. I suddenly was entangled in the sudden rush of water and I hissed in anger as I swam up to the surface. Nim just looked at me as if he didn’t throw lightning at me. “What the hell was that for?”

“You need to concentrate more. Instead of trying to be a showoff.”

“I thought you were over the whole teacher phase with me.”

“There is always time to learn Nerissa.” I scoffed as he helped me out of the water and I pulled the water from my hair. “Stop pouting about it.”

“I’m not pouting. I just think you need to chill out some old man.”

“I’m hardly old Nerissa...some of us weren’t lucky enough to stop aging at nineteen.”

I chuckled at him as he picked up my bags and we walked deeper into the adjacent forest. I enjoyed these silent moments with Nim, but it meant I would be more into my head then I’d like. I liked to keep busy so I wouldn’t think about my life. I enjoyed what I did more than anything, hell I love it and I would never stop. A part of me wanted to go to Zhikar, but I always avoided it. Something in me just couldn’t go see where I actually came from. Maybe I was just scared and nervous. Celica thankfully didn’t talk about its status around me. I was thankful that she considered my feelings about that. I looked up at the sky and contemplated going many times. It never felt like the right time and I wasn’t going to rush it either.

“Are you going to talk about it?

“Huh?” I stopped and looked at Nim as he stopped walking. I pursed my lips as I tangled my fingers in my skirt. His radar on my feelings was unmatched I swear to Serafina. His eye bore right into my damn skull as he waited for me to say something. If I didn’t say anything then he would stare me down until I relented. I was not trying to experience the hard gaze of a lightning god. I folded my arms as I looked him in the eye.

“I was thinking about my Zhikar...and my parents…” He opened his mouth to retort, but I rushed out the rest. “Both of my parents…”

“Nerissa…”

“I know! Talking about them pisses you guys off! Trust me I know that...I just...I can’t help but think about them. They raised me and I wonder how my mother is doing more than my father. He’s just a weak old man now...he can’t do much of anything anymore. I just wonder if...if my mother is lonely.”

“.......” I pushed past him and kept walking the path, well more like speed walked it.

“She has Anubis though...I guess that’s all she needs though. What do I know though? For all I know Celica had her eyes torn out! Shut off all her senses and is torturing her slowly!”

“Nerissa...it’s probably nothing as bad as you’re thinking.”

“You don’t know how Celica punished her?” I stopped to look back at him. “You know how Celica’s punishments are Nim. She makes me look like an angel.”

“Calm down and breathe. Do you think a trip to Zhikar would do you some good?”

“I really don’t know Nim...I’m still not ready for that yet. If I go I won’t learn about any family while I’m there. My biological parents died thousands of years ago.”

“Seeing your people and culture could give you some peace of mind. You could have family and just not realize it yet. I know that you wished that you could have met your biological parents and had some peace. I wish that I could provide that for you, but I can’t. No one can do that for you but you Nerissa.”

I looked down to the ground and he sighed and tilted my head up. “Listen little one...you will never be alone. Whenever you want to go, I’ll go with you.”

I smiled and hugged him tightly and relaxed when he ran his hands through my hair. I always felt better when he called me that. He really was like a father to me, and he would grasp how much that meant to me. I was going to say more but then remembered that I had a prior engagement.

“Sorry to cut this tender moment short, but I have to meet up with Celica.” I giggled when he rolled his eye and we parted. I smiled when I left his side, but it vanished once I turned away. I wasn't really that excited about where I was meeting Celica at. I knew that it would be better for me in the long run, but it didn’t mean it would hurt any less. I wish I could fly to my destinations but I knew I’d never be any good at it. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a bracelet that Lady Serafina had given me in my youth. The pretty silver bracelet was an item I never parted with, and not just because it was stylish. The blue gem on it shined brightly as it allowed me to whisked away to a destination of my choosing. Lady Serafina had gifted us with many ways to travel the infinite cosmos, but she gave this to be specifically because of who I was. It used to keep away my nightmares about the Darkness when I was young, but now I use it to channel my cosmic energy into. Lady Serafina wanted me to practice my abilities as a star child whenever I could. I knew how amazing it was to be gifted with these cosmic powers, but I felt more comfortable using my water.

I had to admit I was pretty neglectful about practicing that half of myself. I watched the gemstone glow as I concentrated my energy into it. Looking at my hand I smiled, I did like the effects that it did to my body. Stars and the cosmos were etched into my skin and I loved seeing it every time. Realizing that I was stalling, I pushed more energy into it and was whisked away to another planet on the edge of the universe. I hated the sudden sickness I experienced when I did this damn thing. I stumbled forward as my feet touched solid ground. Holding back my vomit, I walked up a hill towards my destination. I stopped halfway there to admire the sight in front of me.

Celica was sitting cross legged suspended in the air. I purred low in my throat as I looked at her ass. Celica had the best ass I had ever seen, and I took great joy and care into looking at it whenever I had the chance. I used to wish I could get her to swing in my direction, but she was more like a sister to me then anything. I’d still admire the beauty of that ass though. I wanted to take a nice bite of it too, but her cool voice pulled me from my thoughts.

“Your lust is so tangible Nerissa. Stop staring at my ass.” I grinned and made my way up next to her as she handed me a glass of wine. I took a dep swig of it as we both looked over the cliff we were on. A wedding ceremony was taking place below us. I gripped the glass tight as I watched my old love Khepri, meet her wife at the end of the aisle. I was glad that Lady Serafina had allowed my friends another chance at life.

Well...technically speaking…

The concept of death is a different sort of concept as far as I was concerned. If Lady Serafina granted it, should who have died can advance to live amongst the stars. They could essentially choose to reincarnate and live out an immortal life. Khepri had spent over three hundred years in Duat before I had asked Lady Serafina to grant her another life. It still frightened me that she could die, and I was always afraid of my father doing something to her, even in his weakened state. Death after reincarnation meant nothing afterwards. The second chance was also the last chance. The very thought of that happening to Khepri, or anyone I cared about terrified me. I, of course, hid it well.

“She looks beautiful.” My shoulders slumped for a second, before I straightened back up and forced out a laugh. Khepri always looked beautiful on any given day.

“So you do have a wandering eye Celica?” She rolled her eyes as she poured herself more wine. “All you have to do is ask and I’ll lather you up nicely~”

“Hush you horny animal. I think I should be asking if you’re ok.” I shrugged as I sat down and leaned my cheek into my hand. I watched as Khepri smiled happily and kissed her bride. The happy cheers carried through the wind and filled my ears. I had no right to feel sad about this, especially since I told her I couldn’t commit. I thought I would be able to, but it seems that would be a thing that would never change. I was here to get rid of the residue love I held for her, and I couldn’t help but think maybe I was selfish using her like that. I hurt her enough for one lifetime, and perhaps I could mend our friendship later down the line.

Only time would tell I suppose.

“I’m pretty great Celica...all things considered. Seeing her happy is the greatest gift I could ever receive. I think I’ll bless her as my wedding gift to her.” I stood up and held my palm out. “Congratulations Khepri...here’s to a lifetime of happiness...and great sex.” Celica coughed on her drink beside me as I laughed and began the blessing. Khepri and her wife looked up at the sky in joy as the clouds parted and the day grew brighter. I wished her happiness and I wanted nothing but good things for her. Chugging back the wine, I tossed the glass back to Celica. Catching it, she stepped down onto the ground and put her hand on my shoulder.

“We can go to that club that you like if you want? Keep you focused on something else…”

“No I’m good...besides I think that-”

“Sorry to interrupt you girls, but we have a problem.” I looked over my shoulder as Lady Serafina descended from the sky. “I’m sending you all on an assignment right now.”

“An assignment?! Seriously!? Oh fuck yeah!” I threw a fist in the air as I jumped in place gleefully. If there was anything that would brighten my mood it was this. Sex and drinking were one thing, but fighting and killing gave me a different type of pleasure.

“So what’s going on that you need all of us?” Celica asked with her usual indifference towards her. I could only wonder when that debacle would end. Celica was cute when she had an attitude so it wasn’t all bad.

“I’m sending you all to Sector 4857….as you are aware Celica, activity around there has been bad. I believe the Darkness is moving in on that area.”

“Great...just when I thought I could handle that myself. The Darkness always finds a way to screw me over…” Celica shook her head as she walked forward and took off into the air. I watched her go before batting my eyelashes at Lady Serafina. She giggled as I sauntered over to her and circled around her. I flipped my hair over my shoulder as I stopped in front of her.

“So...how would you like to give me something to think about while I’m away?” Her laughter filled the air causing flowers to grow around our feet. “See? I’m gonna need more than that sweet laughter.”

“I think I’ve gifted you with quite the “objects” already Nerissa.” I laughed as I ran a hand over my breasts. They were the greatest things I could say I asked for. My breasts were a bit on the small side, but the bump up to some lovely double D’s was an excellent choice. “Come along Nerissa, you can come with me to pick up Ka’seem.”

“Oh joy...I hope he’s doing something naughty~”

“He might be…”

She wrapped an arm around me as she whisked us away. I could only imagine what my best friend would be doing now. I glanced over my shoulder one more time, sending one more well wish to Khepri. I had a feeling the next few hours were going to be more than interesting. I licked my lips and grinned as I could feel my heart race in excitement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next: https://goddessofeternity.tumblr.com/post/648958621260136448/chronicles-of-the-supernovas-chosen

Previous: https://goddessofeternity.tumblr.com/post/647300345002852352/chronicles-of-the-supernovas-chosen

Thanks for reading!

Comments and reblogs are appreciated! Likes are welcomed!

#Nerissa #Nim #Celica #Serafina #Khepri #writing #my writing

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whumphours · 3 years

Text

Callum & Lucas - Nothing

Honey remembers a lot of things he wants to forget.

Tagging @liliability @whatwhumpcomments

Warnings: Captivity, creepy/intimate whumper, lady whumper, noncon kissing, referenced noncon, forced to self-harm (stepping on glass), collars, descriptions of restraints, blood, and choking, whumper taking pictures of whumpees

Honey knew he shouldn't be in here.

He knew that Michelle would get mad if she found him in her photo room. Or maybe she wouldn't. He wasn't really sure. He couldn't understand her moods anymore. It's not like she didn't already swing wildly from one mood to another, but it seemed more random recently, and it unsettled him that he couldn't predict them after five years of being with her every day.

Had it really been five years?

His fingers ran over one of the photos on the wall, the date engraved in gold in the wooden frame. March 14th. His first day.

The day she kidnapped you.

It burned into his brain like so many other things did. The ropes cutting into his wrists and ankles, the skin of his lips peeling off with the duct tape, eyes darting around the room as she pulled him into place, threatening him in that sickly sweet voice of hers, as if it was nothing more than a conversation, and his blood wasn't getting under her pristine nails.

He had laughed, bitterly, thinking about that later. It looked like she had gotten them manicured just the day before, and there she was, ruining them for the sake of a photo, chipping off the perfectly done nail polish as she yanked him by the hair.

He wasn't allowed to touch the photos. But he dared, this time, and his fingertip grazed across his younger self's face, eyes filled with terror and pain. Michelle had smiled at that, saying he looked so pretty, honey-coloured eyes big and fearful for her. Then her smile widened, and she kissed the top of his head.

Honey. Wouldn't that be such a cute name for you?

It didn't take long for him to stop trying to argue about it.

The photo beside that one had Michelle in it, pulling him in for a reluctant kiss by the collar she had gifted him for his first birthday with her. She loved that photo, so much that a smaller version of it lived in the charm attached to the collar he wore now. It rested against his throat, always cold, even colder than her touch that somehow froze and burned him at the same time, reminding him of who he was and who he belonged to.

I belong to you.

He'd said that, just before the next photo was taken. It looked almost normal, him kneeling on the soft pink carpet of her living room, a gentle smile on his face. The only thing out of the ordinary was his collar, so tight on his throat that he couldn't breathe, and once the photo had been taken he had desperately pleaded until his lips were tinged blue, and Michelle finally loosened it, pressing her hand into the bruises forming around his neck.

There were other photos, newer ones, of him older and more tired, with Lucas too, broken and bruised and forcing out an I love you as the camera clicked, but he couldn't stop staring at this one of him, twenty-one years old, still with hope in his eyes and colour in his cheeks, still, somehow, thinking that he could escape this hell.

He wanted to go back and tell himself to just give up right there. That it was easier. To be quiet, and perfect, and good, and it would hurt less. To let her pull him into her lap and stroke his hair, to kiss back when she pressed her lips against his, to act like he wanted it when she held him down on the bed and tugged at his jeans, telling him to beg.

He wanted to tell himself so many things.

She'll make you give away every last piece of yourself. Let her. Please don't make that hurt this time. Just let yourself be hers.

He remembered being a person, being Callum, before he was hers.

Callum had a mom that loved to paint and let him leave handprints on the canvas like he did when he was small, and a little brother who loved to read and excitedly tell him about the newest book in his favourite series, and they'd dance around the living room and sing to some bad 80s song that they all loved anyway. And Evan would tease Callum about the faint stubble growing on his chin, and he'd chase the little nightmare around the room until his legs hurt and they collapsed on the sofa laughing, and Mom would ruffle their hair and ask them if they wanted lunch. Callum was barely twenty and looking forward to the rest of his life.

Honey was twenty-five, and his cheeks were hollow, and his eyes were empty, and every day he pretended to love someone who only wanted to hurt him, who kept him locked up in this house that he knew even better than pain, every crack in the plaster and creak of the floorboards, where the knives were and what drawers the lighters were in, which walls he had painted two, three, four times because his blood had stained it.

He hated this house.

He wanted to go home.

Something snapped inside of him, and he didn't realise it until the photo was on the ground, frame splintered, glass shattered into pieces at his bare feet.

He slapped a hand to his mouth and stumbled back, heart racing. The smashing sound was loud, loud enough that there was no way Michelle hadn't heard, even asleep.

He froze up as the door opened, and he felt the ghost of a touch on the nape of his neck, before Michelle grabbed him tightly and held him close, her breath hot over his ear.

"What have you done, baby?" she asked, and Honey felt a chill up his spine. "You know you're not allowed in here."

"I-I'm sorry-"

"You go into the one room I ask you not to, and then you break something," she said, voice betraying no anger, if there was any. "One of my photos. You know how precious those are, don't you?"

"I know," Honey whispered, instinctively leaning in when she kissed his cheek. "I just wanted to look at them. I didn't mean to break it."

His throat tightened, lying to her. He had meant to break it, he was angry, he just wanted his life back, he wanted himself back. But he wasn't going to get that. And telling the truth would hurt so much worse.

"I believe you, Honey," she said, tracing circles in the gaps of his collarbone. "But you know the rules."

He knew the rules. He knew them better than he knew himself. They went unspoken, but he knew them, and they hovered over him like Michelle was following him everywhere he went, watching, waiting for him to break them.

"I know," Honey repeated.

"And what happens when you break a rule?" Michelle asked, gently taking his chin and turning his head to look at her. "You know what happens?"

"I-I get punished."

Michelle smiled sweetly, and kissed him, and Honey let himself sink into it, the taste of her apple flavoured chapstick lingering on his tongue.

She pulled away, still holding him. "Step on the glass, baby."

He didn't think about it. He kept staring into her eyes as he put his full weight on the broken shards of the frame. She kissed him as the pain shot through his body, and he kissed back, tears filling his eyes, giving himself to her again.

He gave everything, and still she took and took until he was nothing. Nothing but this husk in her arms, standing in a pool of his own blood, not even trying to pretend he was anywhere else but where he knew he belonged.

A muffled whimper escaped him, and Michelle pulled away once again, a hand resting on his face.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, voice breaking. "I'm sorry."

"I know, baby, I know," Michelle whispered, slowly dragging her thumb across his bottom lip. "I forgive you. You can stop now."

Honey stepped back, standing on the balls of his feet so the glass didn't get stuck in his skin. It hurt, it hurt so much, but he was barely reacting. His body was screaming in pain, but he just stood there, limp against Michelle, letting her lead him to the bathroom.

"I'm gonna get the glass out, and then we'll go back to bed, okay?" she smiled. "I love you, Honey."

"I love you too," Honey said softly, wondering when those words had started to blur into truth.

#whump #whump writing #callum honey mclane #michelle astor (is creepy)#creepy/intimate whumper #lady whumper #self harm tw #referenced noncon tw

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chloe-clegane · 4 years

Note

If you're still taking rayllum prompts, I've always been curious as to what Rayla and Callum tell Ezran once he finds out that they're a thing. You know, right after he does the big "WHAAAAAA?"

YES! I’m still taking them

—–

“WHAAAAAA?” Ezran stood there in shock for a moment. Callum continued to hold his position of awkwardly grinning. This was his brother, how could Ezran not be accited he finally got an actual girlfriend. Ezran broke his silence “But, whaaaaat? I wasn’t gone that long! Rayla, are you actually his girlfriend?” She nodded yes and proceeded to hide her pink face behind her knees. She had become a rolly polly bug of embarrassment. She’s so cute.

“So it’s great, right!?” Callum’s pride was in equal measure to her shyness. He grinned like a fool.

“Well yeah Callum, Rayla’s the best, of course, it’s great.” Ezran said it like that was completely obvious and released his tight grip on Bait. But this his shocked stare had turned into a bit of a smile, then it turned to confusion “I thought you were in love with Claudia?”

Rayla’s head shot up and looked at him. Callum froze, he considered rolling backwards off the cliff, he opened his mouth to speak and just sputtered and coughed. Rayla’s face was angry and then switched to annoyed and then as he continued to suffocate on his own shame he realized her face had shifted to hurt. “NO! Nononononononono. Ezran never!” He finally managed.

“But-”

“Nope”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve liked her since you were 10!”

Callum realized something when he heard that. Like… like… He liked Claudia, that wasn’t a lie, Rayla was more than that. When he looked at Rayla, with her knitted brow, her lavender eyes full of simmering sad, jealousy. He wanted to say I love you, you’re the only one I could ever want. But he knew now wasn’t the time for that. Callum took a deep breath and addressed Ezran. “Yes I liked Claudia for a long time, as a kid. I never loved her, not in that way” Then he turned to Rayla but was generally still talking to his brother. “Ezran, Rayla is my girlfriend, like you said she’s the best. The past is whatever, right now we care about each other, we want to be together and that’s all that matters.”

Her face softened and she smiled, still a bit bashful. He leaned in and she kissed him again.

Ezran groaned. “I get it! But come on, I’m right here” His brother didn’t look disgusted per se, a bit annoyed but Callum could tell there was a grin under there. Rayla blushed again and he kissed her temple. He could tell his little brother was still just wrapping his mind around the whole thing but knew that it would all be fine.

"Ok Ok” Callum got to his feet and then pulled Rayla up by her offered hand. “We should probably keep moving”

“yeeeeeaaaaaah let get going” Ezran picked up Bait and started climbing the stairs again, leaving them behind.

As Callum watched him, Rayla surprised him with a hug from behind. She buried her face in his shoulder and squeezed him around the waist. “I’m not worried,” she said. He turned around to look at her, not quite catching her meaning. She grinned at him. “I’m the funniest person you’ve ever met. I’m brave and strong. I don’ need to be worried about some bug squishin’ dark mage.” She hugged him again “I know you care about me Callum.” She winked at him “Now tell me I’m pretty so we can get back to walkin’ up this stupid mountain.”

He sighed and then laughed “you’re beautiful! Now come one”. They continued their hike up the steps holding hands and laughing, trying to catch up with his little brother.

(Sorry this took me a bit to get to. Hope you enjoyed) @ilevus

#Rayllum #Rayla #Callum #ezran #writing prompts #THE DRAGON PRINCE #Not suffocating on a mountain kisses #whaaaaaaaaa #rayllum fic #myfics

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uneryx · 4 years

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Payback

Based on all the meta going around about Soren and Rayla having a rad bromance, Callum gaining a ton of upper-body strength from flying everywhere and general Rayllum fluffiness. So have a fic about Callum returning to the Storm Spire after a year of mage training, and how Rayla and Soren respectively welcome him back. Takes place about 3 years after Season 3, so Callum is just shy of 18, Rayla’s just shy of 19, and Soren is 22. Enjoy!!

From the peak of the Storm Spire, Rayla scanned the horizon, tensely waiting for something.

“Whatcha looking for?” said a voice behind her, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. In a flash, she drew her swords and pointed them at the throat of her assailant.

“Whoa, whoa, it’s just me!!” said Soren, holding his hands up defensively and backing away.

Rayla relaxed. “Don’t sneak up on me, Soren, I’m not in the mood.”

“Why? Antsy because your boyyyyyyyyfriend is coming back today?” Soren leaned back with a sly grin.

Soren’s presence on the Storm Spire had initially made the rest of the Dragonguard nervous, but he was there on a diplomatic endeavor: a human Crownguard serving with the Dragonguard. His counterpart, a Sunfire elf named Yavuz, was stationed in Katolis. And after some time, the elves had come to realize that, while not the sharpest sword in the armory, Soren was really good at guarding things, and was pretty determined to prove he was nothing like his father. Plus, even Rayla couldn’t deny that he had his good points, and a strange friendship had blossomed between the two.

Said friendship mostly consisted of trying to out-do each other with increasingly dangerous or ill-considered feats of bravery and strength, but it was friendship nonetheless.Still, just because they were bros now, that didn’t mean Soren got to tease her about Callum.

“Shut it,” she said with a glower, and returned to scanning the horizon. “He’s been gone a long time, I’m allowed to be nervous.”

“It’s been what, a year?” said Soren, sitting down beside her with a clank as he pulled an apple out of some hidden compartment in his armor.

“A year, yeah.” Rayla looked down. She had tried not to miss Callum too much, and hoped that wherever he was - Cloudvale, the Shrieking Shore, Mt. Adra - he pined for her as much as she had pined for him this long year. She’d received letters very regularly, with accounts of his adventures and drawings of what he’d seen, and she sent letters back with updates on Zym, life at the Storm Spire, her own training. But letters and drawings weren’t the same as seeing him; his wide smile, the soft look in those green eyes, the shiver that went down to her toes when he said her name.

Soren bit into the fruit, and continued to speak with his mouth full. “Didn’t know mage training was so intense. Think he learned anything cool?”

“Probably. In his last letter, he said that he and Ibis had been chasing storms, trying to find a big one so he could make a primal stone.”

“Y’know, if you’d have told me three years ago that I’d be hanging out with the Dragon Queen and a bunch of elves, waiting for the step-prince to come flying in because he’s a sky mage and can turn his arms into wings? I’d have thought you were crazy.” Soren paused, thinking. “Actually I probably would have tried to kill you, since you’d have been a Moonshadow Elf in the castle, and since my job was to keep elves OUT of the castle--”

“I get what you mean,” said Rayla, cutting him off. And then, a speck in the distance - no, two specks. She tensed, watching the shapes draw in closer, hopeful but not certain.

“Whoa. Either those are really big birds, or that’s them,” said Soren, standing.

Rayla did not consider herself to be particularly vain or fussy. She had a job to do, which was guarding the spire from threats. Her appearance was low on her priority list (aside from making sure her clan markings weren’t faded and she looked presentable). But now that Callum was approaching, she felt her pulse quickening and suddenly whether or not she looked cute mattered a whole heck of a lot. She fussed with her hair, and tugged at the edges of her uniform.

“Calm down, you look fine,” said Soren, noticing her jitters. He knew he wasn’t the most tactful or observant man out there, but he did have a little sister, and he wasn’t THAT dim. He ignored the pang of sadness at the thought of Claudia, and instead focused on Rayla’s worry. So what if she hadn’t seen Callum in a year? The guy was obnoxiously earnest and a big softie, she had nothing to worry about. And if Callum was a jerk, he’d throw him off the Storm Spire. Assuming Rayla didn’t first.

The shapes drew in closer, and it became apparent that it was two winged humanoids - Ibis and Callum. Rayla waved, excited but restrained, and one of the figures wheeled away from the other, diving lower down, heading for the landing outside the Queen’s chambers.

Soren smirked. “I’m gonna go say hi to Ibis and let the Dragon Queen know they’re back,” he said, heading towards the stairs. “Don’t smooch him too hard!” He nimbly jogged away before Rayla could sock him. She scowled at Soren’s retreating form, but the frown vanished quickly as she looked up.

Callum was drawing closer now, wide brown wings fanning out and tilting upwards as he brought himself in for a landing. His feet had barely touched the stone of the Spire’s pinnacle before Rayla rushed at him, almost tackling him with her embrace.

The mage prince laughed, and it may have been slightly deeper but it was still Callum’s laugh and it had been so long since she’d heard it. Soft feathers wrapped around her (to her delight, he had remembered that she loved his wing hugs), and she snuggled into his chest. “I missed you, you stupid human.”

“I missed you too,” he said warmly, the feathers fading and turning back into arms, before he yelped. “Ah, watch the horns!”

That was when Rayla noticed something was off. Her horn had indeed grazed his nose, and she had her face pressed into his neck, and the chest and arms around her were a lot more solid than she remembered…

She backed up, and her eyes widened. Mage training had had quite the effect on him. To start, he’d hit a growth spurt. They’d been eye-to-eye when he left (her horns giving her a slight advantage on top of that), but now he was a few inches taller than her. But whatever, she’d seen his aunt, and apparently his mother had been tall as well, so she had figured that he’d end up taller than her once they were done with puberty.

What she hadn’t expected was the changes in his physique.Below the waist, he was still fairly scrawny, although it was hard to tell with baggy pants he was wearing. From the waist up, he had gained quite a bit of muscle. His shoulders and chest were considerably broader, and while his arms weren’t the same kind of muscular as Ethari’s or Soren’s (men who spent their days swinging heavy metal objects around), there was lean definition there, similar to Ibis.

Callum beamed at her, and stepped away from her embrace, digging into his bag. “I have something to show you, one sec.” With a flourish, he pulled an object from his satchel, and flipped open an impressively made staff, topped with a small blue primal stone. He posed, staff extended in one arm and the other hand on his hip, his gaze skyward, trying to look heroic and cool. He made a small aspiro rune and blew out the side of his mouth, causing his scarf to flap majestically in the breeze before giving her a grin. Still a major dork, then. An incredibly cut major dork.

Rayla swallowed, and tried to say something intelligent, only managing a flustered “um.”

Callum glanced over at her, his smile fading.“Is… something wrong?”

At his hurt puppy expression, Rayla felt the heat rise in her face. He was so damnably attractive, and so clearly happy to see her after all this time, and here she was, her tongue tied in knots because he’d gotten a little beefier. She stammered a bit, and then resorted to giving his bicep a squeeze.

He looked down at her hand, which trailed over to his chest, and understanding dawned on him. “Oh,” Callum said with a chuckle, “turns out flying everywhere is like doing push-ups for hours.” He smiled slyly, and flexed an arm. “You approve?”

“Uh-huh,” she said, running her finger down his arm, following the line of the runes. She was wondering what he looked like under the red tunic - elven made, since they’d been on the other side of the continent, of course, but still in Katolis red and gold.

Callum tipped her chin up towards him, green meeting lavender, and his mouth quirked into a smile. And Rayla melted in his arms, diving forward and letting her mouth do what she’d spent all the days between dreaming of doing. She could have spent forever in that kiss, freewheeling through the sky that was him, but it wasn’t to be.

Another pair of strong arms wrapped around the two. “This is nice,” said Soren, hugging them both from behind Callum, smirking like the devil himself and leaning on the prince. A few more inches still hadn’t put Callum taller than Soren, much to Callum’s annoyance.

“Hi, Soren,” he said flatly. “Your timing is terrible.”

Soren pulled away, beaming. “Uh, my timing is great, thank you. I was waiting just behind that rock for the right moment!”

“That’s weird,” said Rayla, folding her arms.

“Whatever,” Soren sneered, and then spun Callum around to face him. “Time for a real hug!” He grabbed Callum, and squeezed hard, lifting him off the ground a little in a tight bear hug. Ever since that day before the battle, Soren had gotten it into his head that macho bro hugs was a thing he and Callum did, and a year apart wasn’t going to change that. Callum wheezed, frantically tapping Soren’s arm to let him go.

Finally, he did. “Wow,” said Soren, eyeing Callum up and down. “If I had known all it took to get you to work out was to make it about nerdy magic stuff, I’d have made Claudia give you that primal stone years ago.” He grinned, and dropped to the ground into a plank, and looked up at Callum. “So let’s do this!”

Callum and Rayla exchanged confused glances. “Uh… do what?”

“Push-up contest! I want to see how many you can do now!”

“Soren, I just flew here from Cloudvale. My arms are tired.”

“Oh, so you’re still too puny to do push-ups with your good buddy Soren?” He smirked at Callum, raising an eyebrow. The taunt was obvious bait, which Callum took like a hungry fish. Glaring at Soren, he lowered himself into the ready position. At this, Soren beamed. “Hey Rayla, count us off!”

“Count yourself off,” she said, her voice coming from lower down than expected.

The two boys looked over to see that she had also lowered herself into a ready position, planking effortlessly. “What?” she said at their befuddled looks. “You two really thought I was gonna sit here and let a couple of humans show me up?”

I’ll count,” said Callum with annoyance. He looked at Soren and then Rayla, who both nodded, and with a sigh, he counted. “One… two….”

He stopped looking to see what the others were doing after ten, and after 25, he felt a sudden weight on his back. Specifically, around 200 pounds of armored person, sitting on him. “Soren, why are you sitting on me?”

His arms were shaking now, but with a small note of pride he did consider that he was managing to hold Soren and himself up.

“Well, I was impressed that you got to 25 without breaking a sweat. And then I thought… payback time.” He shifted, bringing his legs up to sit cross-legged on Callum’s back. “I think you were on 26?”

Callum managed 26 and 27, before Soren roped Rayla into participating as well, and Callum collapsed on 28. At that, the competitive tension broke, and the three of them lay in a heap on top of the Storm Spire, laughing.

Later that night, Soren found several dozen moon moths in his bed. Moon moths that someone who could fly had probably flown a little ways west to gather. The note on his pillow said “Payback.”

Well, if Callum wanted to engage in a prank war, then it was on.

#tdp fic #the dragon prince #tdp fanfiction #tdp soren #tdp rayla #tdp callum #based on meta about callum getting really buff due to flapping his arms #also note the reference to a bad comedy punchline

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minimitchell · 3 years

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benmitchellweek day 5 - “is that supposed to be a challenge?” (ao3 link)

Ben doesn’t actually need to do any washing at the laundromat. They have a perfectly good washing machine at the house. It’s just that the one time Karen asked him to drop by the laundrette because she had something for Lexi, there was this guy sitting in one of the chairs by the machines, completely engrossed in a book.

And because Ben is a complete idiot, he purposefully went by the laundrette as often as he could to find out if that guy using it was a one off or if he goes there regularly, because there’s no way in hell he’s going to ask Karen about him.

He feels a bit like some creepy stalker but it only takes him a couple of weeks to figure out that the guy does his washing there every two weeks on a Friday afternoon, always round about the same time.

He doesn’t know what it is about the guy, they haven’t even spoken or anything, but there is just something to him that captures Ben's attention in a way no one has done for a very long time. He thinks it’s maybe the nicely-kept stubble that decorates his cheeks or the soft looking brown hair. Or maybe it’s the absolutely captivating blue of his eyes that he got to see when their eyes met that one time he was passing by.

Whatever it is, it’s enough to make Ben regress into a teenager with a crush again, trying to get the cute guy to notice him. He must be new around here, since Albert Square is a place where everyone knows everyone and he definitely doesn’t know who this guy is. He’d like to, but he doesn’t. He hasn’t seen him around the market, or in the chippy, or even in the Vic and it only adds to this weird fascination Ben has developed.

A fascination he’s tried hard to keep hidden, especially from the mother of his child, but apparently he hasn’t been as successful as he thought he’d been.

“Ben, you can’t go there every week until he notices you. It’s dead creepy.”

“Is that supposed to be a challenge?”

Lola’s rolling her eyes at him over her cup of coffee, checking to see if their daughter is still playing idly on the swings. They’ve used the rare occurrence where they both have the afternoon off to take her to the park and it made Ben realize that he has missed spending time with both of them like this. Yeah, they live together but they rarely spend time together as just the three of them. Normally, they’re always doing something with his mum, or his dad, or Jay. And while he loves the rest of his family, it’s still nice to spend time with his mate and their daughter.

Even if all she does is tease him about his crush on laundromat guy.

“So ask him out next time.”

Ben shakes his head while taking a sip from his own coffee, giving his daughter a cheer when she screams over at them to look how high she’s getting.

“I can’t. I’ve never said a word to him before.”

“So you just sit in the same room as him and stare at him until your washing is done? That’s somehow even worse, Ben. Besides, that fact has never stopped you before, has it?”

This is different though. He doesn’t want to pick the guy up and take him home with him. He wants to get to know him, maybe go to dinner with him and listen to him talk about the book he’s currently reading. It’s a new thing for him; to be so invested in someone he doesn’t know that the physical aspect of it all doesn’t even come into play until later. It’s unnerving to say the least, because it means that he’s completely out of his element with this.

Not that he’s going to give any of that information to Lola right now. She’ll only tease him more, call him ‘in love’ probably.

He’s about to give a retort when he catches a glimpse of tall brown hair and that lean body across the square. The guy’s stepping out of his brother’s old restaurant they’ve been trying to sell for a while now, some papers in one hand while shaking his mum’s with the other.

“Shit, Lo, that’s him.”

Lola follows his gaze to laundromat guy and they’re both watching him say goodbye to Ben’s mother with a bright smile on his face, before he disappears down the street.

“Oh, he’s fit. If he ain’t gay send him my way, please.”

“For your fiancé and my brothers sake, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

They exchange a small laugh with each other, knowing it’s all in jest.

“You should ask your mom what they were doing though. Saves you from stalking that poor bloke any longer.”

-----

Turns out, laundromat guy’s name is Callum and he’s the one who bought his brother’s old space. Apparently, he’s new here and plans to open his own restaurant. He’s only a few years older than Ben and is a very nice, young man - according to his mother anyway. She also informs him that she’s invited Callum to this week’s Friday dinner. A fact, that Ben only freaks out about a little. Honestly.

The day the dinner finally rolls around he’s more than a little nervous. No one but Lola knows about his little infatuation with Callum and he desperately hopes that no one will embarrass him tonight. If everything goes well, he’s going to ask Callum out on a date later and hopefully, they’ll end up dating and Callum can cook delicious food for him for the rest of their lives. At least, that’s what Ben envisions.

Him and Lola are already settled around the laid table, while Lexi is still upstairs washing her hands and his mom is putting the finishing touches on their dinner, when the doorbell rings.

“Oh, I’ll get it. That must be Callum.”

His mom is practically running from the kitchen at the sound, almost looking like she’s the one hoping to score a date with Callum. Ben looks over at the doorway when the sound of two voices mingling gets louder, trying to ignore Lola’s teasing smile next to him, failing to not get lost in the smooth tones of Callum’s voice.

Ben feels his mouth go a little dry when they finally step into the living room, because Callum looks gorgeous. He’s wearing a crisp, white dress shirt and tight, black jeans and his hair is as nicely gelled as it normally is when they’re seeing each other at the laundrette. He’s still holding a bottle of wine in his hands and Ben is overcome with the urge to feel one of his large hands in his.

His eyes shine with recognition when he meets Ben’s gaze and he sends him a small smile; one, Ben can’t help but return.

“Callum, this is Ben and Lola. Lola’s fiancé Jay is joining us later, he’s still at work.”

“And our daughter Lexi is still upstairs but she’s going to, no doubt, bombard you with questions about your restaurant soon.”

Callum lets out a small laugh at that, although he momentarily had a weird look on his face when Ben mentioned their daughter. He really hopes that it isn’t down to Callum not liking kids; it’d definitely be a dealbreaker for Ben.

The dinner goes extremely well, despite the awkwardness from earlier. Callum is great with Lexi; answering every single one of her questions with ease and patience and Lola had to nudge him quite a bit to not overdo the heart eyes when looking at Callum interacting with his daughter. He’s charming and funny and honestly has a great vision for his future restaurant.

Ben is nothing short of enamored with him.

Somehow, they find themselves in the kitchen together. Ben did some washing up so that his mum could sit back and relax a little and Callum joined him when he came in to get another beer. It’s almost sickenly domestic and once they were done with it, they stayed in here to continue chatting in peace, away from the loud chatter that’s filling up the living room, especially with Jay having joined them now.

It’s nice; they’ve figured out that they have quite a lot in common and Ben is almost certain that Callum is flirting with him from time to time. One thing in particular they’ve learned is that they’re both gay.

“Oh, I assumed because of Lexi that you’re straight. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s a long story, but I’m definitely into guys.”

“Good to know.”

They’re just swaying back and forth in his kitchen, matching dopey smiles on their faces, and Ben is pretty sure that Callum’s going to say yes to that date after all. It makes him giddy with excitement; warmth and hope blooming in his chest at the prospect of it. He’s about to ask Callum, when the door opens and Jay walks in, straight to the fridge and completely unaware of the obvious, romantic tension filling the kitchen. Callum doesn’t seem that bothered though, not really paying Jay any more attention right now.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to come say hi when I saw you at the laundrette. I don’t know why I didn’t, but maybe next time we could go grab a coffee while we’re waiting?”

Ben is ready to say yes to Callum’s suggestion when Jay turns around and gives them a confused look, interrupting their moment.

“What are you going to the laundrette for? You have a perfectly fine washing machine right here.”

Jay doesn’t stick around for the fallout; only shaking his head and exiting the kitchen again, leaving Ben behind to drown in embarrassment. When he opens his eyes again - and when had he closed them anyway - Callum is looking at him with barely concealed amusement and Ben would really like the ground to swallow him up right now, please and thank you.

“Okay so I might’ve gone there a few times just to see you. I’d love to go for that coffee though, if you still want to.”

When Callum steps forward into his space, he settles both of his hands on Ben’s neck, using them to pull him the rest of the way into his own body. Ben thinks it’s heavenly how great they fit together until Callum seals their lips together in a soft kiss and then he knows what’s really heaven - the feeling of Callum’s lips on his own and his skin under Ben’s fingertips.

It’s only a short kiss but it leaves Ben with an explosion of butterflies in his stomach, spreading all the way throughout his body.

“I still want to.”

Ben can’t wait for it. He’ll ask about Callum cooking him dinner later.

#ballum #ballum fic #benmitchellweek2020 #bm2020 #my writing #i'm a little late today.. not that it matters much

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gwaciechang · 4 years

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Ungodly Hour (2/5)

Trigger warning for threats of violence at knifepoint. Read under the cut or on AO3 here. And let me know if you want me to tag you in future chapters.

The rest of the magic show is honestly a little bit boring. To be fair, it’s because you now find the stage manager so interesting that your eyes flick to him every few seconds like he’s a magnet.

As soon as the show is over, the audience almost tramples you on their way to fawn over the magician. This is actually okay, because it leaves you free to go to the stage manager. You wish you’d spent the time you wasted not watching the magic show thinking of something cooler to say than, “I wanted to thank you again.”

“Um, no, uh, no problem,” his eyes flick up and down your body, probably to check for wounds again. All of a sudden, he notices what he’s doing and turns away so you’re treated to a great view of his reddening cheek.

“So, have you worked here long?” god, why are you so shit at this?

“A few years,” he still can’t meet your eyes.

“I thought so. You move around the stage like you live here.” Is that a compliment, or is he going to think you’re insinuating he’s homeless? “I just mean, you do a really good job.”

He blushes even harder, and his hand reaches up to play with the ends of his hair. His voice is gruff when he thanks you. This close, you can see a little buttercup in his nose, and, well, you’ve never seen a piercing you didn’t want to curl your tongue around.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but your accent, you’re not from around here, are you?” he asks.

“It’s fine. I know, my accent,” you roll your eyes. “I am, unfortunately, American.”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” he says quickly. He’s looking you in the eye now, and you can feel every callus on the hand he has on your arm. “Your accent is very cute.”

You burst into laughter. “Okay, now I know what you look like when you’re lying. Literally nobody thinks American accents are cute, and that includes Americans.”

“Maybe it’s just the person who’s speaking it then.”

You search his expression, but you can’t figure out what it is.

“Oi, Callum, are you going to close up or not?” Pross says sharply. Maddie whispers something in his ear, and he adds, “You did a good job for your first job coming back today.”

“Thank you, Mr. Pross,” he nods. “I’ll get on that right away.”

Pross waits until Callum’s gone to make a lewd gesture until Maddie forces his hands to his sides.

“Sorry,” she mouths as she pushes Pross away.

You shake your head and wave your hand dismissively. You’re about to go when you see Callum putting his whole body into pushing the iron maiden to the backstage prop area. “Do you need any help?” you ask.

“I got it,” he says, but his voice is strained, so you turn around and you grab a box you’re too proud to admit is super heavy. You wince from the sound it makes when you drop it too heavily on the floor next to the iron maiden. When you go with him back onto the stage, he grabs a bag of swords himself and hands you a light box. Thank goodness, because when you see the way the muscles in his arms strain against the weight of the swords, you almost drop it.

Luckily, everything else the magicians use seems to be lighter, and you two settle into a nice silence as you put everything away. You get to admire those arms again when Callum drops the curtain and ties the rope, then he flicks the lights off and you exit the theater together.

You pull the bus schedule out of your back pocket, and just your luck, the only bus back to the hotel stopped running more than an hour ago. You look up and down the street, but it’s empty except for you, Callum, and distant figure. Only after you pull out your phone do you remember that your data plan doesn’t include international coverage. “Fuck. What are the chances I could get a cab at this ungodly hour?” you ask Callum.

“Well, where do you live?” he asks. “I don’t mean it like that!” he adds hastily. “I just mean, is it far from here? I could walk you home. If you’re okay with it. I’m not a creep, I promise.”

“That sounds exactly like what a creep would say,” you can’t help saying. You let him sputter for a few more seconds before taking pity. “It’s pretty far, though, and, I mean, you’re a strong guy,” you mock-punch him in the arm, “but I wouldn’t let you walk me that far. I mean, then you’d have to walk home alone, and I won’t let you do that. Do you have a car? I’ll pay you for gas.”

“It’s at my apartment, but that’s just a few blocks down, if you don’t mind the walk,” Callum gestures.

Before you could agree, you feel the flat end of a knife pressing against the back of your neck. You stumble forward instinctively to get away from the knife, too sharply to keep your balance. The pavement rushes toward you, but Callum’s arms wrap around you and physically lifts you entirely into the air, depositing you behind him.

“Listen, whatever it is you want, I’m sure we can work it out,” he says, arms held above his head.

“I want your phones and cash. Hers too,” wow, you weren’t expecting to hear such a young voice.

“Fuck off,” you start to drag Callum toward you, planning on running across the empty street.

But Callum only moves to step fully between you and that knife so that you can’t even see what the mugger is doing. “Just take it, please,” his hands are shaking as he reaches into his pocket, and his voice breaks when the mugger swipes his knife across the air. “Please, I saw a woman get stabbed to death in front of me last week, I can’t handle seeing it again.” He squeaks again when he knife gets close enough to slice off a lock of his hair.

You take advantage of his distraction to reach into your purse and step forward. “I said fuck off!” you scream.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Callum hisses, starting to pull you back again.

“Yeah, listen to your boyfriend before I cut you,” the mugger holds up his-

“Holy shit, is that a butter knife?” you’re almost giddy with relief.

“I can gut you with this!” the idiot threatens.

“Not before I gut you with this,” and you flick your thumb stud knife open. You very, very, very narrowly avoid telling him that yours is bigger. You’re trying to defend Callum, not start a fight. Seeing a man die in front of him would probably not do him any favors. “Run away, child.”

Your discretion pays off when the would-be robber runs off in the opposite direction. You turn around when he’s far away enough to no longer be a threat, prepared to apologize to Callum for scaring him. Only when you actually see him, he’s not white as a sheet and terrified, but red in the face. The reason is also pretty obvious in his tight jeans.

“So, you said you live a few blocks from here?” you ask, innocently sliding the blade back in the handle to put in your purse. You already faced down a mugger at knifepoint, might as well see where your boldness can get you.

#callum ballimore #shakespeare and hathaway fanfic #joey i am literally begging you not to look through this tag

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