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So it’s come to my attention that Mary probably won’t be in S2 which, bummer.
But I hope she can at least have some passing good mention, or some indication that she and Stede are on speaking terms.
First of all, no matter what they think of each other, they still have kids, and I would hope that Stede would want to be at the very least aware of what was going on in their lives, even if he isn’t really their father figure anymore.
But I also think that Mary and Stede could be really good friends regardless, especially since that pressure of being in a marriage that neither of them wanted and neither of them enjoyed is gone. You can see a glimpse of that camaraderie toward the end of episode ten (the conversation about love, and the whole faking his death thing.)
She could easily send him letters using some sort of pseudonym or another form of don’t-reveal-my-ex-husband-isn’t-actually-dead deception. They could gossip together.
I just think they could have a really strong bond when there are no expectations put on them.
#ofmd#our flag means death#ofmd season 2#ofmd s2#stede bonnet#mary bonnet#how does Stede get letters out on the ocean?#Olu wears crocs and Stede says the word ‘vibe’ in the 1700s#they let stranger things slide 😭#super secret tag bonus scenario#Ed meets Mary and right before she sends him out the door to go get gay married#she hands him a fistful of letters and is like#‘when you see him you give him these!’ and he thinks it’s a Dear John thing#but it’s actually just a ton of gossip she heard in her Widow Group#anyways Evelyn and Mary endgame 💖#Doug can share
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Cuts and Bruises
Pairing: Greg Grainger x reader
Summary: After treating the temporary fill in at Firehouse 51 for a minor injury, Y/n gets the feeling that she'll be seeing Greg a lot more often
Requested: Yes, by anonymous
Warnings: mentions of a fire and minor injuries
Word Count: 1,423 Words
"Hey, Maggie," I greet the charge nurse. "Where are all of these people coming in from?"
"51 just responded to a huge complex fire," Maggie responded. "It's mostly minor burns, cuts, and a few bruises. Just take a patient chart, fix them up, and send them on their way. I want this ED cleared by 3."
"Got it," I say. "Thank you." So, I picked a patient at random and started doing whatever I could to help. After I had treated a few people, I went to the waiting room to grab the next person in line, but just before I could, Sylvie walked in with a firefighter at her side. “Hey, Sylvie. What’s up?”
“Grainger has a cut on his upper arm, and he insists that he’s fine, but it’s pretty deep. I think it might need stitches,” Sylvie put in.
“I’m fine. Seriously,” the firefighter insisted. “It’s just a scratch.”
“I’ll have Y/n be the judge of that,” Sylvie spoke. “Can you check over him? Please?”
“Of course,” I answer. “Follow me.” I led Grainger to the nearest empty bed and had him sit down while I pulled on some gloves. "So, Grainger-"
"It's Greg," Grainger interrupted. "Greg Grainger."
"Y/n L/n," I return, "So, Greg, are you new to 51? I don't think I've ever seen you around before."
"I'm just a temporary fill in as Engine 51's Lieutenant while Herrmann is on vacation," Greg told me. "And I work at Firehouse 40. All of the people we help on calls go to Lakeshore."
"Then it makes sense why we've never met. There's no opportunity for us to cross paths," I claim. "Now, lets see that arm. If you could ditch your coat, that'd be great." Greg took off his coat and laid it down behind him, but the wound was so far up his arm, his sleeve was covering it. "I uh, I'm gonna need you to take your shirt off too."
Greg didn't even flinch and pulled the shirt over his head, setting it down on top of his other gear. My cheeks heated up at the sight of Greg's toned chest and abs, and so I put all of my focus on the cut on his shoulder.
"So? What do you think?" Greg implored.
"W-what?" I stammer out, my face flushing even more.
"Of the cut," Greg stated. "What do you think? Does it need stitches?"
"Right," I murmur. "Yeah, I'd say so. But just a few. I can get you out of here in 10 minutes. Just sit tight." I was true to my word. 10 minutes later, I had finished up the last stitch on Greg's arm and was just putting a bandage over it.
"Thank you for this," Greg said and hopped off the bed, grabbing his gear from behind him.
"It was no problem," I assure him as he began putting his shirt back on. "Now, I don't know if you've had stitches before, but you've got to keep that wound dry for the first 24 hours, and also try not to overuse that arm. We don't want your stitches to rip."
"Got it," Greg confirmed. "Thanks again, Y/n."
"Like I said before, it was no problem," I repeat. "I uh, I hope I get to see you sometime in the future."
Greg smiled. "I have no doubts that you will. Bye, Y/n."
"Bye, Greg," I wave after him as he left the ED. Throwing off my gloves, I exited the treatment room to get to the nurses station, and I just so happened to bump into Will.
"Who was that?" Will asked and followed Greg out of the door with his eyes.
"A temporary Lieutenant for Firehouse 51," I reply and type away at the computer in front of me.
"Mmm," Will hummed. "You've got the hots for him, don't you?"
"What? Will, I just met him 15 minutes ago," I try and reason.
"But you do find him attractive," Will pointed out. "I can see it on your face."
"You cannot," I retort.
"So it is true? You find him hot. You know, I could see you and him being a cute couple," Will confessed.
"All right, I'm done here. Unlike you, I've got patients to work on," I attest to.
"This isn't over!" Will called out playfully as I walked away.
"Yeah it is!" I shout back.
..........................................
It had been one week since I met Greg Grainger for the first time. And whenever I wasn't busy with work or my social life, my mind wandered to him. Seeing him shirtless on our first encounter, the sincerity in his voice whenever he talked, the smile he sent my way when he left the ED....lets just say he impacted me in a way I never new someone could after spending just 15 minutes together.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Maggie questioned as she joined me by the nurses' station.
"Nothing important," I lie. "Just about what I want for dinner after shift."
"Uh-huh," Maggie muttered. "You're thinking about Grainger, aren't you?"
"Ugh," I groan. "Not you too. Did Will put you up to this?"
"He may have mentioned something," Maggie revealed.
"Oh my...." I trailed off. "I've only met the man once!"
"Twice," Maggie corrected me.
I frowned. "What?"
"He's standing out in the lobby," Maggie informed me. I turned around, and when I looked towards the lobby, I saw that Greg was indeed standing out there. For a second, our eyes met, and then he started walking towards me. To keep Maggie out of my business, I took a couple dozen steps forwards to meet up with him.
"Hey, Greg. What are you doing here?" I quiz. "Don't tell me your stitches ripped."
Greg laughed. "Surprisingly, no. They are still in place. I uh, I actually came to see you."
"You're still in your gear," I notice. "Did you come over here in the middle of your shift?"
"Yes," Greg responded. "But that's not the point. I came over here because for the past week, whenever I'm not focused on something, I think about you, which is weird because we only met once and it was for 15 minutes. But everyone at Firehouse 51 has told me what an amazing person you are, and that only pushed me to come here more. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I'd like to take you out on a date."
"A d-date?" I stutter.
Greg nodded. "Yeah. Unless you're not interested or you're seeing somebody. If that's the case, forget about it."
"No. That's uh, that's not the case at all. I'd love to go on a date with you," I admit.
"Good. Great," Greg clarified, a slight blush rising to his cheeks. "Well then I will contact you later with the details."
"Greg wait," I interject, and reach forward, my hand grasping onto his forearm.
"What's up?" Greg asked. Instead of answering, I took my small memo book out of my pocket, scribbled something down on it, and then ripped the paper away, folding it neatly before stuffing it into his hand. Greg unfolded the piece of paper and stared down at it, his eyes glancing over my handwriting. "Your phone number?"
"Yeah. You need some way to contact me. How else were we supposed to talk about our date? Because as much as I love meeting up here at Med when we're both supposed to be working, the two of us could be fired for that," I joke.
"Right. Thank you," Greg spoke and sent a smile my way. "I'll be in touch soon." As soon as Greg walked off, I smiled to myself and turned around to head back into the ED. By the nurses' station, both Maggie and Will were waiting, desperate to hear the news.
"Well? What happened?" Maggie pushed.
"I just got asked on a date," I say.
"Told ya you liked him," Will exclaimed.
"So, what are you two gonna do? Tell us everything," Maggie requested.
"As much as I would love that, I've got work," I disclose.
"Work? You don't have any patients right now," Will declared.
"What? I'm sorry. I think I hear Dr. Abrams calling for me upstairs," I share and walk towards the elevator.
"Come on!" Maggie whined. "You can't just leave us hanging like that."
"I can, and I think I just did. See you guys later," I chirp and step into the elevator, the doors closing seconds later, leaving Maggie and Will frustrated in the middle of the ED.
__________________________
Tag List:
@prettypyschoinpink @securityfriendly-jay @scarletsoldierrr @lorenakaspersen @virtualreader @carnationworld @caitsymichelle13 @ncostin2001 @evangeline91 @just-arather-veryconfused-being @generalfarmmuffinagle @kaitlyn-marie-a @shywritermoon @jbbarnes212 @multifandom-loser
#one chicago#one chicago x reader#one chicago imagines#one chicago imagine#chicago fire#chicago fire x reader#chicago fire imagine#chicago fire imagines#greg grainger#greg grainger x reader#x reader#imagines#imagine
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Keep Calm and go to London chapter 3
Tag list: Here’s the incredible people who showed me support (thank you so much for that) and people who asked me to tag them too ☺️ (I think I will write a few chapters of this story, if you want me to tag you, tell me ☺️ ) @cavillanche @mary-ann84 @henry-owns-these-tatas @yespolkadotkitty @dancingwendigo constip8merm8 penwieldingdreamer iloveyouyen littlefreya wondersofdreaming alyxkbrl solariumss sweetybuzz25 @thethirstyarchive @agniavateira @honeyloverogers @hell1129-blog
Trigger warning: talking about low self-stem and body image issues.
The morning after you woke up exhausted, not just because of all the walking and the stunt practice you did the day before, but also because you had trouble sleeping because you could stop thinking about Henry. "It's ridiculous. I just met him, I cannot like him this much already." you thought, throwing your phone into the bed, after checking the selfie that you two took together that day, again. That's what you did all night long: you slept for like an hour or so, woke up, saw the photo, remember the day part by part and went back to sleep.
You had a work meeting that day. You swore that you were not there to work, but an old friend -acquaintance would be more accurate- found out that you were in London and call you to see if you could help him finish a few songs for an album. You accepted because he was a nice guy and because you enjoyed working with him in the past.
- Wow, I brought here because I thought that because of your breakup you would write some so "f-ck you" songs or sad songs, but they were pretty "I'm walking on sunshine" kind of type. - he said when was walking you to the door as you were leaving the studio. - Sorry, that was insensitive for me to say - he apologized.
-No worries. I guess you're right. - you replied, offering a sympathetic smile. " Oh, sh-t, what does that mean?" you thought.
Back at the hotel, you were about to take a bath and planning to go to bed and watch a movie when your phone started ringing. You check to see who was calling you and saw that was your friend.
- Hi girl! - you answered- What's up?
- Hi babe! - she replied- No much, just wondering why my friend had a date with my other friend and didn't bother to tell me about it.
- What?- you questioned confused and then you realized that she was referring to you hanging out with Henry yesterday - Oh, yeah...first of all, it wasn't a date, it was two new friends hanging out...and second, I'm sorry, I didn't know that I needed to ask you for permission to hang out with your friends.- you said playfully.
- Apologies accepted. No need for permission, just want to know when you're on a date, especially if it is with a friend of mine.
- I told you already, not a date. By the way, how did you know that we went on a dat... that we hung out together yesterday?- you asked confused
- Henry told me.
- Did he tell you? - you repeated still confused
- Yes. He mentioned after you left the party, he left right after you left because he wanted to get some rest because tomorrow you two were going to visit the set of The Witcher. And also, I call him too today, because I tried to talk to you but your phone was off apparently because I was directed to voicemail.
- Yes, I was working in some songs with a friend so a turned it off. Wait, you talked to Henry today?
- Yes. He basically told me the same that you did, that you were two friends hanging out and that had a great day.
- Yes, we did. - you agreed.
- Hey, by any chance ...- your friend started to ask you a question and then took a slight pause - do you have a crush on him?
"Oh, sh-t!...sh-t...sh-t! Was it too obvious? Did he asked her to ask me that?" you thought. You sighted before answering your friend question.
- Is it too obvious? He told you that, didn't he? He noticed that I starred at him like a creep and asked you to tell me that please don't do it in the future because he's no interested in me in that way, right? - you asked her
- So you do have a crush on him.-she repeated looking for confirmation
- Yes. I'm absolutely crazy about him, which is insane if you ask me... I mean, c'mon, I just met him two days ago, TWO DAYS! - you replied, almost screaming the last words searching for an affirmation of the insanity of your feelings.
- Y/N! - your friend screamed excited
- What? - you answered holding the tears for falling. You felt so stupid.
- He has a crush on you too - she told me excited
- What?! Did he tell you that?
- Not exactly with those words. Let me explain - she began - The day of the party after we left to the ladies room, he and Edgar started talking about you and how cool you are, and Edgar encouraged him to ask you out, but Henry thought that you were still dating you know who, and then Edgar told him that you were single - and even show him the news of your breakup in his phone- but Henry still had doubts about asking you out because thought you may found it disrespectful that he was trying to get a date with you while you were dealing with something personal and might not be ready or might not be interested in going out with him at all. That's why Ed started to ask you all those questions when we got back, to see if you were ok to date, to convince Henry to ask you on a date and that's the reason why we left you two alone, so he would make his move. He didn't dare to ask you out directly, so he did it to hang out with you as a friend and then see. Today when we talked, he told me that he likes you, a lot, those were his exact words. I know that might not seem like it, but he's quite shy. He doesn't want to seem desperate, especially since he thinks that you want him only as a friend, so he will wait sometime before talking to you again.
You sat down on the edge of the bed while trying to process the information that your friend just gave you. He liked you too. It wasn't just you, he felt the same way about you. That thought makes you smile and your heart was beating so fast of excitement.
- So, you want me to call him and tell him to call you and ask you out? - she questioned
- No, I have another idea on the mind - you said playfully - By any chance, do you have his home address?
- Lucky for you, I do - she replied curiously - Why?
- I'll share my plans later, could you please send me the address?
- Sure, I'll send it to you via text.
- Great! Thanks a lot! Seriously! I got to go, talk to you tomorrow, ok? - you said while standing up and picking up some clothes and going to the bathroom to take a shower.
- Sure. Good luck with your plan! - she said and after saying goodbye you hung up the phone and ran into the bathroom.
You decided to put on a white dress with long sleeves and short to the knees, sexy but cosy for the cold weather. You also put another pair of comfortable boots and a camel colour blazer. You decided to continue your new trend of natural makeup look, with some foundation, pastel colour eyeshadow, eyeliner barely visible and mascara and your favourite nude lipstick - Ludwig of the line Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick -.
Once you were outside his house, you walked to the front door and were greeted by barks. "Kal, his dog" you remembered. "He told me he's very friendly, relax" you remind yourself. You love dogs, but sometimes loves don't like strangers, and that's what you were to him. You knock on the door and heard a voice so deep and beautiful that gave you chills, a voice that only could belong to one person.
- Who is it?- Henry asked
- It's me, y/n- you replied.
- Oh...yeah, wait a minute, please. I'll look for the key. - he told you, for the tone of his voice you notice that he was surprised by your visit.
- Sure. No worries.
A moment later you heard the key turn on the door and this opened as Henry greeted you with a smile.
- I wasn't expecting company, sorry for the mess.- he said as he let you in.
- What are you talking about? Your house is lovely and very clean. - I assure him.
- Thank you. - he said - It's a lovely surprise to see you.
- Oh, yeah, sorry for the impromptu visit. Probably was not polite of me to show up without notice. - I apologized
- Don't worry, I'm delightfully surprise.- he affirmed.
- I just wanted to thank you for the lovely day that I had yesterday thanks to you. I brought you a gift - you said as you handed him a bag.
- Oh, thank you, you didn't have to.- he replied as he took the bag and opened. It had two packs of the finest Guinness beer and a box with some expensive swiss chocolate. - Thank you so much, this is amazing! - he said with excitement in his voice. You smiled happily because you knew that you choose the perfect gift for him.
- You're welcome. I'm really happy that you like it.
- I do a lot. Thank you. - He said and starred at you smiling for a moment, while you were thinking "how is it possible that this man likes me? He's so incredibly handsome" but at the same time, but the way he looked at you, you saw it, it was true, he likes you, you can see it now. He must have noticed that he was looking at you for a little too long so he blushed and started to act a bit nervous - You want something to drink?
- Tea would be great.
- Sure, I think I have tea somewhere. - he said laughing slightly - I don't drink tea, but sometimes, when I remember, I buy some for friends and family when they visit me.
- If you don't have tea, water will be fine. - you assure him.
He made his way to the kitchen and you decided to look around the living room. Before that, you pet Kal that, just like Henry said, was very friendly and anxious for the attention. In your tour on the living room, a blanket with the British flag on it caught your attention, and you put on a big smile thinking on how adorable it was that had that.
- You wanted something to remind you that you're from Britain in case that you forgot? - I said loudly so he could hear me from the kitchen.
- What?... oh, that - he said seeing the blanket as he approached you with a cup of tea that he handed you. - It was a gif from my brother.
- I love it. It's adorable. - you assure him and smile.
You took a sip of the tea and continue walking around, looking at pictures that he had all over the place.
- Is that your family?- you asked
- Yes. Those are my mom and dad - he said as he pointed at one photo; then he pointed at another - those are my brothers. This was taken on Christmas two years ago and I'm with my nephews and my niece.
He showed a couple more pictures of his family, one with his assistant and a few that he had with some close friends and then sat down on the couch. After a moment of silence, in which you were distracted looking at the blanket, you continue the conversation.
- You know, I'm thinking about moving to London.
- Really? - he asked curiously and trying not to sound way too excited
- Yes. I've always loved the city, but this last few days have been some of the best days of the last few years of my life. It's like I finally feel alive again. I get this homie vibe that I've got from LA in a long time.
- That's great! I mean, not that you went through something awful, but that you're feeling much better and that you like the city. I'd be great to have you closer. - as he was saying this he blushed - I mean, you always will have a friend to chat with when you need to - he offered and smiled.
- Thanks.- you smiled back.
(PS: chapter four will continue exactly where I left off 😉 )
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Falling in Love
Summary: Sam has been in love with Y/N for quite a while and he does everything to win her heart. Square filled: Courting/courtship rituals (spntfwbingo) // Free Space (spnsongchallengebingo: Kiss me - Ed Sheeran) Pairing: Sam x Reader Word count: 4,624 Warnings: fluff and only fluff A/N: this was written for @spntfwbingo and @spnsongchallengebingo! I really enjoyed writing this one. This story was mildly inspired by The Vampire Diaries 3.14. The gifs are mine (I just learned how to make and I’m so happy). Oh, and this is the dress in case you’re wondering. Hope you enjoy it!
The sound of your heels echoed through the hall as you walked out of the elevator and headed to your office. The small chatter, the non stop pacing and the tired eyes were common things on Monday mornings.
“Good morning, Olivia,” you greeted your personal assistant as you stopped by her desk.
“Good morning, Y/N,” her lips curled into a sweet smile. “How was your weekend?”
“Oh, you know, just lots of work. I’ve been working on this case and the court hearing is next week so it’s taking a toll on me. Other than that I binged watch The Walking Dead,” you shrugged. “How about you? Did you go out with Thomas?”
“I did,” she sighed as she finished typing. “He’s not that fun. I think we just didn’t click.”
“That sucks.”
“Yep, but I had fun this weekend. Had some quality ‘me’ time. Although I need to catch up on The Walking Dead,” she chuckled.
“You do. It’s really great. I’m loving it.”
“Morning, gorgeous,” his voice echoed in your ears as he walked past you.
“Morning, ass,” you said as you turned to him, only to see his back as he headed to his office.
“Morning to your ass, too,” Sam said before shutting his door and winking at you.
“When are you going to give him a chance?”
“Never?” you scoffed.
“C’mon, Y/N,” Olivia nearly whined. “Sam likes you and deep down you like him too.”
“Liv, we work together. It would never work.”
“We work together and we are still friends,” she argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“It’s different and you know it,” you sighed. “Alrighty, guess I have to get my work started then. Oh and get us some coffee, please.”
“Roger that.”
She stood up and headed to the coffee machine down the hall as you walked towards your office. You opened the door and the first thing your eyes landed on was the bouquet of pink and orange-ish roses sitting on your desk. As usual, there was a champagne envelope in the middle of them. You opened and again you found yourself amazed by his calligraphy.
You look gorgeous today, Y/N. As always. Fondly, Sam
A smile made its way to your lips as you read his words. He was so sweet. A good way to start your day.
After turning on your computer, you sent Olivia a message, asking her to get you a vase. You placed the envelope in your purse. Once you get home, you’re going to put it in your box along with all the notes and letters he had sent you.
Although you only met Sam on your first day working on Winchester’s Legal Firm, your mother was friends with Mary. After you graduated from Harvard she told Mary you were a lawyer looking for a job. John contacted you and set up a job interview.
The first time you walked in the building, you were mesmerized. It was enormous. It looked exactly like a law firm from the tv shows you used to watch. On your first day, John introduced you to Sam, his youngest son who had chosen to stay in the family business. At the time, it had been three years since he’d graduated from Stanford. Sam helped you get settled in and showed you around the firm.
You had started small. At first you got small cases and sometimes a more experienced lawyer would help you out and guide you. John made sure you got help from the best lawyers in the company. Sometimes you felt like you were treated differently because you were the daughter of a friend, but when you brought it up to him, he denied. He said he did that for everyone starting in his company. You knew that wasn’t true.
Nowadays you work on cases that appear on the news. Your face appeared on tv a few times. You found it odd when you saw yourself on the news during prime time. Your mom would always send a picture of the screen of her television with you in it, telling you she was proud. Sam did that sometimes too. He’d shoot you a message saying how beautiful you were or how your voice sounds so perfect when it echoes in his home.
A soft knock on your door pulled your attention away from your screen.
“C’mon in,” the door opened and revealed Olivia with the vase you asked.
“Wow, these are gorgeous,” she said as her eyes landed on the bouquet. “And smell good too.”
“Yeah, they do,” you smiled, placing the flowers in the vase. “I bet his PA chose these ones. He usually gets me blue roses or dahlias or even sunflowers,” you shrugged.
“Trust me, he chose these,” she said. “I have known Sam Winchester since I was fifteen, he wouldn’t ask for someone else to buy flowers for the girl he likes.”
“He doesn’t like me, Liv,” you shook your head. “He likes flirting with me. He likes courting me like I’m some damsel,” you explained to her with a roll of your eyes. “He likes the idea of me. That’s it.”
“Sure, Y/N, keep telling yourself that,” she sighed exasperated. “You need anything?” you shook your head and she walked out of your office.
You had much more important things to focus on than Sam’s feelings for you and his attempts to win your heart.
When you first met Sam, he was shy and mostly quiet, but as the time passed, he became more comfortable around you. Then you both started flirting and joking around. When feelings started to get in the way, things escalated to another level. Whilst Sam grew more caring and started trying to win your heart, you tried to put some distance between you. Sam is adorable and he’s a boyfriend material, but you worked together. You worked for his father. Sam never gave up though you gave him every reason why it wasn’t going to work. He didn’t even bother to hide his feelings from others. Everyone knew he liked you and that he bought you flowers every now and then. Sam has been courting you for about a year now. You enjoyed everything he did for you. He bought you nice gifts — some of which were really expensive — along with cute notes or letters. Every now and then something would be delivered at your home or your office. At the beginning, you tried to return it to him, but he wouldn’t take it back, so you stopped bothering.
Later that day, you heard familiar soft knocks on the door. You muttered a ‘come in’ as you looked through the papers scattered on your desk.
“Hey,” he smiled, shutting the door behind him. “How you doing?”
Sam was wearing his graphite suit with a marigold tie. He looked so damn good in those. It should be a crime.
“Hey,” you glanced up at him, eyes meeting his hazel ones. “I’m tired and stressed. You?”
“I’m okay,” he sat on your desk. “Still working on that murder case?”
“Yeah,” you stretched as a yawn left your lips. “I have to be in court again next Tuesday. Can’t wait to get this over with.”
He smiled sympathetically. His hazel eyes roamed around the room in search of something you couldn’t quite point out.
“D’you like it?” his head motioned to the flowers that were now decorating your bookcase.
“I did. They are gorgeous,” you stood from your seat, walking towards the shelf. “Your assistant knows which ones to buy,” you scoffed.
“What makes you think Charlie bought these?” he asked, standing beside you.
“Well, you certainly don’t have the time to go out and buy a bouquet of flowers for me, Winchester.”
“I do. It takes some time to choose which one I think you’d like better, but it’s worth it,” he shrugged. “Also, I really aced the color of the flowers. See, they match your clothes,” a cocky smile hung on his lips as his fingers motioned to your clothes.
He was right. It did match. You were wearing a cream bow neck blouse and bright pink pants along with nude heels.
“This one is the same color as your pants,” he pointed and you chuckled. “You coming to the ball next Saturday?”
“I dunno,” you pursed your lips, heading back to your desk. “I’m not really in the mood and I don’t have a fancy gown.”
“You should come. It’s the company’s 50th anniversary. My mom has been planning this party for a long time and she would love to see you there,” he tried to convince you. “As for the dress, that can be arranged.”
“Sam, don’t,” you warned him with wide eyes.
“Argh, fine,” he sighed. “I should probably let you get back to work.”
————
You unlocked the door to your home. A feeling of relief washing through your body as you stepped inside. There was nothing better than coming home after an exhausting day of work.
Relaxing on the shower, you washed your body. The stress leaving you with every stroke of your loofah over your skin. You needed this. After drying yourself and putting on some baggy clothes, you headed to the kitchen to make yourself dinner.
The doorbell rang. You jumped and then frowned. You weren’t expecting anyone. Opening the door, you noticed no one was there, but a paper bag was on your doorstep. You picked it up and brought it inside. You opened and a paper with his gorgeous handwriting sat on top of the things he bought.
Olivia told me you needed these...
Inside the paper bag there were some chocolate bars, gummy bears, chips and protein bars. At the bottom, you found a box of ibuprofen and another of ketoprofen along with another note.
Thought you might need these too. Also, in case you want something warm to cuddle and keep the pain away, text me and I’ll grab my pillow and come over ;p
You smiled at his words. He was so caring. It was the first time he did this kind of thing. As much as you were in complete awe over his endearment, you were also pissed that he knew when you were on your period. Damn you, Liv.
You thanked him over text and said you had a heating pad to cuddle and it was pretty capable of keeping the pain away, teasing him. Sam… he cared too much about you. He was investing his time and spending his money in a possible relationship that didn’t have a future.
---------
The days flew as you kept yourself busy with your big case and a few small ones. After the court hearing, everything became lighter. You had won the case and the defendant was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. You were happy with how that had turned out.
As Saturday came closer, all everyone talked about was the company’s anniversary party. A part of you wanted to go. You needed to let yourself loose a little and spending some time with your colleagues outside of work would be great. But another part of you wanted to stay home, relaxing on your bathtub and binge-watching your favorite tv show. You still haven’t decided yet.
Every year, Mary and John threw fancy parties for the company’s anniversary. This time it’s going to be even fancier. A ball for its fiftieth birthday. It was a big deal so it deserved a bigger celebration. You understood that, but you didn’t like going to balls. You didn’t even have a long fancy dress to begin with. And you weren’t so sure you’d have fun at such a formal event. Olivia said she’d lend you a dress. She was the same size as you so it would fit, but you still weren’t sure if you were going to go.
You finished typing in your computer just as your clock marked it was time to go home. Fridays were usually busy and stressful, but not today and for that you were glad. Grabbing your purse, you walked out of the building and went straight for your car, starting the engine. You couldn’t wait to get home. Everyone had a day off tomorrow because of the party. You had less than twenty four hours to decide whether you should go or not. For now, at least until you get home, you will ignore the messages asking if you were going. They will know when you decide. And for them, you mean Sam, Olivia, and Mary.
Mary was friends with your mother. Although you only met her later when you filled an application to work in her firm, she liked you a lot. When you were a teenager you had heard many stories of her and your mom about their high school years. You had seen many pictures of her, but never had seen her in person. She cared a lot about you. She’d always tell you to give her son a chance. She said he deserved a person like you, but you just brushed it off and told her it wouldn’t work and he would only get hurt.
As you parked your car, you noticed a maroon package on your doorstep. Your eyebrows knitted into a frown. That was odd. You haven't ordered anything. You picked it up and walked inside. After locking the door and placing your purse over the counter, you headed to your room with the box in your hands. This could only be Sam. You placed it in your bed. It was a beautiful box, it had a cream satin ribbon tied into a bow. You sucked in a deep breath before opening it. What did he buy you this time?, you wondered.
Opening the box, a sapphire blue gown revealed itself before your eyes. You gasped. Sam had bought you expensive stuff before, but this was on a whole new level. You stared wide-eyed at the dress folded beautifully. You couldn’t find it in you to touch it. Slowly, your fingers reached for the satin, grazing over the material. This couldn’t be real. He didn’t do that. He couldn’t. At this point, you didn’t even want to know how much it cost him. Reluctantly, you took the gown in your hands, removing from the box. It was one of the most beautiful dresses you had ever seen. A cream envelope rested at the bottom of the box. Your name was written in a neat handwriting. You opened it and read the letter.
Save me a dance. Yours, Sam.
A smaller paper with his handwriting followed.
Olivia told me your size. Hope it fits. If it doesn’t, give me a call. I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night.
You stared fixed at the smaller note, slack-jawed. He has really gone through all that effort just to get you a gown for a ball you didn’t even know you were going. Well, now you had to despite wanting to go or not. Sam had really outdone himself this time.
Sam had bought you jewelry before and you were sure it was expensive as hell. Sometimes he brought your favorite dish to your office so you’d stop working and have lunch. He knew if he didn’t do that, you’d spend the afternoon without eating because you were too busy. He got flowers delivered to your office and to your home. He left you sticky notes just to let you know he was thinking about you. Once he met this guy that could draw realistic things and he asked him to draw you. He showed him his favorite picture of you and the man drew you. At the bottom of the paper, it said ‘this feels like falling in love’. Sam was everything you could ask for in a guy. Sometimes you wonder why you just didn’t let him all the way in. He had the potential to destroy you in ways no one ever could. That scared you.
————
Saturday had started just like any other day. Except it felt as if it was actually Sunday because you had the day off. You went grocery shopping and used some of your free time to clean your apartment. Although you didn’t like to admit it, you were nervous about tonight. You were afraid of meeting Sam in a tux and feeling something different when you looked at him. You had tried for so long to keep your feelings shutted down and buried in the bottom of your heart. Now they were just all over the place. They were on the gorgeous gown in the box. They were on the blue roses in your living room, on the bright pink roses in your office. They were on the face masks he bought you, on the bath bombs he knew you liked. They were impregnated on the necklaces and earrings in your drawer. Your home had pieces of him everywhere. Most important, he was in your mind and heart.
After a relaxing bath, you put on your robe and placed your make-up on the counter. You didn’t want to do something heavy but you also didn’t want something too light. As your hair dried out, you started working on your make-up. Your skin was already moisturized so you prepared it with primer before applying a light coat of foundation. Then concealer for a light coverage, followed by foundation powder, a bit of bronzer and blush here and there, and highlighter. So far, you were satisfied with the results. You opened your eyeshadow pallete and opted for lighter shades. After curling your eyelashes, you wriggle the brush of your favorite mascara across the roots of your lashes. Then you applied your favorite lipstick over your lips and finalized your makeup with setting spray. By the time you finished, your hair had almost completely dried out.
Your heart started to pound in your chest as you entered your bedroom. You stared at the gown that was now on hanger. It seemed that it would tear itself apart if you touched it. It was so beautiful. Silvery jewels along the bodice. Thin blue straps only made it look even more delicate. The long, sapphire blue, silk-pleated skirt had you swooning.
You shrugged off your robe, pooling around your feet, and walked towards the dress. Your fingers brushed over its skirt. Sucking in a deep breath, you removed the gown of the hanger and put it on. It fitted perfectly, just like you anticipated. You walked to the full length mirror and were mesmerized. Jaw-slacked, you absorbed all the details of the gown. It felt as if it was designed just for you. The color blue looked good on you. The gown hugged your body in all its smoothness. You turned a little to get a full glance, the skirt swooned around your ankles. In that moment, you have never felt so beautiful.
After waking up from your trance, you knew exactly which heels to put on. Few months ago, you bought this pair of white heels that held a little bit of silver and were extremely comfortable. They probably wouldn’t be visible, but they matched the dress perfectly. You picked a delicate necklace Sam gave you to go along.
Your hair was done in no time. You had opted for pinning it up in a loose and edgy updo. A few loose locks of hair graced your face.
You called an uber and in twenty minutes you found yourself in front of the hotel. A sign pointed to the right indicated the ball was that way. You took a deep breath before walking in that direction. Deep down, you were nervous, but you were also confident about the way you looked. This time you might actually fit in.
Your eyes widened as you stepped foot into the room. The decoration was in shades of gold and white with a little silvery here and there. Your eyes searched for him in the crowded room. It was inevitable. Everytime you’d walk into a room you knew Sam was in, your eyes wouldn’t stop roaming around the area in search of him. They found him. He wore a shiny black tuxedo along with a black tie. It fitted his body perfectly and only made his shoulder look broader. In other words, he was hot as hell.
In a matter of seconds, Sam’s hazel eyes found yours. His gaze fixed on you. He had to use every last ounce of his strength to not to gasp. Yet, his lips parted. How did you manage to look even more beautiful? Sam couldn’t hear what his coworkers were talking about. He couldn’t hear the music playing. His attention was solely on you. Your lips curled into a smile as you held up your hand and mouthed a “hi” before making your way to Mary and John.
“Y/N,” Mary beamed, hugging you. “You look beautiful, sweetie. I’m so glad you came.”
“Yeah, I’m glad too,” you smiled.
“Please, help yourself. I think your friends are here already. If you need anything, just look for us,” she winked, leaving to welcome other guests.
Before you had the chance to walk to your friends, Sam approached you, offering you a glass of champagne.
“You look stunning tonight,” his eyes glistening as he stared at you.
“Thank you,” you smiled, as you sipped at your glass. “For everything. I mean, if you didn’t buy me this gown, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Oh, you know, I was just passing by then I saw this dress on a shop window and thought of you.”
“Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that,” you scoffed. “I think I owe you a dance, don’t I?”
“You do,” he smiled, placing yours and his empty glasses on a table nearby.
You noticed him signaling to someone, before he held out his hand. You gladly took it and let him walk you to the center of the room. A few people were dancing. The song ended and a slower one filled your ears. One you knew too well. Your lips curled into a smile.
His right hand made its way to your lower back. Your left hand resting on his shoulder as the other held his big, rough hand. As your eyes met his hazel orbs, everyone seemed to dissolve around you.
Settle down with me Cover me up Cuddle me in Lie down with me And hold me in your arms
The rhythm of the song guided your movements. For the first time, you were nervous around Sam Winchester. He pulled you a little closer and you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling.
And your heart's against my chest, your lips pressed in my neck I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet And with a feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now
“Someone once sent me a playlist they created with songs that reminded them of me. This song was the first one and they said it was their favorite,” you teased.
“I wonder who that is,” he smirked.
“Oh, you know, just some guy I happen to have a thing for.”
Kiss me like you wanna be loved You wanna be loved You wanna be loved
The warm pressure of his hand on the small of your back made uncontrollable feelings surge through your body. You were overwhelmed. You had let him in. All the way in. Sam Winchester has won your heart. There was no holding back now. Your body was acting on its own, it was at his mercy.
He leaned his head closer to yours. “This feels like falling in love. Falling in love. We're falling in love,” he whispered ever so softly against your ear.
Settle down with me And I'll be your safety You'll be my lady I was made to keep your body warm But I'm cold as the wind blows so hold me in your arms
You drew him closer to you. It felt as if you couldn’t get enough of him. Your eyes glistened as you stared at his beautiful face.
Oh no My heart's against your chest, your lips pressed in my neck I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet And with this feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now
He was so close. His breath fanning at your cheeks. Once again you let him sway your body around and around, your gown billowing out. His face was perfect. His hazel eyes held a spark every time he looked at you. His slightly parted lips only made you want to taste them. You love him. Simple as that.
Kiss me like you wanna be loved You wanna be loved You wanna be loved This feels like falling in love Falling in love We're falling in love
You couldn’t refrain your eyes from staring at his pink lips. They were so kissable. You were drawn to them.
“If someone had said to me a guy would spend a whole year courting me and trying to make his way to my heart, I’d have laughed and then punched them.”
“Well, you deserve to be courted,” he shrugged. “If you let me, I’ll spend the rest of our lives worshiping you.”
You continued to dance and spin around the room. You were amazed at yourself for not squishing his foot under your own not even once. The lights seemed to twinkle with every step as you spun delicately.
Yeah I've been feeling everything From hate to love From love to lust From lust to truth I guess that's how I know you So I hold you close to help you give it up
As the song came closer to its end, Sam raised his hand to your upper-middle back. He applied a gentle pressure to your back to let you know he wanted to dip you. You trusted him completely to not let you fall. You were safe in his arms. He mildly lowered you backward.
So kiss me like you wanna be loved You wanna be loved You wanna be loved This feels like falling in love Falling in love We're falling in love
Your eyes were locked. His hazel orbs glistened as they seemed to stare deep into your soul. Your whole body ignited with something you’ve never felt before. His pupils dilated as he took in every trace of your face, every detail. Your breath was caught in your throat. Your eyes remained lost in his as he pulled you back up with him. Your breasts pressed firm to his chest.
Both of his hands were placed on your hips now as you wrapped your arms around his neck. You smiled before capturing his lips into a passionate kiss. The whole world fell away once again. Your brain was lit on fire as a warm spread through your entire body.
Kiss me like you wanna be loved You wanna be loved You wanna be loved This feels like falling in love Falling in love We're falling in love
He managed to pull you closer to him until there was no space between you. Until you could feel his heart beating against your chest. His tongue grazed over your lower lip and at your granted access he delved into your mouth. The caress and the strokes of his tongue were softer than you could have imagined. You could never have enough of him. He was intoxicating, but in a good way. You felt his lips curl into a smile before you parted.
“We’re falling in love,” you whispered between panting breaths before pecking his lips once again.
Feedback is greatly appreciated! You can send it my way via reply, reblog or ask!
Sam Babes:
@maya-craziness
#spntfwbingo#spnsongchallengebingo#supernatural#sam winchester#sam winchester x reader#spn#supernatural fanfic#supernatural fanfiction#spn fanfic#spn fanfiction#sam x reader#sam winchester fanfiction#sam winchester fanfic#samreader#sam x you#sam winchester x you
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Duke Reviews: Alice In Wonderland
Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews, Where Today We Are Continuing Our Look At Disney...
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By Looking At Walt Disney's 13th Animated Feature (And One Of My Favorites), Alice In Wonderland...
This Movie Sees Young Alice (Voiced By Katherine Beaumont) Following A White Rabbit To The Merry, Topsy Turvy World Of Wonderland, Where A Person Can Grow Big Or Small Or You Could Run Into Funny Creatures Like The Mad Hatter Or The Cheshire Cat...
So, What Are We Waiting For? Let's Journey Down The Rabbit Hole As We Watch Alice In Wonderland...
The Movie Starts On A Summer Day As Alice Is Listening To Her Sister Read From A History Book To Which Alice Is Bored From...
Wandering Off Without Her Sister Noticing, She Lays Down On A Riverbank Wishing That She Had A World Of Her Own Which Leads To The First Song...
And For Song To Start This Movie Off, It's Okay But It's Not My Favorite Song Of This Movie However, We Do Get To A Song I Do Like Directly After This One...
It May Be Brief But I Do Like I'm Late For What It Is And I'm Also Glad It's Short Because Having One Song Directly After Another Can Be A Problem In Some Films...
Crawling Into The Rabbit Hole, Alice Soon Finds Herself Going Down,Down,Down The Hole Until She Catches Up With The White Rabbit Until He Enters A Large Hallway With A Small Door That's Barely Big Enough For Alice's Head...
With The Doorknob On The Door Suggesting That Alice Drink The Bottle Marked Drink Me On The Table To Shrink Down To The Door's Size, Which She Does...
However, When She Goes To Open The Door, He Admits That He Forgot To Tell Her That He's Locked...
But Luckily A Box That Says Eat Me Appears Which The Doorknob Says Will Help Her Reach The Key However, When She Does She Grows Too Big...
Weeping Hysterically, She Drinks The Drink Me Bottle Again To Become Small, She Goes Right Through The Doorknob And Into A River Of Tears Which Is Where She Meets The Dodo Who Sings Our Next 2 Songs...
And While The Sailor's Hornpipe Song Is Short Like I'm Late, The Next One Which The Caucus Race Song, Is A Good Song And Really Makes You Want To Run Around The Room...
Running Into A Thick Forest, Alice Meets Tweedle Dee And Tweedle Dum Who Do Another Short Song...
It's A Cute Song, But I Think I Prefer The Version Done In The 1985 Version Sung By Edie Gorme And Steve Lawrence...
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(Start At 0:09)
But We'll Talk About That One On Duke Reviews Xtra On Thursday And Friday...
But Hearing About Alice Being Curious, They Tell Her The Story Of...
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(Start At 0:34)
And I Love This Sequence The Song Is One Of The Best In This But The Ending, Of Course Is Very Sad...
Getting Up To Leave The Two Boys Stop Her As They Attempt To Tell Another Poem Called You Are Old, Father William As Alice Sneaks Away...
It's A Cute Song For As Long As It's On Screen But Again For A Better Version I Refer Again To The 1985 Version Where It's Sung By Sammy Davis Jr....
Coming Upon The White Rabbit's House, She Goes To Talk With Him Only For Him To Confuse Her With His Housemaid, Mary Ann...
That's Because She's Not In Wonderland But On A Deserted Island With 6 Other Castaways...
Ordering Her To Fetch His Gloves From His Bedroom, Alice Gets Them Only To Eat A Cookie That Makes Her Grow So Big That Her Arms And Legs Are Sticking Out Of The Windows And Doors...
Going To The Dodo For Help, He Gets A Chimney Sweep Named Bill To Rip The House's Chimney Off, But Bill's Scampering Causes Soot To Rise Inside Which Makes Alice Sneeze And Shoot Bill Out Of The Roof Like A Cannonball...
Having No Other Option, Dodo Decides To Burn The House Down Which Leads To Another Short Song...
It's A Cute Song, But There Are So Many Short Songs In This Movie They're All Starting To Sound The Same...
Luckily Though, Alice Finds A Carrot In The Rabbit's Garden And Eats It, Shrinking Down In Size To 3 Inches...
Going Into A Garden Of Flowers Where The Flowers Are As Tall As A Tree, They Come To Life And Entertain Her With Our Next Song...
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(Start At 0:05)
And It's One Of My Favorite Songs In This Movie...
It's A Fun Song Which Shows The Different Types Of Flowers And Bugs In Wonderland With My Favorite Being The Rocking Horse Fly...
But Their Attitude Changes When Alice Reveals Herself To Be Not A Flower Which Then Causes Them To See Her As A Weed...
After Being Shooed Away By The Flowers, We Move Into Our Next Song As Alice Meets The Caterpillar...
Who Despite Her Best Efforts To Ask Him How To Grow Tall Again, Continues Interrupting Her And Instructs Her To Recite Various Bizarre Poems...
Eventually Growing Angry At Alice's Displeasure Of Being The Same Height As Him, He Becomes A Butterfly As He Tells Her That One Side Of The Mushroom Will Make Her Grow Taller And The Other Side Will Make Her Grow Smaller...
Eating One Side Of The Mushroom, Alice Grows Back To Her Normal Height After A Pointless Scene Involving A Bird That Just Wastes Time...
Wandering Through The Woods, We Get Our Next Song As Alice Meets The Cheshire Cat (Voiced By Sterling Holloway)...
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After That Encounter, We Get My Favorite Scene Of The Movie And Favorite Song Of The Movie As Alice Meets The Mad Hatter (Voiced By Ed Wynn)...
Disney Showcase: Ed Wynn
Other Characters He's Played For Disney Other Than The Character He Plays In This One:
The Toymaker In Babes In Toyland
The Fire Chief In The Absent Minded Professor
A.J. Allen In Son Of Flubber
Uncle Albert In Mary Poppins
Ed Parker In Those Calloways
Mr. Hoffstedder In That Darn Cat
And Rufus In The Gnome Mobile (Which Was His Final Performance Before His Death)
Going Back To The Story, There Is Also The March Hare (Voiced By Jerry Colonna, Who You May Remember From Casey At The Bat From Make Mine Music) And The Doormouse
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After That Song, They Maniacally Go About The Table, Offering Alice Tea Without Actually Giving Her Any Until The White Rabbit Shows Up, As Hatter And Hare Attempt To Fix His Watch Only To Destroy It As They Send The Rabbit Flying Through The Air...
With Alice Saying...
She Tries To Go Back Home Through The Tulgy Woods, Where She Confronts Many Creatures But Doesn't Find Her Way Home Which Causes Her To Cry As We Get Our Next Song As Alice Cries..
It's A Sad Song But I Don't Know, I Just Don't Care For It...
Finding The Cheshire Cat Again, He Tells Her That The Only Way Home Is Through The Queen Of Hearts, So He Creates A Shortcut To The Queen's Maze Where We Get My Second Favorite Song...
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Which Leads To My Second Favorite Scene In The Entire Movie, The March Of The Cards, And This Scene Is Just Amazing And Full Of Color As We See The Cards March, It Is Honestly A Spectacle To See...
With The White Rabbit Announcing The Arrival Of The Queen Of Hearts And The King, The Queen (Voiced By Verna Felton) Notices The Painted Roses Which Leads To Our Next Song...
Finding Out It Was The 3 Painters, She Has Them Ordered To Be Beheaded Before She Meets Alice Who She Invites To Play A Game Of Croquet With Her...
But As They Play The Cheshire Cat Appears And Attaches The Queen's Croquet Mallet To The Bottom Of Her Dress, Believing That Alice Did It The Queen Is About To Order Her To Be Beheaded.
But With The King Demanding A Trial, The Queen Starts The Trial Of Alice...
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Having A Frantic Chase All Throughout Wonderland, We See Various Characters From Alice's Journey Through Wonderland Until She Ends Up Back In Front Of The Doorknob Who Is Still Locked...
Asking To Get Out Anyway, The Doorknob Laughs Saying That She Is Outside, Showing Her That She Is Actually Asleep Under A Tree In The Park And All Of This Is Just A Dream...
Saying To Wake Up As An Angry Mob Grows Closer And Closer, Alice Eventually Wakes Up To The Sound Of Her Sister's Voice As They Walk Home...
And That's Alice In Wonderland And Despite Sometimes Having Songs Coming One After Another, It Still Is One Of My Favorite Disney Animated Movies..
The Story Is Very Adventurous, I Love The Characters, Most Of The Songs Are Good, I Love Ed Wynn As The Mad Hatter, I Love The Queen Of Hearts As The Bad Guy, It's Just A Great Disney Animated Feature Altogether And I Say See It...
Be Sure To Check Out Duke Reviews Xtra This Week, As We Look At Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, The Burton-Less Sequel, Alice Through The Looking Glass And The 1985 TV Version Of Alice In Wonderland That Was Done By Irwin Allen...
Till Then, This Is Duke, Signing Off...
#alice in wonderland#Kathryn Beaumont#Ed Wynn#sterling holloway#Jerry Colonna#Verna Felton#disney#disnerd#disney animated films#disney animated movies#disney animated canon#Alice In Wonderland Dark Ride#fantasyland
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The Nuptial Necessity - Chapter 3
A 12xRose Human AU
Despite an unglamorous job description, Rose loves the work she does with The Thistle Foundation, a charity founded by her best friend’s great-uncle. It doesn’t hurt that her boss, her friend’s father, is easy on the eyes. With a great job, wonderful friends and a loving family, life couldn’t be better – except for having someone to share it with.
All of that is threatened, though, when the great-uncle dies – and sets a strange condition for his nephew to inherit, jeopardizing the Foundation and Rose’s future, sparking a chain of events that might just get her everything she dreamed of and more.
Chapters will be posted on Saturdays and Tuesdays. Many thanks to my beta, @stupidsatsuma
Rated: Explicit, for eventual smut
@doctorroseprompts
AO3 | Masterlist
—
Malcolm didn’t get a second of sleep that night. After more than an hour tossing and turning in bed, mind racing, he reluctantly reached for his tablet and glasses, turning on the bedside lamp.
A simple Google search turned up hundreds of thousands of articles on inheritance, but none seemed to offer any solutions to receiving the inheritance without meeting the stipulations of the will. He was an old man, perhaps he was going senile? Why would he do this?
He shot off an email to the will executor and solicitor, asking Is it possible he was not in sound mind? Is there a previous version of the will that doesn’t include this marriage requirement?
It was likely a vain hope, but he had to try. Resolving to forget about the marriage idea for the moment, he turned his attention to finding a job posting board. After a few false starts he tried charity administrator openings London, and with a sigh, began reading through the first posting.
No matter what happens, this is going to suck. Thanks a lot, Uncle Wally.
-
Friday
By the time his alarm went off he was dressed and ready to go, texting Graham to cancel his morning pickup and deciding to take the Underground instead. Pausing just outside the gate and staring up at the townhouse, he realized with a jolt, Everything I have is tied up in the Estate. If I lose this inheritance, I lose everything.
At twenty-seven he’d fled Glasgow before the ink on his divorce papers was dry, bringing Clara to London for a fresh start. His uncle had been kind enough to give him a job working for The Thistle Foundation in the mailroom, and he spent most of the next decade working his way up and earning his keep until Wallace decided to retire, leaving Malcolm in charge. The townhouse went with the Estate, having been owned by the family since shortly after it was built, and he didn’t so much draw a salary from the Foundation as receive a stipend from his uncle.
I’m fifty years old and have almost nothing to my name.
It had always been a given that he would inherit; Wallace had never had children, his only sibling Malcolm’s father, and Malcolm was in effect an only child, his brother having died decades ago. He’d never had to worry about assets, had few personal expenses. To lose the Estate would cost him everything.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.
He was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed his stop, barely making it through the doors onto the platform before they closed. Coming up to street-level he looked around, catching sight of the little shop Rose usually got their morning coffees from, only recognizing it by the familiar logo.
Stepping inside, it wasn’t until he was facing the cashier he realized he had no idea what Rose usually ordered. “Erm, hi. I don’t do this, my assistant is usually in here – pretty, blonde, big smile, name of Rose? D’you-”
“Oh, you must be Malcolm!” the girl, Amy, gushed, eyes lighting up. “Of course we know Rose, she’s in here everyday! Oi, Mel, Rose’s regular order, stat!” She turned back to him, finding him blinking at her in surprise. “Always nice to meet a fellow Scot. Rose is great, isn’t she?”
“The absolute best,” he agreed proudly, unsurprised but touched by the impression she obviously left everywhere she went. That’s my gi- that’s Rose. “I’d be hopelessly lost without her.”
“Too right. Anyway, here we are, that’s ten quid,” she passed over two large takeaway cups of coffee and a pastry bag.
Right. Feeling like a moron, entirely out of sorts after first the previous day’s bombshell and then no sleep, he dug out a twenty-pound note and thrust it across the space. “Keep the change. Thanks.”
Picking up the order he made his way to the door, more focused on the drinks than where he was walking, elbowing open the door and slamming right into someone entering. “Shit!” He barely managed to keep hold of everything, coffee sloshing dangerously but only spilling a little, and he looked up to give the person a piece of his mind only to stop dead in surprise. “Oh, fuck me.”
Rose arched one eyebrow in response, a smile flickering over her lips. “I’d rather not get banned from here, if it’s all the same to you, ta.” She plucked one of the cups from his hand, lifting it to her nose before taking a large gulp. “What’re you doing here?”
Stepping out onto the sidewalk they started down the street towards their building, falling naturally into sync.
“I couldn’t sleep, thought I’d come in early. I saw the place, and…” he trailed off, shrugging one shoulder. “You’re up early.”
“Couldn’t sleep,” she echoed, rolling her eyes. “Clara stopped by, talked my ear off until half two. Decided to just get a move on.”
The silence was awkward, which only served to annoy him; they had always had a good rapport, after the first six or so months once she had settled into her role. Now, eight years later he considered their partnership to be a well-oiled machine, two halves of a whole despite the on-paper power imbalance.
He held the door for her as they entered their building, nodding to the security guards as they buzzed through. Rose hit the button on the lift for their floor, and they rode up alone.
Malcolm followed her to her desk, watching as she flicked on the lights and shrugged off her coat, vaguely curious to her routine; she typically arrived only a few minutes before him- long enough to be settled and ready to face the day, but recent enough that his coffee was always hot and fresh.
“Oh!” she yelped, turning around to see him leaning on the corner of her desk, watching her. “D’you need something? My computer’s still booting up.”
The words hovered on the tip of his tongue, before he sighed, shoulders slumping. “No, I’m good. Just- oh, you know what you’re doing. I’ll be in my office.” Extracting his muffin from the pastry bag he slunk into his office, falling into his desk chair and turning to gaze listlessly out the window.
What am I supposed to do?
-
It was, quite frankly, the worst day of Rose’s professional career. Things got done, most of her duties able to be completed on autopilot after so long, but she could muster no spark to put into any of it. No banter. None of her signature Rose Tyler charm.
Her computer dinged and she glanced up from where she was poking at her salad halfheartedly to groan. “Oh, you’ve got to be motherfucking shitting me.”
“Rose Tyler!” Malcolm’s delighted voice made her jump and yelp, “I’m so proud of you. That was almost a proper swear.”
“Missy’s on her way up,” she didn’t even look at him, clicking on the IM box from Mickey, the building’s security guard and one of her oldest friends. It was just an emoji, two wide eyes, but it was their code. “What do you want me to do?”
He sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll see her. I swear, she must have my office bugged or something.”
The lift dinged, and she raised her eyes to glance at him. He looks like he’s having as rough a day as I am. He’d said he hadn’t slept; had it been for the same reason she hadn’t? No, he was probably thinking about the gala. Of course it was about that, dingbat. “I’ll send her in.”
“Thanks.”
He disappeared back into his office as Missy walked in, and Rose had to bite her lip hard to keep from laughing or rolling her eyes. What did he ever see in her? Missy Tucker was without comparison the most extravagant, eccentric person she’d ever met, and that included all of her mother’s rich society ‘friends’.
“Good afternoon, welcome to The Thistle Foundation, do you have an appointment?” Rose asked sweetly, as the older woman approached her desk.
“I’d like to see my husband, please.” Missy’s smile was just as fake-sweet as Rose’s, as they went through the whole song-and-dance. One of the very first things Rose had been taught on her first day, by both Malcolm and her predecessor Jo, was to stall Missy as long as possible, making enough trouble that she didn’t find it worth it to visit the office.
This is your best friend’s mother, this is your best friend’s mother, this is your best friend’s mother, Rose lectured herself, pretending to stare intently at her screen for a moment. “I can give you a few minutes, but he has a call at one that he can’t miss.”
“Thank you.” And she swept past Rose into Malcolm’s office.
Once the door shut behind her, Rose let loose an undignified snort. Taking a subtle picture with her mobile, she texted it to Clara with the caption Your mum’s here.
Missy Tucker was the subject of ongoing amusement amongst the three; every time she appeared after months of no contact she had an entirely different style, often with a slight tweak to her features suggesting she was a fan of cosmetic surgery. Today her chosen look was that of evil Mary Poppins, complete with a plum-colored ankle-length skirt and matching dress coat, a white dress shirt buttoned to the neck with an elaborate bow, black heeled boots, a delicate hat, and an umbrella Rose would swear was an actual prop from the movie.
She looked ridiculous, and like she would be right at home as the evil orphanage matron in a Victorian version of Annie!
Are you fucking kidding me? Clara pinged back almost immediately. I love my Dad, but God I wish I was adopted. Please tell me I didn’t inherit her fashion sense!
Snickering, Rose shook her head and returned to her work polishing up her resume. At precisely one o’clock she buzzed in on the intercom, using what Clara called her flight attendant voice. “Malcolm, I have that potential donor on line two.”
“Thank you, Miss Tyler.”
A moment later the door opened and Missy stalked out, a murderous expression on her face. “I’ll talk to you soon,” she threatened her ex over her shoulder, ignoring Rose as she stormed towards the lift.
Rose waited until the lift doors closed before rising and entering Malcolm’s office. “So?”
He was lying on his couch with his head back against the cushions, a crystal cut glass of scotch hanging loosely from his hand. “She wants to reconcile, says she’s changed, wants to go back to what we once were.”
“What did you say?” She settled gingerly on the end of the glass coffee table by his head, watching as he opened tired eyes to stare at her.
“That who we were went up in a flaming pile of shit twenty-three years ago when I caught her high in bed with the babysitter on our fifth wedding anniversary. That who we were was a childhood friendship that went too far. That who we were died many, many years ago.”
He looked so sad, Rose’s heart went out to him.
“It’s far, far too late now. A part of me will always miss that, always wonder, but… It’s ancient history. Never mind that this is all because of Wallace’s death and the inheritance. She didn’t say it, but I know her. Anything that even sniffs of money or power and she’s first in line, plotting how to get it.”
“I’m sorry,” Rose offered, giving him a kind smile. “You deserve better than her.”
Sighing, he struggled upright, turning to plant his feet on the ground and set the untouched glass of scotch on the coffee table next to her. “Thanks.”
Their eyes met, and for once, she didn’t blush and look away. Clara’s question from the previous night circled back through her mind, and she let herself actually see him. Ice blue eyes capable of such a coldness shined back, warm and open, something only a privileged few were allowed to see. His strong features could be severe, Clara had once called them attack eyebrows, but when he smiled… his entire face would light up, almost like he was a different person.
She'd always found him attractive, may have had the occasional fantasy involving them, a bottle of wine, and a hot tub, but love?
Her gaze dropped to his lips, and she automatically licked her own. She would be lying if she said she’d never wondered – didn’t everyone, at some point? He drew closer, and she realized that she was leaning in; they were both leaning in. Is this really happening?
Rose’s eyes fluttered closed, her heart pounding, and she could feel his breath against her lips when-
“Dad?”
#bbatcfic#ficandchips#Doctor Who#doctorroseprompts#Human!12xRose#Human!Twelfth Doctor#Rose Tyler#Human AU#AU#The Nuptial Necessity
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The Parts of You, ch37
AO3
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‘I must be hallucinating,’ thought Nino vaguely, blinking away the after-effects of the bright pink glow that had faded nearly as quickly as it had come. ‘The pain must be getting to my head.’
Faint spots still danced across his vision but he ignored them for now. There were two things demanding his immediate attention at the moment, and neither of them made any sense.
Ladybug was… right there. And now she wasn’t, but… she was. Because in her place stood a quivering Marinette, disheveled hair barely caught in Ladybug’s loose ponytail, staring back at him with the expression of a deer caught in headlights.
“Oh no,” she squeaked.
“Oh dear,” murmured the second of the metaphorical elephants in the room, flitting out from behind Marinette’s head. “This is unfortunate,” the thing said, and tsk-ed quietly.
“I’m sorry!” whispered Marinette, although whether the sentiment was on behalf of or directed towards the bug-thing floating around her head was unclear and, frankly, he didn’t really care. “I’m sorry, oh my God, I’m so sorry, I messed up…”
“Oh, Marinette,” sighed the thing in a voice that sounded like bells, swooping down to nuzzle at Marinette’s cheek. “It was an accident, we’ll figure it out!”
‘Marinette?’ thought Nino dimly. ‘Ladybug? Marinette is Ladybug? Ladybug is Marinette is…’ He was starting to feel dizzy, yet also terrifyingly, vividly sane.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” said Marinette, whirling on him, eyes wild and desperate. “You weren’t supposed to find out like this, you weren’t supposed to find out at all, oh, and now we’re stuck—” Tears were forming in her eyes, spilling unnoticed down her cheeks in thick streams, all traces of her former Ladybug confidence gone like, well, magic as the color suddenly drained from her face. “Chat,” she breathed. And then she was going berserk, pounding and screaming at the unyielding door, the thuds of her fists sending tremors through the spindly wooden shelves lining the walls, lightbulb boxes and paper towels shuddering and bouncing.
“Marinette, stop!” yelled the tiny creature, trying vainly to calm the now-feral Marinette, whose fists were surely bruised and bleeding by now from the sheer force of her repeated blows.
And still Nino sat, staring unblinking at the scene unfolding before him, unable to do anything but… process.
“Nino!” cried the tinkling voice, and he was snapped from his daze as he suddenly found himself face-to-face with the bug-thing, its big blue eyes wide and urgent. “Help me,” it said. “She won’t listen to me.”
He opened his mouth automatically at the command but words wouldn’t come, his throat had closed in on itself and what could he possibly say to help a superhero on the verge of total collapse — no, not just a superhero, but his friend…
“Nino,” said the creature again, more gently this time but just as authoritative. “I know this must be quite a shock, but she needs you right now. Please.”
He swallowed, cleared his throat, and tried again. “Mari,” he croaked. She couldn’t hear him. “Marinette,” he tried again, louder.
Her screams of her absent partner’s name had subsided but her sobs and her desperate lunges at the door had not. Gritting his teeth, he summoned all his strength and lifted himself from his precarious perch on the stool, wincing as he limped clumsily the few steps to the door. “Mari,” he croaked again, a tentative hand reaching out to grab her fist before the next blow.
That simple touch seemed to sap all her remaining strength and she stood there, tears still streaming from wild eyes as she wavered and shuddered on the spot. And then she wasn’t anymore, because she nearly knocked him off his bad leg as she dissolved into fresh sobs against his chest, burying her face against his t-shirt as he clutched her close, awkwardly patting her hair in the most soothing way he could muster. It seemed like the only thing he could do.
The bug-thing hovered silently beside them, a grave expression on its face. “I’ll try to find something to eat,” it muttered, mostly, apparently, to itself. “People live here, don’t they? There must be food.” To him it added, “I’m sorry we had to meet this way, Nino. This is turning out to be a very… intense day, isn’t it?”
“Um,” said Nino, cradling a still-sobbing Marinette in his arms.
“I’m Tikki, by the way,” it said. “How silly of me to forget my manners, but you’ll have to excuse me.” It flitted towards the door, and paused. “If she asks,” it said, “just tell her I’ve gone to recharge. I’ll be back momentarily. And then we can see about fixing that door, shall we?” And then it went through the door — Nino blinked, sure he must have missed something — and was gone.
It took a few moments for Marinette’s hiccupping sobs to calm enough for her to catch her breath. “He needs me,” she whimpered into his chest, eyes bloodshot. “He’s waiting for me and he needs me, I was only supposed to be gone a few minutes…”
‘He?’ Nino stumbled blankly for a second before supposing with a sudden jolt: “he” would mean Chat Noir. Of course it would, because who else had she been screaming herself hoarse over? Chat Noir, the wild, flamboyant boy who was much more of a real person to Marinette than to the rest of Paris’s much more vague symbolic ideal; Chat Noir who, at this very moment, would be dodging bombs and biding his time while waiting for backup that wouldn’t — couldn’t, presently — come. A cold lump of horror slid its way into the pit of his stomach and settled there, hard and heavy as iron. “I — I’m sure he’ll be fine,” said Nino as his voice cracked, unconvincing even to himself.
She straightened, taking tremulous breaths as she sought to collect herself. “Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes, mascara collecting in ugly rings under them and smearing on her skin. She glanced at him finally, a softer sort of concern tinging her expression now. “How’s your leg?”
He shrugged a one-armed shrug and winced as he did. “It’s been better,” he managed.
She took his arm and guided him gently back to the stool, careful not to disturb his ankle more than absolutely necessary. “I’m so sorry you got mixed up in all this,” she said quietly, kneeling beside him as he situated himself as comfortably as he could. “I never wanted any of you to find out this way. Or, y’know, at all, but…” She let out a weak, semi-hysterical kind of half-laugh that didn’t quite land.
He had a million things to say, a million wildly roiling thoughts fighting to be verbalized first, but when he looked at her all he could see was his friend, tired and scared, buckling under a kind of weight he could barely understand. “Yeah,” he said finally, pushing aside the Other Things for later. “Yeah, this sucks.”
She broke their held gaze, fidgeting without direction, looking haggard. “I’m sorry,” she said again, voice barely above a whisper.
“It’s not your fault.”
“I should have been more careful,” she said viciously, lips pressing together in a harsh line. “I should have picked a better spot, I should have paid attention—”
“Hey, Marinette, this isn’t your fault!” he cut her off firmly. “You wouldn’t even be trapped in here if it weren’t for me.”
“You were my responsibility!” she spat, rounding on him with anger in her voice, but her eyes were nothing but regretful and terrified. “Everyone is my responsibility! Paris is my responsibility! And Chat…” She took a long, slow breath and looked at the ceiling, in an apparent attempt to quell any more rising tears. “He can’t handle this by himself, and I’m — I’m not there right now because I was stupid and careless…”
He gripped her shoulder before she could start crying again. “Hey,” he said softly. “Keep it together, yeah? We’ll figure this out.”
“Nino,” she whispered, voice wavering dangerously. “What if somebody dies?”
The question hit him like a punch to the gut but she kept going. “We’ve never had an Akuma this bad before — I mean, Jesus Christ, an actual terrorist? What if somebody dies because I was stupid enough to get locked in here and I couldn’t save them? What if Chat—”
“Hey now,” interrupted Nino shakily. “Don’t think like that, okay? We’re going to be fine, you hear me? They’re all going to be fine.” Through the sudden, violent barrage of intrusive thoughts racing through his mind — Alya’s broken body crushed under a pile of rubble, eyes unseeing behind cracked glasses; Adrien, burning; the mangled corpses of Kim, Alix, Rose, anyone he’d ever known, strewn across the sidewalk like ragdolls — he squeezed her shoulder in what he hoped was taken as a comforting gesture, despite it rapidly becoming more of a stabilizing gesture for himself than anything else.
She sniffled weakly and nodded, wiping at her nose with a half-hearted swipe of a fist as her gaze flicked across the room. “Where’s Tikki?” she asked.
It took a moment for “Tikki” to connect to “weird magical bug-thing that flies through walls” in Nino’s head. “Oh,” he said. “It, uh, said it needed to… ‘recharge’? It went through the door a few minutes ago, it said it’d be back soon to fix the door.”
“But I have cookies in my—” She stopped mid-sentence and groaned. “I told her to stop eating them unless there’s an Akuma, she promised! Those are for emergencies only!” She raked an exasperated hand through her hair, inadvertently yanking strands loose from her already haphazard ponytail. “I hope she’s back soon.”
“…She?” said Nino tentatively.
Marinette glanced at him, a tired half-smile quirking the corner of her mouth. “Yeah,” she said. “Tikki’s my kwami, she’s the one who gives me my power.”
He took a moment to consider this factoid. “I see,” he said, not really seeing at all.
Her smile turned sad. “We’re going to have a lot to talk about after this, aren’t we?” she said rhetorically.
He met her gaze. “Yeah, I guess so,” he agreed.
Marinette glanced up at the ceiling, expression hard as the faint smile slipped from her face. “It’s awfully quiet out there,” she said.
Nino tried not to think too hard about the implications of this.
Their attention turned suddenly to the door as a sharp clunk broke through the silence, and the bug-thing — Tikki — finally reappeared through the door. “I did my best with the lock,” it — she — said. “I’ve never actually tried to do that before, but dear Lucretia was quite handy with a hatpin, and she showed me a thing or two — of course, it’s been nearly 200 years—”
Marinette stood up as Nino’s train of thought stumbled over “200 years.” “After this, you and I are going to have a serious talk about what ‘emergency rations’ means,” she said sternly.
“Won’t happen again,” said the now-sheepish kwami.
“Tikki,” Marinette said, and her voice changed somehow as she did, “spots on!”
The bright pink light filled every inch of the small room. Nino squeezed his eyes tight but it permeated his eyelids, pressed past his shielded gaze, a flicker of warmth washing over him with the light. And just as suddenly, it was gone, and Ladybug had returned. Only, it wasn’t just Ladybug. Not anymore.
Nino stared at her with bare-faced wonder; ogling, really, barely even registering the embarrassment that would usually accompany such boldness. It was like something had snapped in his head — it really was just Marinette in spots. He couldn’t understand how he’d never seen it before.
She flexed her fingers and aimed for a kick at the door. It held fast, but only barely, a clear dent by the lock now. “C’mon,” she whispered as she kicked again.
The door buckled off its hinges on the third try, flying open with a bang. “Oh thank God,” she breathed, unhooking her yo-yo. She paused in the doorframe, glancing back on him briefly with an expression he couldn’t place. “I’ll be back for you,” she said, and then she was gone.
He didn’t know how long he sat there, staring vacantly at nothing with unseeing eyes. So many thoughts raced through his head, he didn’t know which part to focus on first, so he simply let them come. Marinette’s odd behavior and flimsy excuses over the years; mysterious disappearances whenever an Akuma showed up, finally explained. Her muscles, less “jacked,” as he had described them in the past — that description made her sound like a body builder — but clearly those of a gymnast, or else an agile superhero who spent more of her time sprinting over rooftops than down on the ground; defined, but lean, not bulky. Her quick defense of Chat Noir, especially if debating with classmates who was “better” between him and Ladybug; why would she sing her own praises when the partner who she relied on so heavily was right there?
A magical bug-creature, who could phase through walls and gave Ladybug her magic. Marinette risking her life, right now.
Alya.
Alya, constantly worried for Marinette’s safety and considering it paranoia. Alya, betrayed. Alya, rushing away from an exploding building, crushed to death under falling rubble…
There was some yelling, somewhere on the outside, a familiar female voice he would now recognize anywhere. A thump. Some quiet. And then the unmistakable shout of “Miraculous Cure!”
Tiny, glowing ladybugs swept through the building, gently wiping every trace of destruction away. The door, leaning weakly on its own hinges, was righted in a second, balanced innocently on the stupid, insecure bucket that had started the whole incident. They washed over him, clearing away the grime and the sweat, warming his ankle and suddenly the pain was gone. He flexed his foot experimentally. Completely healed. He stood, grabbing the step stool he’d been perched on, and replaced the bucket with it.
Honestly, who thought a bucket with wheels would be even slightly secure against such a heavy door? The bucket, now moderately warped from the weight of it, rolled innocently away. He stepped out.
The apartment was actually quite nice, once it wasn’t half-destroyed. He made his way down the modest staircase, the simple front door no longer a twisted hunk of metal and broken glass. Pushing it open, he saw hordes of people, immaculate and unhurt, swarming around the distant figures of Chat Noir and Marinette-Ladybug, looking slightly more out of breath than before but with an otherwise press-friendly smile gracing her face. He stood for a moment, watching the crowds milling, hesitating. Should he wait for Marinette? Should they walk together back to the park, or return separately?
…The park!
Adrien.
Alya.
He fumbled for his phone.
The line rang twice before she picked up. “Are you okay?” she demanded, not waiting for or offering a greeting.
“I — yeah, I’m okay,” he said, and suddenly he began to shake, his knees threatening to collapse under him at the sound of her voice. ‘She’s alive,’ he thought dazedly, taking long, quivering breaths through his nose. ‘She’s alive, she’s alive, she’s alive…’ “Where’d you go? I lost you.”
He hadn’t meant for it to sound like an accusation, but she sounded nearly as relieved as he felt and ignored his tone. “I went home,” she explained in a voice that wavered with barely-restrained emotion. “After we lost each other, I-I ran into my sisters — they got separated from maman and I didn’t know where else to go… It was close enough to get to on foot but far enough away that the Akuma hadn’t touched our street yet…”
His heart fluttered and sank at the same time. “Your parents,” he said. “Are they…?”
“They’re fine,” said Alya roughly, and he breathed a sigh of relief. “They were the first people I called, Ella and Etta were crying so hard… Dad’s on his way right now, and Mom should be here any second.”
Nino collapsed against the brick wall behind him, dragging a hand across his face. “Good,” he said finally. “That’s… that’s good.”
“What about your parents?”
“They’re out of town,” he said, sinking slowly to the ground on his haunches as he squeezed his eyes shut. “Anniversary trip, they left this morning, thank God.”
“Thank God,” she echoed. “You should probably still call them. They’ll be worried sick once they hear.”
“They’ll probably hop on the next plane back,” he agreed. The thought of how anxious he’d been to get them on their way that morning, the relief he’d felt when they’d finally left and he had the house to himself for a rare week… How strange to think that had only been a few scant hours ago.
“Have you — hold on.” Alya’s voice cut off as the sound of her phone being shuffled around took over, and then a muffled chorus of “Maman!” and the shriek of relief from a grown woman’s voice filled Nino’s ears as the distant reunion could be heard in indistinct snippets over the phone line. Nino let it play out, the happy sobs of Alya’s little sisters filling him with a calm he couldn’t ever remember matching, and just as he’d begun to let himself drift the shuffling phone sounds were back. “Maman just got home,” Alya clarified unnecessarily. “I’m on my way back out. Have you heard from the others yet?”
“Ah — huh?” He snapped back to reality, and with him came a sudden rising dread. He hadn’t thought this far ahead.
“I can’t get through to Marinette or Adrien,” she explained urgently. “You either, until now. I’m heading back to the park, but you haven’t heard from them?”
“Um,” said Nino. When Marinette left him, she’d said she’d be back, but had failed to specify when. Or how. Or what he could and couldn’t share. His thoughts briefly turned to what Alya had said about Miraculous magic the other day and panicked. How much had she gotten right? What would happen if he accidentally slipped? Why hadn’t Marinette at least hinted at what to do when faced with the prospect of The Alya Inquisition? Why couldn’t there have been more time?
“A missed call from either of them? A text? Anything?” Alya prompted. Her voice was becoming increasingly worried, and Nino’s panic was rising.
And then, like an angel, he glanced around and there she was.
“Marinette,” he said.
“Marinette?” repeated Alya anxiously. “What about Marinette?”
“I — Marinette’s here. With me.” He gestured wildly and she made a beeline for him, hurrying over from the opposite direction from where he’d seen her and Chat last as he brandished the phone at her. “Here, prove to Alya you didn’t die.”
“Alya?” Marinette brightened instantly and grabbed the phone, running her fingers through the hair she now loosened from her wild ponytail. Her hands had been healed. Of course they had. “Oh, thank God… No, we’re fine. Did you…?” A pause. “Yeah, we’ll be there, we’re only a few blocks away. But…” Another pause. Her face paled slightly. “Are you sure?” she asked quietly, and then Nino was hit by it at nearly the exact same moment.
Adrien.
She seemed to read his thoughts as her phone was already out of her purse by the time he had the presence of mind enough to think to ask for it. She unlocked it quickly without looking, and Nino punched in the numbers without bothering to try scrolling through her contacts.
Three agonizing seconds ticked by as he held her phone to his ear.
A click. “We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed is unavailable at the moment. Please leave a message or try again later…”
He hung up and redialed. “We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed is…”
Again. “We’re sorry…”
Nino looked up and met Marinette’s waiting gaze, a sick pit in his stomach. Her expression steeled as he forced himself to shake his head. “Nino will keep trying,” she told Alya. “We’ll see you soon.” She hung up without saying goodbye.
He kept calling as they walked, each step increasing the icy feeling in his gut until the emptiness spread to his toes, his fingers, clouding his gaze. ‘Pick up,’ he willed Adrien silently, as Marinette gently steered him over curbs and around lampposts. ‘Pick up, pick up, pick up…’
In what seemed like hours and yet only seconds, hard pavement gave way to soft, springy grass, and still there was no answer other than the robotic, vaguely feminine voice on the other end of the phone. He’d lost count of how many times he’d tried — a dozen? A hundred? His fingers were numb, and still he hit redial…
“Mari! Nino!” And suddenly he wasn’t dialing anymore, because a sudden death grip around his neck and fiery hair in his face knocked the air from his lungs and the phone from his lungs as Alya rocketed across the park and folded him and Marinette together in a rib-crushing hug.
“We’re here, Alya,” soothed Marinette in a strangled voice as Alya sobbed openly onto their shoulders. “It’s okay, you can let go…”
“Bullshit, I’m never letting either of you go ever again!” came her muffled voice, buried somewhere in Nino’s shoulder, although the pressure around his neck mercifully lessened slightly. “God, I was so worried! The whole time I was with my sisters, trying to calm them down but the whole time I was thinking of you but now you’re here and you’re okay—”
“It’s all right, Alya,” said Marinette soothingly, petting her hair. “We’re fine. And you’re fine.” She gently but firmly loosened Alya’s death grips on them and turned to face her. “Is your family all right?”
“Yes, and so’s yours, by the way. Your mom called when she couldn’t get a hold of you.”
“I couldn’t get through,” lied Marinette, looking concerned and relieved all at once. “I guess the lines were all jammed up or something.” Nino watched her silently out of the corner of his eye. There wasn’t a trace of deception in her face, not that even Alya would have noticed right now.
“You didn’t hear from Adrien on the way back, did you?” asked Alya anxiously, looking between them as she wiped the residual tears off her face. “I’ve been texting and texting…”
“I… No, not yet.” He cleared his throat and tore his gaze away from Marinette, jumping back into the moment with some difficulty.
Marinette’s face fell, and that sinking, icy feeling in Nino’s insides returned. “Nino’s been calling, but… we hoped he might be with you,” she said.
There was a tense silence — Marinette biting her lip, hands wringing; Alya, suddenly looking ashen and small. Nino picked up Marinette’s discarded phone from the ground by his feet with fumbling fingers. “I’ll try him again,” he managed finally.
Alya’s phone was already in hand. “Nothing,” she said after a few seconds, looking sick.
“Well, try it again.”
Nothing.
“Okay,” said Marinette, pale but her face set with a determined calm. “Let’s just… stop for a moment. Breathe. Where would he go?”
“Home?” suggested Alya. “You know his bodyguard will have been scouring the city…”
The girls’ voices faded around him as Nino retreated into himself, weighing the possibilities. It could only have been, what? Ten minutes since the Lucky Charm cleared away the rubble? Twenty? Hardly enough time to do a full sweep of the city, even factoring in the limited area in which the Akuma had time to attack before Ladybug and Chat Noir put him down. There could be bodies all over the place, in forgotten alleys or empty apartment buildings; wherever people had retreated for cover.
Clearly they weren’t the only ones worried about loved ones either, considering everybody around them on the streets and in the park were on their phones or clinging to each other with sobs of relief. And Marinette said herself that she didn’t know the extent of her city-healing abilities…
Alya was by his side again, looking anxious as she tried the phone again. He felt his arms tighten around her automatically, feeling the warmth from her body trying and failing to ease some of the tension in his body, the monotonous tone from the phone still rattling around in his head; ‘We’re sorry…’
Through the sea of her hair, a familiar, stupidly tall blond head edged through the crowd, bobbing around like it was looking for something…
“Adrien!”
He was running before his brain caught up with his body, nearly knocking the girls over in his haste, tripping over his own feet and uneven ground and—
“You stupid idiot!” he yelled, nearly knocking Adrien to the ground as he squeezed him tight on impact.
“Dude,” protested Adrien in a wheeze, arms hovering only a split second before returning the hug. “What gives?”
“Answer your damn phone, dumbass,” said Nino, finally feeling the tears he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in flooding down his face. He didn’t even notice the girls following him until Alya crashed into them as well, Marinette in hot pursuit. “You stupid, goddamn idiot.”
Adrien let them dogpile him for a while before gently untangling himself to answer Alya’s clamoring demands about where the hell he’d been. After they’d got separated, he’d holed up in a clothing store a few blocks away, but hadn’t realized he’d dropped his phone in the confusion. He’d had to retrace his steps once the coast was clear, which was why he was the last one back, and had only just found it, kicked under the edge of a dumpster across the street from the park. Nino didn’t care how or why he hadn’t answered now. The only thing rattling around his head as he dried his face was the constant ‘He’s safe, he’s safe, he’s safe…’
“So, what now?” Adrien finished, glancing between them. “I… uh, don’t suppose there’s much call for the movies now, is there? Especially since I can’t imagine anything will be open just now.” The ghost of a grin flitted across his face and died.
“I want to hear about you guys,” said Alya, turning to Marinette and Nino. “What happened to you?”
“Oh, um, I just did a lot of running,” said Marinette sheepishly. “Kind of just… going wherever the Akuma wasn’t, you know? I found an apartment building and stuck around there for a while, and then I ran into Nino when Ladybug and Chat Noir caught the Akuma.”
It was so… strange, hearing her refer to herself like that. To Ladybug, knowing she was Ladybug. Nino felt a new level of appreciation for how difficult keeping the lies straight must be, and keeping herself from saying “I” or “we” when referring to the protectors of Paris.
“What about you, Nino?” said Adrien.
And then he blanked.
“Uh, well… I kinda ran around for a while when we got separated,” he stuttered after a moment. “I broke my leg—”
“What?” exclaimed Alya.
“I — um…” Marinette was watching him quietly, not pointedly, but he could see something behind her eyes; something willing him to please don’t fuck this up.
He couldn’t do it.
“Turned out,” interjected Marinette brightly after a few agonizing seconds, “we ended up hiding in the same building!” Alya and Adrien turned to look at her as Nino stared, partly grateful, partly shocked. “Yeah, Ladybug found him and dropped him off at the same apartment building I was in toward the end. ‘Course we didn’t find out until after it was all over and we came out of hiding, but isn’t that crazy?”
They all turned back to look at Nino, who coughed. “Yeah,” he said finally. “Crazy, huh?”
“Too bad she didn’t bring you to the same floor, right?” said Marinette lightly, nudging his leg with a toe. “Would have saved us a lot of panic, huh?” The gesture was casual, disguised as a playful act of camaraderie between two people who’d been through a harrowing ordeal — only he understood the hidden implication: ‘Play along.’
He coughed again gracelessly. “I was pretty glad to find you,” he admitted. “Since you never answer your phone and have a worse sense of direction than Alya, we might never have seen you again otherwise.”
“Hey, not cool,” protested Alya. “Too soon.”
“I’m just… glad you’re all okay,” said Adrien. “Sorry I freaked you guys out.” He looked between them all, a warm smile on his face, but… Was that Nino’s imagination, or did he seem… distracted? He wanted to shake himself. Of course there he was. They’d all just survived a terrorist attack, and a super-powered one at that. None of them were okay.
They were quiet for a moment, just savoring the fact that they were alive, that their families were alive and okay…
“So… what now?” said Alya quietly.
“I guess…” began Marinette, and then trailed off.
“Well, I’m pretty sure Nathalie and the Gorilla are looking for me,” said Adrien with a weary sigh, “so I should probably get a hold of them before they tear the city apart. Again.”
“I just wanna go home,” said Alya in a small voice, looking suddenly nearly as tired as Nino felt. “My mom didn’t want me coming back out so soon after she got back, but…”
“Me too,” agreed Marinette softly. “I guess, just… Stay safe?”
“We’ll talk later, yeah?” said Adrien with a half-hearted smile, and in the group hug that followed Nino pulled them all as close to him as he could, wishing to preserve the moment for as long as humanly possible.
But then the moment passed, and one by one they took their leave until only he and Marinette remained.
“So…” he said awkwardly after a pause.
“So,” she agreed with equal discomfort.
He cleared his throat with some difficulty. “So,” he began again, “when should I expect this… talk?”
Marinette looked down at her toes. “I have to see my parents first,” she said, “obviously. And—” She dropped her voice low, “—I… I have to see Chat, y’know, because we didn’t really get a chance to do… this after the fight.” She gestured vaguely at the teary civilians, and their own recently-disbanded reunion. “But I’ll stop by later, if that’s all right. Or you could come to my place, if you want…?”
“My place is probably better,” he said wearily. “My parents are out of town.”
She blinked. “Oh. Oh, I see.” She bit her lip. “D’you want to come to my place anyway, after I see Chat real quick? So you don’t have to be alone, I mean, I can meet you outside the bakery—”
“No, no,” he interrupted distantly. “Nah, I’ll be fine. I need to call my folks anyway.” A beat of silence. “Thanks, though,” he added hastily.
There was something behind her eyes, a deep sadness he tried very hard to ignore at present. “Are you… sure you’re all right, Nino?” she asked quietly.
Was he? Was anyone, right now? “I’m fine,” he lied.
She didn’t look like she believed him. “I’ll see you later, Nino,” she said, and then she, too, was gone.
He stood there for an indeterminate amount of time, just surrounding himself with the collective relief of Paris, the sudden and inexplicable peace after such a violent event. He kept his mind carefully blank, if only for that one moment, where he could pretend that none of it had ever happened, that nothing was wrong.
He opened his eyes and began to walk.
Time seemed immaterial at the moment. If he’d been asked, he’d have been hard-pressed to tell anyone how long it took him to get home, or which route he took. All he knew was that at some point, he found himself standing in front of his apartment door, and a few moments passed before he remembered to fish out his keys.
The apartment looked exactly as he had left it. Of course it did; why wouldn’t it? His laptop, snoozing on the kitchen counter. His breakfast dishes still piled in the sink. He’d left the bathroom light on by accident.
Nino sank into the couch, gazing blankly at his faint reflection in the darkened TV screen.
It was all… too much.
Calling his parents would be pointless — they probably hadn’t even landed yet, and if they had they hadn’t heard what happened, given the fact that they hadn’t blown up his phone yet; what would be the point in worrying them and ruining their vacation? So there was nothing to do but sit until Marinette-Ladybug showed up at his door.
He came to the sudden, terrifying realization that that was the last thing he wanted in the entire world.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want — no, need — answers; he did, desperately. As the silence of the apartment pressed in around him all he could see was the pink flash of light, all he could hear was Marinette’s terrified voice, ‘You weren’t supposed to find out like this…’
‘You weren’t supposed to find out at all…’
How long, exactly, had she been planning on keeping something like that a secret? Did she think she could just continue with this massive lie of a double-life for as long as she held the mantle of Ladybug, before quietly retiring an indeterminate number of years in the future without a word? Had she even thought that far ahead? Not like what happened today was in any way predictable, but still.
He didn’t want to know, didn’t want to have such knowledge forced upon him. He didn’t have Alya’s drive, her insatiable need to learn every dark secret Ladybug and Chat Noir had hidden away. He was content to live in the dark, let them live their lives as they wished. And yet here he sat, and all he could think about was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, clad in the red and black of one of Paris’s most prominent protectors.
He squeezed his eyes shut, but that only made the image brighter.
Marinette, her Ladybug suit melting away into jeans and sneakers.
Marinette, talking to a magical bug.
Marinette, beating herself bloody on the immovable door, screaming for her partner with a furious desperation he’d never seen the likes of before.
Everything Alya had told him swirled around in his head, mixing and matching with everything he could remember about Ladybug, everything he’d ever known about Marinette. Little quirks in Ladybug’s speech, half-remembered from Ladyblog streams past. Marinette’s every disappearance, and every Ladybug sighting moments later. Flustered excuses and panicked distractions melded together into one truth so brutal he could hardly bear to acknowledge, but knew he had to accept.
Marinette was a superhero, and she could have died today.
Even more so than any of the rest of them, and that scared him most of all.
He snapped back to reality at the sudden knock on the front door.
Opening it, he shouldn’t have been surprised to see Marinette standing there in the hall — looking tired, of course, and nervous, but more put-together than before — and yet he was, slightly, anyway. “You got here fast,” he commented.
She looked at him quizzically. “It’s been two hours,” she said.
Really? Glancing behind him out the window, he finally noticed how the light had shifted, the shadows longer than they had been the last time he checked. Huh.
“…Can I come in?”
He looked back at her, hovering in the doorway, and blinked. “Sorry,” he said, moving aside, and she flitted past him into the living room.
“Um,” he said as he closed the door, suddenly hyper-aware of his surroundings and the situation and her, “d’you, I don’t know, want something to drink?”
“Oh,” she said, looking almost as uncomfortable as he felt. “No, thanks, I’m fine.”
They stood there in awkward silence for what felt like an eternity, both staring at anything that wasn’t each other.
Well, there were no two ways around this; might as well rip the Band-Aid off and get it over with. “So,” he said to the floor. “You’re a superhero, huh?”
She surveyed the bookshelf in the corner. “Yeah,” she said.
“Fighting crime,” he continued at a lamp. “Saving the day. Kicking ass.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re… Ladybug.”
She reddened slightly. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
It was a struggle, but he forced himself to meet her hesitant gaze. “So,” he said. “Parkour, huh?”
The split second of silence as she processed his remark was deafening, but then she cracked a grin, a relieved, genuine smile that seemed to melt some of the tension away. “To be fair,” she said, “it wasn’t exactly a lie.”
He gestured to the couch and they both sat down, albeit a bit farther apart than they might have before. Baby steps. “How are your parents?” he asked, picking imaginary lint off his jeans.
“Fine,” she sighed. “Dad cried a lot when I got home. They didn’t want me coming out again so soon, but I told them you were home alone and I wanted to make sure you were okay. You may or may not be expected for dinner until your parents come home.” She side-eyed him. “That wasn’t a lie either, you know,” she added softly. “Wanting to make sure you were okay, I mean.”
He cleared his throat. “Do they, uh, do they know?”
She looked away. “No,” she said. She sounded almost ashamed. “No, you’re the only one.”
He looked up in surprise. “The only one?” he repeated. “Doesn’t Chat Noir know?”
Her ears went red, and there was definite shame in her voice when she admitted, “No.”
“How — but why?” A thought struck him. “Do you know who he—”
She shook her head, picking at a loose thread in the seam of a couch cushion. “No,” she said quietly. “We can’t know. We’re not supposed to. Nobody is. Maybe someday, but—” She cut herself off and shook her head again. “We shouldn’t,” she reiterated. “It’s too dangerous.” She fiddled with the thread, a bundle of nervous, directionless energy, and sighed again. “It’s like,” she began again, and stopped.
Nino let her collect her thoughts, his own mind tripping over itself with questions and exclamations and the need to scream, but he let her figure out the words first. It was her secret, after all. Her life.
“The whole time I’ve been Ladybug,” she said finally, “protecting my identity has been, like, the most important thing. The most important, even more important than stopping Hawkmoth, because we can’t fight him if he knows who we are, y’know? He could just… find us, send Akumas after our families, take our Miraculous. It’s like this constant cloud over our heads. We can’t tell the people closest to us, because they might get Akumatized. And we can’t tell people who’ve already been Akumatized, because they might get Akumatized again…” Her fist clenched. “We don’t even know if we can get Akumatized — that’s the scariest part. And even if we can’t, he’s been controlled by them enough that… I can’t even trust him with that part of myself, and I trust him more than—” She cut herself off, exhaling as the fist slowly released its grip. “We argue about it sometimes. And I’ve been so paranoid for so long…”
“…You don’t know what to do,” finished Nino quietly. “Now that I know.”
She looked at him. “It’s not that I don’t trust you,” she said.
“Of course not. But I’m a problem now.” It wasn’t meant as a jab, just a statement of fact, but she winced anyway.
“I wouldn’t say ‘problem,’ exactly…”
“No, I get it.” He shrugged lopsidedly. “Trust me, it’s a problem for me, too. Like, how am I supposed to cover for you? Because I can’t lie, you know that.”
She opened her mouth, closed it, looking lost.
“Of course I will,” he continued, less to her now and more to himself, “obviously. But I won’t like it.”
She reached for him hesitantly, but couldn’t quite seem to bring herself to touch him. “I’m sorry, Nino,” she said.
He sighed. “Don’t be,” he said. “Honestly.”
“You shouldn’t be in this position,” she said, and to that he had nothing to say. So they sat in silence for a while, both lost in their own heads.
“Where’s your… uh, friend?” he asked delicately, as a way to break the awkward lull in conversation.
“My… Oh, you mean Tikki?” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “She’s, ah, in my my purse. We figured it would be better that way, I guess. Easier.”
He frowned. “Why did you bring it — sorry, her, then? If you didn’t know if I could take it?”
“She’s always with me,” said Marinette quietly. “She has to be, y’know? Because of the Akumas.”
Of course. What a stupid question. Nino kicked himself mentally and cleared his throat. “You can… You can come out now, um, if you want,” he said, a little too loudly. He felt like an idiot, but then he heard a soft zipping noise and looked down to see Marinette’s purse opening on its own. As if by magic, or so it would have seemed were it not for the tiny paws reaching up through the zipper to move it. He stared.
The little bug thing — he had to stop calling her that, she had a name — poked her head out. “Hi, Nino,” she squeaked.
Nino blinked. “What’s hangin’, little dude?” he said faintly. He could feel himself beginning to detach at the sight of her. It wasn’t right, wasn’t real, he couldn’t take this — but he did. He could. He forced himself to stay present.
He’d turned into a supervillain controlled by a butterfly, after all. For daring to believe his best friend should have a birthday party.
This should be a piece of cake.
“Do you guys want anything?” he asked suddenly, jumping to his feet. “A snack? A drink? I think I have some Pepsi in the fridge…” He was babbling. He could handle this. Of course he could. He just needed to… move. Around. Sitting was boring, anyway.
“Oh,” said Marinette. She and Tikki exchanged glances. “I’ll have some water, I guess. Since you’re offering.”
“Great,” said Nino, clattering around the kitchen aimlessly. Glasses, where were the glasses? He felt like a stranger in his own home, and it took him two tries to open the right cupboard. The tap sounded awfully loud as he ran a fumbling finger through the stream of water, checking the temperature out of habit without really feeling.
“Do you have any cookies?” asked the tinkling voice of Tikki. He nearly dropped the glass in the sink.
“Cookies?” he repeated shakily.
“She prefers sweets,” explained Marinette from the couch.
He rummaged through some more cabinets to fish out a half-filled roll of Oreos. ‘Do kwamis need plates?’ he wondered uncertainly. He brought one anyway, the tiniest tea saucer he could find, although it was probably still larger than her entire body. On the way back, he hovered for a moment in front of the fridge before grabbing a can of soda for himself. Normally he’d have a Red Bull or some other highly caffeinated sleep-substitute, but he was high-strung enough as it was. He didn’t really want the soda, either, but at least now he’d have something to do with his hands.
He set everything down carefully on the coffee table, arranging everything meticulously in front of them. However, there were only so many ways one could stack Oreos on a plate before it started to look weird, and his stalling time ran out. There was nothing else for it but to sit back down and face the music. “There you go,” he said unnecessarily, not quite settling back down into the cushions.
“Thank you, Nino,” said Tikki brightly, fluttering over to the pile of cookies and perching on the rim of the plate. She took one — it was nearly as big as her head — and bit down in the tiniest bite he’d ever seen. He knew it was rude to stare, but he couldn’t help it. She certainly seemed to take no notice.
“You might want to let go of that Pepsi,” suggested Marinette quietly, “before it explodes on you.” He looked down to see his knuckles were white around the can, and there was already a dent in the metal from his thumb. He hastily set it down, but the dent remained.
“So…” he said awkwardly. “You’re… Tikki.”
Tikki swallowed with a delicate gulp and smiled. “Yes, I am.” Nino opened his mouth to say something, hovered for a moment, and closed it again. Tikki’s smile turned matronly, or as close to it as her strange features allowed. “I’m sure you have questions,” she prompted gently. “It’s alright. I answered them for Marinette.”
Nino glanced between them uncertainly, taking in Tikki’s strange patience and Marinette’s nervous encouragement, and swallowed heavily. “What…” He gripped the knees of his jeans, fingers tightening on the loose denim until the knuckles went white again. “What are you?” he asked quietly.
Tikki settled back on her pile of Oreos. “I am a kwami.” Nino looked at her blankly and she considered for a moment. “A sort of demigod, I suppose,” she said. “Marinette can call me to her Miraculous and access some small part of my power, when she needs to.”
Nino’s gaze slid back to Marinette, who was looking at him carefully. “What’s your Miraculous?” He paused. “I mean, where is it?”
Marinette gestured to her earrings, angling her head so her hair fell away. The studs were plain, dark stones — she’d been wearing them forever. Since collège…
Of course. He’d never been as into the Ladyblog as Alya would have liked, so it took him a second to put it together, but when he did he felt silly for not doing so sooner. His stint as an Akuma was vague, the memory faded by time and post-cleansing amnesia, but he’d seen enough attacks since to remember the manic demands from Hawkmoth’s henchmen. Ladybug wore earrings too, red and black like her suit. Like Tikki. Because Tikki…
“How long have you known?”
Marinette considered her cuticles. “I’d only had my earrings for a day or two when Ivan was turned,” she said. “They just… turned up in my bedroom. I found them when I got home one day. I had no idea where they came from. And then there was this… bug-mouse flying around, telling me I was a superhero and I had to fight an actual supervillain…” Her voice softened. “I didn’t know what I was doing. It was… just so much.” Nino could sympathize. She paused for a moment and smiled. “You’re taking this very well,” she said. “When I first met Tikki I tried to attack her.”
That was… understandable. “Wait, really?”
She chuckled. “Threw everything at her but the kitchen sink.”
“And then you trapped me under a water glass,” added Tikki in an amused tone.
Nino blinked. “But you can go through walls.”
Marinette looked embarrassed. “Well, I didn’t know that at the time,” she said.
His hands were still trying to shake, so he released his death grip on his jeans and folded them carefully into his lap. His mind, however, was surprisingly calm. Tikki spoke in measured, lilting tones that were surprisingly calming, Marinette interjecting occasionally with a clarification or anecdote. He found himself asking fewer and fewer questions even than before — he didn’t even know what he didn’t know, so he simply let them take the reins and allowed the revelations to wash over him. An explanation of Ladybug’s powers and transformation. A brief rundown of what Alya had already figured out about the magic, with an added clarification here and there. Marinette reliving the first Akuma attack. A quiet smile as she recalled literally running into Chat for the first time.
And that was another thing.
“How’s he going to react to this?” Nino asked, speaking for the first time in what felt like hours. He rubbed his neck awkwardly. “I mean, you have to tell him, right? This is kind of… big.”
Marinette went quiet for a moment, a cloud passing over her expression. “I… I don’t know,” she admitted haltingly. There was silence again as she pursed her lips, picking at the loose thread again absently. “It was an accident, I’m sure he’ll understand that. But…” She trailed off.
“Marinette?” he prompted, but she stayed silent. “Mari,” he said again, more insistent this time as he finally understood her expression. “You can’t just not tell him.”
“Of course,” she said, but she didn’t sound happy about it. “I couldn’t keep this from him, even if I tried, I know that, it’s just…” She slumped forward slowly, hands dragging down her face before coming to rest on her chin as she stared blankly into space. “It’ll be hard,” she said. “You don’t understand. It hasn’t even been a week since…” She trailed off again, a flush starting creeping up her ears, still frowning at nothing.
“Since what?” he prompted when she didn’t finish her sentence.
She sighed and slumped back instead, sinking into the cushions. “We had a huge fight,” she said. “When that rainstorm hit the other night. It was horrible. There was this whole—” She gestured vaguely at nothing as she searched for a suitable description, “thing about a girl who triggered the magic for him, in his civilian life, I mean, and he told me about it, and it was… It was a mess.” Her expression twisted. “And then there was an Akuma attack in the middle of it all, and—”
“An Akuma?” interrupted Nino. “There wasn’t anything on the Ladyblog about it.”
Marinette shrugged. “It was late,” she said, “and absolutely pouring. The streets were deserted — I don’t know why that woman was out driving in the first place, you could barely see a thing. There were apartments and stuff, so I’m surprised nobody saw us from their windows, but if they did I’m honestly glad nobody tried submitting any pictures. That whole night was…” She sighed, running her hands over her face, through her hair. “It was something, all right. We don’t need that all over the internet.”
Nino frowned. “That was Tuesday, though,” he said. “You guys seemed pretty chummy on Wednesday. Not like you’d been fighting.”
“You noticed that, huh?”
She was hiding something. He squinted at her. “What?” he asked.
Her ears were well and truly red now, even though her expression betrayed nothing. She looked down, away, pursed her lips, fingers absently worrying at the loose thread. “We… kissed,” she said finally, almost embarrassed.
“What?”
“Well, I kissed him first, but then, well…” She trailed off, blushing furiously. “You know how it goes,” she mumbled.
“You kissed Chat Noir?” Nino didn’t know what to do with himself, reeling at the admission. Conflicted on whether to slump back or jump to his feet in shock, to yell or sit in silence, never mind what to do with his hands… He settled for clutching his hair.
“What, like I couldn’t pull a hot blond guy after what happened?” said Marinette, her voice laced with a defensive tone.
“What? No! I mean… what?” He was wringing his cap in his hands with no clear memory of how it got there. On a day that had felt like getting punched in the stomach multiple times in a row, somehow this was the revelation that had sparked the most reaction. Magic? Sure. Secret identities? Whatever. Marinette getting some with her partner? Stop the presses, hold the phone. Madness. He’d sort through his priorities later.
“It’s not that weird,” she said, sounding slightly miffed.
He waved his cap dismissively. “It’s not that,” he said impatiently. “It’s just… Chat Noir.” She looked at him blankly. “Chat Noir,” he said again for emphasis.
“Oh, that’s right, you don’t actually know him,” she said. “He’s just a giant dork, honestly.”
“A celebrity superhero giant dork,” he corrected her. “Who wears a leather catsuit and has fangirls and gets cosplayers at fetish conventions. That Chat Noir.”
“Who also regularly stops patrols to pet stray cats and who cried on my shoulder for an hour and a half after I made him watch Titanic for the first time,” countered Marinette, the tiniest hint of a smile quirking up a corner of her mouth. “Really, it’s not that big of a deal. Well,” she amended, her cheeks turning slightly pink again, “it’s not not a big deal, but just not like that…”
Nino finally sank back into the cushions, puffing out his cheeks as he exhaled and put his now severely wrinkled cap back in place. “Boy, you sure can pick ‘em,” he said, finally cracking the can of Pepsi with a soft hiss.
She smiled bashfully. “Tell me about it,” she agreed.
“How does something like that even happen?” he said. “I mean, you fight, kick ass, then, what, make out in an alleyway in the rain? With your superhero partner? Like, what?”
She paled. “I thought there weren’t any pictures,” she breathed.
“What? No, I just mean…” He reached for the gently sweating Pepsi can and cracked it absently. “Is your life an actual movie or something?” he said. “What the hell?”
“I wish it wasn’t,” she said dully. “Not that I don’t love Tikki, or care about Paris or anything, but I just wish—” She stopped. Sighed. “Everything’s so complicated,” she said.
He couldn’t disagree.
“I tried to give them to Alya,” she confessed finally, through the silence.
Nino nearly choked on his soda. “Give—” he spluttered.
“My earrings,” she clarified unnecessarily. “I tried to give them to Alya. After everything went so wrong with Ivan.” Curled up on the cushions as she was, she looked smaller somehow, as if the admission had shrunk her down to a child again.
Nino set the can down carefully, wiping soda off his chin. “Why?” he said after a moment.
She didn’t answer immediately. “She was so… confident,” she said finally. “So sure of herself, and so unafraid. Not like me. And she loves superheroes. She was so… excited when everything started happening. No powers at all, and yet she hurled herself into the middle of it all anyway. Just imagine how she’d be with magic.” A small smile twitched up as the image settled over them both. Of Alya, with her wild hair and righteous sense of justice, raising hell in black and red.
Alya.
He glanced at her as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, eyes cast down, lost in thought. “I thought a lot about it afterwards,” she said quietly. “Even after I decided to stay. About how different things would have been. They would have been easier…” She shook her head. “No, not ‘easier.’” She paused. “Simpler, I guess.” She hunched down lower, arms wrapping around her knees as if that could protect her. “I’ve never told anyone that before either,” she said.
He didn’t know what to say, but he had barely been able to keep up all day anyway. “She would have been a good Ladybug,” he agreed slowly. “But she wouldn’t be you.”
She blushed at that, frame relaxing a little. “Thanks, Nino,” she said. “It’s still one hell of a mess, though.”
“True,” he said.
“And that’s why telling Chat is gonna be a nightmare,” she continued. “Tuesday was the biggest fight we’ve had about it, and then… things…” She trailed off, embarrassed. “I don’t know what we are anymore,” she admitted in a small voice, “but I don’t want to ruin it.”
“It was an accident, though. It was out of your control.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “But I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”
“Would it… help if I talked to him?”
She glanced at him, a mixture of confusion and vague surprise on her face.
“I mean—” Nino swallowed, hardly believing the words about to come out of his mouth, “—if you’re worried about him getting mad, I mean, or blaming you or something, would it help if I was there? I could explain the situation, y’know. And maybe it would help to meet me for real, if he’s worried I might talk or something…”
“That’s…” She smiled a little, relaxing in her seat. “That’s really nice of you, Nino.” She took a thoughtful sip of her water and set it down again carefully, lips pursed. “I’m not really worried he’ll be mad, exactly. I think he’ll just be disappointed. Hurt, maybe.” Her expression twisted and she looked back at him out of the corner of her eye. “Could I keep you on retainer?” she asked jokingly. “I think I should talk to him alone first, but, like, just in case…”
“Anything you need.” The promise came automatically, and just like that, it was settled in his mind. Marinette needed him. There was no question; of course he would help her in any way he could.
She smiled again. “You might get a visit from him anyway,” she said. “Just… be warned. Even if he isn’t mad or anything, he’s still pretty protective of me. He’ll want to make sure you can be trusted.”
“I can take him.”
He absolutely couldn’t, but he made her chuckle, at least.
“And anyway,” he added, “Alya would want someone to interrogate the boyfriend. Make sure he’s good enough for you.”
She started laughing for real then, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. “He’s not my boyfriend,” she said. “At least, I don’t think he is. He’s just… my partner. Who I like a lot. And kiss sometimes.”
“You’re right, my mistake, sounds completely platonic to me.”
“But…” And here she sobered a little, mid-laugh, the pink fading slightly from her skin. “I’m sorry about Alya, I know you hate lying to her.”
The reminder made his chest tighten, but he shook it off. “She doesn’t know I know anything,” he rationalized. “I won’t have to lie if she doesn’t ask.”
“I know, but her investigations…” Marinette sighed, massaging her temples with a finger. “She promised she’d drop it, and I want to believe her, but you know how she is sometimes. Especially lately…”
“I won’t say anything,” he promised. “Honestly, I don’t know if I can.” He glanced at Tikki out of the corner of his eye, who was now on her third Oreo. Once he’d gotten over his initial shock, he was surprised to find she looked kind of cute. Like a living stuffed animal, with unsettlingly large eyes. “Can I?” he said.
Tikki swallowed delicately. “You could,” she said. “But the magic knows it’s not your secret to tell.”
“What does that mean?” asked Marinette.
“It means,” said Tikki, “if you slip up on accident, you won’t reveal Marinette as Ladybug. But I’d be—” And here she paused a moment, considering, “—careful about what you say, or how much. The magic can have… consequences.”
Marinette and Nino exchanged glances. “Cool,” he said, in a voice slightly too high. “That’s cool. Cool, cool, cool.”
“You’ll… you’ll be fine,” said Marinette encouragingly. She wasn’t fooling anyone. “Just, like, don’t say anything, I guess.”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” His hands were starting to sweat as he picked up the Pepsi can again. “Just don’t be suspicious around Alya, that’s all. No worries.” The soda was gone before he realized he’d been chugging it.
“I-I’ll talk to Chat tonight,” said Marinette finally in the silence. “Or maybe tomorrow, I guess. I need to plan out what I’m gonna say.”
“Great,” he squeaked. “Sounds great.”
“Hey,” she said suddenly, standing up, “let’s get out of here. You hungry?”
“Hungry?” The concept seemed foreign to him over the crushing sense of existential dread that had just settled over his shoulders, but his stomach rumbled in spite of himself.
She smiled and beckoned to Tikki, who swooped up and into her open purse, zipping it after herself. “My dad’s making some major comfort food tonight; he always cooks when he’s upset.”
He shook himself, setting the can down with exaggerated care. It was slightly crushed now, and tilted awkwardly to one side. “You sure?” he said. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”
She fixed him with a look. “Of course not,” she said. “And honestly, if I showed up at home without you, I’m pretty sure my mom would march right back here and drag you home herself. I told you, you’re expected.”
Seeing her standing there, looking down at him with an expression of such warmth that simultaneously left no room for argument, he let out a half-hearted sigh and got to his feet. “Alright,” he said. “Let me grab my stuff.”
“I’m sorry again, Nino,” she said as he cleaned off the coffee table and dumped dishes in the sink.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, grabbing his jacket. “I’m okay, really.”
“I know this day didn’t turn out how any of us wanted, but…” She smiled a little sheepishly. “I guess if it had to happen like this, if it had to be anybody but Chat… I’m glad it was you, and not some stranger.”
“A ringing endorsement.”
“Sorry.”
He remembered to switch off the bathroom light before they left.
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SQW Summer 2K18 Day 3
This prompt completely got away from me. I might follow up with it if there’s enough interest!
“In the next year or so you will start dream sharing with your future soulmate,” Ms. French told her health and sex ed class.
Regina wondered why they bothered to have sex ed at all if everyone knew who their soulmate was by sixteen. Then again…
She looked over and saw August Booth mooning over Kathryn Nolan.
There’s no way they’re soulmates.
Some people had sex with different people, she guessed. She wouldn’t be one of them. Her mother had made that quite clear.
“You won’t know right away,” Ms. French continued. “They may seem like regular dreams at first. But as you get older you may be able to learn to control them.”
Ms. French spent the next forty minutes outlining ways to control dreams and what sort of things people did to send their soulmates messages.
“Now, don’t get discouraged if you don’t meet them right away. It usually takes years to learn how to control your dreams enough to communicate with the other person. According to our state’s statistics, in Maine the median age people find their soulmate is 23, so you have quite a while before you might find your mate.”
When the bell rang there were excited whispers that radiated through the room.
“Weird lesson, huh?” Kathryn said as she and Regina walked toward their lockers.
“Well I think August is hoping you two dream share soon,” Regina told her.
“Ugh, I hope not,” Kathryn replied.
“Who do you want it to be?” Regina asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe David Charming?”
“Kathryn, you can’t be serious,” Regina scoffed. “He only has eyes for Mary Margaret. And that’s one match that I wouldn’t be surprised about.”
“Well who are you hoping for then?” Kathryn needled.
“No one in particular,” Regina said nonchalantly, closing her locker and starting to walk away.
“That’s a lie,” Kathryn accused, hurrying to catch up. “You hope it’s Daniel Colter.”
“So what if I do?” Regina asked, a little annoyed.
“Nothing’s wrong with that, Regina,” Kathryn answered, slightly taken aback. “Why are you snapping at me like this?” By then, they’d reached Regina’s conjuring class.
Regina stopped just short of the door. “Because why get my hopes up?” She then disappeared into her next class, leaving Kathryn behind.
***
A few weeks later, Regina had her usual reoccurring dream she had at least twice a month-- the only dream she ever had.
She was in an open field, the breeze blowing just right. Her hair braided in a way specific to her father’s work. She was wearing her favorite outfit and carrying her favorite book.
As she walked to the middle of the meadow where she knew a hammock would be waiting for her. However, when she arrived, there was a swan sitting in it. Annoyed, she threw her book at it.
Instantly she woke up in a cold sweat. Odd… that was normally a good dream.
Her mind drifted back to Ms. French’s lesson over shared dreams. It couldn’t be…
She leapt out of bed and retrieved her class notebook, where she had neatly written down all the ways she could control her dreams.
She glanced up at the clock. She only had a few more hours to sleep. She realized that wasn’t enough time to get back to sleep and control her dream, so she decided she would try to tomorrow night.
***
The next few weeks she focused her mind before bed. Regina prided herself at being a quick learner and this was to be no exception. However, she was having very little success and it was interfering with her sleep schedule.
“What’s going on with you?” Kathryn asked one day while they were walking home, noticing that Regina had practically fallen asleep in class that morning.
“I’m just tired,” Regina growled.
“I’ll say, but why?” Kathryn prodded.
“I…” Regina sighed.
“They’ve started, haven’t they?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘they’ have started. It’s only one dream,” Regina admitted.
“What?” Kathryn came to a dead stop.
“What what?” Regina asked.
“Regina… soulmates that only share one dream… that’s rare,” Kathryn told her.
“Ms. French never said anything about that in class.”
“That’s because it hasn’t happened in, like, fifty years.”
“Well that seems ridiculous,” Regina replied.
“No, it’s bigger than soulmates,” Kathryn insisted. “Soulmates that share one specific dream have a powerful amount of magic between them.”
“Mother will be pleased, then.”
“You can’t tell anyone else,” Kathryn told her quickly.
“Why not?”
“If the magical community finds out they’ll keep you separate forever.”
“That can’t be right,” Regina replied, frowning.
“It is,” Kathryn said. “I could probably find a few articles at the library.”
“Fine. I want proof,” Regina told her.
“Okay, but I warned you,” Kathryn said.
***
It turned out that Kathryn was right. She’d picked up article after article about soulmates that single dream share and brought them back to the table she and Regina were occupying in the library.
Regina read dozens of articles about the first identified couple that single dream shared and how they nearly destroyed an entire community. From that point on, any teenagers that spoken about single dream sharing was prevented from finding their other half.
“There are plenty of rumors as to why there haven’t been single dream sharers in so long,” Kathryn told her, biting into an apple she’d brought with her. “ One rumor is that word doesn’t get out that a couple has been identified. Another one is that couples who realize early, go into hiding. The most interesting rumor is that single dream sharers have a proclivity for coming from single dream families and that all or most of the gene has died off.”
“I don’t come from a single dream share family,” Regina said certainly. She loved her parents-- each in their own way-- but they weren’t the happiest of couples.
“Maybe your soulmate does,” Kathryn suggested.
“Or maybe it’s like you said-- rumors.”
Kathryn shrugged. “Either way, you can’t tell anyone.”
Regina looked at the sea of material she had just read through. Keeping it a secret was obvious. She didn’t want to end up lonely, torn from her other half.
“I have to find him, then,” Regina said with determination.
“Wait, look at this,” Kathryn said, mid bite of her apple.
Regina sidled over to her friend and looked at where her friend was pointing.
“What is that?”
“It’s… well it’s sort of an old and slightly forbidden way of controlling your dreams,” Kathryn admitted.
“What do you mean by ‘slightly’?” Regina asked. “And why didn’t Ms. French tell us about any of this?”
“The government doesn’t take into account people like us, Regina,” Kathryn said. “They don’t expect sixteen-year-olds to go searching through old archives about single dream sharers or other ways to control dreams. They set the curriculum and Ms. French teaches it.”
“Why is this one illegal?” Regina asked.
“Because it has a high risk of being dangerous,” Kathryn explained. “Doing this might make you lose control of your body.”
“What happens? You can’t get up? You die?” Regina pressed.
Kathryn shrugged. “No one knows. Not for sure, anyway.”
“Explain,” Regina demanded, sitting down.
Kathryn pulled out an article that looked like it was ancient. “There was… a study done once. Completely unethical, never fully released or proven. One man claimed that using this method-- especially with single dream sharers-- caused the soulmates to switch bodies.”
“Why would that make it illegal?” Regina asked.
“We haven’t taken illicit magic yet, but body swapping is one of them,” Kathryn told her. “You could be tried for kidnapping, treason, or worse.”
Regina took in a shaky breath. “What percentage of non-single dream sharers can achieve this?”
“The numbers say less than 1%,” Kathryn told her.
“And… single dream sharers?”
“50% if one soulmate does it and… 100% if both soulmates use this technique on the same night.”
Regina pushed back from the table, imagining the prospects. Using this technique made controlling the dream easier, meaning she would have a better shot at connecting with her soulmate, but using it also meant that she and her soulmate might switch bodies.
“I want to try,” Regina whispered. “If my soulmate comes to school as me tomorrow I’m counting on you to help him.”
“Regina, it’s dangerous!” Kathryn exclaimed.
“Don’t tell me you’re not the least bit curious.”
“I…” Kathryn hesitated. She wanted to know if it was possible. “Okay, fine, I’ll take care of him.”
Regina stood up and hugged her best friend. “Thank you.”
“You better hope no one finds out.”
***
Regina settled down into bed like usual. But she knew this wasn’t like every other night. She’d set out an appropriate outfit with a note on it in case her soulmate woke up in her body.
As she laid there, she stayed very still, deepening her breathing like she was already asleep, attempting to trick her body into putting her into sleep paralysis.
She felt it in her toes first and the sensation inched up her body, while at the same time it fogged up her head.
Stick with it, Regina. Perseverance!
She didn’t know how long she could sit still like that, the feeling very uncomfortable, when…
She was in an open field, the breeze blowing just right. Her hair braided in a way specific to her father’s work. She was wearing her favorite outfit and carrying her favorite book.
As she walked to the middle of the meadow where she knew a hammock would be waiting for her. However, when she arrived, there was a swan sitting in it.
“Don’t scare it away,” she whispered to herself.
As she cautiously walked toward the swan, it noticed her, quickly getting out of the hammock as if apologizing for being in her space.
Strange. Animals don’t normally act like that. Unless…
Regina dug into the recesses of her conscious mind, retrieving an animal to human transformation spell.
She approached the swan as it curiously regarded her, letting her approach it. When she was mere inches away she recited the spell.
In an instant, the swan transformed into a beautiful blonde, but before they had a chance to speak, their hands touched and Regina felt a shock go through her body before everything went dark.
***
When Emma Swan woke up she was disoriented. She was most certainly not in her room.
She sat up quickly and noticed a pile of clothes-- again, not hers. On top of the clothes was a note.
Dear soulmate,
After you read this I need you to destroy it. My name is Regina Mills and I may have used illegal magic to find out who you are? Okay, I most certainly did. Using this technique we may have switched bodies, hence the note. I need you to be me for the day. I know I set myself up for a slight disadvantage in your body, but I’ve told my best friend, Kathryn Nolan (she’ll approach you) about what might happen.
Body swapping is illegal, so I need you to try your best to be me.
There were a few more pages with detailed instructions, but Emma’s mind was reeling. She and her soulmate had body-swapped. And her soulmate is a woman.
She ran to to the mirror to examine her temporary face-- the face of her soulmate.
Wow, she beautiful, Emma thought.
Remembering the rest of Regina’s letter, she followed it the best she could. Skirts were not Emma’s thing, but she assumed Regina must wear them regularly since her closet was full of them.
Getting to school was fairly easy, as Regina told Emma that she and Zelena would walk there together. Finding her homeroom class was slightly more difficult and Emma was starting to get nervous. Where was Kathryn?
“Regina!” Kathryn called.
Emma whipped around to see a small blonde coming her way. She stayed silent, not sure what to say.
“I need to talk to you,” Kathryn said, nonchalantly.
Oh crap. She wasn’t even sure if this was Kathryn.
Kathryn led her to the bathroom and turned toward her expectantly. “So?”
“So…?”
Kathryn’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re either a really good liar, Regina or… you’re not Regina.”
Emma shuffled her feet and scratched the back of her neck nervously. “Are you Kathryn?”
“Oh my god! Wow… okay. Keep it together, Kathryn,” Kathryn babbled to herself. She took a deep breath and stuck out her hand. “Hi. Kathryn Nolan, official best friend to Regina Mills, and your caretaker for the day.”
Emma shook Kathryn’s hand even if she felt a little silly. “Um… Emma Swan, Regina’s… soulmate, very confused and overwhelmed.”
Kathryn took a small step back. “Emma, huh?”
“Surprise! Regina’s queer!” Emma chuckled nervously.
“That’s neither here nor there,” Kathryn replied, waving it off. “I probably could’ve guessed.”
“So… Maine,” Emma started.
“Oh shit,” Kathryn whispered. “You’re not from Maine?”
“Nope,” Emma told her, shrugging.
“Where do you live?”
“Massachusetts. Boston, to be exact,” Emma answered.
“Interesting,” Kathryn mused. “Well, we have a lot to talk about today!”
Emma smiled at her nervously, glad to have a guide-- she only hoped Regina was doing alright in her foster home…
***
That night, Emma did as the letter instructed. She burned it hours ago, but she memorized the important parts.
Alright Emma, you can do this.
She took deep breaths and laid very still. She felt it in her toes first and the sensation inched up her body, while at the same time it fogged up her head-- exactly how Regina told her it would feel.
Suddenly, she was in her dream. A few months ago a hammock had appeared so she sat in it. But she had clearly been trespassing, because this huge horse approached her, steaming mad. It wasn’t until the night before that the horse turned into Regina.
“Regina?” Emma called.
“Over here,” Regina called from Emma’s body.
“Well this is surreal,” Emma muttered. She walked toward her cautiously-- she didn’t want to switch back just yet.
“Was Kathryn good to you?” Regina asked.
“The best,” Emma replied.
“I guess she knows I’m bi, now,” Regina said, blushing.
“She actually took that pretty well,” Emma replied. “Um… how was your day?”
“I’m sorry,” is all Regina could say.
Emma shuffled her feet. “I’m used to it, it’s okay.”
“I’m going to come find you,” Regina promised.
“Kathryn told me we have to be careful.”
Regina smiled sadly. “Yeah, we do, but… you’re worth it.”
“You hardly know me,” Emma replied, confused as to why anyone would ever look at her with such love.
“I can’t wait to get to know you better,” Regina told her.
At that, Regina took Emma’s hand and everything went dark.
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For Narnia! Part 4
Peter Pevensie x Reader, Edmund Pevensie x Reader
Warnings: Drinking, some swearing, violence
Edmund starts acting a little weird, which causes both the reader and Peter to worry.
(I’m sorry stories have been coming out slowly, I promise I’m working on Marvel’s Bachelors next! <3)
Masterlist || Ko-Fi
Beginning- Previous- Next
---------------------
Peter walked inside after a while, trying to clear his thoughts of Y/N. Instead, he walked right into her as he came inside.
“There you are! Are you ready for dinner, High King?” She asked with a smile and then searched his face, “Are you alright?”
He nodded with a smirk, “Of course I am. Just lost in daydreams.”
“Are these daydreams about sword polishing and kingly thoughts?” She mocked, walking with him towards the dining hall.
“Surprisingly, not everything I think of is swords and old men.” He responded, mocking back which prompted her to laugh. A smile formed on his face which remained there again until they got to the hall. Opening the door, everyone was waiting- with only two seats left, Peter’s and Y/N’s. So she was to sit in between them again?
“We heard about training this morning, apparently an event that was missed.” Reep spoke and everyone agreed.
“Did you kick his butt?” Susan asked hopefully, cutting a piece of food on her plate.
“If I said yes, no one would believe me including myself.” She responded with a laugh, looking over at him. “But I did.”
Peter laughed, genuinely. “I guess technically she did pin me on the ground.” He added, pouring a glass of wine.
“Oh, really?” Caspian asked and everyone heard a thud under the table.
“Ow,” Edmund groaned a little, looking over to Susan, “You really gotta watch your aim.”
Susan’s cheeks reddened, “Sorry, Ed.”
Everyone laughed a little, moving on to another topic.
“We found a lovely garden for the ceremony.” Lucy spoke up, “And then the reception can be held here.”
Susan added a couple of other things but Peter’s attention went over to Y/N. She had tightened her smile and raised her drink at least twice as many times as she had before.
“No one has asked about my meeting today.” Edmund swooped in, “How rude-to think if something went amiss.” He feigned hurt.
Y/N grinned over to him and spoke, “Did something go amiss?”
“Not really.” He smirked and everyone chuckled.
“Then why did you bring it up?” She laughed, sending a shiver up Peter’s spine- he wanted to be the cause of that noise.
“It’s better than girly talks of details.” He added, raising his eyebrows and Caspian joined him in agreement.
“Come now, Ed- it’s something on everyone’s mind.” Susan rolled her eyes, “One would think you were getting married with how much you groan everytime we bring it up.”
There was a silence that fell over the table before Peter decided to chime in, “He’s just feeling the pain for me.” He grinned and winked over to his brother, making a round of laughter come over the table again, including Y/N.
Edmund stood up after a few minutes and excused himself rather early. Y/N looked over at Peter and lowered her voice, “Is he alright?”
Peter placed a forced smile on his face, “I’m sure he’s fine. I can go check on him to be sure.” He stood and followed behind with Caspian and Reep joining in.
They found him near the kitchens, grabbing a few bottles of wine.
“Ed, what’s gotten into you?” Caspian asked, clapping him on the back.
Edmund shrugged and grabbed the bottles, walking off towards his room.
“May we at least join you, your highness?” Reep added and Ed nodded slightly.
Everyone was quiet for two rounds, Caspian speaking of an upcoming jousting event he wished to join.
“Sounds like fun, I’m in.” Edmund smiled, downing another drink.
“What about you, Peter?” Caspian asked, “Shall I enter us and see who shall win?” He laughed, taking a sip of his drink.
Peter shrugged, “Why not? Sounds like fun.”
“Because you don’t have enough of that.” Ed teased, pouring more into his cup.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Peter asked, downing the rest of his drink as well- a little fed up with how Edmund had been acting.
“It means-” He started, meeting Peter’s eyes and then sighing, “Nothing.”
There was a knock on the door and Caspian stood to answer it, finding Susan standing there. He excused himself from the room, Reep insisting on coming too.
Peter and Edmund sat in the room alone.
“Come on, Ed. You can talk to me- we’ve been through everything together!” Peter smirked to him, filling his drink up as well.
“Why did you decide to make a peace treaty with them?” He asked quietly after another minute.
“I didn’t decide to- I was advised to.” Peter answered without skipping a beat.
“You took it on yourself without anyone forcing you to. You suggested it. Who did you expect would come?” Edmund drank again.
Peter paused, thinking, “I didn’t expect much, I’ll grant you that. A princess from another kingdom, probably with strange traditions and ways of thinking.”
“And then you met Y/N.”
Peter cautiously nodded, “She is much different than I expected.”
“I think she’s different than everyone expected.” Edmund snorted.
There was another silence before Edmund spoke up again, “What do you think of her?”
“I think-” Peter bit his lip, thinking about Y/N and their situation, “That we’re betrothed- neither of us were happy with the thought but both of us are fulfilling a duty.”
“Were-” Edmund pointed out, “Are one or both of you happy with the thought now?” He pondered, not really expecting an answer.
Peter thought back with him, not sure on what Edmund was trying to get at but not liking the central topic. Why was he interested in knowing his feeling towards her?
--
You walked around the castle for a bit with Lucy, talking to her of anything but the wedding. She seemed worried about Edmund, however, so you told her she should go check on him.
You walked slowly down the hall, looking out of a window. A lot had gone on the last few days even after the journey. You were unsure what your place here was to be and it worried you.
“You’re still awake, Princess?” You heard from behind you some time after.
You jumped a little, smirking, “You’re still awake as well, High King?” You turned to him, noticing him breath in.
He stepped towards you, slowly and a little off center.
“Are you okay?” You asked, tilting your head.
He smirked and nodded, “Edmund wanted to drink and I kept up with him.”
You smirked back, seeing him loosen up a bit. “How are you feeling?” You teased, seeing his eyes move with your face.
“Pretty great. I’m sure I’ll regret it in the morning.” He chuckled, “May I walk you to your room?”
You nodded and a few steps in you realized he was much more wobbly than expected, “Actually, I was wondering if I could walk you to your room- would that be alright?” You asked, trying to make it seem like it was in his control.
“I suppose so, Princess.” He smirked upon using your nickname and you slid your hand through his arm, letting him lean slightly against you. “You are very touchy this evening.”
“You are very alcohol filled this evening.” You stated back, with a giggle and he chuckled back.
“Is that all I have to do for you to relax near me?”
“You’re full of it- I am relaxed around you.” You kept moving with him.
“Not as relaxed as with Edmund. I’ve noticed.”
“You notice a lot of things, High King.” You added quietly but he must have heard you.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He stopped and turned towards you with a frown.
“It isn’t a bad thing.” You assured him, turning him back to walk, “You just noticed things about me that I hadn’t told you. You’re detail oriented.”
“I’m usually not.” He answered after some silence, “That’s what confuses me- as long as the end product is there, what does it matter? Not with you, though.”
“I’m glad I’m making the journey interesting, then.” You giggled, pushing his door open and walking in with him.
He plopped down on the edge of his bed and looked at you, “What you must think of me.” He frowned, his head lowering.
You knelt down to take off his shoes, “You can ask me if you wish to know.”
“I know it’s horrible. What kind of a person asks for an arranged marriage?” He sighed.
“You don’t know me quite as well as you think, then.” You whispered to him, throwing off one shoe and unlacing the other before standing up and raising his eyes to meet yours, “I think it’s brave that you were willing to marry someone to help your country.” You smirked and he smiled back, making your heart race, “Unfortunately, that someone is me so that puts a damper on my thoughts.” You sighed and he nodded. “My opinion of you still isn’t horrible.”
“I lucked out, I think.” Peter fell back against the bed and you lifted one of his legs onto the bed after the other, “You’re incredible.”
“So are you- and this place.” You answered, leaning over him to grab the edge of his blanket and pulled it over him. “Much more than I expected.” After tucking him in, you looked down at his face. It looked peaceful and his eyes were already half closed. “Goodnight, Peter.” You whispered to him, kissing his cheek before walking towards the door. You shut it and started off towards your own room.
Arriving at your door, you looked up to meet the eyes of Edmund, who seemed to be waiting for you. Your furrowed your eyebrows together slightly, “Is everything alright?”
---------------
Permanent Tags:
@i-regret-this-already, @breezy1415, @seninjakitey, @imboredsueme, @courtneychicken, @marriedtopeterparker, @imeannooffensebabybut, @marie-lestowell, @cassiopeia-barrow, @daphne-fandom-writing, @notmyfault404, @i-larb-spooderman, @aussiearies
Enjoy! Tags and Requests are open! <3
#narnia#cs lewis narnia#Adventures of Narnia#peter pevensie#peter pevensie x reader#edmund pevensie#edmund pevensie x reader#susan pevensie#lucy pevensie#Caspian#reepicheep#fanfiction
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Life Unexpected: Chapt. 4
Story Summary: 15 years after the events of Why Did It Have To Be Me? and much has changed. Mary Margaret and David are back living in Storybrooke, but don’t speak to one another. One day, David gets a knock on his door from the daughter they gave up all those years ago. She wants to get emancipated from the foster system, but they can’t let themselves sign the papers. As they split custody and try to help her heal from a lifetime of pain, will they find their way to each other?
Chapter Summary: Emma starts a new school, where she meets a cast of interesting characters. Meanwhile, she gets a better glimpse into David’s life.
Also on AO3
Emma was used to first days of school, to being the new kid. Boston was such a huge city and whenever she would be moved to a new home, there was a chance that she’d be brought to a new school district. Once all of her files had been sent to Storybrooke Academy, she was expected to start. She didn’t even mind.
That was until she found out that there were uniforms.
“I thought this was a public school,” she told Mary Margaret on their shopping trip the day after their lunch with Regina. She was letting Mary Margaret buy her whatever she wanted, though she kept staring at the ever growing pile. At least there was no pink.
“No. It’s private. There is a public high school, but it’s honestly not the best and it’s further away from the loft,” Mary Margaret explained as she looked through the button up shirts. She could see the look on her daughter’s face. “It’s not going to be that bad. Only 5 days a week and you can change as soon as you’re done.”
“I’m not wearing a skirt.”
“You don’t have to. There’s khakis or the navy pants. I ordered you a few vests with the logos as well.”
“You really don’t have to get me so much stuff.”
“You’re going to need it.”
“I don’t think I could wear all of this in a lifetime.”
“Well, you’re going to be living with David, too.” Emma tried to ignore the look that fell across Mary Margaret’s face at the mention of him. “This way, you won’t have to bring clothes back and forth.”
“How long are you going to hate him?”
“Hate who?”
“David.”
Mary Margaret paused, her hands hovering above the pants she had been looking at. Emma knew that David had broke her heart, but it had been 15 years, hadn’t it? He had been 18 years old. How bad could it have really been? Maybe a part of her didn’t want to know that.
“I don’t hate David,” Mary Margaret said, finally, pulling the khakis off the rack. “I forgave him a long time ago.”
“It doesn’t seem like it.”
Mary Margaret sighed. “It’s just a really complicated thing.”
“He was young when he made the choices he did.”
“It doesn’t make them hurt any less. Look, we’re going to get along so we can best take care of you.” Before Emma could say anything else, she put the pants in the cart. “Let’s go look at shoes and then you can come try all of this on.”
The uniform wasn’t that bad, Emma supposed. The shirts were comfortable and were blue, she liked blue. She had chosen to go with the darker pants rather than the khakis and paired with the sweater, she did look like something out of an 80s rock video. She let her hair hang loose and pulled a black beanie over her head, Mary Margaret said she could accessorize after all.
She headed down the stairs and was instantly hit by a flash. She blinked a few times before finding Mary Margaret standing there, a polaroid camera in one hand, fanning out a picture with the other. She was smiling brightly.
“You look so beautiful,” she said.
Emma rolled her eyes. “It’s just a school uniform.”
“I’ve never gotten to send you off to your first day of school, let me have my fun.”
Emma honestly couldn’t remember the last time anyone had been this excited for her to start school. She walked over to the island, plopping down and taking a spoonful from the bowl of Cheerios that had been left out for her. That was something she was still adjusting to in a bit. Ed had food in the house-most of the time-but he’d never prepare any actual meals for Emma. Ever since she moved in with Mary Margaret, her mom had either cooked for her or they had gone to Granny’s.
“So, I put together some lunch for you,” Mary Margaret said, walking around to the other side of the island. She held up a lunchbox that she had packed, it was a simple red one that Emma had picked out and seemed so much more sturdy than the brown paper bags she had carried around Boston. Her backpack was just as strong, if not more so. It definitely wouldn’t rip and need to be repaired with duct tape anytime soon. “I have to head to the studio in a bit, so you’ll have to take the bus. Do you remember where it is?”
Emma did her best to hold back an eyeroll. “You only showed me half a dozen times.”
Mary Margaret held back a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m just…nervous, I guess. Here, I want to give you this.”
She grabbed a box from under the counter and pushed it towards her daughter. Emma moved off the bow and lifted the lid, finding a cell phone inside. It was the latest version of the iPhone, with a red protective case over it. She tilted her head.
“Mary Margaret…”
“I’ve put you on my plan. It’s got unlimited text, call and internet. I’ve programmed my number, David’s as well. You can text or call us anytime.”
“You didn’t have to do this.”
“Of course I did, you’re my daughter.”
Daughter. That word still sounded so damn foreign to her.
A quick knock at the door interrupted the sweet moment between the two of them. Mary Margaret walked around the island and over to it, finding David on the other side.
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to take Emma to school.”
“Oh. Well, the bus is coming…”
“Can I not take my own kid to school?”
Mary Margaret thought about what Emma had said at the store over the weekend. She had to try, she wanted to try. It was what was best for their daughter, she needed them to get along.
“Of course you can. Come in.”
Once Mary Margaret stepped to the side, David walked in and grinned at Emma. “Hey kiddo,” he said.
“David.” Emma smiled. “What are you doing here?”
“Taking you to school, if that’s okay with you.”
“Better than the bus.”
“Finish your breakfast and then we can go.”
Emma wolfed down the rest of her food, not noticing the looks that her parents were giving her. Once she was done, she grabbed her backpack, shoving her lunchbox inside before throwing the bag over her shoulder and hopping off the stool. She noticed that David was staring at her for a minute.
“What? Do I have milk on my mouth?”
“No, it’s just uh…you look like your mother did when she was in high school with that uniform.”
“She’s got your coloring,” Mary Margaret pointed out.
“True, but…still.” He shook it off. “Come on, let’s go.”
Emma headed to the door, but then paused at Mary Margaret. She wasn’t sure if she should hug her or kiss her cheek, they were still trying to set up boundaries between the two of them.
“So um, I’ll see you later?”
Mary Margaret nodded. “Yeah, see you later.” She quickly kissed the top of her head. “Have a good day.”
“You too.”
David opened the door to lead her out and Emma followed him out to his car. Classic rock played over the radio and Emma looked around it, noting a briefcase in the back. It took her a moment to realize that David was dressed in a suit, it was the first time she had seen him so dressed up since they met.
“You working today?”
David nodded. “Yes, I’ve got to go to court.”
“What’s the case?”
“Standard custody hearing. Luckily the parents agree on what needs to be done, so it should be easy.”
“Lucky,” Emma murmured. She noticed the odd look he was giving her and forced a smile. “So…I’ve met some of Mary Margaret’s family. When do I get to meet yours?”
“Well, I could take you by my place to meet my roommate’s daughter and everything this afternoon.”
“I meant like your mom, your step-mom and siblings.”
David gripped the wheel, gnawing on his lip. “That may take a bit.”
“Why?”
He sighed, scratching the back of his neck once they approached a red light.
“Emma, I was really young when Mary Margaret got pregnant with you. I was scared…”
“I got that from all the fighting you two have been doing.”
“It’s just that…at the time…I didn’t tell too many people about you. I had a girlfriend at the time…”
“Whoa wait, you cheated on your girlfriend with Mary Margaret?”
“No, no. My girlfriend and I were on a break, seeing other people when I got together with your mom. Anyway, I told her when I broke up with her for good, but I…I never told my mom or my brother.”
“Why?”
“I was scared. Scared of how they’d look at me, scared that they’d hate me or think less of me, that they’d be disappointed. James and I were the first people in our family to go to college.”
“Were you ashamed of me?”
David looked over and saw the shock in Emma’s eyes. She looked so vulnerable and it broke his heart. He pulled to the side of the road, putting his car in park.
“No,” he said. He saw the doubt in her eyes. “Emma, no. It had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. I was a coward back then, I couldn’t stand the thought that people would think differently of me. I loved you, from the moment I knew you were coming.”
“Right.”
“I did. Look.”
David reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped past a picture of Ruth and Eudora and another of Belle, James and Gideon to get to the sonogram. Emma studied it, confused.
“What’s that?”
“This is the sonogram your mother gave me when she was pregnant. It was the only picture I had of you for 15 years.”
“And you held onto it?”
“I never could let it go. You were apart of me and I thought of you every single day. I might not have carried you or been there when you were born, but you never left my mind or my heart. You were my daughter and if I knew that you were struggling as much as you were, I would’ve been there in a heartbeat.”
Emma stared at the sonogram for a moment, a frown on her face. Eventually, it slowly formed into a tiny smile. David couldn’t help but match it as she looked back up at him.
“You should probably replace it.”
“I will.” He put the car back into drive and continued to head towards the school. “So, I did tell my mom about you and she was upset. Not at you, at me. She missed out on 15 years of your life and it’s my fault.”
“Do you think she wants to meet me?”
“Oh, of course. My brother, step-mom and step-sister do too. I’m sure they’ll even see you before they’ve forgiven me for all of it.”
“What are they like?”
David spent the rest of the ride telling Emma about his parents and siblings. He told her about James and how Emma had nearly two cousins. He explained the big hoopla that was going around Tiana and Drew’s wedding-which Tiana had texted him that he wanted to talk to Emma about. He hoped that deep down, no matter how mad they were at him, they wouldn’t wait to get to know Emma.
After another 10 minutes of driving, David pulled up in front of Storybrooke Academy. It was like being pulled into a time warp, nothing had changed. The sprawling campus had several stone buildings, all named for dead white guys that had contributed something to the town or the school. A part of him had always hated going there, but Ruth had insisted. He was now splitting tuition with Mary Margaret and knew that it was the best option for Emma, he just hoped that she enjoyed it more than he had.
“Do you want me to come in with you?” He asked.
Emma laughed, as if that was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. “This isn’t my first school.”
“Well, I’ll pick you up once classes are done. Like I said, I’ll take you back to my place for a bit.”
“Mary Margaret knows?”
“Yes.”
“Well…okay.”
“Have a great day. She gave you a phone, right? Call me if you need anything.”
“I will.”
He kissed her cheek and she blushed a bit before hopping out of the car. He watched as she walked into the administration building, before pulling out of the lot. He had a kid in high school, how the hell had that happened?
Storybrooke Academy was a tad more intimidating than Emma had imagined. She had never gone to a private school before. The closest thing had probably been the Catholic charter school that Bill and Katie had forced her to go to during her 6 months with them. As strict as that dress code was, at least they didn’t have a uniform and it was all in one small building. The secretary gave her a map of the school along with her classes and she looked around, wondering if she got lost enough, she’d find a dragon to slay or something.
She was able to find the building that her first class was in easy enough, but the numbering systems of the classroom weren’t as clear. Emma realized she’d be hard pressed to find anyone t willingly help her, most of them were staring and whispering. Storybrooke really was that small, a new student stuck out like a sore thumb.
Before she could give up and find a teacher, two girls walked in front of her. One was wearing a navy dress with the school’s logo in the corner and had a blonde braid going down her back. The other was wearing the typical plaid skirt but the button up shirt was tied above her belly button, revealing a piercing. Her raven hair went wild and she was grinning from ear to ear.
“You look lost.”
“That obvious, huh?”
“I was the new girl last year,” the blonde noted, her voice a bit softer than her friend. “I’m Elsa. That’s Lily.”
“Emma. Emma Swan.”
Lily studied her for a moment, before snapping her fingers. “You’re Mary Margaret’s long lost kid.”
“You know about me?”
“My mom works with Regina, we run in similar circles.”
“Think you could help me find my class then?”
Lily’s grin widened. “We’d be more than happy to.”
She grabbed hold of Emma’s schedule and they compared it with their own. As it turned out, most of her classes had at least one of them in it. Lily was with her in first period English, so she allowed her to take her by the arm and lead her off. By the time they got to the classroom, Emma felt like she knew everything she needed to about Lily. She was an only child, her mom was a single parent by choice. Elsa was pretty much her only friend, though she got along with some boys in the older grades.
As soon as they walked into the classroom, the teacher stopped writing on the board and turned to them. He tilted his eyes up to the ceiling before, looking back down at Lily.
“Lilith, you know the rules.”
“That you have to have a stick up your…”
“Do you want detention, again?”
Lily rolled her eyes, but untied her shirt, allowing it to fall down. She took her seat towards the back of the class and Emma went to follow, when the teacher cleared his throat.
“And you are?”
“Emma Swan,” she said. “I’m new.” She handed over the form that the secretary had told her to get signed by all her teachers that day and he quickly scribbled on it before consulting his roster.
“Ah yes, Miss Swan. Welcome, where are you from?”
“Boston.”
“Well, I hope they taught you well there. We have a heavy course load and a test on Wednesday, but I’ll allow you to study and make up for it next week. Sound good?”
“Um, yes.”
“Great. Now, go take a seat.”
Emma went towards the back, settling down next to Lily.
“Ignore Forrester,” Lily whispered. “Everyone does. I swear, he’s like the town grump.”
“This school is the most serious one I’ve ever been in,” Emma mumbled. “And I once went to Catholic school.”
“You’re Catholic?”
“No. Foster parents were.”
“You were in the system?”
Emma nodded. “12 years.”
“Miss Page, Miss Swan,” Mr. Forrester interrupted their conversation. “Anything you want to share with the class?”
“F. Scott Fitzgerald plagiarized his wife’s work,” Lily replied, without missing a beat.
Emma couldn’t help but giggle, as did most of the people around them. Mr. Forrester rolled his eyes before moving onto discussing the book at hand.
The rest of the day was a lot of fun with Lily and Elsa by her side. They knew how to joke around and despite most of the school looking at them weirdly, they just didn’t care. For once, Emma felt like she could actually feel herself making friends outside of August. He had gone back to Boston and she hadn’t realized how lonely she was. Sure, maybe they weren’t the best influences, but they were what she needed. Elsa even offered to help her catch up with the work.
It was officially one of the best first days of her life.
She actually left the school with a smile on her face, Elsa and Lily on either side of her. David’s car was in front of the car pool lane and Emma couldn’t help but feel her smile grow. She wasn’t used to people keeping their promises, but there he was.
“I gotta go.”
“Is that your dad?” Elsa asked.
“Um, yeah. I guess.”
“David Nolan.” Lily let out a low whistle. “You’re lucky.”
“I am?”
“He’s one of the nicest guys in town.”
“If you say so. I better go, but I’ll text you guys later.”
She got in the car and David pulled out of the lot.
“How was your day?” He asked.
“It was actually pretty good.”
“It seemed like it. Those friends of yours?”
“We hung out pretty much all day.”
“Sounds like friends to me.”
“Maybe. And your day?”
“Good. My client got the custody schedule they wanted, that’s all I can ask for.”
David’s house was closer to the school than Mary Margaret’s loft so they were there in no time. Once they got inside, Emma found herself being attacked in a hug. Her eyes widened and she sort of planked in place, looking over the stranger’s shoulder at David.
“Who is this?” She asked.
“I’m Alice!” The stranger pulled away and allowed Emma to get a good look at her. She had wild blonde curls that bounced down her shoulders and big blue eyes that were filled with wonder. She didn’t look to be much older than she was. “I’m Killian’s daughter. I’ve heard so much about you. I mean, not until today, Papa said you were coming over. I had no clue that David had a daughter, but that is so awesome. I think he’d make a great dad and…”
“Starfish.” Killian appeared behind his daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Breathe.”
Alice let out a deep breath before a smile returned to her lips. “Sorry, I’m just…I get a bit excited is all.”
“A bit?” Emma asked.
She giggled. “You’re funny, cute too. You look so much like David…” Alice must have realized she was rambling again, because she stopped. “Anyway, like I said, I’m Alice. I don’t live here anymore, but I visit.”
“Emma.” Though, she had a feeling that Alice already knew that. “So…David’s lived with you guys awhile?”
“Going on what, 7 years now?” Alice looked back at her father for confirmation and he nodded. “I can show you your room, I know Papa and David have been working hard on it. It used to be mine, but like I said, I’ve got my own place now.”
Alice stilled for once, clearly understanding that she might be a bit too much for Emma to handle. After a moment, Emma nodded and adjusted her backpack, following Alice up the stairs and to the right. The room was painted red and had lots of different murals done throughout, clearly done by different artists. The bedspread was a lot more her style than the one at Mary Margaret’s was, it was red with bits of blacks throughout it.
Emma listened to Alice talk a bit, as she took in the room. She laid her backpack down and picked up various accessories, like a mirror on the desk or ran her fingers along the spines of some of the books on the shelves. Eventually, Alice went downstairs to grab them a snack and Emma decided to look around more of the house. A quick peak into Killian and David’s rooms didn’t tell her too much. They were so unlike Alice’s, void of any real personality.
She headed back down the stairs and started looking around the living room. There were pictures and degrees everywhere. She noticed that in a lot of them, David, Killian and Alice all looked like a happy family. There were ones of them on vacations, at birthday parties.
Emma couldn’t help but pause at a series of three frames by yet another bookshelf. Alice’s high school diploma was proudly framed, with a picture of her accepting her degree on one side. On the other was one of her in her gown standing between David and Killian. Both men had their arms around her, beaming proudly. They were a little family. Even if they weren’t a couple, David had helped his friend raise his daughter for the past 7 years. He was there for her, when he wasn’t there for Emma. Despite him having his reasons, Emma felt a bit of jealousy creep up in the pit of her stomach.
Sure, he’d probably be at her own high school graduation, where had he been for the rest of the big moments? Where had both he and Mary Margaret been?
The jealousy only grew and the tears built up in her eyes.
Emma wouldn’t remember what happened next. One minute, she was just going to hold the picture and the next moment…it was on the floor, glass everywhere. She bolted up the stairs to grab her backpack, before running out the door. David was calling after her, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t until she was back near the school that she pulled out her phone and texted Mary Margaret to come pick her up.
#life unexpected verse#snowing#snowing au#charming family#charming family au#daddy charming#daddy charming au#mama snow#mama snow au#star swan#star swan au#frozen swan#frozen swan au#captain charming#captain charming au
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BalconyAU- Bonus Alternate Ending Drafts
Ao3
A/N: I’m such a cheater lol I haven’t posted in a while and decided to post this as filler as I’m writing more big fics.
So these are two alternate endings (which depended on my choice of pacing. Could you tell I was trying to finish fast?? lol) , I drafted quite a bit of them but I read this recently and had a soft spot, I suppose. This takes place after the big London trip and big sex scene. This is technically two alternate scenes depending on if I wanted to drag it out or not.
Non beta-ed, low key apologies.
———————————————[Scene I- It's a Tuesday night and Marinette goes to her balcony to clear her head]
She opens her balcony door and breathes deep. The night air runs purity into her blood and her senses clear. She leans her hands on the railing and closes her eyes, focusing on the sounds below.
She remembers another night, she was really irritated from work and came out as she usually would with Chat. He noticed how quiet she was. He called out to her, she said nothing as usual, though she really wanted to at the time for a sense of comfort.
She had cocoa in her hands, and used a spoon to tap the mug, like she was stirring too hard. He knew what she was feeling then, she doesn't know how but he knew.
He sang a song of comfort and perspective, which she later learned was "Close to You" and whenever she tapped a mug like she did that day, he would know to sing that one. She really didn't think too much of it, for the sake of her heart, and she assumed other tenants probably slid requests under his door which he happily acquiesced. Because he was that sort of kind person, and music was his medium for kindness, for expression.
The words fall from her lips now in a steady rhythm, a crackled whisper that she tries to keep to herself but it builds in crescendos like she's apologizing in some way to Chat. Sorry she couldn't wait for him, that she still loves him dearly, and sorry she didn't try harder. It's caught in the breeze, twirling like a ribbon, and ties itself perfectly into calm clarity as the words force her to imagine the object of her words.
Then she isn't alone, and she stumbles, a startled crack in her notes, and he's there. He's there and it feels like meeting a friend after centuries.
That is why all the boys in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
He's quiet at the end, but she knows he's there; maybe waiting on her, maybe not sure about her all together.
"Hey?" she starts. Her own voice rings in her head twelve fold, subconscious of her meek feminine tone since she's never given it before.
There's no response and she's pouting.
"This is revenge for not speaking, isn't it?"
Still nothing.
"It does feel stupid talking into the air, hoping someone is listening."
Marinette feels a flush to her toes, thinking about what she should say. What she needs to say to put her mind at ease.
"I…talked to Manon. I usually trust what she says, but, if she's right, I guess there's a million things I should tell you." She says. "But most of them are really embarrassing so if you don't give a sign you're there I'm walking out of here right now."
She waits under the dim light of the stars and moon, when a chime— no, a jingle like a bell sounds above her. Marinette breathes deep. She can do this.
"I miss you," she starts. "When I'm out here with you, there are no words. You lifted my spirits without knowing it and you dried tears when you didn't see them. You're a dear friend. More than that even, and I was insanely happy when Manon said you were looking for me. You can't know what it meant to me.
"But then I—" she chuckles "—I think I am in love with this guy who isn't you and it's really surprising. He's a dork at times, and a bit of a jerk, but he stole away everything I was ready to give you." She has to pause because she's rambling and probably revealing too much but it feels like a door closing. Like she has to tell Chat otherwise it's always a question of what-if but she doesn't want doubts.
"You're an amazing singer, I'm sure you know, but it's going to stay with me forever. A chip of my heart that has to sing with you to feel part of a whole. My name is Marinette, by the way. I only know you by Chat Noir, but at least if you still want to be friends, you can find me anytime." [gotta get this part right/revisit]
He's quiet. At least three minutes of silence and her hoping he does something, anything. Now that he knows her name, that she bared herself, maybe everything would be easy now. Friends, at least. The night sky fades from twinkling hope to an overshadowing doubt. Her small space on that balcony seeming insignificant in the space of tense silence. He doesn't do anything and all that's left is the crack in her chest and embarrassment in her throat.
"Oh," she whispers to herself. "I'm really sorry, Chat." She can't imagine why Chat would be mad enough not to respond but maybe that's the issue. She doesn't know him at all but it still hurts like hell.
She hears a definitive clack upstairs, someone else closing their balcony door and she's blinking back a tear. A past her losing something she was holding onto. When her door closes, taking the familiar cold winter air with it, the warmth in her home feels stifling, like it's choking her. But it's just the tearing clogging her throat and she feels so dumb being so sensitive, already trying to shake off the tiny drops.
Three loud bangs hit at her door and she her heart jolts. She roughly wipes at her face, sure that she looks like a puffy mess over nothing.
She opens the door and it's Adrien. Her Adrien, bright and kind, whom she just admitted she loved while cutting off part of her heart. He looks like he ran downstairs and she bets he sees her red eyes in an instant. He reaches forward and wipes below her eyes like he couldn't believe its there.
"Why were you crying?" he asks.
She doesn't want to dwell on that. She doesn't want to think how she lost Chat, she only wants to remind herself who she loves now. "It's nothing. Something unimportant." She grabs the side of Adrien's face and tugs him into the entryway, he kicks the door closed behind him.
He doesn't look like he believes her at all but the hand on his face sends electric pulses to her heart and it's beating so fast to burst.
"If it made you cry, it matters to me." His voice sounds strained, a bit on edge, but she doesn't want to care right now.
She pulls him down to capture his mouth, soft as first and wanting to coax him for more. She wants to drown in him tonight, forget the world but him.
He pulls back for a second, licking his lips and brows furrowed like he's struggling to think straight. "No, no, wait, I have to tell you-"
"It can wait," Marinette breathes and pulls him down again.
Between kisses he's still trying to talk. "It's important, and I should've-"
She shoved a leg between his legs and he became silent instantly.
Adrien's eyes got soft and he goes in for a soft kiss. "Marinette," he murmurs. Then he's capturing her lower lip and sucking it. Her tongue lashes out, immediately wanting more. "My Mari. My lady."
Then he takes her again and again throughout the night until she can't remember ever loving another person in her life.
—-
[Scene II- Alternative to answering the door]
It's Adrien. His hair is disheveled and eyes wild like he ran down there, He's holding a small instrument, which Mari realizes is a ukelele.
"What are you doing?" She starts smiling around her crackled throat and moves to the side so he can walk-in.
When she turns Adrien is sheepishly smiling. "Something I should've done sooner." Then he loops around her waist to give a kiss. It's slow, sweet, and curls her toes. They've had many kisses before but this one feels like more. Like pushing Chat from her heart unlocked the last bit to enjoy loving Adrien more. He pulls back when she's ready to escalate their kiss.
"I love you, too," he whispers and Marinette has to blink multiple times, her eyes widening and a red flush rising to her face.
"Y-you heard— "
Then he strums the ukulele, progressing in a smooth transition of rings in a style she heard many times before.
Say nighty night and kiss me, just hold me tight and tell me you miss me, dream a little dream of me.
In other words, I love you. Fly me to the moon.
You're just too good to be true, can't keep my eyes off of you, you're like heaven to touch, but I love you so much. Now that love has arrived, I thank god I'm alive. You're just too good to be true, can't leap my eyes off of you
"Cause I love you, baby, and— if, if it's quite alright— " she joins with him, as she was always compelled to do, but now she's sobbing out right. He was here, this whole time, as perfect, no more perfect than she imagined. She didn't guess it at all.
Maybe she thought it couldn't be that easy, maybe because he's an Agreste, maybe it's because she didn't mind falling all over again.
"You knew it was me," she says. He stops playing and she continues. "This entire time you knew."
"I didn't. Well, not until after Chloe."
She scrunches her face putting the pieces together than looks at him in horror. "You thought I was Chloe!"
"Not the best detective work, but technically Plagg's fault."
"But…Chloe?"
"To be fair, I was attracted to you the first moment we met and dating her didn't mean anything."
"But I don't—" She sighs. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? If you knew and I said I was waiting…"
"I wanted to see if you could like me. After the mistake with Chloe, I didn't think you would care if Chat showed up or not but Adrien was there and— Mari, it was impossible to stay away from you."
"Well congratulations, stupid cat."
"What?" He looks panicked, wild eyed.
"You made me fall for you twice. And you have a lot to make up for." She kisses him, absorbs him, feels him, accepts him.
"Let me love you, Marinette," he mumbles between her desperate kisses. "Please, let me."
"My kitty. You stupid underhanded cat. You found me."
#marichat#adrinette#ML#balconyau#storytime#writing#and I've written part of the karaoke bonus scene I promised but aw man its hard to come back LOL#i'm questioning why I even need to write it#I guess for the short fluffiness
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How to Fake a Marriage Ch. 18
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
(AO3) (FF.net)
Now that Marinette and Adrien knew each other's secret identities, Plagg saw absolutely no reason to be remotely subtle with his pranks, much to Adrien's exasperation. His only comfort was that Plagg did at least refrain from constant references to "your wife" and any crush that he thought Adrien might have on Marinette... at least for the most part. For now, at least.
"Adrien, why do you have this tucked under one of the couch pillows?" Marinette called, and Adrien frowned as he set his laptop back down on his bed and headed back into the living room. What on Earth could Marinette possibly be talking about? He didn't keep anything besides a few pillows and a spare blanket on the couch. He was pretty positive that he hadn't accidentally left anything else there.
In the living room, Adrien found Marinette holding up a printed photo of the "wedding" kiss and was looking very, very perplexed. Adrien groaned loudly.
"Plagg, get your ass out here!"
There was a grumble, and after a pause Plagg came floating very slowly into view. "Whaddya want?"
Adrien narrowed his eyes at the kwami. "I thought I told you to quit it with the hiding pictures all over the place."
There was a quiet 'Aha!' from Marinette. Plagg just snickered.
"That stopped being funny months ago, Plagg," Adrien scolded, still irritated. "If anyone else had found that, I wouldn't be able to explain it."
Plagg shrugged. "But they didn't."
"So are you gonna stop doing that, then?" Adrien demanded. "You're going to make my printer run out of ink again. And that stuff isn't exactly cheap, you know. Especially the colored stuff."
Thankfully, it was Tikki that spoke up next. "Plagg, you really shouldn't do that. It might have been a little funny this time, but you know how often Adrien has people over."
Unsurprisingly, Plagg scoffed, completely unrepentant. "How often he has people over? He doesn't! If he studies with other people, he does it at school, not here. Marinette has people visit more often, and they mostly pop into her apartment and only for a short while to talk about work. No one was gonna find it except her."
"Which would have been awkward if she hadn't found out about you!" Tikki argued. "And don't try to tell me that you only started after Marinette found out, because it's obvious that you didn't!"
"He was doing that back in the fall," Adrien said with a sigh, plucking the picture out of Marinette's fingers and tossing it in the recycling. "I swear I found at least two or three a day, and I was terrified that Mari might find one and think I was a giant weirdo."
Marinette giggled. "You are a giant weirdo," she told him fondly. "A giant punny weirdo. But yeah, I would have thought it was really weird. I did think it was really weird."
Adrien had the sudden urge to murder Plagg for that. If Marinette had found those photos before, when he couldn't tell her about Plagg being the one to blame...
(He just really, really didn't like the idea of Ladybug thinking that he was actually weird. He could deal with goofy-weird, just not creepy-weird.)
"You know, I think I liked it better before the reveal," Adrien announced loudly, giving Plagg a stink-eye. "Then Plagg actually hid and didn't annoy me when Marinette was over. It was nice and quiet then."
Marinette sniggered. Plagg only shrugged, unaffected.
"Yeah, but then you wasted your time going out to run around with Ladybug after you had seen her all day instead of, oh, I don't know, sleeping."
"Plagg, you don't actually care about how much sleep I get. You just don't want to work," Adrien pointed out dryly. "And it wasn't a waste of time. I liked getting out and running around."
"But he does have a point," Marinette said, making Adrien pout at her. Was she really taking Plagg's side over his? "You have all sorts of papers and projects due soon, and if we hadn't figured out each other's identities, you can't tell me that you wouldn't have not gone out until your finals were over, even if it meant sacrificing some of your sleep."
Adrien opened his mouth, ready to argue that. He would have done the responsible thing- he would have gone to bed, he would have done his homework- after all, he had done it before- but then he paused.
Could he honestly say that he wouldn't have pushed himself to the limit to see Ladybug, when he hadn't yet known that Ladybug would be staying in London for another year? There was no way of knowing how soon she would have remembered to bring it up, and if she only mentioned it after the school year was over, he totally would have lost time going out to meet up with her. Maybe he would have tried to schedule get-togethers for nights that would work better for him, but he would definitely have tried to go see Ladybug. That was just what he did.
"Yeah, he can't even deny it," Plagg scoffed. "He would go out of his way to see yommmph."
Adrien laughed at the disgruntled look on Plagg's face. Clearly the kwami didn't appreciate having his taunting cut off with a chunk of cheese shoved in his mouth. Still, he couldn't help but wish that Marinette had maybe done that a little sooner, considering that Plagg seemed intent on revealing information about Adrien that would make him seem like a lovesick kitten.
He was a lovesick kitten, but Marinette didn't need to know that.
"Well, it's good that you don't have to waste time right now, at least," Marinette pointed out as Plagg floated grumpily down the hall and away into Adrien's bedroom to sulk- or, more likely, take a nap. "Don't you have a few projects due next week?"
"Yeah, I do," Adrien admitted. "As much as I wish I had more time, it's good to get it over with before I really have to dive in with studying for finals. I'll probably be pulling some late nights later in the week to get everything done."
Marinette let out a quiet, playful hum. "Funny thing, I remember you saying something last semester about irresponsible classmates having to scramble last-minute to get things done and how you were never going to do that."
"I'm not pulling all-nighters. There's a difference," Adrien called over his shoulder as he headed back into his bedroom to grab his laptop again. "I just had a little more homework than planned last week, and then there was the concert that we went to that I hadn't taken into account. I'll be a little rushed, but I have everything under control, I promise."
By Thursday evening, Adrien was wishing that he hadn't been so confident earlier in the week. Everything that could go wrong with his projects did go wrong- or, well, almost everything. Thankfully the files hadn't been lost and he hadn't forgotten any of his numerous projects, but books had been misplaced, his notes had fallen off of the table and had gotten into complete disarray, and several of the papers and articles online that he had marked on his computer had somehow vanished completely from his bookmarks and it took several hours of sifting through his site history before he found them all again. That meant that Adrien had pulled more late-night study sessions than he had anticipated, and he wasn't even able to see Marinette as much since she was going back to her own apartment after they finished cleaning up from dinner so that Adrien could focus better.
While being alone definitely forced Adrien to actually work instead of talking with his best friend, having no one to talk to (Plagg had been strongly suggested into going to bed early, meaning that Adrien wouldn't get distracted by him, either) meant that his mind sometimes drifted off a little more than it should.
A light knock at the door followed by the sound of it opening shook Adrien out of the light doze he had accidentally slipped into. He jolted upright, grabbed onto his computer to steady it, and glanced up from the screen to see Marinette slipping in through the door, wrapped in a bathrobe. She was probably wearing pajamas underneath, but the robe was tied shut securely to ward off the eyes of any too-nosy neighbors. She raised an eyebrow as she caught sight of Adrien in front of his computer. "Adrien? I thought you were going to bed early tonight."
"I was," Adrien admitted, even as he glanced down at his computer. "But I have a couple finishing touches to put on the project that I have due tomorrow. It's not much, just proofreading and then sticking in a few details that I remembered today during class. But I hope to be in bed by one. Go on ahead- that's what you came over for, right?"
Marinette's cheeks turned pink and she looked a little sheepish. "I- I mean, yes, but if you're going to be busy, I don't want to hog your bed, I can sleep in my own-"
Adrien snickered. "You're too small to hog my bed, My Lady. And go on ahead, I'll be there soon enough." He had to admit, seeing Marinette flustered about sharing his bed- even though they did it regularly, and there was nothing remotely inappropriate about it- was adorable. "Go on and warm up the sheets for me."
"You don't want company while you finish that up?"
"As much as I love your company, I think you'd be more of a distraction than anything," Adrien assured her. "And you need to sleep. Shoo, little bug."
Marinette shooed. Adrien smiled to himself as he listened to the rustle of fabric as Marinette took her bathrobe off and hung it up on his closet door, then the click of a light switch and more rustling as she crawled into his bed. He let the sound distract him for a few minutes, and then he refocused on his paper. Right. Editing. The sooner he got done with this, the sooner he could go join Marinette for a well-deserved night's sleep. The thought spurred him on, and it didn't take long at all for Adrien to make the last change, save the document, and send the finished paper to his professor. He was about to congratulate himself with a hard-earned chocolate-chip cookie (baked fresh only hours earlier) when a note in his planner made him freeze. Because right there, written under the assignment that he had just completed, was another note.
Data sheet marking- due at noon! Summary + write-up.
Adrien knew exactly what assignment that was. He knew what class it was for, he knew what he had to do for it...
...and to the best of his recollection, he hadn't finished it. Not even close.
It wasn't as though the assignment was particularly difficult, Adrien reflected as he reopened his computer. It was just using a computer program to mark a bunch of old scanned datasheets into categories based on the amount of time it had taken each datasheet to run, and then it would take maybe a minute after everything was marked to run the data through a program that would summarize everything nicely. The process was so easy that anyone could do it, and Adrien hadn't had any trouble with the program when he did the first few pages. It was just that it would take a whole lot of time to go through everything.
Except he didn't have a whole lot of time anymore, because he had been a complete freaking idiot and forgotten about the assignment until last minute. Unless his memory was seriously failing him, the project was due in less than thirteen hours.
In short, he was screwed.
"I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot," Adrien groaned as he opened the program and confirmed that yes, he had in fact forgotten to go through most of the data. He had done a handful of the pages- maybe a couple dozen, tops- but that left hundreds of pages to go. He was going to have to stay up most of the night, and he had already had a short night of sleep the previous night after he stayed up late studying a concept that he was having a bit of trouble with and then had to wake up early for an eight o'clock class. This was the worst possible night to find out that he had an assignment he hadn't done due the next day.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. How on earth had it managed to slip through the cracks? Adrien knew that he had had a crazy number of projects to do that semester, plus he had gotten that crash course in applying to and interviewing for jobs partway through the semester and that had definitely added to his workload, especially since he had had to look into whether or not he needed a work visa and especially especially because he had never applied to a job before. He had had to keep calling Marinette over to help explain things to him. Still, even with all he was trying to juggle, he shouldn't have forgotten a project entirely. That was just plain irresponsible.
With a growl, Adrien buckled down to plow through the pages. He could do it, he could do it, he could do it...
He couldn't do it. Several hours later, Adrien was bored out of his mind from staring at one nearly-identical page after another. He had perked up a little an hour in after inhaling nearly half a dozen cookies, but the sugar high had long since worn off and left him plodding miserably through his assignment.
Adrien yawned again before forcing himself to focus on his screen. He was really starting to drag now, he could tell, but he couldn't go to bed yet. He still had a solid hour of data left, at the least, and more if he kept slowing down like he was now.
He really had to stop thinking about how much his bed was calling him, soft and already warm with Marinette sleeping there already...
Adrien shook himself yet again and refocused on the screen. If he weren't worried about waking Marinette up, he'd make himself some coffee to jolt himself awake. Maybe he should invest in some green tea in case this happened in the future.
Of course, he'd have to either worry about the teapot whistling or he would have to make it in the microwave like a heathen. Maybe he should ask Marinette if he could borrow the extra key to her flat so he could make his coffee in her place when she stayed over...
A noise down the hallway made Adrien jump. He glanced down towards the bedroom and saw Marinette exiting his bedroom, hair messy and eyes bleary. She blinked at him before meandering down the hall towards him.
"I didn't wake you up, did I?" Adrien asked, reaching out an arm to pull Marinette down onto the couch next to him. She plopped down and snuggled up against his side without missing a beat. "I've been trying not to make any noise, but-" he yawned and clapped a hand over his mouth. He glanced sheepishly over at her. "I'm sorry, I really did want to go to bed earlier."
"I thought you were going to come to bed by one?" Marinette glanced down at the time on Adrien's computer screen. "Adrien, it's already past three."
Adrien cringed at the reminder. It was really getting ridiculously late. He was fairly certain that he had never stayed up so late before, with the only possible exception of him having to get up in the middle of the night to fight an akuma. "Yeah, I know. But I remembered that I had this thing due tomorrow at noon, and since I have class until eleven, I need to get this done. I forgot about it with all of the other projects-" he yawned again, long and loud "-all the other projects that I had. It's not hard, just really time-consuming."
Marinette leaned over to watch as Adrien did a couple pages. "So what are you doing?"
"These are the results from this experiment people have done over the last few years. We're summarizing the data by tagging each of these sheets with what time category they fall in- you know, like how long it took for the experiment to run."
Marinette curled into his side a bit more and peered at the screen. "There's several times, though?"
"Yeah, each page has several runs on it. I'm supposed to tag all of them, because not everyone did the same number of runs in different years and so the averages would be not as accurate...or something." Adrien yawned again. He was so tired that it was questionable if he could even get a decent write-up done later. If he went to bed now he could probably get just enough sleep to function decently well until after all of his classes were finished, but that wasn't going to happen.
He was definitely going to have to be more careful about keeping track of his projects after this, even if that meant programming every single last one into his calendar so that he would get a dozen reminders a month about each and every one.
"And then I run them through a program that compiles all the tags and gives me a summary of the data, and then I do a short write-up about it and turn it in with the summary sheet." Adrien let his head drop onto Marinette's, relaxing for a long moment. "I completely forgot about it. It wouldn't be a problem normally."
"Is that it? Just tagging?"
"Yeah. It's just that there's so much to do." Adrien yawned again. He was about to fall asleep right here, right now, with his head resting against Marinette's. He really needed to sit up and get back to work before he conked out just like that. "I probably have at least another hour just with the tagging, and then running the summary sheet will only take a couple minutes after that. I was planning on doing the write-up after my last morning class and before lunch, just so I can get some sleep."
"I can tag things, Adrien. You go to sleep." Marinette nudged Adrien's side, then nudged harder when he didn't respond. "Seriously. I'm more awake than you are right now. Go get some sleep. It'll only be, like, four hours, but it's better than nothing. You can run the summary in the morning or before lunch. Shoo."
Adrien straightened up and blinked at her, startled. "Mari, this is my homework, I can't ask you to do it for me-"
"You aren't asking. I'm telling you I'll help." Marinette wrapped an arm around his waist and gave Adrien a hug. "And you helped out when we were in a pinch at Fashion Week. Let me help you now."
Adrien blinked blearily at his computer. Marinette was right, she definitely wouldn't have any trouble with the tagging. She was smart, she could figure out the tagging pretty fast. He'd get to sleep- well, not a decent amount, but a passable amount- and actually would be able to function the next day. He'd have to take a nap in the afternoon before he could get any productive studying done, but at least he could do that and didn't have classes all day, just in the morning-
Wait.
"You have to work tomorrow," Adrien protested, even as Marinette slid his laptop from his lap to her own. "I can nap in the afternoon, you can't-"
"Adrien, I've been sleeping since ten. I've already gotten five hours of sleep. You said that this will take an hour, so I'll be back in bed a little past four. I can go into work a little late if I really need to, so I'll get another two or three hours of sleep. I'll be fine." Marinette pushed at his back. "I've got this, I promise. Shoo."
Adrien shooed.
He was asleep the minute his head hit the pillow. Adrien woke up briefly around four when Marinette crawled into bed next to him, and then he was sleeping again until his alarm went off at seven. He groaned his way out of bed and out of the bedroom, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he got ready as fast as he could. Adrien could smell breakfast cooking in the kitchen- Marinette must have decided to just cook at his place so both of them could eat, she was an actual lifesaver- so he hurried out to the kitchen as fast as he could.
"You are amazing, have I told you that yet?" Adrien said as he hung over the short dividing wall to the kitchen. Marinette was piling toast onto a plate and had jam and butter already on the table with a small bowl of chopped fruit. The smell of coffee filled the morning air, along with the smell of cooking bacon. "Wow, you really went all out."
Marinette turned and grinned at him. "Hardly! The fruit is from last night, the toast was easy, and the bacon and coffee were both quick. I figured you might need it this morning."
"Yeah, I really do. I slept in as much as I could. I don't even have time for a shower this morning." Adrien ran one hand through his hair, wincing. It wasn't as though his hair was greasy or anything, but he could feel the traces of product left over from the previous day. It wasn't a particularly pleasant feeling.
Marinette laughed at that as she came to the table with the plate of bacon. "You'll survive. Besides, you can wash your pretty-boy hair this afternoon once you've finished class." She reached over and ruffled his hair, ignoring his laughing protests as he tried to bat her away.
"Plagg, the mean woman is making fun of me," Adrien managed to mock-whine between his snickers, batting Marinette's hands away. "Make her stooooop."
Plagg, who had been lounging on top of the refrigerator with a chunk of cheese, peered down at them and made a face. "Ugh. You're so gross together."
Adrien made a face at Plagg in response as he rearranged his hair into something that would less resemble a bird's nest. He and Marinette weren't gross. They were just friends having fun.
"Any problems with the data tagging last night?" Adrien asked Marinette as she started to spread jam on her toast.
Marinette shook her head. "Not at all. It was easy."
Adrien let out a sigh of relief. "Fantastic. Thank you so much for doing that, by the way. I probably would have taken forever and then had to run on an hour of sleep."
"It's not a problem. You do still have to run the summary sheet, though. I didn't want to do that and mess everything up somehow."
"Oh, that's fine," Adrien reassured her hastily. "I've done that before in class- with smaller data sets, of course- so it'll only take a couple minutes for me to do. I'll try to get it done before I leave, and then I can think about what I want to write during class." He chanced a glance at the clock and winced. He'd be cutting it close with the bus, probably, but he could always run to the station.
Marinette caught his glance and followed his gaze. She looked a little concerned. "Maybe you should do that now and then eat your breakfast while you're walking. You won't be cutting it as close that way."
"Right, right, of course. Mari, have I ever told you how much of a lifesaver you are?"
Predictably, Plagg didn't stay quiet for long after they left the flat.
"So your wife helped you out with your homework last night, hmm? How domestic!"
Adrien groaned quietly as he hurried down the street, toast in hand. "Plagg."
"What? It's true!"
Adrien really couldn't debate that. Marinette had made him breakfast, after all, and they had slept in the same bed together like it was normal- which it was for them, he reminded himself- and then she had made sure that he had everything before he left for school. The kiss that she had pressed to his cheek as he raced out the door only added fuel to Plagg's arsenal.
"So domestic," Plagg sighed. Then he made a small retching noise. "It makes me sick."
"You could stop thinking about it all the time," Adrien suggested. For someone who claimed to hate romance, Plagg sure seemed to be incredibly interested in his own love life. Adrien guessed that he might never figure that little mystery out.
Plagg blew a raspberry at Adrien.
The morning flew by, and soon Adrien was handing in his project. The summary sheet wasn't quite up to his normal standard, but it was good enough to get his a pretty good grade. There were more than a few other people in the class that looked a little bleary-eyed, which made Adrien suspect that he wasn't the only one who had forgotten the project until last minute. He just happened to be incredibly lucky that he had Marinette willing to sacrifice her own precious sleep to help him.
He had the best friend in the world, honestly. Adrien was pretty positive that most people would have given him a coffee and a few encouraging words before going right back to bed.
Class dragged on, and Adrien did his best to pay attention when his eyelids felt like lead and every blink was an effort to force his eyes back open. Finally class was over and he was done for the day, and Adrien hopped on the bus back to his neighborhood. The ride woke him up a bit- well, the ride and the small iced coffee drink he had picked up on campus so he wouldn't do anything stupid like falling asleep on the bus- so he decided that before he went back to his apartment to sleep, he should do something nice for Marinette. After all, she still had several hours of work left before she could get back to the apartment and take a nap herself.
What to do...what to do...
Just when Adrien was just about to give up for the moment and go home to sleep on it and figure out a solution later, he caught a whiff of something delicious. It smelled warm and welcoming, like baking bread and sugar.
Of course! Their favorite bakery (at least, favorite in London; Marinette's parent's bakery and the pastry stall from the festival up north ranked a bit higher) was nearby. Marinette would no doubt welcome something warm and sugary, since it was still a bit cool outside and really, when wouldn't something warm and sugary be welcome?
Six minutes later, Adrien headed down the sidewalk, pastry bag in one hand and carrier of hot chocolates in the other. He hoped he wouldn't be interrupting anything- he hadn't texted Marinette to let her know he was coming, and maybe he should have- but his luck had held out so far. And if she were busy- well, Adrien didn't have to stay for long. He could just drop off one chocolate-filled croissant and Marinette's hot chocolate at her desk, or have another worker bring them to her.
Luckily for him, Marinette was busy at her desk. A sketch of what looked like a lovely summer dress filled her computer screen, and she was busy making notes in a small notebook. Adrien tried to crane his head to get a peek- was she coming up with a list of fabric she would need? Was she making notes about current fashion trends?- but before he could see anything, Marinette noticed the movement behind her and spun around.
"Hey, Adrien! I didn't know that you were coming in to visit today!"
"It was a bit spur-of-the-moment," Adrien admitted, setting the hot chocolates and pastry bag down on a clear spot on her desk. "I wanted to thank you for helping me last night- well, early this morning. And I figured that you might start to drag sometime soon, so I got some sugar to help."
"Sugar is always appreciated," Marinette said, peering into the bag and sniffing appreciatively. "This looks fabulous."
"I can just drop it and leave you to eat if you're busy," Adrien said, glancing at Marinette's computer screen again. It definitely looked like an in-progress sketch, which meant that if she was on a roll, he was just in the way. "I'll just snitch a croissant-"
"You can stay!" Marinette said hastily. "I'm not really in the middle of much anything. I've been trying to get into a groove with the dress, but I'm having a little trouble," she said when she caught Adrien's glance towards the computer. "I'm having a bit of a creative block right now. I might have to go do something else for a bit and come back to it later."
"The lack of sleep probably isn't helping much, huh?" Adrien asked, feeling a bit guilty. As much as he appreciated Marinette's help (a ton), he couldn't just ignore that her having to be up in the middle of the night and then getting up early to get breakfast for him cut into her sleep time, which probably was affecting her productivity. "I'm really sorry about that, honestly-"
Marinette snorted. "I didn't miss out on that much sleep. You're making it sound like I was running on three hours of sleep instead of, like, seven. This design has been giving me trouble for days."
"Really?" Adrien had always rather thought that designs gushed out of Marinette freely. She certainly had been drawing new things easily enough when he saw her at home, but maybe that was because she was drawing things that she wanted to wear, not things that were new and fresh enough to be carried by a fashion house. He supposed that there were probably a lot of designs that got scrapped or cast aside without ever making it to production. And when he took that level of pressure into account...yeah, it made a little more sense that Marinette might be struggling a bit from time to time. Besides, he vaguely remembered a few discussion about the creating process that they had had before, and yeah, Marinette had definitely mentioned occasionally having designer's block then. He just was too tired to remember those full conversations.
"I'm just not quite happy with it. I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong, but there's just something..." She glanced at the computer screen again. "It doesn't quite have the oomph factor to it, you know?"
"Maybe it could be made with a fabric with some sort of pattern?" Adrien suggested as Marinette pulled her pastry out of the bag and passed it back to him. "You could use some of those patterns that you thought up earlier in the year, they're all gorgeous."
Marinette froze, pain au chocolate caught between her lips, and then she lunged for her drawing tablet, sitting on her desk behind her computer. Still mid-bite, she pressed a button and frantically started searching through the drafted fabric patterns she had saved on it. Adrien watched, torn between amusement and concern as she flipped through one design after another, finally settling on one with a happy noise. Seconds later, the pattern showed up on her computer screen. Marinette made a satisfied noise at that, then grabbed her sketchpad, flipping to the page with the dress design on it before flinging open a desk drawer and yanking out some colored pencils. It was only once she had started coloring the design that she froze, put the pencil down, and sheepishly turned to Adrien, pulling her pain au chocolate out of her mouth as she did.
"Sudden burst of inspiration?" Adrien suggested, amused. "I can go. Don't feel bad about kicking me out," he added when Marinette looked like she might protest. "I need a nap anyway. My plans for this afternoon were eat, sleep, shower, in that order, and I wasn't planning on bothering you for long anyway."
"I don't want to seem ungrateful," Marinette said, finally taking a bite of her pastry. Her eyes closed in momentary enjoyment before she focused on him again. "Really, I love the food, and the hot chocolate, and thanks so much for getting me back on track with the design, I really needed that suggestion-"
"But now you need to get that idea all sketched out before you forget it," Adrien finished, getting up and immediately bending down to press a quick kiss to Marinette's forehead before gathering up his pain au chocolate and hot chocolate. "I get it, I promise. I'll see you at home."
"See you later," Marinette responded absently, attention already back on her design as she picked up a colored pencil and started filling in the design with a rough representation of the fabric pattern, pastry forgotten on a napkin on her desk. Adrien smiled at her back for a moment, just watching her draw. It was admirable how focused she got when she was hit by a burst of inspiration for a design. She forgot about the rest of the world for however long it took for her to get her design sketched out. Strands of hair were falling out of her bun and into her face, but Marinette was so far into the zone that she didn't even bother to brush them aside.
When he heard a giggle, Adrien quickly turned and glanced around. Several of Marinette's coworkers were watching him watch her, and they looked rather amused. Trying not to blush, Adrien nodded a greeting to the giggling duo before making a hasty exit.
Yeah, he definitely needed a nap if he was openly staring at Marinette like that.
#Miraculous Ladybug#My writing#How to Fake a Marriage#Adrien Agreste#Marinette Dupain-Cheng#these dweebs honestly
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Heather Cox Richardson:
Today #Trump’s people had to start figuring out how to navigate their way through the turbulent waters of the impeachment inquiry with an increasingly erratic president whose popularity is crumbling. Three men who are exposed in the Ukraine scandal were in the news today, and they took different approaches to getting themselves out of trouble.
This morning, Congress continued its investigation of the Ukraine scandal, hearing testimony from Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. He has been named as one of the three key figures tapped to pressure Ukraine to dig up dirt on the Bidens: Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Sondland. But he was not at Congress to defend the scheme. He was there to extricate himself from it.
Before testifying in private, Sondland allied himself not with the president, but with the career officials who have blown the whistle on the attempts of Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to pressure Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelensky into smearing Joe Biden before they would release funds Congress had appropriated to help Ukraine fend off Russian incursions. Sondland issued a statement saying that, so far as he knew, he was not part of a rogue operation in Ukraine, as career officials have charged; he was working with Giuliani unwillingly in order to do Trump’s bidding. Sondland claimed not to know about the pressure on Zelensky to dig up dirt on Joe Biden’s son, and insisted that he opposed such a plan. This statement is important: it ties Trump directly to the Ukraine scandal, and says that Trump was in cahoots with Giuliani (who is under investigation by the FBI as a foreign agent), just as other testimony has suggested. Sondland also undercut the key piece of evidence Trump supporters had advanced to prove there was no “quid pro quo”—explicit exchange—of military money for Biden dirt. It had been one of Sondland’s texts that had said no quid pro quo… but he testified that he only had the president’s word on that.
Sondland’s statement is a big deal on its face, but perhaps the bigger deal is what the document didn’t say explicitly. Texts between Sondland, Volker, and top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor show that Sondland was in the scheme up to his eyeballs. So does the fact that from the beginning of his tenure he focused on Ukraine, which is not in the EU, even though the US had a well-regarded ambassador there already, Marie Yovanovitch (who was reassigned when she tried to stop the administration’s scheme). The idea that Sondland had no idea what was going on doesn’t fly. But rather than taking a stand with Trump, he is distancing himself. He was such a major Trump supporter and donor that he got a plum ambassadorship (and is currently under fire for spending $1 million in taxpayer dollars to remake his residence in Brussels). The fact that he is angling to extricate himself from this mess by tossing Trump and Giuliani under the bus and making nice with Congress rather than by trusting Trump to protect him suggests that Trump is in trouble.
The White House reacted to Sondland’s statement by sending acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to talk to the press. Mulvaney is also implicated in the scandal, and he took the opposite angle from Sondland: he doubled down on his support for Trump. But that did not help the president. Mulvaney has been identified as the person who facilitated the meetings between Sondland, Volker, and Perry—who called themselves the “three amigos”—and Ukraine officials. He came out swinging. For weeks, Trump supporters have insisted that withholding money from Ukraine until Zelensky agreed to start an investigation into Joe Biden’s son was not illegal because there was no explicit quid pro quo. Mulvaney tossed that right overboard. He said of course there was one, and that it wasn’t a big deal because everybody does it. “I have news for everybody,” he said. “Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.”*
Immediately, the White House tried to recover from Mulvaney’s declaration that there was a quid pro quo and that we should all get over it. Although Mulvaney’s press conference was televised and his words were clear, the White House issued a statement blaming the media for deliberately twisting his words “to advance a biased and political witch hunt against Mr. Trump.” “Let me be clear,” Mulvaney said in a statement this afternoon: “there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election.”
And finally, tonight, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, implicated in the Ukraine scandal, resigned, with a glowing letter praising Trump and thanking him for the opportunity to work in his Cabinet. He is out of office, but he left the door open for a presidential pardon, should he need one.
Today also saw Trump trying to demonstrate his strength. Mulvaney’s press conference pushed the boundaries of Trump’s authority not just in foreign affairs, but domestically, as well, informing us that Trump has decided to host next June’s G7 summit at his own resort in Doral, Florida, a resort that has been losing money since Trump took office. The G7 are the countries with the largest economies in the world, and their leaders meet every year to discuss economic policy. Holding a summit at Trump’s Doral property will bring to the resort not only money from the various delegations but also media, providing valuable free advertising. There has been much concern during Trump’s presidency that foreign governments and individuals, both Americans and foreigners, are taking blocks of rooms at his hotels just to buy his goodwill: essentially to bribe him. With the declaration that he will hold the G7 at his own hotel, though, Trump is asserting the right to use government functions directly to enrich himself. That’s a major new assertion of power.
Another new assertion of power was that Mulvaney also suggested Trump might invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to participate in the G7. Russia was expelled from what was then the G8 in 2014 after invading Ukraine.
The other big news today was Vice President Mike Pence’s announcement that the US and Turkey had negotiated a ceasefire in northern Syria where our former allies, the Kurds, were overrun by Turkish troops on October 9 after the US abruptly withdrew. Pence presented the ceasefire as a triumph, but it was a peculiarly one-sided triumph. Turkey will pause its assault for 120 hours, while the Kurds— fighters and civilians alike—turn over their heavy weapons and withdraw from the territory that was theirs until two weeks ago. The pause will save lives, indeed, but it will also give the invading troops valuable time to regroup and strengthen their logistics. Turkey, which calls the deal a “pause” rather than a ceasefire and has declared it a victory, will retain all the land it has taken. And in exchange for Turkey stopping what some are describing as genocide for 120 hours, America will drop sanctions against the country. What Trump is calling “a great day for civilization” was seen by the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute as “a respite while we surrender to Turkish domination of Northeast Syria.” Trump is trying to spin this “ceasefire” as a clever victory to end a bloodbath, but this is rather like the arsonist claiming credit for pouring water on the glowing ashes of the gutted building.
And it was not enough. Today Time Magazine printed an op-ed from the right-leaning National Review Institute explaining why Trump is "unfit for office." Also today, New York Times printed an op-ed by US Navy admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Military folks were frustrated, angry, and afraid, he said, as they watched Trump attack US institutions, “stand beside despots and strongmen, preferring their government narrative to our own….” "They have seen us abandon our allies and have heard the shouts of betrayal from the battlefield,” he wrote. In a message that provided a bridge for Republicans to abandon Trump, he continued: “As I stood on the parade field at Fort Bragg, one retired four-star general, grabbed my arm, shook me and shouted, 'I don't like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!'"
McRaven’s op-ed reflected the sentiment building in America. It was entitled: “Our Republic is Under Attack From the President.”
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The Sons of Hell PT.3
Characters: Dean Winchester, Reader, Sam Winchester, Castiel, Charlie Bradbury, Jo Harvelle, Benny Lafitte, John Winchester, (mentioned ) Mary Winchester, Crowley McLeod, Lucifer, Balthazar, Gabriel, Lisa, Rowena, Ellen Harvelle Cain, Ruby (2.0), Meg (2.0),(mentioned) Jess (characters might be added later on)
Warnings: Mature content, language, use and talk of drugs and Alcohol, weapons, violence, death, lying, plotting?, POV changing, blood, threats, Shakespeare quotes, Almost/kinda smut, (I WILL be updating warnings as much as I can)
Pairing: Dean x Reader (eventually)
A/N (C/N)= College Name
a/n sorry for any mistakes
Summary: Winchester, a name that strikes fear to any who hear it. The Winchesters ran one of the most feared gang in all of New York, The Sons of hell but as every gang must have they of course have enemies, Hell’s Demons being the top one. John Winchester was the boss of Sons of Hell he is ruthless and crude and he wants the next boss of the Son’s just like him and the next boss just so happens to be his eldest son Dean Winchester, A womanizing, badass guy and gorgeous man but he was also rude and sarcastic with so many walls around his heart but will someone from the other side break them? or will they get caught in the crossfire?
Readers POV
I stealthy sneaked past the guards and back into my room. it was early morning now and all I could think about was my ‘not date’ with Dean. I heard the click of my door someone was finally going to talk to me, my dad stepped into my room, ‘’finally! I’m an adult! you cant just lock me away anymore!’’ I yelled his stiff demeanor not changing ‘’sweetie I think you should head back home, I have a lot of new rich dangerous clients and the run in you had last night was too close’’ his accent was thick and what was being Said didn’t seem like a suggestion. ‘’No.’’ I retorted he seemed surprised ‘’Darling think it through before you make a rash decision’’ and he was gone. Am I in serious danger?
Dean’s POV
Crowley has a daughter. Y/N. ‘’Finally we have leverage!’’ dad screamed pulling me from my thoughts, ‘’I cant believe…… Crowley the ‘king’ has a daughter, he’s the biggest- ’’ before Sammy could even finish his sentence dad started to ramble. ‘’I cant believe this, I think we need to get to work’’ he puffed on a cigarette with a big smile on his face. a demented smile. ‘’how is work going to give us leverage’’ I took a swig of my beer waiting, ‘’oh I’m not sending you on regulars I’m sending you, dean, to ‘harder’ things’’ I nodded. Sam and Charlie gave me quick glance. ‘’well I need to go, few more people I have to see’’ snatching my gun I left quickly, I need coffee.
I pulled into a coffee shop on a corner, I wasn’t exactly lying I did have to see people, Harry Spengler and Ed Zeddmore. I saw them in a corner booth both starring at their computers, they had big bags under their eyes and their eyes were bloodshot and pupils small. I rolled my eyes and slammed my hands on their table. they jumped and grabbed their chests. I laughed ‘’well I wasn’t excepting this’’ I snickered ‘’you almost gave me a heart attack you ass-’’ I pulled out my gun and pointed it at harry, no one on the café saw just them. ‘’now I thought you two jackasses told me you couldn’t pay your debt because you couldn’t even afford coffee’’ I waved my gun towards the two steaming cups ‘’and if I’m correct that’s coffee, so did you lie to me’’ they both looked scared shitless. ‘’I-w-we can explain’’ harry stammered I clicked my guns safety off. ‘’Harry? Ed?’ a familiar voice chimed behind me, ‘it cant’ ‘’Y/N!’’ they yelled in unison. they scrambled out of their booth, I bit my lip and turned, there stood her, the mystery girl, or now not so mystery. Y/N.
‘’Well, fate really wants us to keep bumping into each other’’ I smirked slipping my gun back into my waistband. She turned her beautiful smile growing. Crowley’s daughter. ‘’hi dean’’ she pulled a piece of stray hair behind her ear. ‘’Wait! y/n you know.. Him’’ ed said glancing over at me, I returned with a sneer. ed took a small step back making me smirk as I leaned against the table. ‘’uh yeah, I’ve met dean a few times’’ Y/n explained. she played with the sleeves of her sweatshirt. something flashed in Harrys eyes, fear, he knows. ‘’uhm ed I think we better go. we have that…thing we have to do’’ and they were gone in seconds, son of a bitch, ‘’did I say something?’’ y/n said her eyebrows raised in confusion. Crowley’s daughter. ‘’no their just jackasses ‘’ she shook her head giggling. ‘’I thought you said fate was bitch’’ she said taking a timid step closer. I bit my lip as I stood taking a step towards her. I couldn’t stop myself. ‘’you ready for tonight sweetheart?’’
Readers POV
Damn you dean Winchester. Even when I saw him not merely a few hours ago it felt like so much longer. I know he’s a Winchester. I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but I cant help it. ‘’and what should be ready for? hm?’’ my body taking over and stepping closer to him. he flashed his perfect smile. ‘’oh you know going on a date with me’’ he gestured to himself. my face flushed. looking down at my shoes. ‘’and I thought the oh great dean Winchester doesn’t do dates’’ I could tell he was smirking. ‘’ ill make an exception for you sweetheart’’ and there it is. I couldn’t help but smile. ‘’well if I am too get ready I should get going’’ I took a step back. suddenly I was stopped he grabbed my hand and pulled me a little closer. I couldn’t move. our noses almost touching, ‘’see you tonight sweetheart’’ his voice was husky, damn him, I blushed and smiled I turned and headed to the door.
I walked around a few corners smiling and blushing. ‘’Y/n! stop doing that.’’ meg ran towards me quickly looping our arms together. ‘’Do you want me to die, if your father found out you just sneaked away, he’ d have my head!’’ she screamed waving her left hand. ‘’Meg, I’m sorry I just needed coffee’’ I held up the cup, she sighed and shook her head ‘’fine but if your fat-’’ I held my hand up, ‘’he wont I promise, now I’m sorry but lets go find ruby and go shopping’’ I flashed a smile, meg smiled, ‘’fine, but your buying me new shoes’’ she pulled me towards where ruby was.
Few Hours Later
‘’I’m so glad your back y/n, with out you I had no girl time’’ ruby laid the bags by my desk, ‘’Hey!’’ meg screeched ‘’oh right your still here’’ ruby rolled her eyes. ‘come on guys don’t fi-’’ a loud knock interrupted me ‘’Ruby! Meg! Meeting now. its about the newest ‘job’ don’t make the king even angrier’’ A voice I recognized as Lilth, ruby and meg rolled their eyes and opened the door and headed towards the meeting. time to get ready.
And a few more hours later (sorry)
I put a nudish pink lip gloss on then carefully put it back on my vanity. I looked myself up and down my outfit was cute but sexy.
I grabbed my phone and headed towards the balcony but yet again something caught my eye. it sat on my dresser and I immediately grabbed it. soon enough I sat on the last branch and I couldn't help but smile. I snapped off another small branch and looked around, two guards walked on the inside of the fence with wo dogs. finally the guards were far enough away and I threw the stick. guns pointed. dogs sniffing. I jumped down and ran. I climbed the fence and ran even faster. finally on the main rode. I held my hand out hailing a cab. it takes a few minutes before a yellow cab pulls up. I climb in, ‘’Central Park’’ I requested ‘’please’’ I said. my phone buzzed.
BadBoy D
D: Ready darlin?
Y: Ready for you? I don't know am I?
D: Hm we’ll see
And blush. I softly bit my thumb holding back a laugh. leaning against the window watching buildings, cars, and people blur by. and my mind wandering, what am I doing, Winchester.
‘’ok that will be 49.30′’ fuck. of course I would forget my wallet. ‘’oh uhm I'm so s-’’ ‘’here you go cabbie, keep the change’’ a sarcastic voice called from the passenger window. of course. suddenly my door opened. ‘’hello sweetheart’’ he caught his bottom lip between his teeth. He reached out and grabbed my hand ‘’thanks dee’’ a small smile spreading across his face, ‘’whats on the agenda dee’’ noticing he still had my hand. and blush again. ‘’well sweetheart that's a surprise’’ he smiled wider. we spent twenty minutes walking central park in comfortable silence, when ‘’ok the silence is killing me, tell me something’’ I asked, ‘’don't die on me sweetheart’’ he joked but there was seriousness there, ‘’ok what do you want to know darlin’’ I smiled ‘’ what do you like to do’’ his cocky smirk appearing.
‘’I don't think that's appropriate for a first date’’ a seductive smirk grew, I playfully hit his shoulder, ‘’ugh of course’’ mockingly groaned. ‘’ ok now you. what do you like to do darling’’ before I could even think I blurted ‘’reading, I read a lot of Shakespeare’’ great good going Y/N. dean smirked (if that was even possible) ‘’ah a nerd’’ he playfully called. ‘’I like it.’’ he said making me smile. ‘’I'm starved ready to eat?’’ all I could do is nod.
we sat at a small booth at a diner dean had driven us too in his beautiful car- sorry his’ baby’. ‘’of course’’ I said quietly ‘’what darlin?’’ ‘’oh of course youd be a burger and fry guy’’ he smiled as he pooped a fry in his mouth, ‘’is that a problem?’’ I smiled back ‘’of course not I missed the new York grease food’’ snatching a fry off his plate. ‘’sweetheart you forgot something’’ he grabbed his beer ‘’ I'm a burger, fry and beer guy’’ and I giggled ‘’oh of course’’.
dean drove us back to central park and by then it was 11:30 and my body was buzzing. ‘’ok darling, follow me’’ he grabbed my hand and lead me to a nice opening at the park. a cold breeze coming around making me shiver, dean noticed and started taking off his jacket ‘’dean no it was just’’ ‘’shut up, your cold, I have a jacket and I'm not cold now here’’ he said wrapping hi brown leather jacket around my shoulders. ‘’your bossy’’ I mocked and he just smirked. ‘’you know it’’ we sat in the grass, talked, laughed and watched the stars.
‘’fancy ring’’ dean quietly mumbled as he held my hand. I looked at my ring finger, a black band with a dark ruby in the middle and black jewels surrounded it. ‘’uh yeah. it I- was my mothers, her engagement ring, my father gave it to her when she turned 20. she died when I was 3. I still remember her though’’ dean squeezed my hand ‘’I'm sorry, my mom died too, I was 4′’ is voice soft. I turned and instantly lost my breathe, his perfect lips, forest eyes, beautiful freckles. I felt his minty breathe on my face. he leaned in and our lips instantly molded together. my hands found there way to his neck as his found my waist.
he gained dominance quickly and I didn't mind. but unfortunately we needed air. we broke apart gasping, ‘’ wanna go back to my place?’’ he smirked ‘’id love too’’ and it felt like seconds before my back was against his apartment door. his tongue roamed my mouth and his arm held me tight against him. my nails lightly scratched his neck making him groan and I held back a whimper. finally he got the door opened and his hand went under my knee lifting it to his waist. I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. threading my fingers in his dirty blonde hair. hiss hands held my thighs as he pushed me against a wall kissing his way down my jaw, to my neck, the across my collar bone. ‘’ok sweetheart I need you in my bed. now’’ he rasped between kisses. ‘‘ then have my lips the sin that they have took’’ I whispered and in an instant my back hit his soft bed. oh its going to be a long night
#dean x reader#dean winchester#gangster!dean#mafia au#supernatural fanfiction#dean x reader au#x reader#love#supernatural#ruby#meg#sam
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Don’t Let the Door Hit Ya: A Pre-Hometowns Assessment
I know I've missed a lot here. The last time I checked in with The Bachelorette, Rachel was dating the entire "Hoodies" section of the Urban Outfitters in Times Square, and now her boyfriends couldn’t even make up an intramural basketball team without recruiting someone off of the elliptical machines. I know it doesn’t make any sense to come back in with commentary on what is notoriously the most boring episode of any Bachelorette season—the one right before Hometowns where Rachel cuts every guy she knew she was going to cut from the very moment she met them but kept around because they gave good hugs and always had gum—instead of any single other upcoming episode.
Ahead of us we'll be meeting the families who inspired these bros to seek love and/or protein gummies Instagram sponsorships on television; dropping in on date specifically designed for sex at Chris B. Harrison's invitation; and Rachel wearing a truly bomb ass silver dress in which she will be proposed to shortly before making the much more important decision of either going back to being an attorney and retaining the public's respect and adoration, or becoming the next host of Do You Want to Build a Tiny House Filled With Poltergeists: Weekend Edition? in which case we will turn on her in the swiftest of fashions, despite all the good she's done for our dear, awful, corrupt ABC franchise of choice.
With all that tantalizing drama waiting ahead of us, perhaps I should also briefly glance back at the carnage in the rearview mirror. I nervously avoided the Lee/Kenny drama for weeks, and now that I've watched, it simply must be said…
You guys. The Bachelor isn't racist! We've all been so wrong all along! The Bachelor's contestants may be racist, and the world around it may be racist, but The Bachelor isn't racist. No, no, no. It's just Lee. Lee is the problem! Lee is racist and since The Bachelor chose him and put him on the show, and were aware that his blatant, dangerous, toxic racism was, indeed, racism, they're totally in on it. It's meta!
Not buying it? Okay, watch this—name all the times Lee was racist on this season of The Bachelorette: That time he kept telling Eric he "loved him to death" while demeaning him every chance he got; that time he called Kenny aggressive for (initially) fussing at him calmly about interrupting him with Rachel twice; that time he kept calling Kenny aggressive while openly explaining to the cameras that his main hobby is riling people up and then smiling at them or saying sociopathic shit like "Jesus loves you" or "I'll pray for you"; telling Rachel that he was scared of Kenny; lying to Rachel about Kenny throwing him out of a van or whatever while actively sporting Cameron Diaz's jizz-hair from Something About Mary.
Okay, now name all the times The Bachelor WASN'T racist: that time it picked Rachel, a black woman, as The Bachelorette after 30 seasons of not doing that!
But for real, screw The Bachelorette for giving Lee a platform and putting Kenny in that situation which was, by the way, a storyline they pilfered directly from Unreal season 2—not even the good season! And let it be known that any goodness that comes from this season is a direct result of Rachel and any badness seeps from the pores of this franchise which was one step away from having Lee wear a Confederate flag swimsuit and be all, Whaaaa I'm just proud of my heritage?!
But Rachel, whose only human flaw seems to be that she has absolutely no self-control when it comes to large, statement rings—even when wearing winter gloves!—has somehow managed to live up to our absurdly high expectations. Heading into Hometowns, she has four dudes and what I imagine is a world of emotional trauma that is utterly not worth it lying ahead of her. Let's briefly assess their odds before they take us into their childhood homes and adult male psyches.
Matt (Who?) is only worth noting because of the sobs that overtook Rachel when she told Matt (Who?) she had to send him home. Every season the Bacheor(ette) sends home some man or woman that I while professing them their rock, their best friend, their damn Jiminy Cricket that I have literally never heard of before in my life. [Ed. note: The Bachelorette—the one place in the world the friend zone DOES exist, men. Because this woman IS contractually obligated to date you!] For JoJo, I seem to recall it was Vinny the Barber, who went on to a prosperous life in Paradise where he acquired a much more reasonable hairline. I can only hope the exact same for Matt.
I would wager that Dean is as cute (and tear-inducing) as the kid in the kid in Lion, while simultaneously making me want to put my face on his face as much as the grown-up kid in Lion: my boyfriend Dev Patel. Dean looks like the 26-year-old actor they'd cast to play the high school sophomore having an affair with his AP English teacher on The CW. Indeed, we've got a real Hot Archie on our hands here, and he is going to get his precious, fragile, surprisingly woke heart shattered into a million pieces by our resident Veronica-meets-Josie.
Rachel knows Dean is too young for her. Rachel knows she's not going to marry Dean—how else do you explain his first date being a blimp ride and his second date being…going to Catholic mass? But I think Rachel would be quite pleased to make a man out of Dean in the Fantasy Suite, and also, probably just wants to see if she can make him grow up a little in their time together. Yes, it will be awfully traumatic for him when she breaks up with him very soon after meeting the family that he's so self-conscious about. But one day, he'll look back fondly on Ms. Lindsay and all that she taught him about Fahrenheit 451 and the importance of clitoral stimulation.
Eric's weird. Aside from the initial challenges he faced with Lee and Lee's general dickish-ness, I was pretty bored by him. That probably comes from the fact that he's always seems like he's falling asleep in his interviews and his fashion sense rests somewhere between Season 1 Michael Scott and Blake Shelton on The Voice. But when he's with Rachel, all the sudden he appears to be quite a fun person. Eric has never been in love or brought a girlfriend home, so this all seems very, very real for him—and he will probably be very, very scarred when it all ends.
Peter is highly handsome and seems highly normal; he apparently has access to a unending supply of nice sport coats, and he is really easing into the salt-and-pepper thing nicely. If Rachel chose Peter and married him, I think they would be very happy together and have a lot of beautiful, athletic, well-dressed children who would one day compete on The Bachelor(ette) and talk about how their parents have been married for 35 years. So it's too bad…
Rachel's going to pick Byan because Rachel is absolutely in love with Bryan. I mean, maybe it's not too bad? Maybe Bryan is fine. But this relationship just feels so Andi-and-Josh circa 2014…and we all know how that ended up circa 2016. It could just be that Bryan resembles a cross between Aaron Murray's brother and Aaron Rodgers' brother, but something about Bryan's constant charm and dedication to telling Rachel exactly what she needs to hear feels a little off. Perhaps Bryan is exactly what Rachel needs…or perhaps he has a half-brother named Aaron somewhere and this will all be yet another strike against the good name of chiropractors.
See you in Hometowns—hope everyone was telling the truth about being sure their parents would be cool with them bringing home a black woman even though they've never done it before and that is actual dialog pulled from the year's most acclaimed and terrifying movie about race!
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What are some of your favorite MTM episodes and why?
Thank you for the question! I’m sorry it took me so long to reply; I wanted to give you a decent answer but I haven’t had much free time this week. I was goingto give you a top 10 list and, after much deliberation, I ended up with a top15 list instead; I couldn’t narrow it down any further. And if anyone wants to reblog this with their own favourite episodes, or send me an ask about it, that would be very welcome.
I’m posting this under a cut because it got very long (sorry about that).
1x02 – Today I Am a Ma’am
This episode features the first of many disastrous Mary parties, and personally, I don’t think they got any better than this. “Allow me to introduce myself:I’m another person in the room” is one of my favourite lines of the wholeseries. And I love the part where Rhoda dumps food all over her lap and Marylooks over in horror. That is absolutely the kind of thing I would do at a party, if it didn’t violate every social rule in existence. (Also, Ilove any time Rhoda is in a scene with her real-life husband at the time, DickSchaal, aka Howard Arnell.)
2x21 – Where There’s Smoke, There’s Rhoda
This is the one where there’s a fire in Rhoda’s apartment, so she moves in with Mary for a few days. I thinkthis is one of my favourite Mary/Rhoda episodes, because it puts them inconflict with each other while still managing to reinforce how strong andbeautiful their friendship is. They end up fighting because they’re just sodifferent, not because they intentionally want to hurt eachother. They have each other’s best interests at heart the entire time. And theend where Rhoda agrees to go stay with Phyllis is fantastic. I love the look onPhyllis’ face that just screams “HELP ME.”
3x06 – Rhoda the Beautiful
This, of course, is the episode where Rhoda won the Ms. Hempel Beauty Contest. I have alot of feelings about this episode. I really don’t like the implication that Rhoda wasn’t beautiful when she was fat, and that she only became beautiful after she lost weight. For one thing, Rhoda was neverall that fat, and for another thing, she was never not gorgeous. Also, weighthas absolutely nothing to do with beauty anyway. But I do think the episode madeit clear that the important thing wasn’t Rhoda’s weight at all. Her problem was that she didn’t feel good about the way shelooked. And even winning a beauty contest doesn’t solve that problem for her. Onanother show, that might have been the end of it, but for Rhoda, even that external validation isn’t enough to make her feel confident. Only after admitting her victory to Mary and receiving her support is Rhoda able to take some pride in her appearance.I love this episode because it doesn’t dismiss Rhoda’s self-image issues asunimportant. Instead, it gives them the emotional weight they deserve. Rhoda’s not sillyfor feeling bad about the way she looks. She’s not shallow for caring about herappearance. And she’s not vain for taking pride winning a beautycontest. The writing (and Valerie Harper’s Emmy-winning performance) reallyemphasize how hard it was for Rhoda to feel good about herself, and how braveshe is for gaining that confidence. I adore the scene where Rhoda tells Marythat she won. She looks down instead of meeting Mary’s eyes. Her voice shakes.She’s clearly terrified. And Mary’s reaction is so wonderful. Rhoda neededMary’s support here, and she absolutely got it. Although this episode dealtwith some really important subject matter, and it was definitely inspiring and poignant, it was ultimately a story about one woman earning some well-deserved confidence, and her best friend who helped her get to that point.
3x16 – Lou’s Place
This is theepisode where Lou tries to be the happy, welcoming bartender, but he can’t keepit up, so he ends up individually terrorizing his patrons. I always laughwatching him try to angrily force everyone to have a good time. “What thehell’s wrong with you, anyway? You just sit there like a bunch of clods… Nowthis is the Happy Hour.” I’m laughing out loud just thinking about it. I thinkit’s one of the funniest scenes in the whole show. And I cannot imagine how EdAsner kept a straight face through the whole scene. Or anyone else, for thatmatter. I also love the scene where Ted tries to arm-wrestle Lou while posing for the photographer. And Murray giving Ted change for $500 in nickels was a great ending.
4x17 – Cottage for Sale
This is the one where Lou almost sells his house but Mary changes his mind at the last minute. It’s just a nice, quiet episode that I’ve seen a million times and it always makesme smile. We see Lou give Mary a lot of helpful (and not-so-helpful) advice andguidance over the course of the series. I like this episode because it’s one ofthe times where Lou depends on Mary to be the voice of reason and help him realize that in some cases, his emotions are more important than logic. And I like thescene where Lou makes Mary breakfast: a scrambled omelet, with green pepper,green onion, and… beer. He’s just so pleased with himself for it. Phyllis is also very good in this episode, in her typical nails-on-a-chalkboard sort of way.
4x20 – Better Late… That’s a Pun… Than Never
“Wee Willie Williams was the oldest living citizen in Minneapolis. There were other citizens in Minneapolis who are older; however, they happen to be dead.” Although the Wee Willie obituary scene is already enough tomake this episode legendary, this is also one of my favourite Mary and Lou episodes. I likethe part when Lou says that he missed Mary more than anyone else did, because that’s not the kind of thing he admits very often. Apart from that, I think it’s very sweet that Rhoda gave up a Robert Redford/Paul Newman movie to write obituaries with Mary until 4 in the morning. That’s quite a favour, even considering what happened as a result. And I would really love to know which character went into Lou’s office overnight and broke all his pencil points. (It was probably Murray.)
4x21 – Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite
I love mostof the Teddy Awards episodes, and this is one of my favourites. This was a goodepisode for Ted. I love the look on his face when he realizes that he won. Forall his confidence before, he seems genuinely surprised, which suggests that much of his trademark overconfidence is actually fake. Ted had so few victories in the show, and his acceptance speech makes mesad for him almost as much as it makes me laugh. And his meeting with WalterCronkite was pure genius. (I wonder if Ted ever gave him his pipe back?)
5x01 – Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?
I really admire Mary in this episode. She’s scared of going to jail, andshe even cries about it, but she does the right thing anyway, without really considering any other alternative. She’s not flawless, butshe’s brave and principled, which is something I love about her. This is alsoanother really good Mary and Lou episode. Lou’s ethics are such a fundamentalpart of his character, and he demonstrates many times over the course of theseries that he’s very rarely willing to back down on things he cares about. Butin this episode, he tells Mary that he doesn’t believe in the freedom of thepress - going against everything he believes in as a newsman - because he can’t handle her being in jail. That demonstrates just how much he cares about Mary,even more than the ensuing hug. And I always laugh when Sue Ann tells Mary, “Dear, when you get out, if you get out, I’ll beright there to help you find your way back into decent society.” (I’m curious as to howSue Ann got all those tin prison cups on such short notice. Does she just have themlying around in her studio at all times? Was she doing a special on prisonfood? Does she collect them? We’ll never know.)
5x19 – The Shame of the Cities
This is theepisode where Lou and Mary make a documentary on a politician that Lou thought was shady but who turned out to be incredibly boring. The “Thank you, Mr. Mugger” scene at the end is one of myfavourite scenes in the show. Mary Tyler Moore was so damn talented. I alsoreally like Charlene, and I like the part where she casually tells Mary thatshe dated Frank Sinatra and Mary can’t get over it. And I lovethe scene where the news team has a meeting in Lou’s office to work on the documentary and Ted listens in until Lou shuts the door on him (at which point you hear his offscreen cry of anguish).
5x23 – Ted Baxter’s Famous Broadcasters School
This is the one where Ted is tricked by a con man and he has to run a broadcasting school with just his colleagues for support. I don’tknow exactly why this episode is so funny to me, but I really enjoy it. I lovethat everyone pulls together, however reluctantly, to help solve Ted’s problem.And I like Ted’s school song: “We have no gym and we have no pool, but we haveheart at Ted Baxter’s Famous Broadcaster’s School!” Short, but catchy. I also love how Mary completely loses her patience by the end of it. (“Who IS this person? What are we DOING here?!”) Although, having watched “GetSmart,” I find it very confusing that Mary is on a date with Siegfried.
6x09 – Ted’s Wedding
I don’t knowwhy they didn’t call it “Ted and Georgette’s Wedding,” but anyway, this was a veryfunny episode. Ted and Georgette were adorable, of course. Sue Ann was brilliant as thefrilly, flower-toting task manager who magically had everything together at thedrop of a hat. And the tennis-playing priest was perfect. (“Bride on mybackhand, groom on my forehand!”) The wedding is sweet but still hilarious, andalthough this is a significant episode with two of the main characters getting married, it fits very neatly into theshow.
6x18 – Once I Had a Secret Love
I actuallyfeel weird about this episode because of the Lou/Sue Ann storyline. I find it disturbingthat Lou was made to feel guilty for having a drunk one-night stand. And Ithink that if Lou had been a woman and Sue Ann had been a man, that storylinemight have played differently. But asidefrom that, this is a really emotionally heavy episode because of the Mary/Louconflict. It’s the first time we’ve ever seen Lou be really devastated bysomething Mary did. And I think it’s interesting that he just shuts down,instead of yelling or being sarcastic like he normally would after being hurt. It shows a side of him thatwe don’t normally get to see, and I have a lot of feelings about it. I also have a lot of feelings about the Mary andLou resolution scene, which is very sweet. And Ted is wonderful in thisepisode. “Mary, why are you weeping? Into a sock!” That part always makes melaugh. This was the episode that made me realize how much the show show relied on Ted to keep the show funny while they did heavy episodeslike this one. (I think the episode where Murray falls in love with Mary is another example.)
6x22 – A Reliable Source
This is the episode where Mary quits her job after Lou insists on running a potentially incriminating story on her Congressman friend. The scenenear the end where Lou helps Mary type her resignation letter is another one of myfavourite scenes. I like any time Mary call Lou by his first name, because sheso rarely does. And although I think that Mary was wrong about wanting to keepthe story about the Congressman off the air, I admire her for sticking to herword anyway. I also think it’s sweet how Murray and Ted really try to supportMary in her fight against Lou, even though there isn’t much they can do. And it amuses me that Ted so readily assumes his friends are trying toget him a raise when they’re really talking about totally irrelevant things. “Thegood Lord has blessed me with many friends… And not a damn one of them’s gotany pull around here!”
7x10 – Murray Can’t Lose
There are afew episodes during season 7 where you can tell that the writers and the castknew it was going to be their last season, and they just went all out with thesentiment. This is one of those episodes. There are a lot of good scenes inthis one, such as Mary singing in Lou’s office, Ted using Lou as aventriloquism dummy, and Georgette’s excellent dance sequence. But my favouritepart is the end scene where Murray gives his acceptance speech to all hisfriends, even though he didn’t win. I think what Murray says to Mary is lovely: “You do theimpossible every day. You make people forget how beautiful you look becausethey’re too busy realizing how beautiful you are.” It’s a perfect summary ofthe way Murray feels about Mary, and it’s also such a good way to describe her. And I love that Murray finallyadmits to Ted that he does actually like him. (Of course, Tedhad to ruin the moment.)
7x11 – Mary’s Insomnia
Apart fromthe highly inaccurate depiction of insomnia, I adore this episode. It wasdirected by James Burrows, who is one of the most legendary directors of alltime (he also did Cheers). Maybethat’s the reason why there is so much excellent physical comedy in thisepisode. Aside from that, and aside from this being such a nice Mary/Louepisode, I like that Ted actually got to get back at Murray for his years ofinsulting him. I also love the scene where everyone shows up in Mary’s bathroomwhile she’s taking a bath, and only Murray has the good sense to be embarrassedabout it. And Lou accidentally lapsing into “Up the Lazy River” while attempting to sing a lullaby is another one of my favourites.
I could absolutely go on and list another 15 episodes, and probably another 15 after that, but I think it’s in everyone’s best interest if I stop here. Thanks again for the question! And like I said above, people should feel free to reblog and add your own favourite episodes. I’d love to hear what everyone thinks.
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