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midnightstar-90 · 2 years

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do you do fics that aren't slash? if so Sheldon Cooper being burn out and Georgie comforting him would be everything! set in Young Sheldon of course

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A Young Sheldon Fanfic

Summary: In order to graduate, Sheldon must pass his P.E. class, the only subject Sheldon is not a master at. His brother offers to help. And in the end, earns his father's validation.

A/N: My first fanfic that doesn’t deal with a reader or OC! 🎉

Also, I know nothing about football, so I went off a few sites off of google.

OLDER SHELDON NARRATION

“P.E.

My greatest failure. You could give me as many english, math, and sciences classes as you desire, and he would thank you. But P.E.? That was like handing me a death certificate with my name on it. It wasn't just because I was small and scrawny. P.E. and I just never got on well.

But P.E. class brought me and my brother together. And my father had been proud of me. I felt a bond between the two men in my life, besides Dr. Sturgis, of course. That was until that semester ended, and I’d be done with P.E.”

Sheldon’s POV

I stood off to the side of the track, watching my life flash before his eyes. In the middle of the football field, inside the track, was a group of boys from my gym class. They were all huddled together, but that wasn’t the only thing I had noticed. I noticed the large dummies the football players used to train and the bag of footballs Coach Wilkins kept at his side. I instantly knew what was to happen.

Coach Wilkins lifted his head from the huddle and looked straight at me. “Cooper! Get over here,” the coach yelled.

“Um, no thanks. I don’t do well with contact sports,” I replied. All it took was one look at my setting for me to remember all the times I was hit in the head by flying projectiles, because I couldn’t, or wouldn’t catch it in time.

After that, my entire world had come to an end when Coach Wilkins said these words, “You know that if you don’t at least participate, you’ll lose participation points, which is most of your grade.” It was quite the conundrum.

My eyes went wide at the statement. I had worked exceptionally hard to maintain my 5.0 GPA, even though my school only went up to 4.0 on their grading scale. Anyways, I couldn’t lose that. So, I did the only thing I could do. I walked onto the field with my head hung low in disappointment.

When I got over to the rest of the boys huddled together, I squeezed between the boys and looked up at Coach Wilkins. “Okay, Class. This week, we're going to be playing football. Today is gonna be easy. We are going over rules, and starting tomorrow, we’ll play a game or two, each day.” Everyone gave Coach a nod, except for me, because I didn’t agree with the things he was saying.

I never understood why P.E. is a graduation requirement. What does being able to run or not have to do with academics. Why can’t it just be an elective like all the other boring and dangerous classes, like workshop? What will I, Sheldon Cooper, need gym class for in my future? Nothing, that’s what.

Anyways, I stayed in my spot, watching the boys walk out to the field. I felt a gust of wind from the girls in my class behind me, running track. I’d rather do that instead of Football. I would just imagine myself as the flash, zipping through the track with my small legs.

“Cooper!” Coach Wilkins yelled out, turning my attention from the girls to him. “I need you out on that field, Sheldon,” Coach said, giving me a stern look.

Sheepishly, I responded back with, “Isn’t there something besides sports that I can do in this class? Maybe I can do your taxes for free this year?”

“No bribes, Sheldon.”

“I’ll tell my dad,” I threaten the coach.

“He told me to treat you like a regular student,” Coach said. His smug look that he wore was saying ‘Ha! Your move!’

“Fine, but don’t expect perfect performance,” I said, angrily.

“All I ask is you participate.”

“Fine, but I won’t be happy about it,” I said with a pout.

When I got home, I made my way to the only supporter that would back me up in my graduation necessity.

My mother.

My dad stopped the truck and put it in park. I practically ripped the seatbelt off of me and slammed the door open. I hopped out and ran into the house, being met with my mother.

My mother stopped cutting the vegetables she had just gotten from the store and looked at me with concern. “Shelly? Are you okay? You’re out of breath,” she said, walking over to me. She got down to my level and placed her soft hands on my cheeks.

“I was running from dad…” I said, trying to catch my breath. “Which… I’m starting… to think… was… a bad… idea,” i said, wheezing.

“Running from dad? Why were you running from dad?” My mother asked.

“Because in order to graduate, I have to participate in P.E. And to make it worse, dad told Coach Wilkins to treat me as a regular student.”

“But you’re so small, they shouldn’t have you in a physical class,” my mom said with a mixed feeling of concern and anger.

“Exactly! And the first sport is football!” My mother gasped. Now, she’s livid. I could see the familiar vein popping out of her forehead.

It wasn’t long after after that when my father and Georgie walked through the door. My mother stared my father down with her momma bear glare.

"George Cooper Sr!" My mother yelled, startling my brother and father. "Why did you tell Wayne to treat our son like an ordinary student? Shelly is not an ordinary student. He shouldn't be involved in physical activity with those other kids. He's a child! What if something happened to him today?" My mother asked sternly.

My father looked at my mother, flabbergasted by her immediate outburst. He honestly should have known she would react like that. That's why she's my go-to when I need something done.

"I'm sorry, Mary," My father apologized.

"Seriously. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that you're right. Sheldon is not an ordinary student. He's quite the opposite. He's the highest in the class, not because of his age or size. It's because he tries and actually puts in the work. I just thought that maybe, Sheldon would do the same with P.E. No matter what he does in that class, me nor Coach Wilkins are gonna give him a free pass. He's too smart for that," My father told my mother sincerely.

I listened to my father's words, and I felt something uneasy. I thought back to my Professor Proton episodes that I watch every day after school. Professor Proton didn't get a free pass to where he is today. Now, I don't know if he was forced into P.E., or else all his achievements would be ruined, but I do know that he put in the work, and he got stuff done.

"George-"

"I'll do it!" I said out loud, cutting my mother off.

"You'll do what, Shelly?" My mother asked me, looking at me with her confused face rather than the angry face she's had on her face for the last 5 minutes.

"I'll do P.E. on dad's terms. But I have no clue how to do anything in that class," I said, slightly nervous.

"Are you sure, Shelly?" My mother asked me with a slight frown.

"Is Professor Proton named as a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of every atom?" I asked with a delighted smile. I looked between my mother, brother, and father, and they all looked at me with blank stares. My smile dropped as I said, "Yes. Yes, he is." After explaining myself, the 3 of them looked at each other with their mouths open in realization.

Georgie raises his hand and suggests to help me. My mother and father looked at Georgie like he was crazy. "I second that. Georgie is the athletic one in the family... besides Missy. But I'll save her for baseball week. Anyways, this week is football, so Georgie would be the perfect tutor," I say.

"Well, since that's sorted out, I'm gonna get ready for the game," my dad says, leaving the room.

Later that night, Georgie and I went outside so he could tutor me in P.E. It was hard to think of the day that Georgie would be the one tutoring me in something.

“Now, in playing football, you’ll probably gonna be a running back. You’re gonna try your best to run down the field, and get the ball to the end zone. But even if you’re not, you might have to pass the ball off, so that’s what we’ll start with.”

We started off by passing the ball back and forth. They weren't hard or long passes. They were short and soft passes. But that didn't stop me from the ball slipping out of my hands and end up dropping it.

After about an hour, I finally got the hang of it. Georgie smiled as he passed me the ball, once more, "There you go! You're getting it." I smiled excitedly. "I'm really doing it! I'm really doing it!" I exclaimed as I jumped up and down, before passing the ball back to Georgie.

"Okay. Now I'm gonna move around, and I want you to watch my moves before passing the ball. Got it?" Georgie explained. I nodded my head up and down, catching the ball Georgie threw at me.

Georgie ran around the backyard. Following his orders, I watched him and waited for him to get into position to catch the ball. When he turned to face me, I through the ball. Sadly, the ball landed about 5 inches from his feet.

I looked down in disappointment. "It's okay," Georgie tried reassuring me. "You threw the ball a little low, but it was still a good throw. You just need to throw the ball a little higher, next time. That's all. You're doing great," Georgie said, passing the ball back.

Hearing Georgie say those words to me really meant something. My brother had never told me he was proud of me. He always taunted me, but never did he say he was proud. I felt accomplished in the fact that maybe I can play football with high schoolers. It wasn't like it was the real thing.

After passes, Georgie began to start teaching me about tackles. When Georgie told me this, I almost crapped my pants. I thought this was one of Georgie’s sick jokes, so he could tackle me, and take out. But I was wrong. I was going to do the tackling.

“Alright. Now, when you tackle, your goal is to get your player on the ground. The best way to do that is by the legs,” Georgie informed me.

“Now, I wanna see you try.”

I took a deep breath and ran at Georgie. Right before hitting him, I tried to pounce on him. Sure I hit my target, but I guess that was the wrong way.

“Try aiming for the knees,” Georgie said.

Taking another deep breath, we got back into position. Georgie and I had a friendly stand off before I ran at him. I slightly bent my knees and pushed Georgie off his feet. Georgie let out a small cry of pain, consisting of ooh’s and ahh’s.

“Are you okay?” I asked my brother in concern. Georgie got back up on his feet, wiping himself off. “Yeah, I’m good,” he responded back, easing my concern.

Georgie stood up and began to wipe himself off. “That was great,” Georgie said, giving me a smile, which made me smile. “Now, let’s run that back a couple more times.”

The next day I was ready. Georgie taught me different ways to pass the ball, and he even showed me some of his plays. He gave me basic instructions on how to score points, tackle, and what fouls were. Georgie ended our tutoring session by saying, "Remember. This is only P.E. football, not real football. Most of the kids know the sport, but they don't know how to play it on their own. Some probably know as much as you before this. But just remember to have fun. It's not for competition."

But sadly, I wasn't ready. Sure, I now knew how to play, but I wasn't prepared for the height and strength of the boys in my P.E. class. I tried to tackle one of them, and they ran over me like roadkill. I now sat in the nurse's office with an icepack on my eye. I could feel my eye bruising, meaning I was getting a black eye.

My father ran into the nurse's office, demanding to see me. When he saw me sitting on the small bed, he stopped in his tracks, appalled at the look on my face. "How'd you get that, Sheldon?" He asked, almost immediately.

I gave my father a blank face, "Playing football."

"You don't seem too upset about that," My dad said with a raised brow. I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "I'm not. I was prepared to play. And yes, I'm sad that my brand new skill went to waste, but that skill didn’t prepare me for the pain that I felt when Ralph Terrence tackled me.”

My dad grimaced at the thought of the abnormally ripped freshman tackling me. “We’ll, I think you’r mother was right. You shouldn’t be in P.E.”

“No!” I yelled out, scaring the school nurse before turning towards us. My dad turns to her and gives her a small smile and wave. She gives me one more look and goes back to her computer. My father places his index finger against his lips as a sign to lower my volume. I take the hint and begin to whisper, “No. I want to do P.E. I mean, I go to church with mom, and yet, I don’t believe in her faith. I don’t like P.E. But why should that stop me. I’ve recently began bonding with Georgie, and I have to say, it felt good. Not the sports part, but the sense of accomplishment.”

“We’ll I’m proud of you. I’ll talk to Wilkins. No physical sports, but you can do warm ups and testing. And you can do homework or whatever while everyone plays. Okay?” My dad asked.

“Okay,” I said with a smile. The feeling of two people that hardly recognize me, being proud of me, was sensational. I was over the moon. Both my father and brother had told me that they were proud of me, in less than one day.

“I don’t have many memories of me and my father bonding over something, or even my brother and I. But, I have to say, it felt good.”

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aminiatureworld · 3 years

Text

Enigmatic Feelings

Characters: Albedo, Diluc, Xiao, Zhongli, gn!reader

Word Count: 5,544

Warnings: None

Premise: Love is a potent force. And sometimes little things take on larger meanings, especially when one party is unaware of them.

In which the reader’s s/o is jealous

Author’s Note: This trope is 100% my guilty pleasure. I hope I did it justice.

I also realized while writing this that all these characters have the emotional understanding of a teaspoon, but they’re trying their best, so that’s what counts.

Albedo

Albedo was many things. A great alchemist, a man of secrets, a weapon with which one might someday bring destruction. He was even a lover, albeit an unpracticed one. But what he was not was emotional. Or so he thought.

Of course Albedo knew what jealousy was, knew the sort of stupidity that people could fall into when altogether too infatuated with their own love. But just because one knows what jealousy is does not mean one must fall prey to such things. Or so Albedo assumed.

It was the fourth day in a row that a knight had approached your door. Friedrich was his name, and he was doing a stellar job at capturing your attention, and pulling on emotions that Albedo had long told himself he didn’t contain.

Today the flower was a Windwheel Aster, swaying this way and that in the pocket of space between your two hands. You were smiling at it, or rather at Friedrich, brightly, fingers mere moments away from Friedrich as you went to claim the fourth flower this week. Though the was nothing necessarily untoward in Friedrich’s movements, and Albedo would much rather a person of integrity be attempting to woo you, even if the idea itself turned knots in his stomach; nevertheless it still left a bad taste in the alchemist’s mouth, and a worry in his heart that he was not so immune to jealousy as he’d previous assumed.

“Thank you!” You spoke to Friedrich, giving one last wave before walking back over to Albedo. “Albedo look! It’s a Windwheel Aster. It’s very nice of Friedrich to give me one, maybe I can use it, or maybe it’ll be helpful for your experiments?”

“Yes, thank you. I, I think you should keep it.”

As much as Albedo wanted to take the flower and throw it in the incinerator, he couldn’t bring himself to shatter the smile on your face. No matter how dearly it cost him to see you smile down once more at the delicate red petals. And no matter how much it haunted him the rest of the day to imagine you, face framed by a smile, a bouquet of a random knight’s making in your hands.

That knight as Albedo put away the Bunsen burners and the graduated cylinders he kept his mind preoccupied by thoughts of you. Surely he had to tell you his feelings, for if not they would keep building in his chest; building and building until one day he erupted, with you in the line of fire rather than the knight who was creating this whole dilemma, perhaps even unwittingly. Though Albedo had never been in a relationship before he knew stories. Weren’t books full of those kinds of moments? Men, women, people, all of them running over one another in their misunderstanding, in their overwhelming guilt.

No, he wouldn’t turn out like that, wouldn’t let the two of you be hurt in such a way. He had to tell you. Had to make you understand how much his chest constricted when he saw you carrying the gifts of others, had to let it be known before he lost control of these emotions. After all, wasn’t that what happened with emotions? They grow and grow and one day they spill over. And Albedo never wanted these emotions to spill over. No matter the cost.

“May I tell you something?”

The sunlight was streaming through the laboratory windows, the air warm enough that Sucrose had tied up her hair during her shift. And yet Albedo felt cold, oh so cold. He was going to tell you today. He hadn’t been able to tell you three days ago, nor two days ago, nor yesterday. And now the bouquet of flowers that occupied a tiny glass on the windowsill felt quite large indeed. Today would be day eight if Friedrich showed up at lunchtime, and before that Albedo would tell you.

“Of course you can Albedo, I’m all ears!”

You turned around, a soft smile once more spreading across your face. Putting down the pencil you’d been holding you leaned back against the lab table. Albedo took in a deep breath. He could do this. He would do this. He had to do this. No matter what, today. Today, he would do this.

“I-I’m jealous.” The words hung in the air for a moment, as if not understood.

“Jealous?” You tilted your head slightly, worry making your smile slip. “Albedo, jealous of what?”

“Of Friedrich, of you and Friedrich, or rather, I mean, of Friedrich giving you flowers.” Albedo paused, words tangling in his mouth, tripping on each other in an attempt to be understood. What if this was a mistake.

“Albedo,” you shook you head softly, walking over to cup your partner’s face, “I promise that there’s nothing in it. The flowers are lovely, of course, but nothing in this world could replace or stem my love for you. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I know,” Albedo replied hurriedly, worried still that he might be misunderstood, “I’m not trying to accuse you of anything, or say that I doubt you. My love, I will never doubt you. I just, I just feel so uncomfortable when he brings you flowers. It feels like, like I don’t know; it feels like I’m being poisoned, suddenly and all at once. And I don’t want it to affect the way I act towards you. So, so I wanted to tell you. You don’t have to stop, if those flowers make you happy then that’s what matters. But, but I just wanted to tell you.”

You said nothing, staring into Albedo’s eyes, gaze piercing through the alchemist. It was always that way with you. How you managed to destroy the control he thought he had, the wall he’d erected between himself and humanity. How you made him feel unsure and fallible and whole. And, just as before, now your gaze softened and you shook your head, your smile a balm for the raw unfamiliarity of putting together emotions.

“It’s okay Albedo, I’m glad you told me. Just like my emotions matter to you, I’d rather not see you unhappy. To be honest, I just never saw Friedrich’s actions in the way that he probably meant them. We all struggle with our feelings sometimes, I do just like you. Just as long as well tell each other, all will be well. Alright?”

“Yes. Thank you. I don’t know what I do without you.”

“Well you’ll never have to find out, so it doesn’t matter!”

There was no eighth flower that day, at least not one that was successfully given. Albedo supposed that he could pity Friedrich, but in reality he felt nothing but relief. The emotions that had left such a bad taste in his mouth seemed so far away now, for there was you, only you. It would only ever be you for him, and the days in which you said the same thing of him Albedo felt as if he could truly be happy, and truly acknowledge the emotions that swirled inside him, the love for you so great it spilled over into a vast ocean.

Diluc

Diluc found most merchants loathsome, something perhaps not entirely fair considering his own status as a mover of goods.

Still, merchants in general were an unlikeable bunch. Prone to complacency and greed, this elite circle was comprised of people who thought of little than of ways to line their pockets anew. It disgusted Diluc and as he stood there, watching as a man who had enough jewelry on his body to weigh down a pack mule and a smile that made one want to run in the other direction, throw compliments and boasts your way, the winery owner was reminded about all that was wrong with the world in which he worked.

“So your goal is to attempt to find a route through which we might trade our wine in Inazuma?” You repeated the words the man had just spoken, expression skeptical. “As much as it would mean good business to begin another trade route, I believe the border restrictions will cause no little difficulty.”

“Restrictions such as those are nothing for a man like me.” The merchant smile once more and Diluc felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. “I have the ability to wave past such an issue. Indeed with the right price I believe I could expand your network to include all of the seven major lands, if you haven’t been trading internationally.”

“Thank you for your offer.” You replied, too focused on the work in front of you to notice the merchant’s roving sort of gaze. “I’ll see what Master Diluc has to say. However I warn you, as much as international exports are important for a growing trade, smuggling wine into locked countries will do little good. Especially considering what the damage could do to this winery’s reputation if such a thing was found out.”

“Don’t worry, I assure you my methods are completely secure. In fact, if you’d like to discuss it in more depth, I do believe that I may be able to enlighten you over a meal.”

“Perhaps, although Master Diluc would certainly have to be there.” You smiled slightly, and Diluc wondered for a moment if you were being purposefully oblivious or simply didn’t notice the meaning behind the merchant’s words.

“I will be back tomorrow, perhaps you’ll have an answer then?”

“I’m sure I will.” You replied, smiling as the two of you shook hands. As the merchant walked out of the winery your smile morphed into a sort of smirk and you looked up towards the balcony of the second floor.

“You can come out now Diluc, I know you’re there.”

Diluc couldn’t help but smile at those words, he truly couldn’t get anything past you. Hurrying down the stairs he swept you up in his arms, sighing slightly into your neck as you tightened the embrace.

“Ever so observant, my darling.”

“I know that you’d never let a transaction or a business conversation take place without your knowledge.” There was a playfulness to your voice, coming from the knowledge that you were utterly correct. “Still, you could’ve come downstairs you know. I don’t think that anyone would need to believe that you were going through your ‘very important paperwork, and lurking around is your night job.’”

“It seemed somehow wrong to suddenly appear in front of you two and derail the conversation.” Diluc drew away and placed a soft kiss on the tip of your nose, chuckling when you immediately wrinkled it. “Especially since you were doing so well on your own.”

“Oh he’s just like the rest of them,” you sighed, “altogether a bit too full of themselves.”

“Especially in this one’s case.” Diluc said, finally letting a scowl cross his face.

“What do you mean?”

The look on your face was one of innocence and confusion, and for a moment Diluc felt his thoughts stammer, as he realized that you truly were unaware of the way that the merchant was looking at you, unaware of the manner which caused Diluc even now to continue to press his hand gently against your lower back. If you didn’t notice it, then surely Diluc was overreacting, surely there was no reason for his heart to stutter and his stomach to drop. Surely there was no reason, and surely he shouldn’t tell you.

“Nothing at all, I just didn’t like his face.” He hurried now to reply, realizing how odd his pause must’ve seemed. “Will you be accepting his proposal for a business dinner?”

“I’m not sure. I suppose it couldn’t hurt. And then it might be a good venue for the two of you to talk. Since you find him especially ghastly, I think a more public meeting might be easier.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t think that invitation was meant for me.” Diluc replied, before realizing his gaffe and falling silent.

“What? What do you mean of course it’s meant for you. I mean you are the owner of the Winery. Who else would it be for?”

“For, for you my darling. Why else would he ask you in such a way?” Diluc tried to keep the acid out of his words. It wasn’t your fault after all. It wasn’t your fault that some louche was asking after you.

“But I’m not the one in charge.” You furrowed your brow. “I can’t make the final decision. And I won’t allow him to attempt to bypass getting your permission either.”

“My darling, I, I think he meant it a different way.”

“What way?”

Diluc sighed, capitulating quickly to his want to tell you. Even if it was perhaps selfish of him, he was never truly good at keeping his feelings masked away, at least in a way that didn’t result in him completely shutting down. And you meant to much to him than for Diluc to try and lie to you.

“You see, I think he was attempting to ask you on a more romantic sort of dinner.”

“What?”

Your reaction was immediate, your expression quickly turning into one of shock and then of disgust. Letting out a groan you buried your face into the front of Diluc’s coat, eliciting a short laugh from its owner.

“Why? I… I… Even if I weren’t in love with you I’d never go out to dinner with him.”

“I don’t think he would appreciate the sentiment.”

“Diluc.” You let out another groan, shaking your head as if to rid yourself of the thought. “Archons, ugh thank you for telling me. I, disgusting.”

Diluc said nothing, simply tightening the hold of his arms around you. Though your reaction was certainly justifiable he knew there was something more behind them, and he felt grateful for your consideration. Though he knew that would always have been your reaction, it didn’t stop the pressure that ha been building in his chest, the thoughts that screamed what if, what if, what if. What if there is something better than you.

“Hey, are you alright?” You voice drifted up through the fabric of Diluc coat. He smiled, relaxing his grasp around you and pressing a soft kiss to the crown of your head.

“I will be. May I hold you a little longer?”

“Of course. You’re the only one for me, you know.”

“And you for me. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Those words, though so small, were somehow enough.

Xiao

The new guest at the inn had been speaking to you for quite some time. That was Xiao’s first observation. The second was that you didn’t seem to mind. The third was that for some reason he suddenly felt incredibly irritated.

It was a beautiful evening, the kind that would’ve normally had you and Xiao sitting on the roof together, fingers entwined, the silence of nature cushioning the two of your from the outside world. It was a ritual, something that Xiao had come to rely on, had come to almost sanctify. Yet here he was, sitting on one of the thicker branches of the trees that dotted the outside of the Inn, trying desperately to quench the anger that bloomed in his chest as he watched you and the guest talk the minutes away.

Perhaps the worst part was that you didn’t seem to mind. Instead of pulling the conversation towards a close, you seemed perfectly content to keep talking, smiling brightly and quickly answering the questions of this uninvited guest. Normally Xiao didn’t care about , or rather didn’t keep track of, the people you spoke to. Of course you would have friends, would have people that mattered to you. Just because Xiao had disconnected himself from humanity didn’t mean that you had to. So why was he so angry?

His patience ran out when the guest reached for your hand. Sidling next to you as fast as he could Xiao peeled off his invisibility, enjoying the shock that registered across the uninvited guest’s face as he moved his hand back. Reaching to entwine his hand with yours Xiao shifted his gaze towards your face. Shock was painted into your expression, but there was also something else, a glimmer of happiness or of satisfaction. Somehow it unnerved Xiao, and he focused instead on the task at hand, whatever that task was.

“It’s getting late.”

“Oh, of course.” Turning back to the guest you smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but perhaps we’ll speak again some other time?”

“Gladly!” The man’s face lit up, before Xiao’s glaring left him scampering down the steps.

“Xiao, is something wrong?” The question was so genuine, without any sense of knowing more than you let. Unfortunately the question was also unanswerable.

“It’s late. We should go.” Xiao gestured towards the roof, hoping the reminder would flush the question out of your head.

“You’re right, I suppose it is getting late. And we wouldn’t want to waste such a wonderful evening.” You smiled. And yet somehow Xiao felt unplacated. He was happy, wasn’t he? So why, why did the question hang in the air, and why did the discontent remain?

The next day was a lazy one, as Xiao waited for you to be done with work. More than usual he missed you, and he wished that the hours would go faster, so he might be able to once more enjoy your presence, to banish the discontent that he still felt, evening after an hour spent wholly in your company.

Eventually the sun made its descent from the heavens, and Xiao pulled himself once more to the perch on the tree he’d taken the night before. Gazing down at the balcony he saw the familiar figure of the unwanted guest, and a stab of anger flashed through him. This was made all the worse by your entrance, and the fact you once more stopped to make time for this intruder.

The man was just as insufferable as before, full of jokes that Xiao didn’t understand and words that though praising of you felt somewhat hollow, almost insulting. You laughed along to these jokes, smiled at these odd compliments. And when the man asked if you might be willing to talk more over some sort of meal you merely smiled.

Xiao, however, found the whole ordeal unbearable. Why should this person be asking all these things, be prying you with words of intimacy and familiarity. Had he not arrived yesterday? Was he not an utter stranger? Confusion mixed with irritation in Xiao’s head, and he found it difficult to hold on to the stony reason he’d built up. What was going on? What was this terrible feeling of anger and want? He couldn’t understand human ways. Less could he understand why they should have any sort of effect on him.

Still he had to do something. Had to do anything. Swooping down once more Xiao began the same charade. This time, however, the man merely jumped, and for all his glaring Xiao couldn’t dislodge the guest from his place on the balcony.

“It’s late.”

“Ah it is. Are you hungry?” He asked, addressing you once more.

“I’m not at all, but Xiao’s right. It is late. If you haven’t eaten yet then perhaps you should. Smiley Yanxiao is quite strict about his rest.”

“Ah, then perhaps you’re right. Still, why not join me? You can tell me your name, and we can talk a little more about the things you do.”

“You don’t even know their name.” Xiao spat out the sentence, barely able to contain the odd sort of irritation that still spun around him. He asked you all those questions, said all those words of praise, all without knowing your name. It felt somehow dehumanizing, somehow… wrong.

“I would be glad to learn it.” The man smiled.

Xiao simply shook his head. He needed to leave. It was becoming too much again, and the last thing Xiao wanted was for a stranger to see him this way, see him unsure and confused and not a little frightened of these alien emotions. Glaring at the man one more time Xiao scooped you up. Ignoring the surprised shriek that you let out he shot up into the sky, moving towards the familiar sanctuary of Jueyen Karst, deeply grateful that the guest, whatever he could do, could never fly.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” You asked, barely giving Xiao the time to set you down onto one of Liyue’s sloping peaks before asking him the one question he couldn’t answer.

“Nothing.”

“Well it’s certainly not nothing. You’re being awfully rude to that guest, and I can’t understand why. Usually you don’t really care about those sorts of things. So something must be wrong, and I want to know what it is.”

A pause.

“Please.”

“I can’t.” It was all Xiao could say, the only thing that would truly encompass the truth, because in truth he couldn’t. He himself didn’t understand it.

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“My chest hurts.”

“What?” Immediately your face shifted into one of worry, and you placed a soft hand over Xiao’s heart. Somehow the gesture was calming, and Xiao closed his eyes, enjoying the receding of the hot bands that had just been restricting him.

“My chest hurt when I saw you with that, that guest. My chest hurt and I felt angry. That’s what’s wrong. My chest hurt, but now it doesn’t; and I don’t understand it.”

There was a pause, and Xiao studied the expressions on your face, watched as they shifted from worry to confusion to caution.

“Xiao, is it possible you were jealous?”

“No.” The idea was somehow insulting.

“It’s alright to be jealous Xiao. It just means you care about someone very much. You don’t have to just dismiss it like that. I want to make sure that you’re alright, so please be honest. Is it possible you were jealous?”

Xiao let another gap form in the conversation, trying to figure out how to answer. The suggestion felt demeaning, felt as if he somehow had no control over himself, no trust of you. And yet it somehow made sense, and even as he shook his head he found himself letting out a different answer.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s okay if you don’t. I know that new emotions can be frightening, can be difficult to deal with. But Xiao, I’ll always love you. It doesn’t matter who else I meet or what else happens in my life. I love you the way that a bird loves the sky. You’re a part of my life I could never lose. So even if this isn’t jealousy, even if I’m wrong, I still want to let you know. I love you.”

Xiao sighed, a smile finally gracing his lips, the pain in his chest finally melting away. What did he ever do to deserve such a person as you, he would never know. He wished he could repeat those words back to you word for word, wished that he could explain that his love for you was all encompassing, had seeped through the cracks of his existence and his life. He wished he could form together the words necessary to convey his love for you. Even if it was impossible he still wished it.

So instead he leaned over towards you. Letting out a gentle sigh he brought his lips to yours, reveling in the soft sensation of your mouth against his, reveling in the way you leaned against him, bringing you arm up to his neck, letting out a soft breath of contentment as the two of you disconnected.

You didn’t ask him anything else, and for the rest of the evening you two sat on the grass, watching the fireflies dance around you as you leaned against one another.

Perhaps Xiao didn’t yet understand the extent to which he loved you, the emotions that had now risen up, given life by the love you’d poured into the adeptus. Perhaps he didn’t understand this yet, but he knew that all would be well. For with you all that irritation seemed so far away, as if it belonged to a Xiao of yesterday. Because here and now you two were together, breathing in the same mutual contentment, the same mutual trust, the same mutual love. And that present was more important than any jealousy could be.

Zhongli

Looking back on the matter Zhongli admitted that maybe pretending the problem didn’t exist was probably not the best solution.

It was only that you two had seemed so oddly content in talking, so, compatible, that Zhongli couldn’t help but feel a twinge of discontent, a tension that spread through his jaw and down to his stomach. He didn’t quite understand the nature of the emotion that now spread over him, but he did understand that it was connected to the bond that was now forming between you and the vendor in front of you.

“Dearest one.” He spoke softly, walking over to where you now stood.

“Oh, Zhongli!” Your face lit up as usual, and the ex-archon felt a piece of him uncoil. At least some things seemed to be unchanging, just as wonderful today as they had been the day before.

“I’ve been looking for you. I know you spoke of wanting to learn more about the nature of Cor Lapis, and the tea shop has been offering a new brew. Perhaps we could share a drink?”

“Oh that sounds lovely!” Turning around towards the vendor you smiled gently. “I’m sorry, I’ll have to try that lovely soup you were speaking of some other time.”

“Not at all!” The vendor’s smile was good natured, and Zhongli didn’t understand why he nevertheless felt a twinge of uncertainty. “I look forward to it. I hope you two have a nice day, and we’ll talk about it more later.”

Though the stall receded into the distance as the two of you turned the corner, Zhongli couldn’t help but let the moment run through his mind once more, finding it as sore to think about as a bruise might be to the touch.

“That vendor? Oh they’re new on the scene.” You smiled, taking a sip of tea.

The tea house was as calming as ever, the noises of the outside a distant song, and the hushed whispers inside adding to the intimate atmosphere. Zhongli normally loved to sit here, drinking cup after cup of tea, watching as the people came and went about their business, immersed in a small fragment of Liyue life. Now, however, he found he couldn’t stop thinking about the vendor. If he closed his eyes he could still remember their face, and the way yours was lit up while they were talking to you.

“Their name is Eli.” You continued on, oblivious to the way Zhongli’s hand tightened around his teacup. “They said that they set up shop maybe… two weeks ago? It hasn’t been a very long time, and they’re still struggling a bit. I hope that they’ll be able to get their business off the ground, who knew that street food was such a cutthroat world.”

“The city of Liyue is full of people who might make their way in the world, doing whatever they can. Perhaps it is unsurprising that competition is second nature to Liyue’s citizens.” Zhongli replied, hoping his tone wasn’t too curt. If it was you didn’t seem to mind, nodding softly in agreement.

“Speaking of Liyue and stories, perhaps you would like to tell me the story you were going to tell? I very much doubt that Cor Lapis is the blood of Morax.”

“How humans love to spin their stories.” Zhongli chuckled.

But even as he began to speak of jewels and pressure and the minerals that lay deep beneath the earth a bit of him was still preoccupied by the vendor’s easy words and your smiling face.

The next time he ran into you with the vendor the pit in his stomach had only gotten heavier. Standing a little ways away he let the conversation between the two of you flow in and out his ear, frown slipping deeper the more he heard.

“I cannot believe that your stall nearly caught fire on your first day! How unlucky.”

“Even worse that I didn’t know who to try and tell about it. If I had known you were part of the Guild then I would’ve asked you.”

“Well next time there are troubles you can just send a message to the Adventurer’s Guild. We can’t have our citizens being injured on our watch.”

“You sound like true heroes. I wish I could do the sorts of things you did. Your commissions sound fascinating! I would love to see how you go about your day some time.”

“Really it’s nothing, most days it’s quite boring really, just like any other job. Still, it’s nice to know that people have an interest in what we do.”

“Oh certainly! I find what you do very interest– ”

“My dearest one!” Zhongli called out, unable to continue listening to the conversation, feeling somewhat guilty and certainly upset. You turned slightly, smile brightening as you saw your partner.

“Zhongli! So sorry that I didn’t meet you outside your office, I must’ve lost track of the time. Eli here was telling me all about their first days at work.”

“I’m sorry that I got out late. I hope that you did not have to wait awhile.”

“Oh not at all Zhongli, like I said I’ve just been standing here. You don’t need to feel bad at all!”

“I’m glad. Perhaps now we can go?”

Zhongli attempted to smile, but it felt a lot more like a grimace. You stared at him, face the picture of confusion. Taking a step forward you glanced one more time at Eli, shrugging apologetically. Before any more words could be passed between the two of you Zhongli grabbed onto your hand. Walking quite quickly he didn’t let go until the two of you were at your apartment and he could finally breathe again.

“Zhongli, what’s the matter with you?” You asked, closing the apartment door behind you. Walking back towards Zhongli, who stood there silently, you let your hands rest lightly on his shoulders. “You can tell me you know, I can tell you’re unhappy.”

“I have a confession.” Zhongli started, feeling somehow compelled to reveal his thoughts, as if keeping them locked away would only be dangerous.

“Yes?”

“I, I did not like the way that the vendor spoke to you.”

“Eli? But they were perfectly nice.”

“I do not mean that they were rude. They were perfectly cordial. I mean, when the two of you were speaking, I, I felt uncomfortable. It was as if there was a barrier between us in that moment. I, I did not like it.”

“Oh Zhongli.” You breathed out, an indulgent smile on your face.

Reaching up you planted fleeting kisses on the archon’s face, peppering his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, touch featherlight. It was a familiar gesture, one of comfort, one used in darker nights, when shadows dotted the periphery of Zhongli’s vision.

“Zhongli, I assume you know what jealousy is?”

“I know the term and what it means. I admit I am not personally familiar with the concept.”

“Well I am, so let me tell you. What you experienced, that was jealousy, plain and simple. I know it’s very uncomfortable. Jealousy can be such a messy feeling, it sticks everywhere. But it’s also normal. So you don’t need to worry. I promise that nothing will happen, and I promise that these feelings would go away. I also promise that I love you very much, so even if you feel these emotions, you don’t have to worry.”

“How could I ever worry about you?” Zhongli murmured, wrapping his arms around you, basking in your proximity.

The apology only came in the evening, after words and kisses and love had hung long enough in the air to dull the feelings that Zhongli had been carrying around. Now he lay there next to you, chin resting gently on your head, suddenly realizing that he’d most likely acted quite rudely.

“I’m sorry I ignored Eli.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.” You murmured. “Though I’m not actually sure what got you riled up about them.”

“You are also a bit oblivious dearest one,” Zhongli let out a soft laugh, “it seems they were quite taken with you.”

“Were they?” You asked, tone betraying your surprise. You paused for a moment, as if trying to replay your interactions. “I never noticed. To be honest, I don’t think I could ever notice, not when I have you.”

“Thank you.” Zhongli whispered, oddly overcome by the confession.

As he lay awake, carding gentle fingers through your hair and listening to the even breaths of your sleeping form he pondered just how lucky he was. Precious gems might come from pressure and earth and chance. But you were more precious than all of them. And he’d never forget that.

#genshin impact fanfiction #albedo x reader #diluc x reader #xiao x reader #zhongli x reader #genshin impact #albedo #diluc #xiao #zhongli #scenarios #requested #my writing

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creativeashproductions · 4 years

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Pregnancy Test Roulette // Charlie Gillespie

Summary: As a college student living with your three best friends is the best and even better when they get along with your long-term boyfriend. However, one of your best friends decides to film a video inspired by another tiktok video. You just had to jinx yourself.

Warnings: Swearing, unplanned pregnancy, allusion to abortion (doesn’t use the actual word), college, and reader has a gender-neutral roommate and best friend named Lu.

Words: 2.4k

A/N: This inspired by a video I watched of someone announcing her pregnancy by taking a test with her friends. They each took one and put in a box to shake and hell exploded with the positive, the actual person was aware before the pregnancy roulette

Masterlist

They say your ’20s are your best years and maybe that comes from being able to bounce back from a night out with your friends. A night that turned your memory into episodic moments you could recall and others you had to guess about. Maybe it’s because you’re in the years where you aren’t under lock and key with your parents but not at the point where you’re expected to have a marriage, kids and mortgage.

It was the sweet spot in life. Now you didn’t drink as much as you did your first year, but you did enjoy the odd glass of wine occasionally—a beer with your older brother or a shot with your best friend. But more often than not you were in bliss nestled into your boyfriend’s side watching an old movie with a bucket of popcorn you had argued over who would make. However, Charlie was in Vancouver filming for Julie and the Phantoms leaving you in your house for the upcoming season. The home you shared with your three college friends to save money but not be stifled in dorms.

“I have an idea!” Sophie spoke, sliding into the living room in her thick socks with duckies on them. Her sudden appearance received both Alice and your attention from the movie Bad Moms playing.

Sophie’s recently dyed blue hair concealing her face from you as she flipped the long strands from her hair. Her bright brown eyes glittering with the same happiness that typically exuded from her.

“What’s this idea?”

“Where’s Lu?” Sophie inquired scanning for them in the room, “Did they have a date?”

“Nah, I’m right here Phee,” Lu announced their presence from the kitchen island going over work emails.

Sophie quickly dragged them from the counter to Alice and you on the couch with a box in her hands. Everyone in the room shared a look as the blue-haired girl went into one of her tangents that could continue indefinitely.

“Phee, calm down. What do you want to do?” Lu questioned whereas Alice had leaned forward to grab a look at the box.

“I think the best question is: what does it have to do with the box of pregnancy tests in your hand?” Alice asked flicking her ocean blue eyes at the girl sheepishly looking at the group, “Do you think you’re pregnant?”

“What! No! I thought it would be hilarious to take a test each and put in the box.” Sophie replied, pursing her lips together with a pleading look in her eyes, “Plus I wanna know how you do it…?”

You sighed with a shake of your head, “You saw this on Tiktok. We’re all damn careful at preventative measures. There’s no harm in taking the test. Hand one over.”

Sophie was quick to hand you a test along with the rest of the group before splitting off to the attached bathroom to your master suite room. You hadn’t even fought for the room when you moved in your sophomore year of college. Lu had been quick to announce that as the only one in a relationship Charlie would be over and they didn’t want a show.

The instructions were straight forward enough you had capped the test brought it the hallway to drop in the box held by Sophie. The camera catching everyone as they did so. Lu followed with their test followed by Alice, and you wandered back to your seat in the living room.

“Is there a reason you made us pee on sticks?” You inquired grabbing one of the decorative pillows Alice had bought. It was mostly Alice’s touch that brought the living room together with her minor in interior design.

“I thought it would be fun.” Sophie simply shrugged joining Lu on their couch, leaving Alice back in her seat.

The movie still paused as per Sophie’s request, so no one forgot about the tests waiting to be revealed. You had no clue why it mattered to not forget about them, as you had said before. Everyone had a pact to keep up on contraceptive, hell there’s a box near the hallway filled with condoms. Everyone just added a few to the box if it was lower than twenty squares.

“Okay.” Lu trailed off, clicking their fingers on the phone in their hands. Their attention is easily taken away from the game Sophie wanted.

Sophie was always jumping on trends on Tiktok, a few even before they became real trends, so this wasn’t anything new. Sophie even had a few viral videos on the app that sometimes took all her attention for a few hours. That being said, you weren’t overly scared about the outcome.

“Ooh, Charamader is calling.” Lu snorted leaning overseeing the cheesy photo of Charlie kissing your cheek. His contact photo in your phone had been taken by Luk as well.

“One moment.” You told Sophie with her wide eyes pointedly staring at the box on the coffee table littered with magazines, “It will be a second!”

Sophie waved you off to the kitchen where you clicked on the green button.

“Hey!” Charlie beamed from the kitchen on the apartment he shared with Owen during filming. His wide eyes crinkled by the grin he wore, “What’s new? How was that exam?”

“I think I did a lot better than I had expected.” You admitted to the Canadian guy brushing the hair away from his face. He had to recut to Luke’s style when filming for the new season happened.

“I told you!” Charlie cheered, flipping his gaze from his phone to the pan he was carefully inspecting, “How lucky am I? My girl is going to graduate with a fancy degree! I’ll be front row when it happens.”

“Just as I will be right there when you win an Oscar.” You teased your boyfriend as Sophie loudly counted down from the living room. Charlie’s attention was drawn to the trio of your best friends waiting.

“Did I pull you away from something?” Charlie’s brown brows furrowed as he mentally went over the plans you had informed him of.

There wasn’t a single plan he remembered so he relaxed marginally when the fear of missing something faded.

“Sophie’s made us do this video for TikTok. We’re halfway through-“

“Hey Charlie, she’ll call you back. We had pregnancy tests to check!” Sophie interrupted ending the video call with your boyfriend.

Both Charlie and you frantically talking as Sophie ended the call with that bomb and not clarifying further on it. To take it further, the blue-haired beauty pocketed your phone as well to avoid her video being interrupted.

You had no doubt the Canadian actor was freaking the fuck out that you were taking a pregnancy test. If he was spamming your phone, Sophie wasn’t reacting to the vibrating other than to aggressively point over to the couch.

“Just text him,” Sophie grumbled throwing your phone back at you when the line formed between her eyebrows. The frustration of Charlie overcoming her excitement for the video.

“PREGNANCY TEST?” Charlie screamed as soon as you accepted his phone call, “Am I missing something?”

“Sophie wanted to do a video of Alice, Lu, her and I took one. We’re good.” You soothed the ruffled feathers of the male who released a gasp.

“Sophie, you gave me a heart attack. Holy shit, I just about knocked Owen unconscious.” The man in question was speaking, but you couldn’t hear the words he spoke, “What! I thought my girl needed me!”

“I’m Charlie but I won’t if I don’t end the call-“

“We can mute the call.” Charlie interrupted dancing on the balls of his feet with anticipation in his blood even if you had denied being pregnant, “This sounds like-”

“Nice try Gillespie. Y/N will call tomorrow, it’s roomie night.” Lu spoke before ending the call for you just like Sophie had, “AS much as I like the dude, this is getting interesting.”

You simply shared a look with Alice as Sophie expertly stationed the camera to get everyone, Alice was the one to shake the box again. Each of you was given a test to hold with snickers falling from lips. Lu’s hand ran through the recently chopped hair while Alice repositioned her body on the floor.

“Okay…one, two, three.” Sophie calmly spoke before flipping her test around. Everyone followed suit.

“Negative.” You informed the group. Lu was quick to announce the negative in her hand.

Sophie simply shook her head before everyone turned to Alice, “Alice?”

The brunette pixie-haired girl stared at the test before she lunged for the box, “What’s a positive?”

“Why-“

“The test is positive!” Alice snapped shakily reading the instructions as she gripped the test in her hand. Her lips mouthed the words she read with a speed that greatly impressed you.

Everyone was huddled around her after Sophie had ended the video in pure shock, reading the test that very much said positive. Your lips parted in stunned silence sitting back on your heels just as Sophie did.

“Who’s test is it?!” Sophie exclaimed roughly running her hand over her face, “Holy shit.”

“Not mine.” Lu informed the group with a nervous smile on their face, “The last person I was with was Susan from Statistics.”

That left three people.

“Eliminate the options.” You breathed looking at Alice, “Wasn’t the last guy you were with a few weeks ago? Jas or something from-“

“Jasper from my Mythology course, but that was like four months ago! I’ve been swamped with classes and work.” Alice spoke with a small smile, “He was terrific. I should see if he’d like to grab a- “

“Not the time Alice!” Sophie screeched frantically looking around the room, “Oh my god, what about you?”

Sophie’s eyes came down on you with a pleading look in her eyes at this very sudden twist on her once innocent game. Your mind went over the last few months, but you were blanking at every opportunity.

“I can’t. Shit. I need to call Charlie.” You grumbled tapping the screen of the phone, “Alice, can you go grab a box of tests from the store? We used all of them.”

“-grab as many as possible!” Sophie cried, shaking in her slippers and cosy clothing. This was not how she had expected the night to go.

“I thought it was roomie night.” Charlie spoke as soon as the phone connected, “Something wrong?”

“When was the last night we had sex?” You inquired, leaving the man in Canada to choke on his beer.

In Vancouver sharing a beer with Owen with a film that had interested the pair playing Charlie hadn’t expected your call. Owen barely blinked at the interruption when the movie was fascinating, but he did turn when he heard Charlie choke.

“W-what?” Charlie coughed wiping his chin with the back of his hand, “Is this some weird part of a card game-“

“Charlie, when was the last time we had-“

“Jesus, I stayed the night before we left for the airport two months ago? We had a quickie in the bathroom at the airport as well.” Charlie scrunched his face recalling the lack of time he had been physical with you. His face turning red with Owen’s full attention on the flustered Canadian actor.

“Everything good?” Owen asked his best friend but only received a wave off.

“You sound scared. Is everything okay?” Charlie now demanded while your lips parted to ask if it was possible the condoms you used broke. The frantic breathing of Alice interrupted you, however.

Your e/c eyes found the pixie-haired girl leaned over, catching her breath with the box in her hands. Without thinking, your phone fell from your fingers as you lunged to the box with three tests. Alice had thought ahead and bought a box each for you and Sophie.

“Sophie’s waiting in the living room. Lu’s got her.” Alice softly told you both deaf to the two males on the phone, “I’ll be right here.”

“Thank you, Alice.” You choked marching into the bathroom, “If it’s me…I-“

“If you’re the one pregnant, then this baby will be blessed if you decide to continue the pregnancy. If you don’t, I’m right here for you. If you’re not pregnant, we can do a couple shots.” Alice squeezed your hands unintentionally, sending Charlie into a frantic moment once more.

Your feet stopped suddenly remembering you hadn’t hung up the phone with Charlie, “Fuck.”

Alice, already reading the situation, tossed your phone to you with a smile as she sat on your bed. With a thankful one sent back, you entered the bathroom with your thumb, clicking the FaceTime button.

“This is the second time!” Charlie exclaimed scanning the background for one of your roommates, “I thought you weren’t pregnant!”

“So did I! Until one of four tests turned out positive, and now I have three more tests I need to pee on!” You exclaimed, “I jinxed us! I literally said how all of us are so good keeping up with preventative measures!”

“Apparently not as well.” Owen spoke, shoving his head over Charlie’s shoulder to see you with his kind smile, “Can you take three slow but deep breaths for me?”

With a few words coaching your breathing, you calmed down enough to mute the call and turn the phone to the ceiling for your privacy. Once the toilet was flushed, tests capped waiting on the counter, and your hands washed, you turned back to the call.

“What’re we gonna do Char?” You sobbed with a deep ache to be in his arms just as he felt the same, “We don’t live together! How can we do this!”

As Owen had led you through the calming breathing, Charlie had dug deep to calm down eternally for you. He found clarity even in the storm of being terrified and somewhat guilty, which he knew was misplaced.

“If you’re pregnant I’ll be there for you. No matter what, I will be there for you. If we keep the baby, we will rock parenting. We have friends and our family.” Charlie soothed you with his pretty hazel eyes glittering at you, “We’ve been together since we were eighteen. We’ve talked about marriage and kids.”

“Should I le-“

“You can stay.” You softly told Owen who squeezed Charlie’s shoulder while you sat in silence with Alice quietly sitting by your side.

Alice’s hand grabbed yours in comfort and support, waiting for the minutes to end and when they did you cried.

Separated in different countries you and Charlie took in the news that there was, in fact, a child on the way. Charlie’s lips parted in glee as he easily read the excitement in your facial expressions amid the fear.

Tag List (PLEASE SEND AN INBOX TO BE ADDED! I CANNOT GUARANTEE YOU WILL BE ON THE LIST VIA POST COMMENTS!)

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#charlie gillespie imagines #charlie gillespie fanfiction #charlie gillespie x reader #luke patterson imagines #jatp fanfic #charlie gillespie #dad!charlie gillespie #caitsy and ash productions

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hawksward · 3 years

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Find Me Where the Wisteria Blooms (Giyuu x Reader x Sabito)

Summary: You were only a child when the demons took everything from you. But in the years you were on the mountain you found friendship.

Only to have it all ripped away again.

Pairing: Sabito/Reader/Giyuu

Rating: PG-13 (specifically for violence)

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: Violence, Character Death, Angst

A/N: Watch me rip out my own heart and stomp on it in 4000 words. Characters have been aged up from 13-15 at the time of final selection (because let's be real why was Urokodaki sending 13-year-olds in the first place.)

Thirteen

“Last again.” The boy with the peach-colored hair taunted, “Guess you don’t have what it takes.”

You would have thrown a rock at his head if you weren’t hunched over with your hands on your knees, struggling to catch your breath.

“Shut up, Sabito.” You heaved “You won’t sound so high and mighty when I’m a hashira.”

Three months had passed since your arrival on the mountain. The morning hikes up the mountain only to race back down again started off like torture considering your background. You had a normal childhood. One cut tragically short after your village was slaughtered by a demon. The screams were still audible every time you closed your eyes to sleep. The sound of the footsteps above the loose floorboard where you hid plagued your dreams.

The sun was high in the sky the next day when Urokodaki came to check for survivors. It was almost ironic to think that you went your whole life not knowing monsters were real, only to find there was a man training students to fight them on a nearby mountain. He pulled you out of the hole in the floor and carried you up the mountain. He let you stay with him weeks before you decided to start training.

You were already a couple of months behind the two boys your age who trained on the mountain. Giyuu and Sabito. Giyuu did everything he could to help you catch up with your swordsmanship. Sabito, however, just continued to tell you about how you weren’t man enough to become a demon slayer.

You never were quite sure if he meant your spirit or your lack of biological parts.

“Leave her alone” Giyuu protested “She was definitely faster that time.”

Were you actually? Who knows. If the mountain exercises were hard, the sword training was harder. Your new skills were nothing compared to either boy. Sabito had already grasped the first two forms of water breathing and Giyuu has mastered the first. Meanwhile, you were lucky to land a strike on either. You ended each day rubbing salve on new welts.

“You are getting better.” Giyuu joined you that evening while you sat outside, rubbing your tired muscles in preparation to do it all again tomorrow “Sabito just doesn’t know how to act around girls.”

“Whatever.” You frowned, “If he tells me I’m not man enough again, I’ll make sure he never will be either.”

A quick, hard sword swing between the legs would take care of that.

Giyuu laughed, “You would have gotten along really well with my sister. She didn’t let anyone walk all over her either.”

“What happened to her?” You asked, already prepared for the answer. No one came to train with Urokodaki because they had a happy home life.

“She sacrificed herself to save me.” He looked down at the ground “She was supposed to be married the next day.”

“Giyuu…” You paused before looking up at him, sliding your hand over his “I’m sure she’d be proud to see you now.”

He looked over at you, his eyes haunted. “I wish it were me instead.”

You pulled your hand away almost as quickly as you placed it there, turning your head to stare back at the night sky “Me too.”

Fourteen

A year passed since you first arrived on the mountain. Tasks that once seemed impossible, you could now do without a second thought. You were faster, stronger. But most importantly, you were a winner.

“Look who doesn’t have what it takes now.” You said, a smug grin plastered on your face. You sat casually on a nearby log when Sabito made it down the mountain. You barely managed to catch your breath as you only made it down a couple of minutes prior. He didn’t need to know that though.

“I bet you still can’t beat me in a fight.” He barely needed a moment to catch his breath while Giyuu appeared.

“Challenge accepted.” You rose from the log to meet him head-on. The fact that he and Giyuu were already so tall was unfair. “I’ll see you at sword training.”

It sounded more dramatic when you said it. After a lunch filled with an intense staring match and Giyuu trying to fill the awkward silence, you found yourself standing in the part of the mountain where you practiced sword drills. The wooden katana felt familiar in your hand. 200 sword swings before you were even able to start practice would do that.

You ignored the fatigue in your arms as you took your stance. Sabito took his position opposite you, Giyuu and Urokodaki standing a safe distance away to observe.

Urokodaki gave the signal to begin and Sabito rushed you immediately. You quick side-stepped to miss the first blow, blocking the second with your sword. It wasn’t a secret that he was physically stronger than you, but you had the advantage of speed now. In the months since your arrival on the mountain, your breathing techniques had improved tremendously. You had the stamina and speed advantage and could wait until he tired himself out. He knew he needed to end the fight quickly.

You backed away while he brought himself back into his stance, widening the gap between you. You rushed him to close the distance, lifting your sword over your head as if you would bring it down on him. Just before your katana would fall on his, you dropped into a slide. Your hands changed grip on the katana, angling it so it caught his ankles as your momentum kept you sliding.

The force of your entire body weight ripped him off his feet and onto his back. You quickly pushed yourself off the ground stood over him, your sword pressing lightly against his neck.

“I win. You have no head.” You suppressed the stupid grin that was threatening to cover your face. The look of shock in his eyes was rewarding enough.

“That trick was dirty.” He complained, staring up at you from the ground. “In a fair fight you would have lost.”

“Demons don’t fight fair.” You said, extending your hand out to him “Why should I?”

“She’s right. There is no such thing as a fair fight with a demon. You need to use every trick you have against them.” Urokodaki gave you a small nod before returning his attention to Sabito.

Sabito reluctantly grabbed your hand, using you as leverage to pull himself off the ground. It was clear that although he accepted your mentor’s judgment that you won the fight, he wasn’t happy about it. He looked down at you for a moment before quickly averting his gaze, his face flushed from what you assumed to be exertion.

“Fine. You won.” He grumbled “But you won’t be able to use the same trick twice. I want a rematch tomorrow.”

“You’re on.” You flashed a large smile, letting go of his hand. “I’m still going to win though.”

“Focus on the present.” Urokodaki scolded, nudging Giyuu to step into the circle “If you don’t keep your focus to the opponent in front of you, you’ll lose.”

“Right.” You nodded, turning to face Giyuu. You assumed your stance while he readied himself, the two of you waiting for the signal to begin.

“Sorry to interrupt your winning streak,” Giyuu said as you waited, “But I don’t intend to lose.”

Both of you leaped into action at the signal, rushing toward each other as your katanas met with a harsh clack.

You lost that fight, but in the end, it didn’t matter. You finally felt like their equal.

Fifteen

Spring came again to the mountain as the weeks counted down until final selection. You trained with Urokodaki for almost two years. You mastered water breathing. You could cut a boulder in half with a thin blade.

You weren’t the scared little girl under the floorboards anymore.

You sat in the forest, using one of the knives you found in the house to carve your initials into the tree. Along with Giyuu and Sabato’s. Something to commemorate your graduation into demon slayers. They had become your best friends. The thought of being apart after final selection was almost painful.

“Urokodaki is going to make you run laps around the mountain until next year if he finds out you’re using the kitchen knife for that.”

You looked up to see Sabito standing behind you, Giyuu laughing beside him.

“Well then don’t tell him” you grumbled, returning to your work “It's not like I can use my sword for this.”

The two boys watched you continue your work, laughing at your uneven lines as you tried to carve Urokodaki’s tengu mask. He gave the three of you hand-carved fox masks for the trial. Each one was designed differently based on personality. Your mask had the left eye covered by wisteria, your favorite flower. Something you were sure you only mentioned to the man once or twice.

By the time you finished, it was already time for dinner. In the last week prior to the trial, Urokodaki had given the three of you the week off from training as both a reward and for time to mentally prepare. Without a clear schedule, you could barely keep track of the time.

You hid the knife in your sleeve as you stood up, you would return it to the drawer when Urokodaki wasn’t paying attention. “When we all become hashira you both better promise to come visit my mansion.”

“There can’t be three water hashira.” Giyuu said, leading the group “Especially when there’s only nine of them in total.”

You stuck your tongue out at the back of his head, causing Sabito to laugh. Giyuu turned around, confused, to see both of you just smiling back.

“Says you. When we finish the trial they’ll be begging to have three water hashira.” You joked. You laughed the rest of the way home, but before you could enter the house you were pulled to the side, out of sight.

You looked up at Sabito, who still had his hand on your arm. “What are you doing?” You whispered harshly, not bothering to pull away.

“When Urokodaki goes to sleep, will you meet me out by the lake?” He asked, staring intensely into your eyes.

“Why, what are we doing?” You smiled, interested at the prospect of doing something Urokodaki wouldn’t approve of “I can pull Giyuu aside when he’s not paying attention…”

“No.” He interrupted, looking away for a brief moment before bringing his attention back to you “Just you. Please say you’ll come.”

You felt the heat rise to your face immediately. The three of you did everything together, not inviting Giyuu was unheard of. “Y-yeah. Of course, I’ll be there.”

————————

You left ample time in between when you heard Sabito leave and when you made your exit. You tiptoed into the night air as quietly as you could manage. The feeling of guilt squeezing your heart for a quick moment as you passed by Giyuu’s sleeping form.

The air was crisp, the sound of crickets chirping filling the air. You grabbed your sword from its spot near the door, you could never be too careful when out at night. The lake wasn’t a far walk from the house, a bit further up the mountain and through a thick of trees.

You found Sabito sitting on a downed tree, watching the moon reflect off the water. You took a seat next to him, watching the water as well. You weren’t sure if you should speak up. You weren’t really sure why he asked you out here without Giyuu either.

“I’m glad you came.” He said, still looking at the water.

“Are you going to tell me why you asked me out here and not Giyuu?” You looked up at him, waiting for him to respond. Or at least look at you.

“I’m sorry for how I treated you when you showed up to the mountain. It was just me and Giyuu for a while and I didn’t want it to change.” He continued to stare out, nervously shifting his weight beneath him. “I just needed to tell you before final selection. In case anything happens.”

“Nothings going to happen” You reassured him “We’re all going to make it off that mountain.”

He turned to face you this time, a serious expression on his face. “We don’t know what kind of demons will be there. I won’t let anything happen to you or Giyuu.”

You studied his face, confused as to where this was all coming from. It went without saying you would all look out for each other during the trial. You would make sure nothing happened to him and Giyuu as well. “We’re friends, Sabito. Giyuu and I are going to look out for you as well.”

“I don’t want to be your friend.” Your look of shock took him by surprise, causing him to rub his temples in frustration “That’s not what I mean.”

You waited as he collected his thoughts, still troubled by him not wanting to be your friend. You knew that your relationship started off rocky, but you thought you were close now.

“I think I love you.” He blurted out, forcing himself to get over the fear of your reaction “I can’t shake the feeling that I want to be around you all the time. Without Giyuu. I hate myself for thinking that your safety is more important than anyone else. You’re one of the strongest people I know...but...I understand if you think I’m not worthy of you.” His fingers went up to touch the scar that trailed from his mouth to his ear.

You grabbed his hand away from his scar, holding it in both of your own. “I would never think that.” Time seemed to stop as you stared into his eyes. Ever since your arrival, he had drawn your eye but considering your relationship you never thought about being anything more than just a friend. You cared for him with all of your heart. You would prioritize his safety over your own. Maybe that was love the whole time?

“In a couple years, when we’re older, I’m going to ask you to marry me. I hope you’ll have an answer by then.”

The heat immediately rushed back to your cheeks, your hand letting go of his to cover your mouth. You were positive that in your shock you looked like a gasping fish.

“When we become hashira.” You began, lowering your hand “I expect you to propose again. So I can say yes.”

The world disappeared when he leaned in and placed his lips softly against yours. The two of you were so absorbed in the moment that neither noticed a presence lurking behind a tree a few yards away. Giyuu heard you get up in the middle of the night only to find Sabito gone as well. Naturally, he grabbed his sword and followed your tracks to see what you were up to without him.

Giyuu left as you both pulled away, he’d heard the whole conversation and knew better than to interrupt now.

——————-

By the second day of final selection, the three of you must have cleared out nearly ⅔ of the demons on the mountain. Each of you equipped with a thin nichirin sword and a mask handcrafted by Urokodaki for protection. Almost all the participants chose to stay together and things were going well. Well enough that for a moment you thought you would all make it off the mountain.

The smell came first. Demons always had a rotting scent to them but this was extreme. Like you were choking on the air. You barely had a chance to react when a group of arms reached out of the darkness. You leaped out of the way, rolling to a stop. Looking up, you saw Sabito using water wheel to cut the limbs from where they grabbed the bodies of the other recruits.

“Giyuu!” You shouted, rushing over to where he was slumped against a tree. He lifted his head up to reveal blood rushing down his face from a head wound, his mask broken on the ground. His eyes were unfocused, but the damage didn’t look extreme. He most likely had a concussion.

“Go, run!” You looked over to see Sabito directing the others, keeping the arms at bay while the smell grew more pungent. “Take the wounded and get out.”

He disappeared into the darkness of the trees, along with the arms.

“You!” You grabbed one of the recruits “Take him with you, please.”

“No.” Giyuu grabbed your arm, bringing your attention to him “I can still fight.”

“You’re not fit to fight anything right now.” You untied the strings of your mask and removed it from your head, placing it into his hands “This will keep you safe. I’m going to expect it back when I find you.”

You gave him a smile while he tried to weakly fight his way out of the grip of the two recruits carrying him off. You turned around and rushed into the dark, trying to keep up concentration breathing despite the overpowering stench.

It didn’t take long to find the source. A horrible, deformed demon covered in arms. It noticed you immediately, keeping its eyes on you while still easily keeping Sabito busy with a flurry of attacks.

“What are you doing here?” Sabito shouted at you, deflecting another arm “Go find the others, I can handle this.”

“I won’t just leave you here.”

“Another meal I don’t have to hunt for, it’s my lucky day!” The demon spoke, hiding its mouth behind a number of hands “Is she one of Urokodakis as well? I don’t see a mask but I suppose if I’m going to eat you anyway it doesn’t matter.”

You drew your sword, slicing one of its hands from its wrist as it surged toward you. You sliced limb after limb as it regenerated, desperately trying to create an opening for Sabito to strike its neck.

“Third form: Flowing Dance!” You steadied your breathing and summoned a torrent of water from your sword, twisting and turning to slice all of the limbs in your path. The quick strikes created an opening for Sabito to leap up, drawing his sword and quickly using all his strength to slice the monster’s neck.

The sound of a loud snap filled the air.

You looked up to see Sabito’s sword snap in two, the monster's neck still intact.

Everything else happened so fast.

You stepped forward to rush the demon, your eyes closing momentarily to blink. Something warm sprayed your face, reminding you of summer rain. When you opened your eyes you saw the demon had regenerated an arm and grabbed Sabito by the head. His body dangling below it.

Unmoving.

Your knees gave out below you as the demon dropped his headless corpse to the ground. Your hand reached up to touch your face, pulling away with a smear of blood covering your palm. Your first thought was that this had to be a nightmare. That you were laying on your futon, sound asleep, restless from the stress of the impending trial.

You don’t know how long you stared. You should have run. If Sabito couldn’t beat it how could you hope to?

“Now that he’s dealt with, I think I’ll eat you first. You’ll taste even better covered in the blood of your friend.” the demon laughed, finally snapping you out of your stupor. You used your sword to push yourself off of your knees, using your sleeve to wipe some of the blood from your face. To wipe him off your face.

“I’m going to send you to hell.” You moved with speed you didn’t know you were capable of, deftly avoiding and deflecting the arms moving toward you. You were possessed by rage. You struggled to keep your breathing in check and you knew you were being reckless. But you couldn’t bring yourself to stop.

You continued to cut through limbs as fast as they could regrow but eventually, your luck ran out. One of the demon’s arms erupted from the ground, sending you flying into the air only to have the wind knocked out of you when you reached the ground.

You lay splayed on the ground, trying to will your body to move as tears streamed down your face. Everything felt numb, your fingertips refusing to move as you tried with all your might to grab your sword. The demon grabbed your neck, lifting you off the ground until you were at eye level.

“You get to be number fourteen,” he said as he stared at you, his grip tightening around your throat “After that Ill eat your friend and will have digested fifteen of Urokodaki’s students.”

The voice sounded further and further away as your air source dwindled. You glanced over to Sabito’s body on the ground as black spots began to fill your vision. You couldn’t save him. Neither of you would fulfill your promise to the other. You thought of Giyuu, hopefully on the other side of the mountain with the others now. Somewhere far away. Where the hand demon wouldn’t find them in time. In your final moments, you prayed, to anything that would listen, that Giyuu would make it back home.

It was the last thing you did before everything went dark.

Twenty-Five

Years passed since Muzan Kibutsuji was defeated. All of the demons who preyed on humans were eradicated. The fight was finally over. Giyuu made the most of the four years he was given, mindful of the timeline given to him when he obtained the demon slayer mark.

He knew it was his time. He laid in his bed, in a small house he obtained with land to till. Something quiet after all his time in the demon slayer corps. His old haori lay across a chair, the mask you gave him hanging from the wall.

You told him you would take it back when you returned. Instead, he arrived back at the mountain alone, carrying your mask and Sabito’s haori. He didn’t know how he was going to tell your mentor. Thankfully he didn’t have to. One look and Urokodaki only nodded, vowing to never send another student to the final selection. The day he left the mountain he thought he saw you and Sabito standing there, only to disappear when he turned around.

When they made him a hashira he heard your voice, telling him that all three of you would make it. That they should be honored to have three water hashira. He thought about the night before the final selection and the promise his two friends made to each other. Once again he thought it should have been him who died instead.

In the weeks leading up to this moment, he’d been having the same dream. A woman on her wedding day, dressed in a white kimono, her hair piled up with an elaborate pin. Some nights it was his sister, other nights it was you. Or at least he thought it was. You looked to be the age he was now, what you should have been. Both women denied a future in exchange for saving his life.

Giyuu turned his head, feeling a hand on his own. He looked up to see his sister kneeling beside the bed. She gave him a warm smile, rubbing his hand in reassurance. If this was a dream he wasn’t sure if he wanted to wake up.

“It’s been a while, Giyuu.”

He directed his attention to the voice, one he recognized as his best friend. Sabito stood at the foot of his bed, a smile on his face. You stood next to him, your face as kind as he remembered. Tsutako gripped his hand, helping to ease him out of bed. His body felt lighter than it had in days.

You stepped forward, grabbing his other hand, holding it in both hands as if he would break. A smile on your face.

“We’ve come to bring you home.”

#kimetsu no yaiba #kny #demon slayer #giyuu tomioka #sabito #sabito kny #tomioka giyu x reader #sabito x reader

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basicallywhiterice · 3 years

Text

across the world (lucas wong, dong sicheng/winwin)

pairing: lucas x reader, sicheng/winwin x reader

genre: angst, fluff, flangst. friends to lovers, college!au, dancer!sicheng, relationships and heartbreak

summary: You always thought a piece of your heart would belong to Sicheng, your first love, who ended things when he moved overseas. In the end, though, there’s nothing across the world except for a boy you used to know.

word count: 4.6k

warnings: cussing

a/n: see y’all next month for the last part, feel free to yell at me so i finish writing it sooner (p.s. peep the hamilton reference)

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

this can be read as a standalone, but is part 2 in the on top of the world series. crossposted on ao3 here!

CHARLOTTE, NC

Charlotte Douglas International Airport, 1:42 p.m.

“Is this goodbye?” Sicheng murmurs, hugging you tighter. You strain to hear him amidst the hustle and bustle of the airport.

“I guess it is.” He’s leaving for Korea, pursuing his ambitious dance dreams. You’re staying in the states and starting college soon. There’s no time for an international relationship in either of your lives.

It’s cruel, you think, that the heartbreak from your first love will have been so worth it, that you’d have to live through the “right person, wrong time” so soon.

You nod, once. “Ah. Well. Bye.”

“We’re really over? We’re—officially breaking up?”

The words cut like a knife, but you try to stay strong for Sicheng’s sake. “Yeah,” is all you can manage without breaking down. “I guess we are.”

“Okay.”

So this is how it ends, you think. “Go and conquer the dance world.”

“I will. I—I really love you. I’m gonna miss you.”

“I love you too, Sicheng. You should go.”

“Ok.” He hoists up his backpack and raises his suitcase handle. “I—goodbye.”

“Bye.”

He starts toward the security line after some initial hesitation, flanked by his parents on either side. Trailing behind right before stopping, he turns back one last time, waving a final farewell.

After he’s gone, Lucas pats you on the back, Giselle hugs you tighter, and Ningning lets you cry into her shoulder. It helps, and it just barely holds you together as your world falls apart.

Home, 11:49 a.m.

You feel hollow.

Exactly six weeks before you leave for college, Sicheng does a routine call in the sliver of free time he has, sandwiched between his classes for the day. You’re still struggling through your acceptance of the change that was bound to happen, spending your days with your friends while you still have time. Though you’ve thrown yourself into living without him, seeing his face feels like a punch in the gut.

Even though he’s across the world, you let yourself forget for a moment, but you can’t pretend any longer when he hangs up.

Today was supposed to be your three month anniversary.

You turn down Yangyang’s invitation to skateboard and cry into your pillow.

Today was supposed to be your three month anniversary, but all you’re left with is a broken heart that Sicheng still holds.

ATLANTA, GA, FRESHMAN YEAR

Turman Hall, 11 a.m.

“Hey. How’d you like your first week?”

You spit out your toothpaste, holding up a finger and motioning for him to wait as you rinse.

“It was okay,” you say. “I haven’t really made new friends yet. I’ve, uh, hung out with a few people though, and Lucas and Giselle are in some of my classes.” Some water droplets spray out from a splash of water, and you wince a little at how low the dorm’s sinks are.

“Have you talked to the people on your floor?”

“Yeah, they’re cool. I’m pretty happy here, I think I just need more time to get to know people better,” you shrug. “Anyways. How are you?”

“It’s going pretty well. Someone from New York joined earlier this week, so she’s kind of in the same boat as me, except she’s Korean.” He’s about to continue when he yawns, words growing incomprehensible.

“You should sleep soon. When are you getting up tomorrow?”

“Late enough. I probably should, though.”

“Then why’d you call? Go to sleep, Sicheng.”

“I wanted to see you, is that really a crime?” He yawns again. “Well then. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

You know you’ll only get hurt in the long run, but that doesn’t stop you from texting him to set up another time to call once you know he’s asleep.

Turman Hall, 12:15 p.m.

Sicheng cancels a Facetime he scheduled earlier in the week, too tired to call after a grueling practice. It’s the first time he’s done so, and you knew he was going to get too busy for you eventually, but it still breaks your heart.

You’re staring at your laptop when a tidal wave of loneliness pulls you under. You miss Sicheng, but you also miss the rest of your high school friends, your parents, and the simplicity of life before college.

Just as you’re about to text him, Lucas calls you.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Yooo,” he greets. “Are you still coming to the student center?”

“Yeah, I was about to head out. Why’d you call?”

“You weren’t responding.”

You pause, a wave of tears suddenly welling up. “Thank you, Lucas,” you say, voice steady enough to avoid suspicion. “I’ll be there in 10.”

“Yeah, see you then.”

The loneliness doesn’t fade, but it doesn’t weigh as heavily anymore.

Turman Hall, 7:14 p.m.

You’re pulling on your shoes, about to head out to meet with Winter at a nearby restaurant, when Sicheng calls you. After a bit of hesitation, you reason it won’t take long and pick up.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Sicheng says, hair sweaty and face shining. “I’m on break right now. How are you?”

“I’m doing alright. Why’d you call?” you ask. He almost never calls during his breaks. “Isn’t it busy there?”

“I felt lonely,” he says, and you’re not sure why it hurts to hear that was the only reason. “Is anything interesting happening?”

“Uh.” It’s been a while since he last called, and you forget what you’ve told him already. “Well, Karina’s been encouraging me to rush next semester. I’m not sure if I want to do it, though.”

“That sounds really fun. You could meet some new people there.”

“Yeah, but it seems really time consuming, and I’ve made friends already. I just—”

“If you want to try it, I don’t see why not.”

“Yes, I just don’t know if I can handle it on top of my classes.”

“You need to decide what you want,” he says, and you blink, startled by his sudden outburst. Your first instinct is to apologize, but you have nothing to be sorry for, and you wonder if something major or stressful happened recently.

“I have been,” you mumble, trying not to sound defensive. “I declared my major last week, the joint bachelor’s and master’s thing here. I talked to my advisor about it and I’m trying to graduate in four years. I have a plan.”

“Oh.” He pauses, head tilting. “You didn’t tell me.”

“I wanted to tell you over call.”

“Ah. You should’ve said something.”

You just shrug, wanting to move on. “I’m excited. How are you, though? Why are you feeling lonely?” You know it’s pointless to ask when he only has a few minutes of free time, but you still want to give him an option to answer.

“I’m alright, getting busier now but—”

The door opens behind him, a dancer clad in black clothing walking on screen. They speak a string of Korean to which Sicheng nods, standing up and stretching his legs.

“Sorry, break’s up,” he says, face coming back into the frame as he bends down to pick up his phone. “Text you later?”

You’ve gotten used to it by now. “Okay. Good luck. Bye.”

His face is replaced first with your text history, and next with a black screen. You stare at it, wondering if he even loved you in the first place.

You don’t decide on an answer during the 15 minute walk to dinner, but when you meet Winter there, you find that there are better ways to fill your time.

Turman Hall, 11:15 p.m.

Your hands shake as you press the FaceTime button under Sicheng’s contact. As your phone rings, you set it down to wipe your palms on your pants.

After tonight, you’ve decided to cut Sicheng out of your life. The timing is less than ideal, but with exams just completed and an abundance of time to reflect, it’s the best you can do. All you want is one final call with him, and you’ll rip off the bandaid.

Sicheng answers quickly. He’s sitting at his desk, a pillow propped up between him and his chair. “Hey,” he says, waving. An easy smile hangs from his face, and he looks the most relaxed he’s been in months.

“Hey,” you breathe. “How are you?”

He eats lunch as you talk, almost making you regret your decision to distance yourself. Your resolve never crumbles like you thought it would, though, and you think your conviction signals the point of no return.

Tonight, you hang up first. It feels like you can breathe again when you press the ‘end call’ button, but your heart crushes under the weight of your lungs.

Turman Hall, 11:57 p.m.

“I’m moving on,” you say, resting your elbows on the windowsill and looking up toward the looming night sky. The moon hangs high above, its gentle glow drawing out everything you’ve been bottling up.

“I can’t wait for him to come back when he’s happy without me,” you tell the moon. “I need to live my life without him. Otherwise, it’s not fair to me, or him, or anyone who cares about me.”

A tear traces its way down your face, plopping down onto the ledge. “I used to love him. I don’t know if it’ll ever go away, but I know that someday, I’ll be able to look back at it as something in the past.”

The stars wink back at you, silently, and you wonder if the moon ever gets tired of orbiting the Earth.

CHARLOTTE, NC

Home, 7:09 p.m.

Sicheng texts you every day during the first week of winter break. Each time, you ignore him for hours before responding, and it feels horrible, but there’s no other way around it.

Today’s texts come when you’re sitting in your room with Giselle and Kun, waiting for the sugar cookie dough to chill in the fridge. He asks how you are, if you want to call in the pocket of free time he has right now and tell him more about your future plans. You stare at the messages on your lockscreen, waiting for your phone to turn off before limply tossing it on your bed.

“What’s going on?” Giselle asks eventually, pulling you out of your reverie.

“What?”

“Y/n,” she says, scooting closer. You look up from the miniature Christmas tree nestled in your lap, having fiddled with its flimsy branches to distract yourself from replying. “What’s wrong? Talk to us, we’re here for you.”

You glance over at Kun. “I can tell the rest of them not to come because Giselle and I got food poisoning or something, if you need to vent to us.” He pulls his phone out, ready to text Yangyang, Lucas, and Ningning at a moment’s notice.

You wonder how long they’ve known, even when you kept quiet and tried to shoulder your pain alone. Your phone’s ringing saves you from answering immediately, lighting up with an incoming Facetime from Sicheng, and it hurts not to pick up, but it would hurt even more if you did.

“He said he has 20 minutes to call,” you relay to Kun and Giselle dully, your cover blown. They share a sideways glance, but neither of them say anything. “Should I? I don’t even know if I want to talk to him, but y’all probably haven’t called him in a while.”

“Don’t think of us, think of what you want,” Giselle urges.

You nod, reaching for the phone again. It’s still ringing when you silence it, throwing it back on the bed.

“Yeah. That’s what I want.” And then you fall over onto Giselle’s lap, desperately wishing for the pain to end, and she holds you as you sob for the first time in a week. “He’s—it’s—different now, and—s’okay, b-but it’s…” you choke out before you start hiccuping.

The room is quiet as you cry, only the sounds of sniffling and gentle consoling present, as you shed a semester’s worth of tears. You start talking once you’re coherent enough, putting your heart on full display, and it’s cathartic. It’s cathartic to ugly cry, to retell your love story to two friends who love you deeply, to release of all the hurt and longing you’ve been holding onto just to remember how you and Sicheng were.

And when you’re done, letting go gives more room for hope to come in.

ATLANTA, GA

Waffle House, 1:01 a.m.

“What do you mean, of course you were gonna get a bid, you idiot,” you exclaim around a bite of waffles. “I can’t believe you’re a frat boy now.”

“I was worried! I thought that one dude hated me, remember?” Lucas grins. “And don’t worry, I’m not an official frat boy yet.”

“Don’t fucking get hazed when you pledge.”

He raises his hands, still holding a syrup-covered pancake piece speared onto his fork. “I won’t. Don’t fall into the whole ‘frat boys are dumb’ thing on me, now, I know how to look after myself.”

“I’m not, I’m just worried,” you sigh. “Just—stay safe, y’know?”

“Aw, you do care after all.”

“Shut up before I make you pay for your pancakes.”

He doesn’t shut up. “Anyways, enough about me. You don’t have to, uh, say anything, but are you—are you doing okay?”

You can’t tell if he’s talking about Sicheng or life in general, but you offer an honest answer to both. You’ll find out which one he’s referring to soon enough. “I’m doing better.”

“I can tell.”

You stare at him for a second too long, the harsh fluorescent lights glaring down, and you think that maybe Sicheng came into your life at exactly the right time.

Three truths arise at the exact same time: You don’t love Sicheng anymore. You’re happier without him. And you see the light at the end of the tunnel, the day quickly approaching when you are perfectly satisfied with what was, and have no grieving for what could have been.

Clairmont Road, 6:08 p.m.

When it arrives, it’s any other spring day. You’re sitting at a bus stop, scrolling through social media, helping Winter finalize the Airbnb booking for your upcoming spring break trip, and discussing your summer internship applications with Ten at the same time, when Giselle scrolls back up your feed.

“Isn’t that… Sicheng? He went viral?”

“Hm?” You glance down at a dance trend, the dancer vibing onscreen alongside a popular filter. Then your eyes land on the several hundred thousand likes beneath the video. “That’s him?” you finally realize. You haven’t kept up with his dance account in a few months, and it seems like you’ve missed out on a lot.

“Oh my god, he made it, didn’t he?”

“Holy shit. All because of a TikTok dance? That’s insane.”

You call Lucas over, and the three of you rewatch the video.

As you watch, you wait for your expression to fall again, for your heart to drop and your stomach to twist when you think about him, but nothing happens. And as you feel nothing but happiness for his success, the last scratch on your heart heals itself, and you smile.

Then the epiphany hits you: you and Sicheng may never talk, meet, or be okay with each other again, but it doesn’t matter. It hasn’t mattered for a while, not when your heart is bursting with love for your own life and stays silent for a boy who was once in it.

He’s in his own world—leaving you happier now that you’re done learning what you needed to from him, wiser and more content—and you’re in your own, taking over the world with only those you choose to share it with.

It’s solitary on top of the world, but it will never be lonely, not when you fight for everything you want and hold the people you love close to your heart.

You let go of Sicheng a long time ago.

ATLANTA, GA, SOPHOMORE YEAR

The Quad, 7:30 p.m.

The day Lucas asks you out is the day the flowers outside your window start to bloom.

“I really like you,” he says, his beaming expression matching yours, “and I was wondering if you’d like to go out? On a date with me?”

He’s awkward, but carries himself with confidence. His fidgeting hands give away the nervousness he tries to hide, but his grin catches your attention. There’s a lot of things you like about him, but you think his smile might be one of your favorites.

“I would love to.”

Main Street, 8:15 p.m.

By the time your three month anniversary with Lucas rolls around, you’ve started bringing down your heart’s defenses already. There’s no reason to keep them up: he doesn’t make you cry when you worry about the future, is never gone for long enough to make your heart ache. He’s safe, and you want to stop keeping him at arm’s distance.

And you’ll be okay. You’ve lived through one heartbreak already and emerged stronger than ever. And if your vulnerability with Lucas means it will heighten your next heartbreak, then it’ll be worth it a million times over.

You hand parts of your heart for him to hold, dropping your defenses day by day. This is the point of no return, and you choose to walk past it with Lucas by your side.

ATLANTA, GA, JUNIOR YEAR

The Quad, 10:22 p.m.

“I’m in love with you,” Lucas confesses. Grinning from ear to ear, he swings your clasped hands together, practically restraining himself from skipping down the park path. Your hand slips an inch before he catches it, oblivious to the sweat coating your palms inside your gloves.

The right words never come, and slowly, the smile melts off his face. “Baby?”

Your throat constricts as you swallow hard around your dry tongue.

“Baby, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said it before you were comfortable, I…”

“Lucas.” Pausing, you bring a shaky fist up to your mouth, covering the lower half of your face as you stall for time. “I… don’t know.”

Your hand slips out of his. “Oh.”

“Lucas, I love you very much. But there’s a difference. I… don’t know if I’m in love with you.” He stares at you, expression tight, and your stomach turns. “This doesn’t mean no. I really don’t know, but I do know that you make me happy. I wasn’t expecting this.”

“I thought I had been clear in how I felt.”

You wince, slightly. “I’m—”

“Don’t. Don’t apologize.” He swallows. “Can we please go back to the dorms? I’m not mad, and I don’t want you to feel bad, but I really need to be alone right now.”

“Can we work this out first?” you ask, panic settling into your voice.

“I don’t know if we can do that right now.” “Have—have you been open with me? About how you feel these past few months?”

“Can we at least try? I—” Your voice breaks, and you clench your jaw to ground yourself before continuing. “Of course I’ve been open. I made the choice to communicate everything I felt, I overcame my fear of heartbreak. Just because I’m not sure if I’m in love with you yet doesn’t mean I haven’t tried and cared.”

“I don’t—can we please go back? I need some time alone.”

“You can’t just walk away like that,” you say, voice shaking. “You—you’re not trying to solve this together.”

“I don’t know,” he says, and it hurts to hear when it’s all he says, but not as much as it hurt you to say.

“Lucas,” you say, and it feels horrible pleading for him to listen. “Please work this out with me. Show me that you’re choosing me, too.”

He stares at you, motionless. Your worry compounds when he stays there, heart ripping apart at the seams as you resign yourself to the fact that this is the beginning of the end. Jaw clenching, you let your tears trickle down your face, the frigid wind sending pricks of coldness down your face.

Then he steps closer, blurry silhouette growing bigger. You furiously wipe away your tears, wool gloves scratching at your cheeks, to get a good look at his expression, when he hesitantly reaches up for your hands.

“I’m sorry,” he says, slowly lowering your joined hands. “I know you’re hurt. I need you to trust me when I need some time to process this, and I know you want to work on this together, but I need to be alone first. Would you be okay with going back to your dorm, but staying in different rooms for a while so that I can still be close to you?”

It’s not okay—not if he’s giving up on solving it together. “You get the bathroom.”

“Deal.”

You don’t get the chance to tell him that night, for you fall asleep before he talks to you again.

His absence speaks for itself, and you think this might be the point of no return.

Woodruff Hall, 12:12 a.m.

Lucas gives up over winter break, and you want to blame him, but you’re too busy blaming yourself for breaking up with him to be angry.

“Why?” he demands, gaze cold. You look away.

“You knew this was coming,”

“You were the one who talked about choosing each other and working on our relationship.”

And you were the one who gave up first, you think, but you’re too tired to be bitter. “Lucas, I don’t think you can change my mind at this point.”

“Are you—is it because I’m in love with you?”

“Lucas, please, just go.”

“Did you ever love me?” You hate that you can’t comfort him the first time he cries in front of you.

“We can talk about this later, but please, I need to be alone right now.”

You start sobbing the moment he walks out the door.

The Quad, 11:32 p.m.

Were you in love with him?

Woodruff Hall, 1:57 a.m.

You were not in love with him.

Woodruff Hall, 11:29 a.m.

When Sicheng Facetimes you for the second time this year, you’re not expecting it. You certainly aren’t expecting the news he drops.

“You’re dating someone?” you ask as he blushes.

For a horrible moment, all you can think is what if what if what if before you blink, and then your guilt over your past evaporates.

“That’s awesome. What are they like?”

“She’s really cool. She joined the studio a year after I did and we started talking recently. It’s going really well.”

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

“Me too,” he grins. “How are you, though? Anything interesting happen?”

“Nah, I’m just pretty stressed,” you half-fib. “Just—life, you know?”

“I see. How are you and Lucas?”

A cross between a laugh and a sob rips out of your throat unexpectedly. “We—we broke up earlier this month.”

Sicheng goes still. “Oh, shit, I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”

“He—it’s—I’ll be okay. I trust myself enough to end up okay,” you babble. “It’s chill. It’ll be chill eventually.”

“Things will get better,” he agrees, “but you shouldn’t ignore how you feel right now. Are you alright? Wanna talk about it?”

You tell him an abridged version, one that’s probably still too personal for him, and he consoles you the best he can.

You still feel the finality when he hangs up, though, the sense of obligation he felt to inform you of his girlfriend obvious from the start. It’s an unspoken agreement that neither one of you will contact the other so as not to intrude on his new relationship, and you imagine it’ll be the last time he calls you this year.

And you’re okay with that—have been okay with it for years by now. Sicheng’s gone, not the one that got away, and you feel a deep peace settle in your bones.

One day, you’ll feel the same about Lucas, too, and that victory carries you through the week.

ATLANTA, GA, SENIOR YEAR

Oxford Road, 4:28 p.m.

“Hi, Lucas.”

He looks up from his laptop, pulling his textbook from the cafe table to make more room for you. “Hey, it’s good to see you again.”

The awkwardness you’ve been preparing for in your meeting never comes. “You too,” you say, pulling out a chair and sitting across from him. “How have you been?”

“I’m doing really well. How ‘bout you?”

“Me too. I’m glad you’re doing good. How’d that internship go, by the way?”

“Oh my god, it went great,” he recounts. “Ten told you how he was interning under a different department, right? And that he worked on the floor above mine?”

“He did. Did y’all see each other often? He didn’t really mention a lot other than how he got wasted with you.”

“Yeah. He’s less of a lightweight now, did you know? Anyways, I shared an apartment with a few guys, and one of them was from his hometown, and he was doing analytics as well and he mentioned that he had interned with you last summer. Do you remember a Hendery?”

“I remember him! Does he still have a bunch of questionable ties?”

“So many. We got him a Shrek tie that Ten ended up picking, and he wore it on the last day, it was great.”

You and Lucas are okay again.

You only realize that you never ordered a drink by the time you head out.

Executive Park, 10:42 p.m.

Sicheng calls for the first time in a year right when Winter leaves your college apartment for the last time. It’s not the last time you’ll see her before you move out, but it brings about a sense of finality.

“Hello?” you ask after a moment of silence.

“You’re still going to school in LA next year, right?”

“Hello?” Winter glances over, one hand on your doorknob, and you shake her head. Covering your phone, you mouth “I’m fine.” She doesn’t look convinced, but closes the door behind her anyways.

“Please,” he says, and his sense of urgency grabs your attention. “I’ll explain, but I need to know.”

“Yeah, I am. Why? What’s happening?”

“So. I might be moving there to teach at a dance studio.”

“You’re moving back?” you press. “Why? When? Which studio?”

“Millennium, sometime in the fall,” he says, loud chatter on his end briefly drowning out his words. “Shit—I don’t have a lot of time right now, but I got confirmation that I’ll be teaching there just now, and I—I remembered you were gonna be there, and, you know? Can we talk about this sometime later? I’m at the studio right now, I just—”

“Sicheng, that’s fine,” you say when you hear the talking in the background pick up again, worried that he’s missing out on a class or practice. “I’m proud of you for making it there. We’ll talk later?”

“Thank you, yeah, we should.”

You nod, not knowing what to do. “Bye.”

“Bye,” he says, and you hang up as soon as the syllable has left his mouth.

Sicheng’s moving back. He’s moving back, a stranger behind his familiar smile, and it’s difficult to think about meeting him when you’d assumed you’d never see him again.

Against the backdrop of surprise, your curiosity stands out the most. You wonder what kind of person he grew into—wonder if he ever found something besides dance to chase, what his most recent catchphrase is, how his girlfriend is doing, if he still listens to the SoundCloud rapper after he went into pop, how often he calls his parents—and you miss the ease of being able to ask him, no sour memories to impede even the simplest of conversations.

This is the price you have to pay, you suppose, for knowing you were meant to outgrow each other.

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aerinsfables · 3 years

Note

How many goats must I sacrifice for part 5? (p.s., may I suggest “Blooming Friendship” or some sappy ,punny line for the title?)

No goats necessary, but I will accept a donation of cookies! 😁

Also your title suggestion is hilarious and much appreciated (I love puns). I was thinking “love amongst the flowers” or something, but haven’t been able to bring myself to be quite that corny yet 😂 (can you tell I’ve been watching ATLA lately?). Will give it some more thought. Whyyyy is naming things so freaking hard sometimes?!?

——

Flower Shop AU Part 5 below. Read part 4 here!

——

Bracken didn’t hear back from Kendra until Friday, when she sent a short email.

Long story short, he was my fiancée. Gavin. I caught him cheating. Among other things.

Seth tells me you’ll be coming over for tomorrow’s barbeque. I’m sorry if he harassed you. He can be such a busybody sometimes, but he means well.

He replied with a short message of his own.

I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I believe you’ve truly dodged a bullet with regard to Gavin. That’s a very, very good thing. You deserve someone who will treat you with kindness and respect, and who will mirror your loyalty.

Seth was fine. My father liked him. He was nice, and I appreciated the invitation. To be honest, I’m more apprehensive about potentially forced conversation with people I don’t know. I’m good at small talk with prospective vendors and with customers, but it’s been a while since I’ve socialized with people in a friend setting. Most of the friends I’ve had historically have either moved out of town or have their own busy lives and fell out of touch. Many are married, some have children, and I fit into neither of those categories.

Anyway. Enough about me. You’ll be there tomorrow, right? Would you care to help rescue me from awkward socialization if I need it? Who else will be attending?

He typed his personal email address into the CC field and wrote another bit:

I’m copying my personal email address here, as well, in order to move this conversation to a more private setting. I hope you don’t mind. My mother, father, youngest sister and I all have access to the company email. I run it primarily, but still.

The “send” button was clicked before he could rethink his words too much. He returned to his tasks for the day and paused a few minutes later when he heard his phone ding with a new notification. Kendra had already replied to his email, this time to his personal address.

You’re right; I dodged a bullet. It’s just not so easy to recover from it all. I’ll get there.

You have siblings? How many? Are they always up in your business like my brother is?

Attendees for tomorrow’s BBQ are largely family members of mine. My parents, grandparents, Warren and his girlfriend, Dale, Seth. Maybe a few family friends. This had been planned for a while, and Warren and Seth both wanted to invite you. I’ll help protect you from the masses, but my family is honestly pretty great. I doubt you’ll need any rescuing.

He smiled as he finished the corsage he’d been working on, then replied back to her.

Healing is a process. It’s okay to take time for that. If he was your fiancée, then that means you felt strongly for him; you probably still feel strongly for him. There’s no shame in that. Take your time to heal.

I have four sisters, and they are all constantly ‘up in my business,’ as you put it. I’m number four in the lineup of children; my oldest sister lives about five hours away with her husband and my only nieces - no nephews yet. Sister Number Two is quite introverted and lives at home with our parents. She runs a small sewing business from there. Sister 3 is only a couple years older than me; she is a lawyer in the city and lives downtown near the courthouse with a couple of roommates. Sister 4 works at the shop with me part-time while she’s going to school. She’s working toward becoming a nurse, and just got engaged this week. She’s the bubbly, outgoing type.

What about you? Have you any siblings aside from Seth? What is your family like?

He started in on another corsage - he had to have 25 of them ready to go before he left that evening, and he’d done 11 so far - and smiled when he heard his phone ding again several minutes later. A quick glance at it told him that Kendra had replied again.

Four sisters! That’s a lot of siblings. And a lot of estrogen. Just the one brother for me. I’m pretty sure my parents decided to quit having children once they realized how difficult Seth was going to be. Mischief and trouble are his best friends. I’m amazed he’s survived into adulthood.

I have two sets of grandparents that live nearby. We’re all pretty tight-knit. Warren and Dale are cousins of my dad’s mom. I have no idea how many times removed or whatever that is, so I just call them my cousins. Vanessa, Warren’s long time girlfriend, is a tattoo artist. I’ve been staying at their house since Monday, instead of my apartment.

The BBQ will be at my dad’s parent’s house. Other people who might drop by are Elise, who works with Vanessa, Mara, who works for one of the nearby wineries and is dating Elise, Tanu, our family doctor who we’ve become very good friends with, and Trask, who knows my grandfather somehow. That’s never been super clear to me, to be honest. He’s an old family friend. At any rate, we’re an eclectic bunch of people, and I expect tomorrow will be lively and fun.

What kinds of things do you like to do in your free time?

Bracken thought on these things for a little while, and finished another corsage, before he answered.

It sounds like there will be a good mix of people. I look forward to meeting them.

I’m a bit of an artist in my free time. Drawing and painting are my preferred methods. I enjoy cooking, too, but don’t often do anything too fancy since I’m usually only cooking for myself. Puzzles are nice. Honestly, I spend most of my time at the shop. Sunday evenings are when my family gathers for dinner, minus my oldest sister, who lives too far away for that to be feasible. She usually visits once every couple of months, and stays with my parents for a few days. That’s when I steal my nieces and spoil them to death.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

The rest of the day passed with a fairly steady stream of emails between the two of them. Kendra loved books, and would love to be a novelist one day, but hadn’t found her inspiration yet. Her favorite colors were blue and pink, she had studied French in high school but hadn’t made it to France yet (a dream of hers), and she was thinking about going back to college to get her master’s degree in English Literature. She’d asked about how Bracken found his way into flowers, and he’d explained that his parents had established the shop when he was in elementary school. He’d learned the business over the years and enjoyed leaning into his artistic side, so it was a pretty natural progression for him to work there after he’d graduated from the local university with a degree in business (his goal being to inherit the shop someday). To his pleasant surprise, conversation with Kendra flowed easily, and he left the shop that day with a positive feeling about the next day’s gathering.

---

Part 6 is here!

#fablehaven #dragonwatch #brackendra #aerinm writes #side warrenessa #they may become more mainstream later #we’ll see #anonymous #thanks for asking!

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raysofcrosby · 4 years

Text

CHANCES – M. TKACHUK

requested: yes | no

warning(s): none that i can think of.

word count: 5,066

listened to: chances by the backstreet boys

inspiration: mixed luggage au [ i can’t find the og au-prompt masterlist, but if this is your au idea, lemme know and i’ll link you for credit (: ]

authors note: listen– i don’t know what it is, but i’ve literally been on a tkachuk thing lately. like, i used to despise this little curly-headed gremlin, but now??? it’s all hearteyes motherfucker. this is purely a writing to help me get back into the writing groove again after these last six months of nothing– so i might be a lil rusty. anyway, i hope you enjoy <3333

I’m sorry Y/N, but if you’re not here in the next 5 minutes I need to keep going.

That text haunted you– it was all you could think about the moment you got off of your flight. The uber your sister had ordered for you was close to canceling– all because there were too many planes taxiing on the airstrip and your stupid flight ended up circling in the air for thirty minutes. If this were any other airport, no doubt you’d be screwed. Luckily though, you knew good ole St. Louis Lambert International like the back of your hand. So getting from point A to point luggage claim would be no problem at all. The only delay would be the luggage getting put out onto the carousel.

Which of course, did prove to be the problem at hand.

You were the first one from your flight at the carousel and hoped to be gone before any disgruntled passengers you managed to bump into, could show up. Unfortunately for you, just as the bags were being loaded onto the carousel, your fellow passengers were arriving too– more than a few giving you a look that would normally result in you rolling your eyes in response. Yet, your focus wasn’t on them, it was glued to the small carousel door, keeping an eye out for your suitcase.

Teal bag with a grey handle. Teal bag with a grey handle. Teal bag with a grey handle. Teal bag with a grey hand–

“Ah-ha!” You smiled, catching eye of your suitcase and rushing to meet it instead of letting it eventually make its way to you. You grabbed the suitcase and extended the handle to drag it away, already walking towards the exit.

One minute.

You had one minute to catch your uber before they left you and you hoped and prayed that luck was on your side and the black Toyota Corolla just happened to be parked near the door you chose to exit from. The warm summer air of the Missouri summer weather practically smacked you in the face and it fit wasn’t for the awning covering the pick-up zone, you would have no doubt been blinded by the sun too.

“Oh, thank God,” you sighed, catching sight of a black Toyota Corolla that your sister said to find, parked just six cars down to your left. You sped walked to the uber, coming to a stop at the window and waving at the driver, catching her attention. “I’m so, so sorry I’m late.”

The woman, probably in her early 60’s gave you a friendly smile instead of the scowl you were expecting. “Are you Y/N?”

“Yes ma’am,” you replied, nodding.

“Go ahead and put your suitcase in the trunk, it’s opened for you.”

You walked to the trunk and lifted it open, placing your suitcase inside before closing it and walking to the back passenger door, getting into the backseat. “Again, I’m so sorry for making you wait. We had to circle in the air for 30 minutes because of the traffic on the airstrip and,” you exhaled, relaxing back into your seat. “I’m so sorry.”

She laughed, pulling away from the airport. “It’s no problem sweetheart. I saw your reply. I was going to give you a little extra time. I know how hectic airports could be. Especially this time of the year. Everyone’s traveling for vacation.”

“Yeah, I think I might have accidentally elbowed one too many people trying to get to luggage claim.”

“Are you visiting or coming home?”

“Coming home…kind of,” you laughed, staring out the window at your hometown. “I actually just graduated from college a few weeks ago, so my roommates and I rented a house on the Jersey Shore to celebrate. But, my sister is getting married tomorrow, so that’s why I’m back.” You looked back towards her, laughing softly to yourself. “But then come September, I’ll actually be moving to Calgary for a new job and to get my Masters.”

“So a lot of traveling, I see.”

You took a deep breath and sighed, nodding. “Yeah, but I’m glad to be able to spend all of this time with my friends and family before I start working. Especially since I’ll be moving so far away.”

“It sounds like a great time,” she smiled, looking at me through the rearview mirror. “I’m a sucker for weddings, why don’t you tell me about it?”

Normally, you weren’t one to talk a lot whenever you and your friends would take Ubers downtown on the weekends– but this driver was sweet and you found yourself talking nonstop as she drove you towards your final destination. After all, she didn’t abandon you at the airport like you thought she would.

The car ride to your parents' place went by a lot faster than you thought it would and it was all thanks to Mrs. Sheila, your lovely uber driver. Whom, you learned, started driving after she lost her husband late last year. Her kids lived out of state and once they went back home after those first few weeks, she wanted to find something to do to keep herself busy and get herself out of the house– so, she became an uber driver.

Walking into your parents' house, you were greeted with empty echos of your footsteps. Your parents were still at work and wouldn’t be home until just a little before the rehearsal dinner tonight. Your brother, well, as far as you knew, he had absolutely nothing going on, so you didn’t know why he wasn’t around. If anyone was guaranteed to be home, it was your sister. She was the one who ordered your uber and had them take you here, so she was more than well aware of what time you’d be arriving home.

“Hello?” You called out, leaving your suitcase by the door and making your way to the living room. “Char, are you here?”

“Is that my favorite sister?” You heard her voice call out from upstairs. Looking up, you could see her rounding the hallway corner, carrying a closed laundry basket full of, no doubt, stuff for tonight’s bridal party sleepover.

“I’m your only sister,” you laughed as she made her way down the staircase.

“Unless you count all of the times we got bored and turned Nick into Nikki,” she giggled, reaching the end of the staircase and putting the basket down before stepping forward and hugging you. “How was the flight?”

“It was great up until our 30 minutes of circling in the air,” you laughed, pulling away from the hug. “Where’s my dear brother?”

“Working out with some friends. We probably won’t see him until tonight.”

“Nothing says welcome home like being greeted to an empty house.”

“Excuse you, I was here to greet you.” She laughed, picking the basket back up. “But if you really want to be upset, you should see all of the packed boxes in your room.”

“I leave in three months! Why are they packing me up now?” You gasped, acting dramatically.

“Nick and dad are planning on transforming it into some kind of training room or something.”

“But they–“

“Already took over the garage? Yeah, I know and mom is pissed.”

You rolled your eyes, grabbing the handle of your suitcase again. “He literally told the Blues that he was going back to Michigan in the fall to try and win a championship. Why the hell are they even treating him like he’s already a hall of famer?”

“Perks of being the youngest, not to mention dad’s only son,” she laughed, looking at the door. “Ready to head to the Airbnb?”

“Can we get food first?” You asked, dragging your suitcase along. “I’m starving.”

She laughed as you held the door open for her. “Good, because we’re most definitely getting food before we go and take a nap.”

You laughed, walking out of the house with her and then closing and locking the door behind you. “I knew we were related.”

Lunch and a nap turned out to be exactly what you needed. The two of you had stopped at a subway to get some food before driving over to the Airbnb that you, your sister and the rest of the bridesmaids would be staying for the night.

It was a beautiful three-bedroom, modernized cottage that looked like it was stripped directly from the pages of a fairytale book. It was tucked away, just off to the side in the backyard of a beautiful colonial house, whose farm would tomorrow be transformed into a whimsical fairytale wedding location. The men would be getting ready in the house, while the women would be getting ready in the cute cottage. Sort of like a secret getaway paradise before the wedding.

When you got back with your food, your sister took you on a tour of the property while the wedding planners and staff were setting up all of the bigger decorations for tomorrow. You were off at school during the entire planning process, only ever seeing every one of her ideas in pictures. The only things you were able to take part in, were the dress shopping and her bachelorette party since they were both held at a time you were on a fall break from school. Besides being there for those two things, the only other thing you helped with– was the proposal.

Colton has been in your life for as long as you could remember. He and Charlotte have been best friends since Pre-K. It was the cliché friends to lovers kind of story that was told time after time– but in theirs, there were no other people in it. It was just them. There were no other boyfriends or girlfriends, no other crushes– from the very beginning, they were it for each other. They were each other's first everything– kiss, date, girlfriend/boyfriend, time– in their love story, they had found their one great love…all before they turned five.

Wherever Charlotte was, there was Colton– they were stuck like glue and your parents loved it. It was their friendship that brought both of your families together to the relationship that you all had now. Your families were best friends, all because of their relationship. You often took vacations together, spent holidays together, hell, you and Colton’s middle brother, Mason, even had joint birthday parties– as did your two younger siblings, Nick and Addie. Your families even try to go as far as to dropping hints that all three kids should date.

Colton and Charlotte. You and Mason. Nick and Addie– all the same age and practically family already.

It was perfect.

Until you and Mason tried to date in the tenth-grade and realized that kissing the person you’ve shared every birthday party with, used to take baths with and shared every key moment growing up– wasn’t all that great. In fact, it was weird. So the two of you remained as the almost black sheep of the families, especially since Nick and Addie were headed down the same path as Charlotte and Colton. They started dating in eighth-grade– like Colton and Charlotte– and have maintained a healthy and strong relationship to now, even long-distance, when they’ll both be sophomores in college in the fall, Addie at the University of Missouri and Nick playing hockey at the University of Michigan.

You and Mason were there, always making jokes about how it runs in the family but skipped a generation. Never letting your siblings live it down that the two of you will be the ones to break the cycle. Funny how you two were also the ones who played the biggest roles in Charlotte’s engagement.

Both of your dads are huge St. Louis Blues fans. So naturally, they tried to rub that off onto their children. And it worked, all except for you. You tolerated the blues, but never really adopted hockey as your favorite sport. You understood it, watched it whenever you never had a choice– but like your mom, you gravitated more towards football and adopted her hometown team as your own– the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Colton and Charlotte, however, were both diehard Blues fans from day one. There were even pictures to prove it. They even went to a game on both their first ‘supervised’ date and ‘unsupervised’ date. So, when the Blues were making a run for the Stanley Cup– it was imminent for your families to attend at least one game. You and Mason did everything in your power to get the Blues attention. You emailed anyone and everyone who worked in their front office, you spammed their social media accounts– anything and everything to get their attention so you could share their story and Colton’s plan.

And at game four it all came to life. Charlotte was ‘randomly’ selected to participate in an intermission event after the first period where she’d be blindfolded and needed to walk along the ice to find Louie after collecting ‘Blues momentos’ along the way. The Blues had played the short slideshow of Colton and Charlotte that you and Mason had sent them, as they introduced her to the crowd. Unbeknownst to her, both of our families were on the ice with her, standing behind her while she was blindfolded. You and the other three siblings were scattered in front of her, each holding a single rose.

The Blues staff member helped her walk along the ice and the moment that she took a flower from someone, they needed to go back to where she started, which was where Colton was standing with the ring in his pocket. The four of you each had a sign, that when held up together read ‘Will you marry me?’ Once Charlotte neared Louie, he cut the distance to just by center ice where all of you were waiting. And when she found Louie, the entire crowd had erupted into cheers as she took off her blindfold, all smiles until she turned around to see the signs and Colton on one knee.

She said yes. The Blues won. The proposal went viral and your families were given a box to game seven where the Blues won the Stanley Cup.

All in a day's work between the two middle siblings, and one that led you all to this moment– the wedding tomorrow. Where Colton, who was already like a big brother yo you, would officially, pretty much become your big brother.

“Y/N,” your sister said, shaking your arm. “Y/N, get up. We’ve got like 45 minutes to get ready for dinner before we have to leave and no offense, but you need to shower.”

“Your lucky that you’re getting married tomorrow or I’d kill you,” you mumbled into the pillow, taking a deep breath and exhaling before pushing yourself up. “Can you charge my phone for me? I won’t take too long, just need to rinse off and I’ll be back.”

“In your backpack?” She asked as you walked out of the room.

“Mhhm, small front pocket. The charger is with it.”

You walked out of the room and into the connected bathroom, closing the door behind you before walking towards the shower and turning on the water. Your nap was more than enough to help you make it through dinner. You hadn’t thought that you were even that tired, but the moment you laid down to relax after eating your sandwich– you were absolutely knocked out.

To be fair though, you had spent the last two weeks partying it up on the beach with your college roommates, trying to relive every moment from your last four years of partying, downing booze, and making out with any attractive guy who caught your eye. You know what they say, no rest for the wicked– and boy, oh boy, were the wicked actions of shotgunning beers with strangers in the hot summer jersey sun, coming back to haunt you.

At least you got one hell of a tan and more memories to last you a lifetime, out of it all.

You turned off the shower before you stepped out and wrapped a towel around your body, then wrapping your hair up in a second towel. You walked out of the bathroom and back to the bedroom, only to find it empty. "Hey, Char?"

"In the living room...er, kitchen, I guess!"

You walked out of the bedroom and into the living room to see Charlotte sitting at the kitchen counter, a make-up mirror propped up in front of her and hot curling iron in her hand. "Why are you doing your hair in the kitchen?"

"You were in the bathroom and the lighting is lacking in the bedroom." She let a curl, fall from the iron and turned to you. "What's up?"

"Well, for one, the bathroom is free," you laughed, looking around. "And two, I was wondering where you put my suitcase? It was in the room and now it's not."

"No," she dragged out her reply, focusing on wrapping another piece of hair around the iron before averting her eyes towards the door. "You left it by the front door. Never brought it in."

You turned towards the front door and sure enough, right there not even three feet away from the door...was your suitcase. "Awesome, thanks!" You said, walking over and tugging on the handle, extending it out before walking back to the room. "And my phone?"

"Charging in the kitchen. It was dead by the way."

"Great," you huffed, walking into the bedroom and over to the bed. You lifted up the suitcase, letting it plop down onto the bed and exhaled a deep breath. It was a lot heavier than you thought it was. But maybe your body was just tired from traveling and last night's final night out.

You caught a glimpse of the alarm clock that was set up on the bedside table and saw that your getting ready time was vastly starting to dwindle. So, not thinking anything more of the heavy suitcase, you unzipped the zipper and threw the cover back, ready to grab the romper you had placed directly on top, just so it wouldn't get wrinkled. You stared down at the contents of the suitcase, quickly grabbing the cover and shutting it again.

Okay, maybe you were imagining things.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling, and then opening your eyes and opening the suitcase again.

No, you definitely weren't imagining things.

The same spike ball netting was still staring you right in the face. Surrounding it, were three spike balls and a crumbled up bag that was supposed to house the set. Beneath it, a bunch of crumpled up clothes and other things.

"No," you shut the suitcase again, repeating the same steps: close your eyes, take a breath, hope you're dreaming, open your eyes and then the suitcase, only to be disappointed. "No, no– oh my God, this can't be happening. Charlotte!!"

You heard her footsteps echo off of the wooden floor as she made her way to the bedroom, half of her hair curled and set. "What?"

"This isn't my suitcase."

"Of course it is," she scoffed. "Colton and I got you that big traveling set for graduation, and that," she pointed at the suitcase, "is it."

"No, it's not," You opened the suitcase and reached in, grabbing the first thing you felt and holding it up to show her. "See? Not mine!"

"Y/N," her eyes widened before she started to laugh. "You might want to put those down."

"It's just the spike ball bag, it's not big–" you turned to see what you were holding and sure enough, it was not the spike ball bag you thought you had picked up. It was a pair of Ant-Man boxers, and it was unknown whether or not they were clean or not. "Ah, ew!" You tossed them back into the suitcase, wiping your hand on your towel. "Ew, ew, ew, I just touched a stranger's dirty underwear."

"You don't know if they were dirty."

"You don't know if they were clean!" You argued back, looking around the handle for an identification tag. "This definitely isn't mine. My travel tag isn't on the handle."

"Who uses a travel tag?" She laughed, shaking her head.

"Me," you turned towards the suitcase, slamming it shut and zipping it. "I use a travel tag, so if my luggage gets lost or switched, they can contact me. It's common travel knowledge."

She sighed, walking over towards the suitcase and unzipping the two pockets on top, looking in and shaking her head. "Nothing hidden in those pockets. Did you think to go through the rest of the suitcase? Maybe they have a tag in there."

"And risk touching another pair of possibly dirty boxers and God knows what else? No thanks," you zipped up the suitcase and picked it up, placing it back onto the ground. "I'm doomed. That suitcase had all of the clothes that I took to Jersey, in it. It had my outfit and makeup for tonight."

"I have something you can borrow," she walked over to the closet, opening it to reveal it was empty besides two dresses hanging up. "And I've got make-up and whatever your little heart desires for your hair."

"Your wedding present was in there too," you sighed, walking over to the closet. "Which one?"

"This." She held out the rose-colored dress, handing the hanger to you. "You can get away with no bra and I can give you a pair of underwear from the new pack I bought this morning–"

"Why would you buy new underwear?" You asked, taking the dress.

"In case of emergencies," she closed the closet and turned back to you, nodding. "Which, this is. Unopened pack in that laundry basket I was carrying, feel free to take a pair and keep them. As for shoes...you're kind of on your own on that one."

You sighed, defeated as she walked out of the bedroom, leaving you to get dressed. You unwrapped the towel around your hair, letting it drop onto the floor as the towel wrapped around your body went with it. You took the dress off of the hanger and untied the straps, lifting the dress over your head and tugging it down. Your mind was going over every detail of just how you picked up the wrong suitcase. Fair, it was a dead-ringer for the suitcase you took with you to Jersey, but even you should have known to realize that there was no bright red luggage tag hanging on the side handle. And it was all you could do but hope that whoever picked up your suitcase thinking it was theirs, would at least call or text.

"Oh shit," you said, holding onto the straps that hung down on the side, trying to tie them in the back. "Charlotte! My phone!"

You ran out into the living room to see her now finishing up her make-up at the counter, turning to you with wide eyes. "Okay one, sit down and let me brush your hair," she stood up and grabbed your wrist, bringing you over to counter and sitting you down. "And two, your phone is right there."

"If they figured out our luggage was switched, they'd call! My luggage tag!" You reached across the counter, grabbing your phone and turning it over to see that the screen was still black. "Oh come on, my phone wasn't that dead!"

Charlotte tugged you back and started to brush your hair, not bothering to go slow. "I plugged it in the moment you went to take a shower, just give it a few seconds."

If looks could kill, your phone would be nowhere ready to turn on. You were glaring at the screen as if pure intimidation would turn it on. This could go one of two ways:

1) This person left your suitcase in the dark abyss that is lost luggage at the airport.

2) Like you, they didn't realize that they had grabbed the wrong luggage until they went to open it and they'll find your luggage tag and call you.

"Ah!" You yelled, jumping out of the chair as your phone lit up. You leaned over the counter, your heart racing as Charlotte tried to keep brushing your hair. "Come on, come on, come on..."

"Right there," Charlotte said, pointing at your screen as a text message notification popped up on the screen from an unknown number. "That has to be them!"

"Oh thank God," you sighed, thumb ready to swipe the message open. "Oh...yikes."

"Uh," Charlotte laughed as the two of you continued to watch your messages pour in, at least 5 coming in from the unknown number, along with three phone calls. "Yikes indeed, I guess they're panicking just as much as you are."

You swiped on the notifications, unlocking your phone, and going to the message.

unknown: hi y/n i think you grabbed the wrong suitcase...

unknown: yeah, uh, you most definitely grabbed the wrong suitcase.

unknown: is there any way we can switch in the next 30 minutes before i reach my house?

unknown: ok, so i'm sorry for the spam texts and calls...but this is kind of urgent.

unknown: like life or death.

"Life or death?" Charlotte asked, looking at you with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell was in that suitcase?"

"Spike ball and dirty clothes," you replied, shrugging. Your eyes went wide before you turned back to her. "What if they're a drug smuggler and there are drugs in there?"

She opened her mouth to speak before looking down at your phone, nodding. "Now's your chance to find out. Look who's calling."

You looked back down at your phone to see the unknown number flash on your screen. You looked back at her, shaking your head. "You answer it."

"Your luggage, you answer it," she laughed, pulling back segments of your hair to tie back. "But put it on speaker, I'm curious what the drug dealer sounds like."

You shoved your elbow back, avoiding her as you nervously slid your thumb across the screen, answering the call and pressing the speaker button. "Hello?"

"Oh thank God," the unknown called sighed, clearing his throat. "Sorry for the spam calls, I've just been panicking."

"Yeah, I’m sorry...my phone died," you replied, looking at Charlotte as your voice dwindled off.

"The suitcase," she mouthed, nodding her head back towards the room.

"Oh, the suitcase!" You said, almost a little too excited. You cleared your throat, calming yourself down. "I most definitely have your suitcase...maybe."

"Well I have yours," you could hear rustling in the background. "Y/N L/N, right?"

"Yep, that's me," you looked at Charlotte again, shaking your head. "Sorry to kind of do this...but how do I know I have your suitcase? I mean, what if I grabbed someone else's and you grabbed mine and there's three of us in this and–"

Charlotte smacked your back lightly with the back of the brushed, shaking her head as the voice on the other side of the phone laughed. "Um, shit," he coughed, smacking his lips. "Uh well, there should be a spike ball set in there. If not, then I left it at Johnny's. Otherwise, it's just clothes."

"Congratulations," you laughed, leaning back into the chair. "I've got your suitcase."

"Oh thank God, I was really worried there for a second," they replied. "Is there any chance we can exchange them soon?"

"Okay, so about that," you sighed, biting the inside of your cheek. "I kind of have a wedding rehearsal and dinner to go to in 20 minutes...and I don't think that will be over with till about...two hours from now. Is that okay?"

There was silence on the other side and you couldn't help but feel horrible at the fact that you were keeping this stranger away from his luggage and that he had to keep yours until then. "My family and I are going to dinner in two hours, reservation and all."

"Where at?" You spoke before your brain could even catch up with what your mouth was doing. "I'm sorry that was creepy."

He laughed and you felt a little flutter feeling in your stomach. "No, it's fine. I think we're going to Maggiano's in–"

"In the Westfield town center?" Your eyes widened as Charlotte placed the brush down on the counter behind you, looking at you with a smile. "We're going to Pieology in the Westfield town center!"

"Pieology for a wedding rehearsal dinner? Sounds like my kind of party," he laughed. "So, do you just want to exchange then? When I get there and you're leaving?"

"Sounds perfect!"

"Great! So I'll just, text you when I get there and I promise I won't forget the suitcase."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

"All right, bye, Y/N!"

"Bye!" You hung up the call and Charlotte leaned against the counter a smile on her face. "What?"

"He sounded cute." She stuck placed the extra bobby pins she didn't need, onto the counter. "Maybe he can be your date for my wedding."

"Not this again," you groaned, getting out of the chair. "For the last time, I don't need a date. Besides, this guy is a total stranger– I don't even know his name!"

"You can learn it later," she laughed, wiggling her eyebrows. "Either way, do your makeup quickly because we need to leave in ten."

She walked off towards the bedroom the two of you had claimed and you sighed, sitting back down into your seat, grabbing her mascara, blush, and golden liquid shimmer eyeshadow. It was the best you could do for now, until you got all of your stuff back from this stranger. As you applied the eyeshadow, you couldn't get Charlotte's comment out of your head. She was right, he did sound cute. But who's to say that he's not a total creep? Or that he's even your age? He could be in his 40's or even barely cruising 18. And then stood the real issue, you didn't even know his name.

Your phone screen lit up once again and you looked away from the mirror, seeing that you had another text from the unknown number. You furrowed your eyebrows and unlocked your phone, opening his text.

unknown: my name is matt, by the way 😊

#matthew tkachuk #matthew tkachuk imagine #matthew tkachuk oneshot #nhl imagine #nhl one shot #hockey imagine #hockey oneshot #hockey writing #nhl writing #calgary flames oneshot #calgary flames imagine #calgary flames writing #matthew tkachuk writing #calgary flames #my writing

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the-lincyclopedia · 4 years

Photo

* adapted from @librajiminn on twitter

A fun game to celebrate 2020 ending! The rules are simple: recommend your favorite OMGCP fics so everyone can enjoy them, while trying to fill in enough slots to get a bingo!

This is going to get long, so I’ll put it under a cut. Also, I’m too orderly to try to shoehorn my favorite fics into these particular prompts, so I’m just going to go right to left, top to bottom, taking the prompts literally, until it’s bedtime.

1. first fic you bookmarked: “Here Comes the Sun” by @doggernaut, 19k, G, no warnings, Zimbits

For the past month, the man with the baby and the sad blue eyes has been stopping in for a cup of coffee an hour before closing. He always sits in an overstuffed chair in the corner and drinks his coffee while his baby sleeps next to him in the stroller. Sometimes he pulls a book out from the diaper bag he carries with him; other times he just stares straight ahead as if in a daze. He never asks for a refill, always respectfully gathers his things and leaves ten minutes before the shop officially closes. Eric desperately wants to ask him what his story is.

My notes: I read Check Please over the course of two days in June of 2019. On the second day, right after catching up, I looked at @peppermintfeminist‘s AO3 bookmarks and found a fic by @doggernaut. Then I read just about everything @doggernaut had ever posted. It was glorious. This fic in particular is so cute.

2. most recent fic you bookmarked: “Flight Check” by @edgarallanrose, 15k, E, no warnings (though there is a creepy/handsy guy at a club to watch out for), primarily Zimbits with most of the other popular pairings in the background

Flight attendant Eric “Bitty” Bittle has been working his way up at Samwell Airlines for the past four years, and his new promotion has provided him the opportunity to work with a brand-new crew. Unfortunately for Bitty, that crew includes an incredibly handsome but equally grumpy pilot, Captain Jack Zimmermann, who seems to want nothing to do with Bitty. Even worse, Jack refuses to eat any of Bitty's baked goods. Will Bitty be able to win the captain over? Or is there another reason Jack has been avoiding Bitty?

My notes: There are a lot of great things about this fic--Jack’s character arc, Lardo’s dialogue, that scene in Seattle--but the reason I bookmarked it is the scene where Bitty’s basically slut-shaming himself and Jack gently but firmly tells Bitty not to do that and that it was the creep’s fault.

3. a fic that made you cry actual tears: “a little bit more” by @ivecarvedawoodenheart, 14k, T, no warnings, Holsom

“I just wanted,” he says, “a perfect day. With you. Because it’s our last day together and our last day being here as undergrads and we’re kissing the ice tonight, and the weather’s supposed to be beautiful, and you’re moving tomorrow and Holtzy I just — I don’t want to be missing you already.” Holster wipes his eyes before he even realizes he’s crying. Behind him, Ransom sighs. “One more day where everything’s the same,” he says, feeling around blindly for Rans’ fingers. He feels Rans nod as he laces their fingers together. “Yeah. Yeah, Rans. I’d like that a lot.” __________________________

Holsom after graduation and throughout the subsequent six months after Holster signs to an expansion team in Oregon, and realizes his feelings for Ransom too late. Holster's POV :) kinda angsty, but there's a happy ending :)

Inspired by shitty-check-please-aus: "Holster moves to Oregon while Ransom stays on the east coast. The time difference makes it difficult to talk and one day they wake up and realize they aren’t best bros anymore."

My notes: I almost never cry at fics. I searched “tears” in my fandom email account and only a handful of my fic comments came up, but Syd is a literal master of Holsom angst, always.

4. longest fic you’ve read: “Like Real People Do” by @xiaq, 153k, M, No Warnings, Kent Parson x OC

Parson gestures with his spoon toward Hawke. “So am I allowed to ask about the service dog or is that not PC?”

“My medical history is more of a 3rd date conversation," Eli says.

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because. No one sticks around afterward and I like to live in glorious denial for a short period beforehand.”

It comes out more self-deprecating than he intended.

Parson looks…thoughtful. “Well, does this count as one or two?

“Pardon?”

“This. Ice cream. I mean, technically it’s a second location, but still the same night. So is this one date or two?”

“One,” Eli says firmly. “If it’s happening within the same three-hour period.”

“You’re the expert,” Parson says, which, he’s really, really, not, but ok.

“So still two dates to go then?” Parson continues.

“I—what?”

“We’ve got a roadie coming up but then we’re home for almost two weeks. When does your semester start?”

“You want to do this again?” Eli asks.

Parson stops idly twirling his spoon.

“You don’t?”

He does, Eli realizes. He really does. Because apparently he actually likes Kent fucking Parson.

My notes: Okay, this fic has my whole entire heart. I’ve read it multiple times in its entirety, and it’s almost twice as long as the full-length novel I’m querying. Eli is one of my favorite OCs I’ve ever seen in a fic (probably tied with Damian Navarro and Ari Paxton, both brainchildren of @fozmeadows). Anyway, this is probably going to be the next thing @themeaningoflifeischeese and I read out loud to each other.

5. a fic you almost didn’t read: “when all else fails (i’ll still be right here)” by @whoacanada, 6k, T, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings (and I don’t remember if I think there’s stuff to warn for, sorry), Zimbits

The National Hockey League is resurrecting the Quebec City Nordiques, and the expansion draft hits the Falconers much harder than expected.

My notes: Given that this was for @omgcpheartbreakfest, I was worried this would be all angst--all hurt and no comfort. Which made me sad, because I love @whoacanada‘s writing but I wasn’t up for reading unresolved angst. But @doggernaut reblogged the fic, so I asked if the ending was sad, and it’s NOT! There is quite a bit of angst but the ending isn’t sad.

6. a fic that convinced you on a ship you didn’t ship before: “it drops with the gravity of rain” by @geniusorinsanity, 16k, T, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings (attempted sexual assault by an OC), Nurseydex

It happens like this:

“I don’t--this is a bad idea,” Dex says, his lips still tingling, his hands shaking on Nursey’s hips where he’s shoved him away. “This is a really bad idea, Nurse. I can’t--We can’t do this.”

And there’s hurt in Nursey’s eyes and his bottom lip is swollen from Dex’s teeth, but he says, “Okay.” And then, “It’s chill, Dex. Just friends, then.”

It happens like this:

“Actually,” Nursey says, talking more to his granola than to them, “I kind of have a date.”

It happens like this:

When Nursey calls, Dex almost doesn’t pick up the phone.

My notes: So I was really confused and a little disturbed when I first found out people shipped Nursey and Dex. Like, Dex just wasn’t someone I trusted. But then I was moving out of the house I’d been living in, and I needed stuff to listen to as I packed and cleaned, and @khashanakalashtar‘s podfics came in clutch. I gave this one a try even though I didn’t like Dex, and @geniusorinsanity blew. My. Mind.

7. a fic from an unusual POV: “Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy” by @porcupine-girl, 8k, G, no warnings, Zimbits

Jesse Snowden knows all the best restaurants and gourmet food shops in Providence, so when Jack Zimmermann starts bringing in incredible baked goods, he's eager to find out where the new bakery is. When he meets the man behind the pies, he decides that there's no way Jack could really appreciate this guy's talent the way he does, even if they are friends. He starts hiring Jack's chef on the side, in the hopes that maybe once Bitty's done with college he'll come work for Jesse.

Good thing there is absolutely no way whatsoever that Jesse could possibly be misinterpreting this situation.

My notes: Oh my gosh this is so funny. The secondhand embarrassment factor is huge, but like, the hilarity.

8. a comfort fic: “Don’t Need to Compromise” by @khashanakalashtar, 11k, E, no warnings, PB&J

“Hey,” said Kent, unknowingly setting off a chain of events that would change his entire life, “you said that like you know from experience. Have you done this before?”

Jack and Bitty have not done polyamory before, but they do know Ransom and Holster’s polycule, which contains March.

And March?

March is trans.

My notes: I’m in love with @khashanakalashtar‘s entire Directionverse series (and honestly a lot of their other writing), but “Don’t Need to Compromise,” which is the second fic in the series, just makes my heart swell especially much. The gender feels are so good, and all the characters are so good to each other, and when I listen to this on walks I have to actively try not to arm-flap.

9. a fic you wish could be a movie: “Ice Crew Please!” by @petals42, 61k, T, no warnings, Zimbits

Jack Zimmermann was drafted first by the Providence Falconers when he was eighteen years old. He is good at hockey. Very good. His team won the Cup his second year and now, in his third year, they are looking good. Jack should be on top of the world. And some days, he manages to convince himself he is.

He’s not, of course.

Enter the Ice Crew.

AKA: The Ice Crew AU

My notes: This fic has its tender moments, but what I love most about it is the sheer goofiness. Ransom and Holster and Shitty are HILARIOUS in this one. I’d love to see their shenanigans in movie form.

10. a WIP you read as it was updated: “Something Borrowed” by @fozmeadows, 48k, M, no warnings, Kent x OC

All things considered, Ari did his best to prepare himself for the advent of Kent Parson, Potentially Difficult Housemate and New Star Liney. The problem was that his best was an idiot.

My notes: So technically I didn’t start reading this until the first 19 chapters were posted. But there was still plenty of anticipation for the final few chapters. And like, @fozmeadows (as mentioned above) makes EXCELLENT OCs. And I love how their fics consistently convey that having bad things happen to you does not mark the end of your story.

Okay, it’s bedtime, so have 10 excellent fics. I got bingo twice, because I went straight across on the top two rows.

#mine #omgcp #omgcheckplease #check please #fic recs

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adenei · 4 years

Note

Hello there :) I love your stories so much, they distract me everyday. I've always wanted to ask you something so here it goes. I've always imagined the scenario where Hermione finds out she's pregnant months after or only a year after the war (it can be right after she graduated in Hogwarts). Before marriage and even engagement. Totally by an accident. How do you think she'd tell Ron? How Romione would react? I think you're the right person to create the dialogues to this story ^.^

Hi there! Thank you 🥰 I hope I did your thoughts justice here. Thanks for the ask!

*****************

I’m Not Sick

Hermione ran into the loo and threw up for the fifth time that week. Satisfied that the nausea had passed, she rinsed her mouth out and made her way out into the corridor, ready to return back to her room to take a nap. She was perpetually exhausted and couldn’t seem to shake the nausea. It was probably just stress because her NEWTs were starting in two weeks. Hermione wasn’t expecting to run into Ginny as she walked out of the loo.

“Everything alright, Hermione?” Ginny asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Hermione said lightly as she defended herself.

“Hermione, this is the fifth time this week you’ve gotten sick. What’s going on?” Ginny was looking concerned.

“It’s probably just stress. We’re almost done with school. NEWTs are coming up, and I still haven’t gotten a job set up after we graduate.”

“Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey. I’ll go with you,” Ginny offered.

“I don’t know, Ginny, I’m sure I’ll feel better after a nap.” She thought Ginny would give in and let her go back to the dorm, but then she saw the Molly Weasley glare cross her face.

“We’re going to Madam Pomfrey. Ron’s not here to take care of you, and I promised I would. Let’s go.”

So Hermione reluctantly followed Ginny down to the hospital wing, and sat on one of the beds as Madam Pomfrey checked her over.

“You said that you’ve been getting sick for the past week, and have been more tired than normal?” she asked as Hermione nodded. “Hmm. You seem okay aside from that. Ms. Granger forgive me for asking this question, but I need to rule this out. Are you sexually active?”

Hermione was taken aback at the question as Ginny stared at her with wide eyes.. “Y-yes. What does that have to do with-” She looked up at Madam Pomfrey.

“When’s the last time you engaged in intercourse?”

“Umm..Easter,” Hermione said as her face flushed. “But we..we used the spells. And I bled just last month!’ Hermione’s thoughts were racing.

“Ms. Granger, I’m going to need to do the spell and check. It could be nothing, but we need to be sure.” Hermione nodded as she laid back. She was suddenly feeling lightheaded.

Ginny took her hand supportively as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and performed the spell. A small circle appeared over Hermione’s abdomen, and it was pulsing quickly. “Oh, my.. Ms. Granger, I’m afraid you are indeed pregnant. You look to be about nine weeks along.”

“Wh-what? But-”

“Sometimes the spell isn’t always completely effective. Especially depending on mindset when the spell is cast. I’m going to bottle some anti-nausea potion for you. Make sure you’re eating enough and are getting plenty of sleep. I will inform Professor McGonagall so she knows if you wish to talk to her about leaving the castle to discuss matters.”

*****************

Hermione had taken a few days to process everything. Ginny had stayed by her side through it all, and was no doubt waiting for her after her meeting with McGonagall.

Sure enough, Hermione walked into her room and Ginny was lying on Hermione’s bed, trying to study. She quickly shut the book and sat up. “Well? How’d it go?”

“Not terrible. Professor McGonagall said I could sit all my NEWTs over the next couple of days if I wanted to, and then I can leave a few weeks early.”

“Whoa, do you think you will?”

“Yes, actually. I was thinking about it, and I’ve spent the entire year studying to keep my mind off of being away from Ron. Even if I stayed for the rest of term, there’s no way I’m going to be able to focus on studying. And if I go home this weekend to talk to Ron, there’s no way I’ll want to come back. I think it’s the most logical option.”

“So when do you start?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Do you want help studying after dinner?”

“We’ll see how I feel. Thanks, Ginny. I don’t think I’d have been able to get through this alone.”

“I’ll always be here, Hermione. Maybe I’ll get another sister sooner than I was expecting.” Ginny smiled and hugged her.

********************

Hermione had finished her exams by the following Thursday, and was packing her things Friday morning. Satisfied that she had everything, Hermione sent her things to Grimmauld Place. She and Ron had talked about her moving in with them when she had finished with Hogwarts.

Her room was empty, so Hermione turned and made her way to the Headmistress’s office. She said her goodbyes, and flooed to Grimmauld Place where she was greeted by Kreacher. “Good morning, Miss. Kreacher was not expecting you.”

“Hi, Kreacher. I know, I wasn’t supposed to return for a few weeks, but I finished early.”

“Master Harry and Ron are at work, but Kreacher knows they returned from a mission this morning. Master Harry requested steak and kidney pie for lunch.”

“Oh, so they’ll be home soon?”

“Yes, yes.” Kreacher said as Hermione nodded.

“I think I’ll go lie down upstairs for a bit,” Hermione said as she made her way upstairs to Ron’s room. She ended up falling asleep for an hour, and when she woke up she opened her book to read.

Finally, she heard movement on the stairs, and looked up as the door opened. “Hermione! Kreacher said you were here, but I almost didn’t believe him,” Ron walked over to her quickly and wrapped her in a tight hug. “You’re a few weeks early, aren’t you?”

“Yes, McGonagall let me sit my exams early, so I’m officially done at Hogwarts.”

“That’s brilliant!” Ron said as he kissed her. He noticed that she didn’t look as thrilled. “But why don’t you look happy about it?”

“I- Well, there’s a reason they let me leave early, Ron,” she said, leaning into him for support.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Ron asked.

“I- no, not exactly. Ginny thought I was so she insisted I see Madam Pomfrey-”

“What was happening?”

“I’d been throwing up a lot last week, and have been really tired.”

“But you’re not sick?” Ron looked at her, his concern growing.

“No, I’m- turns out I’m pregnant, Ron.”

“You’re- what? But we- we used the spells. We’ve been careful.”

“That’s what I said, too, but Madam Pomfrey said the effectiveness isn’t always at 100%. I’m sorry, this is probably all my fault.”

No, Hermione. No way. It took two of us to do this. We’ll figure it out together.” Despite the initial shock of the news, Ron had recovered quickly as he leaned in to kiss her tenderly. His hand resting gently on her belly.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Hermione leaned into Ron’s shoulder and finally allowed herself to cry. “The last week has been terrible. I just wanted to come home to tell you, but I knew if I left then I wouldn’t go back to sit through my exams. Ginny’s been a huge help, but she wasn’t you.”

“I’m here now, love, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise. I love you,” Ron told her.

“I love you, too,” Hermione said. She knew they’d get through this together. Somehow, Some way.

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jalapeno-princess · 4 years

Text

Back to you

Mark Tuan X Reader

Word Count: 11.3K

Genre: Angst with a happy ending (idk if I can even consider it happy exactly but they both get what they want in the end)

Summary: It’s been over two years since Mark decided to end your relationship together and you’ve been bitter about everything since the day he left. The last thing you expected was to see him on your front porch claiming he made a mistake in breaking up with you and no matter how much he broke your heart, there was no way you could forget just how happy you were because of him and how much you still loved him.

Author’s Note: I know I say this about most of my stories, but I really don’t know how I feel about this one. After hearing the song “Cardigan” by Taylor Swift, I really wanted to write a story based off of it because songs tend to stick in my mind until I finish writing a story so this might seemed a little bit rushed, repetitive and some of it might not even make sense I apologize in advance and I think I’m going to take a few days off from writing just because school and work is getting more and more busy (and to those who requested stories just know I still plan on finishing your requests thank you for your patience) with that, please enjoy.

Vintage tee, brand new phone High heels on cobblestones When you are young, they assume you know nothing Sequin smile, black lipstick Sensual politics When you are young, they assume you know nothing But I knew you Dancing in your Levi's Drunk under a streetlight, I I knew you Hand under my sweatshirt Baby kiss it better, right And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed You put me on and said I was your favorite A friend to all is a friend to none Chase two girls, lose the one When you are young, they assume you know nothing

“Babe.”

You could feel yourself drifting in and out of sleep and it was because you were exhausted from both work and school. Being a full time college student majoring in Biology and minoring in English while having a full-time job wasn’t the most ideal situation, but you were handling it pretty well.

When your boyfriend picked you up right after work and took you back to his apartment, all you wanted to do was change in to one of his shirts that was two sizes too big for you and go to sleep with his arms wrapped tightly around your waist. However, Mark had different plans in mind. Your boyfriend was aware that you were extremely tired and he hated how you were overworking yourself, but he knew not to say anything in fear of getting in to an argument with you.

Being friends for over ten years and dating for three was enough time for the older boy to learn every single thing about you. You were always so independent and it was something Mark both loved and hated about you. He hated seeing you cry over how frustrating college was, he hated listening to you degrade yourself and talk negatively about your accomplishments and what he hated most of all, was not getting to spend time with you.

If you weren’t at work, you were at school and vice versa and it wasn’t like Mark had much time on his hands either. He was four months away from graduating with his bachelor’s degree in engineering and he decided not too long ago that he would go after his master’s degree right after. Spending time with you was Mark’s favorite pastime and it didn’t matter to him what the two of you were doing; as long as you were around, he was content.

You released an exhausted sigh when he insisted on watching a movie on Netflix, but you didn’t have the heart to tell him no. Even though you were on the verge of falling asleep, you were willing to do anything to make him happy. However, the two of you weren’t even halfway through the movie when Mark noticed your head bobbing up and down and the sight made him giggle softly.

God, he was so in love with you.

When you heard him call out for you, you practically jolted awake from being startled and gave yourself a couple of moments to process your surroundings and what was going on. He brought his hand up to your face and cupped your cheek ever so gently while running his fingers through your hair.

“Did you want to go to sleep? We can continue this tomorrow. I’ll carry you to the room.” You gave him an adorable, sleepy smile before shaking your head. “I’m awake, I’m fine. Let’s keep watching whatever movie this is—“ you were too tired to see him playfully roll his eyes at you and before you knew it, he turned off the tv and picked you up bridal style.

“It’s fine babe, I’m actually about to knock out myself. Plus, it’s been a couple of days since I got to go to bed next to your pretty face. I’ve missed my baby.” Out of habit, you wrapped your hands around his neck and hid your face in the crook of his nape. The scent of fresh linen and citrus made your chest feel warm.

It was rare for Mark to do his laundry because he had no clue what he was doing. A lot of his clothes either shrunk or changed color. He didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to mix his white clothes with colors; which is why a lot of his favorite white hoodies were now bright pink. As much as he didn’t want to bother you nor did he want you having to do things that you didn’t have to, you would always do his laundry without him having to ask. You just loved doing anything to help him out because he never failed to do the same for you.

Since these last few weeks have been pretty hectic for the both of you, you didn’t really have time to see Mark nor did you get to go over to his place. Asking you to move in with him was always at the tip of his tongue, but because he was planning on going away for his undergrad, he didn’t want you to move in only for him to leave. Once he brought you in to his room, he placed you on to his bed while he took off his shirt and got ready to join you.

Even if you were in and out of sleep, and you’ve seen Mark shirtless on many occasions it didn’t stop you from blushing at the sight. He didn’t take too long to join you and pulled you close in to his body; he placed his chin on your head and cheekily brought his hand up in to his sweatshirt you were wearing, drawing random figures on your bare back. The cold touch of his fingers along your shoulder blades sent shivers down your spine and you smiled tiredly to yourself at his ministrations. This was when you were at your most serene; in your boyfriend’s arms, right about to enter dreamland.

No matter how frustrating life could get sometimes, the beautiful boy whose embrace you were in right now made everything so much better. He made all the negativity disappear. What were you going to do without him once he were to transfer colleges and be thousands of miles away from you? Mark was all you’ve known for so many years; even through all your failed and toxic relationships before the two of you became a couple, he was always there and never failed to make any unfortunate situation better.

“Y/n? Where do you see yourself in ten years?” The sudden question broke you out of your sleep induced haze and you slowly pulled out of his embrace in order to get a better look at him. You shrugged indifferently and took a few seconds to actually think about it. There was never a time in your life where Mark wasn’t around, so you knew you wanted him in your life for as long as you could have him for; that was a given. But you hardly ever had time to think about the future and what you had hoped your life would be like.

“Hmm, if I’m being honest with you, I’m actually not too sure. I’m hoping I have a decent job that I actually like. I mean, I’m spending thousands of dollars just to learn a bunch of shit I won’t remember later on, so I’d like to think I can get a job that pays enough for me to make a living off of. I also want kids, I really want children. I’ve always dreamed about having a big family. That’s all I really care about. I want five kids at the most, but I want to be able to completely afford them and be able to take care of them so we’ll just have to wait and see. What about you? And why the sudden question about the future Mark?” He lifted up your chin and placed a chaste kiss upon your lips.

“Do you see me in that future of yours?” You scoffed at the fact that he completely ignored your questions, and because he was inquiring on whether or not you wanted him to stay if your life; if he was the man you planned on settling down and spending the rest of your life with. You could’ve sworn you told him countless times that he was all you needed for the rest of your days and maybe he was just messing around with you.

“Of course I do. Even when we were kids, I knew I always wanted you around Mark. We’ve known each other for almost fourteen years, there’s no way you can get rid of me now babe. I don’t care what my future looks like, all I know is that I want you in it.” He gave you his signature cheeky grin before pulling you up against his chest.

“Good, because that’s all I want too. I want you for the rest of my life, in each and every life time.”

Winter was extremely cold this year; in fact, the local weatherman claimed that it was one of the coldest winters your town experienced in the last twenty years. Although winter was your favorite season from the time you were a little girl, the last couple of years haven’t been the best for you and you no longer felt the need to celebrate any holiday; you no longer felt the holiday spirit.

You hated that you no longer felt like decorating your place with Halloween, thanksgiving and Christmas decorations, you hated not going over to your parent’s house to celebrate and you were upset with the fact that you’d find yourself turning off any kind of Christmas song as soon as it would play on the radio. As the days got colder, so did your heart.

Two years ago, you had made so many plans for the winter break. You wanted to go ice skating with your friends, Christmas caroling with your family, snow boarding with Mark and his family and setting up a Christmas tree for the first time in your apartment. Your enthusiasm for anything and everything and just your life in general all changed once Mark went away.

Right after Mark graduated with his bachelor’s degree, he took no time in applying to all the best engineering schools all throughout the world. You were extremely supportive of anything and everything that Mark wanted to do and accomplish, which is why you tried your best to hide the fact that you were bothered with the idea of him no longer being with you. It would be selfish of you to try and stop him, but deep down you were afraid of what was going to happen to your relationship and you had every right to be.

If you knew then what you know now, you would’ve ended things with him completely before letting him play with both your heart and your mind from miles away. When he found out he got accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you put on the fakest smile possible and threw him a congratulations party surrounded by both your families and a few of your mutual friends.

Not only was he going to college almost 4,000 miles away, but you didn’t know when the next time you were going to see him was. Mark made sure to spend every single moment up until the day he had to fly out with you and he promised you each and every day that the two of you were going to be okay. That your love was enough to withstand any amount of distance and time difference. For the first few months, it worked out perfectly. Although it would be morning where he was and night time where you were, you both made it work.

If you couldn’t face time or call one another, you made sure to send text messages to each other and made sure to update each other with how life was going. It was extremely rough; seeing him through phone and computer screens wasn’t the same as having him with you but you took what you could get. Unfortunately, only three months of being away, Mark decided that a long distance relationship was too much for him to handle.

He texted you one night and told you he couldn’t do it anymore. At first, you thought he was messing around; even if you knew deep down Mark would never joke around about something as serious as a breakup, but you didn’t want to believe he no longer wanted to be in a relationship with you. No matter how hard it was not having him around, you could handle it.

What was a couple of years away from him, especially because you knew he’d come home to visit during the holidays, knowing that you were planning on spending the rest of your life with him? Something had to be up; there was no way he could give up on your relationship that easily. You begged and pleaded with him to genuinely think about what he was asking for; you called many times to the point where you felt as if he would block you. You tried reaching out to him on social media and you cried for the entire night. Hell, that entire week for you was filled with multiple bottles of red wine and hundreds of tissues on your kitchen floor.

Right after sending that message and giving you one word responses, he stopped contacting you altogether. You’ve had your heart broken a couple of times; but nothing compared to the pain you felt when you came to the realization that Mark was no longer going to be in your life. Not only were you in the middle of losing your boyfriend, you were also losing your best friend and even if things were to settle down and you were to move on; if that were even possible, there was no way you could ever be friends with him again. Not when he practically ripped your heart out right out of your chest and stepped on it like it was nothing; like you were nothing.

You screamed, cried and even broke a couple of things that he either owned or gave to you. You even had to quit your job and take a year off of school because you weren’t in the right mind to do anything. Losing Mark was a pain you didn’t think you would ever experience because of how well things were going between the two of you. Where did it all go wrong? Everything seemed to be fine just a few days prior to his heartbreaking messages.

When did he decide that he no longer wanted to commit to you and your relationship? You stayed away from everyone you knew; your family, your friends, some classmates you’d talk to every now and then and even some of your coworkers. Not only were you unable to get out of bed every morning, but you could no longer think or feel nor did you have the energy to eat anything. To some outsiders, you’d be considered pathetic. Why would you let something so silly like a break up wreck your entire life? You had so much going for you; why would you allow a boy to do that to you?

But then again, Mark wasn’t just any ordinary boy. He was the love of your life, your safe haven, your best friend. He’s all you’ve ever known and wanted to know for the rest of your life. A month after the breakup, you finally allowed yourself to get out of bed and out of your apartment. It was difficult, but you knew that moping around wouldn’t do you any good. You even began to let your friends in family back in to your life. Since you didn’t want anyone pitying you or worrying about your mental and physical health, you decided to keep the breakup to yourself.

If anybody found out; which you were sure some of your mutual friends would, then you’d let them know that it was okay even if you were on the verge of a mental breakdown almost every single day. When your friends BamBam and Yugyeom came over to spend time with you, Yugyeom made the mistake in blurting our that Mark was seeing someone. If you thought the breakup was already bad enough, hearing that Mark was in a relationship not too long after your breakup felt like a stab to both your back and your heart. It made you wonder, was he cheating on you?

Did he realize that there were other women out there that he could actually be around? Was he that lonely that he needed love from anyone he could get possible? Did he really give up thirteen years of a friendship and relationship for someone he probably just met? It made you question so many different things and brought up so many insecurities. Did he fall out of love with you and if so, when? Was everything he told you months before he left a lie?

Did you really mean that little to him that he didn’t care what would happen to the two of you? You hated him. Never in your life did you would be without Mark. Even before the two of you started dating, you’d always plan out your futures together and he’s told you on multiple occasions that he wanted your houses right next door to each other’s so he could see you every day. You wanted to fly up to Massachusetts and punch him in the face, but what good would that do?

It wouldn’t bring him back to you; wouldn’t change his mind about his decision. If he really loved you, you would’ve been the only girl he’d see himself with and the thought of dating someone else would kill him. If he wanted a break to focus on school, then you’d give it to him. But now, knowing that he was in a relationship with someone else, you wanted nothing more than to remove him completely from your life and you did—or at least tried to.

For the next two years, you were in and out of relationships and at one point, you gave up on any sort of relationship whether it was sexual or platonic completely. Nobody could ever compare to Mark and the way he loved you. Nor would you be able to love anyone or care for anyone the way you did with Mark. He had a hold on your heart; his name, his memories, his touch, his kisses, his handsome face and kind-hearted personality would be forever tattooed on your soul and you didn’t think they would ever be removed anytime soon.

It was almost 2 in the morning and you were sitting on your couch watching reruns of Friends. For some odd reason, you couldn’t find it in yourself to fall asleep. Normally, you’d be exhausted from both work and school, especially because you were taking up extra classes to make up for the semester you took off. However, you’ve been trying for hours to get your well deserved rest and just accepted the fact that sleep would find you when your entire body was ready to do so.

As much as you loved the show, it no longer made you laugh like it used to and it was probably because it was both your’s and Mark’s favorite show to watch together. In fact, you went through all ten seasons in less than a month to the point where you memorize many of the lines. This episode in particular was one of your favorites. Not only was it extremely funny, but Mark even re-enacted the scene where Joey goes and puts on multiple layers of Chandler’s outfits.

It’s been a while since you thought of Mark and thankfully your friends knew not to bring him up, but as the episode went on you couldn’t help but wonder how he was doing. Luckily on most days, you were too caught up in both your studies and your work to even think about him but now that you had free time, your curiosity was getting the best of you. How was he doing? Did he already graduate from college? Was he still dating that girl? Did he have plans on staying in Massachusetts?

You released a frustrated grunt and changed the episode; you couldn’t handle the over thinking and you were sure you’d end up not getting any sleep at all if you continued wondering about your ex-boyfriend. One more episode later and you found yourself finally falling asleep. Before you could completely drift off though, there was a soft knock on your front door that caught your attention.

At first you just assumed your mind was playing tricks on you and that you were hallucinating, but the knocking continued for a few moments and although you hated being rude, whoever was outside must have known what time it was so they should already know there was a huge chance you were sleeping. When the doorbell rang, you released an exasperated sigh and took a couple of moments to get in touch with reality before getting up and making your way to see who was so desperate for your attention at such an ungodly hour.

You had a feeling it was either BamBam or Jackson on one of their drunken stupors; this wouldn’t be the first time they showed up on your porch drunk off their asses. You never understood why they’d come over to your house out of all places at at one point you felt that they were secretly giving your address to their Uber drivers because they could trust you to take care of them. Since you were so out of it, you didn’t take the time to look in the peephole and as soon as you opened your door to see who it was, you really wish you did.

It’s been over two years since you last saw or heard from him and you’ve tried your best to completely push the thought of him and your many years together to the back of your mind. If you were exhausted before opening the door, you were wide awake now and without even thinking, you attempted to slam the door out of reaction to seeing him again. However, Mark had faster reflexes and pushed the door before you could close it entirely.

Everything was happening so fast and your mind was still trying to process his presence. What was he doing there? When did he get back home? Why was he at your place so early in the morning? How did he know where you lived? You weren’t sure what kind of expression you had on your face, but you knew you probably didn’t look too pleased to see him.

But it was only natural and what did he expect after what he did to you? For you to welcome him with open arms as if the last two years didn’t exist? Did he really forget the kind of person you were? During your relationship, he knew you weren’t a force to be reckoned with whether or not he was your boyfriend so now that he was standing outside on your porch for God knows what reason, he had to know that you no longer wanted anything to do with him.

“Y/n—“

“Don’t start with me. What the hell are you doing here Mark?”

Seeing him after two years was pulling both your heart and mind in to multiple directions. You were so confused. Your mind wanted him gone, away from you and your house but your heart wanted nothing more than to invite him inside and see what he was there for. It was if Mark aged backwards; if anything, he looked even younger and more handsome than the last night you saw him and you despised the fact that he was having such a strong effect on your heart. You might have thought you hated him before, but that was because he wasn’t around for you to really feel anything towards him.

Seeing him after two years of being away from him was slowly driving you insane. Why did he have to come back after practically ruining your entire life? It was like he was really out to wreck your entire being. Like he got off of being the reason behind your destruction. When he brought his hand up to the back of his neck and scratched it out of habit, you let out a laugh of disbelief. You’ve known him for more than half of your life; you knew what each and every one of his ministrations meant.

He was either nervous, worried or both. You caught on to this habit the first time he took you out on a date. Even if he’s known you and your family for so long, he was so afraid to ask your dad for permission to date his little girl. He scratched the back of his neck every time your dad brought up having you home by 10 that night and to not even think about taking things further than a peck on the cheek. At the time it was the cutest thing ever but thinking about the memory now made your stomach sore.

“I uh—I’m sorry for bothering you and I know you’re probably going to freak out when I tell you this—but I—I made a huge mistake in breaking up with you and I’m so fucking sorry y/n.” It was if time froze in that moment. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. He regrets the breakup and he’s sorry? It’s been over two years, why all of a sudden did he think it was okay for him to come back after all the heartbreak he put you through? What did he expect was going to happen?

Did he think you’d welcome him back with open arms and start off from where the two of you ended things? Life didn’t work out that way. He couldn’t have you when it was beneficial for him and what was really upsetting you, was knowing that there was a chance you’d allow him to fix things. Mark never did any wrong in your eyes even if he practically ruined your entire being. When he first ended your relationship, you wanted to believe he had a good reason as to why he did so. You just couldn’t believe his shit excuse of a reason and after hearing that he got in to another relationship, it just answered your many questions.

If this was under different circumstances, you’d slap him right across of his face for even thinking he had a right to be at your house right now giving you poor apology. The laugh that fell from your lips both confused and worried Mark. It was obvious that your breakup had a huge toll on you. You lost over twenty pounds, you no longer put effort in to your appearance and you just looked more fragile and broken and Mark never hated himself more than he did in that moment knowing this was all his fault. He didn’t mean for things to go this far; couples broke up all the time but it just showed him how much he must’ve meant to you.

“That’s a joke right? You’re fucking with me right now—look Mark I don’t have time for this bullshit right now I have work in the morning. I’m tired and I made a pact with myself to never get involved with you ever again. You can take your apology and shove it up your ass.”

You weren’t a stranger to seeing Mark cry; he cried the night before he left at the thought of not getting to see you anymore. He cried every now and then when school got too much for him to handle, he cried during Christopher Robin when Pooh couldn’t find his friends, he cried when his grandmother passed away and although the two of you hardly ever fought, there were some arguments that caused him to tear up.

But you weren’t expecting to see him get all worked up over your breakup especially because he was the one to initiate it and because it’s been so long. Unfortunately, you could feel your heart growing heavy at his defeated posture and as much as you wanted to keep up your angry facade, it just didn’t feel right to be so harsh towards him. Even after all the negativity he put you through mentally and physically.

“Mark—“

“I know. I shouldn’t be here. I know it’s probably too late and I’m completely aware that you hate me. I can’t blame you, I’d hate me too. There aren’t any excuses for what I did to you and for everything you had to suffer through because of me and I don’t know what made me come here tonight I just—fuck. I’ve missed you so much y/n. I know that’s going to be hard to believe, especially because we’ve been broken up for over two years now but I need you to understand that these last two years without you, on top of the four months we were still together while I was away were the worst years of my life. There aren’t enough words to describe how sorry I am and how much I hate myself for giving up on us so easily. I thought about you every single day. I wondered how you were doing, if our breakup affected you in any way, if you missed me the way I couldn’t stop missing you, if you moved on, if you finally graduated. I know it was my fault that I no longer knew anything and the guys—they refused to update me on anything. Hell, they stopped contacting me and I only ever heard from them if I started the conversation first.”

You released a snicker before crossing your arms in frustration. One thing that was so convenient about your relationship with Mark was that you had the same circle of friends. It was easier that way. Although Mark knew of them first and he was the reason why you became friends with them, they always seemed to show favoritism towards you. You were like a younger sister to them and you saw them practically every single day.

In fact, they were the reasons why you didn’t end up losing yourself completely after Mark ended things with you. Jackson and BamBam made sure that you were eating and drinking enough liquids to keep your body from becoming malnourished. Jinyoung tried his best to help you with your studies so that you wouldn’t fail and Jaebeom even stayed with you at your apartment to keep you company. Honestly, you don’t know what you did to deserve any of them, but you were extremely grateful for all that they’ve done for you. It wasn’t surprising to hear that they were so hostile towards him.

The minute Jinyoung saw his post about his new girlfriend, he wanted to get on the next plane to Massachusetts and knock some sense in to him. He, along with the rest of your friends saw how much damage the breakup caused you and they hated that he did such an unexpected thing to you.

“Do they know you’re back? How long have you been back for? Is that why you came to see me? Are you here to stay permanently? Is that why you came here to try and apologize? Did you think I was going to forget about everything I had to go through when you broke up with me? You were a fucking coward Mark. You couldn’t even break up with me over the phone, you texted me such a pathetic excuse—what? Did you think that I would take you back so quickly because of our past together? Because we’ve known each other for so long and been through so much together? Did you think I wouldn’t hear about your relationship? From what I heard, you seemed to really like her. So what happened? Did the thrill expire? You got to experience other women and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t what you wanted? Do you know just how much shit you put me through once you decided you no longer wanted to be with me? I blamed myself for our breakup. You made me feel like I wasn’t good enough for you. That I wasn’t worth waiting for. Are you not man enough to handle a long distance relationship? Couldn’t handle not having your dick wet for more than a few months? I’m not who I used to be Mark. You ruined me. You broke me. I don’t know what you expected after coming here tonight, but I have no intention on taking you back.”

The longer you watched him react to your words, you could feel a stab to your chest at each quiver of his lip and furrow of his brow. You hated that you could see the twelve year old boy you developed a crush on all those years ago in his eyes. You hated that you felt sorry for him. He probably went through a lot to find out where you lived and you were mentally cursing whoever gave him your address. But if he went through all that trouble especially if he knew he’d probably get shit from your friends for trying to look for you, you had to give him credit for that.

“I—I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry y/n. I’ll leave. I just—She was a mistake—and our relationship didn’t last long. I know—you probably don’t want to hear it. She just helped fill the void of your absence and I didn’t even like her. She just took my mind off of the distance. She gave me the attention you never failed to give me. I meant for it to be just a friendship and I didn’t break up with you to be with her. I couldn’t handle being away from you and if I could go back in the past, I would’ve stayed and went to college here. I would’ve done anything to keep our relationship what it was. You were—you are the best thing that ever happened to me y/n. Hell, I’d prevent the breakup from happening if I could. I don’t expect anything from you, I really don’t. But I’m still so in love with you and I probably always will be. You’re my soulmate y/n. It took this breakup for me to realize that there’s nobody else for me in this entire world. It’s you. You’re it for me and I’m so mad at myself for not realizing how lucky I was to have you until I fucked it all up and lost you. Even if you decide that there’s no chance for me to come back in to your life. Goodnight y/n. Take care.”

You don’t know what came over you, but seeing him walk away hurt more than the actual breakup itself. You remembered having to go in to therapy because of how the breakup messed with your head. The thought of having to seek therapy because of something you considered to be so stupid made you feel pathetic. Your therapist was a very kind and soft-spoken older woman. She did her best to help you with moving on and had you do all kinds of things to take your mind off of Mark and what could’ve been.

However, the only thing you could’ve done without was how she would indirectly tell you that you were too young to know what love was. To know what heartbreak was. She insinuated that you were too young to really know what a real heartbreak felt like and that you were a fool for letting someone like Mark ruin you but she didn’t know anything other than what you told her.

She didn’t know how Mark was your best friend before he was your boyfriend. She didn’t know how he made you feel as if you were the most beautiful and most important person in the entire world. She didn’t know that you spent almost your entire life with him by your side. She didn’t know what your relationship was like and how you were willing to give up anything and everything in your possession if it meant getting to spend the rest of your life with him. Who was she to say you were too young to know what love actually was? How old did you have to be to know what love was?

You fell in love with Mark before you learned algebra. You fell in love with him before you knew what love even was, but he made it known that he reciprocated those same feelings for you. The two of you were only fourteen when you realized that your feelings for Mark were more than what one should feel for their best friend, but you weren’t all that young to realize the effect Mark had on your heart. The sudden memory of your therapy sessions made you want to let him continue walking away; you meant it when you said you no longer wanted anything to do with him and that he was in your past and you had every intention in keeping him there. But you’d be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t still love him.

No matter how much you wanted to hate him and how long it’s been since he’s been gone, you could never forget your first love. Nor could you let that many years of a friendship go down the drain even if he did it so easily. You’ve always felt like you loved Mark more than he loved you, but that was only because you’d say it more than he did. Mark was never a man of words, he was a man of actions and he never failed to show you he loved you with his actions. He didn’t have to come here tonight; he could’ve left things just the way they were. He didn’t have to say it, you knew he still loved you, which is why you weren’t surprised when you called out his name right before he could completely be out of sight.

“It’s late. I don’t want you driving right now. It’s dangerous. You can—sleep on the couch.” The small smirk that rose on his face didn’t go unnoticed by you, even if he tried to cover it up as soon as he did it and it made your heart leap at the sight. You were a fool for the beautiful man in front of you and although it would take a while for you to forgive him, you were willing to see where things were going to go between you both. If he were to come back months ago, you probably would’ve gave in to him the minute you opened the door but because you were stronger now, you were going to let your mind make the decisions for you.

“It’s fine y/n. Thank you for the offer, but I don’t think it’s a good idea—“

“Neither do I, but there’s a tiny voice inside my head telling me to ask you to stay. I won’t force you to, and don’t think that this means anything. But the offers there on the table if you want it.”

You walked back in to your house and didn’t even see whether or not he was following behind you; but once you heard footsteps on your wooden floor as the door closed, you released a sigh of relief.

“Nice place—when did you buy it?” You shrugged indifferently as you prepared the couch for him to sleep on.

“Five months ago. Jaebeom actually lived with me for a while but I accidentally kissed him one night when I was drunk off of my ass and we decided that it was best for our friendship that he lived somewhere else.”

Although you weren’t looking at him, you were sure he probably wasn’t too happy to hear about you and Jaebeom. Mark was an extremely jealous, overprotective and possessive boyfriend. During your relationship, he was very vocal about how he didn’t like that Jackson would be so touchy towards you and how he didn’t like the way BamBam would try and hold your hand even if it was all in good fun. He also made it known that he was jealous of your friendship with Jaebeom because he felt as if the younger boy harbored feelings for you.

Mark might have been your boyfriend, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t develop feelings for anyone else and he was afraid of losing you to his friend. When you turned around to see his reaction, you smiled softly to yourself once you saw his clenched fists and tightened jaw. You wanted him to feel what you felt the minute you found out he was seeing someone knew. You loved how jealous Mark could get; it proved how much he loved you and how afraid he was to lose you.

“How did you even find out where I live? I’m sure none of the guys told you. They know not to even if I didn’t say anything. I didn’t think you’d come back home and even if you did, I didn’t think you’d want anything to do with me anyway.” He took a seat on your couch and you couldn’t help but imagine what life would’ve been like if the two of you stuck together. You never voiced your thoughts to him about living together, but there were times when you’d stay over at his apartment and your heart would crave getting to go to sleep next to him instead of having to go back to your apartment each morning you stayed the night before.

You couldn’t get over how much he fit in with everything and you soon grew curious about what living with him would be like but it was too late for you to crave for or even think about things like that. You didn’t want to make the situation more awkward than it already was, so you took a seat at your makeshift bar in the kitchen to give yourself a good amount of distance away from him.

“Your mom gave it to me. I was hesitant on even trying to get in touch with her, but I needed to find you. I needed to talk to you. I came here as soon as I landed. I didn’t even think about the consequences or the fact that you didn’t want to see me. I needed to see you again. Your mom talked to me as if nothing was wrong and she told me to tell you that we should gather with our families and have dinner together. Did you not tell her about us?” You shook your head and refused to look at him in case he were to give you an expression you weren’t ready for.

“I don’t know why, but I had a gut feeling that you were going to come back to me one day; or at least I hoped and I prayed that you would. I didn’t want to ruin her opinion of you. My mom thinks the world of you Mark. If she were to find out what you put me through, she would’ve cut off all ties with you and made sure I’d never talk to you again. You know she is. You saw how she was with all my exes and a few of my friends. I was afraid of her doing the same with you and I don’t know why. You deserve it, but I don’t know I guess my heart just wanted to believe that one day you’d come to your senses and realize that you still loved me. It fucking sucked every single time she brought you up in a conversation and talked about us getting married not knowing that we were no longer a couple. Sometimes I forgot that I kept lying to her and it almost slipped that I haven’t talked to you in years. I’m surprised your mom didn’t tell her, they go out for lunch one a week.”

“I didn’t tell my mom either. I didn’t think it was anyone else’s business but our own. I knew shit would go down if she knew, and I didn’t want her pestering you while I wasn’t there to stop her. Wait, so—you um—do you still—can you see us getting back together again? I have no right in asking you such a stupid question but you must still want me if you have yet to tell your mom.”

Honestly, you didn’t know how to respond. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t miss him and that you didn’t want to rekindle your relationship. But that was before he showed up tonight asking you for forgiveness. And you knew you’d never be able to forget what he did even if you did forgive him. Looking at him, you knew you still loved him but you weren’t too sure if you wanted to give him another chance. You’ve worked so hard to get to where you were mentally. Were you really going to let months of therapy, drinking multiple bottles of red wine and finding yourself in bars and clubs trying to get over him go to waste?

Instead of responding, you made your way to your room to get him some clothes and to give yourself a minute to process the entire situation. You still couldn’t believe that he was there in your house sitting on your couch nor could you even fathom the fact that you were allowing him to stay. What had gotten in to you? If any of your friends were to find out what you were doing, they would be extremely disappointed.

There was a time that the guys would fight over who would be the best man at your wedding and everyone knew that the two of you were practically made for one another. However, as soon as Mark made the decision to end your relationship, all of your friends looked at him in a different light. If he handle the break up the right way and explained himself, then maybe they would be a little more understanding. He made things even worse when he jumped into another relationship making it seem as if the breakup didn’t phase him at all.

When you reentered the living room and handed him the sweats and a baggy t-shirt, he quietly thanked you before immediately taking off his shirt. You turned around to prevent yourself from looking at him; during your relationship you would always find yourself staring at your boyfriend in disbelief. For someone with such a skinny frame, he had a nice physique and over the years, he became even more built and if you could see how defined his biceps were with a shirt on, you wouldn’t be able to control yourself when he took it off.

Although you were mad at him and just this entire situation, you were only human and Mark was always the most attractive man in your eyes. His soft chuckle did wonders on your heart and once you turned around, you wanted to slap the cocky smirk that was now on his face.

“What’s so funny?” He shrugged.

“I don’t know why you’re so shy, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” You playfully rolled your eyes at his comment although, if you had the choice you would definitely continue looking.

“Whatever. Goodnight Mark. My room is right down the hall if you need me. But, try not to.” You began returning to your room until you heard him whisper something you were sure you wouldn’t have heard if you took a few more steps.

“Please don’t give up on us.” You decided not to make it known that you heard him and that his words were making a mess of your mind the longer they repeated in your head. He was right; it was a bad idea to ask him to stay over.

He hasn’t even been in your house for half an hour and you were already on the verge of crying. This was all too much for you to take in and you were afraid of what was going to happen in the morning. Your heart was racing a mile a minute and your mind was filled with thoughts of Mark and everything the two of you have been through. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for sleep to take over and soon you were off in dreamland.

“Mark—get over here! Ugh, it was the guys’ idea to come out tonight and they’re the ones who got you piss drunk so why am I having to suffer trying to take care of you?”

Today was the last day of finals and to celebrate, Jackson suggested the eight of you go out drinking. You should’ve tried harder to coerce Mark in to staying home, but the older boy needed this well deserved break just like the rest of his friends did. Since he took his last final today, you knew he wanted to relax and let loose and who better to celebrate with than your girlfriend and your six best friends? Anyone who knew your boyfriend was completely aware of how much of a lightweight he was.

Drink after drink, your friends; Jackson and BamBam in particular kept sending beers and shots of vodka Mark’s way and before any of you could think about the negative outcome of Mark taking down soju bombs, his high pitch laughter echoed throughout the bar and you felt embarrassed when you saw practically everyone’s eyes turn towards your table. Mark would not stop laughing to the top of his lungs. This always happened whenever the older boy had a little too much to drink. Normally he was good with his alcohol intake but tonight was a whole other story.

He didn’t want to seem like a weakling in front of the guys and that’s why you hated going out with your friends whenever alcohol was involved. Jackson and BamBam were infamous for talking the rest of the guys in to drinking till they threw up and because Mark never backed down from a challenge, it normally got him in to a lot of trouble. You decided that it was time for the two of you to go home and when you asked the guys for help, they immediately brought Mark outside and said their goodbyes, but none of them offered to take him home.

However, they were all pretty drunk off of their asses and you were sure they only invited you out because they knew Mark would get home safely with you around. One of the only things you could do without when it came to Mark was how clumsy and touchy he could get when he was plastered. You called for a taxi and tried your best to hold him up but he kept tripping on nothing and he even ended up falling to the ground and pulling you with him.

“Mark! What the hell?!”

“Shit I’m sorry baby—why are we on the floor y/n it’s dirty—“ Once all the guys were to get over their hangovers, you knew they wouldn’t hear the end of it. Mark was leaving in less than a month and this was not the way you wanted to spend your last few days with him.

“I love you y/n. I love you so much—y/nnnnn—you’re so beautiful baby—so pretty—I love youuuuuu-“ You couldn’t help but giggle no matter how frustrated you were with him; he was such a child at heart and it was even more prominent every time he would drink.

“Mark, stop. You’re drunk.”

“And you’re extremely sexy—what? I’m just stating facts. Baby, say it back. Tell me you love me.”

“Mark—“

“Please. I need you to say that you love me. Don’t forget about me when I leave—please. I’ve been debating on leaving for the longest time—I can’t lose you y/n—you—you’re all—everything—all that I need—to me.”

His words were slurred, but each word sent a pang of hurt to your chest. He sounded so genuine and even if there was a chance he wouldn’t remember anything in the morning, you knew there was no way you would ever forget the gut wrenching look in his eyes as he begged you not to give up on him. Instead of answering; especially because you were so close to crying at his heartfelt words, you pulled him in to a fleeting kiss.

Although all you could taste on his lips was the cheap tequila and salt that was on the rim of his shot glass, you found yourself melting at the sensation of his soft lips against yours. This kiss was different than most of the ones shared between the two of you. While most of his kisses were rough and passionate; as if the world were to end and he needed to prove to you how much he loved you each and every single time, this kiss was softer, gentler in a way you were quite used to.

Especially because Mark’s dominant side came out whenever he was under the influence but you weren’t complaining. It’s as if you could feel what he wanted to say through the kiss. To your dismay, he pulled away right as he began shoving his tongue down your throat and the whimper that fell from your lips made him giggle in to the crook of your neck.

“I wanna show you exactly what you mean to me. Tonight. Are you alright with that?” If this was any other time, you would’ve said no although sex with Mark whenever one of you were drunk was always such a fun and wild experience. Even more so when both of you had a little too much to drink; but because the time for him to leave was just right around the corner, you wanted to have him to yourself as much as you possibly could. You nodded against his chest and leaned your cheek right against his heart.

“Hearts are a funny thing don’t you think? Some people say hearts are the reason why we’re alive, but that’s because they haven’t met you. You’re the reason for my existence baby, don’t you dare forget it.” You playfully rolled your eyes and scoffed as you tightened your grip around his lower back.

“How is it that you’re drunk as hell yet so fucking cheesy. Only you Mark Tuan.” He gave you a wide grin before letting you out from his embrace and tipsily running in to the street. Your eyes practically jumped out of your head at his sudden movement and you made your way towards him. How could someone have so much energy with all that alcohol in their system?

“Mark, get over here! Are you crazy?”

“Yeah, crazy for you! Dance with me y/n.” As silly as he looked, flailing his arms back and forth like a bird, you didn’t want to have to end up in the emergency room because of his drunken antics. He was quick to pout when you tugged at his wrist and pulled him back in to the sidewalk, but he allowed you to do so. Mark might have not been completely there, but he knew not to upset you. Finally after what felt like hours, the taxi driver pulled up to you and your boyfriend and you all but gently forced Mark in to the taxi.

As you gave the driver directions back to Mark’s apartment and helped buckle him in, he rested his head on your shoulder. He intertwined your fingers together and stole a chaste kiss from the corner of your mouth while murmuring a quiet apology against your lips. Once the driver dropped you both off to Mark’s apartment structure, it took you almost fifteen minutes to drag him up to his unit.

He fell asleep not too long after you drove off from the bar and you released the longest sigh of relief as soon as you opened his door. You continued the trek to his room and plopped him on to the bed with intentions of changing out of your dress.

So much for drunk sex.

You tried your best to remove your make up and change in to one of his shirts as fast as you possibly could in order to make sure he was still breathing, but you had nothing to worry about when you walked back in to his room. He was out like a light. You decided to leave him be, he’d just have to deal with his hungover state once he woke up in the morning. You turned off the lights and found your place next to him.

Out of habit, you pulled him in to your body and left soft kisses along his face. These last few weeks have been some of the hardest weeks of your entire life and you tried to lie to yourself thinking it was because of school. But deep down you knew it was because Mark was leaving. There was nothing you could say or do to stop him; well, you knew if you were to ask him to stay he would. However, you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself knowing you were the reason Mark didn’t get to follow and achieve his dreams.

“I’m not going anywhere Mark. I’m yours. Forever.” Not too long after that dream, more memories from your past with Mark began popping up in your mind; but why now? It wasn’t like you’ve never dreamt about him since the breakup, but it seemed as if your heart was trying to pressure you in to taking him back. Memories of your first date and how Mark sneaking stole a kiss from your lips as the two of you were eating ice cream to the first time you made love with one another replayed over and over and you wanted to scream.

You could still hear him whispering sweet nothings in to your ear while he loved on each and every one of your body parts. You could still remember the way he would touch you as if you were a masterpiece. He never failed to make you feel like the most beautiful and ethereal human being in the entire world with just his touch alone. The next dream was one that you had no memory of and you couldn’t put your finger to where you were.

All you saw were white walls and a bunch of balloons tied to flower baskets. It was then that you heard a soft cry of a baby and when you looked down, there was the most breathtaking little infant in your hands. As you caressed the baby’s cheek, you felt someone running their fingers through your hair and when you looked up, you saw Mark looking at you with so much love and adoration in his eyes.

This was all you ever wanted from the beginning of your relationship with Mark. To settle down and start a family with him. To have little Marks or mini versions of yourself running around your house. To go on family trips, have family game nights and spend as much time with your little family. As quickly as that dream came, it went with a snap of your finger.

This last dream was more of a nightmare and although you were fast asleep, you remembered this memory as if it was yesterday. Dropping off Mark to the airport. It had to be one of the worst days of your life. Not only did the car ride feel extremely long, but as soon as you walked with his family and your group of friends to his gate, you felt like you were going to throw up.

“Hey, don’t cry y/n. I’ll be back. In the mean time baby, take good care of yourself for me please? God, what am I going to do without you? I love you y/n. I love you, I love you, I love you. I’ll call you as soon as I land. I expect five pictures a day of your beautiful self. It won’t be long until you’re back in my arms again. Until then baby.”

That was the last time you shared a kiss together; the last time you hugged him and felt his warm embrace. The arms that once were your home was now just a memory. As you watched him walk through security, the cries fell from the back of your throat and you didn’t even realize you sank to your knees until BamBam and Jinyoung joined you on the ground.

You stood up and attempted to run towards him, but soon the dream changed and you were in the dark. You couldn’t see anything and you felt so scared. This is what your life felt like without Mark. Scary. Pitch black. Empty. Unnerving.

You ran in circles and began screaming; however, you were no longer dreaming and it became adamant that you were now wide awake and so was the man who was haunting your dreams. Feeling his hands grip at your arms as he started to shake you felt foreign. It’s been so long since he’s touched you, and this wasn’t exactly what you had in mind when you’d think about having Mark’s hands on you again. You couldn’t see him, nor could you hear him but you were sure he was yelling and trying to break you out of your little breakdown.

“Y/n, hey, wake up y/n. Y/n, it’s just a dream. Shhhh, it’s okay. I’m here, shhh—come here.” You didn’t have the strength or energy to push him away and allowed him to pick you up and rock you back and forth. Since you were still in such a haze, you didn’t even feel the gentle kiss he left on your forehead but you knew that you loved being back in his arms and you were sure you’d allow him to hold you even if you came to your senses.

After a couple of moments and giving yourself the chance to recollect your thoughts, you sat up and got off from his lap; making your way back to your previous spot in bed. You turned around to face him yet you couldn’t look directly at him. He’d know what you were probably freaking out over just by the expression in your eyes and you refused to let him know that he was still on your mind even after all this time.

The two of you sat in silence for a few minutes; you had nothing to say yet Mark wanted to spill everything. He wanted you to know how much he regrets leaving you, how he wishes he just stayed back if it meant the two of you would still be together, how hearing you scream made his heart sink to his chest and how he didn’t hesitate to run in and check to see if you were okay even if you were to push him away.

“Are you—are you okay?” When you didn’t say anything, he took that as his sign to leave but right as he began to stand up, you did the unthinkable. It was probably your heart acting for you, but as soon as you felt his lips melding in to yours, you felt your body go up in flames. He didn’t hesitate to kiss back as soon as you brought your lips up to his and he was quick to bring you on to his lap as if the two of weren’t apart for the last two years.

His lips felt foreign yet all too familiar and you allowed yourself to continue giving in to him. There weren’t any red flags going off in your mind as you thought there would be and you knew that this time was different. Those dreams awoken something inside of you. After getting to experience what your future with Mark would be like, you didn’t want to spend a future with anyone else other than the beautiful man who was currently kissing you as if his life depended on it.

It was going to take a while for you to forgive him, but you were willing to give him another chance. It was Mark for crying out loud. You would do anything he asked of you, no matter how stubborn and prideful you were. He pulled away when he felt things were getting too heavy and placed his forehead against yours. You both took some time to catch your breath and he placed his forehead against yours while reaching for your hand.

“Y/n—“

“No. Not right now. We’ll talk in the morning. I want to go back to sleep.”

He nodded in understanding and allowed you to climb off of his lap. He brushed some of your hair back and gently pinched your cheek as a sign of affection that he used to do to you all the time. Since he didn’t know what you were feeling or thinking in that moment, he intended to make his way back in to the living room but you had other plans. When he felt you reach for his hand and pulled him back in to bed with you, he couldn’t stop the cheeky smile that rose on his face and you wanted nothing more than to kiss that stupid smile away.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I thought you’d want to be alone.” You let out a quick scoff before wrapping your arms around his neck and leaving a soft kiss on his jaw.

“Well you thought wrong asshole. Don’t go.” His laughter echoed throughout the room causing butterflies to erupt in your tummy. You knew when the guys were to find out what had happened tonight that there was a chance they’d be upset with you, but you didn’t care. Everyone and their mothers knew just how much Mark meant to you and you’d be stupid to push him out of your life forever. You’d sort things out in the morning but for right now, you were going to allow things to progress with the two of you. This was the first time in years that you felt safe and genuinely happy right before you went to sleep and you knew it had everything to do with Mark. As your eyes began to close, his last few words made your heart flutter.

“You have nothing to worry about baby. I’m here to stay.”

But I knew you Playing hide-and-seek and Giving me your weekends I, I knew you Your heartbeat on the High Line Once in twenty lifetimes, I And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed You put me on and said I was your favorite To kiss in cars and downtown bars Was all we needed You drew stars around my scars But now I'm bleeding 'Cause I knew you Stepping on the last train Marked me like a bloodstain, I I knew you Tried to change the ending Peter losing Wendy I, I knew you Leaving like a father Running like water, I When you are young, they assume you know nothing But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs The smell of smoke would hang around this long 'Cause I knew everything when I was young I knew I'd curse you for the longest time Chasing shadows in the grocery line I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired And you'd be standing in my front porch light And I knew you'd come back to me You'd come back to me And you'd come back to me And you'd come back And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed You put me on and said I was your favorite

#got7 imagines #got7 #mark tuan #got7 mark #mark tuan imagines

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alexiessan · 5 years

Text

Never alone - Chapter Two - Soulmate AU

AO3

Previous - Here - Next

Master List

Hello! Faster than ever before, I present you the second chapter of Never Alone!

I chose to not describe Marinette with her clothes or hairstyle so that you can imagine her as you want! In my mind, since she's a fashion designer, I imagine her always changing her clothes and very fashionable. I don't see her with her pigtails either. But it's up to you as to how you see her!

Also, I'm French, so if there are any grammatical mistakes, do not hesitate to tell me so I can come back and correct them!

Two months in the new school year, and Marinette was already exhausted. While she had a very calm summer filled with outings with her friends, she was now drowning in work. Jagged wanted her to design his newest album cover, and Clara Nightingale has asked for a new outfit for a music video.

At school, Alya and Marinette were doing their best to find a good trip for the end of the year. The school had a decent amount of money that was set aside specifically for their class trip, but they would need to organize an event or two if they wanted to go somewhere outside of Europe. They were lucky enough that their class’ trip was set for their first year of high school: Mrs. Mendelieiv’s class’ trip was set for the next year, right before the first set of exams for the baccalaureat.

Along with all that, there was also her duty as Ladybug. Hawkmoth has been relatively calm during the summer, but as soon as school started again in September, he released his akumas again.

Except, now, they were more brutal than ever before.

Ladybug cursed as the Akuma managed to deeply cut her on her left side. She watched as Chat jumped in as she collapsed on the roof they were battling. True to his promise, Chat took his job more seriously and only joked during patrols now. He also stopped to jump mindlessly in front of her to save her from a hit and actually tried to get both of them out of the way.

The Akuma they were fighting was a dangerous one. His arm has been transformed into two big shears, and they hurt like hell.

Ladybug watched with fascination as her hand was tainted with her own blood. She couldn’t remember if an Akuma had hurt her that much before… She knew for sure that she was bleeding too heavily and she was getting a bit dizzy. They would need to end the fight very soon.

Standing up, she took advantage of the distraction Chat provided to trip the Akuma with her yoyo, succeeding in tripping him. Quickly, Chat snatched the man’s bow and used cataclysm on it.

As she cleansed the Akuma and watched the light heal Paris and herself as she cast the cure, the red-clothed superhero couldn’t help but think it was time to contact the Justice League again.

Back when they got their miraculous, she and Chat had contacted the Justice League of Europe to ask for help. They were just teenagers without any training entrusted to protect a whole city as big as Paris, and it was clear to them they couldn’t possibly do that alone.

The person they had talked to at the moment had listened to them, took note and told them they would come back to them after informing the heroes of the issue in Paris. It was a month later that one of the heroes contacted them, informing them they would not intervene in Paris, as they have been doing a good job up until now and the miraculous cure healed everyone and repaired everything. They then give them words of encouragement before they cut the connection.

Ladybug had then wanted to contact the Justice League of America before remembering they wouldn’t be able to do anything as France was certainly not under their jurisdiction.

And thus, there they were, still two untrained teenagers, acting on instinct against people with magic powers.

Great.

She let Chat take care of the victim, still feeling the pain on her left side, even though it was healed and there was not a trace of blood left on her person.

“Are you ok?”

Ladybug watched as the victim was taken care of by some policemen and turned her attention to her partner.

“I’m fine Chat. Sorry I had to let you handle everything.”

“Hey, you were hurt and losing a lot of blood. It’s a wonder you could even stand up afterward.”

The girl smiled. “Should we try to contact the JLE again?”

Chat Noir sighed. “Even though they won’t intervene, they are watching closely what’s happening here. If they haven’t decided to step in yet, contacting them won’t change anything LB.”

Ladybug sighed. “You’re right. Of course. I should go Chat, I’m about to transform back.”

“Sure thing. I’ll see you later, then.”

Back in her room, Marinette winced as she sat down on her bed.

“Are you really ok Marinette?”

Tikki was looking at her with her big, wide blue eyes. She was obviously worried.

“I’m fine, just a bit sore. I’m lucky that the cure healed me, but I think I’ll still feel the pain for a few days.”

While the cure healed her, the pain stayed for some time after, varying on the severity of the injury. Since her latest injure was pretty severe, it would hurt for a little while.

“Alright, I still have some homework to do for tomorrow. You should eat something and go to sleep Tikki, you must be tired after today. There should be a cookie or two on my desk.”

The kwami looked at her for a moment before flying over her desk, knowing it was useless to insist and there wasn’t anything she could do anyway. Even if she wished she could take Marinette’s pain away.

“Alright girl, you said you found something for the trip?”

It was early December now, and Marinette had asked Alya to join her in the school library to discuss the trip. The fashion designer took the laptop out of her bag and opened it to show her what she found.

“So, you know how the trip also has to be educational? This is the Wayne Career Program. It’s designed for high school students. Each one of us would shadow someone in the firm as a sort of internship to learn about different professions.”

“Putain, girl! That’s amazing. Wayne Enterprises have a lot of different sectors. I could totally work with the PR team if we can manage to secure a trip there. Plus it’s in Gotham, in America!”

Alya literally squealed at the idea of traveling overseas.

“Yeah, I’m a bit worried about that actually. You know it’s not really the safest place on Earth.”

And what an understatement that was. Gotham was probably the city with the most crimes in the world. It would be a miracle if the school allowed them to go. But then again, the school board would do anything to up their reputation and a class winning an internship at WE… The principal would boast about it years after they had all graduated.

“There is an essay we have to write to apply. I suggest we write it before we present the idea to Ms. Bustier. We also need to prepare arguments for her and the school board.”

“No problem girl, I already have tons of arguments there.” The reporter showed her her notebook where there were two pages filled with arguments. The class president nodded, those were really good. She could really rely on her friend.

“Well, that was quick. Those should be enough to convince them. On to the essay, then. ‘How do you think you can change the world?’”

They spent hours after that, taking notes and making several drafts of the essay. It took them a week to have the actual final product and when they handed it to Ms. Bustier, she was delighted. It was decided they wouldn’t announce the destination of the trip to the class until they were sure it could be a possibility.

Alya and Marinette had dropped hints about the destination though, to see if the class would actually like to go to Gotham.

After a week or so, they knew they had chosen well.

On Marinette’s birthday, on the 16th of December, after lunch where the whole class sang Happy birthday to her, the class president and the class deputy had a meeting with the principal and the board of the school.

It was tough to convince them, and the meeting actually lasted the whole afternoon, but at the end of the day, they had all signed the papers that confirmed that the trip would happen in Gotham, should the two girls won the contest. They even agreed to unfreeze some more funds for it. This program would really look good on the school’s record.

It was with a bright smile that they returned to class ten minutes before the end of the day bell and announced to everyone that the trip to Gotham has been confirmed. Using the classroom’s computer, the whole class witness as the two girls applied to the Wayne Career Program.

Now, all they had to do was wait for an answer.

Life after that was a bit calmer for Marinette, if you didn’t count the Akumas. She worried that they were more and more violent, and more often than not, she had lingering pain from injuries she got at Ladybug.

But life was good. Lila had even stopped lying and was herself. Even if it means that she wasn’t very kind to anyone, even mocking all of them at times, the class would just scoff and roll their eyes at her antics. The designer still wouldn’t talk to her, but the atmosphere in the class was lighter than the previous year, and for that Marinette was grateful.

They were all at an outdoor ice rink at the end of January when Marinette’s phone beeped with a notification.

“Oh fucking shit, guys!”

It caught everyone’s attention as the tiny Dupain-Cheng was not one to curse like that.

“I just got an email for Mr. Wayne’s secretary! Our class is among the nine others to have won the contest! We are going to Gotham in May!”

Everyone cheered at that, hugging each other and even going as far as carrying Marinette and Alya around, as it was their doing.

“America, here we come!” shouted Kim.

“You do realize that you will have to work extra hard on your English, right?” teased Max.

“Oh, shit.”

Everyone laughed at that, but it was agreed among themselves and their English teacher that they would all stay for an hour and a half after school to learn the language, up until their trip.

“I can’t wait to see Gotham’s heroes in action!” squealed Alya.

“Aren’t they vigilantes?” asked Mylène.

“Same thing!”

“Not quite, babe.” grinned Nino.

Even Lila was smiling with them, and it was huge progress in their book.

Marinette smiled, “We’ll be there for two weeks. The first week, we’ll be visiting around, and the second week will be dedicated to our internships. I will have to send a list of all our careers of interest to Mr. Wayne’s secretary, so they can organize who we will be shadowing. So, I’ll need you to send me those pieces of information this weekend, so I can send it on Monday, okay?”

“Roger that, boss.”

As Alya took her hand to skate with her around the rink, the baker’s daughter couldn’t help the huge smile on her lips. A year ago, there was a lot of tension in the class, and here they were, all laughing together and talking excitedly about the upcoming trip that their class president and deputy won them.

She could hear Rose talking excitedly about the things she wanted to see in Gotham. She watched as Kim challenged Alix on God knows what and laughed as Max stated that he had a two-percent chance of winning that bet. She smiled as Adrien, with them at an outing for once, fell on his butt and Nino laughed as he helped him up. She even grinned as she watched Lila having a conversation with Nathaniel without being mean or mocking him once.

She had thought a year before that Lila would never change, but she was wrong. And she was happy that she had been, because even though Lila wasn’t very nice, well, all her classmates were kind enough to make up for it.

Yeah, Marinette thought with a smile, life was good. And she had a feeling that it would be even better.

Tag list:

@bigpicklebananatree @animegirlweeb @crazylittlemunchkin @northernbluetongue @cutechip @justafanwarrior @iloontjeboontje @resignedcatservant

#ml x dc #miraculous x dc #maribat #daminette #maridami #damian x marinette

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hateswifi · 5 years

Text

Rising from the Ashes: Of Galas and Fires

So this is Part two here is to my Master List and Part One. Enjoy

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

When she woke up to the bright light peeking through her windows the next morning she decided to get up and go to the park to design. Near lunchtime, a shadow fell over her. "Hey Mar," Chloe greeted, looking down at her bluenette friend. "You realize its one and you probably haven’t been responsible by eating anything today."

"Hey Chloe, no I didn't realize it was that late and no I haven’t eaten anything," Marinette said, looking at her phone. "Since we're already going to be at your hotel, can we just turn it into a sleepover?"

"Ya sure, why not. I'll call up Kagami and tell her to bring her stuff. Movie marathon and spa night?" Chloe asked now sitting as she looked through contacts. Marinette nodded in agreement. “Hey Blueberry, I’m here with Mar. We want to have a sleepover after the gala. Yes, movies and spa. Cool, gala starts at six-thirty to around ten o’clock tonight. Bye love you!” Chloe finished hanging up.

“Cool want to head to your house for lunch?” Chloe asked, standing up.

“Ya mama made quiches don’t worry spinach and feta,” Marinette said standing up and holding arms with Chloe. They take a nice but short walk to the bakery. “Mama I’m home and I brought Chloe,” Marinette greeted as she entered.

“It’s good to see you. We, Tom and I, are going to the gala tonight,” Sabine said, hugging the two girls.

“So mama you know how I’m hanging out with Kagami, Luka, and Adrien during the gala because Kagami and Adrien’s parent won’t let them go,” Marinette said as Sabine nodded. “Well, we all want to sleepover at Chloe’s after the gala are we allowed to?”

“Of course it’s nice that you’re staying with your friends. I’m sorry you couldn’t get out of It Chloe,” Sabine said, looking sympathetically at the girl she started to see as a daughter.

“I’ve learned to deal with it. Anyways, after I get to hang out with my family,” Chloe says with a smile.

“Awww, Chloe!” Marinette said hugging her. “We’re going to steal your quiches bye, Mama!”

After eating the quiches it was already three. They were watching Yuri on Ice, Adrien had gotten the miraculous squad into it and anime in general.

“Hey, Chlo, I’m going to grab my night bag. Tomorrow morning, want to go shopping for the winter social? It’s next week?” Marinette asked, standing.

“Sure Mar, but I don’t know why you’re worrying over it, you already graduated. I don’t understand why you don’t just take a break from the stupid people we call our classmates. Also, can you come to the hotel before to help me with my makeup?” Chloe asked, standing up and turning off the t.v.

“You know the only reason I’m still in school is that I’m class president,” Marinette sighed, taking their quiche plates to the kitchen. “And I didn’t want to be accused of wanting attention.”

“Well Mar, I’m proud of you. I’m going to head to the hotel to shower and by the time you get there I should be out and maybe dressed, depending on how I feel,” Chloe said, waving bye to her friend.

Marinette climbed to her room and grabbed the essentials like her hairbrush, two outfits, always prepared for a disaster, a toothbrush, her favorite color nail polish, her super cute and comfy pajamas, and a fluffy blanket. She also stuffed the Miracle Box in her bag; she never leaves more than twelve hours without it. She grabbed most of her cash; she was hoping to buy some fabrics. She also grabbed her stash of snacks for the movie night.

“Bye, Mama!” Marinette said leaving the house, but she didn’t hear her mama’s response and her papa went out to buy Sabine flowers. She didn’t worry about it, she’ll see them tomorrow after shopping.

When she got to the hotel, she was let inside because Chloe and Marinette are now friends. She found Chloe’s room within the maze-like halls and entered. She took a seat on Chloe’s bed after she dropped all her stuff. She had fallen asleep but woke up when her vision flashes orange and she wakes up to Chloe standing by her bathroom door in a white fluffy bathrobe.

“Mar, you ok?” Chloe asked, stepping closer to Marinette as she pats her golden-blonde hair dry.

“Ya it was just a weird dream,” she answered, sitting up. “You want me to help with hair and makeup?”

“Yes, your makeup style makes me look naturally beautiful and would you be able to put my hair in the braided bun,” Chloe said as she dries her hair.

“Ok,” Marinette said, standing up. “I’m going to do three French braids into a princess bun.” After she finished Chloe’s hair she started working on her makeup. Thankfully Chloe had stopped wearing the super pigmented blue eyeshadow; she toned it down for more natural color. “And you’re all done. Do you want to get changed now and have a small snack before the gala?” Marinette asked, appreciating her handy work.

"Let's have a small snack before I get changed. I have cookies here for Tikki if she would like them," Chloe said, pulling off the cover to the cookie plate.

"Thank you, Chloe!" Tikki said, flying over to grab a cookie. Pollen was already sitting on the plate eating some honey.

“Want a smoothie as your snack, the one I ordered is blueberry, and honey," Chloe said, putting a straw in her cup. She had grown accustomed to honey after Pollen started staying with her permanently. "But I'm going to guess you would like a strawberry smoothie." Marinette nodded in agreement.

After they had finished their smoothies, Chloe got changed into her baby blue shoulderless dress with a puffy skirt that landed around the knee. Marinette had made this dress for her friend's birthday a couple of months prior and it would be the first event she would wear it to. This was an MDC original.

A couple of years ago Marinette started selling her designs to people like her Uncle Jagged, Clara Nightingale, and people had fallen in love with the designs, so much so that Gabriel requested a line with her. She had created the line and it had been a big hit. She put most of the money in her bank account. The money would help her parents if she had died as Ladybug, but if they weren't around to collect it the money would be split up amongst her friends, except for Adrien after he refused.

"Mar, you gotta get going my daddy will be here soon to escort me down," Chloe said, breaking her out of the past.

"Oh yeah I also have to get going I'm supposed to be meeting the rest of the miraculous team at the Eiffel Tower," Marinette said then transformed. "Chloe, you look extra pretty tonight." Ladybug and Chloe hugged until they heard a knock on her door, her dad was there to pick her up. They broke away and Ladybug jumped off the balcony and ran towards the Eiffel Tower. When she dropped everyone was already waiting for her.

"Hey, Mar. Do you think I can drop my stuff in Chloe's room before heading down?" Ryuko asks, switching her bag to her other shoulder.

"Ya you don't want to show up at the gala with your bag, that would be weird," Ladybug answered, hugging the rest of the group. "You all ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Viperon grumbled, not wanting to be stuck at a stuffy gala all night.

"Don't worry about it the pain only lasts for the first couple hours," Chat jokes, then jumped towards the hotel.

They all wait on the roof of the hotel for Ryuko to come back so they could enter together as a squad. They heard Ryuko join them so the miraculous team jumped down towards the red carpet entrance that was surrounded by paparazzi. Flashes from the cameras blind the heroes as microphones were shoved in their faces.

“Chat! Are you and Ladybug dating?”

“Who is Hawkmoth? Is it true you know who he is?”

“Are you guys gonna keep being heroes?”

“What is your statement towards Hawkmoth if he is watching tonight?”

“Viperon! are you in love with Ladybug? Do you and Chat secretly despise each other because of it?”

"Who are you all really behind the masks?"

They ignore the questions and enter inside where clapping began as soon as they entered applause broke out throughout the room. They saw all of Paris there to celebrate and raise money to help people in need. Ladybug smiled knowing that she helped make these people happier and safer. She picks her parents out in the sea of faces, that she and her friends stood in front of, and is happy to see them enjoying themselves. She also saw her classmates everyone was fawning over Lila’s ‘MDC’ original dress, specially made just for her. She also noticed Chloe approaching the group.

“My dress is an actual MDC dress because I actually know her. That’s right, MDC is a girl and her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Chloe said, spinning to show off her dress.

“That’s a lie. Why would I lie about this beautiful dress?” Lila said, crying.

“Because your life sucks,” Chloe stated, crossing her arms.

Gabriel walked over to the girls, hearing the conversation of his prodigy. “You’re talking about MDC?”

“Yes, Mr. Agreste, he’s quite nice, right? He could also be a model with his looks as well,” Lila cooed.

“I believe you mean, Miss Dupain-Cheng. She is quite nice and talented. Chloe, I saw your dress as she was working on it and it turned out quite nicely,” Gabriel said, confirming Chloe’s statement.

“Oh I’m sorry I must have been thinking of MAC,” Lila lied while glaring at Chloe before anyone could question.

“Of course you did,” Chloe fakes a laugh while brushing her off. All of Lila’s group genuinely laughs along with Chloe.

As time went on, she saw many people, by now her parents were long gone. The number of people was starting to dwindle all that was left is quiet chatter. That made it quite easy to hear the news reporter, who had been standing near the heroes.

“There was a fire three dead, two bodies were recovered,” the reporter said. “Now sending you to the scene.”

The heroes immediately left the gala. They saw the lights and realized it was Mar’s house. Her parents had been home. They saw police and firefighters there along with paramedics.

“What’s the situation,” Viperon asked, landing along with the rest of the team.

“Three dead only two bodies were found though,” the fire chief informed the heroes. “We couldn’t find the daughter’s body. We think since she was smaller all that’s left is ash. The parents' bodies were recovered. The cause of the fire a silk dress left to dry by the stove, but was too close and caught fire.”

“Are we sure the parents are gone and how do we know the daughter was home?” Ladybug asked in a more timid voice than normal.

“There bodies are bad, they’re on a stretcher over there and she wasn’t at the gala. We found something that looked like could have been remnants of her,” the paramedic answered.

“Anyone know about their family situation?” Officer Raincomprix, Sabrina’s dad, asked the four young heroes.

“Besides one of Tom’s parents, who live here in Paris, and the other who travels and all of Sabine’s family from China there’s no one else,” Ryuko responded, looking to the stretchers.

“Anything salvageable?” Ladybug asked, trying to gain control of her emotions.

“There’s a safe with some stuff inside, Chat can you open it?” Officer Raincomprix asked.

Chat shows some hesitation, subtly looking towards Ladybug for confirmation, which she gave. “Yes show me where.”

“It’s already out here, we don’t want anyone else entering. The building is too unstable and will probably collapse soon,” the fire chief said leading them to a medium-size safe that must have taken two guys to move.

Chat opens it with cataclysm, which he learned to control to smaller places, only breaking the lock itself. Inside was all three of the family’s wills. Marinette’s will surprised everyone because she was so young. She had written hers a couple of months after becoming the beloved hero, Ladybug. She wanted to make sure everything was sorted and hopefully helpful for her parents. Her will reads:

‘If I die an untimely death, everything I own goes to my parents. If they are no longer here with me, then everything that I have is to be split up between my friends. Specifically Chloe, Kagami, Luka, and Adrien. If they are unwilling or not around donate it to a children’s charity.’

Her parents' will said:

‘Everything is to go to our daughter, Marinette Ann Dupain-Cheng. This includes our bakery and bank accounts. If our death comes before she’s an adult her Grandfather Dupain, Tom’s father has stated he would take her in and support her until she can support herself. If something happened to Marinette with us, follow her written will.’

Her grandmother’s pearl necklace and earrings were placed in a traditional Chinese jewelry box along with her grandmother’s engagement ring. There were also many family photos starting from Tom and Sabine’s wedding, all the way up to Marinette’s graduation. There was also quite a lot of money, but that was not too important at the moment.

The heroes disappeared after that, leaving for Chloe’s room. Everyone was silent in shock. When they arrived Chloe was already there looking at her friend worriedly: she had heard everything from the reporter after the heroes had left. “Hey Mar, it’s okay to cry. You just lost everything and everyone thinks you’re dead,” Chloe said, rubbing her back in a hug.

“You’re right,” she paused, letting out a cry. “Everyone thinks I’m dead. I have nothing left here, I can start a new life somewhere else. Maybe America.”

“Mar that’s the grief talking,” Luka said, joining in the hug.

“I have no family left here, my classmates hate me, I already graduated, and you guys know I’m alive. I have the Miracle Box, which has the horse miraculous meaning I can stay in touch with you guys. You can give a statement I’m retiring as Ladybug and everything will... be.. fine,” she said, crying into Luka’s shoulder.

“Mari, don’t make a decision tonight, at least wait till we can collect everything to give to you and after the funeral,” Adrien reasoned walking to the side to hug her, Chloe and Luka.

“You can wear a mask, black wig, and grey contacts and say you’re a cousin or something,” Kagami said, finishing the group hug.

“Chloe, Honey?” came a knock and call from the other side of the door.

“Mar, Luka, Adrien get in the closet,” Chloe whispered all breaking away and pushing them towards the door.

“Why us?” Adrien asked as he stuck his hand out to stop the door.

“No boys in my room without daddy’s knowledge,” Chloe said, running back towards Kagami.

“Come in,” Kagami called.

“Ummm... Chloe, Kagami, your friend's house had a fire tonight and neither of her parents or Marinette made it out,” Mayor Bourgeois said, slowly.

“No.. No! That can’t be true! She was just supposed to grab something. She said she would be right back!” Chloe screamed, falling to the ground Kagami following to rub her back and cry.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. The funeral will be held next week,” he said before leaving.

“Nice acting Chlo,” Luka said, stepping out of the closet with Adrien and Mari following shortly behind.

“Can we get changed, eat lots of ice cream, watch movies, and do a spa night,” Marinette whispered, hugging Adrien this time.

“Of course Buginette, I’m going to jump home and grab some stuff. You’ll probably need to do the same, Luka,” Adrien said, calling his transformation then jumped out the window with Luka jumping out not even a minute later.

The girls got changed, prepared the spa stuff including facials, nail polish, and a hair mask. They want to pamper themselves after being sad.

When the boys arrived the girls were in their comfy pajamas and face masks, now they were working on mannies and peddies. Marinette’s were already done and drying.

They decided on some wholesome Disney movies. They watched some of the Disney Princesses, everyone but Adrien agreeing that he is Rapunzel’s twin. They fell asleep during Snow White and stay curled up with each other till morning.

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

Tag list (Open):

@northernbluetongue @melhuney @ladysblackcat @sturchling @otaku4312 @g-arya @smolplantmum @bluefyoto94 @echpr @moonlightstar64 @thesunanditsangel @cutechip @heaven428

#ml New Life AU #ml salt fic #marinette x damian #damianette #maribat #batfam #lila salt #ml x dc #marinette dupain cheng #marinette x batfam #wifiwrites

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