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the-authoress-writes · 11 months

Text

If You Please

Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Lawyer!reader

Written for @roosterforme’s Top Gun Rocktober Playlist Fic Challenge

Synopsis: It’s not everyday that one’s best friend gets married, it’s not everyday that one is asked to be said friend’s Maid of Honor, and it’s certainly not everyday one meets a gorgeous, blond naval aviator.

Much less that one gets to dance the night away with the aforementioned naval aviator.

Warnings: Nothing, really, just a prerequisite creepy cousin, and a little teensy bit of cursing, but other than that, I don’t think there’s anything else.

Author’s Note: This is my first fic written for a fic challenge, and I am so grateful to @roosterforme for organizing this, and for allowing me to use one of my favorite 80s songs—Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet”, as well as to @bradshawsbaby, who made the absolutely gorgeous moodboard for this fic.

You are both incredible, lovely people, and amazing writers!!

Everyone should go check out their stories—go, seriously.

I’ve made liberal use of lines from the song in this fic, but it’s just so absurdly appropriate for Jake that I didn’t even really feel that bad.

It’s also my first time writing Jake, so I’m not exactly sure I did him justice, but I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks!

One down, one to go!!

And so, here we go!!!

She looked at her best friend dancing with her new husband, a smile on her lips.

She couldn’t be happier for her best friend, Cristina Nievara, formerly Cristina Machado.

The wedding was perfect, and went off without a hitch, and now, as the Maid of Honor, she could now relax—the hard part was over.

She sighed, sipping from her glass of rosé, rolling her neck from side to side.

At that moment, as if the very air shifted around her, or some preternatural sense alerted her, she became aware of a masculine presence behind her.

“Everyone’s dancing.”

At the smooth Texan drawl, a smile involuntarily split her lips. “That they are.”

“Everyone but you, Counselor.”

She angled her head to look into the emerald eyes of Jake Seresin. “Neither are you.”

“Hmm—little old me, well, I’m just waiting for the right partner.”

Her mouth ran a little dry, and she sipped from her glass again, trying to keep her composure. “And who would the right partner be?”

He hummed lightly, “I have an idea; she’d be kind, gentle—sweet, even—but opinionated when she needs to be, absurdly competent, insanely beautiful, and incredibly sexy.”

She hissed a breath between her teeth. “That’s quite the criteria.

Not sure you’ll be able to find a girl like that.”

“Well, I’m thinking I’m looking right at her.”

She couldn’t help it, her head whipped around to face him, so fast she worried she got whiplash, for her to find that his gaze was fixed intently and intensely on her.

A shiver ran down her spine, and she swallowed reflexively. “You sure you’re looking right?”

Jake made a show of looking at her up and down, his gaze somehow respectful despite the intensity she could see in his eyes. “I know I’m looking right.

Would you like to dance, Counselor?

Only if you please, though.”

She huffed a chuckle, shaking her head. “Well, since you asked so nicely, how can I refuse?”

And she set her glass down, before placing her hand into his outstretched one.

As Jake led her to the dancefloor, she mentally looked back—a month ago, never in a million years did she imagine that she’d be dancing with this man.

One month earlier…

She had no idea how Cris had managed to rope her into this.

But that wasn’t completely the truth; actually, she did.

Her best friend, Cristina Machado, was getting married to her fiancé, Gabriel Nievara, in her and Gabriel’s hometown of New Orleans.

And of course, Cris had to have her best friend as her Maid of Honor.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love Cris, on the contrary, she’d do anything for that woman, they were each others’ ride-or-die since college, but it was moments like this, where she was currently being hit on by Cris’ creepy cousin, Marco, that almost made her reconsider.

And this was only a family and friends get-together at the large Machado family home a month before the wedding.

Marco was going on and on about how much money he made as a real estate agent, and she had been trying to get out of this conversation repeatedly, but she couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

If she had more energy, she wouldn’t hesitate to tell him off, but she had just come from a too-long deposition (literally throwing her dress on after), and her attitude was habitually completely different from the shark she had to be as a lawyer and in courtrooms, like a coat she put on, as a way of keeping her work separate from her personal life.

At this point, she was debating on dissociating from exhaustion, or looking for a way out, any way out—she was even debating the merits of just running away, and locking herself in the bathroom, which was looking more and more appealing by the second—when a drawling voice proclaimed, “There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you!”

She turned and saw a vaguely familiar dark blond-haired man striding towards her, looking rather like something out of a grocery store romance novel, with his movie star-blinding smile, in a pair of dark jeans, and a thin jacket over a henley, Wayfarers tucked into the collar.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I—I just got caught up with Marco,” she beamed, relief coursing through her.

“Well, uh, Cris wants to talk to you, asked me to come get you,” he nodded.

She latched onto that like a drowning woman. “Oh, I better go then, Maid of Honor stuff, you know—it was a pleasure talking with you, Marco, hopefully I’ll see you around,” she said, all in one breath, as she backed away, before immediately turning to follow her savior.

She blew out a breath, running a hand through her hair. “So, Cris wanted to talk to me, right?”

He clicked his tongue, glancing back to Marco, now on the prowl for his next hapless victim, “Not really, I just saw you looking like you would rather the Good Lord struck you dead then and there rather than continue talking with Marco.

But then again, most people tend to look like that when they talk with him.

So I decided to rescue you.”

She blinked. “Oh—well—thank you so much for the assist.

That was pretty good back there.”

“Not a problem, I’m used to coming in clutch.

And I am very good,” he winked, which made her huff a laugh as she fought the urge to tug the collar of her dress—how did it seem to get two or three degrees warmer just then?

He continued, sticking out his hand, “I’m Jake, Jake Seresin.”

She reciprocated the gesture, telling him her name, to which Jake replied, “Mmm, pretty name for a pretty girl.”

She rolled her eyes, “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“Can’t help it if it’s true,” he smirked.

God, why was it so hot?

Even for New Orleans, November had absolutely no right being this hot.

“So, uh, how do you know Cris?” she blurted, saying the first thing that came to mind.

“Through Javy,” Jake replied, referring to Cris’ older brother, “we—we’re both in the navy, but I’ve known the Machados for almost fifteen years,” he finished, almost bashfully.

At that moment, it clicked for her who Jake was; she’d seen him in the Machado Christmas photo for several years. “I know Javy’s a pilot, so, are you—”

“We prefer the term naval aviator—but yes, we both fly F-18s,” he finished, a somewhat smug and proud look on his face.

“Fighter jets, huh?

You any good?”

At this, he looked indignant. “‘Any good’?

I graduated number one in my TOPGUN class, you are looking at one of the best fighter pilots in this country.”

“Okay,” she nodded, a chuckle escaping her as she ducked her head, “my sincerest apologies.”

When she looked back up, she saw him turn to face the deck, rubbing the back of his neck, the stone on the ring on his right middle finger catching the light.

“Uh, apology accepted,” he murmured. “And er, Cris is up there on the deck if you wanted to talk to her anyway,” he gestured, turning to face her again.

Well, her romance novel moment was nice while it lasted.

“Ah, I know when I’m not wanted,” she nodded.

“No,” Jake literally yelped, garnering several glances, which made him rub the back of his neck again, “I mean, no, it’s, it’s not like that, I just thought that you might want to be around friends, not a random stranger.”

“Well, I’d hardly call you a random stranger—you did save me from Marco, so I’d say that at least puts you firmly in acquaintance territory,” she deadpanned.

An honest-to-God guffaw escaped him, and she couldn’t help but note the way it made the corners of his eyes crinkle.

When he got control of himself again, he breathed, “In that case, I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Same here.”

Silence soon fell over them, but strangely, she didn’t feel it was in any way awkward—it felt almost easy, despite the inexplicable rising tension which she could feel beginning to draw tightly.

“Jerk!!!”

She whipped her head in the direction the call had come from, grinning when she saw the jumping figure of Cris, on the deck, as Jake said, who was waving her hand, beckoning her over.

“Bitch!!!” she eagerly called back, replying with the matching nickname she had for Cris, which the latter always joked Supernatural stole from them.

“Huh… so it is true, girls call each other that,” she heard, and she turned to see Jake watching her with a grin on his face.

“It’s a thing we have,” she brushed off, knowing that others might find that strange.

“Hey, no judgment here—I call my wingman Chicken or Big Dick.”

That actually made her splutter. “I’m going to need an explanation for those nicknames next time.”

He looked at her with an expression she couldn’t quite pin down. “‘Next time’, huh?

You uh, looking forward to a next time?”

“Yeah, if only to get an answer for why those nicknames for your wingman,” she breathed. “You’re going to be around—for the wedding, right?”

She tried not to sound too hopeful.

“I’m thinking I will be, and I think for the in between,” he stated, seriously.

“Okay, so I guess I’ll see you around, then.”

“I’ll be seeing you,” and he warmly nodded in a way that made her oddly think that if he were wearing a Stetson, he’d be tipping it to her, before going off towards the grill which was currently being manned by Mr. Machado.

She exhaled sharply, then began to ascend the stairs to the top of the deck, where she was immediately intercepted by Cris.

“I see you met Jake,” Cris grinned.

“Yeah, I did, it’s nice to finally meet the odd man out on your guys’ Christmas card,” she breathed, trying to keep her tone light.

“Mm-hmm,” Cris replied, an odd glint in her eyes. “You two looked… cozy.”

“I—he saved me from Marco, and I was making conversation, you know, but he was nice; a little cocky, but nice,” she replied, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Uh-huh.”

That glint was unfortunately still present in Cris’ eyes, and she lightly shoved the other woman in the shoulder. “It’s not like that, you—you are just… projecting because you’re so stupid happy with Gabriel.

We literally had one conversation, for God’s sake.”

Her best friend poked her in the arm, “‘One conversation’ was how it started for me and Gabe.

And I’m not projecting, you and Jake looked very comfortable together.

And for another thing, you cannot tell me you did not notice how hot he is.”

“Cris!” she hissed, glancing around to see if Gabriel was around. “You are engaged!”

“I am an engaged woman, but I can admit when a man is hot as hell.

And Jake Seresin is hot as hell,” Cris stated, raising her eyebrows, looking expectantly at her.

At first, she just stared, not sure what Cris wanted from her, but when it clicked, she sighed, “Seriously?”

“Admit it.”

“I—” she pinched the bridge of her nose, “I—w—oh, fine.

Jake is hot.

Happy?”

“Very.”

And with a smile, Cris practically bounced over to the other side of the deck.

“Cris! Cris!” She hurried after her best friend, knowing the other woman was undoubtedly planning something. “What are you planning?” she called, soon catching up.

“Planning what?”

“My bestie here finally met Jake, Jav,” Cris beamed, turning to face her older brother.

“Ah, that’s good,” Javy nodded, before also catching the glint in his sister’s eyes. “Okay, glint, you have a glint, what happened?”

“I had one conversation with your friend, Javy, and Cris is blowing it all out of proportion,” she interrupted.

Unfortunately for her, Javy’s eyes lit up in what was practically a carbon copy of Cris’ expression. “Oh. Cozy?” he asked, addressing Cris.

“Very,” her best friend nodded.

“Huh.”

In what was an unnerving display of sibling synchronicity, they both looked at her with identical glints.

“No.

Absolutely not.

Whatever you two are planning, no.”

“What makes you think we’re planning anything?” Javy protested.

She offered them a raised eyebrow.

Javy sighed, “Cris wants you happy, I want my boy happy—you could be happy together!”

“No, I am not going to be matchmade at a wedding!

It’s a walking cliche!” she protested.

Cris and Javy looked at each other, some sort of understanding passing between them.

“Okay, fine, we won’t try to set you up with Jake,” Cris sighed.

“Thank you!”

That was a month ago, and well, if they weren’t going behind her back, and orchestrating things like puppetmasters, which was highly unlikely, she could only chalk the amount of times she’d been thrown together with Jake to fate.

She had been seated with him at every lunch and dinner they were both invited to, paired with him at every wedding-related event and activity, every friends and family outing.

And somehow, there was always one person extra in the outing, and somehow, Jake was always the one to drive her, and only her, in his rental.

If she were being honest with herself, she wasn’t going to complain, especially not when it led to easy conversations allowing her to see below the cockiness, to see and know Jake, and she definitely wasn’t going to complain when it came to the… very hands-on crash courses she received from him when it came to mini-golf and bowling.

She was only human, after all.

And now, after numerous dinners, wedding related events and activities, after getting to know and see him, she could honestly say that she was more than halfway in love with Jake Seresin.

But she was uncertain of where things stood with him.

Yes, he hadn’t looked once at the bridemaids and various women who’d been throwing themselves at him, but that wasn’t a guarantee of anything.

However, that didn’t stop her from taking pride in the somewhat dumbstruck, glazed way he looked at her as she stood there on the altar, his eyes only for her, even as Cris was walking in her very elegant and beautiful dress down the aisle of the church.

She couldn’t remember the last time someone looked at her like that.

The next time their gazes met, Cris and Gabriel had just been pronounced husband and wife, Gabriel dramatically taking Cris in his arms and dipping her before kissing her, to whoops and cheers.

She couldn’t help the way her eyes drifted to Jake, only to find that he was already looking at her, and she swore that that was longing she could see in his piercing gaze, but she couldn’t completely determine the expression before she had to follow Cris and Gabriel out of the church, and from there, they hadn’t seen each other.

Until he asked her to dance.

Now, as they moved on the dancefloor, all she was aware of was him, the feeling of his arms around her, his eyes gazing into her very soul, making heat like fire dance along her spine—but it wasn’t like a wildfire, relentless and uncontrollable.

Rather, it was like a cozy fire on a cold day, one you wanted to just lie down in front of—getting closer and closer until the fire seeped into your veins, into the very marrow of your bones, into your very soul.

And wasn’t that more dangerous?

The filament of her mind that was still cognizant of things, dimly registered that Jake was leading her fluidly and elegantly across the floor.

“You’ve got moves, Seresin,” she said.

The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Enduring two years of cotillion and being pressganged into filling in for uneven numbers at Annapolis’ Ballroom Club will do that to a person.” He gracefully spun her before pulling her back into him. “You ain’t half-bad either, counselor,” he drawled in that slow, southern style.

“I too, bear the scars of cotillion,” she smiled.

That provoked a chuckle and a smile from Jake—and like it always did, that smile did its level best to bring her to her knees.

It wasn’t the obnoxious, shark-like grin he had when he was being annoying on purpose, nor the cutting, sarcastic one he used when he was knocking someone down a peg or two.

No.

This one, which she’d only seen directed at her, was like his whole soul was smiling, and it had an innocence about it, despite the fact that at first glance, this man seemed made for nothing but sin.

“Well, in that case, you’ve got very graceful and elegant scars.

And I must admit, I’ve never had such a beautiful woman dancing in my arms before.”

She couldn’t help but scoff and laugh incredulously.

“What?” Jake inclined his head.

“I don’t know if you’re bullshitting me or being honest with me, because I somehow can’t believe that I’m the most beautiful woman you, of all people, have danced with.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly. “What exactly do you mean?”

“You—you want me to spell it out?”

He hummed, “Let’s just say this witness would like a little leading here, counselor.”

She laughed, before sighing, “You, Jake Seresin, are… well—more than a little bit attractive, and I cannot believe that there wasn’t more than one pretty southern belle in your arms.”

He smirked wickedly, “You sayin’ I’m hot?”

Flustered, she exclaimed, “O—objection—hostile witness!”

“Overruled, witness will answer,” he easily parried.

“Th—that’s not your line.”

He playfully sniffed, “I’m still thinking I’d like an answer, there.”

“You’re killing me here,” she breathed, wanting to duck her head and hide, but in Jake’s arms, there wasn’t exactly any place to escape.

Jake leaned closer, pressing her against him, clouding her senses even more, as he ducked his head to murmur into her ear, his breath warm against her neck, “But you like it.”

She looked up at him, blindly following his lead, placing her trust in him to not let her fall flat on her face, and whispered, “You’re trouble, Jake Seresin.” She shook her head, picked up the frayed threads of her wit and courage, and plowed on. “Yes, I think you are more beautiful than any man has a right to be.

And not just because of the way you look.”

Jake, who had been wearing a somewhat smug expression during her declaration, froze at her last sentence. “That’s new.”

“What?”

“Someone seeing more than a pretty face here,” he replied incredulously.

“I’d kind of have to be blind to not see it, but, I’ve seen what you’ve shown me—what you’ve let me see, and while I won’t presume to completely know you already, I… I like what I see; in every way.”

Some sort of emotion broke in his eyes, something the shadowed dancefloor didn’t really allow her to see clearly, but he murmured, “Dance with me?”

“We already are,” she smiled gently.

“I mean…” he strangely foundered, before continuing, “may I fill your dance card, counselor?”

Teenage her wouldn’t believe what was happening. “Won’t it be boring, dancing with me all night long?”

“Don’t care.

May I?

Only if you please.”

They danced through a more brightly lit area, and she saw the honesty in his piercing sea foam eyes.

In that moment, something told her that if she said no, she’d regret it for the rest of her life, leaving her longing for one more dance. “Well, looks like I’m yours for the night.”

Jake blinked, a rough chuckle escaping his mouth. “You are, huh?”

“Not—not like that—I—” she stammered.

He laughed this time, full and loud, “Relax, counselor, I don’t make it a habit of taking what I’m not given.

I was raised a good Christian boy, after all.”

“Didn’t even know the word good was in your vocabulary,” she breathlessly replied.

“Oh, don’t you remember, counselor,” he leaned in, voice dipping low, making everything fade into the background, “I am good—I’m very good.”

Her breath hitched, and he swept her across the floor, the two of them dancing the night away.

An hour and a half later, the night was wrapping up, and it was time to send the new Mr. and Mrs. Nievara to their honeymoon suite in the hotel upstairs.

She and Jake promptly got separated, eventually finding herself in the press of women lined up for the bouquet toss.

She personally disliked it because it baffled her how a literal bunch of flowers could turn a group of women into feral cats.

So, she was determined not to reach for it, no matter what.

Cris walked to the center of the dancefloor, and counted down. “Three, two, one!!”

In the space between one blink and the next, a massive bouquet of red roses was in her arms, and she couldn’t help but gawk.

Most of the women cheered as they dispersed—though some sent her dirty looks—while Cris approached her, beaming from ear to ear. “Thank you so much, Jerk, I don’t know how I would have been able to make it through without you.”

She clasped Cris’ arms, “It was my pleasure, Bitch.

Now you go get some rest with that husband of yours—” she paused, considering, before finishing with a wink, “or not.”

Cris just laughed, “You too—don’t think that I didn’t notice who you danced with—or rather, who you danced the night away with.”

She scoffed, but Cris whispered, “You do know the tradition behind the bouquet toss, right?”

“Cris—”

“I’m not saying you’re going to be walking down the aisle with him any time soon, but what I am saying, is let things play out, you never know.”

She stared at Cris’ earnest face for a beat, before slapping her lightly on the arm. “You’re so in love, it’s fried your brain.”

“I’m thinking yours is too.

Think about it.”

And with a final hug, all the guests cheered as Gabriel carried Cris out of the ballroom.

Soon after, she was hanging around Candice-Marie, the wedding planner, trying to help in any way she could, but the kindly older woman, with whom she’d been working closely leading up to the wedding, shooed her off, saying, “You go on now, you’ve done enough, sweetheart.

I can handle this.

You go enjoy the rest of your night with your handsome gentleman,” she winked.

She didn’t even have time to reply, or to be shocked, before she was swiftly left alone in the middle of the dancefloor.

She turned, blinking, seeing Jake slowly walking onto the dancefloor to stand before her. “So… looks like it’s just you and me, counselor.”

“Certainly looks that way, Lieutenant.”

He mock-winced. “What happened to ‘Jake’, I thought we were getting along so well.”

She couldn’t help her laugh. “I’m sorry—Jake.”

He fleetingly grinned, before turning serious. “So…”

“So… no plans for a… wild night with Javy?

Night’s still young… ish.”

“He can survive without me.

On the ground, at least,” he teased, inclining his head. “So it looks like my dance card’s empty.

I’m all yours.”

“Oh, are you?” she said, poorly concealing her laughter, at the way the tables had turned from earlier.

He looked at her, wondering what was funny, and she got to see his lightbulb moment. “I—I did not mean it that—I mean—unless—I—I mean—I’m—I’m just going to shut up, now,” he lamely finished.

“That was incredible and adorkable.”

“I’ve been called many things in my life, but never adorkable.”

“First time for everything, I guess.” The moment hung for a beat, before she continued, “Well, you’re in for a pretty boring night, then, because I am exhausted, and I am going to go up to my hotel room,” she sighed.

A frown creased his brow. “You live in New Orleans, and yet you rented a hotel room.”

“I am what, again?”

Jake clicked his tongue, an expression like he was berating himself on his face. “Exhausted.”

It was late, she’d had a couple of drinks (though that excuse was wearing a little thin, given that she’d drank them hours ago), so she allowed herself to be a little silly, and she whipped out double finger guns. “Star witness, here.

But… you can walk me to my room.”

His eyes lit up, and he extended his elbow in the old-fashioned way. “Lead the way, madam.”

They slowly walked out of the ballroom, moving towards the elevator bank.

It was a decent walk, and it was done in a comfortable silence, during which she narrowly kept herself from leaning her head against his arm.

When they arrived at the elevator bank, there was still a decent crowd of people from the wedding stood there, which made her groan. “This is going to take forever.”

“If you’re up for more of a walk, there’s another elevator bank up on the mezzanine,” Jake offered.

A despairing look up at him. “Stairs?”

“Stairs.

But you’ll be in your room sooner.”

She deliberated. “Fuck it—stairs.”

This time, she followed him up the grand oak staircase, wincing with each step—no matter how broken in a pair of heels were, at a certain point, they all became instruments of torture.

At the top of the stairs, she saw that there was blessedly, no one around, but the thought of walking one more step in her heels was a bridge too far, and she tugged Jake towards the mezzanine railing. “Wait, let me take these off.”

Keeping one hand on the wood rail, she eased the strap of her heel out of the buckle, when she overbalanced, and lurched forward.

Strong hands caught her to a firm chest, and she looked up into his verdant eyes, her whole being caught.

“God, but I really want to kiss you right now, counselor,” he rasped, his voice, pure tone draped in yearning.

“Technically, I don’t kiss on the first date,” she instinctively spoke, and she could see his gaze shutter as he began to loosen his grip slightly, when she drew him even closer, pulling him in by fisting her hand in the lapel of his black velvet suit jacket. “But… technically… we’ve already had so many first dates, haven’t we?”

It took him a moment, but she could literally see the shutters on his gaze being flung open, being replaced by a mischievous sparkle. “We have, haven’t we.”

“Hard to see a reason why you shouldn’t kiss me, in that case.”

He smiled, the innocence of his little boy’s smile contrasting with the smoldering desire in his viridian eyes.

The next thing she knew, Jake’s lips were on hers, and he was kissing her.

In a split second, the fire that had warmed her very soul, now rushed through her blood, consuming everything that wasn’t Jake Seresin, until the only coherent thought was of him.

If not for his arms around her, the deep, searching caress of his mouth on hers was enough to bring her to her knees then and there, his kiss a new religion.

The kiss lasted a moment, it lasted eternity, but she knew that from that point on, she’d never have enough—he’d always leave her longing for more.

The breath which so rudely surged into her lungs seemed like poor recompense for his kiss.

Jake looked about as wrecked as she felt, his lashes fluttering over half-lidded eyes, his forehead leant against hers. “An absolutely stunning, whip-smart woman who sees me and likes it, with a gorgeous smile and laugh—damn, I think I’ve found the reason my dance card’s going to be full for the foreseeable future,” he murmured.

A sound between a chuckle and a gasp of air slipped from her lips as a thrill raced through her.

“Only if you please though,” he added, a teasing note in his voice.

“I very much please,” she replied.

“Yeah?”

God, his smile—screw halfway in love—her heart was his through and through.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Now kiss me again.”

Jake chuckled, “Well, since you asked so nicely, how can I refuse?”

He kissed her again, and in that kiss, forever laid at her feet, spread out before her.

What does it say about me that I know exactly what model Ray-Bans Glen used in TG:M?

😂

I did totally take the the “Jerk. Bitch.” interaction from Supernatural.

If you look at the nametags in TG86, below the names, you’ll see “TOPGUN 1”, so I’m going to assume there’s more than one TOPGUN class/session in a year, at least in the TG/TG:M universe.

There’s a headcanon going around that Jake and Javy were either tied, or one and two respectively, in their TOPGUN class, so I went with that.

(I headcanon that Bradley and Natasha were in the same TOPGUN class, and Natasha was number one, while Bradley was number two.)

I vacillate between Old Money!Jake and Working/Middle Class!Jake on a fairly regular basis, but for the purposes of this story, I went with Old Money!Jake.

Apparently, cotillion is still alive and well in Texas, so Jake having that experience is highly plausible.

USNA does have a Ballroom Club, although, like with most things in fanfiction, I might be taking liberties with the time of its establishment, because I don’t know when that got started.

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nicascurls · 1 year

Note

More Future Jevon and their kids.

I kind wanted to give a brief explanation on their kids, they have three in total. Riley, Rory and Renee.

Renee is the youngest, about 6-7 years old. All of the kids are African-American, but mixed. But Riley’s the only one who actually looks like she’s mixed.

Renee has brown 4c hair that is constantly in afro puffs and brown eyes, and she has dimples (gets it from Jake). She’s an absolute sweetheart to Riley and Lexy and Devon, but is an absolute MENACE to Jake. I’m talking about bro has bite marks and scratch marks lining up and down his arm (That is also from Rory too) and she almost never listens to him, and has even flipped him off at one point.

I feel like Devon has 4C hair when he lets his hair go out so yeah.

Rory is not really much better. He’s 14, 5’4 and stands about 158 pounds. He also has curly hair, and brown eyes, and is an inventor. Thus, his hands are constantly charred, which is why he wears these brown orange-ish gloves to hide them, and constantly has a tool belts around his waist. He’s constantly taking things apart to make things new, like robots or inventions since Rory is a huge nerd about robotics. He’s also a pretty good artist. He has insomnia and depression, as well as a history of sh that he’s fortunately recovered for but he keeps razors under his best as a last resort thing.

He’s pretty petty, temperamental, aggressive (much like his dad) and has anger issues. He also has an oral fixation, which is why Jake’s arms are completely covered in bite marks from him and Renee. Devon has an oral fixation too, but mostly deals with it by chewing on his sleeves or plastic spoons and forks.

Rory’s also pretty sensitive, and antisocial. And much like Jake, he’s bullied by Lexy’s little cousin, Ian. Or Wannabe Draco Malfoy, what Rory calls him. But Rory is also a nice person, if you get to know him. He doesn’t always appear friendly and a bit intimidating, but he’s pretty much the nicest asshole you could ever meet. And is pretty protective over his friends and family, but easily manipulated by people he trusts. He’s also interested in weird things and the unknown, also researching the Hackensack Massacre and all that, and can get pretty obsessive when he’s in love. Sometimes, it makes him do insane ass shit.

Now Riley, Riley is the town’s cutest girl. Rejects confessions about 10x a day. And has won Cotillion Queen about three times. She’s a perfectionist, a feminist and about as temperamental as they come. She’s a sweet girl who gets good grades and plays the piano, until someone disrespects her. That’s when she blows her fuse.

She personally loves shopping and getting new clothes, and all that stuff. She also loves poetry and is responsible for making sure Rory overwork himself to death. She has seen Rory just go off of monster alone for a whole month, and Devon has never been more impressed and terrified.

She hangs around with Lexy a lot, but hates her cousin. Lexy tries to get him to actually stop bullying Rory, but Ian’s stepdad’s teachings still haven’t left him. He solely bullies Rory for the fact that he’s gay, and rarely respects him. He only respects him for his abilities, and they’re kinda like academic rivals. Ian is on the student council, he’s the president and Rory is the president of the robotics club.

Riley likes tea and vanilla ice cream, and is the only person who is in a straight relationship in that household. She’s bi, but she has a boyfriend named Marcus who’s straight, not always has the right spirit but supports.

Now Ian…is a whole different can of worms. Rory and Devon are absolutely sure he is sadistic in some way or form. He has short blonde hair, and brown eyes, something he gets from his biological dad. His mom was a drug addict, and married his stepdad. Who is just about as Christian and strict as they come.

Ian channels this by bullying Rory, someone his father as taught him to hate but he doesn’t necessarily hate his parents though, but Ian doesn’t like to question himself. He’ll go as far as target Rory by spreading rumors, embarrassing him, social media is his best friend and has made Rory delete his social media accounts so many times.

He’s pretty much the 14-year-old version of Lexy Cross, and Lexy has repeatedly held back from actually harming him because that’s how much of an asshole Ian is.

Devon doesn’t even like him, nor does Renee. And that says something since Renee is almost friendly to everyone, except for Jake. Ian is also 14-15 and is around 120 pounds, and has BPD. But no one at his school knows that, no one except Lexy knows that and no matter how mad she gets at him, that secret will go to her grave.

Yes! I love all of this!

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couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name · 5 years

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how would you do a percy jackson adaptaion?

okay, so I know this is a controversial opinion right off the bat: I really don’t think it should be an animated series.

A large part of the appeal of the series is that it’s a fantasy series set very very firmly in reality. Literally, apart from the camps, you could go to every location hit in the books. Riordan mentions specific streets, buildings and landmarks, and that was cool when I first read them. I remember being a kid and waiting for him to set a scene in a place near where I lived! I remember trips to New York and being able to envision an epic war happening in the streets. So I think any adaption needs to be live action just to keep that same feeling alive, while I’m not knocking on animation, I just feel like taking the story out of real life would make it loose a little of the charm. Like, the scene where Manhattan is completely frozen in time? It would be haunting to see that in real life, but I feel like it would be less impactful if it didn’t…you know…look real? The series should be done in a way that makes you truly feel like you could just turn a corner and walk straight into a snake woman going about her day.

Now: another large part of the appeal of the series is how funny it is, but a lot of that…is Percy’s inner monologue. He doesn’t actually voice most of it, there was even a book where Annabeth described him as being quiet. So, I think the best way to work around this: make it Interview With A Demigod.

Imagine it’s got an interview with a vampire-esque setup- and this even works because within the riordanverse, the books canonically exist because Percy sat down with a ‘camp scribe’ and had his quests recorded. So, like, this isn’t even entirely out of left field. But just imagine, a college-aged, maybe a little older Percy, I can see it so clearly in my head, he’s wearing a sweatshirt that at first glance looks like it says NYU but a trained eye will see it actually says NRU for a camp jupiter easter egg, he’s sitting in some dinky little diner (maybe it can even be a monster donut or something with a clever greek myth related name) with a guy who’s recording the conversation on some old-ass tape recorder that keeps acting up but they can’t record on a phone because of the whole technology thing. Every now and then it’ll cut back to them to get some great Percy thoughts out there. They open with older Percy saying the ‘look, I didn’t wanna be a halfblood’ and then explaining where he was when the whole mess started. Once he get’s to “was I a troubled kid?” the screen fades from older Percy to 12 year old Percy getting in a fight with Nancy and her gang, and the voice over says the ‘Yeah, you could say that’ part as we see him get threatened by the principal to behave on the field trip. Boom, we’ve got an opening. Lowkey….I’m seeing Jordan Fisher as older Percy, but I’m not 100% married to the idea.

And before anyone tries to argue that showing an older Percy would spoil he’s not gonna die in last olympian- like, reading the books, we all knew he wasn’t going to die. It was a first person narrative and he was consistently speaking in past tense lmao like we Knew he was gonna make it. We still enjoyed the series. It won’t ruin anything.

I want part of the score of the adaptation to be instrumental versions of songs from the musical, I think that could be a sweet nod to that team.

They really need to nail camp halfblood. I know that goes without saying, but in order to keep the pacing of the story decent we can’t spend as much time falling in love with it like we got to with the book. The book is like, 24 chapters and the quest starts at chapter 12- for a movie or tv show, that’s just gonna feel like it’s dragging. So, the insanity of the camp needs to smack you in the face right away, and then it needs to endear itself to the viewers quickly after that. Don’t try to ease the viewers (or Percy) into the mythology is real thing, rip it off like a bandaid. He’s on his way to meet Chiron and Mr. D for the first time and even if he’s not comprehending what he’s seeing, there’s nature spirits and harpies all around going about their day. Hestia waves at him and then disappears into the flames. Hecate kids can be seen casting a spell on the porch of the Hermes cabin. The Stolls are seen pranking some Aphrodite kids. He sees someone surely die on the climbing wall but then you hear a faint ‘I’m okay!’. The Apollo kids put a rhyming curse on another cabin. Pure chaos all before he gets the ‘so, gods are real’ speech. And then after that…show how warm Luke is to him at the cabin and at dinner. Show the kids all goofing off at the campfire and really make it clear that they’re children. Show the strawberry fields rolling in the wind and Percy sitting on the beach. The whole couple weeks where he’s searching for powers and learning greek and latin with Annabeth can be a montage. Make it clear how hurt and scared he is when he finds out he needs to leave.

It needs to really get you feeling how Percy’s feeling, every laugh, every tear, every moment of fear or confusion needs to shine clear through. Like…think of Spider-Man Homecoming, the Washington monument scene. All things considered, it’s not the most high-stakes scene we’ve ever seen in that franchise, and when it cuts to the kids in the elevator, they’re worried but not quite freaking out, but that scene feels very high stress to watch because the movie is good at getting the viewers to feel what Peter feels. A Percy Jackson adaptation needs a touch like that, because Percy’s a very emotional kid and that’s what a lot of the scenes hinge on.

Lowkey- I’d love it if the casts of both the previous movies and the musical had cameos or bit parts (the movie cast did Nothing Wrong, it was the rest of that team). It’d be hilarious to see, like, Jake Abel as the owner of the poodle, or Logan Lerman as Older Percy and the reporter’s waiter that keeps trying to get in on the conversation, or Brandon T. Jackson as a satyr who’s still stuck grooving out in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Kristen Stokes as a nature spirit, Chris as one of the ghosts stuck in the waiting room of DOA Records, just like any of those casts having small parts would be fun and sweet.

There should be a lot of easter eggs for the bigger riordanverse. Promotions in the background for the new Tristan McLean movie. Gabe’s got a true crime documentary about the missing Grace children playing during his poker game. Mr. D is reading a paper about Rachel Dare’s father’s newest project. At some point while they’re still in New York they pass the Kane family’s mansion or whatever it was called. Annabeth keeps a picture of little her and Magnus on her nightstand. The barest of hints about the Triumvirate. Seeing kids in camp jupiter gear in some background shots, just out of notice of our main characters but implying the camps are going through similar problems (BITCH….if we got a titan’s curse adaptation…and we had a shot of Thalia in the foreground….but in the background we saw a blond boy in purple with a golden sword….well I would simply loose my Goddamn mind).

And show us how easily the mist lets things blend in, too- like, everyone thinks ‘Monster Donuts’ is just a normal chain, it’s just on an average street block, but if Percy looks through the window he can see who’s behind the counter. Show someone swindling some guys in a park and you have to look twice to realize he’s a gegeines. Like…how people are still trying to find all the background ghosts in haunting of hill house. I would LOVE to see a bunch of background monsters and mythical beings just going about their day as much as the mortals are while the gang’s questing.

The effects need to be fun. The whole story needs to be fun, but one weird thing about the past movies are that like…in their attempt to make it gritty, none of the fantastical things happening on screen actually felt that exciting. We need bright colors and interesting choices, consistently cool action shots, a liveliness that makes you feel like you’re in the center of the action. I have absolutely no doubt Disney easily has enough funds to pull off great effects.

The characters need to be….in character lmao. Annabeth needs to be cocky and bratty with the skill set to justify it. Percy needs to be a sweetheart who pretends to be hardened because that’s what people assume he’s like. Grover needs to have dry humor and a Too Old For This Shit attitude whenever percabeth start bickering. Luke needs to be nice and friendly but in a specific way that you can look back after the betrayal and see he was trying to groom everyone. Sally needs to be loving, protective and strong. Chiron needs to feel defeated and determined at the same time. Mr. D needs to….be Stanley Tucci lmao

Also, I’d love if the adaptation could expand more on things that got brushed along in the books- Percy and Beckendorf’s friendship, Silena and Clarisse’s dynamic, make Nico’s crush on Percy a little more obvious, give Rachel some more development. One thing that haunts me about the books is Sally never found out that Gabe hit Percy. Absolutely they don’t need to make the abuse explicit, but I also personally feel like a lot of Percy’s mindsets throughout the series are somewhat a result of Gabe, and I’d like if that got, you know, acknowledged. Maybe in the scene where he figures out Gabe abuses Sally he could say ‘does he hit you too?’ or something to that effect. They could also go more into detail about Annabeth’s family, give Zoe some more depth….like the possibilities I’m screaming.

Okay this is already long and I’m getting tired but I can so clearly see a great adaptation in my mind….Disney please come through….It’s what we deserve….

#percy jackson #disney #rick riordan #pjo #hoo #toa #asks #molly mumbles

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sammysreelreviews · 5 years

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Counting Down My Top 10 Underrated Films Of The Decade

Let me start by saying it’s a fucking miracle I made this list because I’ve switched and changed it so many times I got whiplash. I really hope you love this list because it took months and months to make this. It’s so sad writing this because I love these movies so much I wish everyone saw them! I decided to cut this list down to ten because I might take the left over movies and throw them on a list in 2020 because I can’t focus on this to save my life. I’m posting this on Christmas Eve as a gift to all of you who follow this blog. To be honest these last like 4 months my mental health has been so bad I’ve barely left the house so this is one of the only things that’s been keeping me together. Anyone who reads this blog, you give me a reason to live and create and I love influencing y’all to watch my shows lmao. Happy holidays to anyone who’s having a shit time at home or has lost a loved one or has been having a bad time mentally. This list may not be the best to lift spirits but my top animated of the decade probably will which you can read here! Love y’all so much hope you enjoy your present! Usually I would say there are spoilers but since many people haven’t watched these I’m going to put where to watch them so enjoy these amazing but very vaguely described movies! Kisses! Oh and one last thing, the average Rotten Tomatoes score between all these movies is 85.2%!

10. Atomic Blonde (2017)

I saw this in theaters and it was quite the experience with all the twist and turns this film has. Atomic Blonde not only has a top tier cast but it’s also one of the best spy movies ever made. I don’t wanna give anything away but can you really go wrong with Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Sofia Butella, and Bill Skarsgård? Don’t think so!

Where to watch: Anywhere you can buy or rent films

9. Anna Karenina (2012)

Directed by Joe Wright, the brilliant mind behind Atonement, Anna Karenina brings the famed novel to life in this romantic and dazzling rendition. I really thought this movie would be racking up the awards when it came out but it didn’t. Either way this film about a 19th century woman (Keira Knightley) who has a lustrous affair with a cavalry officer (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is hot and just beautiful to look at. If you like period piece films you’ll love this!

Where to watch: Anywhere you can buy or rent films

8. Widows (2018)

This movie about a heist gone wrong that leaves the men’s widows to finish the job should’ve won an Oscar for ANYTHING. I mean Viola Davis running a lady gang to finish their husbands crimes!?! The FLAVOR!!! Please watch it there’s one scene in it with Daniel Kaluuya that is literally the definition of CINEMA.

Where to watch: HBO Now, HBO Go, and anywhere you can buy or rent films

7. Annihilation (2018)

Ok I can’t say much about this movie besides that it’s sci-fi and that it has Oscar winning actress Natalie Portman movie in it but please please please PLEASE watch this movie! It’s one of the best sci-fi films I’ve ever seen and it’s honestly one of the best films that came out in 2018! I wrote a little about it here!

Where to watch: Hulu and anywhere you can buy or rent films

6. Nightcrawler (2014)

Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a news reporter who likes to get a little too close to the action. It’s insane to watch just how far he goes to get a story. He is actually a sociopath and Jake should’ve won or at least been nominated for an Oscar for this role. It may be one of his best performances ever!

Where to watch: Amazon Prime and anywhere you can buy or rent films

5. Prisoners (2013)

When two girls go missing a father (Hugh Jackman) does everything in his power to get them back. The ending of this film is so fucking annoying but genius I still argue about it wigg my friend claire. Please let me know if you know what I’m talking about! Also this movie should fuking have 7 Oscars!!!

Where to watch: Anywhere you can buy or rent films

4. Ex Machina (2014)

When a programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a contest to spend the week with the company’s genius CEO (Oscar Isaac) he gets a lot more than he bargained for when he meets Ava (Alicia Vikander) the robot. All I’m gonna say is it should be illegal to have not seen this movie. Like should be a federal crime. I know this is on Netflix so watch it NOW!

Where to watch: Netflix and anywhere you can buy or rent films

3. Logan (2017)

The last chapter in Wolverine’s tale is not only riveting but surprisingly heartbreaking. I watched this on the plane ride to Vegas and I sobbed I ain’t gonna lie! If you love the X-Men you’ll absolutely love, or maybe hate, this Oscar winning super hero movie.

Where to watch: Anywhere you can buy or rent films

2. The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

It’s kind of hard to believe that a movie with Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling didn’t get much buzz but here I am giving it the justice it deserves! This movie that’s basically a lesson in karma and breaking the cycle of familial bullshit is one of the best and most heartbreaking films I’ve ever seen. It also features a career defining performance by Dane Dehaan. I won’t give anything away but I suggest y’all watch pronto!

Where to watch: Netflix and anywhere you can buy or rent films

1. Looper (2012)

This time traveling mindfuck of a movie never left me the second I finished it. I really wish I saw this in theaters cause I feel like it would have been epic. I don’t wanna give anything away because I really want people to watch it but if you love time travel, twists and Joseph Gordon Levitt this is the movie for you. Looper is number one because I’ve been begging people to watch it for about 7 years now.

Where to watch: Anywhere you can buy or rent films

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billyhargroveinaponytail · 5 years

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“Good ole Dacre Montgomery”

Chapter 1: “Good Ole’ Billy Hargrove..”

Large bright lights covered the ceiling while long cords scattered the ground. Today had been Myra’s first day at her internship and she was nervous. The clipboard she had been given fumbled between her sweaty palms as she was led around the building with her adviser, he pointed out the different sets and explained their importance, the tour ended at a large table covered with every junk food and fruit you could think of. The adviser grabbed up an apple taking a large bite before waving Myra over to join him.

“Dive in, there’s something here I am sure you’ll enjoy!”

He gave her a friendly smile taking another bite from his apple, she glanced around before noticing a box of donuts from her favorite place, a place her family had gone to ever since she was little, it became a staple in their weekly trips to visit her grandparents.

She grabbed a pink sprinkle covered donut while a large hand reached forward grabbing for one as well, she glanced up and noticed a tall scruffy figure standing across the table from her. “Hello there,” He gave a wide grin, before laying his donut on his large plate. “I’m David, you must be the new intern!”

Myra nodded nervously, she knew exactly who he was, David Harbour the actor who played Jim Hopper the chief of police in their make believe town of Hawkins,Indiana. David was dressed in a pink and green geometric shirt that looked like something right out of Magnum PI, she was excited to see him out of the usual police uniform.

Myra spent her entire first year of college binging over season 1 with her roommate,Paisley. She liked a large majority of girls obsessed over Steve Harrington, Paisley even got them matching shirts and posters to decorate their room with. When season 2 finally aired Paisley found herself swooning over Steve more, where Myra found herself falling for Billy’s character, the bad boy of her dreams.

When Paisley first found out Myra would be doing her internship on the set of Stranger Things she went insane telling her about all the things she needed to know about the characters in real life and gave her items to get autographed by all of the cast. Myra was nervous to talk to anyone let alone ask them for their signatures.

“I am the new intern, my name is Myra!” She held her clipboard against her chest, trying to calm her unsteady breathing. “It’s great to meet you Ms. Myra. Hopefully you have a great time here and everyone treats you nice! If not you come find me and I will teach em’ a lesson!” he waved as he walked away, mouth filled with his donut. Myra returned the wave goodbye “It was nice meeting you too!”

“David is like the dad around here, always watching out for everyone and taking care of any situation that comes up! How about a tour of the trailers?” He grabbed a nutrition bar shoving it into his pocket before opening two large doors that lead out to a parking lot filled with trailers of all types.

“Since you will be working with the cast members, helping with costumes and just running errands I should probably introduce you to them!”

He led her by a large black trailer covered with windows that said -Classroom B12- on the front door. “This here is the classroom for the younger actors to get a few hours of education in each day and over here is the costume trailer, they kept every outfit for the main characters and even the background characters.” He motioned over to the tall trailer with multiple groups of people going in and out.

“Hair and makeup are located in the back here and I am sure a few cast members are inside so that will be our first stop.” He walked up the small set of stairs attached to the trailer door,knocking before entering inside. Three chairs sat in front of mirrors, wigs and special effects makeup were scattered across the stations.

In the first chair a young boy with curly hair sat having foundation applied, Gaten Matarazzo, the actor who played Dustin Henderson. He was the first to turn and offer his hand out to Myra after Jake, her adviser had introduced her to everyone.

“I’m Gaten, it's nice to meet you! Welcome to the cast!” Myra shook his hand, she glanced down at his shirt that read -Camp Know Where- it had been covered in what seemed like fake sweat, his face and arms showed the same dirty sweaty look to them. “It’s not real,promise!” He chuckled showing off his adorable toothless grin.

A red headed girl receiving the same sweaty treatment turned and waved, “I’m Sadie hopefully we don’t scare you away just yet! I was new here once and everyone was very welcoming we’re just one big family!”

Myra waved back nodding, “Oh no. you guys aren’t scaring me at all everyone here has been so welcoming, and it is greatly appreciated I have been super nervous about all of this!”

The two makeup artists introduced themselves, Mary and Jane. Myra chuckled a little at their names and they joined along “Trust us we’ve heard every joke you can think of!” Jane chimed in, while rubbing dirt across Sadie’s arms and face. “Do you mind closing that door behind you? The paparatize have been swarming around here like crazy!”

Myra turned and swung the door closed like she was asked to do when a sudden scream was heard on the other side “Damn!” She heard a male scream noticing his fingers slammed in the door. “Oh my I am so sorry!” She quickly opened the door, her eyes locked on his hands. “I had no idea you were coming up the stairs I am sorry!” She fumbled on her words as the makeup artist ran over in front of her with an ice pack. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone has fallen victim to these terrible doors.”

“I’m fine, Mary don’t worry!” An australian accent came from the man who now stood on the other side of the makeup artist. Myra stepped back getting a glance at him recognizing the familiar pornstache that laid across his lip, Myra James just slammed Dacre Montgomery’s fingers in the door, making an absolute fool of herself. Her clipboard was instantly raised over her red blushing face.

Dacre,holding the ice pack to his fingers, stepped around Mary taking a seat in the empty chair. “Dacre this is Myra, the new intern!” He looked up from his hand with a breathtaking smile, “Well Myra don’t you have a way with introductions!” She shook her head, her face going even brighter red now, “Again I am so very sorry!” She rambled on more,trying to avoid eye contact with him.

“There’s no need to apologize, you’re welcome to smash my fingers anytime you’d like!” He smirked a little before being turned in his chair by Jane as she greased back his hair and placed a wig cap on him. “You ready mullet man?” She chuckled, grabbing a wig off of the styrofoam head and placing it over Dacre’s head. “Aw there he is everyone, good ole’ Billy Hargrove! Are you ready for the spray tan now?”

Jake handed Myra a large envelope of paper and a friendly smile as he ended his phone call, “well this is where we part way Miss. I will be just a phone call away if you need anything,” He quickly wrote down his number sticking the paper on top of the others, if these guys need anything you’ll be here to help! Good luck and try not to break any more fingers,’ight?” He nodded before his phone began ringing again and he quickly exited the trailer.

“Here, set your stuff here and you can help throw some spray tan on this pale boy!” Jane took the stack of papers from Myra laying them on the empty spot of her desk and handing her a bottle of tanning lotion. “Now don’t actually throw anything at me!” Dacre joked as he removed his shirt moving over to a plastic tarp Mary had laid down. Jane squeezed a small amount onto her hand before placing it on his chest, “He is fully capable of applying this himself but he enjoys making us do all the work!” She rolled her eyes as she applied more to him.

Myra’s entire body froze looking at his fit sculpted body standing in front of her and if it couldn’t have gotten worse he removed his jeans leaving himself in his boxers in front of the group. “I-uh how about I start on your legs? Yeah?” Dacre nodded, holding his legs out for her as she placed the lotion into her hands before running in down his calves. The two girls shared stories back and forth about the season two wig Dacre had to wear and how it was nowhere as nice as this one was, Dacre rolled his eyes at them, “you two are ridiculous it wasn’t that bad! Right Myra?” He glanced down at her pouring more lotion into her hand.

“Oh well I am a big fan of these curls, they’re cute!” She remembered the conversations Paisley and her had had about the wig from season 2 and how fake it looked but this one was a whole lot better and she couldn’t wait to tell Paisley all about it, each night they talked for two hours over Facetime talking all about how her day was going and all the things she had gotten to see and do.

Of course she did sign a waiver saying she wouldn’t share any topic secret things or spoilers with the public but she everything she was able to share. She was sure to tell Paisley all of it.

“Cute? It’s a manly mullet, it's not supposed to be cute!” He flipped the wig hair off of his shoulder trying to hold back a laugh, “So have they told you much about this season? Other than the obvious?” Myra finished with his leg and stood wiping her hands on a towel as Mary finished off his back and other leg.

“Well they told me about the mall and the new characters Robin and Alexi, I was also told that we’d get to see a lifeguard Billy!” She pointed over to an outfit hanging in the corner, a white tank top and red shorts with a whistle attached.

“It’s going to be an exciting season trust me!” He was leaning back in the chair as the wig was glued down to his head and a blonde highlighting dye was brushed through his mustache. Mary dipped a small brush into a pallet placing freckles around the bridge of his nose and cheek bones. She then sprayed his face down and handed him the clothes on the hanger “Go get dressed! They’ll be calling for you soon!” Myra smiled at the cute dimples and freshly tanned look, this was a new look for Billy and she loved it.

Mary finished the last few touches of Dacre’s tan and quickly sprayed a layer of hairspray over his wig helping the small curls stay in place. Static and a broken voice came through the walkie talkie on the counter followed by a man saying “Dacre on set,Dacre needed on set!”

Jane handed Dacre his robe to cover up as he stood from the chair and checked his reflection in the mirror, “Not too bad for your first time,this was your first time right? Applying tanning lotion to a man?” He tied off his robe around his waist and glanced up at Myra with a curious smile.

“Yes you were definitely my first, I have never in my life applied lotion to a man let alone sun tan lotion!” She smiled through the nervous twisting in her stomach,she ran her hand up her arm placing small pinches on it.

She wasn’t dreaming this was all real, Dacre was actually talking to her and not just talking he was what seemed like flirting with her. She couldn’t wait to get back to her trailer and tell Paisley all about this, she was going to die.

“Myra how about you follow with us?,” Jane placed a hand on her shoulder waking her from her trance, “We usually stay with him in case he needs a touch up of tanning lotion, you wanna tag along?” Myra nodded “Yes that sounds great! I’ll help carry this then.” She grabbed a small caddy from the desk including tanning lotion,freckle makeup and hair spray inside.

“Great well let’s get going before they start bugging us.” Jane swung open the trailer door, the bright morning sun rose peering in at them, Dacre took a large pair of glasses from his pocket placing them over his eyes,before moving his robe hood over his hair.

“The paparazzi are desperate for photos so we have to hide as much as we can.” Myra followed behind them, glancing over at the crowd of men and woman cameras held high trying to get any photo they could for their employers.

“Does it become exhausting? The paparazzi and sneaking around?” Myra held the caddy in her right hand standing to the side of Dacre helping to shield him from the groups. “At times yes, but it’s a small price to pay for something I love doing and I am blessed to be here.” Down to earth and good looking this guy was too good to be true, like something two teenage girls made in a science lab.

“How about you huh? Finding out you were going to be working on a popular tv show was it exciting? Overwhelming?” They were led into a small community pool that had a large group of people in 80s themed swimwear waiting around. All heads turned when Dacre walked up like a scene from a movie, cue the seductive music.

“Both,” She chuckled, “It was overwhelming and exciting. I had no idea it was going to be a show this popular when they offered me the internship, but after I found out and word quickly spread people I had never met before were trying to be friends with me and ask information about the show, let’s just say you and Steve are some popular guys.”

He laughed thinking about all the friends requests and followers he received after season 2 aired. “I’m happy you’re here! It’s going to be a fun time-” His sentence was cut short by the director directing him to head into the locker room for the first scene.

Myra stepped back with Jane to stand behind the crowd of people, “ This is going to be so exciting, the first scene is always so fun, we just get to sit back and relax,keeping an eye on Dacre and that insane wig.” Jane sat down in a directors chair that had -H&M team- labeled on the back, Myra took a seat next to her, setting the caddy on her lap.

Four women came from the trailer area decked out head to toe in their 80s gear, she recognized the blonde in a teal and pink split bathing suit, Cara Buono, the actress who played Karen Wheeler, Mike and Nancy Wheeler’s mother.

Myra thought back to the night Paisley and her had watched the scene where Billy’s character met her for the first time, it left them all hot and bothered. Now her mind ran curious, was Billy going to have a scene with Karen? Myra crossed her legs leaning back in the tall black chair as the large crowd of people got into the pool water and filed themselves in at different scenes around the pool.

There was a group of teens chatting, some stood around the snack stand and a small built black haired girl sat perched upon the lifeguard chair, this must be Heather Holloway, Myra had heard Jake mentioning her before in the lineup of new characters joining the show.

“Quit on set!!” The director yelled over the crowd of roaring people, everyone turned in attention waiting for further directions. “We’re going to start off with the Billy entrance scene and work our way from there!” The camera was then placed to face the diving board where a young boy stood waiting for his cue, he wore a green tank top and small swim trunks, he reminded her of her brother, he always wore a shirt when swimming and was a chunkier boy when they were younger.

“Action!” The director yelled as the boy ran forward splashing into the water. Crowds of people began conversing while others splashed around in the pool, the speakers from the pool played ‘Rock this Town’ by The Stray Cats, the camera was then panned across the crowd, a group of kids playing marco polo and multiple beach balls bounced around between people. The camera stopped on the four women from earlier, including Karen.

They were reading and checking their complexions in their hand mirrors, the music then slowed down to a mute as the large haired,cheetah print lady tilted her glasses down in the direction of the lifeguard chair. “Ladies, she’s coming down.” She kept her stare towards Heather as the other women looked in that same direction.

Heather made the last few steps off the ladder and made her way towards the locker rooms, the ladies quickly gathered themselves, adjusting their bathing suits and pushing up their large hair. The black haired one, with a large purple pearl necklace, on the far right arched her leg up and faced the men’s locker room, the same room Dacre had just entered earlier, “It’s showtime!” Cheetah print spoke in a seductive voice as she closed her compact mirror, ‘Moving in Stereo” by The Cars began playing through the speakers.

“Action Dacre!” Yelled the director from behind the camera,the locker door swung open and there he stood tanned and muscular, his shorts just below his trimmed waist line, he began strutting out, catching everyone’s eye on the way by. An ear-splitting noise came from the whistle he had placed between his plumped lips, he turned his body to the direction of the same young boy from earlier who was now running around.

“Hey lardass, no running on my watch,” He spoke as the whistle fell from his lips, the entire pool stood motionless. “I gotta warn you again and you’re banned for life, you wanna be banned for life lardass?” The young boy quickly shook his head no, “didn’t think so!” He placed the whistle between his lips again letting out another deafening noise.

The crowd left their frozen state and began yelling and playing as they were. Dacre made his way towards the lifeguard chair passing by the group of women who had been patiently waiting for him. “Afternoon ladies.” He spoke with a welcoming nod. “Afternoon Billy!” They spoke in perfect harmony.

“Dig the new suit Mrs. Wheeler.” He stared at the perfectly fit mom, whom he had had an amazing scene with in season 2. Myra couldn’t wait to tell Paisley all about this, hopefully she would be allowed to. Dacre made his way up to the lifeguard chair before the director yells “Cut!” Groups of people went in their different directions, receiving notes from their superiors.

“So what did you think?” A hand was placed on the back of Myra’s chair,she glanced up to see Dacre’s smiling face looking down at her. “Lardass? Really?” She turned in the chair to face him,his gold Saint Christopher necklace dangled in her face. “It’s what they wrote in the script.” He shrugged giving a flirting smile, he was way too good at that maybe it was just his normal smile and Myra was just taking it too far.

A few guys walked up talking with Dacre while Jane pulled Myra away to introduce her to more people, Matt and Ross Duffer, the directors of the show, were absolute sweethearts. The Duffer Brothers were very personal with everybody making sure to get to know everyone. “How about some lunch before the next scene?” Jane turned to Myra,while taking the caddy from her hands. “Lunch sounds great! Let me grab my phone.” Myra made her way back to her chair where her phone laid, she quickly picked it up and followed behind Jane.

A notification popped up on her phone -6 text messages-, Paisley was always keeping Myra up to date on what was going on back at school, it helped her feel included but nothing really changed. Paisley’s arch enemy was still dating Paisley’s crush and Myra’s ex was still asking about her, but Myra still appreciated all the updates.

The lunch room was filled with loads of cast and crew members, it felt like high school again different clicks were all sitting together in their different sections. Myra made her way over to the buffet table where she grabbed a tray and made her way down the line gathering a sandwich and a container of fruit. She turned to face the large group questioning where to sit, when a familiar figure walked up beside her.

“New here?” Joe Keery, the actor who plays Steve Harrington was now standing beside her. “I am! I’m Myra James. I am a new intern!” His hair was just as fabulous in person as it looked on tv. “Well Hiya Myra I am Joe it’s a pleasure to meet you. Found yourself a place to sit yet?” He looked around the crowded room before his eyes stopped at what seemed to be his usual seat,the people already sitting there had even saved a seat for him.

“Come with me James we will get you a place to sit down!” He nudged her arm and walked in the direction of that table, Sadie, Gaten, and three other familiar boys sat around. “Myra this is Sadie, Gaten, Caleb, Noah and Fin.” Myra gave them all a friendly wave. “I actually had the opportunity to meet Sadie and Gaten early today.”

She placed her tray down before taking a seat, Joe followed. “Well what about me huh?” Dacre sat his tray down next to Myra,he had now covered his bare chest with a Hawkins lifeguard tank top. He took a seat next to her,his sweet smelling cologne hitting her hard in the face. She didn’t notice it before maybe he had just recently applied it, either way it was nice.

“What about you?” Myra smirked,placing her fork to her mouth taking a small bite from the fruit cup. “What did you think of meeting me?” He leaned his arm against the table keeping his glare locked with hers. She reached out for his swollen fingers, “Well you were a sweetheart even after I almost broke your fingers so I’d say you were pretty great!” He left his hand in hers and enjoyed her warm touch.

Myra hadn’t even noticed,she had relaxed her hand onto his leg. “So this is the girl who almost removed your fingers and then rubbed you down with tanning oil?” Steve chimed in with a mouth full of food, breaking the tension between them. Myra quickly released his hand and grabbed her water and took a small drink. “It was all an accident I swear!” Dacre and Joe began bickering back and forth when Myra’s phone buzzed on the table.

Paisley: “ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? You met Billy and put lotion on his legs? -heart eye emoji-

Myra: “Yes and let's just say that man has incredible legs.” -8 heart eye emojis-

Paisley: “You better call me tonight with all the details. Also if you guys hook up def let me know!”

Myra: “Of course and that won’t be happening you perv!”

Myra laughed at the gif Paisley included of Billy leaning against the doorway of Karen Wheeler’s home from season 2. Joe and Dacre stopped and glanced down at her phone, “What’s so funny there?” Joe raised his brow looking closer. Myra realized and locked the phone blocking it from either of their views. “Just something a friend sent,nothing important-” Her sentence was cut short when the loud man’s voice from earlier echoed through the room. “Everyone return to set,everyone return to set!”

“I am still interested in knowing what was so funny.” Dacre took both his and Myra’s trays to the return bin and walked beside her back to the pool area. “Are you going to stay for this next scene or do you have somewhere else you have to be?”

Myra glanced at the small sheet of paper that was stuffed into her back pocket, “Nope I am all yours for the rest of the day, tomorrow they have me somewhere else!” “Oh yeah? All mine?” he smirked through his laugh. “Lucky me!”

“Not at all what I meant,” She rolled her eyes, but in all honesty she wouldn’t mind being all his. “Don’t make me break your other fingers!” Dacre was quickly ripped away to join Cara “Karen” and directors huddling around the pool.

Myra found her way over to the chair she had been sitting in previously and again she was joined by both Jane and Mary. “How was lunch?” Jane turned to face Myra,crossing her legs,”Did you find anything yummy?” Myra nodded, placing her phone into her back pocket. “I did, I found a sandwich and some fruit!” From the corner of her eye she noticed Dacre glancing in her direction, she gave a friendly wave.

“You gotta be careful with that dessert table you’ll gain weight quicker than you can say “Hot fudge sundae”, “Looks like somebody’s striked up Dacre’s interest, he hasn’t taken his eyes off of you since you sat down!”

Myra’s cheeks instantly heated up, she had noticed but she didn’t think anyone else had. “Oh uh yeah, he’s sweet, we actually had lunch together and I finally got to meet Joe, Caleb,Noah and Fin.”

“That’s awesome, they’re great kids! Extremely talented too!” Myra became distracted as Dacre removed his tank top walking in their direction. “You mind holding this? They’d kill me if I lost another one of these shirts!” He held the shirt in Myra’s direction and she quickly took it displaying a huge smile.

“Yeah of course, it’s safe right here with me!”

“Places everyone!” The director yelled from the crowd of people standing behind the camera. The pool crowd returned to their spots and Karen got into the water beginning to do laps in the lane closest to the lifeguard chair.

“Quiet on set!” a young man yelled, holding a clapperboard in front of the camera lense. Dacre returned to his seat at the lifeguard chair and placed his glasses back over his eyes. “Action!” He yelled and the scene began with people walking across the pool, kids laughing and playing around. The camera followed Karen doing the backstroke down the lane, before moving to face Billy who seductively removes his glasses giving the camera a lustful stare.

Hot Blooded by Foreigner began playing as they did another close up on Karen moving through the water. The camera was then panned back and forth between Karen and Billy as he placed his whistle against his lips, his tongue gently caressing it, was it weird for her to be jealous of a whistle? Where were the good looking lifeguards when she was spending every summer at the pool with her brother and the two neighbor kids she used to babysit.

Karen climbed the pool ladder, running her hands through her drenched hair, behind the camera Dacre was making his way over to her,before the camera had turned to face him, he smiled towards Myra shooting her a quick smile. She could have easily melted into a puddle at that moment, the chair may have been the only thing keeping her up.

“Looking good out there Mrs.Wheeler!” Billy spoke as he approached Karen holding out a towel for her. “Why thank you!” She reached out taking the towel from his grip.

“Perfect form,” He replied with alternative motives. “Well your form is amazing!” Her eyes streamed up his perfectly tan body, that Myra had helped create just a few hours prior. Billy gave her a devious smile,showing off his perfectly white teeth. “I’m sorry, I have seen you teaching lessons,swimming lessons.”

This would be another moment she could imagine Paisley and her wrapped up on her bed watching the tv swooning over, this would be a scene that would get them all hot and bothered, something they would be talking about for the next couple weeks. But unlike that moment Myra was actually living this moment and it was so much better than watching it through a screen.

“I could teach you if you’d like.” He slowly licked his bottom lip before letting the words leave his mouth,Myra felt as if she was literally about to drool all over herself, everything was just breathtaking, the small slit in his eyebrow, the small patch of hair below his bottom lip,the way his perfectly crafted curls twirled around the shape of his face. Jane had caught her off guard by nudging her elbow into her side, she glanced in her direction and Jane raised her eyebrow at Myra, “Good scene right?” Myra tried to play it cool by giving a small chuckle. ‘Perfect scene’ she had thought to herself.

When her attention was back to Billy and Karen she watched him slowly place a piece of gum into his mouth,Karen’s face went blank before her towel fell from her grip hitting the floor, both her and Billy immediately reached down for it, showing off his the swim trunks that were just the perfect amount of snug on him. “I didn’t think you taught adults.” Karen's blushed face questioned him.

“Well I offer uh more advanced lessons to select clientele.” The entire time he spoke he was chomping away at his gum, Myra had always found this to be annoying but somehow when he did it, it put her into a trance the world around her went silent and her main focus was him.

“Come to think of it there is a good pool out at motel 6 on Cornwallis, it’s very quiet, you know, very private. Shall we say tonight? 8 o’clock?” Billy’s face could not get any closer to Karen, his eyes were locked with hers and their body’s pressed so close.

“I’m sorry I can’t!” Karen shook her head,leaving Billy’s face shocked with disbelief. Myra had the same expression plastered on her face as well, how could anyone tell him no. “Can’t what? Have fun?” Billy was really trying hard, props to whomever had written this script, so far Myra was hooked and she hadn’t seen anyone elses scene or any of the other stories going on.

“Mrs.Wheeler,” He shot a large smile flashing his dimples in the direction of Myra and Jane, maybe he was just told to look in that direction, maybe there was someone behind the two of them that he happened to be glancing at. Didn’t matter though Myra had herself convinced he was smiling right at her.

“I just don’t think I need any lessons..” Karen shot her eyes away from Billy’s deepened glare. Billy puffed out his chest and towered himself over Karen. “Oh you see I think you do. I just don’t think you’ve had the right teacher.” Karen mumbled something before Billy replied “It will be the workout of your life.” She nodded before the director yells “Cut!” stopping the entire scene.

This was something Paisley and Myra had been talking about all last season, they were dying to know if Karen and Billy were going to do it and this might finally answer their questions. Dacre grabbed a towel and wiped his lower stomach before walking in their direction, Myra fictitiously picked up her jaw and whipped her mouth adjusting herself in the seat.

“So?” He gave Myra a sweet smile as he took a seat next to her in Jane’s empty chair. “So what?” She returned the same smile,crossing her legs and turning his way. “So what did you think?” He reached out for his tank top he had handed to Myra previously.

“Hmm well I do have one question, do Billy and Karen finally have sex?” She tried to hold a serious face unsuccessfully. “Being a fan of you two I am hoping it finally happens!” She felt herself getting a little too egger and took a few short breaths to slow herself down. Dacre’s eyes widened,taking in a deep inhale before releasing a large laugh. “That’s all you’ve got to say about that? Do Billy and Karen have sex? Also did you say you were a fan?” He gave a cocky smirk,subtly flexing his arms towards her.

Myra rolled her eyes, his cockiness was such a turn on and that sweet accent of his made it even better. It was definitely a change to hear him go from Billy to Dacre with his voice, a change she could get used to. “Yes I am a fan, why else would I want to be working here! My friend Paisley and I used to watch this show religiously when it first came out. It was the reason we became such good friends.” He nodded becoming more interested in her words.

“Well then I can’t tell you if they have sex I have to keep it a surprise so you will keep coming around!” She shook her head in defeat, “I planned on coming around either way! I mean I am really liking Billy this season so far.” Myra tried her hardest to flirt but her nerves still stood on edge. “It only gets better trust me!” Dacre pulled his tank top over his head,she noticed his fingers were still swollen and bruised over the make up Mary had applied to him.

“Again I am so sorry about those! I am sure it’s not good for your character..” She hesitated not wanting to be the blame. “Nah don’t be sorry it makes him look tough!” He reached out for her leg giving a comforting pat. His expression quickly changed as he glared behind Myra, she turned to notice Jake approaching them.

“Hey there My,” Jake gave an over the top smile, something that he looked accustomed to. Myra had always hated being called My, the girls who bullied her her entire high school years called her My and hearing it again made her sick. “How was your day? Did you enjoy yourself?” Dacre leaned back in the chair, everything about him changed in seconds, his posture was different, he looked angry.

“I did enjoy myself, this was an incredible opportunity, I am still so grateful for all of this!” Jake quickly nodded off her reply and offered to escort her back to her small trailer for the evening. “That would be great,” She noticed how quickly it was getting dark,this day had gone by so fast. “It was great meeting you Dacre! Thank you for the entertainment!” She gave him a heartfelt smile and stood from her chair standing beside Jake.

Myra hadn’t been to her trailer yet, she was told it would be in the lot with the other actors and actresses but when she arrived this morning she went right to work and had no time to unpack or see her home for the next couple months. “Have a goodnight Myra. It was great meeting you as well, I hope to see you around!” The sides of Dacre’s mouth pulled up into a small smile.

Jake wrapped his arm around Myra’s back, “Off to the trailer’s we go! There is around the clock security and if you ever need anything my trailer is actually just two down from yours.” Myra approached a large trailer, something that could sleep an entire family. “This is not at all what I thought it would be like!” She had never slept in a camper before, anytime her family went camping her dad required them to rough it and sleep in tents.

“I hope it works for you! There is food in the fridge and small hotel soap and shower supplies in the bathroom, if you happen to need anything or run out there is a small store down the road they’re open 24/7 and the security can help you get there!” Jake dug around in his pocket before opening the large door, the inside was beautiful. A large leather sectional took up the far left side, opposite from that a large tv and entertainment center stood with a fireplace below that,next a large kitchen area complete with a microwave,stove,sink and even a full size fridge.

Jake led Myra down the dark hard wood floors into the large room at the end and a large king size bed took up the majority of it,he then led Myra to the opposite end where a full size bathroom with a huge shower was included, there was even a vanity above the sink. This trailer put Myra’s apartment to shame, she would never want to leave this place.

Jake walked back to the kitchen area, laying a folder down on the small dining table, “This is your schedule for tomorrow. If you need anything at all again please stop by! I will leave you to it, you have an early day tomorrow!” He leaned in for what seemed like a hug but it caught Myra off guard, “Oh sorry,” She quickly reached her hand out to him to offer him a handshake. “Have a goodnight Jake!” She closed and locked the trailer door behind him.

She turned around and took in the incredible area again, “Wow..” She spoke to herself. She realized she would need to go to her car and get her belongings, she glanced out the window to the parking lot containing everyone’s vehicles, she had her phone flashlight and it wasn’t too far away she was sure she could make it on her own.

Myra slid back on her shoes she had removed at the door. She grabbed the keys Jake had left by the door and turned on her light making her way outside. The Georgia air got very cold very quickly at night time,she held her light in front keeping it pointed at the ground not wanting to bother anyone in their trailers. She reached the parking lot gate and held her light to the keypad,quickly punching in the 4 digit code.

The gate made a loud beep before sliding open enough for her to slip inside. She drove a 2006 black Jeep Wrangler and it looked pitiful in this parking lot filled with high end expensive cars. The entire back seat was stuffed full with Myra’s belongings, she threw on her backpack and grabbed two large containers before kicking her door shut and locking it up.

A black Sedan drove by and two men excited the vehicle making their way over to the keypad, the tall man in front entered a couple unsuccessful numbers and the shorter man behind him tried as well, still being unsuccessful. Myra hadn’t noticed at first but the second man had a camera wrapped around his neck, maybe these guys were with the paparazzi maybe they thought someone famous was over here and they were trying to break in, she sat down her boxes quickly dialing Jake’s number.

A large boom of people talking in the background muted Jake's voice. “Jake? It’s Myra. I think something is going on. I am in the parking lot and two guys are trying to break in..” She spoke softly not wanting the two gentlemen to hear her. They continuously shook at the gate trying to force it open. “Myra? What did you say? Two guys?” Myra sighed speaking a little louder. “There are two guys trying to break into the parking lot! They’re banging on the gate! I am stuck in here!” Jake’s tone quickly changed,”Shit!” He spoke the words harshly leaving his mouth. “I am on my way right now!” Myra hung up the phone, staying put on the ground next to her car, she had the perfect view of the gate keeping an eye on them.

A few minutes went by when George, the security guard that she met when she arrived approached the gate with two other men. The paparazzi quickly scattered in two different directions and George opened the gate,making his way around through the cars, the two others followed closely behind him.

“Myra!” He spoke, shining his large light around on the ground. “Over here!” she quickly popped up,both of her boxes in her hands. “First day here and you’re already causing trouble?” He chuckled, taking the two containers from her. George was a tall african american man who had a comforting vibe to him,but from what Jake had told her he was trained in 6 different types of martial arts and served 26 years in the Army.

“I didn’t mean to cause any trouble, they-they were just trying to break in,they probably assumed I was someone more important!” Myra shoved her keys back into her pocket and grabbed her purse from the ground as well. “You are important, you know a lot of information about the show and those guys are desperate!” Jake stepped from behind George offering to take some things from Myra, she shook her head “I’ve got it don’t worry! I guess I didn’t think of that!”

The other guy behind George stepped forward removing the hood off of his head. It was Dacre he gave Myra a soft comforting smile, “I am glad you are ok! You want me to help you back to your trailer?” George’s walkie talkie on his shoulder began calling a few codes,” I should probably check this out, you two can help her back to the trailers and if you need anything else at all, here is my card!” Myra reached out taking the business card from his fingers. “Thank you again George, I will!”

As the three of them walked across the road back to their trailer Myra finally realized they had both arrived there together. “Did Jake call you?” She glanced over at Dacre,his hoodie covering his head again. “No we were at the cast party together and we happened to be talking when you called. I can give you my number if you want, you know if you ever wanna talk..” He spoke with hesitancy, something Myra hadn’t experienced him due yet, was he actually nervous?

“Cast party?” She moved closer to him, a little curious. Jake had a dumbfounded look come across his face, “Oh uh yeah after the first day of filming they usually throw a party for the cast, I assumed since you had an early morning you wouldn’t want to come.” Dacre made a disappointed sigh, “If I would have known I would have invited you..I’m sorry!” As they approached her trailer Myra pulled out her keys and quickly opened the door.

“No, no it’s alright Jake is right I do have an early morning and I need to unpack and rest.” She took the containers from Jake’s arms and walked them inside. “You guys have a great night, thank you again for the help. I will see you in the morning!” She closed the door behind her before noticing Dacre's small wave goodbye.

Myra began digging through the containers, pulling out her clothes and shoes she would need for tomorrow. She hung up all of her outfits before walking over to the large fridge hoping to find something sweet inside. A plate of brownies sat on the top shelf with a note that said “Welcome to the Crew”. She unwrapped two,grabbed up her shower supplies and carried them inside the bathroom, where she began undressing. She finished off the two small brownies and twirled her hair up into a ponytail.

The shower temperature was very confusing. It was either really hot or really cold so it took Myra a while to adjust it perfectly, she got inside and let the warm water pour down her back. Her door water was never warm Paisley always took boiling hot showers that surprisingly didn’t leave blisters all over her body and unfortunately Myra’s classes weren’t over until after Paisley’s so when it was her time to shower she was left with icicles hanging all over her body.

A loud vibration came from the counter alerting Myra that Paisley had been calling, she quickly got out wrapping a towel around her body, “Hello Pais!” She spoke with excitement,she could not wait to tell her everything! “Myra James! Tell me everything!” She held the corner of her towel tightly in her grip,walking over to her new large neatly made bed. ”Well I was up at 5 am this morning and spent 2 hours getting a tour of the set and signing a bunch of paperwork.”

Paisley sighed into the phone “Myra Josaphine James you know exactly what I am talking about, tell me about Dacre! Was he nice? Did you two hook up?” Myra laughed,grabbing her sweatshirt and pulling it over her head before she ran her brush through her damp hair. “Yes he was very nice, I got to actually sit through a couple scenes he did..with Karen!” Paisley gasped in shock. “With Karen!? That means Baren is happening!” Baren was the couple name Paisley had made up for Karen and Billy and she was determined to believe it would happen.

“Well it might be happening, Billy is a lifeguard this season, him and Karen had an amazing scene today at the pool and things got hot! Billy is going to be teaching her lesson at a private motel pool!” Myra pulled back the cover,laying out on her cool satin sheets. “How are you containing yourself? I would be jumping that boy’s bones, especially after seeing a Billy and Karen scene. I mean you did say he was being nice to you, maybe he’s wanting a big ol’ slice of Myra pie!” Paisley laughed hysterically into the phone,she was a perv but it was one of Myra’s favorite things about her.

“He was just being nice that is it! I am new here and he was just making me feel welcomed!” Myra turned on the small light on the overhead compartment and lowered the main rooms light. “Ok new couple then Myra and Dacre, Macre!” She squealed with excitement. “You need to get your flirting on, maybe something special might happen!” Myra could hear the seduction in her voice. “Yeah.. probably not.”

Myra laughed in return. Talking to Paisley helped with her homesickness, it made everything seem normal again like they were sitting in their dorm together sharing stories, not 5 hours away from each other in completely different states. Myra finished her phone call with Paisley before she hung up and drifted off to sleep.

#dacre montgomery #joe keery #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things edit #Billy Hargrove #billy harrington #eleven #gaten matarazzo #finn wittrock #edits #dacre x reader #dacre kayd montgomery #dacre imagine #smut

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timeisacephalopod · 5 years

Text

Have a TonyRhodey AU in which Tony is complaining about his children to Rhodey, who is not at all lost on the fact that Tony’s kids act like him so its kind of funny that he’s mad about it.

Rhodey laughs, hand covering his mouth and Tony lets out a noise of frustration. “Stop that! You don’t get it, Peter was being deliberately stupid. Like who decides to walk up to the cops with information on the asston of property damage and say ‘do you want the tea?’ instead of just telling them what happened?”

He doesn’t say anything about that time he and Tony got into a nasty car wreak that neither of them should have survived let alone come out untouched only to tell the cop that he’d rather be eating a burger than talk to them. And he did this for an hour until he got the damn food, then he continued to purposefully badger the cop because he thought it was funny. So its really not shocking that Peter thinks irritating the cops is funny too, he comes by it honestly. “That’s pretty funny,” he says and Tony’s eyes bug out of his head.

“No! Give him those ‘respect cops’ talks you always gave me, shithead!”

Rhodey squints, “I gave you ‘don’t torment cops with your black friend in shooting range’ lessons, lets not twist things. And no, parent your damn self you were the one that adopted like fifty kids.”

“Excuse you we have three and one is part time Pepper’s so she barely even counts so really we have two kids and a pest,” Tony says. “Fifty kids my ass. And you’re his parent to, do parent things,” he says, poking Rhodey in the side.

He smacks Tony’s hand away, “stop that. And Morgan is your actual child, how’s she count less?”

“Because Pepper has her equal time, Rhodey. And they’re all my actual kids, just because one was once a sperm that was-”

“Okay, you don’t need to finish that sentence. Peter sassing the cops is so not the worst thing he could be doing. Remember that ridiculous Jake Gyllenhaal looking bastard with the fish bowl head? Absolutely worse shenanigans than asking the cop if he wants the tea. Just saying.” And Peter is a good kid too, the least troublesome one they have and the little bastard got bit by a radioactive spider and became a superhero. But he’s the least troublesome kid they have. Sometimes Rhodey wonders if Tony is secretly Harley’s actual father because they share way too much in common and how come none of the kids are like him? Rude.

“Fine, Peter being a dick to cops is fine. Harley nearly died twice because, and this is a quote, ‘I wanted to make a cool Tik Tok.’ I had to look up what the fuck that was,” Tony says, exasperated.

Yeah, Harley is a certified Dumb Bitch but if Tik Tok and superheroes had been around in their youth he knows he’d have to find a way to save Tony’s dumb ass as he made videos in the middle of superhero battlefields. Shit, if that was the case in their youth deciding to make cool videos would have been Iron Man’s origin story instead of the terrorist thing.

“Tones you know you’d do the same thing, you can’t really judge the kid,” he says reasonably.

If it were possible for steam to blow out of Tony’s ears it would have. “He almost died twice under crumbling buildings for a twelve second video with Mii music in the background captioned ‘my last brain cell trying to avoid death while I ruin my life.’ He almost died twice for that,” Tony says like he didn’t once give out his personal address to terrorists only to be surprised when they blew up his house. And that’s one of the less dumb things Tony has done that’s nearly resulted in his death.

“Uh huh. Baby I hate to tell you this, but he’s just acting like you,” he says, wincing a little as he says it.

Tony reacts exactly how he thinks he would, mostly offended about it. “Rhodey, that is the problem. I’m an idiot, I like to think I have raised my kids to not be idiots.”

“Eh,” Rhodey says, waving hand. Tony smacks him playfully.

“Don’t be rude and talk to the kid, he listens to you,” he says like Harley doesn’t listen to him too.

“Its a phase, he’ll get through it,” Rhodey says.

“He almost died for a twelve second video that is an insane phase! Why are you not worried about his safety?” he asks, confused.

“I’m assuming this was the same event where Peter asked the cops if they wanted the tea, yeah?” he asks.

Tony huffs, “that’s not the point.”

“Is so. I know you wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him and neither would Peter, he was fine. Stupid, but fine. Besides, I can’t talk braincells into the kid,” he points out. “Didn’t work on you anyway.”

“Well... can you just talk to him?” Tony asks, shoulders slumped.

Rhodey shrugs, “yeah, alright. I doubt I’ll do more than you did but I can talk to the kid.” Tony nods, visibly relieved and Rhodey waits for him to go on but he doesn’t. “And Morgan?” he asks, figuring she’s gotten into some kind of something this week. Last time he got an update she tried to bleach her hair so she could dye it pink except she’s five so that didn’t go well and Tony spent a lot of time yelling about potentially going blind while Morgan watched on. Her only defense was that she’s not dumb, she knows not to bleach her eyes.

He’d had to leave that alone too and he and Pepper had a quiet moment about how Tony one hundred percent would have done the same thing. Kind of did in college when he decided to go blond and he looked awful. Then he decided the solution was shaving his hair short, which mostly made him look like a skin head so Rhodey told him to dye his hair back but Tony’s dramatic ass hid under the bed for a month until it grew out enough to leave for more than a few hours at night to eat, shit, and shower. So really, Morgan was just reaching out to some Stark genes there and she was fine, if sporting some awful hair, so he and Pepper got a good laugh out of Tony’s reaction.

“Oh she’s fine, turns out she’s a music prodigy so there's that. But I’m sure she’ll do some stupid thing soon. In the meantime though she’s not doing anything particularly stupid so that’s nice, I’ve got my hands full with Harley and Peter anyway.”

That doesn’t surprise Rhodey much, she insults Tony’s music taste too much to not know things about it. “Guess she had some insight when she told you Alice Cooper was worse than Barney,” he says and Tony makes an offended noise.

“She did not!”

Rhodey looks over the kids sternly until Morgan raises her hand. “I didn’t even do anything so can I leave?” she asks. He nods and she grins, taking off presumably to go harass Tony about his music that she’s deemed awful. Tony has threatened to disown her four times today alone.

Harley and Peter wilt a little and Rhodey sighs. “Harley, nearly dying for a Tik Tok is not nearly a cool enough death to risk it. Peter, that’s hilarious. Keep pissing off New York’s finest, you’re bullet proof anyway. Stop doing it in front of your father though, I’m tired of Tony losing his ass about it.”

Peter frowns, “I’m not bullet proof.”

“I rescind that, stop pissing off New York’s finest, I don’t put it above at least one of them to shoot Spiderman. Harley, learn how to edit, man. What the hell are you doing running around in superhero battles for? Go ask Ned if you need help with it, you know Ned is good at editing and he’s a good boy, I’m sure he’d help you.” Helped Peter hack into his suit and they both thought Tony didn’t know right away like he didn’t plan for the possibility that someone would tamper with the suit Peter or otherwise. Ned got himself a job out of it and Peter got grounded, which meant no Spiderman.

“Please don’t call Ned a good boy,” Peter says, wrinkling his nose.

“Hey, I found another Spiderman and his suit is way cooler than Peter’s!” Morgan says from behind them. Rhodey turns to find a kid standing there in an admittedly very cool design but its clearly painted over one of Peter’s suits. He’d recognize one of those suits anywhere the design is so unique. He turns to Peter, who smacks Harley.

“You said he was well hidden!” he hisses.

“Morgan’s a busybody, you know that!”

“He was in your closet, that’s not well hidden. You should have hid him under the sink,” Morgan tells them, hands on her hips.

Rhodey lets out a long suffering sigh. “Alright kid, who are you?”

“I’m not Miles Morales. I’m some other guy,” he says, looking away and Rhodey hopes this kid has loving parents because he’s absolutely dumb enough for Tony to adopt.

“Yeah alright, lets get you to the lab so you can get your own suit. Peter, you can explain yourself to your father and Harley, you too. Morgan... good work,” he says awkwardly but Morgan looks proud of herself so at least there’s that. Miles looks upset that he’s outted himself but it does seem like Peter is incapable of finding friends who are good liars. Better for him and Tony though so he’ll take it.

#tonyrhodey #ironhusbands #fanfiction #canon divergent au #tony x rhodey

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jennifersylvesters · 6 years

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give a little - part one

Pairing: Chris Evans / Sebastian Stan x fem!reader Word Count: 3.6k~ Warning: swearing A/N: this is my contribution to @suncityparker and @petalparker’s writing challenge. i chose the au / prompt fake dating. hope you enjoy! as always, feedback is always appreciated!

When you signed the lease for your apartment at Woodridge Oaks, it was only natural for you to be excited. After all, this was your first taste of independence. Finally you had a place to yourself, free of any family or roommates. There was no stress, no rushing in the morning worried that the bathroom would be occupied. You weren’t expecting much from a one bedroom apartment but just a nice relaxing home. After all, what could happen on the fifth floor of Woodridge Oaks?

Occasionally a loud party bustled throughout the complex, but it ended during reasonable hours and only happened on the weekends. They were tolerable, just like the tenants who resided in the building. You got along just fine with the neighbors, not particularly concerned about any of them.

To the right of your apartment was your neighbor, Chris. You met him while moving in, lugging heavy miscellaneous boxes up to your place. He graciously offered to help which you gladly accepted. You hadn’t seen him much after that day, only greeting one another occasionally in the halls.The two of you sometimes briefly chatted in the laundry room while waiting for your loads, but it was nothing but mere small talk.

And although the number of women who visited his place seemed excessive, you didn’t particularly mind. It amused you to see the girls creeping quietly out of his place, passing you with a mix of shame and embarrassment all while refusing to make eye contact. As long as they weren’t loud, you had no qualms.That was his business.

However your neighbor, Sebastian, did not feel the same. Unfortunately Sebastian’s bedroom was right next to Chris’s, where he could hear him and his partners going at it in the middle of the night. While you weren’t technically friends with Sebastian - “commute buddies” seeing as your offices were only a block away from one another - you empathetically listened to his complaints.

Chris’s flings meant nothing to you, only serving as a trivial fact about the blond man next door. It caught you by surprise when a woman began frequently visiting his apartment. At first you found it sweet how he finally decided to commit. There was only one girl for Sebastian to complain about now.

Yet things seemed off. This visitor would show up at odd times of the day, skulking around the hallways constantly looking over her shoulder. Multiple times you witnessed her trying to yank his door open but to no avail. She left notes taped to his door, a lipstick kiss on the sheet with multiple hearts drawn.

All of these actions seemed peculiar, something you weren’t quite sure what to make of. You figured the least you could do was let Chris know. So one Sunday afternoon you knocked on his door waiting for him to answer. You heard rustling from the other side, locks sliding before a hand grabbed and yanked you inside.

“Oh, thank God it’s you” he breathed a sigh of relief, quickly locking the door. “Lucy’s been practically stalking me.”

“Who?”

He explained how he met Lucy at his job. He hadn’t thought much about his flirtation with her, only that she seemed like a sweet kid who ended up wanting more than a casual fling and got aggressive about her ambition to date him. There was absolutely no shame in his voice or face as he went into certain details about their sexual history, something that ended up flustering you instead.

You suggested he tell the landlord, figuring that he could easily ban her from the building. Chris shook his head, heaving out a sigh. “No, I can handle it. Plus it might mess up my business.” You weren’t sure what he did, but you politely nodded your head. “I just gotta ride out the crazy.”

“Thanks for telling me” he said, giving you a polite smile as he opened the door for you. Both of you jumped seeing Lucy standing at the doorway.

“Who are you? Who is this?” Lucy glared.

And in what Chris deemed a moment of brilliance, he blurted “This is my girlfriend, Y/N!”

Your jaw dropped at the notion, unsure of what in God’s name he was talking about. You barely spoke to him, and now he was deciding the two of you were dating?

Feeling a slight pinch on your arm, you yelped lightly. It took one look from the blond man to understand that he needed you to save him. His face said it all - “just go with it”. Still, he didn’t need to be that rough.

“Yes...I am dating...Chris” you slowly announced, trying to process the words as you said them. The idea of dating Chris seemed unfathomable. Sure, he was ridiculously attractive, but he wasn’t one for being tied down. Plus you didn’t even know his last name. Definitely couldn’t date someone without knowing their full name.

“How long? Why? When’d you meet?” Lucy didn’t have the right to ask either of you questions, but that didn’t stop her.

“Actually, we’ve known each other for a while” he nodded, explaining the situation. “We’ve always had chemistry, but we just didn’t wanna give in to it. I think I just wanted a sign to feel like all the stars were aligned. But a couple weeks ago we ran into each other at our favorite cafe, and we were talking about our favorite musicians. She was talking so passionately about her favorite band and that’s when I realized I couldn’t fight my feelings any longer. I just told her how much I liked her, and I’m just really blessed my baby felt the same way” he lied so easily even you thought it might be real.

He wrapped his arm around your waist, pulling you in close. This was definitely new territory with your neighbor, and you weren’t too sure how to feel about it. Were you supposed to do the same?

So your arm hovered behind his back unsure of where to put your hand. Would putting it up near his shoulder blades be more friendly than a normal girlfriend would intend? But you also couldn’t just put it near his butt. That region was off limits. With a fake smile plastered on his face, he gritted “Just pick a spot.”

You eventually settled on the small of his back before grinning nervously at Lucy. Instantly you regretted this gesture as she shot you a murderous look.

“I, uh...I like him so much” you fumbled out. Apparently that wasn’t good enough. You received another pinch. Wincing at the pain, you deciding to rephrase your statement. “I mean, I love him. I’m just really...shy about admitting that stuff to strangers. Especially people I’ve never met.” That seemed to appease Chris.

Lucy eyed you, watching you do you best to pretend you were in love with a man you barely talked to. With one final glare, she huffed off.

As the sound of her heels disappeared, Chris dropped his arm from around you. Breathing a sigh of relief, he placed his hand on your shoulder. “Whew! Thanks for that!”

Scrunching your face, you couldn’t help but feel a little weirded out by the whole scenario. You rubbed at the spot that he pinched. “Sure. That was a bit strange though.”

Right as you were about to walk back to your apartment, he took your arm gently. “Hey. I know I don’t have the right, but I have a huge favor to ask” he started nervously, his other hand rubbing the nape of his neck. That’s when he asked if you would be his fake girlfriend, at least until he was sure Lucy would leave him alone for good.

You pointed out how insane Lucy seemed, afraid that she might come after you. There was something in her eyes from the brief contact that worried you greatly. But Chris promised he would take care of her as long as you did this favor for him.

All signs told you not to do this. It was crazy. Lucy was crazy. Chris was crazy for thinking this was a good idea. But you were weak when he repeatedly pleaded for you to help him out. His eyes looked desperate and when he actually got on his knees, clutching his hands together, you knew you couldn’t say no.

“Fine” you gave in, wishing you weren’t that weak to handsome men. “Also, what’s your last name?”

A couple days later you strolled through the grocery store, making your way through the sections as you focused on the information on your phone. Turns out that dating Chris wasn’t just a simple announcement and an occasional hug and kiss; it was actual work.

True to Chris’s initial belief, Lucy had no intention of giving up without a fight. Her visits became even more constant, asking Chris’s location or why the two of you weren’t together at that very second. You would fib, making any excuses to get away from the horrid girl. She rattled of questions to you about your “boyfriend”, expecting you to know the most obscure details about the man.

While her incessant hounding bothered you, she was right to question this relationship seeing as you practically knew nothing about him. The only certain fact you knew was that he owned a lovely dog named Dodger. Everything else about Chris was up in the air.

Lucy wasn’t buying into the sham, and both of you could tell. So he began sending facts about himself, typical details one would know about Chris if you were actually dating. Nothing more enthralling than remembering someone’s dietary restrictions and food dislikes for a fake relationship.

While you sent some of your own facts, you never bothered making any of them too personal. Learning about him was more for his benefit rather than yours. He didn’t need to know your allergies or music preferences because his stalker wouldn’t care.

As you muttered how Chris was originally from Boston, you looked up from your phone to see a familiar face. Oh, no. It was your ex-boyfriend, Jake. Your face immediately paled at the sight of him.

He looked good in that button down you always loved, hair gelled back as he browsed through the produce section. Why, oh why, was today the day where you decided to look completely disheveled?

He hadn’t noticed you so you sucked in your breath as you attempted to turn around. Your plan was foiled as your cart screeched, the back tire grinding down and refusing to cooperate. Jake looked up towards your direction, recognizing you immediately. As he called out your name, you internally groaned biting down on your lip.

“Hey, Y/N! Long time no see!” he greeted you. He surveyed your messy hair and unflattering sweats. From the look on his face, you could tell he felt that he dodged a bullet with you. You wanted nothing more than to flip him off and curse him out for that expression alone.

Despite your current state, you were doing fine. You didn’t need a man, especially one like him. This, of course, was something he would never believe even if you told him.

You wanted Jake to understand that you never needed him, that you were capable of bigger and better things. He was simply the pit stop on the side of the road. Yet to him he was the final destination you never got the opportunity to enjoy.

You could feel the resentment boiling in your body, wishing you could do something - anything - to make him see otherwise. And that’s when you spotted Sebastian.

Well, he actually spotted you. “Oh hey” he approached you, giving you a polite nod.

Something inside you snapped at that moment. That pitying look from Jake made you want to lash out, prove him wrong for all those times he made you feel inferior. You never got to do it during your relationship or your break up. Apparently now was the perfect opportunity, even if that meant absolutely losing your mind.

“Baby, where have you been?” you cooed, taking Sebastian by the arm and pulling him close to you. You rubbed his bicep, leaning in closer. Sebastian quizzically eyed you, unsure of the current situation.

“Uh, like in general or-?” he started before you realized he might ruin your plan.

“Aw, I’m glad you got my favorite chips! You’re so sweet!” you exclaimed upon seeing him holding a bag of Doritos in his hand.

Jake pressed his lips together. Obviously he hadn’t been expecting someone like Sebastian to show up. He cleared his throat, bringing your attention back to him. “You’re not even going to introduce me, Y/N?” He forced a chuckle causing Sebastian to raise an eyebrow.

It was only natural for him to feel intimidated by Sebastian. With his tall stature and good looks, he seemed like a step up from Jake. You couldn’t help but relish that the tables were turned.

“This is my boyfriend” you beamed, leaning in closer to Sebastian. This announcement shocked him as his eyes widened and his body stiffened. Yet somehow Jake didn’t seem to notice. Thank God.

You squeezed his arm, hoping he would understand to go along with the charade. Fortunately he got the signal and kept quiet.

“Oh, really? I didn’t realize you got a new boyfriend” Jake replied, irritation laced in his voice.

“Yup. He’s my boyfriend.” You tilted your head into Seb’s chest, acting as if it were only natural. “This is Chris.” Shit.

You hadn’t meant to say the wrong name. You heard the words slip out so carelessly and you almost winced. Almost. No, you couldn’t make a move. You needed to pretend you hadn’t messed up, that you hadn’t called Sebastian by his least favorite neighbor’s name.

Seb sucked in his breath, eyes widening at your name choice. He stared at you; it was almost as if he wasn’t sure you actually knew his name. You squeezed his arm once more, almost as if a lifeline to just keep quiet.

“Babe, this is Jake.” You extended out your arm, gesturing to him. “This is my, erm, ex-boyfriend.” Suddenly things began to make sense for him.

You knew Sebastian decently enough to know that he wasn’t one for lying. In fact, he always stuck to his guns about the rights and wrongs. It sometimes felt like he stood on his own pedestal, refusing to come down among the regular beings who made mistakes.

He had a choice to make: expose you or play along. The obvious choice would be to tell the truth, point out how the two of you were just neighbors and that his name wasn’t Chris.

But the pleading look in your eyes stopped him from doing so. He looked at your arms, still intertwined tightly to his arm. And with his free hand, he gently gave your arm a couple loving taps.

“Yes...I am...Chris” he eventually spoke, wishing you chose his actual name for this ruse.

Your arms relaxed slightly and you released a breath that you hadn’t realized you’d been holding. You knew you owed him big time, but that was to be discussed after.

As soon as it was clear he was willing to play along, things got increasingly easier. You told Jake about how you and Sebastian met, how you hadn’t meant to fall in love with one of your neighbors, but the two of you couldn’t fight the magnetic connection. Sebastian just stiffly nodded along, unsure of what to contribute to the conversation. You did most of the work; all he needed to do was stand there and look pretty.

So you continued faking pleasantries, taking Sebastian’s hands in yours. Your palms sweated, nervous about the piling lies as well as how Sebastian would later react. Clearly he could sense your discomfort but that this charade was something to prove. Letting go of your hand and pulling away for a brief moment, he adjusted so that you were in front of him and wrapped his arm around you.

Your heart beat quickly as you felt Sebastian rest his head on your shoulder. From Jake’s frown, you knew you owed him big time.

What you didn’t expect was Jake to ask the two of you to get coffee with him. Who in their right mind would ask their ex-girlfriend and her current beau out for a drink? Apparently Jake would. “I just think that it would be nice to catch up with you. And seeing as how Chris can’t keep his hands off you, I don’t mind if he wants to tag along.”

You wanted nothing more than to roll your eyes at the invite. There was no way you planned on spending more time with your ex, especially with this “Chris”. Except you and your neighbor were not on the same wavelength.

“That’d be great!” Sebastian agreed as the two men exchanged phone numbers. You could feel yourself mentally screaming, wishing that you could reverse time before Sebastian accepted that offer. If only.

As your ex-boyfriend walked off, you pulled out of Sebastian’s grasp and swiveled around to face him. “What are you doing?” you hissed, now looking at a confused Sebastian.

“I thought I was helping you with your ex-boyfriend.”

“I mean, yeah. Thank you for that. But you didn’t have to accept the offer!”

“I thought you wanted me to?”

“I would rather shoot myself in the foot than hang out with Jake again” you snarled, the memories of your ex-boyfriend flooding up. One look at Sebastian, and you realized your hostile tone was directed at the wrong person. “Sorry, it’s not you” you apologized. “It’s just that Jake and I didn’t end on a good note.” He nodded, not needing an explanation.

“I guess...We just have to get through Saturday?” He agreed, and the two of you began heading towards the front of the grocery store to pay.

As the two of you made your way back to the apartment, you discussed plans of how to handle things. You decided you would visit his place to help pick out a good coordinating outfit and go over anything important that might arise in conversation.

Hauling the bags of groceries to your shared floor, the two of you stumbled onto the scene of Lucy and Chris arguing at his entryway.

“There’s something wrong with her! I know it!” she insisted, arms crossed across her chest.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chris spotted you. While this day had been nothing but poor timing, Chris eagerly welcomed the universe’s mistake. “You need to stop this right now, Lucy. You’re gonna upset my girlfriend!”

Sebastian turned around, expecting to see another woman in the hall. A perplexed expression crossed his face as he saw no one else, now confused by Chris’s words.

You, on the other hand, focused on the death glare being sent your way. What were you supposed to do? The woman looked like she’d rip you to shreds if you even attempted fighting her.

You opened your mouth, trying to form the right words. “I am...So upset…” Judging by Chris’s expression, this wasn’t going to get his stalker off his doorstep.

“No! I’m so angry!” you changed your phrasing, furrowing your brows. “How dare you?!” you yelled, gently placing your groceries on the ground before putting your hands on your hips. No way you were going to damage your eggs for this act. Please. But were you selling it enough? Chris rolled his eyes and gave a small nod, and you continued your awful performance.

“You need to get away from my man, please.” Another ‘ramp up the anger’ look from Chris. “No, you know what? No ‘please’. Get away from my man before I call the cops on you!” you snapped, pulling out your cell phone. You randomly tapped buttons on your phone before holding it up to your ear, pretending to wait for the police to pick up. Your bluff worried Lucy as she clenched her fists before letting out a loud scoff.

“I know something’s up” she hissed as she pushed past you and Sebastian. Once the apartment building door slammed shut, Chris grinned.

“That was pretty bad, but I liked that phone bit” he complimented as he gave you a couple of claps. You jokingly curtsied, pretending to enjoy the praise.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Sebastian asked, still clueless to the what just occurred.

“Oh, Chris has a stalker” you responded casually giving a shrug. Sebastian’s eyes widened before he scratched the back of his head in bewilderment.

“Y/N is pretending to be my girlfriend until Lucy gets the hint and leaves me alone.” Thankful for your help, Chris plucked up one of the bags from the ground to lighten your load.

Sebastian remained quiet, finding himself squatting to take in all the information. “Wait...Can you...What’s going on?” he questioned again. The two of you explained the predicament, giving him time to fully absorb the situation. He nodded at certain points, making it clear he was slowly beginning to digest all this information.

He sucked in a breath before exhaling slowly, eying you nervously before pressing his lips together. “Well, that’s gonna complicate things because I’m Y/N’s boyfriend.” Chris nearly dropped the groceries, startled by his announcement.

“Fake boyfriend” he continued, and you remembered that this was true. “Because her ex thinks that I’m her boyfriend. He also thinks that my name is Chris.”

Things on the fifth floor of Woodridge Oaks were about to get interesting.

tags list: @sleepybesson, @tomhaz, @supernatural-girl97

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red-writing-on-asylum-walls · 5 years

Text

Got a Secret, Can You Keep It

To absolutely no one’s surprise, here’s more Micoverse for @mushroommouth. I’m posting this one here both because of the content in general and the implied content.

I started a sort of ‘second part’ to this but it wasn’t flowing well so I dunno if I want to finish it.

------

Milo sat in the grass at the farthest edge of the park, the forest at his back, lazily plucking dandelions from around him and pulling their head off to toss them aside before finding another victim. His ginger hair was tugged back into a rather unruly ponytail and the knees of his jeans were stained green from hours outside. He had the distinct air of someone who was cooling down after a long, exhausting romp in the sun.

Something cracked a twig in the forest behind him but he barely turned, his head in the clouds. More shuffling covered by the chittering of birds. The hairs on the back of Milo’s neck stood on end and he made to turn, but a hand flashed out of the underbrush and pressed a damp cloth over his nose and mouth. He was yanked backwards into the foliage, legs kicking and clawing at the grip on his face. Darkness swelled at the edges of his vision as his eyes grew heavy and, eventually, unconsciousness toppled him backwards into an endless void.

He woke up in a cage.

A yellow, naked bulb cast a gloomy light over the concrete room, revealing a stripped mattress on an old bed frame, a beat up card table, and a modified chair with heavy leather straps on the legs and arm rests. Milo curled his fingers around the thin bars of his cage, frowning at his surroundings. The regular slide locks of what had once been a large dog cage had been replaced with heavy duty padlocks. The plastic floor of the cage was hard and uncomfortable and was already making his legs ache from being curled on it.

“Hello?” Milo called, “Hey, um, can you let me out? Please? Hello? Hey! HEY! HHEEEYYY!”

There was a bang overhead and then heavy footsteps stomping down a flight of stairs. A lock jiggled and clicked and then the door swung open. A man walked into the room, his hair neatly combed and a heavy pair of hiking boots on his feet. He was frowning as he approached the cage,

“You should have been out for at least another hour. Tenacious brat, aren’t you? Hopefully that means you’ll last a while, eh?”

The man sneers, lip curling in a hungry look as he looms over the cage. Milo glares up at him, huffing a strand of dislodged hair out of his face.

“My dad’s gonna kill you.” He growled.

It only earned him a laugh, “Kid, you know how many times I’ve heard that line? And yet,” He spread his arms, indicating himself, “I’m still here.”

Something creaked upstairs.

The man looked up at the ceiling, brow furrowing further. There was a long silence for a while and then the man reached around to a load bearing pillar and pocked up a poker for a fireplace. Milo watched him creep slowly up the stairs, stepping so that the stairs wouldn’t make a sound as he climbed them, the poker raised and prepared to strike. Milo kept watching him until the man left his sight, then he reached up into his messy ponytail and tugged a couple of bobby-pins out. Holding one in his mouth, he wormed his fingers through the cage bars and began using the second to pick one of the locks.

The noises from upstairs increased, muffled shouting and stomping feet. Milo frowned in concentration, yanking on the lock in frustration and twisting the bobby-pin until he could feel it catch. He was about to pull the other pin from between his teeth when there came a yell and the man from before came tumbling head over heels down the stairs, crashing to the cement floor at the bottom. Milo stared at him. The man groaned and scrambled to his feet, clawing at the rickety card table as he stumbled upright. There was blood on his shirt and dripping from a cut on his head but when he saw Milo, a blind sort of panic spread across his features.

“Help me!” He shouted, running across the basement to trip into the cage. The impact jarred the bobby-pins loose and Milo scowled as they fell from his hands out of his reach, “Th-they’re insane! I’ll let you out, just help me!”

Footsteps on the stairs. Both Milo and the man looked around to the open door at the bottom of the steps. A shadow fell across the doorway and the man whimpered, digging into his pockets for a jingling set of keys. He fumbled with them, dropped them twice as he pawed through to find the right one. Milo watched him impassively, sitting back on the hard floor of the cage. Something like curiosity glittered in his eyes.

“Do you like children, Mr. Doiley?” Asked a voice. Another man stepped into the room. He was smaller than the kidnapper, Mr. Doiley, with fluffy blond hair and tired eyes. There was a very sharp hunting knife in his hand, the blade barely kissed with red.

“Do you like them because you can overpower them?” Asked Jake Pierly as he approached the cage. Mr. Doiley scrambled backwards, trying to keep the cage between himself and the man with the knife, “Or are you just a disgusting pedophile who likes to get his rocks off hurting children?”

“Wow, you really made him mad,” Milo said, turning a maniacal sort of grin on his captor. Mr. Doiley backpedaled, sputtering excuses and searching for a weapon, for an escape, for any way out of the situation in front of him.

“Aw, come on, Jake, quit playing with him,” A third man had entered the basement, broad shouldered and powerful in more than just presence. Storm clouds boiled in his eyes, rage barely contained in his shaking fists, “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Then get him.” Jake pointed to Mr. Doiley with the hunting knife and the third man charged.

In the cage, Milo grinned as the screaming started.

*****

“Can I be used for bait again next time?”

Milo sat crosslegged on the modified chair, watching as his dads cleaned up the mess left behind by Mr. Doiley. The air stank of bleach and peppermint.

“This isn’t going to become a habit, Milo,” Jake said sternly, carefully peeling off his rubber gloves and dropping them into the open garbage bag nearby. Behind him, Dan, still wearing his own set of gloves, had a severed arm he was dragging all over the room, letting the fingers and hand bump into as many objects as possible.

“But it was fun!” Milo whined, “And I didn’t get to do anything this time!”

“This is also much too dangerous,” Jake argued back, dumping some tea tree oil into the garbage bag and then splashing some across the empty dog cage, “If it wasn’t such an issue, we wouldn’t have done it in the first place.” He glanced at Milo and a smile quirked his lips, “But you did a very good job playing your role, Milo. We’re both very proud of you.”

Milo beamed like he’d just won the lottery.

#micoverse

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rabidwrestlingfan · 6 years

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Thought About It

Author's note: Just a random little drabble that came to me while watching a food show. Hope you guys like it. 💙

"You really are going to sit there and watch me the entire time, aren't you?" Nova asked with a chuckle as she started to make the Alfredo sauce for their dinner. Jake had arrived earlier than either had anticipated. She was barely preparing to cook when he walked into her apartment. Even after being welcomed to watch TV and relax he simply sat on the counter and watched her. He knew she was a bit of a control freak in the kitchen. "Sure am. I haven't seen you in almost two weeks and I get to watch you cook." The blonde answered with a smile. She couldn't resist leaning over and kissing his cheek. "You're absolutely ridiculous... But I love it. I still can't believe that I haven't made you stuffed shells yet. They're a favorite of mine." She told him before she focused her attention back on the food.

His blue eyes stayed on her as she moved about the kitchen. He was sure that he'd driven everyone insane during the last round of shows. All he could seem to talk about, especially the last few days, was going home to Nova. Her own string of shows had sent her in the opposite direction of him. Now that he was near her he let himself forget about everything. The pain all over, the fact that they'd be separated again in less than forty hours, and so much more just vanished from his mind. He was sure he wanted to spend forever with her. "Move in with me?" Jake blurted out as she was putting the shells into the dish. "Excuse me?" Nova questioned, eyes wide in shock. Jake hopped off the counter and grabbed her hands without a care about the food on them. "Would you like to move in with me? It gets you out of here and you'll be closer to everyone. You'll be closer to me. We wouldn't have to think about whether or not we had the energy to make the three hour drive one way or the other. If something were to happen someone could be there in a matter of minutes. You don't have to answer now, just think about it." He explained with a hopeful smile. He couldn't read the look on her face as she stared up at him. As the silence dragged on he halfway expected her to just knee him in the jewels. "Okay. I thought about it. I want to move in with you." The woman whispered softly. He gave her several small kisses before he spoke again. "You sure? I don't want you to feel pressured." She rolled her green eyes with a smile. "I'm absolutely positive. I can't say that I haven't thought about it myself.... And it'd just be really nice." She replied simply. Jake gave her one more kiss before letting her get back to making dinner.

#i write stuff #wrestling imagines #i just really love Jake Crist #also i shouldn't be allowed to waych cooking shows ever

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timetravelingheart · 6 years

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My Side of the Fence Part Three: A.M. Imagine

I know it has been a while, but these next few chapters in the build-up have really stumped me. They’re just not the exciting parts, you know? But I did my best and I hope that you are all still interested in going along in this journey! Also, for being just a build-up, this turned out to be obnoxiously long and I’m sorry! I’m the most wordy person.

Still no big warnings for this one. Also, I should disclose that I know next to nothing about figure skating schedules or times, Skate Canada, or anything of the like. I’m just a huge fan of the sport and thought it fit well with this story to give the character a career that also takes up a lot of her time and life. Sorry if anyone is frustrated by any errors in that particular area!

In the week that Auston spent in Arizona, he had thought of asking Mitch for Savannah’s number no fewer than five hundred times. It was his first thought every morning, on his mind constantly throughout the day, and his last thought before he finally fell into a restless sleep. The bags under his eyes were darker than usual, and even that was saying a lot. His parents noticed that he seemed more restless than usual, but didn’t quite know how to approach it. His mother was concerned; his father confused.

Sitting on the edge of his bed in his childhood bedroom, Auston held his phone in his massive hands and typed, erased, and re-typed variations of the same message over and over again on his phone to Mitch. Frustrated, he groaned loudly and threw himself back on the bed, covering his eyes with his tattooed forearm. How is possible that this girl he met for literally one night was worth this stress? He had already received countless offers for ‘meet-ups’ with girls in his hometown, some from high school, and some who he knew from running in the same circles as his friends. They were all attractive girls with bright white smiles and glowing tans from the Arizona sunshine, and were all girls he absolutely would have been interested in six months ago. Hell, probably even two months ago. But he didn’t want a random hook-up anymore. He was used to getting a release pretty regularly, so maybe that’s why he’s even more frustrated than usual currently, but he really wanted to have something like what Mitch and Steph had, what Jake and Lucy had, and eventually something like what Patty and Christina had.

He wanted someone to come home to after a tough game or a road trip and just fall into her arms and feel safe. To find a home in someone else that he so desperately craved now. He wanted to find someone who would listen to his fears and vulnerabilities without judgement, someone who would call him on his shit (other than Mitch of course), someone who would love him for who he was and not the sport he played or the money he had. And more than he even wanted to have that kind of love, he wanted to give that kind of love to someone.

And even though it sounded absolutely, positively, undeniably insane, he felt like that this kind of love was a real possibility with Savannah. And not just someone like Savannah, but Savannah specifically.

Rolling over onto his stomach, he reached for his phone again and opened his message thread with Mitch. Before he could start typing, his phone vibrated with a new group message invite from Steph. Huh.

Steph: Hey everyone! Wanted to send out a quick invite to Savannah’s upcoming Stars on Ice show. It’s Friday night at the Scotiabank Arena. Sav says she can probably get us some tickets, but we just need a headcount so let me know if you’re interested!

Auston couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. This was the perfect opportunity to see her again without coming off as desperate, and without relegating himself to asking Mitch, which was likely to turn into its own version of insufferable hell for the near future. His phone vibrated again as messages from his teammates started to pour through.

Mitch: I think I know someone who would for sure be interested...

Fucking hell. He really needed a new best friend. Maybe he should hang out with Tkachuk and Eichel more.

Actually, scratch that. Either they would be ten times worse than Mitch and actually call him out on his crush in front of his crush, or they would just hit on her themselves. Both thoughts made his whole body flame with two very different emotions. His phone vibrated again.

Morgan: Definitely in! And Mitchy, leave Matts alone. Any guy with eyes would be stupid not to be attracted to Savannah.

Kasperi: As much as we’d love to support Savannah, and see Matts squirm, Willy and I won’t be back in the city until the week after!

Jake: Lucy is currently begging me to say yes. She is apparently obsessed with figure skating (who knew) and is dying to meet THE Savannah Lane. So, I guess you can put us down for two!

Connor: I’m in, but Zach and I already have tickets sitting with McDavid. Also, Matts has a thing for Savvy? Fuck, McDavid is going to have a fucking field day with this.

Auston read through each message carefully, rolling his eyes at his teammates’ lame attempts at getting under his skin, and in Mo’s case, his weak attempt at defending him. They all know now, so he might as well own it, right?

Auston: I’m in.

He went to close the message thread, but thought better of it.

Auston: And also, fuck all of you.

Steph: Oh Matty. Let me just say that you are not the first, nor will you be the last, unwitting guy to fall head over heels for my best friend upon meeting her one time. It’s what she refers to as both her gift and her curse. Anyway, I’ll make sure to get tickets for Auston, Morgan, Jake, and Lucy! See you all there!

Well, Auston thought, hopefully this would be his chance to see Savannah again and get a read on her. He wanted to ask her out on a date, but something about her made him nervous. He was intimidated by a tiny blonde in figure skates. What the fuck.

Auston had been back in Toronto for almost a week and still had not seen Savannah. According to Steph, who kept him informed without him even having to ask (”I just thought you’d be interested” she said, with a knowing gleam in her eye that would have normally bothered Auston had he not been so thankful for her openness) Savannah was busy with show rehearsals, while also getting back into competition with meetings with Skate Canada, her coaches and choreographers, costume designers, mental prep coach, trainers, and all of the things that Auston did not even know were involved with figure skating. Basically, he wanted to see her and couldn’t.

So here he stood, wearing black skinnies with holes in the knees, a white tee, black bomber jacket, black and white sneakers, and a black baseball cap, and waiting in the arena who knew like the back of his hand. Steph mentioned that they wouldn’t be able to see Savannah before the show, but that she made sure to invite everyone backstage after. Auston had debated with himself about bringing her flowers (do they do that for these kinds of performances?) but immediately nixed the idea when he remembered the look of hesitation on Savannah’s face when he had merely offered her his hoodie. He still didn’t know why she was hesitant, but he also didn’t want to push or cross any of her boundaries before he really knew anything about that side of her.

Looking up at his group’s sudden movements, he spotted Connor McDavid, Brown, and Hyman walking towards them. Reaching out to each of them do a quick shake and half hug, Auston immediately felt the amused stare of McDavid. “So I hear you fell for it,” McDavid grinned. Shaking his head, Auston fought to keep a similar grin off of his own face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” McDavid let out a bark of laughter, clearly amused by Auston’s denial. “Don’t sweat it man. She has that affect on just about everyone.”

The smile on Auston’s face faltered. Who else was in this situation with her before? “She has never really reciprocated anyone else’s feelings though, at least not any hockey players.” Auston let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “She has a thing against hockey players?” he felt himself asking before he could stop himself. “Nah, she just was either already in a relationship or too focused on skating to even notice or care that anyone was interested.”

Auston made a mental note to ask Connor more about Savannah and her dating history, or lackthereof, when they were alone.

“Are we all ready to go in?” Steph, arm hooked in Lucy’s, addressed the group. “The show starts soon.”

Hours later, after each performer skated a final lap and took a bow, the group of hockey players and significant others made their way backstage to wait for their star skater. Auston, not really one to watch figure skating before this event, was mesmerized by Savannah. Her group routines to ranged from comedic and sassy to sexy and sultry. And while he loved seeing those versions of her, it was her solo routine to Landslide that affected him the most. It was one of the most beautiful moments he had ever witnessed and heard - or perhaps felt - the chorus of ‘wows’ from his friends and the strangers around him at the end.

She was an absolute star, and he wanted nothing more than to continue watch her shine brightly.

After waiting about twenty minutes, the cast finished up their meet and greets with fans and started making their way to their respective families and friends waiting for them. Savannah was now changed into simple black leggings, a Stars on Ice sweater that swallowed her petite frame, black and white Nikes, hair up in a high ponytail, and not a hint of makeup on her face. She looked relaxed, yet elated. Auston thought no one had ever looked more beautiful.

Savannah’s smile stretched further across her features as she reached their group. “I can’t believe you all came!” She wrapped each person up in as big of a hug as her short arms could manage, stopping briefly to be introduced to Jake and Lucy for the first time, and lastly turned to Auston. Her smile remained just as warm, but something flickered quickly and faded before Auston could place a name on it, and soon enough she was wrapping her arms around his middle to pull him into a soft hug. “Long time no see,” he whispered into her hair as his nose briefly grazed the top of her head. She smiled up at him again, that same flicker there and gone in a flash, before she turned to address the whole group.

“Did you enjoy the show?” she asked as if she were genuinely concerned that they did not have a good time. “I know figure skating isn’t really that interesting for most of you.”

“You were phenomenal!” Lucy gushed, as if she had been keeping her excitement bottled up inside for far too long. “Landslide made me cry!” Savannah blushed profusely as Jake pulled Lucy into a side hug. “She’s been talking about you non-stop ever since Steph mentioned that you were moving here and that she was friends with you,” he offered as a way of explanation for his wife’s unbridled joy.

“That’s so kind of you! Landslide has always held such a special place in my heart. And Steph has told me all about the wonderful partners she’s met and become friends with in the Leafs family, so I was really excited to finally meet you!”

“She actually choreographed Landslide herself,” Steph couldn’t help but boast about her best friend, knowing that she would never do it for herself. Savannah was confident in her abilities and proud of her success, but she was not one to brag about her accomplishments or even her skillset.

“That’s incredible!” Morgan turned to her in amazement. “I can’t even begin to imagine what would go into something like that.”

“Thank you, but I’ve had a lot of help along the way to learn the ins and outs of choreography for performances like that. Choreographing for competition is much more challenging, and I haven’t done anything like that yet except give a few ideas here or there.”

“You were amazing,” Auston felt the need to say something, anything, to have her look at him again. So, he opted for complete honesty. Everyone turned to look at him, most with knowing smiles on their faces, Savannah with surprise. “Thank you, Auston. That means a lot.” Savannah’s eyes lingered on his for a moment longer than necessary, as if she were searching for answers to questions neither of them felt ready to ask.

“So tell me, Sav,” Mitch started conspiratorially, “what kind of underwear do male skaters wear to hide their bulge?”

The entire group groaned loudly, finally starting to head for the exit. As Steph and Lucy swatted at Mitch, the rest of the crew followed along laughing and joking around. Auston and Savannah held back a bit, just the two of them at the end of the line.

“So since you’re going to be hanging out with us, I think it’s probably best that we add you to our group chat,” Auston held out his phone to Savannah. “Put your number in and I’ll add you so you can join the rest of us in making fun of Mitchy.”

Savannah didn’t laugh like he thought she would, or reach for his phone right away. Instead, she kept her gaze forward for a moment, before turning to look at him with wide, questioning eyes. Careful, she thought.

Just when Auston thought he had overstepped or come on too strong, she reached out for his phone and quickly typed in her number.

“As if I would ever not want to be part of a group that tears the piss out of Mitchy on a regular basis!” she laughed, and Auston felt his heart squeeze. What a woman.

#auston matthews #auston matthews imagine #nhl #nhl imagine #nhl fan fiction #auston matthews fan fiction #mitch marner #hockey imagines #hockey fanfiction #toronto maple leafs imagine

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g-othboiclique · 6 years

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Andy was waiting for Ashley, who had wanted him to go to the gay pride parade. Ashley knew that Andy was gay, but he didn’t know that Andy had a huge crush on him. Ashley was as straight as a flagpole though. “I don’t want to, Ash,” Andy said swatting Ashley’s hands from his face. Ashley had painted a tiny rainbow flag on his cheek and he was trying to do the same to Andy. Ashley was holding both of Andy’s hands in one of his and trying to paint a rainbow on his face with the other one. “You’re gonna do this whether you want to or not, Biersack. Besides, you’ll look adorable,” Ashley said. If Ashley would think Andy would look cute he’d do it, but he was still going to put up a fight, just for fun. Andy tried to get up but was pulled back down. Ashley straddle Andy’s lap and looked him in the eyes. “Please!” He begged. ��Just let me paint a rainbow on your face. Look I did it, and I’m straight!” Andy gave in. He let Ashley sit on his lap, which he was secretly enjoying a lot, and paint a little rainbow on his left cheek. “I hate you so much right now,” Andy murmured. “So much, Ashley Purdy!” “Naw, you love me,” Ashley teased, smiling at Andy. Their faces were so close together. Andy was holding five colorful cans of face paint and Ashley was holding the one he was currently working with. Andy was calmly resting his fists on Ashley’s thighs, and watching Ashley face closely as he admired the concentration of the older boy’s working. He seemed so concentrated on making the perfect little rainbow for Andy. “Can I have the green one?” Ash said, screwing the top onto the tiny plastic container that held the yellow paint. Andy handed him the green and took the yellow in his other hand. “This is taking to long,” Andy complained. He wasn’t really complaining about Ashley being so incredibly close to him, he was just excited to leave, more now than he was before. “Stop whining, you baby,” Ashley teased, tickling Andy's sides lightly. “I’m not whining, I only said one thing,” Andy grumbled. Ashley giggled at his childlike behavior. Andy liked that he made Ashly laugh and smile. He did find him amazingly beautiful and astonishingly handsome. “Why do you want to go to the parade anyway?” “I don’t know, I just thought we would have fun, and I thought it would be weird to ask the other guys because they’re all straight,” Ashley continued painting the green. “And you,” Ashley bopped Andy’s nose, “need a boyfriend, which shouldn’t be too hard ‘cause your a cutie.” He grinned. “I need the blue.” Andy thought about if Ashley was aware of how much he was teasing him. Sitting on his lap, and being all adorable, even calling him cute. He was driving Andy absolutely insane and he had no clue what he was doing. “What if I don’t want a boyfriend yet? I don’t know that I’m ready,” Andy said. The question was only partly a lie. He desperately wanted a boyfriend. But he wanted Ashley. “That’s why I’m taking you to the parade, to see if there is anyone you might like,” Ashley had finished the blue and was onto the purple. Andy was almost sad that Ashley time on his lap was almost over. “What if I don’t like anyone there?” That was a lie too. Ashley would be there. “C’HYPERLINK "note-insight.2c3ca038-66a9-3fc8-fce6-b6683c0a2a29"mon, Andy. There’s gotta be a silver lining,” Ashley said. “Even if you don’t find anyone we can still have fun. And if someone is hitting on you, and you want them to stop, you can always just grab my hand or swing your arm around me, okay?” “Yeah, thanks,” Andy smiled. Ashley smiled too. “What if I meet a guy who wants to top?” “Oh God, Andy! Let’s go!” Ashley said getting up and offering a hand. Andy was grinning and sniggering as if he had won some sort of imaginary award of mischief. - When Ashley and Andy got to the parade a few guys were looking at them. One guy, who looked about in his forties, and also looked like drug addict came up to them. “You boys together or can a take one a yous home wit meh?” He said in a gruffy, country accent. “Nope we’re married,” Ashley said panicking and wrapping his arm tight around Andy’s waist. “That’s alright, I’cn deal wit two a’ya,” he said, he smelled like rotting fish and his breath smelled like beer and cigarettes, he was missing half his mouth of teeth and his white shirt had stains all over it. “Yeah, our sex life is just fine with the two of us, thanks,” Andy said pulling Ashley away. “How did that creep even get in here?” Andy whispered after they were far enough away. “I don’t know but he’s still looking still looking at me,” Ashley said peering over his shoulder. Andy instinctively, and protectively, pushed Ashley over in front of him a little bit. Ashley was still holding Andy’s hand and he had a death grip on it. Andy was walking them to a food truck to hopefully get some tacos. And had stopped being a vegan when he and Juliet split up. Andy laid for two meals and he and Ashley went to sit down at some picnic tables that lined the sidewalk. They HYPERLINK "note-insight.eabe4ad2-2863-580c-4762-56a4005c7fee"sat next to each other and looked at a the crowd of people. “Hey, Ands, what about him? He’s got tattoos and he wearing a Black Veil shirt,” Ashley said pointing to a tall boy who HYPERLINK "note-insight.eabe4ad2-2863-580c-4762-56a4005c7fee"sat alone. “I guess he’s kinda cute, but I-“ “Then go talk to him!” Ashley encouraged. “Come on, he obviously likes you or he wouldn’t be wearing that shirt.” “But what if he’s, like, a crazy super fan, who wants to kidnap me?” Andy said, avoiding the real reason why he didn’t want to talk to the boy. “Do you want me to go talk to him for you?” Ashley offered. He’s obviously totally oblivious to the fact that and just wants to kiss his perfect lips. “Sure, Ash,” Andy said. He was a little hurt because he knew Ashley would never like him the same way. He was straight after all. Ashley got up and started walking through a few people and over to the boy. “Hi,” Ashley smiled. The boy looked up at him and his smile grew. “Umm hi,” he said. “So, I came here with my friend and he thinks your cute, but he was too shy to come talk to you, so I did it myself,” Ashley grinned. “Oh, I have a boyfriend already. I’m just waiting for him to get here,” he smiled apologetically. “Oh, okay. Sorry,” Ashley smiled. “Hey, can I get a picture with you, I kinda like your band a lot,” “Yeah totally,” Ash smiled for a picture and then left on his way back to find Andy. Some muscular guy with a beard and no shirt was talking to Andy. He was smiling and laughing. Ashley smiled hoping his devious plan had worked. Meanwhile Andy’s converHYPERLINK "note-insight.eabe4ad2-2863-580c-4762-56a4005c7fee"sation went like this: “So are you here alone?” The guy asked. He was short and buff, with a blond beard and hair that came down to his shoulders. “Umm no I’m actually here with someone,” Andy smiled. “Well, I’m Danny. It’s nice to meet you,” he smiled looking at Andy’s eyes then his lips, and back to his eyes. “Hi, Danny, I’m Andy,” Andy said grinning. “So what are you into? I mean like, in guys, and sex?” Danny asked. Andy laughed. “I’m not really looking for a boyfriend,” “That’s a shame, your so cute. I like your voice,” Danny said. Andy could tell he was trying to be seductive. “You know, you look so strong and handsome, and your so tall. I’d love to take you in the bathroom and see your not so little friend, that is if you don’t mind.” “Like I said, I’m not looking for a boyfriend. I already have one, he was just going to the car to get the phone. He left t in there, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to go see if I could find him.” Andy scolded the man before walking off. He knew exactly where Ashley was. He saw him spying. “What about that boy with our shirt?” “He’s already got a boyfriend. What did you walk away from that other guy?” “He was trying too add to get in my pants,” Andy murmured grabbing Ashley’s hand. “I want to leave. So far everyone has either been a creep or taken.” “Alright let's go,” Ashley said, and they walked back to the bus, which wasn’t too far away. They held hands the whole way until Andy spoke. “We’re not there anymore, you know you don’t have to god my hand anymore,” Ashley last go and Andy kinda wished he hadn’t said anything. “Sorry,” Ashley giggled. “No, it’s fine,” “Oh,” When they got back to bus, Jinxx, CC, and Jake were all piled up, asleep on the couch. “Should we wake them up?” Ashley whispered. “No, let's leave them,” Andy said snapping a few pictures. - Later that night while Andy was in his bunk, he heard Ashley softly singing. He smiled to himself and listened to his sweet voice. And then he heard him sniffle and lightly sob. Andy’s smile had faded, and he wanted to get up from his bunk and go to Ashley’s. He wanted to hold him, and kiss him, and cuddle him while telling him that everything would be okay. He pulled his curtain back just a little. “Hey, Ash, are you alright?” Andy cooed soothingly. “I’m fine,” Ashley muttered. He pulled his curtain away too. Their bunks were right across from each other. Ashley’s eyes where red and glossy. His cheeks were puffy and wet. His lips curled down into a frown. “Your not fine, honey, your sad. Come talk to me,” Andy said. “I guess I just feel really guilty because I know someone who I care about a lot is hopelessly in love with someone else, but that person doesn’t like them back and probably won’t,” Ashley didn’t mean to, but he made it painfully clear that Andy needed to move on. “But this person is just assuming that the other one has a crush on them and is hoping it isn’t true, because he loves that person dearly, and doesn’t want to lose their friendship.” Andy let the tears fall, he wasn’t even trying to stop them any more. He was going to admit it. And he was building up the courage to do it now. When he had talked himself into it, he said it. “I’m hopelessly in love with you, Ashley,” Andy cried. “I’m sorry Andy. I am so fucking sorry!” Ashley exclaimed. “I love you, but I’m straight, I don’t like guys. And it’s not you-“ “It’s alright, Ash,” Andy whispered, closing his curtain. Ashley hated how broken Andy sounded. They both silently cried themselves to sleep. And the next HYPERLINK "note-insight.3fd450df-5e09-bdde-66cf-f098cd05148b"morning was hell. - “You wanna come with me to get HYPERLINK "note-insight.cd1d4ab9-c973-6114-6846-e9c603f46a04"breakfast?” Ashley said. He was trying to fix Andy. “No, no, I’m fine. You can go,” Andy said. He crossed his arms over his stomach. ‘Ashley doesn’t love me because I’m too fat.’ He thought. “Oh, okay, see you later,” Ashley left. He didn’t want to go without Andy. That was his whole motive for going to HYPERLINK "note-insight.cd1d4ab9-c973-6114-6846-e9c603f46a04"breakfast. So he just walked around for a while. Sound check didn’t start until HYPERLINK "note-insight.6eb8da63-2fb5-6fc9-7f92-a5478fa1856d"5:00 because they had a late show today. It was only 10:30, and Ashley didn’t typically get out of bed until HYPERLINK "note-insight.334507dd-4cfc-9e8b-6be4-82ac3968e41e"1pm. Andy spent the majority of his alone time in the bathroom that HYPERLINK "note-insight.3fd450df-5e09-bdde-66cf-f098cd05148b"morning. He hadn’t eaten much anyway, but he didn’t want it to stay in him. Andy and Ashley didn’t talk for HYPERLINK "note-insight.2c3ca038-66a9-3fc8-fce6-b6683c0a2a29"months, and when they did, it would be small things, or something that was absolutely necessary for them to say to each other, and absolutely meaningless. Andy had been restricting everything he ate, calorie limits becoming lower and lower, fasts becoming longer, and purges growing. His list of safe foods shrunk to a mere nothing. Ashley and the rest of the band had noticed a change in Andy, mostly Ashley, but they all brushed it off. Ashley noticed Andy grimacing at the sight of himself, taking less pictures, and eating less. Andy always had quite a fondness for himself, and Ashley always knew this was true, but as of late, Andy seemed to dislike his appearance or even hate it. Andy did indeed hate is appearance, and everything about him that pushed Ashley away. He thought if he was thinner, he would be more attractive to Ash. But even deep down he knew that wasn’t true because Ash was still straight and Andy was still a man. - Ashley had walked by the bathroom around ten minutes after lunch with the band. He heard Andy puking and he was alerted for the well being of his friend. Little did he know, Andy was shoving his fingers down his throat to make it happen. All for Ashley, his love for Ashley kept him going. “Hey, are you alright?” Ashley asked cautiously, tapping his knuckles on the door. “Yeah, I think I got food poisoning or something,” Andy said panicking. He flushed the toilet and rinsed his mouth, popping in a piece of bubble-mint. He opened the door and walked out, but was pulled back by the wrist. “We ordered the same thing and I feel fine, why are you making yourself sick?” Ashley whispered. Everyone else was on the bus too, and Ash didn’t want them to hear. “I-uh, I don’t know that it was from lunch, I’m not making myself sick though,” Andy chuckled nervously and swallowed a lump in his throat. “Andy, take your shirt off,” Ashley said calmly. “No I-“ “I didn’t ask,” Ashley repeated, tears and anger in his eyes. Andy’s head hung as he pulled his shirt off. A single tear rolled down Ashley’s cheek, he could see the bones in Andy’s chest, his ribs were very prominent, and his pants hovered over his waits, elevated by his protruding hips bones. “Andy…” Ashley reached his fingers out to Andy’s ribs. “Your not even here. There is none of you.” Ashley was crying now. A lot. Andy felt like he couldn’t breath. “I’m sorry,” Andy whispered. “I didn’t mean for it to go this far.” “But, Baby, your too thin,” Ashley cried. Andy’s breath hitched in his throat, did Ashley just call him baby? “Come eat, please.” “No. I’m t-“ Andy stopped himself. “I’m not hungry.” “I never, ever, saw this in you, Andy. Why?” Ashley murmured. “For you, Ashley. I love you, and I know it won’t happen, but I just want you to love me back!” Andy had tears now, lots of them, falling down his face, running down his neck. Ashley grabbed his face and kissed his lips. Andy put his bony little fingers around the back of Ashley’s neck and kissed him back hard. “You big fucking idiot, Andy,” Ashley whispered. He rested his forehead against Andy’s “Of courses I love you!”

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dwsecretsanta · 7 years

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Of Stars and Wolves

Alright, so this is for the Doctor Who Secret Santa over on tumblr. @darklordpthalo, this is for you.

I don’t own Doctor Who or anything really. @darklordpthalo wanted a soulmate AU, a shapeshifter AU, or a kiss under the stars so the idea for this fic goes to them. I just ran with it. I hope they enjoy this.

Words: 6,625 Author: @magewriter

Shapeshifters always had soulmates. It was a universal fact. Admittedly, said soulmate was not always a shifter. Non-shifters had soulmates, but theirs were nowhere near as vitally important to their overall wellbeing as it was for shifters. Humans were seemingly perfectly happy to settle, even as obsessed as they were with soulmates. For them, it was only a matter of a completed image on their skin as a ‘soulmate’ for a normal human was not always a romantic mate. A shifter’s soulmate always was. There could be no other for them, not in that way.

That, however, was not a problem Rose Tyler ever thought she would have to worry about. Her entire family, from both parents as far back as anyone could remember, had always been shifters. It wasn’t an uncommon trait. About a third of the world’s population was of some Shapeshifter lineage. Probably more, but who was or wasn’t a shifter was not always apparent and it was considered rude to ask.

She was musing over those thoughts as she watched the man she thought might just be her soulmate. Rose had come across him nearly two months ago, but had not managed to gather the courage to approach him. Instead, she used her free time in the afternoon to watch him in the park (when he showed up, he didn’t always) and try to understand why else she might be drawn to him if he wasn’t her soulmate.

“Moping again?” Mickey said, sitting beside her on the bench Rose had taken possession of in the small park near the university. He called it ‘moping’ because otherwise he’d have to term it ‘stalking’, and that could very well end up in a fight.

“I’m not moping,” Rose protested. “And aren’t you supposed to be meeting Martha?”

“How’d you think I found you?” He pointed to the nearest tree where a Barn Own sat, glaring at Rose.

Rose waved at the owl. “Couldn’t use your own nose to find me?”

“And nearly get dragged to the pound again?” Mickey shivered in distaste. To get out of that, he’d had to transform, naked, in the tiny little cell the dog catchers had shoved him into.

“Wouldn’t happen if you wore the collar like your Gran said to.” Rose said, getting up. “Give me her clothes so she can shift back.” She snatched the bag he’d been carrying even as he protested the thought of wearing a collar.

A few moments later, both young women returned to the bench. Martha was finger combing her hair back into a pony tail.

“Next time,” she told her boyfriend, “it’s your turn to track her down. I can’t skip hours at the hospital like I can skip out of class.”

“Martha, you didn’t need to do that.” Rose told her. “It isn’t like I was lost or anything. Mickey could have just called my phone.” She held up said object. “Fully charged and everything.”

Mickey blushed. “I forgot mine at home.” He admitted. “And it’s not like you would’ve answered. You’ve been ignoring your phone for the past two weeks, always around now.”

“He has a point,” Martha agreed, perching herself on the back of the bench as she spoke. Rose might have been the gymnast, but she was the one who was part bird. Martha’s whole family could shift into avian form, including her siblings’ mates. Hers was the only owl though, just as Mickey was the only non-avian.

“Yeah, and we’re concerned.”

“Curious ya mean,” Rose corrected him with a role of her eyes.

She adored her friends. She thought they were wonderful for each other. Martha didn’t look down on them for coming from a Council Estate or their lack of higher education. She had been jealous of Rose at first, thinking that she was going to be competition for Mickey’s attention. Rose had solved that quickly, happily shoving her oldest friend into the other woman’s arms with a ‘he is house broken; just don’t leave out any tennis balls’ before she scarpered off to her mother’s for the weekend.

It did not mean that she was going to indulge their curiosity. Not when they had taken it upon themselves to try and help her find her soulmate.

“Can you blame us?” Martha questioned her. “It’s not your usual style Rose, especially when not even Jack can find out where you disappeared off to and he always knows.”

“No, Ianto always knows and just tells him,” Rose corrected, almost absently.

There was a thought. Jack was the one shifter she knew personally that had a soulmate who wasn’t also a shifter. Jack was a literal alley cat; at least he had been until falling into Ianto’s lap. Again, literally as he’d been out roaming when Jackie had scared him off the railing of Rose and Mickey’s shared apartment (another reason Martha had thought she needed to be jealous) and Ianto had caught him.

However, Jack was also her boss along with being her friend so that made it a little awkward. He would also be an even worse meddler than Mickey and Martha. Gods, he’d also be the one to mention it to her mother and then Jackie Tyler would be prowling around the park to sniff out the potential soulmate of her only child.

Rose didn’t need or want that. She wasn’t even sure why she was being so hesitant in approaching the man, other than the fact he was occasionally accompanied by several different women. She also had no desire to be so very wrong about another man ever again, the first one had been more than enough.

“Oh, hey, that’s John!” Martha stood, precariously balanced on the back of the bench now, to wave the man over.

“You mean the bloke who managed to blow up the table in your chemistry class?” Mickey asked, moving just enough so that she was balancing more on his shoulders than the bench.

“The one and only,” she replied with a grin.

Neither one of them noticed that Rose’s faced had paled a little, or that her normal smile had tightened. Then again, it would be her luck that the mystery guy she’d been eyeing for weeks now would be known to her friend.

“Who’s that with him?” Mickey asked as the man bounced over to them, leaving his female companion to trail behind him.

“Oi! Spaceman!” The very loud ginger yelled, “wait up you over-eager puppy!”

“But Donna! It’s Martha!” John answered cheerily. “Hi Martha! Who are your friends?”

Martha grinned. She had had a very brief crush on John Noble when she had first met him, before realizing that he was absolutely insane and she much preferred someone more down to Earth. His sister Donna was fun and understood just how insane and overwhelming her brother could be.

“This is my boyfriend Mickey Smith and our friend Rose Tyler. Hi Donna, what’s he dragged you into this time?”

“He thinks an absolutely enormous wolf has moved into the park. He dragged me along for a second witness.” Donna answered, hugging Martha briefly. They had met before, several times as it was Donna’s ‘job’ to sign her brother out of the infirmary. They had taken to exchanging stories about his antics, as Martha had (during her crush phase) allowed John to drag her around London and occasionally the nearby counties on ‘adventures’.

“An enormous wolf, huh?” Mickey asked, eyeing his oldest friend. The only reason Rose wouldn’t be picked up the dog catchers would be because they’d call out the wild life rescue instead. He really did not want to have to explain to Jackie that they needed to go pick Rose up from whatever sanctuary or woodland animal control dragged her to.

“Yep,” John nodded, grin still plastered to his face. “I’ve only seen it twice so far, so I wonder if it’s more nocturnal or a shifter out for a run, but still!”

Martha looked between the two. John, for all he was talking to them, was looking at Rose as if she was the only person there to speak to. Rose was being quiet, but Martha was certain her friend had just the slightest of blushes beginning to cover her cheeks.

“It is lunch hour, so maybe the shifter idea isn’t so far off.” Martha agreed. So, Rose had been wondering around the park in wolf form, had she? Interesting…as Rose typically didn’t transform within city limits unless she was inside the apartment or at The Playground.

“Lunch! Right! We were supposed to get lunch today!” John looked at his sister, just now remembering why Donna had come to drag him out of his privet lab.

“Now you remember,” Donna rolled her eyes again. She looked at her watch. “Almost too late now.”

“Chips,” Rose suggested, speaking for the first time. “There’s a chippy nearby, we could go there.”

“Great!” John nodded, attention now back on the pretty blonde he’d been seeing for several weeks now. He’d been curious about her ever since he had first seen her, but had never gotten up the courage to actually speak to her.

She had shown up just after the first time he had seen the wolf. He thought it an odd coincidence, but it wasn’t as if he could just ask. That would be rude. He knew he was rude, very rude and very not ginger (no, Donna had all the luck there), but he’d only made that mistake once. He wasn’t that oblivious to make the same mistake twice. Plus, what if he was wrong? Then it would be doubly rude.

“Great,” Rose smiled at him, relaxing a little.

Mickey rolled his eyes this time. “Come on then, Jake’s waiting for me to get back to the shop and Martha’s got to get back to class.”

“Right, and my lunch break’s nearly over. Get a move on it Spaceman.”

“Going Earth Girl,” John retorted, dodging the slap his sister aimed for the back of his head. “Sisters! Really!”

Rose giggled at their antics. “Come on then, I’ll show you the way.”

Almost as if they’d planned it, the other three watched as they clasped hands. Rose tugged, beginning to lead John towards the chippy she’d told them of.

“Ten pounds says they figure it by the weekend,” Mickey said.

Donna snorted. “You’re on, twenty on it taking at least my brother a month before he figures it out.”

Martha shook her head at them. “Two weeks,” she entered her bet. “And I’m not telling Jackie or Jack.”

“I’m not telling them!” Mickey protested. “That’s Rose’s job.”

“Think they noticed if we went elsewhere for lunch?” Donna asked them.

“Nope,” Mickey shrugged. “Babe, you wanna go to that sushi place you keep mentioning?”

“Sure, coming Donna?”

“Might as well, although I think I’ll pass on the sushi. There’s a burger place right next to it.” Donna headed off, the pair following behind her.

XXXXXX

“Um…” John looked sheepishly at his turned out pockets. “I think I left my wallet in my lab.” So much for him buying lunch…or being a gentleman and paying for Rose’s as well.

Rose had to duck her head to keep from laughing at his face. He looked so cute like that!

“I’ll buy, but next time it’s your turn.” She said, handing over the money to the cashier.

“Ok!” John agreed, smile back on his face. “So…Miss Tyler, what do you do all day besides sit in the park?”

“I work,” she commented, grinning.

“What kind of work?”

“Detective work mostly,” she admitted, “My friend Jack, he’s a PI. I help out him and his partner Ianto doing odd bits.”

“Oh, what kind of odd bits?” John took the basket of fish and chips Rose held out for him, following her to a nearby table.

“Sketches, photos, occasionally climbing into dumpsters or over fences,” or following scent trails or chasing down a culprit or a myriad of other things that her wolf form was useful for, not that she was going to tell him that the first time they spoke. “Occasionally I play Girl Friday to his James Bond, Ianto’s a bit too proper for that role although he does look good in a suit.”

John frowned…that sounded…oh! “You wouldn’t happen to mean Jack Harkness would you?”

“I do, you know him?” Rose was curious now. First Martha, now Jack?

John nodded. “We were friends growing up; he flirted a lot with both me and Donna. Had Donna going spare for a bit, leaving black cat hair everywhere and occasionally showing up naked.”

Rose snorted. “Yea, he still does that. Ianto’s got lint rollers hid all over the office, along with spare clothing. First time my Mum met him, she threated to neuter him if he didn’t learn some proper manners. She also scared him off mine and Mickey’s balcony once, landed him right in Ianto’s lap.”

“You live with Mickey?” John was a little confused. Martha had introduced the young man as her boyfriend. Why would he be living with Rose?

“Yeah, we’ve been friends forever and when he was offered an apprenticeship for mechanic at a shop here I came with him to be closer to where I worked at the time. That and he needed a roommate he could trust. Martha lives with us too, now.” Rose explained. “Our apartment is closer to the university than the one she was renting or her mum’s house.”

John nodded, relived although he wasn’t altogether certain why. It made sense, after all. That was why he and Donna had shared an apartment when they had first left Chiswick.

“So what do you do then?” Rose said, changing the subject.

“Oh, I’m a doctor!” He replied. “Not the kind of doctor Martha’s going to be, but astrophysics and astronomy and regular physics and a little bit of chemistry and biology and some other stuff.”

“Wow,” Rose wasn’t really certain how to respond to that. She didn’t even have any A-Levels, never mind a university degree. “I like the stars,” she managed to get out, “couldn’t see them very well on the estate, but that never stopped me from looking up. Drove Mum mad, sneaking up to the roof.”

John’s eyes brightened and he began to babble about his own misadventures of climbing roofs and sending his mother into hysterics. Rose took up the unspoken challenge and responded in kind until it was very clear that they had to be making things up.

“Okay, I give!” Rose finally said with a laugh. “I’ve never set anything on fire, accident or otherwise.”

“Occupational hazard with me,” John told her, basking in the sound of her laughter and enjoying the fact that he had brought it out. “I’m still banned from the kitchen, every kitchen, on campus. The only reason I’m still allowed into the labs is because I’m good with introductory chemistry classes. Teaching them, at least, and I’ve got my own lab.”

“You think you’re so impressive!” Rose said, smiling the tongue touched smile that she was well known for.

“I am so impressive I’ll have you know Rose Tyler!” John said, matching her smile with one of his own.

“Course you are,” she agreed before giggling.

John would have said something, but at that moment he caught sight of the nearest clock. “Blimy, it’s gotten late.”

Rose looked at her watch, blanching. “I was supposed to be back at work hours ago.” She looked at her phone, seeing that she had several missed calls from pretty much everyone in her small social circle.

“Ah, I could walk you back?” It wasn’t as if he had anything pressing at the lab. He was his own boss, aside from when he had classes to teach.

Rose shook her head. As nice as the thought was, it wasn’t needed.

“No, Jack’s already texted me to have fun.” Rose showed him her phone, where Jack had sent a message to that affect. “Besides, they’ve already closed up for the day. It’s date night for them.”

Jack would just grill her tomorrow about this. Rose was both dreading it and looking forward to it. If she was wrong, it would be just another heartbreak. If she were right though…it could still end in heart break. Donna might have been his sister, but what of the other women she had seen him with? Surely one of them was his girlfriend?

John nodded. “Well then Miss Tyler, what would you like to do?” He paused. Well, that was presumptuous of him, wasn’t it? “I mean, unless you want to leave? Or, uh, you’d rather not…” he was terribly bad at this.

“Let’s go Doctor,” Rose stood and took his hand, feeling brave at the moment. “I’ll walk you back to your lab.”

“Ok,” as if he was going to say no to spending more time with her!

XXXXXXXX

Once she arrived back at her apartment, Rose locked herself in her room. Throwing herself on the bed, she hugged one of the pillows to her chest. Of all the blokes in the world, she would find the oddest of the bunch.

John had kept up an ongoing commentary on their walk back to his lab. He could babble like no one she had ever met, and it had been fascinating for all that there were times what he said flew over her head. She was pretty certain he had invited her to go stargazing out in the country, something about shooting stars and how the city had terrible views for anything cosmic.

Rose was just as certain that she had said she would join him amidst her amusement at his energy. She hadn’t been out of the city in over a year. It would be nice to really have the chance to stretch her legs. The Playground and various parks throughout the city were well and good, but were honestly better suited for the more domesticated Shifters like Mickey and her mother.

That brought up an entirely different set of concerns. How would John feel when he found out? She had to tell him, obviously. There wasn’t a thing wrong with being a Shifter or not, and despite what some people would say there was absolutely nothing wrong with being part of a mixed couple.

It wasn’t as if it was some kind of secret thing. It was rude to announce it or ask outright, but there was nothing secret about it.

Rose gave a long sigh, getting up to strip so she could shift. Once in wolf form, she curled back up onto the bed. With a little bit of maneuvering, she had fully covered herself with her blanket and created a nest of pillows. Warm and comfortable, she turned her thoughts to the real reason why she was so reluctant.

Jimmy Stone.

Fifteen years old, she had been an idiot. He had been older, sure of himself, and able to convince her that they were a perfect match. His mark had never been a match for hers, but even though he was also a Shifter he had sounded so certain that it didn’t actually matter. He had made her head spin with dreams of travel and running free in different parts of the world.

As humans, he had been bigger than her. She had been convinced she was in love with him so had until the very end never thought of turning her beast side upon him. The one and only outright beating he had given her (instead of the usual sharp words and occasional slap or kick) had changed that. Jimmy was a canine shifter, but he was nothing more than a yappy mongrel compared to her Red Wolf.

It was after that incident (she hoped he still bore the scars from her claws across his face) that she had made the decision to never enter another committed relationship unless it was her soulmate. Her actual soulmate, the one who bore the mark that matched hers. Rose was never going to let another pretty face and sweet words convince her otherwise.

Now that she had potentially found him, it scared her. Humans didn’t have the same draw and ingrained loyalty to their soulmates that Shifters did. John could leave her and it wouldn’t harm him in the same way it would her.

Rose had seen it before. Her father died when she was a baby and her mother had never completely gotten over it. She had had boyfriends and lovers, but none that had ever stuck around. Other shifters might not mind a lover, but once they inevitable found their other half then they would be gone. Humans just didn’t understand, not really.

Martha’s dad, for instance, wasn’t a Shifter and had left her mother for a time. Aside from when her frustration reached a breaking point, Martha didn’t like to talk about it. Rose always knew when it was bad because those would be the days that the only one Martha wanted to be around was Mickey. There had been a whole week once where she had remained in owl form because she was tired of being in the middle of the fighting. Mickey had carried her around on his shoulder the entire time, curling up in dog form at night to sleep.

Both of a pair being Shifters didn’t always mean happiness and stability either. Again, her mother was a case in point. Rose had lost count of the number of times she had heard someone say that except for Rose, Jackie may very well have pined herself to death after Pete died. Jackie (who took the form of a Scottish Terrier) had always told Rose that losing a soulmate was one of the most difficult things one could go thru, but (and this was a very big ‘but’) it was not the end of all things. Jackie had never been one to simply give up and she had raised Rose to be the same way.

Mickey’s parents had been soulmates, but they hadn’t remained together. Mickey’s gran had taken him in, lambasting both her son and daughter-in-law for being fools. To this day Mickey didn’t speak to his father, and his mother had died when he was a teenager. Probably (as Jackie and Mickey’s gran were certain) of a broken heart, as uselessly romantic as that was (again, according to the two main adult figures in hers and Mickey’s lives).

So with all of that, Rose was apprehensive. She had not given up on finding her soulmate, just as she had never given up her dreams to travel. She was just a little more realistic about it now at nineteen then she had been at fifteen and sixteen.

Even so, she had had a good time today. Holding his hand as they walked, chatting about random topics and simply listening to him babble about whatever caught his fancy. He could talk for England, he could! Still, as long as he did it while holding her hand she was perfectly happy listening to him.

His hand had felt warm in hers. The few times he had dropped her hand in order to use both of his in his excitement over one topic of another her hand had felt cold, almost as if it would never be warm again. She had to imagine how it would feel to have his hands buried in her ruff or scratching her ears.

Rose startled, falling off the bed as it struck her. They had held hands! Skin to skin! Her mark!

Scrambling to her feet, Rose huffed in annoyance as her blanket den tightened around her. Shifting, she managed to escape with an impatient huff.

“Rose?” Martha called thru the door. They had heard her come in, but when she hadn’t said anything to them they had decided to leave it alone. With the noise now coming from the blonde’s room, however, they were concerned.

“Damn mirror!” Rose cursed. “I’m fine!”

Martha heard her muttering about where her mark was and a giggle escaped her. Hers and Mickey’s marks were on their forearms, easily seen. Rose’s, on the other hand, was in the middle of her right shoulder blade and took effort to see.

“Do you want some help?”

Mickey turned around just as Rose opened her door. He yelped and covered his eyes.

“Quite acting as if you’ve never seen me naked before,” Rose scolded at him, yanking a giggling Martha into her room.

“Still doesn’t mean I want to see it!” Mickey called back. They had learned to control their shifting together and had been closer than some siblings growing up. He waited a beat. “So? Is it any different?”

Martha came out of Rose’s room. She had a wide grin on her face.

“Verdict?” Mickey said, lacing his fingers through hers.

“Wolf paw within this spiral of dots,” Martha explained.

“Dots are new, any shape or just the spiral?” Mickey was glad his was so obvious, a wrench. He had always been good with his hands, and it had pleased him that his mark described him so well. It had gotten slightly more complicated when Martha’s quill had joined it, making it appear as if the quill were drawing the wrench.

His mate was a classy lady. He could easily imagine her dressed to the nines in some Victorian get up, writing with the owl feather quill pen in her neat cursive. Or Ravenclaw robes, which was even easier as they had all dressed up as Hogwarts students for Jack’s Halloween party the year before.

Martha shook her head. “No, but then I’ve never studied astronomy.” There was another thump from Rose’s room. “Think we’ll see her anytime tonight?”

“When her stomach reminds her that she needs to eat, or she wants coffee.” Mickey said. “Gonna call Donna?” He’d liked the ginger they’d eaten lunch with. “And does this mean I won the bet?”

XXXXXXX

“Donna! Donna you need to come see this!”

Donna groaned as she rolled over, yanking a pillow over her head to block out her brother’s voice. Maybe if she ignored him, he would give up. Not that that ever worked, but she could hope.

“Donna!” He whined. “This is important!”

“It’s always important with you Spaceman,” she said, sitting up to glare at him. “What time is it? And why are you naked in my doorway?” There were times she regretted agree to share an apartment with him.

“I’m in a towel,” he protested, tightening said towel around his waist. “I was getting out of the shower when I saw it and I –”

She cut him off. “If this is over another stupid spider I am going to hang your skinny arse from the balcony.” She told him as she got out of bed.

“One time Donna, that was one time!” He said, frowning. He dodged out of her way as she headed towards the bathroom.

“A cricket then? A mouse? I swear, if you’ve gone and ‘rescued’ the lab rats again I’m moving back to Mum’s.” Donna looked around the bathroom, not seeing anything out of place.

“I did that in secondary, and I was twelve.” He defended himself. “No, my mark Donna! Look at my mark!”

“Turn on a light then Spaceman,” she blinked in the sudden brightness. The things she did for her brother. “Well, turn around!”

John did, arching his neck as if he could bend it enough to look at his shoulder blade without the aid of a mirror or two. Donna had often teased him for the spiral of dots there with the big empty space in the center. He had always protested that they were stars in the form of a nebula if a person just knew how to look at it.

Now, the empty space was filed with a clawed paw print. It didn’t look like it was from a dog and it was much too large to be a cat. Donna frowned.

It struck her, then, that it had to be from a wolf. That was what her brother had been looking for in the park after all, and that park was a safe spot for Shifters to run around in while transformed. John probably hadn’t even realized it, but he’d been talking about the blonde girl he had seen almost as often as he’d spoken of the wolf. It was not a stretch, to Donna at least, to think they were one and the same.

“Do you see it?” John was beginning to bounce in place.

“I see it, and yes it really is there.” Donna assured him.

John blinked at her. “But I don’t…and usually I…”

Donna grinned at him. “No gloves Thursday, ran off without them when you were dragging me to the park.”

His eyes kept getting bigger as his brain put the pieces together. Damn it, but this meant that Mickey had won the bet. Donna had been certain her brother (who mostly ignored his mark and steadfastly kept himself covered in layers) would take weeks to notice the change.

“But…but Rose!” It had to be her. She had grabbed his hand and he had grabbed hers. Not just grabbed it, but they had held hands for ages Thursday.

“Unless you’ve been getting handsy with anyone else, yes Rose.” Donna told him.

John went between shaking his head and nodding it. How was he supposed to do this? Just walk up and ask her? Ask to see her mark? Didn’t that count as an innuendo in some circles? He knew it was rude, and while he was rude and not ginger (that was Donna) there were some mistakes he only made once…sometimes.

Donna rolled her eyes. “Get dressed Spaceman, we’ll go check the park and see if she’s there.” After coffee…lots and lots of coffee.

XXXXXXXXX

Rose shoved Jack off her desk, scowling at him. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not showing you. And you’ve got cat hair over my sketches.”

She quickly turned around as he shifted. “Ianto, come and get your cat before I skin him!”

Ianto sighed, finishing the tea as he ignored the antics of his boyfriend and their co-worker. Ever since Mickey had mentioned Rose’s changed mark, Jack had been poking at her to see it. It had been a week now and they were all getting sick of it.

Rose had been steadfastly avoiding the park she’d been frequenting and the man who may or may not even be there. There had been astronomy books littering her desk for that time, along with several pamphlets discussing ‘how to explain being a shifter to a non-shifter’. Those alone had Jack curious, but Rose wasn’t talking.

“Come on Rosie, I’m just curious!” Jack was trying to get her to settle down. He knew from experience that procrastinating talking to your soulmate was hard on a shifter.

“Curiosity killed the cat Jack, do you really want to risk it?” Rose was getting very irritated at him.

A case, any kind of case, would help. It would at least keep him distracted from bothering her. It might also take her mind off John, but she doubted that.

“And satisfaction brought it back,” Jack sing-songed at her. “Besides, even if it did, I have nine lives.”

“Five,” Ianto set a cup of coffee in front of Jack and Rose’s tea in front of her, “and I’m still waiting for the report from the last case.”

“That dog missed, so I have to have at least six left.” Jack teased back, a long running joke between the three of them.

“If you insist,” Ianto replied, going to fix another cup of tea.

They didn’t ask why. Ianto almost always knew when they would be getting someone in with a case. Rose took that as her cue to get some fresh supplies out to take notes with. Jack, deciding to leave it for now, returned to his desk to get out his own things.

The bell above the door chimed, alerting them all that they had a guest. Looking up, Rose squeaked before ducking back down.

“John! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Jack got up to greet his longtime friend with a hug. “And where is that spitfire of a sister of yours?”

“Donna’s on a date with Lee,” John replied, eyes zeroing in on Rose. His face reddened.

Jack looked between them, confused for a moment before it dawned on him. Rose groaned as she recognized the look that crossed his face.

“So John, what brings you by?” Jack was grinning, which should have been his first warning.

“Oh! Yes!” John jumped, turning his wide gaze to Jack. “I’ve been trying to track a wolf I saw in a park near the campus.” He absently took the tea Ianto handed him. “I was hoping you could help me.”

“Of course we can! Rose is great at tracking.”

Rose was going to kill him. She was certain of that.

John turned back to her. “Really? Um…would you…uh…could you…” he floundered, taking a gulp of tea to give his mouth something to do that wasn’t talking.

“I can meet you at the park in an hour, if that works for you?” Rose was glaring at Jack as she spoke, but he was just grinning back at her.

“Actually,” John coughed, the tea was hot! “Actually, I was thinking about going later tonight, after dark. I haven’t seen it again in the daytime and the first time I saw it was nearly midnight so I thought maybe it was nocturnal and…”

Rose began to smile as he continued to babble. It was cute, especially as he’d put down the tea and was now running his hands thru his hair. It was making it stick up and her hands itched to sooth it back down.

Maybe she wouldn’t kill Jack. She did need to speak to John anyway.

“I’ll meet you at the entrance of the park, yeah?” She got in when he took a pause for breath. “About seven?”

John nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds like an idea Rose Tyler.”

Rose shivered. She liked how her name sounded coming from his mouth. “See you then Doctor.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sky was just beginning to darken when Rose arrived at the entrance to the park. She had her kit with her, just in case. She doubted she would need it, but if working with Jack had taught her anything it was that it was far better to be over prepared than be caught unawares.

John was already waiting for her. She stopped to watch him for a moment, her hearing catching his muttering.

“Hey Doctor, been waiting long?”

John jumped. “Rose! You’re here! I mean, obviously, where else would you be? I mean-”

Rose laughed. “I know what you mean Doctor. Shall we?” She motioned towards the open park gate.

John smiled. “I like when you call me Doctor.” He rolled the name around in his mind. “I might just start using it. Sounds like the name of an adventurer.”

“Is that what we’re doing, going on an adventure?” Rose teased him, barely registering that they had clasped hands.

“We’re looking for a wolf that may or may not be wild. I’d call that an adventure, wouldn’t you?” John asked her. Her hand felt right in his; as if it were the piece he’d been missing his entire life without knowing it.

“I would,” she bit her lip. “Doctor, I was-”

A low growling cut her off. Instinctively, Rose tried to push John behind her. That wasn’t a friendly growl.

“Rose,” John said slowly, “That’s not the wolf I’ve been looking for.”

“I know John.” Rose shifted her stance, readying herself for whatever she would need to do.

The wolf stalking them from the shadows was a deep black. It wasn’t someone she knew, and most of the canines in the area knew each other. It was considered common curtesy for a new shifter to make oneself known to the local community.

A wild wolf wouldn’t be hunting them like this one was. Rose knew what a hunting wolf looked like, what the air felt like during a hunt. This was a hunt and they were the prey.

“Maybe we should-” John started to say but Rose cut him off.

“Stay absolutely still,” she thrust her kit at him. “Don’t make any sudden movements and stay quiet.”

“Okay,” he whispered, eyes on the other wolf and not on her.

The wolf leapt for them. When it did, Rose sprang into action.

John gaped as his companion, the young woman he was fairly certain was his soulmate, turned into a large reddish-brown wolf. The very same wolf he’d been seeing around the park.

She had done it mid leap, slamming into the other wolf in a tangle of ripped clothing and scrambling paws. All he could do was stare as Rose took on the other wolf in a fight unlike any he’d ever seen. John struggled to remain frozen, wanting to help Rose but not knowing how to.

Teeth snapped, sometimes drawing yelps and growls from the one being bitten. Claws flashed, leaving streaks of blood behind when they connected. Often, they were little more than a tumble of fur.

Finally, Rose emerged victorious. She held the other (much larger, John noted absently) wolf down by the throat. The wolf whimpered, splaying out as much as it could in a display of submission. With a final growl, Rose released him. She cuffed him with a paw, bearing her fangs at him.

He scrambled away from them as fast as his legs could carry him.

Rose gave the impression of snorting in dismissal before approaching John and nudging him. Almost on reflex, he began to stroke her head.

“You know,” he finally said, “it’s highly unfair that even you have more ginger than I do.”

Rose collapsed in laughter, shifting as she did so. “T-t-th-that-that’s th-the b-best y-y-ya g-got?” She managed to say through her laughter.

“No, you’re a wolf! The wolf! And you’re naked!” He spun around.

Rose calmed down. “Yes, unless it’s very skin tight clothing doesn’t shift with you. My bag.”

“What?”

“My bag, I’ve got a spare set in it.”

“oh…oh! Right.” He turned around to hand it to her, blushing as he took her in.

Rose took the chance and turned around, baring her back to him. It was now or never, either their marks matched now or they didn’t.

By his intake of breath, they did.

“You’re my soulmate…and you’re a shifter…”

“That a bad thing?” She tried to keep it light, but then this was her fears made manifest. She didn’t know what she would do if he rejected her.

John shook his head, realized she couldn’t see him with her back turned, and spoke. “No, no it’s not.” He paused. “This is so cool! You can turn into a wolf! A really big wolf, and a ginger one, but a wolf!”

She turned, now fully dressed, to face him. He was bouncing in place, hands flexing as if he wanted to touch her.

“Yeah,” Rose had no idea what to say.

“Do you want to go stargazing with me?” John burst out.

“What?” Now she was confused.

“Stargazing…that’s what I normally do in this park. It’s not the best, but there’s a clearing where the trees block out most of the light and we can talk or not talk or whatever really-”

Rose gave in and kissed him to shut him up. “Sounds lovely,” now she was blushing as red as he was, “lead the way.”

“Right,” he took her hand. “Ready Rose Tyler?”

“Always,” she responded.

“Run.”

And they never stopped.

XXXXXXXX

The end!

Happy Holidays @darklordpthalo, hope this makes you smile!

#magewriter #darklordpthalo #doctor who #fanfic #doctor #ten #rose tyler #mickey smith #martha jones #jack harkness #ianto jones #donna noble #doctor x rose #ten x rose #martha x mickey #ianto x jack #submission

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aresaphrodites · 7 years

Text

Wicked Games - Chapter Two

Time to meet Juggie. :D

Thank you for the amazing comments on this fic. You guys are so amazing and I’m so glad you’re liking this idea. <3

The Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel is gorgeous. It’s a place where Betty had stayed at long ago before she was actually living in California. She had always said that she’d like to stay there again. She wasn’t sure this was the way she wanted to return to it, though.

Zack and Charles, her two temporarily assigned bodyguards, hover just outside of her hotel room door. It’s slowly driving her insane how they seem to be everywhere these days acting as if she’s the President of the Unites States. It’s like she has her own personal Secret Service and she isn’t so sure she likes it. The other day she tried to use the restroom at a Jack in The Box and Charles had made sure it was completely empty before letting her go. It was nice for her privacy she supposes, but then when she remembered that both burly men stood outside of the restroom door, she suddenly didn’t have to go so bad.

She understands why things have to be the way they are. She’s aware of just how serious the entire situation is, but she just wishes things could go back to normal. She misses her apartment and being able to go out on her own. She can’t go anywhere these days without being trailed by her band of merry men who weren’t very merry at all and it’s infuriating.

She’s been cooped up inside of her hotel room for the past week. She doesn’t necessarily have anywhere to go and usually she’d be enjoying her off time, but now she was craving a little fun in her life. She had to do something or else she was going to go crazy. She was starting to feel like the wife in The Yellow Wallpaper.

She walks out of the bedroom and over to the small living room area. She couldn’t really complain about the room in all honesty. Cheryl Blossom, her manager, had made sure that she was given the One-Bedroom Luxe Suite. It was absolutely gorgeous and spacious as hell with its own Wi-Fi, an in-room tablet, On-Demand movies, and even a wet bar. The wet bar was her favorite part so far. If she was going to have to be under a watchful eye and locked down, then at least it was in style.

There’s a knock at her door and she looks up to see Zack opening it up. Zack and Charles both had their own room cards just in case something ended up happening to her. She wasn’t sure if the idea comforted her or made her even more nervous.

“Look who decided to stop by,” Cheryl Blossom says as she walks past Zack and into the room.

“Hey, Cher.”

“Not me, Cooper.” She moves aside and Veronica walks in behind her, smile on her face and arms full of bags.

“Oh, my gosh!” Betty laughs as she gets up and walks over to her best friend. “What are you doing here?”

“Are you under quarantine or something?” Veronica snorts.

“I ran into her in the lobby,” Cheryl says. “I needed to discuss a few things with you.”

They all sit down in the living room area and Cheryl pulls a tablet of her own out of her purse.

“I understand things are a little hectic so if you don’t feel comfortable then just let me know, but you’re set to attend a charity banquet this weekend.” She looks at Betty in question and the blonde all but stands up and starts dancing in excitement.

“Hell yes! I need to get out of this room. Are you sure it’s wise, though? You know, with everything going on.”

“Well, it’s a public event, but you’re going to have a bodyguard with you at all times. Which is actually the second thing we need to discuss.” Cheryl pauses, putting her tablet down to look at Betty. “You’re getting a 24-hour bodyguard.”

Betty groans. “Cher…”

“No, Betty. Don’t. This is serious. This isn’t some mild fan who just happens to love you a little too much. This guy is crazy and whoever he is, he could want you dead. I know you want things to go back to normal, but they aren’t going to be until we find out who this person is.” Cheryl’s voice is hard and Betty immediately feels bad. Cheryl’s just as much her friend as she is her manager and she was definitely shaken up by all the recent events.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry.” She tries to smile, to lighten things up a bit. “What’s my new bodyguard’s name?”

“Forsythe Jones,” Veronica snorts at the name and Cheryl sends her a glare. “Zack and Charles are excellent but they can’t afford to be around you 24/7, Mr. Jones can though. I also have it on good record that he’s very well trained at his job, which is just what we need. He’s only twenty-nine though, which is a bit young but he’s supposed to be the best of the best. You’re going to be meeting him tomorrow afternoon.”

Twenty-nine? That did seem a bit too young in Betty’s opinion. Not to her, she was only twenty-three, but to Zack and Charles who were both in their forties, this guy was pretty young. If Cheryl thought him qualified, though then Betty wouldn’t question her. Cheryl was nothing if not always right.

“Okay, so back to why I’m here,” Veronica speaks up, obviously bored from the conversation, “I think it’d be good for Betty to get out.”

“And go where exactly?” Cheryl asks, eyes narrowing.

“Well, Pure is having free drinks tonight for all the ladies.”

“A club?” Betty laughs. Pure is probably the most ironic name for a club ever, because the things that went down in it were most definitely not pure, but it was also a really classy place and Veronica’s favorite club.

“You’re joking, right?” Cheryl says, unamused. “You have got to be joking. I know you did not just say that it would be a good idea for her to go out to a club when she literally has a stalker running around L.A.”

“Oh, come on,” Veronica says with an eye roll, “do you expect her to just stop living her life now because some sleezeball—.”

“Is trying to possibly kill her?” Cheryl cuts her off.

“See, I knew this would happen, which is why I brought backup.” Veronica reaches into one of the shopping bags she had brought in with her and pulls out what looks like a clump of black chest hair. “A disguise!”

Betty erupts into laughter. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s a wig!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cheryl sighs.

“It’s hideous,” Betty informs her.

“Well, it’s meant to hide your identity and keep you incognito, not make you look hot to attract attention.”

Betty laughs again. She’s not sure if she’s laughing because it’s actually funny or if she’s laughing because it’s funny to see just how pathetic her life has gotten these last few weeks. A disguise just so she could go out and have some fun? It’s like the worst kind of nightmare.

“A wig, some heavy makeup, and an outfit that Betty Cooper would never been seen in? I say it’s a go,” Veronica speaks up again.

Cheryl just looks over to Betty who presses her lips together and shrugs her shoulders.

Two hours later she’s staring at herself in the mirror, wondering when the hell her life got this messy. Veronica had managed to brush the wig out and make it look decent and to be honest, it actually wasn’t that bad. Her face was covered in dark makeup, the kind that she’d never be caught dead wearing but Veronica insisted that it was necessary.

The outfit that her best friend had chose for her was something that she’d never even look at while shopping for herself. It’s a tight black dress that squeezes her so much, she doesn’t think she can breathe. She’s scared to take a breath, in fear that she’s going to rip the tiny material.

“Guys…” she says as she walks out of the restroom. “This is kind of crazy.”

Cheryl and Veronica just look at her, both of their eyes going wide as they take in her appearance.

“Holy shit,” Veronica whispers.

“I agree,” Cheryl says once she regains her composure. “It is crazy so you should probably just stay here where it’s safe. We can all stay with you and rent a movie.”

“No way,” Veronica speaks up for her. “She’s not going to sit around in fear because of some psycho asshole. You’re not going to let him ruin your life, Betty. You’re Betty fucking Cooper and you’re going to have fun tonight and I dare anyone to try and mess with you. Now put these on,” she says as she throws a pair of black heels towards her.

“Nice speech,” Cheryl says, but Betty doesn’t have to look at her to know she’s being sarcastic. “Zack and Charles are going with you and I don’t want to hear that you’ve tried ditching them or something as equally stupid. I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch so you can meet with Mr. Jones. We’ll just meet here.” She gives Betty and Veronica one last glare before walking out of the hotel room.

“You know, I think she needs a night out.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” Betty says with a laugh.

Pure is in full swing when they both get there. It’s a rather large club so it’s not too crowded or anything and Betty feels lighter as she walks inside. Clubs aren’t really her scene, but it’s nice to get out of her hotel room.

No one’s noticed her so far, although she doesn’t think it’ll last long since she’s with Veronica. Her best friend tends to attract unwanted attention.

They walk to the back of the club where their usual VIP booth is. There’s a bouncer there, Jake, who allows them through. Pure was nothing if not very attentive to its guests and the names Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper were too well known to not be given extra special attention.

“Can I get you ladies anything?” Jake asks.

“Just two Appletinis,” Veronica says with a smile. “You know, B, you actually look kind of good in that wig. It’s a bit sexy actually.”

“Excuse me?” Betty laughs, taken off guard.

“Yeah, I mean of course you’re already sexy because of the whole supermodel thing, but you’re more of the girl next door kind of sexy, but right now? Right now you look like you could kill a man without even messing up your lipstick, which by the way is amazing too.”

She’s wearing a classic dark red lipstick, a shade very different from the light pink she usually sticks to. She can’t help but smirk at Veronica’s words. Truth be told, it feels like she’s playing dress up tonight and she likes it. She not only looks dangerous and sexy, she feels it too.

Jake comes back with their drinks and the two of them thank him before taking a sip. Veronica launches into her reason of wanting to come out tonight. Apparently Archie’s going back on tour and with her movie about to start filming, there’s no way she can join him. Betty feels for her, dating a singer has to be kind of difficult. She knows that dating isn’t really something that works out in her line of work. Celebrities dating other celebrities leads to conflict of schedules, drama, and a lot of heartbreak. At least that’s what she’s heard. It’s one of the many small reasons why she doesn’t care much to date right now. Although sometimes she wishes she had what her best friend had. Being in love couldn’t be so bad if Archie and Veronica were anything to go by.

After a few more drinks, Veronica and Betty head out to the dance floor. It’s a bit hard to have fun when she can see her two bodyguards standing in the corner of the room, but being drunk kind of makes it easier to forget about. There’s a fast paced remix of some rock song playing in the background and Betty swings her hips along to the music with Veronica. Dancing with her best friend is more fun than it could ever be with any guy. The two of them laugh and sing along to the lyrics and head bang along to the beat while trying to still look decent while dancing. It’s fun and they probably look like complete messes, but Betty doesn’t care. For the first time in a while, she’s actually having fun. The smile on her face isn’t forced. She doesn’t think about hooded figures or bloody knives. She thinks about the way her heart is racing and how good she feels. She’s thinking about how great her life feels in this exact moment and she stores it away for something to look look back on when things ultimately get bad again.

She’s fighting a bunch of small Kirby’s on a huge cruise ship. She tries to jump off the ship, it seems like her only choice, but one of the Kirby’s grabs her and throws her back onboard.

“I’ll destroy you!” She warns, backing away from her capturer.

“You can try,” the Kirby says sounding a lot like Daniel Radcliffe.

Before she can move, five Kirby’s jump onto her and start hitting her repeatedly.

“Cut it out!” She yells as one starts to punch her head over and over again with it’s tiny little pink hand. “Stop! Stop!”

“Wake up!” Kirby shouts at her. “Wake up!”

“No,” she yells back.

“Wake up!”

Betty jumps up, sees a flash of red in front of her and screams before throwing herself off of her bed.

“Ow,” she groans, reaching up to pat her head where she had hit it on the floor. She ends up grabbing hold of the wig she wore last night and rips it off. It’s a lot less glamorous looking than she remembers. “What are you doing here?”

“We were supposed to be meeting so you could get acquainted with your new bodyguard. It’s one in the afternoon. Jesus, Betty.”

Betty just looks up at Cheryl and glares at her. “My mouth tastes like fire.”

“I brought food,” Cheryl offers, ignoring her. “You might want to clean yourself up before you meet Mr. Jones.”

Betty just grumbles to herself as she rubs her head that’s currently pounding. She doesn’t know why she listened to Veronica last night. Drinking was never a good idea. Damn Pure and it’s amazing Appletinis. She listens to Cheryl and gets up to walk over to the restroom. The light makes her head hurt even more as she turns it on, but nothing compares to the absolute terror and disgust she feels once she looks into the mirror.

Her black eye makeup is completely ruined as it trails down her cheeks. Her lipstick is smeared everywhere and her hair looks like it went through a carwash.

“Jesus Christ, Betty,” she whispers to herself. “Get yourself together.”

She spends the next ten minutes washing her face and brushing her hair and teeth, attempting to make herself look presentable. She eventually gives up. There’s only so much she can do for her ruined appearance and besides she’s only meeting her bodyguard, not the Queen of England.

She throws on a robe and puts on her black fuzzy house shoes before she walks out into the living room. Cheryl is talking to a rather tall man whose back is currently towards Betty. All she can see is his unruly black hair.

She clears her throat. “I was promised food.”

Cheryl stretches her neck around the man in front of her and then the stranger himself turns around and locks his eyes with hers.

Betty dies.

No, just kidding. But seriously. She feels like her soul leaves her body as she stares at the man in front of her. He’s quite possibly the most handsome person she’s ever seen. He has one strand of his hair that curls and falls into his eye, it should make him look like a boy who can’t brush his hair properly, but instead it just makes him seem sexy. He has greenish blue eyes that stare into her own. His gaze is hard as it focuses on her and he doesn’t make any attempt to smile or greet her. Betty’s eyes roam to his jawline, which is sharp as hell, and then travel down his body. She would feel embarrassed, but she’s too hungover for that as she blatantly checks him out. She’s surprised to see that his eyes never leave hers. She’s in her bathrobe for God’s sake and he isn’t even trying to check her out. She doesn’t know if she should feel insulted.

“I got you some pancakes,” Cheryl says, oblivious to Betty checking this guy out. “Come sit.”

She walks over to the table and takes a seat, still staring at the handsome stranger.

“Betty, this is Forsythe Jones. He’s your new bodyguard. Mr. Jones, this is Betty Cooper.”

“Hi,” Betty says, mouth full of pancakes. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Forsythe just nods.

It’s a strange name, Betty thinks to herself. She wonders if it might be a family one. That’s classy and she can definitely get behind it.

“Now, I’ve already given him your schedule,” Cheryl continues. “He’s staying in the room right next to yours, but he’s to be around you at all times. We need to work on finding you some place to live that isn’t your apartment or this hotel, but that can wait for now. Mr. Jones is to be informed before you decide to go anywhere, Betty, this is an order. He’s to accompany you everywhere you go.”

Betty rolls her eyes, feeling like a little kid again, but she just nods.

“If you ever need anything then just ask him, but remember that he isn’t your slave.” Dirty thoughts flow through her mind at that, but she pushes them away. “He’s here to protect you, not serve you.”

“Protect and serve,” Betty mutters under her breath, but no one seems to hear her.

“The charity banquet is this weekend, remember, so Mr. Jones you’ll have to accompany her to that.” He just nods, face as serious as ever. Betty wonders if he ever smiles. “You won’t have to stay for too long. You just need to make an appearance to keep the media happy.”

Cheryl’s phone goes off, altering her of an email. She lifts up a finger, letting Betty and Mr. Jones know that she needs a minute. Betty munches on a piece of bacon while her new bodyguard just sits there looking like a damn statue.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cheryl hisses to herself. Betty looks at her in question. Instead of answering, Cheryl just hands her phone over to Betty.

On her screen is a picture of a magazine with the headline: Undercover Model? Betty Cooper Dances With Friends In A Sexy Disguise and We’re Here For It. There’s a picture of her with her arms around Veronica’s neck and her head thrown back while they’re on the dance floor. Betty’s laughing in the picture and anyone who sees it can tell that she’s drunk and having a good time.

“How did they know it was me?” She pouts.

“That disguise wasn’t very good,” her bodyguard speaks up. He has a deep voice that makes Betty’s breath hitch. “It probably wasn’t a very good idea to go to a club under these circumstances either, don’t you think?”

Betty glares at him, feeling annoyed at his words. “I’m not going to stop living my life just because some guy is a little too obsessed with me,” she says, copying Veronica’s words.

“Betty, he’s right,” Cheryl says. “This isn’t good. This is the last thing we need right now. Your stalker getting ahold of this article could lead to some serious damage.”

Betty frowns at the words as a spike of fear runs through her. Cheryl is right. This was incredibly reckless of her.

“I just wanted to have fun,” she says softly.

“Fun?” Forsythe speaks up. “You’re not a little kid anymore. Stop behaving like one.”

“Uh, you don’t even know me,” Betty snaps at him.

“I know enough,” he replies. “You won’t be doing this while you’re under my watch. I’m here to protect you and letting you run off to clubs with your little friends isn’t what I’m paid to do.”

“I’ll fire you!” Betty says, raising her voice. “You can’t tell me what to do!”

“Actually, you can’t fire him,” Cheryl says. “Only I can and I’m not going to, because he has a point. You need to start acting a bit more maturely, Betty. Your life is at stake here.”

She wants to scream out. She hates everything that’s happening right now. She hates what her life is becoming. She hates that she has to take orders from someone who just so happens to be a jackass.

“This is ridiculous!” She yells. “I doubt that creep will even see these. Maybe he’s getting over all of this.” She doesn’t know if she’s trying to convince herself or them, but either way it doesn’t work.

“Very unlikely,” Cheryl says gently. “Just please let Mr. Jones do his job. Don’t be difficult.”

Betty just nods, giving up. They spend the rest of the time going over things and events that she needs to make an appearance at. She wishes she could just stay home all the time and not have to worry about the outside world, but she knows that’s not an option anymore. She had been dying to get out of her hotel room before, but she was over the whole fresh air thing now.

It’s a little past four when Cheryl finally gets up to leave. Betty follows her to the door and Mr. Jones opens it up for the redhead. Betty rolls her eyes at the gentlemanly move. He’s been kind and polite to Cheryl, but he’s treated Betty as if she was a kid this entire time and she hates it. She hates him and they’ve only just met.

“Oh,” Cheryl says as she picks up a package off the floor. Betty’s heart skips a beat as she looks at it. She knows what it is before they even open it up.

“Throw it away,” she whispers out to them. “Throw it away!”

Forsythe grabs the package and takes it inside. Cheryl walks back over to the table as she follows him.

“Throw it away!” Betty repeats. “I don’t want to see it.”

“Well, you have to,” Forsythe replies harshly and Betty decides right there and then that she hates him more than anything.

He opens up the package and takes out the contents. Cheryl’s eyes widen at what he pulls out and Betty tears up.

It’s the magazine article with words written over it in black sharpie.

I’d recognize you anywhere. Dress like a cheap slut and you’ll die a cheap slut.

“Oh, my God,” Cheryl whispers out, wordless for once. Betty walks over to the couch absentmindedly and sits down.

Forsythe snatches the magazine off of the table and rips it up before tossing it into the trashcan.

“How the hell did he find out where she lives? What kind of fucked up security did you place her under? I want you to find a new living arrangement for her immediately,” he orders Cheryl. “I will not have her living here where this person can so easily reach her.”

“Of course,” Cheryl replies, already typing away at her phone.

“And make sure whenever you pick has two bedrooms, because I’ll be living with her. I need to keep an eye on her at all times. I’m not letting this happen again.” He pulls out his own phone and starts typing away at it.

Betty wants to argue that she doesn’t need him to live with her like a babysitter, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t want to be alone anymore.

“I’ll find this person,” Forsythe says as he kneels down in front of Betty. “I swear to God, I will find him and I’ll kill him myself.”

She doesn’t know if the words should frighten her, but they don’t. They comfort her. For the first time since all this has started, she feels comforted and she nods at her bodyguard’s words.

“I believe you,” she whispers.

#bughead #bughead fanfiction #Wicked Games Fic

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