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stereksecretsanta · 4 years

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Merry Christmas, tabbytabbytabby!

For @tabbytabbytabby, who wanted alive Hale pack and anything alternative universe. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!!!! I decided to go with a rock band AU because let's face it, they're all stupid hot and would look so good doing it. My headcanon for alive Laura Hale is the incomparable Katie McGrath if you want a visual. Those eyes, man. They make my little bisexual heart very happy.

Also everyone here is somewhere in the Kinsey Scale :)))) There will be smut and idiocy. Idiots in love has become one of my favourite tags!

The underage occurs when Derek and Stiles are in high school. Derek is a senior and Stiles is a sophomore.

Band line up is as follows:

Laura - lead vocals Derek - lead guitar Boyd - bass Erica - acoustic guitar and backing vocals Isaac - keyboard and backing vocals Cora - drums and backing vocals

Read On AO3

*****

Edge Of Seventeen

Chapter 1 - Say What Now?

‘Do you want to?’

It took Stiles a few moments to focus on the words, electricity buzzing under his skin and his mouth bruised and still wet with Derek’s spit. Two warm broad hands settled either side of his face and gently redirected his attention. In the dark of the Camaro’s back seat, Derek’s pale eyes glittered.

‘We can.’ His voice was low and rough, his breathing out of kilter. ‘If you want to.’

Stiles looked at him, his heart racing a thousand miles a minute.

I want to.’ he said and fell into another kiss.

The alarm woke Stiles with a start. He swore and leaned over to slide a finger across the screen and turn it off. He’d forgotten when he’d arrived the night before, still a little jet lagged and not quite with everything when he’d collapsed into bed and been asleep in what was probably a record time.

He lay still, looking up at the ceiling and getting his breath back. He hadn’t had a dream about Derek Hale in a very long time and he was chalking it up to being back in his childhood bed. Independence Day had been the one holiday he’d won in the field office lottery, and so Stiles had packed up and gone home for the long weekend, four blissful days off. He’d known going into the FBI would be hard, but he’d had no idea just how hard it would be. Noah was delighted. The last time they’d seen each other had been Christmas and Stiles had been morose after yet another break up. He’d spent an afternoon wandering around the preserve, ending up staring at the Hale house, still closed up and looking a little worse for wear, with nary a Hale in sight.

This time it was summer, the heat already making his room uncomfortable. Stiles grimaced and plucked his damp t-shirt away from his skin, sitting up and dragging a hand over his face as he tried to wake up properly, manfully ignoring his dream-induced erection that made him feel like he was a teenager all over again.

‘Stiles?’ Noah yelled from downstairs. ‘You up, kiddo?’

‘I’m twenty-six, Dad,’ Stiles muttered, standing up and stretching. ‘Not a kid anymore.’

He was feeling it too, the crashing realisation that those carefree days were far behind him. He had a job and an apartment in Sacramento, cacti that he had managed not to kill. All the cool stuff. It wasn’t hard to feel like something was missing but Stiles would never admit that the string of failed relationships he had accumulated were anything to do with what Lydia referred to as ‘the one who got away’.

Noah was in the kitchen as he predicted, sleep rumpled and unshaven in sweat pants and an old BHPD t-shirt. He’d been taking it a bit easier, giving Parrish more and more responsibility. Stiles was pleased and Parrish was both smart and sensible, a combination that Lydia had found irresistible. Their senior year fling had evolved into a long term relationship until Lydia had come home to buy them a small clapboard Victorian near the preserve and commute to the research lab every day where she had her associate professorship. Parrish had presented her with a simple solitaire ring at Christmas and she was very happy.

‘Are you going to see Mom?’ he asked and Stiles nodded, grabbing the orange juice from the ridge and pouring himself a glass, sniffing hopefully at the eggs Noah was scrambling. He noticed Stiles’ meaningful look and grinned.

‘I thought I would go after breakfast,’ He beamed at his father when he was presented with a plate full of eggs and bacon.

‘It’s turkey before you get on your high horse,’ Noah told him. ‘Get your own coffee if you want some.’

‘Not yet.’ Stiles made space for him to sit down and they ate in comfortable silence. Once finished, he did get up to make two cups. Noah accepted his gratefully and smiled at his son, grey eyes twinkling.

‘So…,’ he started and Stiles held up a finger.

‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t care who it is you want to set me up with, it’s not happening.’ His parents had a terrible habit of matchmaking.

Noah held up both hands in supplication.

‘Not setting you up,’ he protested. ‘Just thought I’d mention that when your mother went into the shop yesterday, she saw a ghost from the past. Several, actually.’

Stiles cursed internally. His dad knew he couldn’t resist a good mystery.

‘Okay, I’ll bite,’ he replied, starting to get up.

‘The Hales.’ Noah replied with all the smugness of a man who knew he had the scoop of the year.

‘Oh fuck.’ Stiles blurted and tripped over his chair.

It was the sneezing that woke Derek up.

‘Jesus fuck!’ Laura roared a floor below him. ‘How much fucking shit is in this place?’

‘Oh good, she’s awake.’ Cora muttered and turned over. They were in what had been the twins’ bedroom, each of them crammed into a single that was a little on the small side. The top storey of the house was still a burned out wreck and the furniture had been largely taken away over the years and so the pickings had been slim, with their merry threesome taking the scorched master bedroom and Laura camping out on the sagging couch downstairs. As Alpha, she always preferred to be on watch as it were.

‘This was such a bad idea.’ Derek borrowed deeper into his comforter. ‘We should have brought the bus.’

‘That would have given the game away.’ Laura replied, hearing them both perfectly even though she was now in the kitchen. ‘Which part of low profile are you two having trouble with?’

‘We could have always stayed in a hotel. Sleeping int the burned out remains of our family home is precisely the opposite of low profile. Lo.’ Derek pointed out, sitting up. There was no way he’d be going back to sleep. Not with his alpha on a mission.

‘Discretion is our watchword, Derek.’ Laura hissed and started banging pots and pans around with a maximum of noise. Derek looked over at Cora. Her dark eyes were just visible under the pillow she had over her head.

‘You’re her second.’ She bared her teeth at him. ‘You go deal with her.’

‘I hate you.’ Derek said flatly, rolling out of bed and onto his feet. He stumbled a little on the stairs, still half asleep. Laura had her head buried in a blackened cupboard when he got to the kitchen. It hadn’t been as badly affected as the rest of the house but it was still a health hazard as far as he was concerned.

‘Where the hell is the waffle iron?’ she demanded. ‘Mom said she left it here.’

‘Who the fuck knows?’ Derek yawned and went to the fridge. There was nothing inside except for a gallon of milk and the leftover Chinese take out from the night before. He sniffed a carton of lemon chicken, grabbing some disposable chopsticks from the small pile on the kitchen table, and started eating. Laura eyed him, one fang just visible.

‘We need proper food.’ She glared at the ceiling. ‘Everybody up! We’re going grocery shopping!’

‘Christ.’ Derek grumbled. ‘You think that’s low profile too?’

‘Shut up.’ Laura swept past him, nose in the air. ‘I’m the Alpha now.’

Derek sniggered and let her go, enjoying his leftovers while he listened to her rouse the threesome. There was a lot of complaining, and he couldn’t really blame them. Their schedule had been hectic, even for wolves, and they were all tired and the house wasn’t exactly welcoming. Laura’s plans to come home and reclaim their territory now she was an Alpha in her own right had seen them finish the final leg of their international tour in New York, a quick catch up with their pack and then flying down to Sacramento and driving the three hours to Beacon Hills all in twenty-four hours. They had barely had time to stop in at the small coffee shop near the Sheriff's station before coming out to the house, which had been shut up for the past ten years. Peter had intended to join them, but had been delayed in New York. As their manager, he was the one who took care of all the dealings with their record company. If it was left to him and Laura, they probably would have eaten every executive by now. He was worth every penny they paid him, even if the meeting had probably been manufactured as a way to get out of cleaning up the house.

Stiles pulled up at the cemetery, parking the Jeep behind the old truck that had parked off centre and across two spaces. Grinning, he got out and made his way through the iron gates, remembering Isaac Lahey, who’d been a couple of years above him at school. His father had been the groundskeeper before there had been an incident at their house and Coach Lahey had been found dead. He remembered Isaac being taken in by social services and a whole sordid story of child abuse and alcoholicism coming out. Isaac had stayed off school for a week and then simply vanished off the face of the earth. There had been a lot of theories as to where he’d gone, but the truth was he wasn’t the first person to do that in 2011.

Stiles got lost in thought as he meandered between the headstones, finally coming to a stop in front of one made of white marble and embossed with angels.

‘That’s new.’ he remarked. ‘Not sure about the daffodils.’

‘They’re so gaudy.’ The dark haired woman kneeling at the grave grinned over her shoulder at him, her eyes the same warm whiskey brown as her son’s. ‘I’m glad to see you made it out of bed. I was starting to think you’d spend the whole weekend hibernating.’

‘Funny.’ Stiles helped Claudia up and gave her a long hug. When she let him go, she stepped back and looked him up and down.

‘You look good.’ she said. ‘Dare I say, professional.’

‘Mom.’ Stiles settled his hands on her shoulders. ‘Dad said you saw the Hales yesterday.’

‘Oh.’ Claudia’s look of faux innocence was belied by the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. ‘Is that why you came to see me. No ‘I’ve missed you terribly Mother’, but ‘You saw the fucking Hales’.’

‘Mom.’ Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. ‘Did you see him?’

‘Who?’ Claudia crinkled her nose in amusement. ‘The boy you’ve been literally pining for, for almost a decade?’

‘I’m sure he’s not a boy anymore.’ Stiles snorted. ‘And yes. Stop playing dumb.’

‘I might have.’ Claudia tilted her head. ‘What’s it worth?’

‘A double chocolate muffin and all the lattes you can drink.’ Stiles replied and she cackled and linked her arm through his.

‘Done.’ she declared. ‘And you’re right. He’s definitely not a boy anymore.’

Derek leaned heavily on the cart, eyelids at half mast and his senses muted. The store was fairly empty, the early hour on a Saturday meaning that most shoppers were yet to make an appearance. Next to him Boyd yawned and shifted on his feet, hands sunk deep in the pockets of his leather jacket.

They’d been best friends a long time, playing basketball and baseball and getting into shit when they were teenagers and when things had turned bad and they’d had to leave, Boyd had been dogged in his refusal to cut ties and turned up at the pack house in New York a week after graduation with Erica in tow. They had walked right in and asked Talia for the bite and she’d given it gladly. Derek knew she was going to do it for Erica even before they had had to flee their territory and they’d settled in like they’d always been pack. Isaac had, of course, already joined them earlier and his delight at having them back had turned into a deep and abiding love that saw them forming their triad and becoming mates.

Erica was leaning on Isaac, her blond curls dragged into a messy ponytail and Cora was trailing Laura a few feet ahead. It always grated that she had inherited their mother’s early rising nature while the rest of them would have happily slept in and threw her weight around to get them out of bed when they most definitely didn’t want to. Even the fact that Derek was her twin didn’t let him get out of doing what she wanted.

‘Toilet paper.’ Laura turned and they all tried to avoid her eyes. ‘Derek. Take Boyd and grab some.’

‘But I’m minding the cart,’ he whined, clinging to it like a drowning man to a life preserver.

‘Go!’ Laura’s eyes flared red for just a second and Derek had to resist the urge to snarl back at her like he’d always used to. The whole alpha thing was new, the result of an overambitious alpha that had come into their territory planning to challenge Talia and ending up facing her daughter instead when they tried to take Cora with the intention of forcibly mating her and claiming rights. Talia had always taught them to solve their problems with diplomacy but Laura was headstrong and fiercely protective of her siblings, ever since Kate Argent had tried to use her to get close enough to kill them all. She’d almost succeeded too, that night of the party to celebrate the basketball teams’ victory for nationals providing the perfect distraction for them to be off their guard. Kate had struck in the early hours of the morning and she’d had them trapped, the beginnings of an arson that would have killed them all if Derek hadn’t come back and caught her. He’d ripped her throat out with his teeth, calling Deaton in a panic to come and break the circle of mountain ash that kept them trapped and they’d all watched their family home burn until the police and emergency services had arrived.

Talia had decided that it was too dangerous to stay, knowing the Argents would come for Derek, getting them all packed in a matter of twenty-four hours and away from what was left of their home. They’d gone to their father’s pack in New York State, leaving no sign of them behind. It was the way with wolves, always having a back-up in case something went wrong. The Argents were a large and powerful hunting clan and there would be retribution for the death of Gerard’s golden child, but when they came for the Hales they would find the place empty. Deaton stayed, both to protect the territory and report back to Talia about hunters coming in and not a month after it had happened, they had come. Thankfully the wards on the Hale land had kept the territory claim in place and the hunters had left with no satisfaction.

The rest had been a long and bloody fight between their respective Councils. Gerard had wanted Derek’s head for killing Kate and Talia had countered with the evidence that Kate had planned to kill a pack of law-abiding wolves along with their children. The matter had finally been settled when Gerard died of cancer and his granddaughter, by all accounts a level headed and honourable young woman about the same age as Derek, had taken over.

The music had started as a way to keep them all sane while this was happening, Talia more or less forcing them into music therapy as a way to deal with what had happened. It had been a bit of a shock to realise they were actually very good at it and they’d formed the band. Some minor success saw them moving steadily up the indie charts until it became their lives. Laura had named them Hale Pack 2.0 and Talia had laughed so hard when they’d told her that she’d shifted and clawed right through the cushion she was holding, feathers flying around them like a small snowstorm.

Derek hadn’t minded at first. The music was what he loved, the fame and money secondary. The Hales were already rich, but Peter had jumped at the chance to do something different and he drove their commercial success. They were in that comfortable zone of being middle of the road, not so successful enough that they were household names but it became hard in New York to go anywhere without being recognised.

Derek didn’t enjoy that part much. He was solitary and quietly sarcastic by nature, but unfortunately that just seemed to translate into brooding and mysterious in interviews and so he was plagued by a long line of would-be groupies that tagged along after him like a cloud of midges. Laura found it hilarious and basked in her own popularity. As an out lesbian, she had her choice of pretty girls to shack up with. Cora kept her asexuality to herself, just as surly as Derek was. The other three were not exactly open about their polyamorous arrangegment, but they didn’t hide it either. They were lucky, having found each other and being able to keep each other.

He often thought about that night, the one where the reason he’d been able to save his family was because he’d been in the back seat of his father’s illicitly borrowed Camaro with the boy he’d loved pretty much forever and indulging in a bit of mutual deflowering. Then he’d had to pack up and leave said boy without even saying goodbye or telling him where he was going. It had hurt more than he’d thought possible and if part of why Derek was so keen to come back to Beacon Hills was to try and track down that boy, then who was to know. The only people who knew what he’d been up to were Boyd (because Derek told him everything) and Laura (because she’d sat on him and tickled him until he’d confessed and then had to hold her while she cried, guilt and shame coming off her in waves). Derek hadn’t had the heart to complain when their very survival had been at stake because he’d killed Kate Argent, no matter whose fault it had been. Talia had said to make a clean break with the town and while she’d made allowances for their friends who were already in the know, that was as far as she was willing to push her luck.

Derek and Laura had finished out their schooling at home, Cora had gone to boarding school in South America with her Argentinian grandmother’s pack and the twins were still too young to be a problem so that was, as they said, that. Then had come college, followed by the band and the success and the travelling and before Derek knew it, it had been almost ten years and he was twenty-eight and still hung up on Stiles fucking Stilinski.

‘Hey.’ Boyd bumped him with his shoulder. ‘You alive in there?’

‘Not really.’ Derek surveyed the toilet paper and grabbed a couple of twenty-four packs. ‘Just thinking.’

‘Yeah.’ Boyd grinned, lighting up his usually serious face. ‘I can guess what about too.’

‘Not a goddamned word.’ Derek growled and then froze, his nose twitching madly.

It wasn’t exactly the same, a little deeper and a little thicker but he’d recognise that scent anywhere with his nose stuffed up and people throwing peppermint oil in his face. He shoved the toilet paper at Boyd and charged through the aisle, needing to find the source and skidding to a halt in the aisle with the candy and stared at the Sheriff, who looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. In fact, as it was he had cookies in his hands which he quickly put back.

‘Derek?’ He looked pleasantly surprised. ‘Claudia said she’d seen you.’ He came over and Derek couldn’t help taking in a deep breath. The scent of Stiles was all over the Sheriff and it made his heart start thumping like a drum.

‘Sheriff Stilinski.’ He took the offered hand and shook it, gleeful when he could smell a little bit of Stiles on his own skin. ‘Yeah, we’re back. Laura said she was going to stop by and talk to you about the house. She’s actually around here somewhere.’ He couldn’t stop smiling. ‘I’m glad you’re still here.’

‘Where else would we be?’ The Sheriff raised an eyebrow at him. ‘To be honest, we never thought you’d come back. Any of you. The last we heard, you mom and dad had skipped town and taken you all with them after the fire and then five years later, you and your sisters pop up playing gigs in New York with the Lahey kid, Vernon Boyd’s son and Erica Reyes and since you hit the big times, you’ve been entirely responsible for provisioning this town with 90% of its salacious gossip.’

‘How did you know that? I mean, New York.’ Derek was completely bemused. They had started out small, playing tiny venues, still wary of being recognised. It had only been in the last couple of years that they’d made it big enough to be known internationally.

‘I kept track.’ The Sheriff replied. ‘The fact that you all pretty much disappeared overnight hit this town like a slap in the face. I called in a lot of favours.’ There was something in his voice though that had Derek frowning. ‘I had my reasons, son.’

Derek was about to ask him what those were exactly when Laura came barreling down the aisle.

‘There you are.’ She came up short when she saw who he was talking to. ‘Sheriff Stilinski?’

‘The one and only.’ The Sheriff tipped an invisible hat at her. ‘It’s good to see you, Laura. Derek and I were just catching up.’

‘Well, I have to steal him. Excuse us.’ Laura gave him a toothy grin that was not her usual smile and Derek wondered just what was happening. She caught his arm and practically dragged him away.

‘What the hell?’ he protested, trying to wriggle out of her iron grip.

‘Hunters.’ she hissed and Derek’s blood ran cold.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked and she nodded, her face grim.

‘The others are doing the check out.’ she said. ‘We need to go.’

Stiles parked on the kerb and got out. Claudia already had the front door open and was looking down the street.

‘Visitor.’ she announced and went inside, leaving him to stand and wait for the car to stop. He bounced in excitement, barely waiting for the driver to get out before grabbing her and squeezing her hard enough to make her squeak.

‘Lydia, my strawberry blonde goddess.’ He kissed her cheek soundly. ‘I was wondering when you’d show up.’

‘Stiles.’ Lydia had softened since high school, growing into her intellect and losing the hard veneer of extreme fashion that had been her armour in high school. She was still elegant, but the tan leather boots she wore under her long floral skirt were flat and her face was less determinedly made up, her hair a mass of loose fronds that framed her face. She was also as beautiful as she had always been but Stiles loved her for more than that. They had grown close in junior year when Jackson had moved to the UK and she’d been left bereft. Scott had been dating Kira that year and he’d had little time for Stiles so they’d drifted together and never really drifted apart, in spite of their physical distance. Now Scott and Kira were engaged, with Scott working for Deaton full time and Kira teaching martial arts with their first baby on the way and Stiles felt even more like he was lagging behind. Lydia kept him tied to Beacon Hills as much as his parents did.

‘So what are you doing here?’ He escorted her to the house. Lydia went in first, saying hello to Claudia as they went into the kitchen.

‘I have some news you might want to hear.’ she said, her eyes dancing.

‘’If it’s that the Hales are back, I already know.’ Stiles was smug when she pouted. He so seldom got one over on her so it was fun when he did.

‘Sorry.’ Claudia grinned at Lydia. ‘That was my fault.’

‘Dammit.’ Lydia folded her arms. ‘Well that may be, but I bet you don’t know that they’re going to be playing the Jungle tonight.’

‘No, that I did not know.’ Stiles was immediately hooked. He’d always wanted to go watch them, ever since they’d first popped back up on his radar after years of radio silence, courtesy of a discarded music magazine in the field office. He’d fantasised about meeting Derek’s eyes across a crowded venue but he knew that in reality, Derek probably didn’t even remember the boy he fucked in the back of his sister’s car and probably also had his pick of beautiful people to spend his time with. It hadn’t stopped him from following the band’s progress almost obsessively though.

He’d been distraught when Derek had gone, trying to find any trace of him online, but there had been nothing at all in the years just after the fire. Noah had been cagey about what he’d known and Stiles had been at a loose end, trying to fill in the gaps. When he’d rediscovered them, Stiles had followed them on every form of social media he could and tracked down every article about them. Derek still didn’t have any online presence apart from that and the music videos his band put out. Stiles had jealously hoarded every single tiny piece of information and downloaded every picture and video of him, seeing how handsome Derek had become, growing into himself in a way Stiles envied. He’d jerked off many a night, watching the stylised black and white videos that the Hale Pack 2.0 preferred. Derek was always dressed in black jeans and tight white t-shirts, the sleeves of his trademark leather jacket pushed up to his elbows and his broad hands drawing Stiles’ gaze in as he played his guitar, all precision and power that had Stiles breath coming short at the thought of them on him.

‘Danny told me this morning. He’s practically beside himself at getting them on his books at such short notice.’ Lydia smirked, knowing she had his full attention. Danny had made a ton of money in apps and bought his old stomping ground. It had had a makeover and was now a very stylish LGBTQ+ venue that he ruled along with Jackson as his partner in business and life, once he’d had his gay crisis while he was gone. Stiles knew from the Hales’ publicity that Laura was a lesbian and he was pretty sure Isaac, Erica and Boyd were involved in something that looked pretty polyamorous but Derek and Cora were notoriously private and there was never any suggestion as to who they might be seeing. It seemed the kind of place they would be playing.

‘Okay.’ He moved to the coffee maker, preparing for a long sit down. ‘Tell me everything.’

TBC on AO3!

#tabbytabbytabby #stereksanta20 #*fic20 #*gifts20

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briannasroger · 7 years

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Tentative next fic updates!

Upcoming drabbles:

soulmates nalu prompt: August 11th

N atan prompt: August 13th

Mystana prompt: August 15th

F airy Tail:

Finding Firelight (Nal u), 6/10ish: August 17th

Hackers and Hijinks (Na lu), 1/4: August 21st

The Elysium Fields (Na lu) 1/3ish: September 25th

O nce Upon A T ime:

Follow These Tracks Home (CS) 5/8: August 30th

Scars On Your Heart (CS) 2/2: September 2nd

Enchanter Come to See (CS) 1/23ish: September 25th

#because I get my new computer tomorrow hopefully and that means I can actually write on something other than this stupid keyboard #which lags so badly when I type that I cant type anything that doesn't look like a snake wrote it #lllllliiiiikee thiiiissss aaas an examppple #' type on your phone mira!!'#no #writing life

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smkkbert · 4 years

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Time for a story - Welcome to Hong Kong

If Oliver was still the same guy that he had been twenty years ago, he was sure that this would have been a one-way travel. It would have been his way of dealing with the overwhelming feeling of entering into any kind of commitment. He would have run away as far as he could, leaving everyone behind who counted on him.

Like he had done so many times before.

Lowering his gaze to his hand in his lap, Oliver looked at his wedding band. The slim platinum that was wrapped around his ring finger had always felt like a symbol for how much he had grown in the last twenty years. He was no longer a runner. He was a man who was willingly making commitments, and this special commitment that he had made to the woman he loved and to the kids they were raising together was one that he’d make over and over again.

Sometimes, it still baffled Oliver how far he had come. There had been a long time in his life when he had thought that wearing a wedding band was the same as being handcuffed. Getting married had just felt like the stop of all fun life could offer. It had felt like the worst decision a man in his position could possibly make.

Now, he knew that getting married had been the best decision he had ever made or would ever make. His wedding band had proved to be his lifebelt quite some times already, and Felicity was the one holding the rope that was attached to the ring, pulling him to safe ground whenever he lost himself in the flood of his trauma.

Oliver hadn’t always been this poetic either, he thought to himself with a smile on his lips, but there were just no words that could say how much Felicity meant to him and what immense meaning she had in his life. She was everything, but even everything didn’t seem like it was enough because she was even more than that.

Knowing that made it hard, almost impossible really, to spend any time away from her.

With a long sigh, Oliver lifted his hands and rubbed them over his tired face. He hadn’t caught a lot of sleep since he had received that terrible news that he had to spend a week in China to visit the Chief Executive of Hong Kong as a gesture of friendship between the two partner cities. It had been an appointment that Oliver had agreed a long time ago. He hadn’t really thought that it would happen indeed.

Since Oliver couldn’t have canceled the promised visit here without upsetting the Chinese politics and risking the partnership between the cities, he had known that he had had no choice. He had had to come here.

Usually, Oliver’s first instinct would have been asking Felicity to come with him. If he had to leave Starling City for whatever reason, he always preferred to take everything he held dear with him. Since his family was the only thing he really held dear, he would have loved to grab all seven of them, including Hawk of course, and take them with him to China.

Life just wasn’t that easy. Felicity had a job of her own that didn’t allow her to leave the city for an entire week without thorough planning. William was preparing for his graduation from high school. Emmy and Tommy couldn’t just leave school for a week. Millie and Addie were too young for Oliver to put them through the exhaustion of a long flight and the jet lag they’d suffer from after that. And if the entire family stayed home, Oliver preferred Hawk to stay with them and watch over them.

Oliver sighed. Life had been easier before his kids had adapted to a regular rhythm of sleep and start school. Back then, he could have taken them everywhere he had wanted whenever he had wanted.

Thinking about it, Oliver thought about the little bit of regret he felt at the thought that he and Felicity hadn’t taken more time to travel the world. As long as the kids had been babies, they could have easily taken them with them while they would have been traveling the world. They could have taken time to explore the world before they had settled down on their home to give their kids the stability they needed to adapt to the life in school and everything.

Oliver shook his head. He loved the life that he and Felicity had built. All regrets were just small annoyances. There was no big regret, not when it came to his marriage.

When the plane landed on safe ground, Oliver lifted his hand to his lips and kissed the slim piece of metal. He just loved being a married man, or at least he loved being married to Felicity. He doubted that any other woman could have had the same effect on him.

Once the doors of the plane opened, Oliver got up from his seat, grabbed his stuff and stepped outside into the building of the airport. Hong Kong was definitely one of the biggest airports he had ever been to which meant a lot as he had been traveling a lot in his entire life. The baggage conveyor belt alone felt like it was a mile or two long. It would take a while until he could grab his suitcase.

Hong Kong, Oliver thought to himself with a low sigh and pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants. It really didn’t make it easier that his journey had led him to Hong Kong of all places. Hong Kong had offered the first real hope of finding his way home after the Gambit had gone down. Slade’s plan to make it off the island and offered hope, but Oliver had never really believed that it would work. Once he had been off the island, it had felt like it was only one large step to go back home.

God, how wrong he had been! Oliver chuckled quietly, shaking his head.

He remembered that he had tried to write an e-mail home. He had wanted to contact his loved ones, letting them know that he was still alive, and that he needed their help to escape the trouble he had gotten himself into. Tommy had found him in Hong Kong, but it had already been to late. Oliver had had to tell him that he was dead, chasing him away and destroying all of his dreams of finding his friend well and alive. It had been his only chance at saving Tommy’s life.

It was more than that destroyed hope to make his way home or the bad reunion with the man that had used to be his friend since early childhood that made it so hard to be back here now, especially without his family. Here in Hong Kong he had learned what family really meant. He had watched Maseo, Tatsu and Akio love each other and fight for each other as he had seen them fall apart eventually. They had showed him what family really meant.

Lifting his hand, Oliver moved his fingers through his hair almost a little nervously. The thought of the family Maseo, Tatsu and Akio had been made him fell unsettled. There hadn’t been a lot missing that he might have ended like Maseo, being a slave to Ra’s al Ghul and his league. He had felt so out of touch with himself and the world around him that the league had seemed to be a real option.

Until Olive had realized that there was something that he had wanted more than being a part of the league. He had wanted Felicity and the life that having her at his side had offered.

The thought made Oliver pull out the tablet from his bag and watch some videos he had taken from his kids. He had his favorite videos of his kids saved on his tablet, so he could watch them whenever he was feeling like it. He watched them in the middle of a long workday sometimes just to remind himself of his family.

His favorite video of Emmy was the one where he was putting a blanket over her face and she was squealing amusedly whenever he pulled it away from her face. She had been half a year old maybe, and she had been so happy back then. She had been teething badly only a couple of days later. All fun had been gone.

His favorite video of Tommy was where he was saying goodbye to Felicity when she was heading to work and when he was crying as she was leaving. He had said goodbye a thousand times, but it had never felt to be enough. He had hated to be kept away from his mama. She had always been his favorite parent.

In his favorite video of William, his oldest son was sleeping on the couch. The side of his face was pushed into the pillow, making it crumple a little bit. He was snoring softly which was probably a sign that he didn’t get enough breath as Hawk had made himself comfortable on top of William’s back. The dog’s face was pushed into the crook of William’s shoulder as he looked into the camera tiredly.

His favorite video of Millie was the one where she was just lying in her crib, sucking at her pacifier and smiling at him behind it. It was spoke volumes about who Millie was. She was this relaxed, little girl. She always had been.

His favorite video of Addie showed her dancing around in the living room to a medley of her favorite Disney songs. Although she had just learned to walk when that video had been taken, she did prove to have quite the sense for rhythm, and the expressions on her face were strong. She was in there with all of his heart.

Oliver wasn’t sure if watching those video made him remind his children more or less. In some way, watching these videos felt like the kids were here with him, making him feel them right in his heart, which helped the longing he felt deep inside of him. At the same time, it only made him realize how much he needed to really have them here.

With a sigh, Oliver closed the file with the videos and opened his messenger instead. His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment until he typed a simple message into the family chat Felicity had set up a while ago. Emmy, William, Oliver and Felicity had access to it, and so would Tommy, Millie and Addie once they’d be old enough to have a phone of their own.

Just landed in Hong Kong & am waiting for my baggage now. Miss you all already.

He stared at the display of his tablet for a long moment, trying to will an answer to come. He wanted to have either of them to reply, so he could start a conversation. He guessed they were all busy with school and work. They didn’t have time to reply to him, at least not right now.

He was just about to push his tablet back into his bag and just wait for his suitcase to finally come when a video call was coming in. Emmy’s smiling face was looking at him. She had taken that photo of herself yesterday, right before he had left for the airport. While Oliver would love to take the call with a smile, happy to see and talk to one of his girls, Oliver also knew that Emmy shouldn’t be calling him right now.

Clearing his throat and putting on a serious expression, Oliver took the video call.

“Shouldn’t you be in your mathematics lesson?”

Emmy snorted, rolling her eyes. “I am Felicity Queen’s freaking daughter. I don’t need mathematic lessons. I am a genius.”

Oliver had to bite down on his tongue firmly to stop himself from chuckling. Emmy was right. She was Felicity Queen’s freaking daughter, and her teacher had mentioned that Emmy was indeed very smart. She did have a talent for mathematics.

Still, as a good dad, Oliver knew that he shouldn’t be agreeing with Emmy. School was important no matter what.

“School is important,” Oliver told her, “and that is something that your mother would agree on.”

“I know.” Emmy sighed. “So, I just wanted to tell you that I have created a full schedule for you.”

Oliver perked up his eyebrows. “You what?”

“I will send you a file once we have ended the video call,” Emmy told him, “so you are busy between your appointments. I asked your EA to mail me your schedule. Then I did research on the internet to find places you might want to see and things you might want to check out during your stay. With that, I put together an entire schedule for you to go through. I thought that, if you were busy, maybe you wouldn’t miss us this much.”

Oliver watched at Emmy, feeling completely speechless. He didn’t even have to see the schedule that she had put together for him to know that it was a schedule that would please him and that was very much possible for him to follow. Emmy was only nine years old, but she was Felicity’s Queen freaking daughter after all.

Emmy was just so empathic. Although Oliver had done his best to hide it from his kids, she had felt how terrible it was for him to leave them. She had sensed it, and she had decided that she had to help him through it because that was just who she was.

“That’s incredible, Emmy,” Oliver said, his emotions audible in his voice, “so thank you so much for that.”

Emmy shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing. “It was a lot of fun.”

“When I am back home, I will give you a bear-like hug and a thousand kisses.”

“Ugh, Dad.” Her eyes betrayed her. She didn’t mind the thought of a hug and kisses even just half as much as she pretended to. “I am too old for that.”

“Nobody is ever too old for hugs and kisses,” Oliver replied, “besides, I am a lot older than you. As long as I am not too old for it – and spoiler alarm, I never will be – neither can you.”

Emmy had to smile against her attempt to keep serious. She turned her eyes away, trying to hide, but Oliver could see it nonetheless. It only made him smile more.

“You gotta go back to class now,” he said eventually, “and I have to get my baggage.”

“Okay.” Emmy sighed and took a quick look around. “Love you, Dad.”

The video faded to black only a moment later. Oliver guessed he would have to come to terms and get used to the fact that his first baby girl was getting into that kind of age where you were embarrassed of your parents and didn’t want to be seen with them or show too much affection towards them. One day he would get used to them. Just not today.

Love you too, Sweetie <3 . I’ll call you when it’s time for you to go to bed.

* * *

@fannaz @promiseyoullbepatientwithme @bytemegeekette @felicity-said-just-in-case @phanseptiic @orangeisorange @mspotatohead14 @whentheheavenfades @emmaamelia95 @smoakingskye @seaolicity @ourwritinginvein @1022bridgetp @felicityqueenforever @leagueofolicity17 @yryssss @myhauntedblacksoul @sherlock446 @sinceriouslybea @olivyflavescentdeer @olicitys-castle @ofnothingcharming @vaelisamaza @smoakedandcharmed @alexisa1206 @mysaudadespt2 @florence-bubbles @addictiontelly @queens-of-arrows @memcjo @hysterical-for-joshifer-blog @oswinelevenforever @olicitylovemaking @bandanab310 @mymusiclove101 @lynslogic @scarletqueen23 @olicityshipper19 @alex-wesley @arrows-4ever @unabashedlynerdypatrol @louehmysoul @ligiapimenta @chattyyana @charlie-leau @coal000 @samcrowleys @ishippolivia @julianegomesqueen @malafle @miriam1779 @charlinert @melaux @ontheolicityship @myshipperlife @wrightainsley @lexi9515 @ladygreenwood @multi-fandom-crazy-fangirl @morinamel @mje-thomas @kebarry @canadianheartgirl @nannett2307 @almondblossomme @kathrynelizabeth89 @imdfabulous @mrt2501 @arsipaci14 @salasvia @brandis91 @cainc3 @morganmiguess @pr0fessi0nal-fangurl @iamisalima @nessafrancis-blog @jonhdiggle @niki-is-amazing @universed-posts @hopeful-warrior @senoritaswiftie @bellemmie @green-arrows-of-karamel @iheartarrow @olicityovereverything @oliverfel4 @olicity-in-the-heart @fullychippedcreation @geemarie @everything-but-normal-cat @myarroworld @tjmartinez @pleasantfanandstudent @j69confessional2 @scentedcolorpirate @icanica74 @tjmartinez98 @certainmentalityface @tatianadamaceno @ryelew @wildwillowzepplin @missafairy @letsplaymurde-r @lipizette @positivepiper @nuttymilkshakehologram @laksagirl @turnupthemusicandscream @pumpernickle93 @onceuponanolicity @1106angel @jaspertown @fadinglands @morganashimi83 @mochababychristy @omglovechrissie @mariejr88-blog @thetaufactor @onceuponanolicity @speakandseethetruth @bri206 @aglasgo @geemarie @pineprincess @nerdgirljen @eternal-olicity14 @allyouhadtodowas-stay-stay-stay @lovelycssefan @tsseract @flowerandsunshine @dcnmarvelgamergeek @blondeeoneexox @monetsmark @bb-olicity @mashamarty @rulerofsilence @erika-amber @nothingmorethanmyotps @kayleenyc @tonto16 @olicityfluv @olicitea1990 @haahaaa2408 @pattid1 @faegal04 @24karatgem @wrldtravler @readerkas @olicity-beliver @greencoffeecups @snorlaxishere

(If you want to be tagged or untagged, just let me know. :))

#arrow #olicity #time for a story #olicity fic #olicity fanfic

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weshallneverrevolt · 5 years

Text

In-Home Streaming, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Couch

I’m a longtime PC gamer for many reasons. Yes, there’s the snob factor: PC games can look better than consoles almost all of the time. But it’s also because of the customizability. You pick your framerate, your resolution, your graphical settings. But you also own a machine, not an appliance: you learn its quirks, its inner workings. It’s something you take care of. For an enthusiast, a custom built computer is like a tailored suit.

And yet, there’s something I have missed for a long time: gaming on the couch.

Couch gaming is how I grew up. Huddled with friends around a tiny TV and N64, controllers in hand, shouting and laughing. Or leaned back in a chair with a cold soda, savoring every moment of a lengthy Final Fantasy cutscene. An office chair just isn’t the same. It’s rigid and harsh. It says “at attention,” not “relax.” It was the antithesis of my ideal gaming experience.

But after I got my PC, I never bought a console. For one, I couldn’t afford them. In college my money was precious, and my computer – already cobbled together from low-end or used parts – was expensive enough to maintain. The idea of dropping hundreds on a console and proper television was out of the question.

As an adult with more disposable income and now a home of my own – complete with an awesome living room my wife put together – I wanted to have that experience again. But my budget-mindedness and graphical snobbery hadn’t changed, and my PC was upstairs on the other side of the house. What to do?

I wanted couch gaming. And I managed to get it without buying a console or moving my PC to the living room thanks to a hugely underappreciated technology: in-home streaming. Here I’ll share what I’ve learned, discuss setups, and evangelize one of the coolest tech tricks I’ve discovered in homeownership.

What is In-Home Streaming?

You’ve probably heard of Google Stadia, Google’s uh…interesting new streaming game service. The basic idea is that your console isn’t in your living room. Instead, it’s located in a Google datacenter, which streams the game as a video through the internet. It sort of works, with the hiccups you’d expect with streaming a game over the internet: lag, input delay, graphical glitches. It’s like having very, very long HDMI and USB cords.

In-home streaming is basically that, but in your house. With the distance being just a few rooms instead of across state lines, latency becomes much less of an issue. It finally gives PC gamers the one thing we were missing: the couch.

Because it encodes video in real-time, in-home video streaming is a pretty new technology, and it requires certain hardware and software. The two dominant solutions are Steam and Moonlight, and they’re different in important ways.

Steam Remote Play

Steam Remote Play is by far the simplest method. For one, it integrates directly with Steam, so there is no complicated setup. Just install Steam on both devices, boot em up and you’re good to go. It pairs well with Steam’s “Big Picture” interface for a console-like experience.

Steam streaming also runs on just about anything, including very small computers like a Raspberry Pi. This is because it uses H.264 encoding, a standard that has been around for a long time. Just about any computer made since 2008 can play H.264 video, meaning that your old laptop or a $25 PC from Goodwill can be turned into a stream machine. Encoding H.264 on the host machine also has little performance cost.

Where Steam hits a limit is in resolution. Steam can only stream games at the resolution they use on your native monitor. So if your computer monitor is 1080p, you can’t play in 4K when it’s streamed to your TV. You can go lower resolution, which is fine if you’re streaming to some laptop screens.

Steam works with all Xbox controllers, as well as the Dual Shock 4 through DS4Windows.

Moonlight

Moonlight is what I use for in-home streaming. It’s an open-source implementation of NVidia’s “GameStream” technology, originally developed for their Shield devices. My main PC has a GTX 1070, which supports GameStream.

Moonlight has a number of significant advantages over Steam. For me, the most important is its ability to stream in a different resolution than your desktop. So while my desktop monitor is 1080p, I can play games in native 4K on my TV set! For newer games that my PC can’t run at full 4K, I use NVidia’s dynamic super resolution feature to run at 1440p or another resolution, then upscale it to 4K.

GameStream can also encode in HEVC, a cutting-edge video codec that offers superior quality with lower bandwidth. There’s virtually no artifacting, and colors usually look better than with Steam streaming. There is also HDR support. Because HEVC is lower bandwidth, it’s also ideal for wi-fi streaming.

If you’ve been keeping up with all the NVidia mentions, you’ve probably figured out the most significant drawback of Moonlight: hardware exclusivity. GameStream can only encode certain NVidia graphics cards. For instance, the 10-series locks GameStream to the 1050ti or higher, so budget gamers with a 1030 or 1050 are out of luck. Good news is that the receiving PC can run non-nVidia graphics.

GameStream also supports H.264, but for HEVC you need more powerful hardware on the receiving end. So while any old shitty laptop could stream with Steam, it would choke on HEVC.

Moonlight has the same controller support as Steam.

My Setup

When I first built my setup, I set a few standards:

4K, 60 frames per second

Option for “upscaled” 4K similar to the PS4 Pro/XB1X

4K Blu-ray quality HEVC (around 100mbps bitrate)

Quiet

An unobtrusive look, like a home theater appliance

A hard-wired setup for low latency

Less than a week after we moved in, I hard-wired my house for internet. I ran an Ethernet cable all the way from my office, through the garage, under my crawlspace and into my living room. I then crimped the ends (badly) and installed a wall outlet in my office (barely.) If I were to do this now, I’d buy a pre-made 200-300ft CAT6 cable on Amazon and just run that. That said, my cable still works for what I need.

For my streaming PC, I knew that I had to go small form factor. The credenza in my living room didn’t have space for a full-size PC, and the aesthetic of most of those would offend my non-gamer wife. I considered building one, but most SFF hardware is targeted at enthusiasts and so doesn’t come cheap.

But small form factor PCs have a particular application: offices. When offices dump their old hardware, you can get it for almost nothing. I found just such a deal on reddit’s /r/buildapcsales for a Lenovo ThinkCentre m58p, refurbished from Staples for $20 shipped. It was small, simply designed, and not too flashy. But it is from 2008, and needed a few cheap upgrades:

I swapped out the dual-core E8400 processor for a quad-core Q9400 I had on hand.

I replaced the loud, slow hard drive with a small, cheap ADATA SU635 solid state drive.

For my quiet living room setting, I also replaced the cooling fan with a high-quality Noctua model.

But chief among these upgrades was a graphics card. This PC, being more than a little old, could not play HEVC video without specialized hardware. And it had to be silent, not require much power, and be able to fit inside this small case.

So I turned to the NVidia GT 1030, specifically the MSI low profile silent model. Targeted at home theater PCs and poor gamers, the GT 1030 is not gonna blow anyone’s socks off. But it does 4K, and it does HEVC, and it does all of this over HDMI so it plugs straight into my TV with no issues. One quirk with my model is that the heatsink didn’t fit in my unusual case, so I had to take a hacksaw to it.

For a truly 1%er experience, I wanted to be able to start my upstairs PC remotely. That way when I want to play, I don’t even have to walk up there. For this I used an Android app called Unified Remote, which allows you to remotely control a computer from a phone. Unified Remote is free, but I bought the premium version with Play Rewards points.

The Value Question

Let’s get the first question out of the way: if a NVidia Shield is $150, why not just buy that? A few reasons:

It has hard-wired ethernet. No matter how good your wifi is, hard-wired is better.

Moonlight’s interface is more flexible than the Shield’s.

This also runs YouTube with a full keyboard remote for easier searches.

I can install a Blu-ray player at some point, if I choose.

I can emulate many games on the living room PC; the GT 1030 is great for that.

It runs party games like Jackbox just fine.

This is more fun.

So let’s run a tally. I’m not counting the hard-wiring, since I needed that for my office computer anyway.

The PC itself: $20

GT 1030: $75

Noctua 92mm fan: $15

Bluetooth receiver: $10

SSD: $15

Q9400: free to me, but you can get one on eBay for like $10

So for $135 – less than a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X – I get 4K couch gaming at higher framerates and higher settings. And for certain games, like Overwatch or Cities: Skylines, I still have a killer keyboard and mouse setup.

You can easily make this cheaper, especially if you use Steam and aim for 1080p instead of 4K. A Raspberry Pi – around $60 with accessories – can do 1080p Steam streaming flawlessly. Most Intel CPUs made after 2011 can decode H.264 without a graphics card, and the 6000 series and higher can even decode HEVC. You could also go for a GT 1030 with a fan, which are usually cheaper.

So How’s It Perform?

In short: great!

I’ve played everything from The Outer Worlds to Slay the Spire to Rocket League on my streaming setup, and they all work perfectly. Sekiro – which requires extremely precise inputs – does suffer a bit from the input lag, but I can’t detect lag with most games. Visual quality is excellent with very little loss in color saturation. You will notice artifacting on grass or leaves when you’re up close, but this is less visible at 1440p or higher.

I would not play competitive games on a streaming setup. The only one I play seriously is Overwatch, and there is definitely a difference in my performance when streaming. Competitive first-person shooters also suck to play on a controller, and a proper couch desk is not an investment I’m prepared to make.

Be prepared to tweak graphical settings if you’re shooting for 4K on most setups, as the video encoding does have a slight performance cost. This is not true for older games; Dark Souls and Dishonored run at a locked 4K and 60fps. For modern games, Forza Horizon 5 runs at 1800p on High, and Resident Evil 2 is smooth as silk at 1440p.

One final tip: if you’re streaming over wi-fi, be prepared to make some compromises. I would stick to 1080p to avoid lag, or do 4K only on HEVC with lower visual quality. Also streaming basically requires 5ghz wifi, so if you have an old router you should probably cut back to 720p.

So that’s in-home streaming! If you’re already a PC gamer, it’s an affordable and easy way to achieve a console-like experience. Feel free to DM me with any questions you have about hardware or software setup.

#tech #gaming #streaming #in-home streaming #remote play #steam #moonlight #nvidia #gamestream #hardware #pc gaming #couch gaming

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trevorcollumns · 7 years

Text

A Good Sleep

Pairing: Trevor C x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 1800+

Warnings: swearing, a joke about a car crash

A/N: my first attempt at writing in 3 years, do me a favour and please let me know how I did lmao

—————

Seven goddamn thirty.

You click the B team office closed, arm the lock, and open Twitter as you shoulder open the door to the main office.

“Hey, I’m off now. I’ll pick up those SD cards in the morning - Trevor?”

You don’t see him at first, across the room at his desk, slumped over with his head cradled in his crossed arms. He hadn’t been one hundred percent today, but you didn’t realise it was this bad. The soft snores you hear tell you otherwise. You drop your bag on the couch and tread carefully through the trash pile at the back of the room. “Trev?”

He stirs and mumbles what might be a “what’s up,” but remains facedown in his keyboard.

“Come on, you’re going home right now.” You reach to place your hand on his back, but your stomach flip-flops at the thought, so you settle for the back of his chair. Swaying it lightly, you reach for his mouse to save his work and shut down the computer.

Trevor rouses to swat at your hand clumsily, “S’fine, Y/N, I just- I gotta finish this.” He sits upright and stretches, and you have to bite back a smile at the face he pulls. However, when he slumps backwards into his chair and rubs at his face, you frown at the bags under his eyes. Looking up at you, he gives you a dopey smile, “Is it that bad?”

You open your mouth to kindly object, but Trevor laughs at bit, and you do too. “Yeah, it’s that bad,” you admit. You know you have that stupid kind-of-fond, kind-of-pitiful smirk going on, but you let it stay there. “These emails will be here tomorrow, and you need sleep. So do I. Go home so I can sleep in peace.”

“Ah, well, I wouldn’t want to keep you up at night,” Trevor teases as he stands up.

Heat creeps up your neck and cheeks - oh please, like you don’t already . He yawns and stretches again, and you have to turn away your face as your blush deepens. You’re searching for something to say when he drops his stretch and claps his hands on his thighs.

“Fuck,” he sighs, his shouldered slumped and eyes trained unfocused on the floor.

You smirk again, “Fuck?”

“Yeah,” he smiles at you sheepishly as he collects his stuff from his desk, “Thanks for checking in. I would have been here all night.”

“I’m sure. And it’s no worry.” You regard him as he rubs at his face again, “Are you alright to get home?”

Trevor jingles the keys hooked on one of his fingers.

You laugh. “No. No, you cannot drive like this. Not in this weather.”

“I’ll be fine, I’ll just-”

“Nope. You’re ten minutes from mine. If something happened to you, I’d never sleep again.” You make your way back to the other side of the office, grab your bag from the couch and hold the door for him. “Let’s go.”

You watch him process your words for a beat, then pocket his keys and follow you to the door. “Yes, ma’am.”

The walk to your car is comfortably quiet, albeit the slight drag of Trevor’s feet and the little yawns he tries to stifle. You steal glances at him, disguised as concern as he lags behind you a little through the corridors of Stage 2. You’re unable to help yourself - Trevor is stunning twenty four hours a day seven days a week, but you’ve never seen him so sleepy. His mussed hair and heavy lidded eyes have you blushing for no good reason, and pushing away some persistent thoughts.

Outside, it’s well past dark and freezing, and you both pick up the pace as you dig your keys out of your bag. Your car isn’t far, and Trevor laughs as he moves a plate with the crumbs of this morning’s breakfast from the passenger seat before he climbs in. “Relatable,” he grins at you.

“Gotta do what I gotta do to be on time. Can’t let the boss down.” You flash him a teasing smile, turn on the heating, put your car in gear, and head for the gates.

As you do, Trevor scoffs. “Impossible.” He fiddles with your stereo, and your playlist from this morning quietly fills the silence. “Good stuff,” he murmurs and sinks into his seat, head back and eyes closed to the street lights now passing overhead.

“Big weekend, then?” you query.

He turns his face towards you, eyebrows raised in question. “Hmm?”

“It’s Monday and you’re dead to the world, Trev.”

“Oh,” he laughs, “I, uh, guess I got a little too invested in Hell’s Kitchen reruns last night.”

You look at him incredulously. “One half of me wants to say fair play, the other half wants to say you’re an idiot.”

“Fair play.”

You laugh, a good proper laugh, and Trevor does too, and you feel good - light, and giddy. The laughter is passing when you feel his gaze on you. Still giggling, you tear your eyes from the road to find him watching you with another dopey smile. “What?”

Trevor starts a little, like you’ve interrupted a thought. A beat goes by, and his smile returns. “You’re the prettiest Uber driver I’ve ever had.” He looks pleased with himself for the joke.

Your grin falters for a split second while you internalise the remark. “Mm, good one,” your grin returns, but your knuckles are white where you grip the steering wheel.

“No, really. I, uh, I mean it.” This time when you look at him, his smile is gentle and ernest.

“Oh.” You’re taken aback, and the shade of red you’re sure you’re turning is mortifying, but you glance back at him nonetheless, “Thanks, Trev.”

“Any time.” Trevor says confidently. When you look at him again, he’s staring out the passenger window. It could be the brake lights from the car in front of you, but his cheeks seem to glow just as red your own.

You let him dooze the rest of the way.

With your quiet music and Trevor’s low breathing, you find yourself on autopilot, reliving his words and chewing your lip until swells. Are you overthinking it? Could it really be that simple? Your crush on Trevor had been with you so long it had become more a casual avocation than the pining it had been. Sometimes you thought you’d worked past it - for the better. He’s your boss now, after all.

And now, this. Fuck.

You’re surprised when you find yourself pulling onto Trevor’s street. You shake his shoulder gently, “Where’re we at?”

He rubs the sleep from his face, answering you through a yawn, “Uh, it’s right up here on the left.”

You pull up outside his place, familiar from the time or two you’d visited for game nights. You leave the engine running.

“Well, goddamn, were you right about me not driving home, huh?” Trevor unbuckles himself and gathers his things in his lap. He’s smiling at you, cheeky again.

You hum in mock contemplation. “I’d say you would have been a goner around about the North Loop.”

“Hey now, I would have gotten further than that.”

“Dead meat either way. You were out like a light.” You’re smug, and you can’t help it, “Good thing I’m a good person.”

He opens his door, “You’re an amazing person, actually.” And he’s out on the street and coming around the back of your car before you can get a word in. You’ve barely closed the shocked little ‘o’ on your lips when he’s tapping your window. Cheeks still pink, you wind it down for him.

“An actual saint,” he continues, “I owe you one. Thank you so much, Y/N.”

“My pleasure. The pictures I may have snapped on the way make it all worth it,” you tease. “Very cute.”

He cringes, “Yikes. Did I drool?”

“Just a little.” You grin and lean towards him, against your door.

“How charming of me.” He runs his hand through his hair, a habit you could never look away from. His tired eyes catch the warmth of the streetlight, and his cheeks are flushed from the cold. His breath clouded by the frost about his head make you think of a halo - you smile at him softly.

“What?” His smile is nervous.

You almost don’t say it. Instead, you steel yourself, swallow what feels like your heart in your throat, and say brightly, “You’re the prettiest passenger I’ve ever had.”

Trevor’s surprise melts to something softer as he looks at the ground, then back to you, “You’re a dork.” It’s that dopey smile again.

You give an exaggerated shrug, “Yeah, but I’m right, so…”

He laughs. He’s shivering now, even in his coat, and it’s well past eight thirty. You’re about to say goodnight when he speaks.

“Do you want to get lunch together tomorrow?”

“I, uh - like, lunch lunch?”

“Like a date, yeah, if you want.”

Your heart’s in your throat again, beating ten million miles an hour, but somehow you manage to get “I’d love to,” around it.

Trevor laughs with what sounds like a little touch of relief, “That’s that, then.”

“Sure is,” you smile, thankful that you at least sound like you’re not losing your mind. “Hey, go get some sleep. You need it bad”

“Yeah, sleep sounds good.” He runs his hand through his hair once more before shoving it back in his pocket and stepping back onto the curb, “Have a good night, Y/N.”

“Back at you!”

You watch him turn and make his way across his front yard. He gets halfway before he stops and turns back, shaking his head.

“You alright?” you call.

“I forgot something.”

You look over your shoulder at your passenger seat, which is empty. “Trev, I think you’ve -”

You turn to lean out your window to him again, but Trevor’s already there, taking your face in his hands and kissing you squarely on the lips. In the moment it takes you to process what’s happening, you feel him start to pull away. Before he can, you wrap your hand around the back of his neck, and place the other on his shoulder, anchoring him right where you need him. You feel his smile against your own and every part of you is humming. You deepen the kiss, until you feel his tongue swipe gently at your bottom lip, and you want to, you so badly want to open your mouth to Trevor, but now’s not the time, so you don’t. You pull yourself away to look up at him. “Was that it?”

He’s breathless and flushed and starry-eyed, a mirror image of yourself. “Yeah,” he murmurs, “That was it.” He strokes your cheek before he takes his hands from your face, and you do the same. For moment, all either of you can do is stare at each other, short of breath and beaming. Trevor takes a step back onto the curb, but his gaze doesn’t leave your face, your dopey smile. “Night, Y/N.”

“Have a good sleep, Trev.”

#cliché as FUCK #trevor collins x reader #trevor x reader #trevor collins imagine #rtah imagine #achievement hunter reader insert #rtah reader insert #trevor #achievement hunter imagine #ragehappy

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