#NOBODY EVER TOLD ME WE WERE MEETING AT THE WEDDING VENUE FIRST | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spine-buster · 3 years

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peaceful easy feeling ft. b.boeser | five

A/N: This is the last part of this mini series! I know this adventure was short but thank you all for coming along on the ride :) A quick reminder that I will be announcing my new fic, who it will feature, a small blurb, & a clue as to what to expect from it this Thursday at 7:30pm EST. Happy reading!

CONTENT WARNING: parents with disease/sickness (Parkinson’s); parent death; swearing; sex; alcohol use; lots of emotions.

* * * * *

“You look beautiful, baby,” Brock cooed as he adjusted his cufflinks – well, not really. He was looking at Grace, not really caring about his cufflinks. Seeing her stand there in her beautiful dress, her hair curled and pinned, and her delicate jewelry hanging off her ears, neck, and wrists…she was a vision. He was so lucky.

They were about to leave to attend the Parkinson’s Foundation of British Columbia Gala. Grace had planned virtually the whole thing, though she worked with the head of the foundation on most major decisions. She arranged the venue, catering, got major sponsors (okay…the biggest were her uncles, but there were a lot more), organized the silent auction, and arranged the entertainment for the evening. Everyone who attended their weekly meetings would be there. Brock knew the Aquilinis would be there. It was a party, yes, and a function to raise money, yes – but at the end of the day, it was a culmination of Grace’s strength after Hamish passed away.

“Thanks, babe,” she smiled over at him, taking one last look at herself in the mirror. “Are Petey and Svea ready to go?”

Brock nodded. “Petey’s been texting for fifteen minutes asking if we’re on our way yet,” he joked.

“You can blame it on me,” she winked. “Unless Petey takes a good look at your hair. Then he’ll know it was you.”

Brock laughed out loud, taking the few steps needed to stand right in front of her and wrap his arms around her. “Hey…before we go,” his voice was low and he looked down at Grace. “Your dad would be so proud of you for planning this.”

Grace nodded her head. She knew. It was a lot of work, and she completely went in head first with planning all of it and maybe, sort of taking over the entire operation, but it was worth it. She had planned something that would raise money that, hopefully, would fund research so that nobody would have to go through what she went through. She didn’t just want to be known as an heiress daughter of a billionaire; she wanted to be known as so much more. An heiress who used her money to fund research projects and arts centres; an heiress who donated her time and money to worthy causes. She once told Brock that she knew she wasn’t the smartest girl in the world, but that she thought she had a big heart. She hoped this was the start of others in her community, and in Vancouver, realizing that she had a big heart.

***

“Grace, this is amazing,” Svea couldn’t help but say astonishingly as she took yet another look around the giant room, decorated to the nines with flashing lights and impeccably dressed people chatting and drinking and dancing. Svea knew Grace would be busy throughout the night, so she wasn’t trying to hog her after their limousine ride together. But now that Svea got her alone, she had to verbalize it again, just like she did when she walked in. “Like, I don’t think you understand. It’s incredible.”

“Want to let me plan your wedding to Elias?” Grace winked, taking a sip of her drink.

“Oh shut up.”

“There she is!” the women both heart Elias yell. They turned around and saw him and Brock walking towards them, both with drinks in their hands. “Grace, this is so cool.”

“Thanks Petey. And thanks for donating your jersey.”

“Anything for you.”

Grace focused her attention on Brock. “Esther wants us to take a group photo with everyone before everyone leaves,” she said, and Brock nodded his head in agreement. She looked at Elias. “If I get everyone together right now, do you mind taking it?”

“Like I just said Grace, anything for you.”

***

Fatigued, physically and mentally exhausted, but still somehow feeling the adrenaline coursing through her veins, Grace climbed into the limousine with Brock, Elias, and Svea at the end of the gala so they could go home. They dropped off Elias and Svea first, naturally, and Elias had to wake Svea up as she slept on his shoulder throughout the ride. It left Brock and Grace alone in the limousine together, hands clasped together as the driver drove through the streets of Vancouver.

“You did amazing tonight,” Brock mumbled, his voice low and full of sleepiness but still so direct and meaningful. “I love you so much, Grace.”

“I love you too, Brock.”

“When we have kids, I’m gonna let them know this was the night I knew you’d become my wife.”

Grace stiffened at Brock’s words, but he was too tired to notice – the small smirk on his face not disappearing despite anxiety – not adrenaline – now coursing through Grace’s veins. She thought about the implications of his words, how he just outright admitted that she was the one for him. She thought about her feelings for him, and if she felt the same. She did. But was it possible to still be apprehensive? She loved Brock with her whole heart. She’d never met anybody like him, and likely would never meet anyone like him again. She loved him too, with everything she had.

But then she thought about her parents.

Her parents were young and in love once too. Her parents were once obsessed with each other and madly in love. Her parents had decided to get married and have a child. Her parents had decided what Brock was laying out on the proverbial table – what Brock was so willing to give her – and look what happened. Things didn’t work out. Love didn’t work out. Love was complicated. They separated. Grace went to live with Eliza but didn’t like it because she missed dad. She told Hamish who told his lawyers. His lawyers brought it to the judge. Divorce proceedings started. Grace went to live with Hamish. Eliza demanded alimony for her lifestyle, to maintain it, if not to exceed it. Eliza demanded child support. Eliza demanded nannies, a multi-million dollar house, and expensive cars. Hamish would tell Grace her mother was selfish. Eliza would tell Grace how stingy her father was. Eliza would tell Grace how her father only wanted custody so he didn’t have to pay child support. Hamish told Grace Eliza only wanted child support and alimony so she could hire babysitters and nannies while she went to spas. A pawn while she was at her mom’s in Shaughnessy; a pawn while she was at her dad’s in West Point Grey. A pawn when dropped off at school at Crofton House. A pawn at the dance studio, her happiest place.

What if she and Brock turned out the same way?

***

“You okay?” Brock asked Grace.

Grace wasn’t there. She was somewhere else, in her mind, thinking about events long passed. “Your father’s the cheapest man I’ve ever met,” she could hear her mom say in the kitchen as she waited for her cereal before school at seven years old. “Cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap! He’s always been so much work to be with, your father. He refuses to get you a Range Rover – did you know that? Your dad wants you driven around in some…in some…I don’t know, some Toyota.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Grace said absent-mindedly, giving her pasta a few more twirls to make it seem like she’d eat it. “Will I still be able to go to dance?”

“Who knows?! Your father may even take that away from you too! It scares me, the things he’s taking away from you.”

“But I love dance.”

“Well then maybe you should stay with me. Daddy will pay me to take you to dance.”

***

“Your mother is a piece of work, let me tell you,” Hamish mumbled as he slapped his cellphone down on the counter. “She was always so much work to be with. Always so much work. Now she wants $60,000 a month in alimony. Alimony!”

“What’s alimony?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hamish said. “Have your teachers taught you yet what it means to be selfish?” he asked. Grace nodded her head. “Well your mother is selfish. One of the most selfish people in the world.”

“Grace? You coming to bed?” Brock’s voice was groggy as he stood in the doorway of the ensuite, his usually well-kept hair everywhere, his eyes sleepy.

“Yeah…yeah, sorry,” Grace apologized, getting up from her seated position on the toilet lid. “Sorry baby.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine,” she said, grabbing Brock’s hand and leading him back to bed.

“You’d tell me if it wasn’t right?” he asked softly as she cuddled up against him in bed.

“Of course,” she said, a nervous lump in her throat. “Of course.”

***

“Gracie…please tell me what’s wrong,” Brock said in a low voice as he tried to wrap his arms around her, only for her to flinch slightly and back away. That hurt him more than anything.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said unconvincingly.

“Yes it is—”

“Can we just drop it,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee. “We’re supposed to be on a date.”

***

“What’s the matter with you?” Elias asked, sick of seeing Brock so gloomy and moody the past several weeks. He’d noticed a change in him, and though Brock was usually very open about what he was feeling with him, he wasn’t this time, and Elias was…skeptical. Well, not skeptical – worried. This time, Brock had a girlfriend and was moody, and Elias didn’t know what to expect. “What’s going on?”

“Something’s wrong with Grace,” Brock revealed to Elias.

“What’s wrong?”

Brock shook his head. “She won’t tell me. But she…she zones out a lot, like she’s thinking about something…and it’s so intense that she doesn’t even hear me calling her.”

“What’s she thinking about?”

Brock shrugged. “She doesn’t tell me. She’ll never tell me.”

“Well when did it start?”

Brock thought about it. He really thought about it. He liked to think he was in tune with changes in Grace. “The gala.”

“The Parkinson’s Gala?” Elias clarified. Brock nodded his head. “Well, could it be about her dad?”

“It’s something more,” Brock was adamant. He knew she would be sad and would never be the same after her dad died. That was a given. No-one was ever the same after the death of a parent, so he didn’t blame her for that. “It’s…it’s something more.”

***

“Is everything okay with you?” Svea asked delicately as she and Grace were shopping at Holt Renfrew. Well – Grace was shopping at Holt Renfrew. Svea was basically just following her around, because it wasn’t like she could afford anything.

“I’m fine,” Grace said unconvincingly.

“Are you sure? Because you know you can talk to me if things aren’t okay.”

Grace took a deep breath in, trying to compose herself. Knowing what she knew about Svea’s parents and their love story, she doubted that Svea would be able to provide any…critical insight, so to speak. But Grace tried anyway. “How d’you know a guy is your soulmate, Svea?” she asked.

Svea was taken aback. It was quite the loaded question to lead with. “I’d say it’s when you can picture the rest of your life with them. At least that’s one aspect to it.”

“Can you picture the rest of your life with Elias?”

“Yes,” Svea answered automatically, because she could. It was as friends, sure, but she still pictured the rest of her life with him. “Can you picture the rest of your life with Brock?”

Grace paused. Her response wasn’t as quick or forthcoming. “Yes.”

“But?”

“But what?”

“There was a pause there,” Svea said. “But what?”

“But what if, like, things change?” Grace asked. “What if the love doesn’t last? What if it breaks down?”

“You mean like your parents?”

Grace didn’t want to glare at Svea – she really didn’t, because Svea was one of the sweetest people alive – but she did. She glared at her. “No,” she said forcefully, trying to cover.

“Love always lasts. True love always lasts. Look at Elias and I – I mean, we’ve loved each other our whole lives—”

“You and Elias won’t even hold hands or kiss each other,” Grace said angrily, unable to control her emotions at this point. “You won’t even admit you love him romantically. How the hell is that love?”

Svea just stared at Grace, unable to formulate words. Tears welled in her eyes too, and when Grace saw them get red, she hated herself even more. She hated herself already for making Brock worry, for not telling him the truth, for hiding things from him; now, she hated herself even more for making Svea emotional. “I’ve gotta go,” she said, leaving quickly, unable to look back at Svea as she left her in the middle of Holt Renfrew alone.

***

“If you don’t tell me what’s wrong right now or I’m leaving,” Brock said sternly, his voice raised. Both of their voices had been for the last while now, since they were fighting. He looked at Grace as she stared back at him indignantly from across the kitchen. “We can’t have a relationship if we don’t communicate – if you don’t tell me what’s been bothering you.”

“There’s nothing wrong.”

“Is it something I did? Did I say something?”

“It’s not you.”

“Then what is it?”

“There’s nothing wr—”

“Tell me what’s wrong!”

Grace stayed silent. She could feel herself going red. She could feel the emotions in her bubble up. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it in much longer. “Leave.”

Brock furrowed his brows. “Excuse me?”

“Leave my apartment now.”

Brock stood stoic in spot. “You don’t mean that—”

“LEAVE!” Grace screamed at the top of her lungs, taking every ounce of strength left in her to not cry.

They were in a standoff. Brock stood stoic. Grace stood stoic. Staring at each other, waiting for the other to move. Neither did for a while, waiting it out to see who would crack first. She didn’t mean it, Brock kept thinking. She doesn’t mean it. She doesn’t mean it. But with every second that passed, with every heave of Grace’s chest, with every moment of silence signaling her refusal to budge…

Brock cracked.

He picked up his keys, gave Grace one last look, and walked out the door.

***

It was a few agonizing, excruciating, unbearably lonely few weeks later when Brock received a phone call in the middle of the night. 2:38am. His phone’s ring blaring throughout his empty apartment.

“Hello?” his voice was groggy, tired, exhausted.

Silence.

“Hello?” he asked once more, louder this time. If it was any one of his teammates he’d knock them dead the next time he saw them – Petey especially.

The voice was small and defeated when it finally did speak, asking Brock the question, “What if we end up like my parents?”

Brock was wide awake now. He got up in bed dramatically, holding his phone against his ear so tightly that he could hear the charger fall out of the electrical socket. “Gracie,” the shock was evident in his voice.

“Will you come over?” she asked.

Brock threw the covers off his body dramatically. “I’m on my way right now,” he said. He’d drive his car in his slippers if he needed to.

“Be careful.”

“I’m coming. I’ll be there soon.”

***

“C’mere,” Brock said the millisecond Grace let him in, wrapping his arms around her and engulfing her into a hug as she clung to him like he’d float away and wrapped every limb she had around him. He’d made it to her apartment in record time, speeding through the streets of Vancouver to get to her. It was probably dangerous, but it wasn’t like there were other cars on the road at 2:45 in the morning. “Talk to me Gracie. Talk to me,” he urged as he felt her tears against his skin.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled into the crook of his neck. “I’m so—Brock, I was so bad. So bad.”

“Shhhhh shhhh shhhh, don’t,” Brock cooed. “Just tell me what’s wrong. What’s going on in your head, Grace?”

“Brock…” she began, swallowing her tears before continuing. She pulled away slightly so she could look him in the eye, wiping her own red ones with the palms of her hands. She knew she looked awful, but she also knew Brock didn’t give a shit. “I just miss him so much.”

“Your dad.”

Grace nodded quickly. “Every part of me misses him. But then I started to think about how awful he and my mom were during the divorce,” she explained. And to Brock, that said everything. Grace told him about it ever since they met – the general, the specific, the nitty-gritty details – and it was awful. To have that whirling around in her mind would have definitely affected her. It all made sense to him now. It all made sense, knowing she never wanted to go back to that. “And I got scared…I got so scared. I just kept remembering how bad it was. So on the night of the gala when you said—”

“So it was something that I said—”

“Nonononononono,” she vehemently shook her head, bringing her finger up to his lips to silence him. “No no no no no. I—Brock—I love you with every part of me too. But…but what if we end up like my parents? What if we fall out of love? What if it—what if it ends badly? What if we ended up hating each other? They’d always say things like it was so hard to be with one another and—”

“Is it hard to be with me?” Brock asked, not wanting her to go any further and knowing that at this point, he needed to intervene.

“NO! Never!” she exclaimed. She never wanted Brock to think that ever. She cradled his face in her hands. “Being with you feels natural. It feels like it was always supposed to be this way. It’s so easy. It’s so peaceful.”

“Then that’s how it’ll always be, a peaceful easy feeling,” Brock whispered. “What’s there to be scared about, baby?”

Grace shook her head, tearing up again. “Nothing when I’m with you.”

“We won’t end up like your parents because we’re not your parents,” he said. His words were so simple but they hit Grace like a ton of bricks. “We’re different people. I love you more than anything, and the thought of hating you—Grace—I—it’s never, never crossed my mind. I never could. You give me everything. Do I give you everything?”

She nodded. “Everything.”

“Then I’m gonna keep giving you everything. And I’ll do it till the end of time, Gracie. Because I love you. I can’t picture myself with anyone else. I can’t…I can’t picture going through pain with anyone else besides you.”

Brock’s words were loaded – she knew that. “I can’t picture going through pain with anyone else besides you.” Grace nodded. The sentiment was so serious, but so right. When she really thought about it, would she have wanted to experience this pain with anyone else besides Brock? No. He meant the world to her. And that’s how it was always going to be. “I’m so dumb,” she shook her head at herself.

“You’re not dumb. For what you went through, it’s a legitimate worry,” he reassured her. “But I promise you, I promise you, I’ll love you with everything I have and you’ll love me with everything you have, and we won’t end up like your parents.”

Grace was overcome with emotion. “I love you so much, Brock.”

“I love you too,” he leaned in to kiss her, once, twice, then again and again. When they stopped, he wrapped his arms around her body and lay down on her couch, bringing her body down with him. He wiggled out of his hoodie. Then he pushed her body down slightly, and that’s when Grace knew exactly what he was doing. She lay her head on his bare chest, listening to his heartbeat.

“Can you feel it?” he asked softly.

Grace nodded.

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pride-moth · 3 years

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If you were church, I'd get on my knees [Stolitz Week Day 4 - Wedding]

Ao3 Link

Event Info Link

The paparazzi are everywhere. They sit in the trees, in the windows of neighboring buildings, in the cars on the adjacent streets, some have even made their way onto the premises. They’ve been taking pictures of everything all morning. Of the seating area, the flower arrangements, the early guests, even the waiters. They’re prepared to fill the tabloids with the most scandalous wedding in hell. A Prince and an imp. The highest and the lowest. It’s gossip pages simply filling themselves.

They’re prepared for everything. Except for the ceremony not happening in the elaborately-staged venue. They will sit there for hours until dawn comes and there’s still nobody there, except the guests and waiters who have been roaming the place since the morning. “We’ve been duped,” someone will say eventually but nobody will have any idea what to do next.

Sometime in the afternoon, the real wedding congregation is happening in the I.M.P headquarters, with only a handful of people and a private wedding photographer. Everything is decorated in the crispiest shade of white they could find. It’s smaller and simpler than the fake venue they’ve coordinated, but it’s still stunning and gorgeous and perfect, and Stolas is slowly losing his mind in his little pre-room where Millie and Octavia are doing their best to keep him together. He picks at his white suit, wrings his hands and runs to the mirror every single minute to check himself.

“You need to calm down,” Via says, slightly exasperated considering Stolas hasn’t exactly been calm in hours, “Everything’s going to be fine.”

“What if it isn’t? What if the paparazzi come here? What if they find out? What if Blitz decides he doesn’t want to marry me after all?”

“Blitz is…” Millie says while fine-tuning her own hair, “Not gonna lie, I didn’t think he’d ever marry. Didn’t seem like the type. But he’s decided to marry you and that’s something, right. Plus, you’ve gotten married before, you know how it works.”

“That was so long ago, I scarcely remember.”

“The point is there’s no reason to be nervous, everything is going to run smoothly.” Millie gives him a hearty pat on the back.

“Weren’t you nervous when you and Moxxie married?”

“Oh, I wasn’t, Moxxie almost lost it, though. But do you know what I told him?”

“What?”

“That marriage isn’t that big a deal. We love each other before the big party and we’ll love each other after the big party, just with more tax benefits.”

“That’s not very romantic…” Via remarks from across the room.

“It’s true, though, isn’t it?” Millie shrugs. “You’re just having a big party to celebrate how much you love each other. And to get tax benefits.”

“Maybe.”

“So, don’t worry about it! Also, there’s no paparazzi, they’re still swarming the fake venue, Moxxie has CCTV on them.”

“Thank you, for organizing this whole thing, I just… Didn’t want to do this with the press present. It’s… I don’t know, it feels less special when everyone gets to watch, you know?”

“No problem, and now get out there and marry my boss!”

Stolas takes a deep breath and his daughter by his hand and walks out of the room.

He walks in with Blitz already waiting in bated breath, wearing a matching white suit that makes him look just obscenely handsome and when their eyes finally meet, it’s as though all worries fall off him in an instant. It’s going to be fine, Stolas thinks, maybe all of it is going to be fine. Forever.

“You look great,” he says shyly and takes both of Blitz’ hands.

“You are absolutely smoking hot,” Blitz responds. Stolas chuckles.

Next to them, Loona, their impromptu officiator, clears her throat to get their attention. “So, uhm, again, can someone explain to me why we’re doing this all proper and pseudo-Christian??”

“Because I like to spite the establishment which I’m marrying into. Also, Christian weddings have a very good aesthetic, we’ve been over this, now ask us for our vows, Loonie,” Blitz replies sharply.

“Okay, sure, uhm, vows please?”

Stolas breathes in deeply. “Blitz, when you came into my life, I never could have imagined standing here with you now. You were loud, abrasive, vulgar and… Well, you still are all of these things, but now I love you for it. Now I want to listen to talk about nothing and rant about your least favorite fruit all day. I want to hear your voice from morning to evening and I won’t tire of it. When I met you… I thought you would be nothing but a tiny speck on my night sky. Seen once, but quickly forgotten. But now I know you’re the brightest star of them all, always leading my way. I love you and I wish to always find my way to you.”

There is some sniffling in the room, though someone is probably also throwing up.

“Wow, okay. Dad, would you like to go next?” Loona says, then, her voice shaking just the tiniest bit.

Blitz looks around and takes a deep breath. “I’ve never been lucky with relationships before, they were… Yeah, they were all pretty terrible. And I didn’t even plan on having one with you for a long time, frankly. But… You know, sometimes you don’t really have a choice. You don’t want to fall in love with the weird bird prince. You just want to get his book and you have sex with him to do, but… It becomes more than that and that’s why we’re here now. Because I love you, even though it took me a long time to accept that. And I can’t wait to be married to you and rail you in the Hellton Hotel honeymoon suite.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence for a moment. A silent, disturbed “What?” comes from Octavia.

“What?! Do you think I’m not gonna fuck my husband harder than ever before in our wedding night? Fucking prudes.”

Loona clears her throat again. “So, uhm, right. Stolas, do you wish to take Blitz over here as your husband?”

“Yes, of course I do!”

“Great. Dad. Blitz. whatever. Do you wish to take Stolas here as your husband?”

“Hell yeah, let’s go!”

“Good, then blah blah something something by the power of whatever is going on here, I pronounce you two married. But please wait until after the party with whatever you two want to do to each other…”

“And…?” Blitz says.

“Oh, right, yeah. You may now kiss. As if you need my permission for that. ...Wait, we didn’t even do the thing with the rings yet!”

But they’re already kissing. And so they share this, their first kiss as husbands, it feels exactly the same as always in the best way possible. They’ve kissed before, hundreds upon thousands of times, and this time is no different, it’s an intuitive motion, a well-practiced one, carried out with pure trust and comfort.

And yet, it absolutely is different because that kiss now carries a promise. A promise for many, many years of more kisses, years of just them, together.

The party goes into the dead of night, people dancing and drinking all in celebration of their love, it’s an almost surreal concept. Octavia gets drunk for the first time and that’s a whole piece of work, but Loona is there for her, them being sisters now and all.

But in the Hellton Hotel honeymoon suite they’ve booked for the night, nothing much actually happens because they’re drunk and tired and exhausted, so all they do is cuddle up against each other in the gratuitous pink bed and fall asleep soundly, secure in the knowledge that there’s more than enough time for everything else during the rest of their lives.

The next day, the tabloids will be filled with only one picture, the one their own wedding photographer made, the one they actually want the world to see on their own terms. It shows them, in their matching white suits, Stolas with one hand on Blitz’ hips and a content smile on his face while Blitz has his tongue out and gives the camera the middle finger.

#helluva boss #stolas x blitz #stolas x blitzo #stolitz #stolitz week #fanfiction #my writing #wedding fic

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fellulahh · 4 years

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Only You - Lucifer x MC

Sitting beside each other, MC and Lucifer waited patiently for her cousin to arrive at the church. She’d managed to convince him to be her guest at the wedding after expecting the usual pressures from family members asking ‘so MC why don’t you have a boyfriend yet?’

Even though she had to bribe Lucifer by offering to take all of his dinner duties for a month, she still managed to convince the eldest brother to accompany her. Lucifer must have had a sweet spot for the human because he actually agreed to go to the ceremony which was being held in a church. None of the brothers could believe it when they heard!

MC was pleasantly surprised when she first saw Lucifer that morning. He’d stayed the night in her spare room. When she first glanced at him wearing his unbuttoned black shirt and red cuff links, her heart actually skipped a beat. She’d always thought he was undeniably attractive but he’d never made her feel that way before.

It was like somehow she knew what he’d be wearing, for MC was wearing a red elegant dress that coordinated perfectly with his accessories.

“MC.” He nodded when his eyes fell on her as she descended the staircase, “I must admit you look rather beautiful today.”

She smiled genuinely at his compliment. “Thank you again for this Lucifer, I really do appreciate it.” She spoke softly as she met him in the entranceway. “You look really handsome.”

“Well I couldn’t exactly be wearing scruffs the first time I meet your family, could I?” He chuckled.

MC furrowed her eyebrows. “I get the impression that your definition of scruffs and mine are probably very different.” She giggled.

“So how are you feeling?” MC asked Lucifer quietly amongst the whispers in the church

“Well let’s see, I’m in a church having to stare at pictures of my supposed Father.” Lucifer breathed, “I’m surrounded by humans who would probably hold a pitchfork to my throat if they were to find out what I am and Asmo keeps tormenting me for photos of us both...but I’m with you.” He spoke, turning to face MC, “so it could be worse.”

MC smiled sweetly at him before delicately holding his hand; catching Lucifer by surprise. “It’ll be over before you know it - I promise.”

Nodding at her words of encouragement, he turned his head to face the groom who was stood nervously at the alter awaiting his bride. A small smirk appeared on Lucifer’s face after realising that MC hadn’t moved her hand off his. Yes, he was pretending to be her date but nobody was watching them at that moment so why bother acting like a couple?

As the afternoon went on, the ceremony soon finished and the guests were all gathered outside the church to take various photos. MC and Lucifer were busy chuckling to each other by the gate when her parents approached them both.

“Hello sweetie!” Her mum cooed, catching her attention.

“Mum.” MC grinned as she pulled her into a hug. “You alright, Dad?” She asked as she pulled away.

“Not too bad thank you!” He smiled.

Standing stiff behind MC, Lucifer attempted to put on a welcoming face.

“I’d like to introduce you both to the guy I told you about. This is Lucius.” MC introduced sheepishly.

Her parents were shocked at just how tall this mysterious raven haired man was. MC’s mum was even a little flustered as she gazed at him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Lucifer spoke smoothly, offering out his hand.

“As with you!” Her mum battered her eyelashes while her Dad gave a firm handshake. MC let out a sigh of relief after they began conversing. So far so good - they were convinced that Lucifer and her were a thing.

Time passed and soon it was time for the relatives to be photographed in front of the church. Once Lucifer realised what was about to happen he pulled a sour face. “You want me to pose in front of a church?” He asked MC quietly.

“Please Luci, just a couple of pictures!” She begged him, gripping his shirt, “I promise I will make it up to you.”

He was still incredibly hesitant but couldn’t say no to her pleading eyes. “Fine, but you owe me more than just taking my dinner duties.” He spoke while arching a brow.

As it came to MC and her family being photographed, she held Lucifer’s hand gently as they moved to where the photographer was. While posing, he wrapped his arm around MC’s waist and flashed a genuine smile. She could feel her stomach flutter after feeling his touch. It’s something she’d never experienced from Lucifer before but it was something she could get used to!

Hours passed and soon the reception was in full swing. Feeling worried that somebody would call them out on their fake relationship, both Lucifer and MC had drank flute after flute of champagne. In truth there was no reason why they should be nervous, everybody thought they were a delightful couple and didn’t question a thing.

As music boomed throughout the venue, various guests began dancing under the disco lights. Like most human weddings, everybody was pretty drunk at this point. MC’s parents were stumbling across the dance floor laughing at each other while the bride and groom were busy stuffing their faces with wedding cake.

Relaxing into the evening, MC nudged Lucifer as they remained at their seats by the table. “You wanna dance?” She asked with a cheesy grin.

“You want me to dance?” Lucifer chuckled, “forgive me for saying but in Devildom we don’t dance like that.” He spoke, pointing at MC’s parents.

“Hey! They’re just enjoying themselves.” MC giggled, playfully slapping his arm. “Come on! I bet you’re a good dancer. Please Luci?”

“I suppose one dance couldn’t hurt.” He smirked, accepting her pleads.

Standing up from the table, they walked toward the dance floor together with Lucifer supporting MC by the waist. The champagne was beginning to have an affect on them both as they found themselves stumbling slightly.

As soon they were under the disco lights, MC began flailing her arms about, dancing to the familiar beats. Lucifer couldn’t conceal his smile as he gazed at her adoringly. To anybody else she probably looked crazy but to him, she was that cute human that never failed to captivate his heart.

With alcohol seeping through his body, Lucifer actually began to bop along to the music much to MC’s delight. “See? I told you you’re a good dancer!” She grinned cheerily.

“Perhaps you know me better than myself!” Lucifer chuckled over the music. “Now are you going to continue dancing alone or are you going to come here?” He blushed, holding out his arms with a toothy smile.

Gladly accepting his offer, MC stepped forward so that he could hold her in an embrace while their bodies continued to dance. Lucifer had a really warm grin on his face as they gazed into each other’s eyes. They didn’t need to act like a couple at all.

“You know considering how hesitant I was when you first invited me to this wedding, I’ve really enjoyed it. Thank you for picking me to be your fake lover rather than one of my idiotic brothers.” He spoke sincerely.

“I was always going to pick you, Lucifer.” MC laughed as she returned his smile.

As the song drew to a close, the music had a change of pace. Suddenly a slow ballad filled the room rather than the 80’s disco anthem.

Only you can make all this world seem right

MC’s heart fluttered as Lucifer held her tight, slowly swaying their bodies with the music.

Only you can make the darkness bright

Unconsciously, both of them rested their foreheads on one another, getting lost in the moment. They’d both forgotten about everyone that surrounded them. You’d assume that their rosy cheeks and flustered mannerisms were from the alcohol but oh no...this was a long time coming.

Lucifer actually knew the song that played but he’d never really appreciated it until now. Feeling MC melting into his arms, a small smirk appeared on his lips as he began to drunkenly sing the words to her.

“When you hold my hand I understand the magic that you do, you’re my dream come true my one and only you.”

Blushing uncontrollably, MC had to turn her gaze to the floor as she grinned. Nobody had ever had this affect on her. Lucifer made her completely weak - she’d never seen him be so charming toward anybody before! What happened to the serious Lucifer she knew?

“I’ve loved today.” He spoke softly to MC, catching her attention again.

“Me too.” She agreed, “it’s nice to spend some time alone with you.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Feeling their hearts beating rapidly, they both leant in. Lucifer’s lips grazed MC’s before he pressed them against hers. MC’s heart felt like it had burst as they kissed one another passionately while the music continued to play.

Nothing could ruin the moment.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me lucifer

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yourstrulytrinaextras · 3 years

Text

Third Time’s The Charm: Best Man and Maid of Honor

“And when will it be your turn Zoey?” a few of Avery’s aunts teased the bride’s blonde best friend. Like always, Zoey took it in stride and flashed them a polite smile.

It was exhausting.

“When I meet the right person,” she replied easily, “I’m still waiting for the Leon to my Avery.”

A round of laughter erupted the small circle and Zoey held back from releasing a sigh, hiding her disdain behind her champagne glass as she took a sip. Don’t get her wrong, she was beyond happy for Avery and every moment watching her best friend fall in love with Leon had been nothing short of a great memory.

But she was admittedly jealous. No, not because she wanted Leon, but because she also wanted to fall in love and have that special person by her side. Her love life, in the simplest of terms, had been absolute shit.

Men would always approach her and she hated those leering looks. The one guy she genuinely liked, Christian, turned out to be an asshole. It was a miracle that she managed to salvage her friendship with Lauren, although it became a little awkward between them.

Should’ve listened to Avery when she said that he wasn’t good for me.

Right, her best friend was the one more experienced with love between them. She was one of those girls that constantly had boys chasing her, but she was oblivious to them most of the time.

Mostly because she had tunnel vision for the guy she liked.

She was loyal to Leon, even when they were apart for college. Zoey had lost count how many times she complained that some guy was hitting on her even after she told them that she had a boyfriend. Other times, she was oblivious that someone was already making moves on her. Her popularity surged a number of arguments between Leon and her.

Because even though Leon was handsome and had a lot going for him, he used his cold personality to shake off anyone who might be interested.

But Avery wasn’t like that.

She was warm, kind, and very welcoming. If you add that to her beauty, it would be understandable that it was easy to fall for her.

Perfect Avery.

And Zoey was so proud that her best friend was so admired, even if she felt left out at times.

Although she would have loved it if her aunts didn’t bombard her about the fact that she was single. With another internal sigh, Zoey hatched her escape plan, “I think the alcohol is getting to me. Mind if I step out a bit for some fresh air?”

Nobody opposed and she swiftly made her way out towards the back garden as elegantly as she possibly could. She had been busy during the weeks leading up to the wedding as the maid of honor, she would now use the remaining time of the rehearsal dinner to relax.

Once the outside air reached her skin, she finally felt like she could breathe. They’ve decided on a venue away from the main city and it was nothing short of gorgeous. Leon’s parents didn’t spare any expense for their only son and future daughter-in-law’s wedding.

Avy really did choose the best one.

Leon had many admirable traits, but the thing that she liked the most about him was how he treated her best friend. Sure, there were arguments here and there but that was normal for any couple. At the very end of the day, he was always attentive and loving. He made sure that Avery knew that he was hers.

Just as she repeatedly assured him that she was his.

“Zoey?” she heard someone call her name and she internally cursed. It was either one of the older relatives who would badger her on her relationship status or it was one of the men daring enough to hit on her.

But when she whipped around, she was instantly relieved at the man standing in front of her.

“Patrick,” she let out a smile, glad that it was someone she knew, “Are you also here to escape?”

Patrick Vincent was the groom’s best man. If she was being honest, a bulk of what she knew about him was from the past months they’ve been talking in order to help their best friends plan the wedding. Since he was the best man and she was the maid of honor, they spent ample of time together.

Whether it was accompanying Leon and Avery with choosing their reception menu or diligently sending off the invitations, they were together.

“If I get asked one more time when it’s my turn to get married, I might explode,” he chuckled, nervously eyeing the door as if another relative would jump out and ask him again.

“Seems like we’re in the same position,” Zoey laughed, “So shall we make a run for it?”

“What?”

She pointed beyond the parts of the garden that was visible, “There’s an area where garden chairs and tables are set up, I saw them when I was wandering around during daytime. Nobody will bother us if we’re there.”

A grin immediately found its way onto his face, “Lead the way!”

She walked ahead with him a few steps back, watching as her blonde hair swayed and the skirt of her dress moved with every step.

Beautiful.

He was admittedly attracted to her from the first time he saw her – that moment in the café. Avery, who had just rejected him, was sitting there on a table with a friend that had her back turned to him and Leon. Patrick saw the small pink hue tinting Leon’s cheeks as he looked at their brunette classmate.

Patrick figured it out before that Leon liked her and in fact, he felt guilty that he was openly displaying his affections in front of him. But when he realized it, and also that Avery might have felt the same way, the rejection became easier to accept.

Because at the end of the day, both Avery and Leon were his friends. Even though he was crossed out of the picture, he learned how to be happy for them.

He knew that Leon was too bashful to call her attention, so he took it upon himself to do it, “Avery?”

Just to save his best friend the embarrassment, he chose to ignore the small smile that appeared on Leon’s face when Avery acknowledged them and subtly gestured for them to go to their table.

“Hey fancy seeing you here,” Patrick greeted in an attempt to be casual.

“Pat, this is Zoey,” Avery said, gesturing to her friend, “Zoey, this is Pat.”

And that was the first ever time that Patrick laid his eyes on the woman who would soon turn to be his longest standing crush.

He was, to cut it short, smitten by her at first sight.

She captured him, she had his every single ounce of attention. At that very moment, the bustling café turned quiet and everything ceased to exist. All he could see was her – the way her lips curved up into a smile, the way her delicate fingers released the fork she was holding, the way her blue eyes became more prominent under the café’s lighting.

She was beautiful and that was the moment he knew that he was fucked.

“See?”

His dwelling on the past was cut short when he realized that they finally stopped. Zoey was gesturing grandly to the small chairs and tables, waiting for his reaction.

He plastered a smile and pulled out one of the chairs, bowing his head playfully, “Have a seat, milady.”

Her tinkering laughter entered his ears as she lowered to the seat, causing him to blush. He was glad that it was still rather dark even with the few garden lights so it wasn’t obvious.

Zoey finally released a sigh after masking her exasperation since the day started. Dealing with nosey people left and right was exhausting, she was glad that she could at least be herself even for a few moments.

Because Patrick was someone she grew to be comfortable with.

And a small fact that she desperately hid from Avery – she had a crush on him.

She didn’t know when it started but she found herself staring at him when she thought that no one was looking, she got all giddy if she heard from Avery that he would be accompanying them, she looked forward to the small moments that they were alone.

She started looking forward to seeing him.

He was a very sweet guy and treated everyone around him well. Leon was never short of praises for him and even Avery shared the same sentiment. She always said that she loved Patrick, as a friend of course, and always went on of how good of a person he was.

And he treated Zoey with nothing but respect, he never tried to test his boundaries.

Zoey, no matter how dense she was when it came to dealing with the opposite sex, figured out long ago that he liked her. He was so obvious with the way he constantly blushed and stuttered whenever they were talking. However, she was still stuck on her crush on Christian back then so she chose to pretend that she didn’t know.

Then years passed by and their interactions were limited to when Avery and Leon were there.

But when they started becoming close because of all the wedding prep, it was her turn to become a mess in front of him. It was a good thing she knew how to handle her emotions well so she was always composed around him, but if he only knew what was going on inside her head whenever she was in his presence.

She wanted to be with him.

And she prayed with all her might that he would ask her out. She wasn’t sure anymore what he felt – mostly because Patrick also learned how to control his emotions so now he was composed in front of her.

But the wedding was tomorrow and after that, they would no longer have any reason to be alone together.

As much as she wanted to be with him, she was afraid to make the first move. She was highly inexperienced with relationships and again, she was unsure how he felt towards her.

Was she simply his best friend’s wife’s best friend?

“I can’t believe they’re getting married tomorrow,” Patrick said, tilting his head back to look at the sky, “Seems like yesterday when Leon was throwing a hissy fit because Avery called him a pet name.”

“Wait, that happened?” she gasped. If Avery didn’t tell her that then it meant that it was a minute detail, so insignificant that it probably didn’t matter much.

But she was still excited to learn a new piece of information. She admitted that she was slightly upset that there were things she wasn’t aware of that others were, but it was understandable since they did go to different high schools.

“Yeah, it was the first time Avery called Leon angel,” he laughed lightly at the memory, “He was against it, but he was already weak to Avery’s whims even before they got together so he just allowed her.”

“It would have been so fun to watch them get together,” she hummed wistfully, causing Patrick to look at her. She had this small sad smile on her face, her eyes pointed towards his direction but her gaze went past him, “I’ve known Avery the longest but since we went to different schools, it felt like we both missed out on huge chunks of each other’s lives.”

She was also jealous of how easy it was for Avery to get along with people. She was definitely the more sociable one of the two and making friends was like breathing air for her. Zoey, even though she acted forward at times, was still rather shy compared to her. And even if she gained a friend, she would have a tough time deepening their friendship to the point that they would hang out beyond school days.

Lauren was the exception and she was so happy that she met her, but because of her fleeting relationship with her brother, that turned into dust.

“You know, Leon once told me that he thought he was the second fiddle,” Patrick spoke with a small hint of amusement, trying to get her attention away from her musings, “Because Avery always ran to you first before him. Whether it was good news or bad, you are the first person she would call.”

Funny, Avy said the same thing about Patrick and Leon’s friendship.

“Don’t stress yourself out too much that you never witnessed those moments, because you know more about Avery than anyone else,” he assured with a smile, “Even after your speech earlier, she called you her sister in front of all the guests. She loves you a lot.”

She knew already of everything he told her because she always felt so secure of her friendship with Avery. But to still hear it out loud brought a sense of warmth to her and it enveloped her being, stripping her away from her brief moment of sadness.

Oh no, I really do like him.

As if her first realization of her feelings weren’t enough, now she just had to remind herself all over again. Now it was her turn to blush and she internally cursed – it was his fault for being so kind and charming.

But Patrick, who had his gaze fixated on her face watched as her eyes widened and the skin on her cheeks to the tip of ears turned pink. He was sure that it wasn’t the make-up she was wearing.

It was his turn to be flustered.

No matter how much he liked her, he didn’t dare to get his hopes up. This was Zoey he was talking about, she was practically perfect in every way. No matter how confident he was in flirting with other girls, he was never sure with her.

No, she just might be touched because of what I said about Avery.

So he took a deep breath, willing his nerves to calm down before pushing himself up to his feet, “I think we should go back now. The maid of honor and best man shouldn’t be away too long.”

Right now, she really did hope that she had Avery’s bravery when it came to the guy she liked.

She remembered that Avery was the first one to approach Leon when she asked for his number. Zoey was envious how forward she could be.

“Just one time,” she whispered to herself, “You can do it just one time.”

Her hushed voice still caught his ears, causing him turn back to her, “What did you say?”

Her hands balled up her skirt momentarily, trying to pull out any guts she had in her, before standing up with this look of pure determination. She stared at him in the eyes, her face probably beet red at this point, “Please go out with me.”

And that one sentence somehow exhausted her because she collapsed back onto her seat, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She had eyes trained on the hands on her lap because she felt like if she looked at him, she would faint.

He was silent.

Is this the part where I wave it off as a joke?

But then she heard movements and suddenly, she saw his feet right in front of her. She gathered whatever bravery she had left and lifted her gaze to meet his.

Shock, confusion, and pure unadulterated happiness.

“Don’t say it’s a joke,” he muttered, his knees bending so he could bring their faces closer, “Please, for the love of all things good in the world, don’t say it’s a joke.”

Zoey was mesmerized to see him this close and even if she was still a ball of anxiety, she didn’t move away. Instead, she dared to lift a hand and softly grazed his cheek, “I’m not joking.”

Without a moment too soon, he gently brushed his lips against her, testing the waters. She was taken aback at first, but she ached for more of that tingling sensation.

So she wounded her arms around his neck to pull him down to her and captured his lips. For him, it felt like years of tension melted away with the kiss and a wave of relief hit him. The girl he admired since high school liked him.

And for her, it was hope. She felt it in her that he was the one who would treat her well, that he wouldn’t hurt her. All those years of staying single, of those laps of heartbreak, were just a build up to this very moment.

He placed his hands on her waist and tugged her up to a standing position so it would be less comfortable for him. They briefly pulled away and when they caught each other’s eyes, they exchanged a small laugh before resuming their kiss.

Everything felt so right, like even the universe was waiting for this very moment.

Unknown to them, there was another pair hidden behind the tall hedges nearby, grinning ear to ear at them.

Avery and Leon started to get concerned when neither the best man nor the maid of honor was anywhere to be seen inside the venue. So they went around to look, holding back their gasps when they saw the two in a lip lock.

“Finally,” they whispered at the same time, causing them to rip their gaze away from the newly formed couple in order to look at each other. They laughed quietly at this as they slowly stepped away.

They were truly soulmates.

“Come on, we have to walk the aisle tomorrow,” Avery grinned, taking his hand and leading him back into the building, “My dear husband.”

“Yes, my dear wife,” Leon chuckled as a response, falling into step next to her.

Side by side, as the universe meant it to be.

#tltc

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princessozera · 3 years

Text

Not OM, I just wanted to post here the first ever fic I actually wrote and published

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY AS A DISCLAIMER EVEN THOUGH I PUBLISHED IT LAST YEAR (2 years ago?) I WAS ACTUALLY YOUNGER WHEN I WROTE THIS. I DO NOT SIMP FOR DAMIAN LIKE THAT ANYMORE, HE IS MY SON.

The Only Exception

(Aged up/Older Damian Wayne x OC)

The seats are filled, the air is comforting, music and perfume floating in the air. Today Rosella Anderson is to be wed to Damian Wayne. But, weddings never quite go according to plan. Talia and Ra's Al Ghul have made it clear they don't like her, on multiple occasions. But with no less than 50 trained fighters and investigators on both sides of the aisle, nothing can interrupt or ruin her special day...... Right?

Chapter 1: Getting Married Today

"Come on, suck it in!"

"I HAVEN'T EVEN EATEN TODAY!" I whined as Alice yanked the ribbons on my corset tighter.

"WATCH IT!" Crystal swats away Alice's hands and undoes the ribbons a bit. "Suffocate her and she doesn't make it down the aisle, pack her like a sausage and my hours of makeup will have gone to waste!" She huffed and finish tying the ribbons, satisfied that they weren't too tight.

"I don't think I ever really appreciated the amount of work it takes to make curly hair not be frizzy," Barbra Gordon says between sips of champagne, lounging on the hotel bed.

"That's why I don't do my hair that often," I laugh, sitting on an ottoman so Alice can put my veil on and Crystal can help me put on my garter. My maid of honor, Cassandra Cain, came over and tried to feed me some fruit slices. I tried to argue, but I couldn't hold my own as she stared me down. I let her feed me some cantaloupe slices until she was satisfied and went off to finish getting ready.

"You really are a queen today!" Stephanie laughed as she walked around the room again, holding a video recorder. I tried to hide my face, but she grabbed my hand and swung it around. "A beautiful princess for Gotham's own prince! Tell us, your majesty, how are you feeling, about to be married off to Gotham's richest stone statue?" The girls laughed but I just shook my head at her. "Me, Tim, and Dick are making a documentary for you two. Any words for the lucky man? Anything you want to say to your future self, your family, your future kids? " Whistles and laughs went around the room and I couldn't help but blush.

"Well, let's take this one step at a time," I laughed to hide my own embarrassment. "Damian," I started, looking directly into the camera, "I don't believe in love at first sight, but damn did we square up on first sight. Not many people can say they had a full on MMA fight with their future spouse within minutes of meeting them. Yet, after that whole fiasco was solved, you've never been anything but gentle with me. People always said we wouldn't last; lava and ice. Water and a drought. Incompatible. But you were the first to look past who I had to be, to see who I was trying to be. You brought me a family, and I like to think I've brought you some serenity. I don't believe in destiny, and I'm not too sure about fate, but I believe in us. I believe that I'll fight for you until the end of time because you'd do the same for me. Because you are my home, and there's no place I'd rather be." I get choked up, wanting nothing more than to have him in my arms right now. I missed him like hell, even though it's only been 2 days since I've seen him.

"This isn't the time to start reciting your wedding vows silly," Cass said and I couldn't help but giggle. She wipes away the tears that I hadn't felt form, making sure to not mess with my mascara. Stephanie sighs happily and puts the camcorder down, reaching over to hug me.

"I'm so glad I get to be your sister," she whispered to me, and I hugged back tighter. We both jerked in surprise at the knock at the door. I immediately reached for my bag, looking for my well-worn notebook, but Cass's hand steadied me. Barbra got up, fixed her dress and went over to the door.

"Who is-" She stiffens up immediately, hand pulling back from the handle. "It's Talia." Stephanie immediately got in front of me, and I grabbed Cass's hand as she reached for her own bag, searching for her gun. I'd never told my friends about Talia, but they took the hint found their way to their respective bags, throwing knives and whips at the ready. Truthfully, I was finding it a little hard to breathe and I doubt it was the dress. The knock came again, more insistent, but no one moved.

"It's your call Rose," Barbra said, her eyes never leaving the door.

"Let her in," I tug on Cass's arm and she helps me stand up. "If she wanted me offed, she would have gotten someone else to do it. Or at least she wouldn't have knocked." Crystal and Alice look between all of us in alarm and decide to take the window as Stephanie goes to back up Babs by the door. The door opens, and there stands Talia, as beautiful and regal as ever. She glances over everyone before finally meeting my eyes.

"Lady Al Ghul, please come in. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I said, fidgeting with my dress. She steps in, nodding to Babs and Stephanie.

"I'd like to have a word with you before the ceremony," She says, running her hand along the wet counter cluttered with makeup. "Alone," She said with a pointed look when no one moved. That harsh edge was enough to get everyone to cover or flank me again. She didn't respond to this, simply staring at me. I put my hand on each girl's back, one by one.

"Go, I'll be fine. We'll be right here," Babs stares me down, but I nod back. She caves and starts to leave; Alice, Crystal and eventually Stephanie following behind, after she grabs something off the bed. Cass refused to move.

"Do I need to remind you that you can barely move your waist in that monstrous dress? She'd get to you before any of us were the wiser," She whispered in my ear, holding my arm pretty tightly. I wormed my way out of her grasp and grabbed the worn notebook from my bag.

"I promise, it'll be fine. Anyways, I forgot there were 2 more things I needed to do," I flipped through the pages quickly, finding what I needed and handing it to her. "If you could please take care of it? You should be done by the time we're done talking and we can head to the venue." Cass read through it quickly, then looked at me again. She gave a curt nod and walked out as well.

"We'll be right outside," Babs says pointedly before closing the door. Talia and I stood in silence for a moment, before she slowly stalked towards me until she was less than 6 feet away.

"Lady Al-"

"Your still not worthy of my son." oop. Right to the point, as always. Can't say it didn't hurt.

"You're a commoner, a nobody. No title, no land, not even superior health to your name. You failed classes in high school, went to college on scholarships, and couldn't land a proper role in your field until a year in. Failure, after pitfall, after failure." JESUS CHRIST THIS LADY DID HER RESEARCH. My face burned in humiliation, but nothing I could say now would justify everything she just listed out. "And yet... Damian loves you."

"I may not like you, but I know how I raised him, and Bruce has done a good job of bringing up a boy worth more than the names he was born into. Wayne. Al Ghul. Damian. I will have faith in his choice, he is not a stupid boy. Foolish and stubborn yes, but not stupid. If he thinks you are worthy, there may be hope for you yet." holy shit, no way, is this actually happening? I'm too stunned to say anything, just grateful that my mouth isn't hanging open.

"When you return from your honeymoon I expect you to face me in a formal duel and undergo training as necessary," she puts her hands on her hips, challenging me to argue with her, but I was so happy I had to restrain myself from hugging her.

"It would be an honor to battle you Lady Al Ghul," I say, finding my tongue, stifling my giddiness with a bow, and a hand over my chest.

"Talia is also acceptable." She says with a nod, taking another step forward and adjusting the skirt of my dress and finally my veil before turning starting to walk back to the door. "My father and I will also be in attendance to this event, but if you ever wish to gain even an ounce of his approval, you'll need to do another more traditional ceremony at a later date." My heart swelled, and for a second, I legitimately thought I was going to break down crying. This was better than anything I could have prepared for. I couldn't just let her walk out like that.

"Damian'll be elated!" I yelled out to keep my voice from cracking. Talia stops, and I gush on. "I know you haven't had the easiest of relationships, with conflicting ideology and all, but he really does love you, and Ra's, even if he doesn't say it. He looks up to you guys and wants to make you proud. You being here will mean the world to him." I force myself to stop talking before I say something weird or bad. Talia turns back to me, walks up swiftly, and hugs me. I'm stiff in surprise, but manage to hug her back before she gives me one last nod and walks out. Everyone runs back in the second Talia is out.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" Babs immediately grabs my arms and starts inspecting me up and down for any sign of injury.

"Don't cry don't cry!" Alice pleads with me, fanning my face to prevent the tears from falling.

"Talia hugged her, check her back and skirt for anything weird," I look over to Stephanie, who was staring down at her camcorder. Had she left that hidden on the bed? I didn't even notice. But it was so sweet. I could show Damian later all the sweet words his mother said about him.

"Jesus, you're so teary today," Cass mumbles as she does her own inspection of my dress. When she's done, she sees my tears are of joy, so she hugs me. "Your journal's impressive," she says handing back my heart covered notebook. I'm still choked up and trying not to bawl in relief so once everyone was satisfied that I wasn't going to drop dead in the middle of the aisle, they sat me down so I could calm down while they finished up. I collected myself, the extremity of these emotions leaving me exhausted. I drifted off with the warm glow of my friend's laughter and love filling the air.

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

"No way, you did not fall asleep!"

"Get up get up get up!"

"Cass, I'm fully warning you right now. If she falls asleep at the ceremony like this, I'm throwing my bouquet at her head"

"You might have to beat Stephanie to it," Cass giggles, as she gently shakes me awake. I take a second to reorient myself, blinking the drowsiness out of my eyes, and stretching.

"Ooh, we could coordinate it though!" Stephanie perks up, "if she falls asleep; Alice and Crystal, take your flowers and make it rain, and then Babs, Cass and I hit her in the head. Guaranteed it'll wake her up!" We all laugh and I get up, taking a minute to appreciate my beautiful friends. It was a debated choice, but the deep purple fit everyone perfectly. We did have to make a few adjustments to Stephanie's overall look though, to keep her from looking too similar to her alter ego, Spoiler. Bouquet in every pair of hands, key cards in garter wallets and phones on silent, we made our way down to the venue.

"We're only running 10 minutes behind, it couldn't be helped," Babs tries to calm my nerves as I all but start jumping in the elevator. Cass also had to put a hand on my waist to pull me back when I almost ran to my place. She escorted me around to the side doors; the girls and I were coming in from the right, Damian and his groomsmen were coming in from the left. He had wanted to avoid any issue of who should walk him down the aisle; I thought it was cute how he couldn't choose between Dick and Bruce. Cass and I were slow dancing to calm my nerves when the rest of the girls came back.

"Pianist and minister are ready" -Babs

"Decorations are gorgeous and on point, everyone is in their seat and there are no fussy children" -Alice

"Lights, audio and AC are perfect and photographers are also ready" - Crystal.

I nodded, yes, everything was going smoothly. Of course, I had used everything I had when planning this. I was floating on cloud nine, simply nodding along when Babs spoke up.

"Has anyone seen Stephanie?" she asks, grip tightening on her bouquet. No one knew so we all just waited around for 5 minutes, everyone starting to get fidgety. Stephanie came back, 10 minutes later, looking a little out of breath and a bit pale, even under her makeup.

"Ok so there's a situation,- the guys are running late but it's okay they're o their way, they'll be here in 20 minutes!" Stephanie sped through the second half of her sentence when she saw that I was going to panic. I breathed out in relief and nodded, satisfied.

"I'll make the announcement, Dick probably went overboard trying to do his hair again," Babs snickered and headed into the ceremony hall. We played a light game of ninja as we waited to hear from the guys, but I soon became hyper-aware of time passing. I don't have the best perception of time, I don't even have a good memory, but I caught the looks my bridesmaids were giving each other.

The questioning looks.

The worry.

I let myself get kicked out of the next round and walked a little ways off, pulling my phone out and calling the number I knew by heart, ignoring the time that read that I was now almost 40 minutes late to my own wedding. The phone rang 3 times, and I turned away from my girls who were really getting into this game, rooting for Cass or Alice to win.

"Damian!" I sighed in relief when the line clicked. "hey, how much longer do you think you guys will be in traffic? If it's going to be another while, I can have it arranged so snacks and drinks are handed out so no one gets restless. I could also give the pianist a break, he's been playing the same chorus on repeat for the last half hour-" I let my voice trail off as I was met by a stone wall of silence. Not even a joke from Dick or Tim or Duke. I waited him out, after a minute of silence, Damian spoke up.

"I'm sorry beloved, I can't do this."

"What?" I asked, but my voice was so thin and breathy I doubt he heard me.

"I can't go through with this. This marriage, this wedding. It's all a joke. Who even cares about this mess? It's all so... stupid. Pointless." not a hint of hesitation, voice more ruthless than I had ever heard it. No. No way. was he serious!? I struggled to find my words, I shook with the pure effort of breathing normally even though I felt like I was having an actual heart attack; tight chest, palpitations, the whole 9 yards. Tremors ran through my body and I finally managed to choke out "Damian-"

"Goodbye Rosella" the line clicked off and I take a shuddering breath.

"Rose?" Cass says, gently putting a hand on my shoulder.

"He's not coming."

"What?"

"He's not coming!" I shriek, clutching my waist to stop my stomach from churning but to no avail; at least I didn't have much of lunch to throw up.

"What do you mean he's not coming!" Babs demands, yelling from where she was

"shit"

We all turn and there stands Jason, looking uncomfortable as hell and very much like he didn't want to be here. That confirmed it for everyone. Alice, Crystal, and Babs started yelling questions at Jason. Stephanie pulled out her own phone and started dialing a bunch of numbers but it seemed like no one was answering. Cass tried to speak with me, but my ears were ringing, it all sounded like white noise. And I felt cold. but hot. but freezing. I raise my hand and draw everyone's attention, all becoming deadly silent.

"Alice, Crystal. please go tell the pianist, the minister, and the photographer. Give them my email so I can settle up the charges later. Stephanie and Cass, please go see if we can keep the party reservations for tonight. Everyone else should enjoy them, even if there is no.... Barbra, could you please break the news that I... we..." everything got really blurry for a second and the floor rushed up to meet me, but I caught myself on the table before I could pass out completely.

Not here, not in front of them. Don't put them through a breakdown.

Everyone was fussing, but I couldn't stand here for another second. "Go. I just want to be alone. Please. go. GO!" I yelled and they all dispersed, shooting me worried looks. Cass gave me a long hug before she decided I needed a moment alone.

"Don't move from here." She instructed me. "Go get the guys," she demanded to Jason before going off. Jason looked at me sadly, trying to find the right words to say.

"Rose-"

"Please leave." he walked away without another word. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I ran with everything I had out of the hallway.

Pardon me is everybody there

because if everybody's there id like to thank you all for coming to the wedding

I appreciate you going even more

I mean you must have had better things to do.

Thank you all for the gifts and the flowers,

Thank you all, now it's back to the showers

but I guess I'm not getting married today

The perfume is suffocating, overly sweet, fake as plastic, thick as sugar. I can't breathe, but I don't need air to run. Don't stop, move. Move. Move. The ribbons are strangling me. The garter is cutting off my circulation. Gloves are hurting me. High heels, weak ankles. My rolls of fat spilling out of the dress. rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls. can't stand. can't wait, I throw open the door to the stairs and take them in 3s.

Listen, everybody,

look, I don't know what you're waiting for.

A wedding. What's a wedding?

It's a prehistoric ritual

Where everybody promises fidelity forever,

Which is maybe the most horrifying word I ever heard of,

Which is followed by a honeymoon, where suddenly he'll realize

He's saddled with a nut, and want to kill me, which he should.

Thanks a bunch, but I'm not getting married

I scream as my veil gets caught in the handrail, yanking my head back, falling down a couple of stairs. No question, I rip it off. It stings, it hurts, bobby pins forcefully ripped out. The shoes go too, heels are stupid, why are they so tall. Tall and tall and make my knees wobbly. The taller they are the harder they fall. Up the stairs, 3 at a time, legs on fire. Don't stop, don't stop, hike the dress up and keep running all the way to the 50th floor.

Go have lunch, 'cause I'm not getting married

You've been grand, but I'm not getting married

Don't just stand there, I'm not getting married

But I'm not getting married today.

I slam open the hotel room door, to hell with neighbors. Suffocating, burning, melting heat. I rip off the gloves, scream as I can't get the ribbons out of my dress. I scream, jump, squirm and throw myself around until it finally comes off.

He didn't come. shut up.

He didn't want to. SHUT THE HELL UP

I felt everything to an extreme degree. Too much. Why am I breathing so heavily? Why am I sweating bullets!? I throw my hair up in a ponytail, yank the garter off, tripping over my own two feet. My phone falls next to my head and the only thing I can think to do is to throw it into the toilet. I grab my honeymoon bag- no, my emergency bag that happened to have cute clothes instead of food, and switch into my leggings and a t-shirt. It's all I had. It's all I could ask for.

Go! Can't you go?

Why is nobody listening?

Goodbye! Go and cry

At another person's wake.

If you're quick, for a kick

You could pick up a christening

But please, on my knees,

There's a human life at stake!

I'm parkouring down the stairs, jumping entire sections, falling on knees, but ignoring the pain to jump again. Emergency phone in one hand, I order the uber, start the bank transaction, even though I have to read everything 10 times for it to make sense. What do? where go? don't know. not here. One bad jump and I collapsed entirely, but as I scrambled to throw everything back in my bag, I see the plane tickets. yes. away. out. not here. leave.

Go! Can't you go?

Look, you know I adore you all

But why watch me die

Like Eliza on the ice?

Look, perhaps I'll collapse

In the apse right before you all

So take back the cake

Burn the shoes, and boil the rice

Out of the stairway, but slammed into a wall. Around the corner, Alice and Babs and Crystal and Jason and Stephanie and Cass and Bruce and Selina and Duke and Tim and Dick and Alfred.

Remember when you first met them? He swore he'd protect you but that they'd love you. please stop! I begged myself, think of anything, anything but him. anything but this. Get out, then we can cry, but not here, not now. I watched them split up, so I hid behind a corner farther back. Steph and Cass took up the stairs. Everyone else was gone so I ran out the back door. Out of the hotel, away from the perfume, away from the flowers, the candles, the dresses. From them. And by some small miracle, the car was already here. I jump in, only taking a second to notice that it was, in fact, an uber.

"Hello, ma'am! How are-"

"Please! Just go!" my voice breaks and the tears start up again. I brush them aside furiously/ doing everything in my power not to start sobbing, but he listens to me and speeds off.

BECAUSE I'M NOT GETTING MARRIED TODAY

(A twist on this song that actually inspired this whole fic)

Chapter 2: On The Run

I'm going to kill him

Why didn't he show up?

How fucking dare he

Was it something I did?

I was nervous too bitch; I drank a shot of tequila and sucked it up!

Was it something HE did? Was Talia lying? Did Ra's kidnap Damian? Why did the boys wait to tell us? Did Stephanie know that something was up? Do any of them even-

"Ughhhh," I groaned audibly as my thoughts and emotions started to run together. It had been a while since anything left me this.... discombobulated. Exhausted. A mess. I'd almost forgotten how awfully I reacted to being overwhelmed and out of control. The uber driver shot me a curious look but didn't say anything. Keep it together Rosella. Just, go home and.. I flinched, chagrined at my own stupidity. "Get somewhere safe" I amended under my breath, "and then you can have as big of a breakdown as you want. Just, be a stone again. Close it all out. Suppress the fire, drown the noise." I rubbed my eyes, the dry burn giving me the weirdest throbbing headache.

The ride to the airport was stiff, to say the least. My driver kept trying to talk to me, but my responses were so dry he gave up. He didn't question the extra stop at the bank, even while he waited outside for half an hour while I verified with tellers inside that I was, in fact, the owner of the account and that I was draining it.

Erase your tracks. You were never here. Are you even alive?

Still, we got to the airport as quickly as I could have hoped for and made sure to give him a large tip for his troubles. I walked through the airport, undoubtedly looking like some pompous bitch with only a stone face and backpack, my actual suitcase left behind in my whirlwind out. I only had some snacks, a Nintendo ds, some stationary things, deodorant, and a toothbrush. I hadn't even remembered to grab my disposable water bottle, toothpaste, or hair brush before leaving. Whatever.

It was almost flawless. I bypassed the checked bag lines, slid right through TSA (bless you TSA Pre-check), although I did get some looks when they checked my bag. I guess overall I looked like I should be getting on a school bus instead. I sat down at a cafe and pulled out the tickets, 2 first class tickets to Malaga, Spain.

I'd set up our honeymoon as a complete surprise to Damian. Bruce and the boys had worked so hard to help me clear out a whole month from his schedule. I'd gone through hell and back to make sure all of my project managers could handle any situation that could happen either in making or transporting our different projects out... We were supposed to be jumping cities for a month in Europe. Cities with small populations, so we could avoid drawing attention, but full of gorgeous architecture and delicious food for me; significant art history and cultural relevance for Damian.

It's going to be a technical nightmare to cancel all of those reservations and getting the tickets switched and sold. Do people even actually do that? But I have to, I don't know where I'm going but I don't want any of them to tra- SHIT. My head snaps up and one quick look around tells me I'm already too late. I spot 5 cameras easily.

I grab my things and head over to a gift shop. I grab bunches of clothes and accessories off of the shelves, hurrying off to pay and doing my best to avoid cameras now as I sneak off into the restroom. I throw on some atrocious sundress, flats, and a baseball cap, flipping my hair twice in an attempt to make it look like a pixie cut. For a second I consider actually finding something sharp to hack my hair off.

I need you to not be a social breakdown cliche for a minute, it took you years to properly grow those curls out. Please don't waste my efforts. Yeah, it's for the better, I look like Dora the Explorer with short hair anyway. Tim wouldn't sell me out to Damian, right? LMAOO he bailed at the wedding you really think he wants to hunt you down?? Or what if Tim wants to find me? Or anyone else? Damian's pretty good at following people. Even then, Babs, Cass, Roy are competent hackers, any of them could find my data and track me down... Are any of them even on my side?... I couldn't help but let out a whimper. I pursed my lips, placing my hands on the cold sink to calm myself. What's my plan anyways? I can't go to any of the cities in Europe where I already have reservations. Too easy. I could go to the Netherlands...

"But Damian knows where I lived there, because of the time we visited my friends," I sigh out loud, facepalming. "But not entirely a bad idea..." I say as I start flipping through the different cities I've lived through. Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Croatia, Portugal, Malta, Romania, Hungary, Austria, are all out. We'd either been there or they were part of the honeymoon plan. I didn't want any reminder of him.

Actually, all of Europe is out. I've raved about it too much. We've been too many places, we both had too many ties scattered throughout Europe. I can't speak Russian, Talia and Ra's have connections all across the middle east, and the north half of Africa. Jason and Cass had some unexplainable ties across north and south america. With every city I named, I hated myself more for talking so much. For trusting him with these memories.

Honeysuckle kisses on cotton candy memories.

shut up.

Isn't there ANYWHERE I've lived and worked that my big mouth hadn't mentioned? As I was starting to get desperate and the headache started acting up again, I found actually ecstatic relief. That would be actually literally perfect. God bless my forgetful memory. The apartment I'd never sold. The country I actively avoided talking about because Damian would get jealous.

I snuck out of the bathrooms and headed over to customer service. I had to work my way past a large group of people. Overhearing snippets of conversation, apparently, their flight is somewhere between delayed or canceled. Inspiration hit me. Give the ticket to someone here. Send them to Spain, let them stay at the hotel. He could follow a cold lead. This would give me enough time to go to one country and get a ticket to where I actually wanted to go.

I look around the group. Too many were in pair or more. Some looked very buisness-y type. There! A girl who looked like a backpacker was chilling, glancing through her phone. You're going to sound absolutely mental. I approach her nevertheless. I pitched her my idea, but she was rightfully skeptical. I swallowed my pride and told her a cold version of the truth.

"My fiancee left me at the altar. I'm going to Mongolia. I don't want his ticket, I don't want the hotel. Either take it or I'll give it to someone else. Or let it go to waste. I don't care. I don't want it. I'll even pay the name change charge." The anger in my voice came out clear, and by another miracle, she accepted it. We walked over to the help desk and I spoke with the dude behind the counter. He seemed hesitant at first, but he gave me a double take when he checked my reservations. With a brighter smile, he got me on the first flight he could to Mongolia.

"Will that be for both tickets Mrs.Wayne?" He asked cheerfully before reeling back, caught off guard by my watering eyes.

"Anderson. And no," I managed to spit out. I signaled for the girl from earlier to come closer. "I'm transferring the other ticket to her, we need to get the name changed." He looked uncertain but went ahead. If he was accommodating before, I could tell he was bending over backwards now to get everything situated. I could see his concentration as he tried to bypass things without having to question me again.

"Umm, your profile says you've actually been to Belgium before, how was it?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Beautiful and quaint. Great place to relax and enjoy nature if that's your thing. I'd recommend Lithuania too, or Leinchestein." I say, trying to keep a light tone. He nodded happily, seeming to take my recommendations seriously before handing the girl the new plane tickets. We thanked him and headed off on our respective paths, the girl taking a minute to hug me.

" I hope you can heal soon, and wish you a bright future" she whispered to me. I hugged back, trying not to cry again. She bought me a bag of peach gummy rings and left me at my terminal. I dropped some calls out to friends, blessed that they all decided to take one or more of the reservations around Europe I'd had. I kept the details to a minimum but they figured out pretty quickly not to mention me to Damian if they happened to see him. Some small part of me, thankfully more aware than the rest had the foresight to call some utility companies and get everything at my apartment working again.

The help desk attendant worked miracles, my nonstop flight boarded less than an hour later and I had managed to keep a first class seat. I sat down and started doodling nonsense in my journal, blasting music in my headphones. But around 6 hours into this 19-hour flight, exhaustion overcame me and I drifted off to sleep.

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

"Beloved," Damian sighed as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "It's almost 11, we need to get out of bed," he murmured into my hair.

"Nooooooo" I whined, stretching further into the sunlight. The doors were ajar, a nice breeze keeping us cool. I snuggled into him. "We're on a vacation, orders from Bruce. And on vacation, you can stay in bed all day."

"But there might be monsters nearby-" He said mysteriously, catching my attention.

"I didn't get reports of any- AH!" I scream as Damian proceeds to tickle me. "No! Sto-" I try to gasp out between laughing. I manage to fight him, tumbling out of bed. He laughed at me as I tried to untangle myself from the blankets.

"That's a dirty trick Wayne!" I gasp, trying to catch my breath. I grab a pillow and chuck it at him, but he just catches it and throws it back. We have a small impromptu pillow war before he taps out after a good hit knocks him onto the balcony. "BOW TO MY PROWESS!" I jokingly declare, jumping up and down on the ottoman. Damian runs over and sweeps me down.

"Please. Don't. Fall. And. Break. Your. Head" He accentuates every word with a kiss, making me giggle. He lets me go and takes the bathroom to shower first. I head out into the kitchen, humming to myself. I grab some of the fruit we bought yesterday and start making a fruit bowl. I'm halfway through cutting the Jicama when Damian's arms are around my waist again.

"What are you doing?" He asks, resting his chin on my shoulder. Before I could answer, his grip around me tightened. "Be careful!" He whispered harshly, putting his hands over mine. "Your knife skills could use some work, you could have cut your finger off like that!" He scolded me but I scoffed.

"Haven't lost a finger yet"

"No, but you did set your oven on fire. THREE TIMES" He elbowed my side and I pouted.

"Excuse you, that 2nd time wasn't my fault, remember? Dick broke into my place and fell asleep making fish sticks," I retaliated, squirming out of his grip and started making some sandwiches for lunch.

"I really should improve the security at your apartment," Damian says as he finished cutting up the Jicama and strawberries, plating them and dropping them off at the table.

"As if that would stop every vigilante from the northern hemisphere from breaking in," I snorted, bringing over the sandwiches. We ate in peace, letting the soft instrumental music from the radio fill the silence.

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

I sigh happily, turning in my chair, reaching out for Damian's hand. The second I touched the cold seat next to me, my body freezes too. "Damian?" I muttered drowsily, sitting up straight. His bag isn't under his chair. Why am I wearing a dress? Why are my leggings rolled up? I start to panic, breathing rapidly and trying to blink away the tears in my eyes. It's enough to pull me awake and I remember what happened.

"Oh... oh" I hiccup and bite my lip, looking back out the window into the starry night. The tears start falling, but I'm being quiet so I let them. My skin itches. My neck, my wrists, under my eyes. I start scratching, trying to ignore my memories. The trip to Italy, our joint project to improve the villain resistance of the infrastructure of Gotham, the charity events we attended.

"Ma'am?" I look up, a stewardess in the aisle leaning over. I wipe my eyes, catching the furious red color my wrists had become, before turning to her. "Uh, you missed your meal earlier and I was wondering if there was anything I could get you?" She looked uncomfortable now, glancing between my red eyes, red nose, and now red wrists and presumably red neck. I glanced over the menu she handed me, ordering a full meal. She dropped the food off and scurried away, not meeting my eyes.

The meal was laid out beautifully; tomato soup, grilled cheese and grilled chicken with a slice of cheesecake. Yet, I couldn't seem to muster the strength to eat. It didn't really seem appetizing, and I wasn't hungry.

The last time you ate was over 10 HOURS ago, and that wasn't even a full meal. C'mon, one bite. I picked up the fork, but simply twirled it in my hand, watching the metal catch the light. You'll get a raging headache if you don't eat soon. Might get that deep vein thrombosis. I take a bite of the chicken, tasting nothing despite its obvious layer of seasoning. I swallowed it with half a glass of water. It felt thick, heavy, almost like swallowing a rock. But I had to eat. When I didn't immediately throw up, I set up my phone to play a cache of 65 action movies to distract myself and started eating bit by bit. I could tell I was drinking a ridiculous amount of water, but the stewardess replaced my glass without it ever going entirely empty so I didn't really notice how much I had downed. She cleared my tray when I was done, and I just kept watching movies. Whenever I thought I was going to fall asleep, I'd crank the volume up, scroll forward to fight scenes and take a drink of sprite. I was about 4 movies in when I threw off my headphones, whimpering with how severe my headache had gotten despite eating and drinking water.

"Good morning passengers, it is 10 pm and we're about to start our final descent so if you could all please put up your trays and turn off the wifi in your electronics, we'll be landing shortly." Not gonna lie, the time zone jump threw me for a minute, I had taken a second to figure out how we made the flight in 8 hours instead of 19. I shoved everything into my bag, forcing the zipper closed. I wanted to put on some rock or pop punk songs, “Battle On!” seeming weirdly appealing, even though I hadn't heard it in a while. I felt a vein in my neck twitch, so I settled on music from the swan lake instead.

The second we touched down I was up. I only had my backpack so I was able to squeeze by people, ignoring protests and complaints to get off the plane. Off the plane, past the luggage claim, I was going down the escalator when I spotted them. Advika was talking to Zay, looking mad as hell, but she noticed me first. She ran over and almost tackled me to hug me, Zay taking my bag. "Princessa, baby girl, I'm so sorry." She cries into my hair, "I didn't think he was an asshole, oh god, how could he do that to you!"

"We have the plane ready to go," Zay says, joining in on the hug. I let Advika cling to me as we make our way to the opposite side of the airport. Once we're in a more private area, Advika speaks up again.

"I'm going to kill him. How fucking dare he!" She squeezed my hand, and now started pulling me towards the airplane.

"Isn't that Rosella's line?" Zay prods before looking back at me. "But in all seriousness, we will absolutely end him, just say the word. Don't even say it, blink morse code, ASL, anything." I keep my mouth shut and let Advika continue to rave about the different ways she'll end Damian; financially, socially, whatever I wanted. We went out onto the runway and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"The company jet? Isn't that a bit much?" I say as Zay escorts us in, before heading to the back.

"The boss said it's okay. Nearly bit my head off when I called to ask but said it was ok. You did help establish our company in the foreign market," Advika takes a seat but gestures for me to lay down on the couch. "No offense mi princessa, but you look like a fucking mess. Please take a nap."

"I don't know if I can do that," I say, letting out a long sigh. Zay comes back, handing Advika a small purse and laying a platter of cheese and crackers on the table across from us. He sets up instrumental music, from “Carmen” if I'm not mistaken, as Advika takes my hat off and starts combing my hair. I lay back into her, letting her brush out my hair, counting her impeccable pattern. 2 squirts from a spray bottle to moisten my hair, 10 brush strokes. 2 then 10 then 2 then 10. My eyes started feeling heavy so I forced myself to take a deep breath and sit up. The motion made her accidentally yank my hair and woke me a bit. As she apologized I alternated my breathing patterns to try to stay awake, noticing for the first time that we were already in the air.

"Please, just go to sleep," Advika begged, grabbing my hands and forcing me to look at her. I stared at her for a moment before answering.

"I did... on the plane. I dreamed of him. The disorientation of waking up made me think I was on my way to my honeymoon," I let out a bitter laugh and she flinches, looking over to Zay, unsure what to say.

"You look pale," Zay interjects. He comes over to me, placing a hand on my head and then my neck. He doesn't comment on the marks, but he and Advika share a look. "Change your clothes, drink some water, then these, we don't want you getting sick." He puts 2 pills in my hands before going off to find me some water.

"Yeah, getting sick is the absolute worst thing that can happen to me right now. How silly of me," I roll my eyes and Advika snorts, trying to mask her laughter. I leave the Nyquil pills on the couch and get changed. I come back and take the pills, leaning into Advika again so she can continue to play with my hair. She spoke about anything and everything, filling the silence with her happy chatter. Undoubtedly, she was trying to distract my conscious so if I did dream again, it wouldn't be about him. It worked, her happy banter following me into my dreamless slumber.

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

I awoke to Zay gently shaking me, thankfully a lot less disoriented than last time. I gather up my things, helping myself to the bottles of water they had around. I ignore the bandages wrapped around my wrist, but the one on my throat was quickly starting to freak me out. Advika seemed to sense my discomfort, immediately coming over and cutting the bandages off.

"Sorry, your skin seemed a bit raw so we wrapped it up," she explains calmly, alternating to rubbing her hand up and down my arm to soothe me.

"S'ok," I mumble, taking my bag from Zay.

"We called you a cab -it got here a couple of minutes ago-, but you're more than welcome to stay with either of us back in Mongolia. Neha and Juniper also moved here ya know, I'm sure she'd-" I cut Zay off with a shake of my head, and follow him out of the plane.

"I just really want to be alone for a while, ya know?" As alone as I can be with my differing opinions yelling at me and my endless train of thought that does NOT SHUT UP. Zay nodded but Advika grabbed my arm before I could hail the cab closer to the plane.

"I know you want to be alone- and you absolutely do need some time alone, this is going to be a lot to process- but...." She hesitated, biting her lip. "I know how you can get Ro. don't even try to argue with me on this. Please, take some time, but do not hesitate to call me or anyone else." Would this be a bad time to throw up? That's one way to diverge the conversation. Advika held me but I wouldn't meet her eyes. "You know what? If you don't check in with me in a week I will track you down and drag you to live with me. I'm not joking. Do you understand" I want to protest, but then I remember she didn't even have my phone number. Game on. I agree and they both give me a hug before I board the cab.

"Good morning"

"Good morning, where should I take you?" ah. another thing that I hadn't thought of. Without even bothering to check my bag, I knew I didn't have my keys. But I knew someone who might. I give the cab driver an address and I pull out my phone. But I can't even ask because I don't remember her number. I sigh, hoping things hadn't changed as much as I thought.

We're in downtown Seoul before I can start properly stressing myself with the "what ifs". Had she moved? What if she didn't have the key? Would she yell at me for arriving at... Almost 3 am? I decided to do the math to distract myself, reworking the math on how a 4-hour flight turned into a 5-hour flight for a solid 10 minutes before I realized that I had not taken another time zone into play. Small miracles were on my side today. Yesterday? Tomorrow? Whatever the fuck day it is. Since it was so early, there wasn't much in the way of traffic, and the doorman was the same one that had been here when I lived her for however long it was. I explained to him that I was here to see Hong and after some reluctance, he let me in.

Up the elevator to the fifth door, doors opening to crisp air, reminiscent of fall. Exactly 30 steps forward to a door with 4 pastel sierra sunset decorations on the door. I knock, timidly at first as to not wake the neighbors. In 5 minutes, again, a little louder. I did this for an hour before I gave up and simply stood there with my head on the door.

"Hong. Hooooonnnngggggg" I whined quietly. Wow, thank goodness it's so early, everyone would think you're a creeper. lmaooo just imagine getting arrested your first day back. I whined into the door, contemplating just sleeping out here.

"Rosella?" a soft voice came from behind me. I turn to see Hong with Geo's arm around her. There were 2 more people behind her but I barely had the awareness to nod as a greeting. "What are you doing here? Wasn't yesterday your-" She stops, noticing that my lip had begun to tremble.

"Rosella-" she comes over and wraps her arms around me, hiding my face from view of the others. Someone unlocks the door and she drags me inside. The sequins on her dress start to itch, but I continue to hug her. Once I'm ready to let go, she sits me down and goes to change her outfit while Geo sits with me. in awkward silence for a while.

"Rose, what happened?" He eventually asks, sliding over a glass of ice water. "I thought your wedding was yesterday. Wasn't your honeymoon suppose to be in Europe?" I couldn't seem to muster the strength to answer, simply staring at him and sighing.

"You have no tact," Hong comments, combing back in her usual floral pjs. She flops down next to me, placing her hand on mine. "You don't have to tell us now, but I would like for you to tell us eventually." I can't help but smile, she always has a soothing air to her. It's impossible to be mad or upset near her. " I have some clothes you can borrow; I have friends over today so you'll have to take the couch, but you can have the guest room tomorrow." I shake my head, forcing myself to pull away from her motherly touch.

"I could never impose on you, I was just wondering if you have my spare key? I really want to go home." I let my voice crack at the end, hoping she wouldn't push for me to stay here. Geo looked at me like I was crazy, staring particularly long at my single backpack.

"Okay. Geo, could you get her key? It's in the top dresser with a purple tip," Hong nods to him and he leaves. " I do feel the need to remind you that you pretty much purged the place when you left. I don't remember the last time I visited either, so its probably super dusty too."

"I'll make do for tonight. I'll go to the store tomorrow for food and cleaning supplies, ok?"

"You'd better, you forgetful dip stick," Geo grunts as he hands me the key. "Actually, we could probably find somewhere open rn. We could swing by and-"

"I was actually going to walk home it's a nice night and-"

"Absolutely not." Hong interrupted me, sounding her top tier forceful. "I know you've been through some shit in the last 48 hours but I'm not going to let you commit suicide by stupidity!" I took a minute to process this, for a second I thought I was back in Gotham.

"It's not far... I only have my backpack and the crime rates here aren't even that high Hong. You know I took mi-"

"Yes yes, I know about your MMA history, but I draw the line. I don't know how much the others have let you get away with but you are not walking alone at night!" I don't fight her, letting her drag me to her car, Geo driving. We're at my complex within minutes.

"Take care of yourself Rosie." Hong says, giving me a half hug through the car window, Geo simply putting a hand on my head. "I'll come to check up on you- and if you don't answer the door I'll call the cops" she threatened before letting go.

"Thank you, seriously, this is so great that you had my key, and for dropping me off." I hesitate before heading up. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you two been dating?" Geo's blush was extremely visible against his skin, even in the shadows.

"It's that obvious huh? We've been together for about 5 months," Hong replied, blushing as well.

"I always thought you two would look cute together," I said, this time with a genuine smile. I wave them off and opt to take the stairs up. I opened the door to my apartment.

It's freezing, dust dancing in the waning moonlight. I set my bag down, pulling out another change of clothing from what I had bought at the airport. I threw it into the bathroom before heading over to my emergency closet. Never though the emergency stash would be used like this. Maybe we shouldn't use it? Earth shattering heartbreak is too an emergency, fuck off. I'll restock it anyways. I pull out some towels and bath supplies. I get in the shower, letting the steaming hot water run over me.

Since when have I not been able to feel my fingers? I ask myself, flexing them one by one. It's like the stakeout in Boston that one winter, Dick brought us hot chocolate-

No. Don't even. Dust! This place is messy and I want to properly disinfect it- unconsciously increasing the pressure with my loofah- I'll need Lysol, tide pods, scrubs, dish rags. Probably should buy more plates too. Damian always had a peculiar adoration for matching cutlery sets, when he bought me some ramen bowls-

OW OW OW OW OW OW OW! I jerk up, my hand immediately going to my upper spine. I breathe in too quickly, taking in some water. I pull open the curtain and lean over the tub, cough and sputtering, trying to catch my breath.

"What- the- fuck-" I manage to gasp out. I was sitting down in the tub, I guess I had fallen asleep???? I shake the drowsiness off, turning off the water and getting out. Despite, or maybe because of, my broken sleep this last day I was still exhausted once I had gotten changed and my heartbeat had slowed down. I looked to my room door, but collapsed on the sofa, letting the musty leather suffocate me to sleep as my bones sunk into the couch.

Chapter 3: Safehouse

I awoke the same way I fell asleep.

Suffocating.

I wanted to get up, find a tissue to blow my nose, but every muscle in me ached a million ways. Did I fall off the empire state building while I was asleep? Did some cannibal beat me with a meat tenderizer for hours and just leave me on this couch? Holy FUCK.

Even twisting my face away from the couch so I could get some fresh air strained my neck. Every joint felt dislocated, limbs lifeless like a broken marionette. The dust. Allergies. I can't breathe...

Can't breathe

Suffocating! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE- I panic, throwing myself off the couch. Landing on the ground actually didn't cause any more pain. I laid there for a minute, mentally trying to put my joints back in their sockets. It isn't a large enough distraction, and I'm soon hyper-aware of everything. My skin was burning where the sunlight touched, the dust in the air was so heavy I could have sworn I lost my vision again. I could hear the meaningless hustle of cars and people outside on the sidewalk, but worst of all was my pounding heartbeat in my ears.

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

I forced myself to get up, groaning as all my muscles pinched as they got back into place. I made a lot of unnecessary noise as I cleaned up my mess from last night. Throwing the shower caddy under the sink, flipping my backpack and letting everything fall out, slamming my dirty clothes into a pile in a corner. And I couldn't help but look around every couple of minutes, not entirely understanding where I was. Trying and failing to compensate for the noises that usually find me when I wake up. When I threw open the balcony windows, I realized I was still waiting to hear another window slide open and a soft "I'm home", even though it was well past noon.

How wild would it be if he actually went on parole after all that? Would a fight have broken out? Would it have been like the whole Owls mishap again?

Get your head out of your ass, they're his family; blood is thicker than water.

Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

He's been helping and fighting alongside them much longer than you have you dip. I storm into the kitchen, only grunting as I smash my hip against the counter. I set out 4 pages of stationary in front of me and made lists; food, clothes, furniture, extra. I took my papers and started walking around, jotting notes of what I needed. Talking to fill the void.

"More toilet paper, hand soap, towels," I hum under my breath, not really checking the cabinets. "As for clothes I should-" my voice caught when I walked into the bedroom. It was freezing. I reflexively bit my lip, eyes watering. Instead of goosebumps, this cold sat in my stomach. The same cold in my hands, from the airplane seat, returned- lacing up my arms, down my stomach and legs. Stabbing my heart and restricting my lungs.

I'm alone.

"I should buy like 4 interchangeable outfits," the whimper barely sounded through the silent tears. I shut the door tight, almost running back to the living room. I sat just outside the ring of light, hunching over my paper. "Jeans, underwear, toothpasTE-" I sniffled but my vision only got blurrier.

"BoOKcASes, a bEd, mayBE a BeAr," my heart squeezed every time my voice broke, and in seconds I couldn't write on the soaked paper. The hiccups were my only air, snot streaking my trembling chin.

"What did I do? What. diD. I DOOO?" I sobbed, wailing into my hands. I curled around a leg of the coffee table, letting its corners cut into my stomach. Wailing until I was dry heaving, scratching my eyes to get rid of these acidic tears, blowing my nose with my shirt- moist blotches sticking to my skin. "Day- Damian" I cried to myself until I passed out again.

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

Afternoons spent silently reading with each other

Matching outfits for galas, some he designed himself, just for me

Our home downtown- bought to have some peace and quiet from his family. Although half the time they broke in, the other half we ended up back in the manor.

Traveling for work, for fun, for missions he didn't think were dangerous.

Sparring with Jason and Cass.

Jason showing me a hundred new bands when I got him into new music genres, trying to help each other find less aggressive ways to vent. Giving him the cream to completely erase the J from his cheek was different, the first time I saw him cry. He understood that blood family wasn't always loyal, and that I didn't mean it when I'd punch or insult someone to hide softer feelings.

Cass just vibing, understanding me and letting me get close. She was always the first to come help me when I was hurt, I became the person she could cry to. The way her face lit up when we were just able to chill a whole night, singing, watching movies and simply understanding each other on a fundamental level.

Barbra growing aggravated as she tried to teach me how to do more with technology than just googling things. Her forgiving my stupidity after I built her a new computer.

The long talks I had with Dick. Anything and everything. The first time hurt, when I called him out. He was giddy and chipper, dramatic as ever but when he caught me staring and stopped for long enough to look back, the pain in his eyes was clear as day. He had just broken up with Kory after all. He didn't need to lie, he didn't need to lighten the mood, he just needed to be honest. But once he could smile honestly again, I couldn't help but remember that he was the one who found out about me and Damian first. He'd been there to spy on our first date, hiding it from Bruce. He was the first to take me out for ice cream then subtly threaten my life if I harmed Damian, the first to swing by for spontaneous days out. To get to know me, to see if I was right for Damian.

Stephanie, Tim and I bonding over teasing and pranking Damian.

Tim and I being forced into caffeine and sleep interventions. Coffee and Coke. And then the beautiful irony of us falling asleep halfway through, especially after I taught him how to sleep with his eyes open.

Cooking with Alfred, learning his famous cookie recipes. Showing him more authentic Hispanic recipes, and him comforting me and being the first to compliment me after I was duped into cooking for the ENTIRE family.

Philosophical and political discussions with Bruce. Talks about war and power, cultural similarities and their origins. Talks about Damian as a child to mess with him. Opening up about paranoia, fear of losing loved ones, the controversies of being "too much" for some people. He understood, sometimes the ultimate sacrifices had to be made in a second. He understood because he was the same. We'd give up our lives before anyone else.

It's all gone.

So much of my past, and now, my whole future.

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

it's cold. i stripped off my shirt and blew my nose.

blood. eww, it's hot. i hold my shirt to my nose, crawling under the table, balling up until i could feel all 4 legs pressing into me.

tuneless humming, watching the room light up until my eyes burn.

I have to pee.

I wash my hands, the water making me aware of my bone dry mouth. My tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth. I let the water pour through my fingers for another minute before walking away, laying back under the coffee table.

long grains. shades of brown. like dead grass. my fingers run over the million tiny bumps watching the wood fade from a blurry brown to a million tiny wooden grains.

My hair is on fire. The sun reaches it from under the table.

There are people in the hallway. They're as loud as the cars outside.

the ac is running. i start humming to drown it out.

i'm melting. i force my eyes to blink but they continue to burn.

I can't breathe. I stagger to the bathroom and after a few minutes of moving my jaw up and down, my mouth manages to open. I swig some water before throwing some on my face. fever? headache at least. I grab a towel to wipe my face, fumbling back into the hall. fuck was i looking directly at the sun? there is only one place colder than the sun. i walk to my bedroom, the cold imperceptible to me now.

but the second i put my eyes directly onto the empty bed frame, i could almost hear them sizzle. it exhausted me. I hadn't realized how hot my face was until i laid it on the floor. like a refreshing bath, calming. i just focused on my heat being transferred to the floor, unaware that I was falling asleep again.

((The writing for the last chapter is intentionally like that, I was attempting to write Rose being in a type of disassociated kind of state; where you aren't aware of time passing, noting seems real, even things in your immediate vicinity. Knowing that you should be doing something, drinking water, changing clothes, listening to music, ANYTHING-but still not doing it. The capitalization/simple sentences and repetition on the latter part was intentional. ))

#I dont know #i guess i wanted to see how/if my writing's changed #YES THIS IS WHERE I GOT THE THING FOR DIAVOLO'S DADS LETTER I REALLY LIKED IT SO I REUSED IT #I couldnt come up with a nice transitory chapter about Rose's friends coming to check on her/ reminding her that she's her own person/#coming back to gotham #BUT THEY DEF DONT GET BACK TOGETHER #not obey me!#NOT OBEY ME #Not OM!#Ozera nonsense

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holyfuckthisfishcandrive · 4 years

Text

Marrige and Obliviousness

First, Previous, Ao3

Word count: 1883

Warnings: implied past trauma, alcohol mention and they’re so oblivious it hurts

I have no idea how weddings work. Never been to one, especially not a church wedding! I'm sorry for the inaccuracies! I'm just guessing here and loosely basing this on the wedding in Sherlock and it's been forever since I've watched that.

"Do I look alright?"

Virgil glanced up from his phone.

"Yeah, I guess," he shrugged.

"I mean it," Logan insisted. "Do I look good?"

"Your boyfriend will like it. Relax."

"He's not my boyfriend. And I simply want to look good for this wedding. I want to make a good first impression on these people."

"You rescheduled a raid for a highly dangerous chemical so you could come and you're worried about what they'll think? And he's totally your boyfriend. You're just both too stupid to realize. Maybe you should just propose to him today. Steal the show a little."

Logan scoffed. "Can you take this serious, please? I will do no such thing! Is my tie straight?"

"Nothing in this house is straight," Virgil glanced up again. "Except for your tie."

Logan halted in his movement. "Wait, did you just come out to me?"

"i- Yeah, I guess. Haven't I before?"

"No. No, you haven't."

"Oh. I'm gay."

"That's great, buddy. I support you," Logan went over to him and ruffled his hair.

"I really never told you?"

"No, you haven't."

"Huh. Can I order Chinese for tonight?"

"If you want to. Sure, you can," Logan noticed the look on Virgil's face. "Do you want me to order for you?"

"That would be nice," Virgil said in a small voice.

"Alright, are you hungry already or should we do it the same way as last time?"

"You won't have your phone with you," Virgil shook his head.

"I will. Of course, I will. Just call me when you get hungry and I'll order for you," Logan returned to the mirror and fiddled with his tie again. "Why wouldn't I have my phone on me?"

"You've been so chuffed with this invitation, I don't want to interrupt your evening just cause I can't order for myself. I want you to have some fun tonight."

"You're not interrupting anything, Virgil. Making a small call for you will in no way keep me from spending time with Patton. I'm sure nobody will mind if I leave to talk to you for a few minutes and then call whatever restaurant you want me to."

Virgil still looked unsure.

"I mean it," Logan turned back to look directly at Virgil. "Just call me when you get hungry. If you don't feel up to calling just text me. In that case, I'll text you back once I've ordered so you know when the food will come."

Okay," Virgil gave a half-smile. "Thanks, Papa."

Logan went over again and gave him a tight hug before pulling away. "Try not to go to bed too late. I bought new lavender tea if you can't sleep. It's in the cabinet over the coffeemaker. Love you, buddy."

"Love you too, Papa. Have a good night."

Logan pressed a quick kiss against his forehead before grabbing his keys and leaving to meet Patton by the flower shop, from where they would take Patton's car to the venue.

It was still rather early in the afternoon and the wind had blown away the factory smoke, letting the sunshine down onto the streets freely. It was a nice day for a wedding.

Patton was just locking up the shop when Logan came.

He looked mesmerizing in his light blue-grey suit. There were no leaves or flower petals in his hair like usually and once Logan got closer he noticed that Patton was wearing a bit of makeup. There was a light pink blush over his cheeks and on his nose and Logan was pretty sure that he had done something to make his eyes seem bigger but wasn't familiar enough with makeup to be able to tell what.

"You look," Logan cleared his throat. "You look great."

Patton looked up at him and smiled widely, his dimples showing.

"Thank you! You look wonderful too!"

Logan couldn't help the small smile at the compliment.

"Thank you. Let's go then, shall we?"

Patton led Logan to his car, an old VW Beetle.

"Do you want to drive?" Patton offered but Logan shook his head.

"I don't know where it is," Logan shook his head. "I also haven't driven a car in... quite a while. I think the last time was about five years ago. I believe you likely have more experience."

Patton chuckled and got in at the driver's side.

"Why haven't you driven in so long?" he asked, starting the car and pulling out of the parking spot.

Logan thought about it for a moment.

"Well, when I drive to work," he carefully chose his words, "we usually drive with many people in one car. Since I don't have a big car and usually the owner of the car drives I just don't really drive."

"Don't you ever drive your son anywhere?"

"No, not unless it's an emergency. He tends to get very anxious in cars so we try to avoid that."

"Oh, I see."

They chatted a bit on the drive.

The wedding venue was a bit out of town, surrounded by trees and had been decorated with flowers and colourful bands, near a small church where the ceremony would take place.

Logan hadn't been in a church in... Gosh, how long had it even been?

Considering how often his parents had dragged him to church they probably would've been very disappointed. Not that that was the only reason they wouldn't approve of his current life.

The ceremony was nice.

The groom, a young Asian man with blonde dyed hair, cried as the bride, a tall beautiful woman, came down the aisle and they looked beyond happy when the pastor declared them husband and wife.

Afterwards, they drove back to the venue and Logan subtly checked his phone while the best man, one of the groom's brothers gave a speech. He didn't know these people so most of the jokes made little to no sense to him.

Virgil hadn't texted him yet but it was still pretty early so he probably would do so later.

The cake was pretty good and Patton introduced him to his sister, Martha, her husband, Luan, and Martha's son from her previous marriage, Janus. Janus seemed about Virgil's age if a bit taller but then again most kids were. Logan guessed Martha's first husband had been black since Janus was, safe for a few light spots, the biggest he could see covering half his face. Vitiligo, apparently.

An elder couple came over and hugged Martha and Luan tightly.

"I'm so proud of you!" the woman told Martha. "You look so beautiful!"

She ruffled Janus hair who tried to bat her hand away but failed.

"Oh, Patton, it's so great to see you! Is this your boyfriend?"

Logan noticed Patton's ears go red. He liked seeing Patton blush. He did it a lot.

"We're friends, not a couple," Patton protested.

"You aren't?" Luan asked. "I thought you were. From what you said about Logan it sounded like it."

Patton let out a strangled sound.

"We're just close friends," Logan clarified ignoring the part of him that burned with curiosity over what Patton had said about him.

"Sure," Janus said and clicked his tongue. "I believe you."

He didn't sound like he believed it at all.

He would probably get along well with Virgil. Maybe Logan should introduce them sometime.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and Logan used the opportunity to duck out into the garden.

Virgil: do you have the number of that chinese place down the street?

if not I can send it to you

Logan: No, I don't have it.

Also, why are so many people assuming that Patton and I are dating?

Virgil: because you are

Have a nice snog w/ him

Logan rolled his eyes.

Virgil sent him the number and his order a moment later, Logan saved it and ordered for him, sending Virgil a last quick text before heading back inside.

A band had begun to play and the newly wedded couple was dancing together, smiling at each other.

Logan found Patton who greeted him with a wide smile and pulled him onto the dance floor as soon as the first dance was over.

"Patton, I'm not sure this is a good idea," Logan tried to protest.

"Why? Can't you dance? You seem like the kind of guy who knows how to dance."

"I can-"

"Then what's the problem?"

Logan noticed hurt seep into Patton's voice.

He probably thought Logan just didn't want to dance with him.

"I- Nothing. Sorry, I just did not expect to dance," Logan nervously licked his lips and adjusted his hand to be on Patton's waist, taking the lead.

Patton let him, something he was very grateful for.

The band played a pop song, so different from the one he remembered from that fateful dance so long ago.

He was in a nice venue with a nice garden in the outskirts of Woethough with Patton.

Not in a skyscraper. Not in New York. Not with that man.

"Are you alright?" Patton asked gently. "You seem tense."

There was a line of worry between his brows.

Logan took a deep breath and tried to release the tension in his shoulders.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said, half to reassure Patton, half to remind himself. It was just a bad memory. "Don't worry."

Once the song was over Martha asked to have a dance with her brother, telling Logan that she would have his boyfriend back to him in a few minutes and laughing when he repeated that they weren't boyfriends.

Logan wandered over to the punch table and grabbed a glass.

"You shouldn't drink it," Janus stopped him and stepped out of the shadows. The kid apparently had a flair for the dramatics. He'd make a good villain, Logan thought.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Well, someone might have spiked it," he shrugged and a small flask became visible under his jacket for a split second. "You never know."

"What a shame," Logan set his glass down again. "Why would someone just spike the punch at a wedding like that? Purely hypothetical of course."

"Perhaps because it is boring?" Janus pretended to speculate. "So they might be hoping for something interesting to happen. Like that."

He pointed at a goth who Logan was pretty sure was Luan's mother who came over and filled two glasses with punch before taking a sip of both, greeting them and going back towards the bridesmaid she had been chatting with to give her one of the drinks.

"I see. That would make sense, very good theory. But why would that person then tell someone not to drink it?"

"In theory?" Janus raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, in theory."

"Maybe they don't want that person to get too drunk and embarrassingly declare their love for the drink spikers uncle or something."

Logan frowned.

"I am not in love with Patton," he insisted.

"I never said that," Janus said. "But, for the record, you definitely are."

Logan pinched his nose and sighed.

Janus laughed at him until Patton came back and asked Logan for another dance.

Somehow one of the violets decorating the place had found its way into his hair, matching his bow tie nicely and how was Logan supposed to say 'No' to a smile that beautiful?

Taglist:

@patton-cake

#sanders sides #logan sanders #ts logan #virgil sanders #ts virgil #patton sanders #ts patton #janus sanders #ts janus #logicality #wedding #my writing #au #woethough au

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lia-jones · 4 years

Text

Growing Stronger - Chapter Three - Happy Birthday, Andrea! (Victor’s POV)

Victor was having one of those days. Which was uncanny, because he never had one of “those” days. Ever. He was perfectly able to separate his personal life from his work, proficient in the art of putting emotions aside to deal with issues at hand. That was exactly what made him a good businessman. It was also what gave him his fame of being cold and aloof, although he didn’t mind. It worked, it gave him good results. However, for the life of him, he found himself unable to concentrate, his eyes constantly being drawn to his phone.

Annoyingly persistent, the question hammered in his mind: should he call her? After all, it was her birthday. They were practically business partners, it would be rude not to call. She knew he knew when her birthday was. Like the excellent administrator he was, Victor quickly drafted on a piece of paper a list of costs and benefits of said call. The benefits were obvious. Number one, it was a show of goodwill; number two, it would improve business relations; Number three, it was a polite gesture. He grudgingly added a fourth benefit, not because he would willingly admit it, but because it was a fact, and facts needed to be addressed, no matter how painful or embarrassing they were. Number four, he would love to hear her voice.

Victor sighed heavily as he read the fourth point of his benefit list. He was a fool. Moving on, he thought. The costs of calling Andrea to wish her a happy birthday. Number one, it would probably upset her. Judging by their last encounter, she wanted to have nothing to do with him. She even threatened to quit the study in case he was involved. He was clearly a persona non grata. Number two, he shouldn’t be wasting his time with such a thing. She would probably have gotten one of those automatic Happy Birthday messages from LFG, since she was a former employee. Maybe that’s all he had to do. He didn’t go around calling every business partner to wish them a Happy Birthday. It was simply ridiculous. Inefficient. Number three… Victor wished he didn’t have to write this down. Number three, he was probably forcing himself into her life, just like he did with the producer. Except this time she had made it perfectly clear she didn’t want him there. She slapped him and left. Because he was an idiot and said something very hurtful in the hope of winning an argument.

Victor gave up on the list and lowered his head, holding it between his hands. He had called Daniel all the ugly names he knew, and now those names could perfectly describe him. He told Andrea her infertility was a silver lining. What kind of an asshole says that to the woman he loves? Especially to Andrea, who went through so much, was capable to change her life for the better, to face her abuser with courage and integrity, how could he throw such a cheap blow? No wonder she didn’t want him in her life. She loved him like nobody did before, gave him unprecedented happiness, she lovingly tore down every single wall he built, and they connected in ways he never deemed possible. She showed him sometimes he could be his worst enemy, depriving himself of happiness for pride and... Well, mostly pride.

Victor had to make it up to her, he had to make sure everything in her life worked perfectly. He could no longer hold her, or kiss her, or tell her he loved her, but he could ensure she got everything she ever wanted. That was the real reason he was investing in her study. He knew that the moment LFG was involved and he put his plan in motion to diffuse all the gossip around her, no one could stop the momentum her study would have. Everybody would want to invest in it. She would be virtually unstoppable.

The sound of a knock on his door made Victor internally panic and quickly throw the list to the trash, effectively eliminating any evidence of his weakness. It was Goldman. Victor spoke before Goldman could, pretending to be focused on his work.

“Talk.” He said, dismissively. He watched Goldman shift his weight anxiously from one foot to the other. Victor did not have to fake his exasperation. “What is it?”

Goldman took a deep uneasy breath. Seeing he was nervous, Victor softened his expression.

“Take a seat. What do you need?”

Goldman relaxed when he heard Victor’s softer tone, and sat down.

“I don’t know if you have heard, Diane and I got engaged.” He started.

“Yes, I am aware.” Victor offered, giving him a small smile.

“Sir, first of all I have to say I am beyond grateful for all you have done for me over all of these years. If it weren’t for you, I would probably still be living on friends’ sofas, or maybe the street. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have a career, a dignified life, and I wouldn’t have met my future wife. I owe it all to you, Sir.”

Victor was not expecting this sudden expression of gratitude. Goldman had been a good companion over the years, enduring his hard temper, listening whenever Victor couldn’t hold it inside anymore and needed to confide, even if he only allowed himself a few very short outbursts. Victor had put all his trust in his assistant, and he had proven to be worthy. He was the one who should be grateful. Goldman continued.

“I know you will probably consider this a waste of your time, but I still have to ask. Will you be the best man at my wedding?”

Victor was thrown back by Goldman’s question. Andrea was absolutely right. The memory of both of them in his bed, enjoying post-coital bliss, came to his mind. “I found it.” He could hear her voice like she was there right there, in his arms, head on his chest.

“You found what?” Victor’s head raised from the pillow.

“My favorite place on Earth.” She smiled. Victor raised an eyebrow.

“My bed?”

“Your arms.”

Victor’s heart beat faster, and he couldn’t help but hold her really tight, butterflies running wild inside his stomach.

“They’re yours.” He lifted her chin and kissed her softly. “I’m yours.”

They stayed like that for a moment, face to face, noses touching, a smile on their faces. Victor felt relaxed, happy, noticing how perfectly Andrea fitted in his embrace.

“Goldman invited us to go on a double date.” Victor started.

“Yeah, Diane mentioned it too. I told her not to get her hopes up.” She said, pulling herself back down to lie her head on his chest.

“Why not?”

“You want to do it?” She seemed surprised. Did she think he would say no?

“Well, she’s a close friend of yours, right? The idea does not make me exactly euphoric, but if it’s something you’d like, I don’t mind.”

“Goldman is your friend too.” She retorted.

“Goldman is my employee. It’s different.”

“No, Goldman is your friend. He might be your best friend actually.” She lifted her head from his chest, making Victor resent the cold of her absence. She had this resolve in her eyes, that sweet expression she wore when she was trying to make a point. “Goldman has been working with you for what, seven years?”

“Eight. So what? I have employees working for me for longer than that.”

“Employee or not, the guy has taken your crap for eight years, and you know how hard you can get. He knows all your quirks, probably knows more about your personal life than even I do. He’s your go-to guy, and maybe you don’t care to admit it, your confidant?”

She wasn’t wrong. Goldman was all of those things. Except for confidant. Victor enjoyed his privacy.

“You may be right.” He said, furrowing his eyebrows. “Who knew you’d be so insightful?” Victor teased.

“Who thought I wouldn’t be?” The tone of her voice raised slightly, as she pretended to be offended. Victor played along.

“Well, everybody knows I’m the wise one in the relationship.” Victor jested, as he pulled her closer.

“Oh really? And when was that established? I was not informed of such an important conclusion.”

“We had a meeting.” Victor declared nonchalantly. “Didn’t you get the memo?”

“Clearly I didn’t. So, if you’re the wise one, what is my role, then?”

Victor stifled a laugh.

“The village idiot.”

“Good night, then.” She said shortly, motioning to move away from him, pretending to be upset. Victor hugged her waist, keeping her in place.

“Wait, don’t go.” He said, between laughs. “You don’t like your title?”

“I don’t know what a title is, I’m the village idiot.” She squinted at him, as she tried to free herself from his grip.

“Do you think I’m letting you escape that easily?” Victor pinned her arms against the mattress, kissing her. She was still pretending to be angry, as she didn’t kiss him back. “Kiss me.” He urged in a hush.

“I’m the village idiot, I don’t know how to kiss.”

“I’ll show you then. Follow my lead.” He was still playing along, but his mind was filled with desire. He wanted her again. His tongue glided on her lips, his teeth biting them, inviting them to join the kiss. Andrea blew a raspberry on his mouth. Maybe she wasn’t playing anymore. Was she offended with what he said?

“You’re angry?” He asked, suddenly worried, as he let go of her arms.

“And I’m the village idiot?” She said smiling, pulling him from a proper kiss. She could be so endearingly frustrating sometimes.

“Maybe I’m the idiot.” Victor spoke into her lips, before claiming what was his.

Victor cleared his throat, fearing he drifted away in his memory longer than he should.

“It will be my pleasure.” He answered Goldman, who in return looked at him like he had grown an extra head.

“R-Really?” He stuttered with surprise. “Thank you, Sir!”

“You have been working close to me for the last eight years. It’s about time you call me Victor.” Victor gave him a slight smile. “In fact, I would like to give you my wedding gift immediately. Pick a venue for the wedding, flowers, caterers, anything you need, and bill it to LFG. Your wedding will be my gift to you.”

Victor suppressed a smile when he saw the panic on Goldman’s face.

“Sir, it’s too much. I don’t know what to say…”

“It’s Victor.” He warned. “Don’t think too much of it, consider it a token of appreciation for all these years of loyalty. Now, let’s get back to work.” Victor declared, turning to his computer.

“Absolutely… Victor. Is there anything you need?”

Victor paused for a moment, pondering.

“Yes. Cancel all my meetings for the rest of the day. I’m going home. Call me if anything comes up.” He answered, gathering his belongings to leave.

The terrace was filled with fairy lights. Balloons saying “Happy Birthday” were tied to the rim of the balcony. On the center, a table with two seats, already set with colorful plates and some candles.

Victor was confident that she wouldn’t remember his birthday. He made sure of it, he didn’t care for birthday celebrations. When she told him that she couldn’t go to his place for dinner because she needed to work on her thesis, he saw nothing unusual. When she called him telling him she needed him, he practically flew to her apartment. Clearly, when it came to Andrea, Victor didn’t do all the thinking with his head.

She hugged him from behind. He took her hand and pulled her to his chest, making her face him, his arms around her.

“Surprise!” She said, beaming at him.

“I really have to watch my back with you, don’t I?” He playfully raised his eyebrow at her.

“Happy birthday, handsome.” She kissed him. To Victor, just that kiss alone was worth the whole hustle. He held her tighter and deepened the kiss, decided to prolong the warm feeling for as much as he could. Like it happened so many times with Andrea, he wished he could still stop time. She broke the kiss with a mile-wide smile.

“Wait, don’t go thanking me yet. I’m not done.”

She had a whole meal prepared for both of them. His favorite white wine, that Portuguese fish stew he tried in Portugal and absolutely loved. Victor ate with gusto, trying not to moan with each bite he took. It was delectable. Maybe he should let Andrea cook more often.

A chocolate raspberry cake came after, decorated with 34 lit candles. Despite his protests, Andrea sang him Happy Birthday and made him blow the candles and make a wish. Victor felt himself blush with all the attention. Well, he could just blame it on the wine.

Andrea went to her apartment with the dirty dishes, returning with a wrapped box.

“I do hope you like it. I saw it and thought it would bring out your eyes.”

Victor smiled as he opened his present carefully. He didn’t know what it was yet, but it was already on the list of his most prized possessions. It was a dark teal shirt. Very tasteful. He could already picture it with some of his suits. He pulled Andrea to his lap, kissing her.

“I take it you liked it?” She gave him a wide smile.

He loved it. He loved it all. He never enjoyed birthdays, apart from those he had spent with Mia. But this was different. He didn’t spend his time wondering if his feelings were reciprocated, he knew they were. Victor felt love and felt loved. That feeling alone was the best gift Andrea could give him.

Victor read the list he saved from the trash one last time. He went to his bedroom, and opened the drawer of the nightstand, retrieving the small box. He had bought it a while ago for this specific occasion. The box would go to its designated owner.

Victor wrote a small note and attached it to the box, putting it on the passenger’s front seat of his car, and drove to Andrea’s apartment. He would leave it in her mailbox and leave. It wouldn’t take him more than five minutes.

The box was too big to fit through the narrow slit of her mailbox. Victor stood there for a moment, contemplating on what to do. Leave it on her doormat? That’s when he heard someone call his name. He took a step back, startled.

He couldn’t recognize the voice in the dark at first. As the man approached, he saw who it was. A man is his late fifties, hazel eyes, blonde hair. That sincere, easy smile, the one Andrea usually wore. It was her father.

#Growing Pains - Series #growingstronger #mlqc victor #mlqc fanfic #mlqc li zeyan #victor x oc #love and producer #mister love queens choice

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heyyyharry · 5 years

Text

Chapter 7: Brides War

(from the Flatmate Trilogy: Two Hearts, One Home)

…in which Harry and Y/N are invited to two weddings at once.

Word count: 3.6k

Chapter 6: Long Night - Y/N is sad and Harry just wants to talk.

Wattpad link

"I told you we shouldn't have come here!" Harry whispered to his wife, who shushed him immediately so they wouldn't draw any attention to themselves. Maybe Harry was right. They'd followed Layla here so she wouldn't hurt Trix, but right now the two of them were only 'talking', so Harry and Y/N shouldn't have been there. The hostile tension in Trix's living room was much harder to bear than watching them yell at each other for real.

On the way to see Trix, Y/N had hoped that this was just a big misunderstanding because she believed Trix had no motive to ruin Layla's dream wedding. But that was the problem, she always believed in the good of people, until they proved to her that they weren't what they seemed to be.

"You want to know why I did that?" Trix asked as she crossed her arms and leaned back against her couch. "Well, by the time I finish listing all the terrible things you've done to me ever since we first met, Y/N will have already delivered her baby on my couch, so I'll save us some time and say, I don't like you."

"I'm not pregnant." Both Trix and Layla turned to Y/N, who put on a nervous smile. "That...that was a false rumor...but we're not here to talk about me so...I guess I'll shut up."

"It's okay, we're done here," Trix said with a shrug, but Layla stopped her as soon as she stood up.

"What's gotten into you?" Layla also got to her feet. "I mean...why now? You weren't like this, you used to be—"

"Easily picked on? Obedient?" Trix scoffed, her eyebrows furrowed. "I've always tolerated you, Layla, we all have, because we wanted to believe there was something good about you. But then I told you about my fiancé and do you remember what you said?"

Layla shook her head and kept a neutral expression so nobody knew what she was really thinking about. Nervous, Y/N shifted her glances between the two, not knowing what to do to stop this conversation. Meanwhile, Harry was biting his nails in anxiety. He pinched his forehead, eyes glued to the floor and leaned in to whisper to his wife, "I remember, I was there."

"Yes, Harry was there." Harry flinched when Trix mentioned his name. "Tell her, Harry. What did she say?"

Harry didn't want to be a part of this, but now he was left with no choice as all eyes were on him. "Uhm...So...Trix told us she was engaged and Layla told her she was...uhm...a dumbass...who only got engaged for attention. Sorry, Layla, please don't hate me!"

"That's not it though!" Trix jumped right in before Layla could speak for herself. "She also said that she didn't want to come to my wedding because our marriage wouldn't last more than a month. That's exactly the kind of support I want in a friend, by the way."

"Are you joking?" Layla snorted as she looked at everyone. "She's engaged to a guy she barely knows. Don't make me the bad guy while I tried to be a nice friend and spoke the truth."

"See?!" Trix laughed wryly, her hands were on her hips. "Everything has to be about you, you cannot stand other people receiving more attention than you. But you know what? I'm done being your minion."

Y/N could imagine steam coming out of Layla's ears as if she would strangle Trix right on the spot. But what she actually said left everyone surprised. "Fine, you want me to apologize, right? I will if it means you give me back the venue."

"Is she serious?" Harry whispered to Y/N, but once again, everyone heard it.

"Yes, I am, Harry," Layla told him, her eyes fixated on Trix, who seemed taken aback by that response. Y/N was rebuilding her hope when she saw how fast Trix's expression had softened, but she should've known better than to expect too much.

"It's too late for that. Find another venue, or change the date."

Layla's face contorted as she heard that cold answer. She clenched her fists, her chest thrust out as she stepped forward, causing Trix to stumble a step back.

"You'll be fucking sorry, airhead," Layla said between gritted teeth. Fear crossed Trix's face as she thought Layla would slap her right then, but Layla only pushed her aside and stormed out of the room without saying another word.

Standing on the sidelines, Harry and Y/N exchanged looks of confusion, yet neither of them dared to interfere, and so they scurried toward the front door to leave as fast as they could.

"Glad it didn't end with Layla going to jail." Harry heaved a sigh of relief once they'd entered the lift, but the serious look on his wife's face made him concerned.

She stared at him, eyebrows snapped together. "Who says it's ended?"

Just like Harry and Niall, Y/N didn't want to interfere with Layla and Trix's business. In fact, she had never wanted to interfere with anyone's business, for it was never a good idea to throw yourself in someone else's whirlwind of drama.

She hadn't seen Layla in a week since that night at Trix's, and she'd been too caught up with work to give her a call. She didn't worry much because she believed, unlike her, Layla always knew how to take care of herself. But that was until she and Harry talked to Nam one morning.

"Trix invited you and Ben to her wedding?!" Y/N asked, her eyes bulging as her mouth fell open. "She doesn't even know you!"

"We talked at your bachelorette and wedding."

"That didn't make you two friends, Nam!" Y/N exclaimed and hurriedly pulled out her phone to type down a text to both Liam and Louis. If Trix was doing what Y/N thought she was, then Louis' and Liam's answers would be able to confirm it.

And she was right, as always.

Trix's intention wasn't just to make sure Layla didn't get that venue on that specific date. Apparently, she didn't want Layla to have a wedding at all. She'd sent her wedding invitations to all of their mutual friends, knowing if given a choice, those people would choose her wedding over Layla's. And so Y/N had to meet up with Liam and Louis to ask for their help, yet it seemed like she was the only one who thought this "competition" was pointless and childish.

"Are you serious? We're not picking sides right now!"

"Yes, we are, Trix is our friend too, and she's always been so nice to us," Liam said despite how upset Y/N seemed. "If I remember correctly she was nice to you way before you got with Harry. Layla, on the other hand, is mean to everyone."

"True," Louis nodded. "Why are you even Layla's maid of honor? Did she pay you or something?"

"Hey, mate, do not talk to my wife that way!"

Y/N tugged at Harry's arm to remind him to stay calm and took a deep breath before turning back to their friends. "I'm saying that we don't need to pick sides if we can convince Trix to change her wedding date. I mean, Layla already gave her the venue."

"Correction, Layla didn't give her the venue, Trix booked it first and Layla, as always, couldn't stand not getting what she wanted." Louis scoffed, rolling her eyes. "But since I love Niall, I'll go to their wedding ceremony and then attend Trix's wedding reception."

"But then who would even show up at Layla's wedding reception?! Trix has taken half of her guest list!"

"Well, she's always been mean to Trix, so this is on her," Liam mumbled. It wasn't like him to say something like this so Y/N guessed that was why he couldn't look her in the eyes. And there was nothing else she could do and say then that would get them to help her.

She knew they had their reasons because so did Trix, who seemed very determined to win this brides war. To Y/N, however, this wasn't about winning or losing, it was about Layla not receiving any support from the only people she'd ever considered friends. As her best friend, Y/N couldn't stand by and watch this wedding go down in flames.

"Hey, maybe if Niall comes to talk to Trix, she'll change her mind," Y/N told Harry on their way to his car, but he seemed uncertain with her idea.

"Niall already told me he didn't want to be a part of their conflict." He rolled his eyes, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her in. "I think it'll be easier if we just convince Layla to move the date."

"She doesn't want to."

"See? That's the problem. She's selfish."

"No, she is not!"

Harry widened his eyes in shock when his wife suddenly yelled at him, but then she cleared her throat and continued with a softer tone. "I'm sorry I yelled at you but I know something about her that you don't. So just trust me, we need to help her."

"Understood." He pressed his lips into a smile, nodding his head. "When I get to the office, I'll call and talk to Trix myself."

"Thanks, best husband ever!" Y/N giggled and tiptoed to kiss him on the cheek.

"Trix, no, listen I—"

"I've made up my mind, Harry. Have a good day!"

"Wait!"

Trix hung up before Harry could even get to the point. That phone call had only lasted for five minutes as she had exploded the second she heard Layla's name. Harry understood why she was so upset. He wasn't fond of Layla's ridiculous attitude, but a part of him felt bad for her because he knew she wasn't a bad person. He also felt bad for Niall, who had never asked to be a part of this, now probably no one would show up at his wedding.

His head was hurting with all these thoughts and worries. He didn't know how his wife could handle this much drama but he wasn't used to this, at least not anymore. His life was finally getting better, and he'd like to keep it that way.

When one of his employees asked to see him, he hoped she would bring some good news to brighten his day. But no. The girl was from the HR department, and she was here to tell him that, his assistant had quit.

That woman had accepted a better job deal in a different firm before he'd taken his father's place, because she'd thought he'd be just like Devlin whom she despised. Now he understood why she'd been working so hard and even told him how much she appreciated and respected him. She was just feeling guilty for leaving him this way.

"Don't worry, sir. We've found a replacement. She'll start today," said the girl from HR as she carefully laid the application folder on Harry's desk and took a step back instantly.

Harry was too frustrated to even check that folder. He flopped down in his chair, letting out a heavy sigh. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner, Kelly? The HR department just hire whoever they want now?"

"Sorry, sir, you've been so busy and...we didn't want to trouble you with these little problems."

"She was my assistant, Kelly. Her leaving isn't just a little problem."

Kelly couldn't stop apologizing so Harry waved her off and told her to send the new assistant to his office as soon as she arrived.

"S-She's already here, sir." Kelly gulped, her cheeks turned red when Harry arched an eyebrow at her.

"Tell her to come in then."

"Yes, sir!" Kelly nodded rapidly and dashed out of the room.

Two minutes later, there was another knock on the door, and Harry told the new employee to enter. He didn't have time to waste on a terrible assistant, so he hoped this girl knew how to make a first impression. Ironically, this wasn't the first time they had met.

"Wait...Harry?"

"Now, you must be wondering why you're all here."

"This is an intervention, isn't it?" Trix spoke as she shifted her eyes between Louis and Liam, who were sitting next to her on the couch. "But the one who needs intervention isn't here. So I honestly don't know what's the purpose of this."

"Can you guys chill for a second?"

"Ask your wife to chill, Harold. She was the one who asked us to come—"

"Alright, stop!" Y/N suddenly raised her voice. "I know you're all mad at Layla but—"

"Mad at her?" Trix laughed, shaking her head. "No, we hate her. And what we don't understand is why you're still defending her. She was mean to you the most."

Liam and Louis didn't hesitate to agree with Trix, but Y/N turned a deaf ear to them. She was tired of hearing about how she was supposed to hate Layla, the one person besides Harry who had been with her through everything. She didn't invite them to her home to hear about how much they hated her best friend.

"Do you know why Layla wants her wedding to be on that specific date?"

"Because she's a selfish bitch who—"

"It's her parents' wedding anniversary," Y/N said quickly, leaving Trix frozen in her spot, just like Liam and Louis, who were looking at each other with their mouths opened. Y/N was right to assume they didn't know about this. In fact, Layla had only told her and Niall because she felt embarrassed by her own family trauma. Y/N had sworn to never tell anyone, but she didn't feel bad for saying this now. If these people were going to put Layla on trial, they should at least hear her side of the story first.

"Layla was ten when her parents got divorced. It was their anniversary night, and her dad came home late, drunk. He told her mother he wanted to marry another woman and forced her to sign the divorce papers. There was a loud argument that led to her dad pushing her mother down the stairs. She was fine and he was rich enough to get away with it. But that wasn't something a ten-year-old could see and forget. She wanted to get married on the same day so for once she could go through this day being happy instead of thinking about that night."

Y/N took a short pause to see if anyone had something to say. When they remained quiet, she continued, now looking at Liam. "Liam, when your girlfriend left you because of your drinking problems, it was Layla who convinced her to take you back."

Then Louis. "Lou, when you were homeless for a month because you lost your job, it was Layla who asked Niall to let you stay at their place, not the other way around."

Finally, she turned to Trix. "And you, if it wasn't for Layla, you would still be unemployed. You'd failed too many job interviews, so she had to ask for help from her dad, who's friends with your boss. Layla is not perfect, I know that better than anyone, but she's not evil. She never told any of you about those things, because she didn't want you guys to think you owe her a favor. But here you are, turning on her the second you have the chance to. Does that make you better than the person you assumed she was?"

The room fell to silence once Y/N had finished, not only because they all felt bad, but because they heard the front door open and saw Layla standing right there. Y/N turned paralyzed on the spot as her mouth snapped shut. She didn't know how long Layla had been listening, maybe just enough for her to look this desolate. Still, she mentioned nothing about Y/N's speech and walked in despite all the looks from her friends. To their surprise, she handed Y/N and Harry two white envelopes.

"Uhm...these are my official wedding invitations. I wanted to give them to you and H first." She pressed her lips into a sly smile. "I changed the date by the way. Same venue but one month later."

"Layla," Liam began, but Layla didn't want him to finish whatever he was about to say.

"It's okay, Liam," she cut him off. "Since you guys are all here, there's also something I want to tell you." Then she stood in front of them with her hands behind her back. Y/N knew no one here could see it, but she could, and she knew Layla was trying her best not to burst into tears as she began, "Look...I...I'm sorry...for everything that I've done and said to you since we first met. I don't expect you to forgive me, but...if you don't come to my wedding for me, please do it for Niall. I don't want him to lose his friends because of me."

She stopped and stood there for a second or two, waiting for someone to speak, but all she received was utter silence, not even a "no".

"I guess...I'll see you guys around."

"Layla, wait..." Liam attempted to stand up and go after her, but Y/N raised her hand to ask him to stay put.

"I'll go," she said, giving Harry one last look before running after her best friend.

The lift door opened on the ground floor just in time Layla was heading out of the building. Breathless, Y/N ran as fast as she could, and caught up with the girl before she reached Niall's car.

"I'm sorry!" Those two words made Layla stop and turn around. Y/N tried to steady her breathing as she spoke in a heavy tone, "I shouldn't have said those things. You told me not to say anything but—"

Before Y/N could get to the point, she was stopped by a hug so tight which almost squeezed all the air out of her lungs. Layla's voice was strained as she whispered, "I love you so much. You know that?"

It wasn't like Layla to be saying those two words with such ease, so to be honest, Y/N was quite concerned. She swallowed hard and eventually brought both hands up to return the hug. She asked quietly, "give Trix time, I'm sure she'll understand and—"

"Don't worry about me." Layla released a soft chuckle which left Y/N perplexed. "I have Niall, you, and H, so I'm fine. I think it's time I accept that Niall and I aren't my parents, and I don't need a wedding to help me prove that. Besides, Trix deserves to enjoy her big day, that's the least I can do for her."

"Gosh, you sound so...unlike you." Y/N laughed quietly, holding her best friend closer. "Should I slap you to wake you up?"

"I'd break your hand, Y/N."

"Forget what I just said." Y/N rolled her eyes and pulled away as both of them burst out laughing.

With a small smile, Layla cleared her throat as if to get rid of all the sentimental feelings she had for one second. "I need to go now," she told Y/N. "I'm having lunch with Niall's family today. I'll call you later?"

"Okay, love you too by the way."

Y/N chuckled when Layla raised a middle finger in the air and turned back to Niall, who was waiting by his car. Y/N heard him say "I'm so proud of you" before pulling Layla into a hug. So it was probably him who had talked her into changing her mind. Maybe this was exactly what Layla needed, a better family.

With a beam on her face, Y/N returned to her flat, ready to break the good news to everyone that Layla wasn't upset anymore. However, happiness couldn't have died faster. She was greeted at the door by these weird looks from Trix, Louis, and Liam, and it took her a whole second to spot the stranger in the middle of her living room. She didn't know who that was or what was happening, but from her husband's apologetic frown, she knew this girl was definitely not a wanted guest.

"Hi, oh my God, Y/N!" The blue-eyed brunette exclaimed as she stepped forward and grabbed both of Y/N's hands. "I haven't seen you in so long! Do you remember me?"

"Sorry, who...who are you?" Y/N frantically asked, looking over the girl's shoulder to see Harry facepalmed himself.

"I'm Kierra. We met once at your old flat a few years ago." Kierra smiled. "I was Harry's friend, remember?"

Yes, Y/N remembered now. But from her memory, Kierra wasn't Harry's friend, at least not the definition of "friend" that you would find in a dictionary. She was one of those girls Harry had brought home and fucked occasionally before they stopped seeing each other and moved on with new people. Y/N remembered her because they'd had a long talk one afternoon while waiting for Harry to come home. But why was she here?

"Why are you here?" Y/N asked before she could stop herself, but Kierra didn't seem to be offended.

Smiling from ear to ear, she said, "I'm Harry's new assistant."

#flatmate!harry

271 notes · View notes

laceymorganwrites · 5 years

Text

I remember

Word Count: 1,782

Pairing: Obito x reader

Song: I remember - Betty Who

Warnings: swearing i guess

Warm nights, slow hands, you let me sleep

Every night you spent with Obito was magical. He was so sincere, so passionate, so romantic. He took his time with you, every time could be the last and Obito would be a fool not to spend every night with you as if it was the last. He never knew when it´d be the last. And you knew all aboout the darkness in Obito´s head. About the unrequited love he couldn´t save, his weakness for his friends, the everlasting cold and the stench of death. In your arms with your heart in front of me

You weren´t strong like him, yet you had to be for him. For both of you. You couldn´t let him be alone with his thoughts, with all of this death that couldn´t let him sleep. You tried your best to calm his fragile heart. And he let you, he let himself fall into you, he almost forgot what it felt like to trust, to be safe. Sweet words, small clouds

Obito was beyond grateful to you, you didn´t have to be with him and yet here you were. Like an angel embracing him in your halo, embracing him to the gates of heaven. You said to me, you'd be loving me forever

Of course you long passed the point of being together forever, but it was selfish. Forever would never be yours. Your forever would last another year if you were lucky. You never knew if the mission he was on right now would be his last one.

We got lost in the night

How could you not want him to stay? How could you just pretend everything would be fine and work out eventually? You never wanted him to leave in the morning, ever. Now we're stumbling through the dark

Sometimes he had to leave in the night, those nights were horrible to you, absolutely terrifying. Cold and alone you would wait for morning to come, you couldn´t sleep without Obito. And sometimes I wonder why we have to work this hard

It shouldn´t be like this, he never did anything to deserve this life of war and destruction. In this land where children fought their parents´ wars, was there even room for a fragile thing like love? But here we are

I remember nobody loves me like you do

But no matter what you tried, you could never forger Obito. He was your love, your one true love, the only good thing in your life. You missed him looking at you full of love, you missed him telling you how much he loved you, all those sweet words he uttered, you just missed him every time he was out on a mission. (I remember, I remember) I remember I don't want perfect, I want you

Obito was so beyond everything you ever wished for, you could´ve ever asked for, he was the man of your dreams and so much more. It made you sad that he never seemed to think that of himself. (I remember, yes, I remember) You know you're the only one

Both of you would get jealous sometimes, as in any relationship. The only problem was that you two took it to heart too much. You´ve always had trouble trusting people, always believing they´d just lie to you and wouldn´t want you around. Obito was the same. He was even worse, he always thought he was unlovable, he wasn´t good enough, so why were you with him? How could I forget this love?

“I want you to move on when I die, just forget about me...” Obito asked you one glum night. You were shocked at this ridiculous statement. “I can´t. How can you ask such a thing of me? I could never love another, I don´t want to… you´re the only one for me, Obito” you grabbed his hands. “Please, (Y/N). It´s my dying wish, I want you to be happy” he kissed your hands. “And I don´t want you to die! I can never be happy once you die!” you cried. I remember, no matter what, it's me and you (I remember, yes, I remember)

“I will love you even in death, but I never know when it´s time for me, so please, allow happiness into your life when I´m gone” he didn´t leave room for argument. “But you´re my happiness, Obito. And should you die before me, know that I will love you for my entire life until we meet again in the afterlife” you kissed him.

Long nights that month you went away

The next mission took longer than usual. It kept you on your toes the whole entire time, you couldn´t sleep, you couldn´t eat, you just sat at your window anxiously. Waiting for either Obito come back or the letter that stated his death. Phone calls, your voice, it's not the same

On such long missions Obito always wrote you letters. Letters telling you about his day, reassuring you that it wouldn´t take much longer now, how much he missed you. How he loved you… So you drove all night just to say You'd be loving me forever

After this certain mission, like he did with all the others, Obito hurried home as fast as he could. He didn´t even take a stop. This mission was especially tough for him, he realized he didn´t want to be apart from you anymore, he wanted to be with you forever. And so the idea of marriage planted itself in his head. The concept of marriage was something that was frowned upon greatly by the village. But you still agreed.

We got lost in the night

“(Y/N)! I´m back” Obito announced and you immediately came rushing to him, throwing yourself around his neck and hugging him tightly. “I missed you so much...” you sobbed into his chest. “I missed you too, you can´t even imagine how much… It´s terrible being without you” he cradled your head. “That´s why I´ve been thinking about doing something stupid” he smirked and pulled away from you. You tilted your head and your breath got caught in your throat as he got down on one knee. “Wanna disappoint the elders? Marry me, (Y/N)?” he grinned up at you as he presented the ring. You hugged him with such a might that both of you now laid flat on the ground, laughing. “I take that as a yes?” he asked, teasingly. You giggled, nodding. “You had me at disappoint the elders” you whispered in his ear. Now we're stumbling through the dark (yeah, yeah)

The next few months felt like hell. Obito was sent on another mission. He said you´d get married after that, but you couldn´t sleep without him. It was awful. And sometimes I wonder why we have to work this hard

You decided to use the time doing something useful and planned the wedding. You thought it would be easier once you convinced the elders. And you thought the convincing part would be the hardest one… you couldn´t have been more wrong. There were just so many other things to take into account, the dress, the venue, the flowers and all the other things. But here we are

It was such a relief when you stood at the end of the aisle and realized that everything worked out perfectly. Of course the elders were sparking you death glares, but you could ignore them perfectly fine. Your whole attention was on your beautiful husband. He was so nervous, it was adorable. Obito rambled through his vows with shaking hands and let the ring slip but in the end he was yours forever. His clumsiness was only one of millions of aspects you loved about him and married him for.

I remember nobody loves me like you do (I remember, I remember)

When it was time for your vows you had to try your hardest not to cry. You told Obito you loved him every day, but this time it was different. In your vows you wrote down all of your feelings that you collected over time. Everything was coming out all at once, all of your love for Obito. Your gratefulness for him being with you. I remember I don't want perfect, I want you

All the ways you loved him and all the reasons you did. Everything about him that was beautiful, handsome and made you laugh. Everything that he was, that made you happy for the rest of your lives. (I remember, yes, I remember) You know you're the only one How could I forget this love? (Yeah, yeah, yeah) I remember, no matter what, it's me and you (I remember, yes, I remember)

And most of all how it has always been you two against the world, against the rules people tried to push on you, against the expectations and virtues. Your love was also a battle against everything that defied you and it excited you.

Dancing under the stars

When the ceremony was over, Obito and you finally had time for yourselves. You went to the forest where you first met and danced underneath the moonlight until your feet gave up. Kissing you in the dark

Obito´s lips were cold, but you warmed them with your own. Sitting down under a big tree, you held each other and kissed. His arm around you and your hands entangled within each other´s. I remember your love, oh

You wished this moment would never end. Never giving you up, giving you up, oh

Suddenly the distance he had to travel for missions didn´t seem that far, he was always in your heart before marriage too, but now that you had the ring, it just felt like he was closer to you than he actually was. Dancing under the stars (yeah) Kissing you in the dark I remember your love, oh Never giving you up, giving you up (oh)

And Obito didn´t feel as lonely on missions anymore with a piece of you on his finger. The cold metal oddly calmed him down and helped him focus. He made a promise to you and he´d keep it.

I remember nobody loves me like you do (I remember, I remember) I remember I don't want perfect, I want you (I want you) (I remember, yes, I remember) You know you're the only one How could I forget this love? (yeah, yeah, oh) I remember, no matter what, it's me and you (I remember, yes, I remember) No matter what, no matter what

Dancing under the stars (oh, yeah) Kissing you in the dark I remember your love, oh Never giving you up, giving you up, oh

#naruto #naruto imagine #naruto oneshot #naruto songfic #anime #anime imagine #naruto obito #obito uchiha #obito #obito x reader #anime oneshot #anime songfic #imagine #songfic #songfic sunday #oneshot

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honeymoonjin · 5 years

Text

bangtan baby - ot7 x reader (kind of)

This is basically a little headcanon that I came up with, where the reader dates Hoseok’s sister, and they get him to be a surrogate sperm donor and the whole of bts basically become dads. For all your soft fluff needs xx it’s like 6.4k so settle in and grab some popcorn

• Ok so

• Congratulations ur gay (in this headcanon at least)

• And you meet this beautiful girl, Da Won, and immediately fall in love

• She’s funny, she’s gorgeous, she’s kind and thoughtful, and most miraculously, she’s into you too

• The two of you start dating kind of in secret, unsure how your friends and loved ones would take to a same-sex couple

• But after a while da won wants you two to be able to be like any other couple, and so she asks if you can start telling people

• The first person she wants to tell is her brother

• Jung hoseok

• You’ve met him before a couple times when da won introduced you as a friend, and you think he’s a really decent guy

• While he has a break in scheduling, he comes over to da won’s house (the one you’re currently halfway through moving into) and she tells him

• Hoseok is immediately far more concerned that his big sister is dating than the fact that it’s another woman

• But he then realizes it means he doesn’t have to worry about her being with guys he doesn’t approve of

• He seems really touched that he’s the first person you’ve told, and he’s really happy for you two

• Over time, the two of you tell more and more people – friends, family

• The occasional few ghost you afterwards, not being able to get past it, but for the most part everyone is pretty accepting

• You’re now fully moved in with your girlfriend and both of you are feeling the joy of domestic bliss

• You giving her back hugs in the morning when she’s gotten up early to make breakfast

• Sharing a dessert at restaurants

• Waking up next to her is the best thing in the world

• You share your first ‘I love you’s on your one-year anniversary, and on your second anniversary da won proposes to you over a homemade candlelit dinner (okay so she got jin to make it and drop it off that afternoon but technically it’s still homemade)

• Rather than telling the boys, you two just go along to the filming of their next music video and hang around on set, wondering how long it takes each member to notice

• Hoseok and you have gotten pretty sibling-like, but out of the guys it’s tae who you’re closest with

• And it’s him who is the first to notice

• He bounds over to give you a big hug when you first arrive, with a big grin on his face, and when you start chatting, he automatically grabs on to your hand to swing them back and forth between you like he usually does, only to get scratched by the freshly cut metal prongs holding the modest diamond onto the ring

• He gasps dramatically, covering his mouth in shock, and you have to quickly whisk him away into a make-up trailer so that he doesn’t give it away to the other members

• You don’t think you’ve ever seen him so happy and he’s not even the one getting married

• Of course he doesn’t tear up a little that would be ridiculous

• You tell him that the two of you are seeing who takes the longest to notice, and he reluctantly promises to keep his freaking out on the down low

• The next person to notice is jin, who apparently got a little suspicious when da won all of a sudden asked for food on your anniversary

• He’s still in his make-up chair and he glances down to your joint hands, seeing the glint of the metal and jerks his head towards you fully

• The make-up stylist just sighs and grabs a wipe to clean off the stripe of mascara that got streaked across his face

• Da won quickly holds up a finger to shush him, and he grins cheekily, motioning to zip his lips shut

• Surprisingly, Jungkook is third

• He’s a romantic at heart, and you know that he really admires the relationship you and da won have

• None of the boys have been able to publicly date yet, which just meant that they couldn’t risk dating at all, and you had caught him countless times watching you two wistfully

• It’s one such time when he notices

• Da won read somewhere about how to read the lines on your palm, and jokingly is trying to work out how many kids you’ll have

• You sit, palm out, staring at her lovingly as she sticks her tongue out slightly and focuses, tracing lines along your skin, and then hear a weird strangled noise

• You glance up and see Jungkook, mouth and eyes wide, staring at the ring on your finger, then back up at you two

• He’s antsy waiting for his hair to be finished, and once it does, he practically skips over, whispering excitedly, “really? Really?”

• You quickly let him look at the ring, making sure nobody else is watching, and his head tips to the side as he smiles softly

• Da won lets him know what your plan is, as well as who had seen it so far, and Jungkook can’t help but laugh out loud that hoseok hasn’t even realized yet

• He scampers away happily, finding hoseok and loitering around smugly as da won’s brother chats away with jin, who’s almost finished in the chair after that mishap

• It’s literally over three hours before anyone else notices

• Oblivious line is the new line and it consists of hoseok, namjoon, yoongi and jimin

• It’s lunchtime and you’re sitting with tae and yoongi while the rest are all still in line at the buffet

• Taehyung has been bouncy as a puppy all day, and yoongi keeps asking him why, but true to his word, tae won’t tell him a thing

• You tune out of the conversation a little and watch da won joking around with hobi

• They look so alike, and have a lot of the same mannerisms, but even aside from that anyone can see how close they are

• Da won catches you staring and gives you a cute little wave

• You smile and wave back

• When you look away and return to the table, you realize it’s fallen silent

• Yoongi is still chewing away with bulging cheeks, but he’s waving his chopsticks at your still-raised hand

• You realize you’d waved with your left hand and blatantly showed off the ring

• Once he finally swallows his large mouthful, yoongi clears his throat and stares at you

• “please don’t tell me that’s been there this whole time”

• You stare at him, not cracking a smile, “yoongi, we got engaged last June. Have you seriously never noticed?”

• His eyes widen and his mouth drops into a confused pout, “fuck, really? Man, I need a nap”

• You reach over and punch his shoulder playfully “I’m just messing with you, da won proposed last night. Did still take you this long, though”

• He lets out a relieved sigh, then fixes you with a serious look, waving his chopsticks at you again, “I have only one thing to say. Make sure hobi pays for your wedding, I can assure you he has the money. And don’t let him make it cheap, either. I’m talking one million won bar tab, those fancy fabric napkins that they make look like a swan, maybe some doves.”

• You chuckle, “okay, thanks a lot for your words of wisdom”

• Yoongi gives you a small smile, loads up a lettuce wrap and mumbles a quick ‘congratulations’ before shoving it into his mouth in one go

• Cut to the end of filming, and you’re pretty sure the final three will never realize unless you tell them

• So you get da won’s permission to start being a little more obvious, upping the stakes

• Jin suggests you all go out to dinner and celebrate the end of shooting (6 of you know what you’re really celebrating)

• You sit with da won on one side and jimin on the other

• “oh, chimmy, what’s the fabric your jacket is made of? I love it”

• Cute you running your hands over the satiny material around his cuff

• He looks down at it, holding his arm up so you can better reach it

• “oh, it’s silk I thi- oh!”

• Da won collapses into laughter at the look of surprise on his face

• You grin and let him hold your hand as he fiddles with the ring, inspecting it with wonder

• You look up around the table, hoping that jimin’s outburst has attracted some attention, but namjoon and hoseok are deeply entranced in something on namjoon’s phone, discussing whatever it is with full focus

• Jin rolls his eyes and ‘accidentally’ knocks namjoon’s elbow causing him to drop his phone under the table, skidding across to perfectly land in front of your shoes

• “oh, allow me” you announce loudly and stretch down to pick it up

• You pass it over with your left hand, ring up

• “oh, thanks, y/n”

• Jungkook groans and lets his head bang against the table, “are you fucking serious?”

• “it wasn’t my fault I dropped it! Jin pushed me and-”

• “y/n and I are getting married!”

• Namjoon and hoseok freeze

• Da won sighs and repeats herself. “I cannot believe you guys. How more obvious can we be?”

• Namjoon and hoseok share a look, dumbfounded, then both break out into proud beams

• Hoseok shrieks and cheers loud enough that the waiter has to ask the table to calm down, and namjoon keeps squeezing his eyes shut and clutching at his chest in happiness

• The rest of the night is celebrated properly, with hoseok paying for the rounds of soju to make up for his obliviousness

• Before you know it, the wedding is upon you

• Da won was much better at planning than you, knowing exactly what colors match and how to appropriately decorate the venue

• The two of you of course have friends outside hoseok and his group, but you’re both much closer with them, and so instead of a best man and a maid of honour, you have two best men; hoseok and taehyung, with the other five as the equivalent of bridesmaids

• Da won designs her own dress, and she stubbornly refused to let you see it until the day of

• You’re not ashamed to say you teared up during the ceremony, but your glassy eyes were no match for the full-on sobs of happiness from taehyung, who’s almost too overcome with emotion to hand over the rings

• Jin sheds a perfectly formed tear, hoseok sniffs quietly and holds on tightly to yoongi’s hand on his shoulder, and the rest are all smiling so widely their cheeks hurt

• After the ceremony is the reception, and it’s time for speeches

• Hoseok’s speech is sweet and thoughtful

• You can tell he’s nervous and that he must’ve spent ages writing with it (he confesses to asking for namjoon for help more times than he can count) but the gist of it is how proud he is of his big sister, how da won is his biggest role model now and always, and how he can’t imagine a better person to make her happy than you

• You lean into da won’s side, happily glancing up at her every now and again, still blown away by how beautiful she is, and how her eyes light up when she looks at you

• Tae’s speech is a disaster

• You know he’s perfectly capable of writing beautiful lyrics, but with the way the other two maknaes (and jin) snicker and slap each other’s shoulders, this was a group project

• He starts by telling a story you previously hadn’t heard about how, when da won and you were just under a year into your relationship, having told the boys a couple months prior, da won had come to set one day purely to mope around and complain because you had flown out of seoul to visit your parents and she couldn’t come with because of work

• Apparently, she had just about eaten the catering station out of business, and wouldn’t stop going up to random members on set and telling them about you

• Da won buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking with laughter, and you felt pretty amused until the tables turned

• Tae revealed the time you had asked jimin for advice on which set of lingerie to buy, and it had ended with the maknae line buying an exorbitant amount of bras and panties so that you could try them on and see which set was best

• You were pretty sure they just put it in the speech to brag about the fact that they had seen a girl in her underwear given by the way Jungkook puffed out his chest and jimin grinned around at all the other people in the room

• It’s a couple of months after the wedding when the two of you begin having serious talks about having kids

• It’s not as easy as with straight couples, and so there are several options you could choose to try

• In the end, both of you want your dna in the baby, but of course that isn’t possible with the two of you alone

• It’s da won that suggests, half joking, that she could get hoseok to donate sperm since they practically look the same, and at the time you both laugh and brush it off

• But after a while, neither of you can stop thinking about it

• It really seems like the best solution for both of you to pass on your genes as best you can, so the two of you call hoseok over to sit down and discuss it with him

• It is the most awkward hour or so of your life

• Hoseok takes a couple weeks to think about it, but one of the tour managers has just had a little baby girl and he can see how happy the new mother is, and how close their bond is

• He gets a little taken over with baby fever, and also the thought that it would make the two of you so happy

• In addition, it would make him an uncle (technically a father), and he knew he would spoil the kid rotten, as would the rest of bts

• So he calls up da won and says he’s happy to

• It’s more likely that the transfer will be successful if you use IVF rather than,,,natural conception, so that’s what you do

• Miraculously, it works the very first round

• You get the call from the doctor when you’re making da won dinner for her birthday

• The two of you scream and hug and cry and laugh, and it’s one of the most wonderful nights of your life

• You don’t tell hobi or anyone until you’re almost at the end of the first trimester, when you can be sure the baby is there to stay, and away from most risks or complications

• The two of you decide that the ‘wait and see how long it takes them to find out’ method takes too long, and you can’t bear to wait any longer to share your joy with them, so one day you visit them at the dorm when they’re all chilling

• It takes ages to convince them to all be quiet and sit in the same room, but when you finally do, the two of you cheer ‘we’re pregnant!!’ at the same time

• Everyone freezes and goes silent

• Hobi goes dead pale

• Taehyung rushes up and swings you around in a big bear hug and then everyone breaks out of their shock and hop up to congratulate you

• Poor hoseok still looks like he’s seen a ghost as jin laughs and claps him on the back cheerily

• The other members notice his reaction and yoongi makes a joke that he’s planning to murder the baby daddy

• You and da won share a glance

• Did hobi seriously not tell any of the guys what he did?

• Then you realize hobi isn’t shocked in a bad way, he’s just so overcome that he’s beginning to cry quietly, with a look of wonder on his face

• “I’m just so happy for you two, honestly”

• You all have dinner at the dorm, and jin cracks a bottle of wine

• Jimin is VERY careful to keep an eye on you the whole night to make sure you don’t have any

• At one point when things start to quiet down, hoseok admits to the other members that he did IVF for you

• BIG mistake

• Now the maknaes refuse to call him anything but ‘daddy’

• They’ve fucked up and accidentally said it on a v-live before and army went fucking nuts, thinking it was a sexual thing

• Jin once interrupted hobi on an American interview to say his favorite animal was the sperm whale

• Namjoon will send him fifty, sixty-picture streams of baby photos, asking hobi which one he thinks his kid will look like

• Everyone seems to have forgotten that hobi isn’t really going to be the dad at all

• But you and da won are happy

• The baby is growing at a very healthy pace, and the boys have set up a system where they take turns coming with you to the clinic for your doctor’s appointments

• They all seem way more invested and curious than you expected

• Over the next few months, this is basically how it goes at those appointments with each member:

• Hoseok all but ignores the two of you and stares dreamily at the ultrasound picture on the big screen, and gets copies printed so that he can (VERY carefully, so that they’re not visible on a livestream) put them in his room and his wallet

• Jin likes to make up elaborate explanations for all the different tools the nurse uses like he’s some sort of expert, to distract your mind from things like injections or IVs, but then the moment they’re actually put in, he freaks out and has to leave the room with a lot of fanfare

• Jungkook picks up on the routine infuriatingly fast, and you catch him focusing intently on what the nurse says with a slightly open mouth every time she gives you instructions

• He has been known to text you in the middle of the night things like “has ur morning sickness gone away yet? just curious, nurse said it should’ve gone away by now”

• Namjoon has a ringbinder filled with all the pamphlets you get given, photocopies from pregnancy books he’s gotten from the library (under a staff member’s library card) and handwritten notes from each session he goes to

• He gets annoyed when one of the other members goes and hasn’t paid attention, so he has to ask you what was said so that he can keep his records up to date

• You remind him he’s not even related to the baby or you two at all

• He insists it’s bangtan’s baby, and in a way all seven of them should be stepping up as fathers

• To this day you don’t know how serious he was being when he said that…

• Taehyung likes to make a day of it

• The appointments are always pretty early in the morning so that you have a free afternoon, but on tae’s days, he’ll take you out for brunch, to a spa, to get massages, he’ll buy you plushies

• He says he just wants you to be as comfortable as possible, and he wants to be a supportive best friend throughout your pregnancy

• You would know what jimin was like if he actually showed up

• Okay, maybe that’s not fair

• Jimin mostly shows up, he’s just always late

• And consistently twelve minutes late too, it’s super weird and you don’t understand why he just doesn’t wake up fifteen minutes earlier

• But when he shows up, e v e r y t i m e he likes to try and convince the nurse he’s the father

• He’ll talk about how the ultrasound clearly shows the baby has his eyes, or that you hadn’t even tried for a baby, but his sperm game was clearly so powerful

• You know he’s not attracted to you or anything, but he’s so caught up in the romance of a pregnancy that he likes to play baby daddy

• It does mean that he’s offered to do those weird pregnancy classes with you

• Like the ones where you sit on a balance ball and do odd stretching and massaging

• Da won was meant to obviously be the one to go with you, but she’s been called out to Tokyo for a few weeks as she has a store opening there

• You’re so proud of her but you miss your wifey

• So jimin is like ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) I’ll do it

• And now you’re being asked to move in to the dorm in your third trimester so that you aren’t at home alone

• Anyway, yoongi is the last member that comes with you to appointments, and he likes to act all strong and cold, but you can see the way his eyes narrow when that trainee nurse took your blood a little too aggressively and left a bruise in the crook of your elbow

• And the way you would always forget to take your vitamins, were it not for the fact that he sent you a text every morning to check up on you

• You’re kind of starting to see what namjoon meant by it being a bangtan baby

• As it gets closer to d-day, you lose a lot of your independence

• You feel like a beached whale the second you sit or lie down, you can’t walk without hobbling, and cravings are really taking a hold of you

• Oh god. Cravings

• Jin tries to incorporate your mutant taste into the dinners he’s started preparing for you all every night to make sure you’re eating enough

• But it doesn’t go down well

• “jin-hyung, are you trying to poison us? Why is there so much cumin in the white rice, it takes ridiculous”

• “it’s for y/n, jungkookie”

• “you’re trying to poison y/n?!”

• Namjoon reminds you that the baby can hear outside in the world, so you should start talking to it and playing it peaceful music, so it gets used to your voice

• So now you basically wander around, narrating your life to Babie

• You have decided to convince yoongi to play piano for you all the time

• He sighs and kicks up a small fuss every time you ask, but he’ll sit there for hours, playing delicate instrumentals of their songs and lullabies you caught him learning recently, with the sweetest smile on his face

• Moving in does create challenges, though

• You can’t leave the dorm for fear of being spotted, which means the doctor has to make house visits, and you are escorted by a black van and security guards to the pregnancy classes you and jimin attend

• Most of them have their own rooms in the new dorm, so Jungkook moves in with taehyung to give you a room to yourself

• You keep all your stuff in there and make sure to never leave that room while anyone is recording or streaming

• Army, those perceptive fuckers, have noticed something’s up with the boys though

• “oppa, you look so happy nowadays, oppa, you’ve put on a little weight and you look so handsome, omG why does namjoon own a book on pregnancy?”

• Ok that last one was a mistake on joon’s behalf

• In his defense, he was reading a really interesting chapter on how the cervix dilates in labor and he really wanted to shoot a quick live and get back to finishing it

• It’s a poor defense and he knows it, but that big nerd is telling the truth

• Speaking of namjoon, he’s started running drills on you going into labor

• Taehyung and hoseok packed the pregnancy bag a couple weeks before you were due, and now every second day namjoon will periodically yell out “y/n’s water just broke!”

• And watch everyone scream and rush around the house, freaking out

• There’s literally no reason for them to worry

• You hardly ever leave the house, and bighit have hired a car with tinted windows and a driver that rotates on shifts so that 24/7, there is someone ready to take you discreetly to the nearest hospital

• After a few drills, fights begin to break out on which members get to ride with you in the car

• Jimin says he’s practically the father, so he should go

• Hobi says he’s literally the father, so he should go

• Namjoon points out he’s the most knowledgeable, so he should go

• Taehyung’s claim is that he’s your best friend, so he should be the one to join you

• Jin believes you deserve a handsome face to look at to motivate you to push, which means the only 10 of bangtan should get to go with you

• Yoongi says he’s the only member of bts that can be trusted to keep a cool head, and you’ll have the best chance of having an easy delivery if you go

• Jungkook does not want to go

• In the end, the car has three seats in the back and one in the front, so you figure you could probably get two people to come with

• You decide on hoseok and yoongi

• Namjoon is very upset upon hearing this, especially since he’s put so much work into getting everything ready

• But you just don’t need someone who knows everything like namjoon because that’s literally the job for the nurses, doctor and midwife

• Unacceptable

• Namjoon calls up his manager and convinces him to get two cars so that everyone can go

• Jungkook goes a little green when he’s told he gets to come with, but you assure him he’s more than welcome to wait in the hallway, where there are vending machines

• The thought of vending machines cheers him up

• When your water does break, you’re watching a movie with all of the guys

• You’ve got your legs up across taehyung, and jimin beside him is giving you a divine foot rub

• Your back is pressed up against jin

• You’re just chilling, then feel your pants get wet all of a sudden

• Taehyung makes a weird noise of shock, and then scrunches up his face

• “did you just fucking piss on me?”

• Everyone cracks into gear like a well-oiled machine when you realize it was your water breaking

• You’re a little taken off-guard by how quickly contractions begin after that, and you painfully change into some dry sweatpants, dumping your wet ones in a laundry hamper

• Taehyung has to change, too, so it’s up to the other six to sort everything out

• Hoseok’s running around with the bag over the moon, not knowing what to do with himself

• Yoongi has calmly called both drivers to notify them that they’d be going soon, and then calls ahead to the hospital

• Somehow namjoon has produced an identical pregnancy bag ‘just in case’ and is sifting through, checking off a printed-off list of everything that’s in there

• Jungkook’s hovering near the front door, zoning out completely and staring blankly at the wall, while jimin is beside him wiggling in excitement, ready to go

• Jin has disappeared to the kitchen to grab all the frozen and refrigerated leftovers he had been stockpiling for your hospital stay

• By the time you are settled down on a hospital bed with all the boys waiting outside except taehyung, you’ve dilated so rapidly that they’re asking you to push

• You’ve missed the chance for an epidural with how quickly you went into labor and you deeply regret being the one of you to get pregnant because fuck this hurts

• Your vagina is being ripped in half

• Like that scene where captain America tears that log open with his bare hands

• Only way less sexy

• Taehyung is up by your head, holding your hand and not complaining when you’re probably close to breaking his fingers

• At one point in the delivery, jungkook is sent in to let you know that da won has been notified and she’s taking a flight back now

• His timing is a little unfortunate

• “good, y/n, the baby is crowning, give us another big push now”

• Jungkook takes one look down there and promptly passes out

• One of the nurses just sighs, picks him up and takes him outside to lie down on one of the benches in the hallway

• Because he never told you the news before, he went down, jin is sent in to let you know what Jungkook was meant to tell you

• The thought of seeing your precious wife again after so long apart gives you the strength to really push through (pun intended) and deliver the baby

• Finally, you collapse back against the sweat-drenched paper sheet and listen to the sound of a gentle cry

• You had kept the gender a secret, figuring it didn’t really matter, it was 2018 dammit, but when the nurse announced that it was a beautiful baby boy, you and taehyung both started to cry tears of joy

• In a daze, you’re handed your son briefly, and then he’s taken away again to be cleaned off and weighed, and a nurse messes around down under and cleans you up too

• Eventually, you’re ready for visitors

• At this point, the labor took a long enough time that it’s now the early hours of the morning, just before 5am

• The boys file into the room, some more enthusiastically than others

• Namjoon and hoseok bound in, with jin, yoongi, jimin following cheerily behind

• Jungkook reluctantly slips in, eyes covered until you assure him, you’re all covered up

• Hobi holds your little boy first, crying fat tears directly onto his tiny face much to your amusement and the baby’s disgust

• You get to hold him properly next, and the members all come one by one to have a look at him as he gurgles happily and clenches his little fists

• Da won returns a couple of hours later and rushes in to hold her son, the two of you holding hands and watching your little boy with complete bliss on your faces

• Over the coming weeks, you’re back at your own place with da won, getting used to the full-time job of being a mother

• Of course, it’s not just the two of you

• Hobi asks permission to tell army that you and da won have had a child, on the condition that you never give any information about him being the sperm donor

• He just wants to show the world how cute that little guy is, and you both happily agree

• Only problem is, now army want as much content as possible of the guys playing with your son and being all domestic

• You can see why, they’re all naturals when it comes to most things

• Army dubs your son the bangtan baby, because just like namjoon told you, it was like they were all stepping up to be fathers to this kid

• Namjoon would spend three hours at a time in his studio discussing the finer details of your son’s life so far, and all the challenges and triumphs namjoon has had along the way

• Now that army know why he had that pregnancy book, they want to know from him what you being pregnant was like

• He’s only too happy to recount those 9 months for as long as his fans will listen

• Hoseok posts on twitter almost every day with photos of him taking selfies with your son, your son falling asleep on him, his tiny hand wrapped around hoseok’s pinky finger

• Even though he’ll probably never be able to tell the world that he’s technically a father now, he’ll show off to the world that he can be the best uncle there ever was

• When the cameras are off, however, he’s just as sweet

• He’d happily look after the baby for hours if you asked him to, he’s so patient, and if you weren’t gay as fuck, you’d totally get smitten over him as he makes faces to make your little boy laugh

• He likes to talk to him in baby voices and make sound effects as he bops him on the nose and pokes his soft cheeks

• Your heart soars to see how truly happy he is

• Seokjin doesn’t drop by that often, probably because he’s still pissed that the baby isn’t old enough to be fed actual food yet

• The few times he does accompany one of the boys to visit, he shows off his spoon airplane technique, saying that you need to let him know immediately when he can start filming special editions of Eatjin with him

• What can you say, seokjin has his priorities

• Taehyung spends a lot of time at your house in the evenings

• He’s obsessed with putting your boy to bed

• (he hasn’t worked out that newborns sleep like all day too, so he really doesn’t have to keep coming over at 6pm every day)

• Honestly, what baby can stay awake when they have kim taehyung singing them lullabies?

• He is the expert at sneaking away suuuper silently so that he doesn’t wake up and start crying

• You honestly think taehyung is just about ready to knock up a girl with the way he looks so soft and happy when he exits the nursery

• His guilty pleasure is sitting in the rocking chair and letting the baby fall asleep on his chest, so that he can gently pat his back or bottom and feel those tiny arms around his neck

• He has been known to convince da won to let the baby sleep with him in the spare room

• You walked in on him kissing his cheeks and rubbing his nose as he tickled your son’s tummy

• It was the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, but it was half an hour past bedtime for your boy and you had to be stern momma, getting taehyung to put him down properly

• Jungkook is getting better with the baby

• He still will only come with one of his hyungs, but you can imagine once he’s old enough to start wanting to play with toys, he’ll really flourish

• He always brings presents around for the baby and for you two

• Whenever he sees baby clothes, he has the compulsion to buy them, and at this rate your son will have a bigger closet than you by the time he reaches one year old

• Yoongi doesn’t visit too often in the beginning but fans will not let him rest until he shoots a livestream with the baby

• In the end he films a review of his most recent album with your son snoring away in his arms, and army just about combust

• Every now and again he loses his train of thought and just stares into your son’s face for like a solid minute

• At one point, he wakes up and starts to cry, and yoongi, without missing a beat, lifts him up and starts bouncing him lightly, giving him a proper snuggle to calm him down

• He finally ends the live when he smells something suspicious and immediately hands the baby over to da won

• Finally, jimin

• Jimin takes on the role as the best dad in bangtan a little too seriously

• “everyone, I’ve just been to the store to buy Vaseline. When the mother breastfeeds, her nipples can crack and so you have to keep them moisturized…oh no, I don’t put it on myself, I’m just buying it for her…how do I know her nipples are- oh, I don’t know, I just thought I should buy some just in case! Being a parent is all about thinking ahead, you know? I’m trying to be proactive”

• “army, I’m whispering right now because this little guy is having a wee sleep, but as a father it’s important to have skin-to-skin contact to bond, so that’s why I’m not wearing a shirt right now…oh, you like it? Thank you, I think the baby likes it too”

• “jimin, put your fucking shirt back on”

• “y/n, please don’t swear in front of my son, you’re a terrible influence on him”

• “you’re not even the godfather, don’t be ridiculous”

• “everyone, often parents face adversity, but it’s important to stay strong and make sure your child is around only the best people. Swearing isn’t something I want my child to hear at his tender age”

• Literally, he’ll go on like this for hours

• New army genuinely assume you and him or da won and him are a couple and he’s the father

• It does mean that youtube channels that make fake-subtitle videos of him and the viewer have literally no work to do

• Jimin has no shame when it comes to acting like he’s the coolest dad in town, that he even asks you and da won to let him bring the baby to an award show so he can collect the main album of the year award with ‘his son’ with him

• Army go fucking wild when he shows up on the red carpet with an infant tucked into the crook of his arm

• Poor sejin has to lug around the massive bag with diapers and formula and spare clothes tho :(

• As your son grows up, he’s surrounded by nine of the most adoring people in the world

• You and da won make sure he’s a respectable young man

• Namjoon teaches him to be kind and grateful to everyone

• Hoseok would bend over backwards for him and your son most certainly knows and exploits this

• Jungkook always goes to his sports games when he’s in the area and cheers him on louder than any of the other actual parents

• Jin gives him flirting advice when he gets his first crush

• Taehyung and jimin are still determined to be the cool dads, and the three of them have formed a ritual of going to the park and having a picnic together at least once or twice a month

• and your child is the only person on the planet who can always crack a smile and get a hug from uncle yoongi

• you and da won couldn’t be happier, and you couldn’t be prouder

#bts headcanon #bts fic #bts fluff #bts scenario #bts x reader #bts au #jin #yoongi #hoseok #namjoon #jimin #taehyung #jungkook

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mikenips · 4 years

Text

Pinheads

“What the fuck are you doing back here? You aren’t even working tonight.” One of the other managers at Bowlero, the new bowling alley and venue, says to me.

“I’m playin’ tonight.” We all wish we had known the Stools were doin’ a live album recording down at OLL tonight before we booked it though. Rae said Chuck told her before I picked her up that they don’t play till midnight. So the goal is to rush the sets so we can get there in time for their set.

“That explains the war paint on the eyes.” Chip, the mechanic that once got fired as a carny, says as he spits dip into a coffee cup. “Ya know ya got some jeans with those holes though Mike?” Damn. That’s pretty clever.

My mom’s side of the family is down at lane one. And my dad’s side is hangin’ in the lounge. Even my uncle from New Mexico is in town for the holidays. Jordan is setting up the kit. Sound checkin’ the violin. Drew walks into the storage room that doubles as a green room for gigs. Me and Greg the bartender are hittin’ a vaporizer before I get on stage. We play first. “You see how Drew walked in here man? He walked up like he owns this bitch!”

And the scene really does own this bitch. I’m the bar manager at twenty one. Drew just started training to bartend. Dom works the front desk here and there. Everyone else askin’ if we can pull some strings to get them hired or booked. Just waitin’ on Sugar Tradition. Gotta make sure they don’t get carded. The kids are still in high school. And we’re eighteen up. Like the owners would really care though. They got history too. One of ‘em owning the Garden Bowl. The other is one of the top lawyers in Oakland County. Used to own the Falcon Club in Hamtramck in the nineties. Actually even was Johnny’s lawyer to get Outer Limits their liquor license.

We open with “Haunted House.” I’m fuckin’ baked. And already forgettin’ the lyrics. That shot of jezy Greg fed me probably didn’t help. Nobody is here yet besides my family. A few members of the Hand. And some Royal Oakies waitin’ on lanes that don’t understand what the fuck is happening. We’re botchin’ even our classics. At least the Oakies are gettin’ a real weird show.

Yelp into a drone cover of “Real Cool Time” as Jordan saws away at his violin behind me. Antonio rollin’ across the stage in front of me. Glad they got in alright.

Fuck it. We got a show to get to tonight. “This is gonna be our last one.” A piece of glitter falls into the corner of my eye. “It’s about when it’s five am. You’re blacked out. Shirtless. Pissin’ on the side of a 7-11. Smokin’ a spliff. Shotgunnin’ a tall boi. If you could all raise your drinks.” Rip through “Miller High Life” before boltin’ for a cig while Sugar Tradition sets up.

“Dude!” Jordan says to me as we load some gear into the car. “I think that was the worst set we ever played.”

Dee comes up behind us. “What are you talkin’ about? That’s the best part about Just Guys Being Dudes. There’s no bad sets. Every set is it’s own experience. I really dug it. The owner was behind me and Rae vibin’ too.”

Take a drag. “Thanks Dee. That means a lot to me.”

Walk back inside. Didn’t even realize how many people had showed up. Sean’s dad, my old high school film teacher, is here. Still doesn’t know he showed my dick at the student film show at the end of the year. Even fuckin’ Ian Ruhala showed his bitch ass. There’s no way that was coincidental. Not when his girlfriend’s sister is performing with Zilched at the Stools show. Joey’s gonna lose his shit when he gets here from the wedding.

“That was sick Michael!” My coworker Reagan says to me. “Wanna celebrate by doin’ a shot of Jager with me? You don’t even gotta give me a drink ticket.” I’m about to be trashed tonight. What am I talkin’ about? I already am.

“Why not? I’m gonna need seven shots of jezy too though.”

“Wakin’ up I got a nothin’ to do!” Sugar T kicks into one of their many rippers.

Cy, my GM, walks over to me. “These guys are really good.” I can barely make out her words over Kevin’s spastic style of jazz drumming. “They’re like a psychedelic Mudhoney.”

“Yeah. They’re also only seventeen too. Don’t tell the managers though I booked some minors.”

She laughs. “Nobody should be that good at that young of an age. Do they have a CD?”

“Nah. We put out their debut album on the cassette label I’m helping run though.”

“What the fuck are you kids doing making cassettes again?”

“Cause they’re fuckin’ sick! You wanna hear this fuzz on something just as fuzzy. We don’t wanna clean this noise up!”

Walk back to center stage. Jake is in the corner with Evan. Owen layin’ on the floor in front of the couch. Crossed the border for this night. On the couch next to Rae is Joey Molloy goin’ hard to Sugar Tradition’s set. Gotta love Joey. Nobody goes as hard at a show as good ol’ Joey Molloy. Bleached tufts of hair whippin’ through the air the same way their brain whips back and forth in the skull. Everyone takes the Polish, purple nectar. Jeżynówka. A Hamtramck staple. A little piece of home all the way out here.

Joey walks in, still in his suit, and helps Drew wheel three cabs into the crammed lounge as I meet Antonio at the merch table. They spent over a mill on this remodel. And the Hand is about to shatter all the windows here when they hit their first note. This will be the first and last time they let a stoner metal band in here. TJ stoned as fuck on the floor testin’ out the Juno. Sean, equally as baked, clicks open the briefcase synth he made.

“Yoo Antonio. Whenever you guys are ready I’ll take you to the office so the manager can cut you a check. You just gotta fill out some tax forms.”

“Shit… This is like a legit gig then?”

We weave through the overfilled lounge. Drunks and stoners attempt to file towards the stage. BO and fuzz forcin’ the yuppies to wait for their lanes elsewhere. Tonight, this bitch is ours.

Paperclips and loose change vibrate their way off the desk in the office as the Hand strikes their first drone. “Wait… Kev,” Antonio spins in the desk chair. “What’s my social security number?”

“How the fuck should I know?”

“You guys don’t know your social security numbers? How?”

“Dude. We’re in high school. We’ve never had to use ‘em before.”

“Honestly,” my coworker cuts in. “We don’t really need the W-9. If you take it with you and bring it back in a couple days it’s probably fine. But I really don’t give a shit if you do.”

Head back to the bar. All the freaks headbang in unison to Joey’s screams before Drew rips into a solo. Greg hands over two shots before I even flag him down. “I knew Drew was gonna shred because he never talks about his band. The quiet ones always shred. Good job putting this together Mike. Not a huge drinking crowd. But I’ll take a chill night. Gettin’ stoned to some chuggin’ bands whenever it comes.”

Or at least I think that’s what he said. I can’t hear over the riff. Hail the fuckin’ riff! Wrappin’ it just before midnight. Nobody says goodbye to each other before we all dip. It’s every man for himself. Drag racin’ down I-75 to get to OLL. Somewhere in the night Caveman Woodman is yellin’ about the Stools. Tellin’ folks to fuck off if they think rock n’ roll is dead.

Walk into Outer Limits greeted by the familiar unbearable humidity of a crowd of familiar faces. Not a single face you don’t recognize. Greeted with a free Stroh’s and shot of Hornito’s courtesy of Johnny. Kid Infinity on the stoop of the stage. Documenting the entire night on camera. 208. The Long Stairs. The rest of the Waterheads. Everyone from the Bowlero show there too. Sweat gluing bodies together as flesh meets flesh. “This one’s about a spooky dream Will had!” KQ shouts into the mic as Chuck uses his already soaked shirt to wipe sweat from his forehead. As Will’s screeching guitar bends, cuing “Black Fly Stew.” Two step tune off their latest seven inch from Third Man Records. Jack White may be a prick. But he sure puts out some good ass music.

This time I’m not gonna concuss myself on Joey Molloy’s eye socket. They speed and slop their way through their discography. Dig into some tracks Will claims are older than some of us. Kirk recording every second through the soundboard to be put out on Chuck’s cassette label Painter’s Tapes. “How does two more sound?” KQ asks after finishing up a version of “Q-Nails” that’s half the length of the studio version. But still has all the original notes. Bodies make their way off the concrete ground to their feet. Stomachs cramp from downin’ Stroh’s. Lungs attempt to catch their breath. Jake yells back to ‘em “Eat shit Mike Duggan!” We don’t need no curfew. Unplug us and we’ll scream louder.

Mikey of the Waterheads discusses Sigmund Freud on the patio while we all pass joints to each other. Never give those lungs a break. Kyle of 208 passes out Remove Records t-shirts. Tells us none of us need to pay for ‘em. But we all force money into his hands. “This is what the scene is about man.” My words come out half coherent.

“Exactly! That’s why I’m so glad me and Shelby came here from Florida. This is what music should be about! Community. Doing it for each other. Fuckin’ being there! Cause without each other, none of what’s goin’ on is possible. We’re like one big, happy, chaotic family!”

Jake punches my shoulder at the bar. Radiating the energy of the Bananas in Pajamas. A loose and excitable toddler ready to play. We each get a shot of jezy. “You here anything yet about HMF Nips?”

“Nah. I saw they ‘leaked’ some of the lineup. But it was all like Hala. Legume. Who Boy. The indie bands ya know.”

“See. And that’s what’s fucked man! They don’t fuckin’ get it like we do. We’re out here every fuckin’ night playin’ these joints. We’re all at every show for each other. They make one appearance a month. Half the time not even in Hamtramck. They don’t support each other. They’re in it for the clout! And fuckin’ Who Boy gets picked before any of us?! That’s fucked up man.”

“It is dude. But don’t worry so much about it. I’m sure it’ll all pan out for us. Cause we get it. And they don’t. You wanna come over to my place after? Make some pancakes or some shit?”

“Oh heeeellll yeah! Pancakes at Belmont. I’ll rally the troops. We gettin’ trashed tonight!”

As if we aren’t already. Rip through a fifty pack of whip-its in twenty minutes. Sittin’ around eatin’ pancakes at three in the morning. Listenin’ to the 13th Floor Elevators as Joey tries persuadin’ everyone into watchin’ Pirates of the Caribbean. “Dead Man’s Aaaaasssss…” his whipped voice whispers to every single one of us individually.

Jake does his first popper as if he’s huffed it before. Panicking in the barstool in my living room. “I’m sweaty. My head hurts. And my face is hot, man. My face is hot!” Before locking himself in the bathroom with a sealed fifth of tequila. We continue to chainsmoke in the house I rent. No mention of not smokin’ in my lease. Dunkin’ chocolate chip pancakes in a bowl of syrup. He re-emerges from the bathroom. Quarter of the bottle now inside him. Or possibly in my toilet. “Rae. You gotta finish this. I can’t do it.”

Owen spits up on Giovanna while tryin’ to rush to the bathroom. Attempts to wipe the bile off her knee before returning to the cool tile floor around the toilet to sleep for the night. Jake arguing with me and Rae about ordering him an Uber home. “You’d fuckin’ love it if I crashed on your futon Nips. You’d fuckin’ love ordering me an Uber home wouldn’t you Rae?”

“Jake dude. I don’t know what you want from me man. Your car is at Evan’s anyways.”

“I just wanna shit on my toilet!”

So eventually he consents. Tells Rae he’ll Venmo me the ten bucks she spent on him cause he’s “Venmoed Michael Nipples before.” Even though I’ve never had one. Yells back to us with the passenger door open “what’s its name?” As he struggles to crawl into the whip.

And as Rae and I go to sleep. My phone buzzes with three texts from the drunk Toehead. “Uh oh…”

“Help…”

“We listenin’ to Dough Boyz!”

Fuckin’ idiot. Pinhead. That’s what we all are though. Or at least what we pretend to be.

#bowlero #hail the riff #just guys being dudes #vague glimpses of beauty #outer limits lounge #the stools #the hand 420 #sugar tradition #remove records #painters tapes #grown up fucked up #detroit garage rock #detroit diy #a vibe

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superwolfiestar · 5 years

Text

Something Old, Something New

Mark Beaks is feeling buzzing inside about an exciting new, him and Falcon are getting married this spring. The engagement couple and Mark parents gather to welcome Falcon family that just arrived from Mark Beaks own private Jet plane into Mark Beaks mansion for the ceremony. Mark were so nervous meeting Falcon other families but his families were very kind to him.

“Hello mother,” Falcon kiss his mom on the cheek and did the same thing to his sister, and hug his older brother, then he welcomes his whole families in. “I’m glad that you can all be able to make it for the wedding.”

“Why I wouldn’t miss it for the world honey! My little Gravesy is getting married!!!” The Mother of the groom cried. “And, I hope you don’t mind but I brought someone who can help you plan your wedding, my dear older sister Olivia, she’s a wedding planner and have help many clients to help plan their wedding.” Martha Graves introduce his soon son-in-law to his older sister.

“Hello, it’s very nice to meet you.” Mark smile at his soon aunt-in-law.

“Hello there dear, I am so excited helping you plan you and my nephew's wedding! Don’t worry about the things.” She said. “I will make sure your wedding is perfect!”

In the living room, Mark was surrounded by a bunch of wedding magazines, different kinds of flowers, wedding cakes, and many more that you need for the wedding. He couldn’t believe that his whole living room have turn into a bridal store. He was sitting on the single sofa chair, Falcon aunt told him what his wedding should he like:

“We can do this! Oh and I was thinking about this wonderful amazing centerpiece I found on Pinterest, don’t you think this look lovely?”

Falcon aunt didn’t ask Mark what he wanted. Mark didn’t like what she suggestions, he didn’t like the different kinds of flowers she picked out, the wedding cake, and various colors and style.

Later that night after dinner, Mark went to his room, collapsed onto his soft bed. All this wedding planned with Falcon aunt is giving him a headache. Then, the door knock. Enter his room was one of his groomsmen, Fenton.

“Hey! I got your text. How was planning your wedding with your aunt?” Fenton asked, stepping into Mark bedroom.

“Not good,” Mark answered. “I don’t want to upset Falcon mom but I am not sure I like what Falcon aunt have planned and suggested.”

“Well, it’s your wedding! You should do what you want!” Fenton said.

“You’re right!” Mark exclaimed, “It my wedding, and I should do what I want! Thank Fenton!” So, Mark did his first wedding duties. He ask Fenton to be his best man.

“I would be honor!” Fenton smile.

Later that day, a female cheetah wearing a white shirt with one open button, black pants with belt wrap around her waist, and sunglasses walk inside Mark home.

Mark welcome her in, he was in a happy mood and because that he hire a designer to design his wedding suit. They began talking about the wedding suit while the designer showing a bunch of different style of wedding suits she design.

“Mark, I’d be an honor to design your dream wedding suit. What do you think about this one?” The designer said, showing Mark a picture of the suit she had design.

“Wow, Barbra.” Mark said. “This one is exactly how I image. It perfect!” He exclaimed.

In the other part of the mansion, Falcon and his older brother secretly planning the music for the wedding reception.

“Aunt Olivia will choose boring and 19th century music.” Falcon told his older brother.

“Yeah, remember Uncle Arthur wedding?” Gus said.

Falcon shakes his head up and down. “Yeah I remember, Aunt Olivia was his wedding planner and she chose a boring and lame music from centuries ago.” Falcon recall. “And I don’t want that happen at my wedding. The perfect music should be modern and jazzy. It should make everyone feel like dancing!”

After everyone had gone to bed at night, Mark sneaked into his kitchen to work on the reception menu with Melaine. They began, changing the food menu that Falcon aunt suggests.

“I wanted to serve all of our favorite foods.” Mark said, “Let started with Bobotie.”

So they began cooking and cooking for hours long, it was now 2 am in the morning. So they finished cooking and they left the kitchen without getting caught.

“Mark” Melaine began to said. “Every wedding couple need something old, something new, something borrow, and something blue!” Melaine take out something from her pocket. “So here’s your something blue!” Melaine gave Mark a navy blue watch with three-hand date makes an impeccable impression with its iconic wire lug case, concave dial construction and overall clean aesthetic.

“I was in shopping market the other days before I came here, I knew I had found something blue for you, Mark!" She smiled and watch Mark putting the watch on.

“Wow! Melanie this is great! Thank you!” Mark state and admired the blue watch.

The next day, Mark faced Falcon aunt. “Thank you for your wonderful ideas and suggestions madam.” Mark said. “But I already have everything I need.”

Falcon aunt were surprised. She thought that Mark Beaks would want the wedding planned for him. “I see.” Olivia began to understand. “Very well, it seems that you have everything under control for the wedding. I understand dear, thank you for telling.”

Just then, his mother, Vivienne walk into the dining room. “Mark honey! You’re designer is here.” She announced. “He’s in your bedroom with the suit for you for the fitting.”

Vivienne then lead him to his bedroom were the designer is waiting for him with a garment hanging on curtain pole. There was a two boxes that was set in the table.

“Hello Mark, I have your wedding suit, shoes, and veil! It’s not a completely look but it will be done before the wedding.” Barbara said.

A couple minutes later, Falcon mother walked into his bedroom with a box in her hands.

“Oh, would you like me to take that for you miss?" Vivienne began to reach for the large box in Martha's hands.

"Oh, there is no need dear, I have it thank you. It is good to see you again, Mark," she nodded, placing the box on the table. She sat down next to the designer and smoothed the suit with her hands. "Now, when do I get to see my new son in his wedding attire?" She didn't need to wait long.

"Oh, baby! You just look handsome!" Vivienne exclaimed. Mark blushed, now looking like a handsome groom.

"Does everything fit alright, sir?" The designer asked.

"It's perfect, Barbara," Mark assured her. He loved the pale yellow suit. Especially the champagne fabric that was wrapped around his waist, and the matching champagne bow tie. They got it all for next to nothing. Mark had already modeled that suit for these three attendance before.

Just then, Martha began to ask Mark. “By the way, why is my sister look confused?” Mark look nervously. Would his mother-in-law be angry at Mark’s wedding plan?

But when Mark began explained his ideas for the wedding, Martha smiled. “I’m not upset dear, I should have known you would enjoy planning things personally.”

Barbara took out of her box and in her hand was a champagne wedding veil. "It not finished yet but it will be ready just in time for the wedding," she explained, tucking the comb into the back of Mark's head. "There you go.”

She held up a mirror for Mark to see. It was hard to believe that the young man staring back at him in the mirror was really him. But it was: this was Mark Beaks, he was getting married, nobody but Falcon, Gyro, Fenton, and all the people in the duckburgs have ever seen him wearing this beautiful design suit.

"You look wonderful," Martha said. "But something is missing. Do you remember the story of that headpiece I wore back then when I marry Falcon father? Well I thought it was a very beautiful so I took it out and had someone make something very similar to it." She opened the box. Inside was a 1920s style flower back headpiece very similar to her wedding headpiece. Except this one looked like it was made from fake leaves and fake roses of pastel pink, blue, yellow, lavender and orange instead of the real one. Mark gasped at it and very gingerly touched it with one of his fingers.

"Put it on!" Vivienne encouraged. Martha grabbed the headpiece and stood up. Mark had to kneel a little since Martha could not reach the top of Mark's back head when she was in heels. The headpiece completed the effect. Mark twirled again and again in front of a full-length mirror in his bedroom for hours, after that, taking in the effect.

"Oh, I can't accept this," Mark gasped. "It must've cost one heck of the money."

Martha raised her hand and Mark stopped speaking immediately. "Mark sweetheart, this headpiece is very special in my family. In fact this was handmade by my grandmother when she married my grandfather, after that. My mother wore it on her wedding day, my three older sisters wore it on their wedding day as well and when my turn to get married, I wore it on my wedding day too. It has been past down from generation to generation! It is tradition in our family to wear this headpiece. Now, I am giving you something to wear on your wedding day. Besides, you are going to have to get used to it. You are almost a Grave now, yes? When you and my son are officially married, you will become Mr. Graves for now on."

Mark Beaks was honored to borrow Martha wedding headpiece and continue Falcon family tradition.

Everything seemed perfectly in order. They chose the perfect venue, the perfect date, the perfect flowers, the perfect food, and everything. But Mark miss his Great Aunt deeply. The night before the wedding, he stares at the beautiful bright star from his window. He was sad that his great aunt could not be at the ceremony, but Mark knew that his great aunt’s love will always be with her.

Finally the best day have arrived, the whole place is decorated with beautiful pastel color roses. The ceremony is held at Mark backyard where the reception is also held at Falcon is standing at the altar waiting for his beloved groom, standing next to him was his siblings, Augustin, best man and Melanie, his groom-maid.

Falcon wore a cream shirt with champagne tie, a sliver tuxedo jacket and pant. On the middle of the lapel was a boutonniere that is the same flower as the decorative.

His best man also wore the same outfit like him expect the jacket and pants are black and wore a matching boutonniere.

His sister wore a sweet and feminine 1920s style flapper dress that is made of pale yellow chiffon. There are three tiers of ruffles on each side of the skirt. A small rolled hem is used for these ruffles to allow them to flow and drape freely. In her feet was a beautiful simple champagne heel. In her hand was a beautiful bouquet of flowers that match the decorations flowers. Like her older brothers, she happen to wear a boutonniere too.

On Mark side of the aisle, his family was there. Tammy, Tommy, Chip, Aunt Clara, Aunt Jo, Terence, Lora, Rubi with an i, Trent, Terra, Jessie, Aunt Lara, Tim, Danny, Trevor, Tanya, Aunt Mabel, and Troy, Bernie. Sadly his Great Aunt Nora, but everyone calls her Bubby, couldn’t been here to witness his great nephew special day, so they place a photo frame on the front row of the seat right beside Mark uncle on his left. And his Uncle Ted who sat on the front row where the two empty seats are.

Falcon was nervous, this is it. Today, he’s married the love of his life, there’s no turning back now. It too late to run away. What if he will never be a good husband to Mark? what if their marriage won’t work out? What if they got divorce? What if…

The music is started, a canon in D can be heard from the orchestra.

Falcon look to see Fenton, the best man, and Gyro, the groomsmen walking down the aisle. Two of the scientists wore white shirt with roll up sleeves, pale yellow vest and bow tie, each of them get a beautiful bouquet of pastel color roses. Follow behind him was Lil Bulb holding a pillow of two golden rings. Both of them stand right where Mark supposed to stand.

Last to came out was an adorable flower girls and flower boys(all of them are Falcon cousins, nieces, and nephews) taking out pastel roses petals out of the basket and thrown them on the ground.

Adorable flower girls wore a dress that is emphasizes elegant simplicity and exquisite style. It is made of top quality satin, and natural cotton lining. Each flower girls dresses have a pastel color delicate sash that match the color of the roses, which is tied into a small bow in the back. And each girl have a cute flower crowns with pastel color roses and lighter sage leaves.

While the boys wore a white shirt, and shorts feature a flat front waistband with elastic in the back. The straps are completely removable for a different look. The bow tie is on a strap with velcro adjustment. And like the flower girls, each of the boys wore a pastel color.

Then, Jonathan Cain version of Bridal March began to play, everyone stand up from their seat for the groom to make his entrance and walk down the aisle.

“What am I doing? I shouldn't be here! Why am I here?”

Then he looked up and remembered why.

Mark entered the backyard with grace and elegance, causing everybody to gawk in awe. He wore an elegant ivory shirt, with ruffle going down, a champagne fabric that was wrapped around the waist and a matching bow tie, pale yellow shirt, black shining shoes. He wore an elegant simple champagne wedding veil that was held by wedding headpiece on the back of his head. In his hand was an elegant 1920s style bouquet that fill will pale yellow, pink, lavender, and orange roses. He began walked down the aisle with both of his parents giving him away and his head held high, meeting the groom's gaze through his veil eyes. His long train was measured about 144 inches long.

A smile spread across Falcon's face. "He's beautiful."

Gus gave him a sly grin. "Easy, little brother. Save it for the honeymoon."

Meanwhile, the others were tearing up, Mark continue walk down the aisle, in his bouquet was his great aunt old champagne ribbon, he wore a new veil from his designer Barbara, he borrowed the headpiece from Martha, and a blue watch on his left wrist from Melaine.

Mark and his parents reach the end of the aisle, his mother kissed him on the cheek and his dad hug him. Mark walked up and stand next to Falcon, he handed the bouquet to Fenton. After exchanging a loving look, they faced the priest.

"Lady and gentlemen," the priest announced. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Mark Beaks and Falcon Phillip Graves. Never in the history of the world has there ever been a love so powerful, so strong, yet it started from the most unusual of circumstances. These two standing before you have proved that love surpasses all differences, all flaws, all faults."

The priest turned to the parrot. "Wilt thou Mark have this man to thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love him, comfort him, honour, and keep him in sickness and in health, so long as you both shall live?"

Mark looked up into Falcon's handsome eyes. "I do."

“Falcon, wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love him, comfort him, honour, and keep him in sickness and in health, so long as you both shall live?”

“I will.” Falcon reply, he stares into Mark eyes that fill with love.

The priest smile. "In that case, may I have the rings?" Lil Bulb presented the pillow and the priest took the ring, and given the rings to both grooms.

Mark place the wedding ring on his groom finger, “With this ring I thee wed.” He said.

Falcon took the ring from the priest and look at his groom. “With this ring I thee wed.” Falcon said. “And with my body I thee worship.” Falcon look up to Mark adorable eyes, placing the ring into his finger. “And with all my worldly goods, I thee endow. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Falcon finally place a golden ring his groom middle finger while looking at his parrot eyes. “Amen.”

"By the power vested in me," the Priest continued, "“I pronounce that they be man and husband together. You may now kiss…"

Falcon Graves did not wait for the priest to finish and pulled his groom in for a dip before pressing his lips against his. Most of the children that witness the ceremony cringed, Everybody clapped their hands in applause.

As the ceremony ended, Mark knew that no matter how wonderful his wedding plan were, it was love that had made it a perfect day.

——————————————————————————

Day 1 Sunday July 21: Engagement/Marriage/Domestic life

@gravesbeaksweek

I hope @nega-aria won’t mind borrow her Mark Beaks family oc for my story. Mark Beaks family oc belong to @nega-aria.

#ducktales 2017 #mark beaks #falcon graves #gravesbeaks #gravesbeaks 2.0 week #marriage

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letmetakethatheartofyours · 5 years

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Marry Me

We were only 7 the first time I saw her in her room, she had no idea I was watching her, as she had all her stuffed animals set up like an audience, in a little white dress with bouquet of flowers she had picked from her families garden. Being 7, I had no idea what she really was doing. I had known her our entire lives. Our parents were best friends and neighbors, we had always been best friends. We were now 15, in high school. We had gone to a football game and now were at our favorite diner with some friends. She was sitting next to me. Our friend went outside and left us alone.

“I wanna get married” She blurted out. I looked at her stunned, we weren’t even together. “What?” I choked out. “Not right now silly.” She said nudging my arm. “And not to you.” She chuckled. My heart sunk in my chest deep. Yes, we were only 15 but I felt different when I was around her, I’m not saying I loved her but I’m not saying I didn’t. “Yeah of course” “I want my grandpa preaching the service, magnolias out in the country, you know, save my daddy some money. I have it all planned out.” “Except the groom.” I smirked. “I’ll get there when I’m older.” She smiled looking at me. I could see it all right now. Wearing a black suit and a black tie. I’ll hide out in the back, doing a shot of whiskey. Trying to make it through without crying so nobody sees that she wants to get married, but she doesn’t want to marry me. “Yeah, were only 15 crazy.” “Don’t call me crazy Dylan.” She laughed. “I just have plans.” I looked deep into her ocean blue eyes, her lips almost like they were begging to be kissed. She looked at me and her lips curved up into a smile, I leaned a little closer, I could fell her breath on my face. Before we could lock lips, our friend Tyler threw is body up against the window by our booth with his shirt up, rubbing it against the glass. We both laughed and she got up and went outside. She looked back at me and threw her arms up and then waved for me to come out. I almost kissed her, I couldn’t hide the fact I wanted too. Maybe I did love her. It kind of freaked me out, we had been friends forever.

We were graduating now, she had plans to go to college out of state. I did too but knowing I was loosing her was hard. “Hey” she said running up to me. “Hey Y/N” “I cant believe it! We did it Dylan!” She threw her arms around my neck and I held her close. I never wanted to let her go. Ever since that night when were 15, my feeling for her only grew stronger. I was now completely in love with her. “You ok?” She said letting go and backing up. “Yeah, just kinda sad that it’s over. Now we go our separate ways in different states.” “Hey.” She said putting her hand on my cheek, why would she do that? Feeling her hand on my cheek sent sparks around my whole body. “We will facetime everyday, we will still be best friends Dylan. I love you too much to just leave after high school fool.” “I love you too loser.” I wished she loved me the same way I loved her. I smiled and shook it off, picking her up and swinging her around “We did it!” I yelled. She yelled with me as we spun around. “You two are stupid cute. It’s gross.” Tyler said walking up with Holland. “Honestly, just kiss and get it over with already.” Holland laughed. I put Y/N down and we looked at them. Y/N laughed “Shut up, he’s just my best friend.” “But never more than me.” Holland said hugging me. “You are my best girl friend. I cant wait till we get to college and we have our dorm room.” “Oh girl, you already know it’s gonna be beautiful.” “And lit.” “Cant believe you two are leaving us guys.” Tyler said. “You are the ones who wanted to go to school across the country from us.” Holland said. “But we will always stay besties, all 4 of us.” Y/N said pulling everyone in for a group hug. I guess I’ll always wonder if she felt the same way.

It had been 6 years now since we graduated high school. All 4 of us graduated from college now and diving into our careers. We didn’t talk everyday anymore, that only lasted for a few months but we still talked. I had heard she was dating some fancy law guy. I hated it because I still loved her, she was beyond beautiful, she was perfect, I guess just not for me. I came from work one day, mail in hand. As I shuffled through it I saw a save the date, I didn’t even know she had gotten engaged. My heart sunk even more as my eyes filled up with tears. “Hey bro.” Tyler said walking through the door. “Hey.” I said wiping my face. “You ok?” He asked walking in front of me. “Yeah bro, I’m fine.” “You can’t lie to me.” I handed him the save the date. “Shit, I’m sorry Dylan.” “it’s my own fault, I should have told her a long time ago. I just don’t want to ruin our friendship, I mean I’ve known her my own life.” I said flopping onto the couch. “That and what if she doesn’t feel the same? Then things between us would just be awkward and I couldn’t live if she wasn’t in my life, romantically or just my best friend.” “You’ll never know unless you say something Dyl.”

Wedding day, why was I even going? This was stupid, I know her dad’s been dreading this day but he doesn’t know he isn’t the only one giving her away. “You sure about this?” Tyler asked as we pulled up to the venue. “No but she’s my best friend, what would I look like if you and Holland showed up but I didn’t?” “Let’s do this then.” She was somewhere, got on her dress now, someone welcoming all the guest. I went up to the table that was set out with pictures of Y/N and the soon to be husband. She was radiant, her smile bright. I should try to find her, get it off my chest, just tell her I love her more than the air I breath, that she can’t marry someone else, it needs to be me. I shook my head, I can’t mess it up now, I had chances after chances and didn’t take them. I took off, going to the diner we used to go too when we were in high school. I’m in my black suit, black tie, doing a strong shot of whiskey, because she wants to get married but she doesn’t want to marry me. I sat there, trying not to cry. A black limo pulled up and I looked out the window. She got out of the back, still in her dress, tears streaming down her face. She threw her arms up just like she did that night I first kissed her. She looked so beautiful my heart stopped. I got up and went outside “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be getting married?” I said looking at the ground, hands tucked into my pocket. “Supposed to be. I couldn’t do it.” She said. “Why?” “Because he’s not the one I want to marry.” She said walking closer to me “I want you Dylan.” She said putting her hand on my cheek. I looked up at her, shook from the words she just spoke. “Me? Silly old Dylan?” “My Dylan though, you were always it, I just was scared to admit it, to ruin our friendship. When I was getting ready, looking in the mirror, knowing I wasn’t walking down the aisle to you, I couldn’t do it. I tried to find you but you weren’t there. Why weren’t you there?” “Because I couldn’t watch you marry someone else. I was there but I had to leave, I couldn’t watch, I couldn’t be there to watch the love of my life be given away to someone who wasn’t me.” She moved her hand from my face and wrapped her arms around me tightly, me doing the same. She was still crying lightly into my chest. “How did you know where to find me?” “I had a feeling, I’ve known you our whole lives Dylan” She looked up at me, her bright blue eyes sinking into my honey eyes “It’s always been you.” “And it’s always been you Y/N” I said reaching down, finally meeting her lips with mine.

#dylan o'brien #teen wolf #tyler posey #holland roden #fanfic #oneshot

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aweirdkindofyellow · 5 years

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Here I Am, There You Are

Jack Barakat x OC 'Rachel has been best friends with Alex, Jack, Rian, and Zack since high school. What happens when one of them gets married?'

Part 1

I woke up the next morning with somebody else’s arms wrapped around me. Often when I woke up in new strange places, I needed some time to remind myself where the hell I was and what I was doing. This time, I didn’t need anything to remind me what had happened. Everything was as clear as day. I could still remember Jack acting all civil in the Uber, confusing the hell out of me again. It was like he was playing with my emotions for his own entertainment. But, back in the hotel, things flipped around yet again. We went up to his hotel room, which he had already been in the night before, making sure to bring all my belongings with us this time, and the rest was history. Shifting a little to get more comfortable, I managed to wake up Jack. At first, he just stirred a little, but then his breathing became louder, and eventually he let out a loud groan. As expected, he was probably experiencing a horrible hangover. That mixed in with being woken up by another person was the worst combination. “Huh?” Jack grumbled, seemingly needing those extra minutes to remember that he wasn’t in his own bed at home. “Morning.” “Morning,” I whispered back, turning around to face him. He did indeed look like he needed a couple more minutes to wake up, if not hours. So, I decided to let him take his time without me around to make him dizzy. “I’m going to take a shower, okay?” He gave me a thumbs up and I got out of bed. Taking my bag with my change of clothes, I slipped into the bathroom, blowing off the fact that I was fully naked. My reflection was horrifying. Not only was my (classified by agencies as) honey blonde hair, which had been full of product, sticking up weirdly as a reminder of the night before, but my makeup was smudged completely. I quickly closed the bathroom door before Jack could see, making sure to leave it ajar so he could run in if he suddenly felt nauseous. I worked through my hair with a brush first, knowing it would be a lost cause if I wettened it without detangling it. It was more work than when I actually did it in the first place. Next was trying to get off all that smudged eyeliner and mascara, which I was more prepared for and had makeup wipes for in my bag. As soon as I knew taking a shower would only help my situation, I moved to the shower and inspected the dials and handles. Once I finally figured it out and turned it on, there was a knock on the door. Not a knock on the door to the bathroom, a knock on the door to the hotel room. I froze in place, wondering who it was, and decided to listen in before I hopped in the inviting water. Jack groaned once again, but got up anyway. After a bit of fumbling and another knock at the door, he grumbled out an “I’m coming!” Although I couldn’t see the faces, I could recognize the other voices as well. “Hey, Jack,” Lisa greeted, concern coating her words. “Have you seen Rachel? I barely got to see her yesterday and apparently she didn’t check in either.” My eyes went wide. Did I have to make an appearance and announce that I was okay? But I looked horrible and was completely naked. There was no way I could just casually walk out and act like it was all normal. Even if I quickly wrapped a towel around myself or put on some clothes, the conversation would have already moved on. “No, sorry,” Jack replied, his voice rough and hoarse. “If I see her, I’ll tell her you were looking for her.” “Okay, thanks,” she sighed, both with relief and even more unease, “I just want to see her before we leave on our honeymoon, which is in like an hour.” “Is that your shower running?” Alex’s deep chuckle came from the same direction, making me take a few steps away from the bathroom door. “Yeah,” Jack simply said, the croak of the door telling me he opened it a bit more, but not enough to invite the guests in. “Woah, what happened in here?” Lisa wondered, sounding shocked. “Well, let’s see…” Jack clapped his hand together, making him flinch at the sound he had created himself. “The bed sheets are all crumpled up, my suit is spread across the room, there’s a dress on the floor that most definitely isn’t mine, and there’s a condom wrapper on the bedside table. I’m not really sure, actually.” “Dude,” Alex laughed yet again. “And you don’t even remember?” “I am so fucking hungover right now,” Jack answered, making my heart drop. His prior statement still made it sound like he was making a sarcastic joke, but this said otherwise. “Man, well, good luck with that.” I didn’t listen to the rest of their conversation. Instead, I did what I came here for, and that was to take a shower. All the negativity and bad feelings had to be washed away. I ignored the fact that Jack was in the room next to me as soon as I got out of the shower and dried myself off. It was difficult to do with him shuffling around, but he didn’t enter the bathroom once. I just changed and dried my hair, praying he would leave the room temporarily so I wouldn’t have to see him anymore. But that was too much to ask for. I came out of the bathroom holding my suitcase to find Jack sitting on the bed facing me while cradling his head. While I had enjoyed his presence a few minutes before, I sure as hell didn’t anymore. I now knew what he thought about last night, and I didn’t want to deal with that. Despite knowing how drunk and horny he was, I still managed to fall under his spell. And I had literally told him I wasn’t a girl that did one night stands that evening. “You can go, now,” I muttered, refusing to look at him although I could feel his gaze boring right through me. I could only imagine his surprise to find out he had slept with me. He nodded and silently got up before going into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed, I threw my suitcase on the bed and opened it as quickly as possible. Since I was wearing the clothes and shoes I had brought along in it, I now had enough space to stuff my dress and heels in. I didn’t even bother to fold it nicely so it wouldn’t end up wrinkling. Even the underwear I couldn’t find from last night didn’t matter. I didn’t need those filthy things anyway. With the water still running in the bathroom, I sneaked out of the hotel room. I didn’t need to look back. I just had to go downstairs, get breakfast, maybe run into Lisa, and get back home. Just like that, I had managed to ruin my friendship with one of my best friends; all because I was so damn stupid. When I exited the elevator in the lobby, I saw Alex at the front desk with all of his large suitcases for his honeymoon. They needed to leave soon, and it was obvious they were all ready and excited to go. I didn’t know exactly where they were going, but I knew it was one of their favorite vacation spots. Lisa, however, was nowhere near, I walked past, ready to go into the food hall, only to be spotted by Alex. “Rachel!” he called out and speed walked up to me, leaving all of his bags at the front desk without close supervision. “Hey.” “Hey,” I smiled back, trying to push away all the things that had happened the day before, “I didn’t get to congratulate you yesterday. So, congratulations!” “Thanks.” He hugged me quickly, his eyes glancing in the direction of his belongings just to check. “Anyway, Lisa was worried about you. Apparently, you didn’t check in.” “Yeah…” I exhaled, knowing I couldn’t act like nothing had happened at all. “I sorta had a one night stand. Not really my thing, though. I’m never going to be doing that again.” “What? No way,” he shook his head in disbelief, but I shrugged to show him I wasn’t lying. “With who?” “Eh, I’m not sure. Kinda left before he woke up and didn’t really look back.” It was a lie, of course I knew it had been Jack. I remembered every little detail, even how he accidentally closed the door on my foot while we were making out. “Oh my god,” Alex laughed. “Stone cold, Rachel, stone cold!” If only he knew why I left so quickly, then he’d be saying that to somebody else. Jack would be in so much shit. Alex knew me way too well and knew I’d never willingly have a one night stand with anybody, stranger or friend. I nearly wanted to tell him just because Jack would be so dead. But I didn’t need to ruin Alex’s bliss. As soon as their honeymoon was over, I could mention it to him. “Anyway, I’m going to get some breakfast, okay? Tell Lisa I’m in there if she still wants to see me,” I brushed off his comment and dragged my suitcase behind me as I started to walk away. “Will do.” Alex gave me one single nod before returning to the front desk. Somehow, I managed to sneak into the buffet without having to tell the people my room number. Not checking in the night before could have seriously screwed me over this morning. Of course, I could have gotten back at Jack by telling them his room number, making sure he couldn’t get in anymore. But I wasn’t that petty, and there wasn’t even a reason to do so. Plus, the number wasn’t exactly something I knew. I got myself a bowl of yogurt and added some of the mixed fruit in it, picking up a banana and a spoon in the process. There was more than enough space for me to sit. All I really wanted was to sit by myself in a corner and regret all my life decisions. But then I made eye contact with one of my other best friends who had been in the wedding party. Rian flashed his teeth and beckoned for me to come over. He was sharing a large table with Zack, the plates at the empty spaces telling me they had had more company before. But I knew I couldn’t just ignore them now. So, I went up to them, struggling to hold my breakfast in one hand and drag my suitcase in the other hand over the carpeted floor. “Hey, guys,” I tried my best to give yet another believable smile as I put down my bowl and collapsed the handle. Before I could sit down, Rian rushed up to me and gave me a big hug, also not having seen me at the wedding reception. I hugged him back, still marveled at how much he had grown up. When I first met him, he was this chubby kid that wore shirts that were way too large for him. Now, he had gotten rid of that extra weight, replacing some of it with muscle, and his weird curly locks were gone. “How are you?” He asked me cheerfully as he broke the hug and pulled out the chair for me to sit on. Always the gentleman. “Yeah, pretty good...” I shrugged as he sat opposite of me and Zack. “No headache?” Zack poked with a wink. “Or did you cradle that glass of water for hours as well?” I punched him lightly, picking up my spoon so I could start eating. “I’ll have you know I had six more drinks after that water!” Were they also glasses of water? Yes, they were. Did Zack need to know? What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. This way, if anybody found out about my little mishap with Jack, I could still say I had six drinks after the guys tried to get some life in me. “Going hard, aren’t ya?” He laughed, letting me eat my bowl of yogurt. What I wasn’t prepared for, though, was that Jack was also going to get some breakfast. Of course it was stupid of me to think that he would just stay up in his room forever and I would never have to see him again. Lucky for me, though, I spotted him at the buffet beforehand, so I could at least shield myself mentally. Somehow, he joined our table just as Lisa came bouncing in to talk to me. There was still a permanent grin plastered on her face, the weight of her ring on her finger making her feel beautiful and important. And she was. Who wouldn’t feel that way after their wedding? She was still the one person everybody admired. Jack sat down across from Zack, the furthest away from me as possible. While it was the only seat left for him without him being excluded from the group, I still was more than grateful that he decided to sit so far away from me. I didn’t need his menacing glare to be worse than it already was. I really was trying to look anywhere but at him, but it was very difficult knowing that he was staring right at me with disgust. “Holy fuck, Jack,” Rian burst out, remembering something and leaning forward, hitting his hand against the table to get everybody’s attention. “I don’t know who you were with last night, but you were being fucking loud!” I continued to look down at my yogurt, hoping a blush wouldn’t spread across my cheeks. None of the guys really seemed to take any mind, they were more interested in whatever Jack had been doing. Jack just stared back at them, his eyes flickering between his friends. At least it meant his attention was no longer on me. “You know,” Lisa interjected, standing at my end of the table, “Rachel had a one night stand as well.” My silence was short lived. Everybody’s eyes fell on me now, shock stiffening their entire bodies. They all knew that I wasn’t the one to just sleep with a person and never look back. I had always been in some sort of relationship. Jack, however, didn’t flinch. He just continued to stuff a piece of waffle in his mouth, not even bothering to look in my direction. “Okay, stop judging me.” I raised my hands up in defense, in turn dropping my spoon in the yogurt and swallowing what was in my mouth. “I’m never going to do it again. It was the worst thing I’ve ever done. Literally, it sucked so bad. I was lucky I could sneak out of there; didn’t want to give him a fright since he couldn’t remember a thing. But, hey, I can take it off my bucket list now and hope I’m never faced with it again.” “Now, why would you say that?” Jack frowned, cocking his head to the side. Of course he had to get all defensive without giving away that both our sexcapedes happened to be the same one. I shrugged, leaning back in my chair. “Maybe you enjoy them, but I don’t. Not really my problem, just a preference.” “Okay, well, I’ve got to get going,” Lisa once again interrupted, luckily before this rivalry between me and Jack could blow up to something that didn’t just seem like him feeling I offended his ways. “But I’m glad to know you’re okay.” “Yeah, I’m so sorry I kind of disappeared on you,” I told her and got up from the chair. I hugged her tightly, swaying the both of us slightly, making this my most heartfelt hug the entire morning. I still couldn’t believe I had let myself be such a party pooper, and I really was sorry for it all. “Have fun on your honeymoon.” With that, Lisa said goodbye to everybody else, giving us all one last wave, her fingers closing up and down while the palm and thumb stayed in place. At least I still got to congratulate the bride and groom and didn’t have to feel guilty for the rest of my life. They probably didn’t even realize that I didn’t come up to them during the reception because of my own selfish reasons, not because they were so busy and having fun. I sighed, taking my last bite of watermelon and pushing my bowl forward a couple of inches. “I’ve also gotta get going. But it was really nice to see you guys again.” “Awe,” Rian pouted while Jack looked at me with wide eyes, “can’t you hang out with us a little longer? We haven’t even been able to catch up yet.” “I’m sorry, guys, but I’ve got a flight to catch.” I twitched my lips to give a sorry smile and started shuffling my chair back again. “But if you ever pass through LA, whether it be on tour or for personal reasons, contact me.” I did manage to get them to let me leave. Zack and Rian both gave me very nice goodbyes while Jack just looked around in panic. I really had to hold back my eye roll until I walked away. It wouldn’t be Jack if he hadn’t forgotten that we both lived in LA, actually quite close to each other. There was quite a large chance that we could run in. And now he suddenly realized his plan of fucking me and leaving me alone wasn’t going to work. I waited around in the lobby, feeling weird that I could just walk away without checking out and paying. All I needed to do was order an Uber, wait a little longer, and then I’d be off. Soon, the whole memory of last night would be very distant and it wouldn’t matter anymore. “Rach, wait!” Jack came jogging up to me from the food hall, his own phone in his hands. There was no way he had already finished his breakfast at the rate he had been picking at that waffle. He must have ran out after me. “What?” I exhaled, waiting for my phone to connect since it had died but had received a second life from my power-bank. “I, umm…” he breathed heavily, scanning my face with his eyes. “You, umm, you never gave me any Advil.” “Excuse me?” I scoffed. Did he really think I now owed him more than just my body? He was a fucking asshole. “No, no,” he shook his head, going to grab my arms but deciding better of it, “you promised to have Advil and sparkling water for me, remember?” I frowned. Yes, I could remember joking that I’d have it ready for him in the morning after our first kiss. But what did it matter now? It was an empty promise, just like that kiss had been. Was he trying to prove that he could actually remember last night? But then why would he tell everybody he couldn’t even remember coming back to his hotel room? There was something really screwed up about him. “Seems like things don’t always go as planned,” I shrugged, pleased to see my phone had service again and I could get that Uber to save me from this situation. “Rach, no, please,” he begged, his pleading eyes looking at the screen of my phone as I went to the app. “What do you want from me?” I asked, fed up with him, as I turned off my phone so we could finish this conversation. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk to him, but the rage in me was only going to ruin my day even further, I had to let it out. “Are you now trying to tell me that you can remember last night but are an asshole who acts like nothing happened? I told you I was not up for a one night stand, not ever, but you manipulated me. You saw that thong and just went for it.” “No, that wasn’t-- I-- Rach… You were saying how insecure you were. I couldn’t just--” “So you took advantage of me?” I gasped, shaking my head at him and unlocking my phone once again. “You knew I wasn’t in the right mind to say no to anything. Getting with insecure girls is easy, isn’t it?” “No!” he continued to deny, taking my phone out of my hands and stuffing it in his back pocket, knowing I wouldn’t reach in to grab it. “When I told you I had a crush on you in high school, I wasn’t kidding. I just never had the guts to pursue it because I thought you were way out of my league. You dated all the jocks and Alex, apparently. I didn’t have any chance. I forgot about it. But I felt horrible knowing you were so insecure about relationships. It made me wonder if I could maybe fix that and be that guy who didn’t just want to use you as a one night stand. But I panicked and Zack was the first person I saw. So, yeah, I may have been a bit over my head. Actually, I’m sure of it. I would have never kissed you if I didn’t have a little liquid courage. So, I don’t know where I went wrong, but I really didn’t intend for it to come over like this.” As moving as his speech was, pulling at my heartstrings, I still couldn’t just forgive him like that. “You just acted like you didn’t know what happened. You spoke about it like some routine. And now you’re trying to tell me it meant more to you? Do you hear how hard that sounds to believe?” I crossed my arms and held my hand out to get my phone back. “But, Rach, you’re the one that disappeared. You walked out on me. How do you think that made me feel?” He shook his head, refusing to give my phone back. “Because you told Alex and Lisa that you hadn’t seen me and described the events like it was just another morning for you!” I wailed, just wanting to get my phone back so I could leave. How people around us weren’t looking at us strangely, I don’t know. But I was done with it. “What, did you want me to tell them that we slept together?” He finally gave my phone back, harshly pushing it in my hand, causing me to immediately order that Uber without hesitation this time. “Cause I wasn’t just going to do that without knowing how you felt about it. What if you didn’t want anybody to know? What if I acted all happy about what happened just to find out you couldn’t care less? I didn’t need them to know I got my heart broken on their wedding night.” “Then why are you coming with this now? Why not earlier?” I sighed. I was starting to feel for him. I also wouldn’t have wanted to boast about it, just to find out Jack couldn’t remember a thing. But still, it wasn’t okay. “We’ve been friends for over ten years, nearly fifteen, and you never thought to say anything? Hell, if you said something this morning when we woke up, it would have been enough for me.” “Then what are we fighting about? Miscommunication? Cause that is a shitty thing to fight about if we both want the same thing out of this.” I froze. There was no good come back to that. Jack was right. Here we were, fighting with each other because we were both upset about the same thing. We both thought the other didn’t care, but wanted them to. We wanted it so bad that we were blaming each other instead of noticing that we also didn’t do anything ourselves. Jack could have told me all of this years ago, and it wouldn’t have done anything. Maybe it would have compromised our friendship, because I hadn’t ever thought about him like this. Last night, though, I couldn’t help but see him in a new light. Jack unearthed his feelings that he had managed to hide in high school, and I didn’t need to look for a stranger that would understand me and treat me right, I already had that person in front of me. It was a lot more simple that we made it out to seem. Jack must have noticed my silence. Just like the night before, he sneaked his right hand up to cup my left cheek. He lightly stroked my skin with his thumb, waiting for me to push him away. But I couldn’t. I was awaiting him, looking right into his eyes and hoping it was enough of an apology. He tried to send the same message back to me, eventually causing our lips to be pressed up against each other again. His scruff felt the same way as the night before, but he smelled way better. There was no overabundance of cologne and sweat, it was just soap and deodorant. It calmed my nerves. This time, we were broken apart by my phone buzzing. Jack sighed as I pulled away and took out my phone, disappointed to see that it was my Uber driver telling me he was right outside. I had hoped it would have been my savior, but now it was just the end before we reached the happy ending. “Text me when you’re back in LA, alright?” I asked him after texting the driver that I’d be out in a minute. “Okay,” he nodded, glancing out the window and at the black car that was waiting for me, before giving me a sad look. I grabbed his chin with one hand, my thumb on the left side of his face and my fingers on the other side. I carefully tilted his head down and kissed him briefly before taking hold of my suitcase’s handle and walking out of the hotel to go back home.

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