#Technically I’ve been jokingly thinking about it for months. But I’m concerned how much I’m seriously considering it now

[inga-don-studio]

Half considering applying for a night stocking job at Fred Myers if only to work there for 5 nights.

[tobesobri]

Traditions | 17.3k

a/n: it's been a while since I uploaded writing and for some reason I decided to sign up for this challenge and by some miracle actually managed to write something for it 🤯anyways, this is for the Valentine's Day Challenge by @1dffchallenges and it's honestly just a bit of fun, enemies to lovers little bit of angst and some smut! so i hope you enjoy! I'd always love to know your thoughts!! (also pls excuse any errors, I wrote this in a week with little editing lol)

prompt: doube date

dialogue: “So let me get this right. You want to hire me as your date for a Valentine’s Day Party?”

Pink and red were speckled throughout the entire office, whether it was a bouquet of chocolate roses, a banner of hearts, or stuffed bears residing next to bowls full of heart-shaped candies. Every employee’s section of the office had been filled to the brim with decorations as well. Pink and red ribbon taped carefully around the edges of their desktop computer, little store-bought balloons, also heart-shaped, grouped together and tied to desk chairs. 

And Y/N, dressed in her typical all black outfit, rolled her eyes as she paced through the office toward the one section in the back that was immune to all things heart-shaped, pink, or stuffed. 

She sat down at her desk with a loud sigh, her purse hitting the floor in its usual spot just before she slipped out of her jacket and draped it haphazardly between her back and the chair. It’d be wrinkled by the end of the day, but she didn’t care all that much, nor did she put much thought into the stains on her purse from leaving it on the floor. All she concerned herself with, after settling in, was getting straight to work… which was put on hiatus when she came face-to-face with both a pink and heart-shaped sticky note plastered onto the center of her computer screen. 

Groaning, she ripped it off and moved to turn her computer on before she bothered to read whatever was written on the note. She considered three potential suspects while she pulled her keyboard down onto her desk and logged in. There was Kayla, who worked front reception and was one of the main culprits of all the Valentine’s decorations. A strong contender. It could’ve also been Ines or Carmen, her closest work friends whom Y/N knew both owned a pad of pink, heart-shaped sticky notes. 

However, when she finally let her eyes fall to the note as her computer loaded up, the handwriting didn’t match any of the women she knew, and she was quite positive that none of them would have written was was sprawled out in black ink either.

Roses are red, violets are blue. I will fill your office with teddy bears and balloons, if you don’t send me your half of the proposal by two.

Harry.

She crumpled the note and tossed it into the bin under her desk. He could go fuck himself for all she cared. Sure, she was nearly done with her portion of the work and would be able to send it to him before then, but now that he’d pestered her about it, he’d be lucky if she even bothered to send it to him at all. 

She didn’t doubt the promise, i.e. threat, he made on the note, but being surrounded by teddy bears and balloons would be worth making Harry’s life just a tad miserable.

After opening all the apps she’d need to get her work done, namely Photoshop and Illustrator, she connected her drawing tablet and set up the rest of her work station for the day, both on screen and off.

Harry had worked at the company for about two years longer than her and she’d started off as an intern while she was still in college and, after graduating, was hired as a permanent graphic designer. They had never really gotten along ever since Harry—jokingly—asked her to get him a coffee once… or twice. Unfortunately for her, though, they ended up working well together and their boss had stuck them both on the same projects ever since. Especially after the month-long project last spring that had been their most successful one to date. 

While she came up with the design parts of client projects, Harry handled the more technical side of things and they’d never really argued much over each other’s work even though they clashed constantly at a more personal level. 

“I see your feeling festive.” Just as she’d gotten into the groove of her typical morning and had forgotten all about Harry’s stupid note, his voice interrupted her entire thought process. So when she swiveled around to find him leaning into her little office space, it was hardly a surprise when she glared at him, even though he feigned offense at her bitterness.

“You got my note, I presume.” He let himself into her space anyway, holding a mug of steaming coffee she was sure he’d just made in the workroom, and leaned up against the opposite side of her desk that housed a much larger, digital drawing tablet for when she needed to do more intricate design pieces. 

She just swiveled back around to face her computer again and went back to work as if he was no longer there. Pretending to ignore his existence proved to be quite difficult when the very particular woodsy, vanilla scents of his cologne met her nostrils and filled her entire office. Not to mention, the sight of what he’d been wearing singed the backs of her eyelids so that she still saw him every time she blinked. It was as if her brain refused to let her forget what he looked like in his white button-up, sleeves rolled to the crooks of his elbows, all tucked into his fitted black trousers that tended to get the imaginations going of all the women in the building. 

Not her though, of course. She was better than that. Obviously.

He cleared his throat, still very much present in her space and still very much giving her a migraine. “So will it be ready by two?”

“Well, I planned to send it to you before lunch.” She tweaked the spacing between letters of a potential logo for the millionth time. “But now… I think I might need the rest of the day.”

She heard rustling behind her and knew he was shifting his weight impatiently and running a hand through his hair as he often did when he was… displeased. “I told you I’m leaving early tomorrow and I need it no later than two.”

She cocked her head to the side, still staring at her computer screen and not giving him an ounce of satisfaction. “Did you tell me that?” She teased, an amused smirk lifting the corners of her mouth when she heard him groan behind her. “I must’ve forgotten.” Shrugging, she went back to her work.

“Unlike you,” he snapped, “some of us actually have a love life and I’d appreciate you not fucking up mine.”

She froze then, only for a split second, when his words sank in. Two thoughts raced through her head. The first a string of curse words because of his assumption that she didn’t have a love life. But the more prominent and worrisome part of his statement was that he did have one. And that he was leaving early tomorrow—Valentine’s Day—so he could get ready for a date.

Throwing both her prickly exterior and heartbreaking smirk up again, she turned to face him. “I’ve known you for three years now and if anyone has the potential to fuck up your love life, it’s you.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and her gaze fell to the hand that seemed to wrap a bit tighter around his Bugs Bunny mug. His knuckles whitened and she met his heated stare again, pleased with herself for getting him riled up before he’d even finished his morning coffee.

“So,” she continued before he get get a word of retaliation out, and sat back against her chair, crossing her legs confidently as she folded her hands in her lap. “Who’s the poor girl you’ve tricked into going on a date with you this time?”

Harry had a terrible track record. The longest relationship he’d been in lasted for two months, and that was well before she’d known him. Everything else he had was just a one or two night thing and nothing more. Sure, it was all more than she had, but she preferred it that way. Harry seemed to resent the fact that he couldn’t keep a girlfriend to save his life.

“You don’t know her.”

Her smile widened. “How long have you been seeing her?”

“Couple weeks.”

“Ooh, that just might be your second longest relationship, Styles.” 

“Well at least I’ve had one.”

His jab didn’t have an affect on her however, and he knew it wouldn’t because it never did. He knew she didn’t give a damn about relationships, or at least that’s what she claimed anyway. He couldn’t think of many twenty-four year old women who actually wanted to be alone. He actually couldn’t think of a mid-twenties anyone who wanted that.

“You’ll have to try harder than that.” She said nonchalantly, which irked him even more than he already was, and then swiveled away from him one last time, picking up her drawing pen and getting back to work.

“What’s your issue with relationships?” He went on and she knew he was headed right down a path intended to hurt her feelings just as much as she had his. So, she tensed slightly and braced for impact. “Is it a commitment thing? Or can you just not find anyone to put up with you for longer than five minutes?” 

She let his words sink their teeth in and then smiled to herself. “Hm. Seeing as you’ve been in my office now for,” she checked the time at the top right-hand corner of her screen, “eight minutes, maybe we should date.” She lifted a brow, awaiting his next response. 

It felt a bit like a cat-and-mouse chase bickering with Harry and since she was usually the cat, it brought her way too much pleasure fighting with him.

He scoffed. “Like I’d lower my standards for you.”

That one hurt, she had to admit. Not out loud or to Harry, but it still stung because it was true. He’d have to drop his standards to the floor to even consider dating her and she knew it. 

“Maybe,” she began, still half focused on her work, and ignored his comment all together, “some of us like being alone.”

“Nobody likes that.” He responded quickly and she heard a shift of his weight again and then his voice once more a few moments later. “It’s nice to be by yourself sometimes, yeah, but you can’t tell me you don’t want someone to come home to at the end of the day.” He crossed one leg over the other as he gripped the edge of her desk for support and just when she thought he was done, he kept going, “Someone you can vent to about your annoying co-worker.”

She glanced at him through the little portable mirror hanging above her desk—mostly used to make sure she looked decent before meeting with clients or, sometimes, Harry—and saw the tight smile on his lips. Almost as if that’s what he wanted, like he was talking about himself and not her. 

She’d slowed her progress down while he’d talked until she was no longer working at all. She no longer swiped her pen across the pad or had any idea what she was even doing when she focused solely on his words. Because, once again, whether he was talking about himself or about her, he was right.

“Yeah well,” she quickly hid herself back behind her wall and made her hands function properly again. “Some of us also don’t have the luxury of choosing whomever we want.”

She imagined him smirking at that one because, buried deep within her words was a compliment. That he was handsome enough to actually have anyone he wanted.

Instead, when she glanced at the mirror again and found him, there was the complete opposite of a smirk on his face, and as he stared down into his mug, clearly lost in thought, she wondered what the tightness in his jaw and the frown pulling on his lips meant.

She sighed and stole his attention away from his coffee. “I’ll have it to you before lunch. You can go now, unless you’d like to argue some more and slow me down by another…” she glanced at her clock again, adding up all the time he’d been standing in her office, “fifteen minutes.”

Without another word, she listened to the drag of his footsteps as he finally left her office space. And although she was glad to be rid of his distraction, the room felt so much bigger and so much colder and emptier without him in it. Shivering, she slipped back into her jacket and spent the next few hours doing nothing but staring straight ahead at her screen as she made final adjustments to her designs. 

Any other conversations with Harry were had over email as he worked in his own respective office, messaging her with every little concern he had in order to get his work done efficiently so that he wasn’t stressing to finish it tomorrow before he had to leave. Even though Y/N considered not responding to him a few times, just to spite him and slow him down for her own amusement, she found herself feeling guilty after leaving him hanging a couple times. Sure, she hated Valentine’s Day and everything surrounding it, but she’d almost hate even more the idea of both her and Harry being miserable tomorrow, so she inevitably gave in and cooperated with him. She’d probably regret it when he came back on Thursday spreading around the office all the gory details of his date, but at least he wouldn’t also be in a shitty mood. Her days were both boring and slow whenever Harry wasn’t having a good day. And although she’d blame it all on selfish reasons, it did also make her sad to see him frowning around the office and sulking when all she wanted to do was bicker with him and make him smile again, even just a little bit. But it was easier leaving him to his own devices than risk him finding out she cared about him enough to not wish sadness upon him.  

She couldn’t say the same for him. Harry probably relished in the days she came into the office in a sour mood. He probably celebrated and threw a party whenever she was upset, and, even so, it didn’t change how she felt about him.

The sun had long set and most of the office was gone by the time she finally called it quits and began packing up her things and giving her computer a rest for the night. There were still quiet murmurs from other workaholic employees, which comforting her knowing she wasn’t completely alone in the building, since the last time she’d done that, it took everything in her not to have a panic attack all the way to her car. 

Even though her boss told her countless times not to stay past five o’clock, as he told every other female employee that worked for him that he didn’t wish to see attacked after sunset in the city. Of course, when she was the only one who didn’t listen to him, he hired more guards and one of them rounded the corner into her office space, ready to escort her all the way down to her car.

“Figured you were still here.” He leaned against the walls of her cubicle and watched as she startled, twisting to meet his eyes for a moment before she settled and returned to slipping her belongings into her purse. 

“I don’t need you to escort me.” Zipping her purse, she rose from her chair, checking one last time across her desk to make sure she’d grabbed everything she needed to take home with her before turning to him as he still lingered in the opening of her little office. 

William had been hired a couple months ago, and was only a year older than her, but even so he was more than a foot taller than her and his biceps were about as big as her head. While the entire office drooled over him, she tended to keep her eyes and her thoughts to herself. 

“You say that every night you stay late. Just let me do my job and shut up about it.” He smirked at her and when her eyes met his again, sharply, glaring at him, she groaned and whirled past him toward the elevators. He followed swiftly behind, knowing she’d close the doors on him if he didn’t keep close enough pace with her, mostly because she’d done it before.

As he took his spot beside her and she pressed the button for the parking garage at the basement of the building, a familiar voice rang out through the office.

“Wait!” As if she wasn’t already annoyed enough with William’s presence, his stupidly large arm held the elevator doors open as Harry slipped inside a moment later.

“Thanks, mate.” Harry said exclusively to William as he caught his breath and stood wedged in the middle between the guard and Y/N, who was inching closer and closer into her corner to get away from Harry.

“You have any plans tomorrow?” Harry asked, his attention solely on William again while the elevator took off down through the levels of their building. Not fast enough for Y/N, of course.

William sighed, crossing his arms and trying to resist smiling. “Me and my girlfriend take turns surprising each other every year. And it’s her turn this year… so I guess I have plans, but I don’t know what they are.”

“Damn, way to make us feel incompetent.”

Y/N whirled her head to glare up at the side of Harry’s face. “Speak for yourself.” She warned.

Harry just ignored her though. “What did you guys do last year?”

Again, William stifled a grin. “I had been saving up for a while and took us both to Paris.”

“Shit.” Harry’s eyebrows rose and Y/N rolled her eyes away from him, watching the LED screen above the elevator doors as they neared the bottom levels of the building. She knew Harry and William had become friends, mostly because Harry was annoying and befriended everyone. Except her, of course. She heard his stupid voice again and wished she could just transport herself directly into the front seat of her car and be done with the both of them. “And now she has to do better than Paris.”

Y/N glanced around Harry just in time to see William smirk and she should have known what was about to come out of his mouth before it did. “Well, I don’t consider much better than her mouth ar—“

Y/N cut him off. “Ew! Are you serious?”

Both men eyed her curiously just as the elevator came to a stop and, with a ding, the doors opened. She flew toward them quickly.

“Y/N wait, I have to—“

Again, she cut him off, turning once she was out on solid ground. “I’ll be fine, besides trying to rid my mind of that image you just burned into it.” She turned on her heel and headed off toward her car.

William made a move toward her and Harry grabbed his arm, “I’ll walk her. Forgot she’s a bit of a prude.” They shared an amused look and Harry jogged out onto the concrete and asphalt until he reached her side.

“I heard that, you know… and I know for a fact your car is not parked in this direction.” She seethed and he just smiled to himself, happier than ever that she was in the mood to bicker with him, because he wasn’t quite in the mood to leave yet, where he’d have to wait till tomorrow morning at nine-thirty to see her again. And she wasn’t always the most talkative person on Valentine’s Day, either.

“Why are you the only female in our building not foaming at the mouth over him?” He asked instead, referring to William.

He heard her scoff. “Just because he’s attractive doesn’t mean I have to be interested… or want to hear about his girlfriend sucking his—“

“Cock?” Harry finished for her and within a second she spun around to face him, forcing him to stop in his tracks just inches from her now. His smirk only grew when he saw just how quickly he’d gotten her all flustered. 

And then, as they started each other down, the hardness in her face softened and she drew out a breath, forcing his eyes to fall to her lips and his smirk to fall from his mouth. He thought back to last spring, when there were numerous late nights with her just like this one. When he went home and couldn’t stop thinking about…

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked and he blinked a couple times before he lifted his eyes.

“Like what?” He furrowed his brows, trying to track down all the resentment he had for her but he couldn’t find it anywhere anymore. He couldn’t summon it and say something that would save his ass from being caught looking at her like he wanted to kiss her.

Like he wanted to taste her and feel her against him, and hear what she sounded like when he tugged at her hair for more.

“Nevermind.” She shook her head, silencing the chaos going on in his brain. And then she turned, continuing the walk to her car with or without him, but, when she heard the echoing click of his shoes against the asphalt once more, she knew she wasn’t rid of him yet.

“I don’t suppose you’ll give me a ride back to my car, will you?” He easily stepped back into place beside her like nothing had happened.

She didn’t say anything for much longer than he was comfortable with. And then, finally, they reached her car and she sighed. “Get in before I change my mind.”

As she went for the driver’s side, he took quick steps to the opposite side, watching her over the top of her little Honda as she unlocked her door, and then, after clicking the button, his door as well. They both slipped in at the same time and while she fastened her seatbelt and settled in for her drive home, he sat perched with his backpack in his lap, knowing he’d be out of her car within only a couple minutes.

He still glanced around at his surroundings as she backed out of her parking space. “Should’ve guessed your car would be as neat as your desk.”

She didn’t say anything as she drove in the opposite direction of the exit toward the section of the garage Harry always parked in. It was closer to the elevators because he always came in before her and snagged a prime spot. She preferred an extra few minutes of sleep over walking an extra fifty steps.

And he started up again when she continued to not talk to him. “Most artists I know of are super messy.”

“I’m not an artist.” She gritted out through her teeth as she came to a stop once she spotted the rear-end of Harry’s BMW. Although she knew it well enough to distinguish it from the other black BMWs in the garage, it also helped that Harry had an old, faded license plate cover filled with a collage of cute pictures of puppies. He’d said it won him bonus points with women, but she also knew his screensaver at work was a picture of puppies as well, and no women he was interested in ever saw that.

He peeled his eyes off his car and looked over at her. “I know you can draw, too.”

She paused, gripping her steering wheel. She did enjoy both art and design and she knew Harry knew the difference between the two. She just didn’t know why he always insisted on bugging her about it. 

“Yeah, well that doesn’t make me an artist.”

When he didn’t say anything, she glanced at him just in time to find him shrugging a shoulder like he was agreeing to disagree. Even if she couldn’t draw, he’d still consider her an artist because the things she managed to design always blew his mind and if that wasn’t art… 

She rolled her eyes. “Are you going to get out, or do I have to drag you?”

He grinned, and it was almost as if her eyes refused to see anything else but his dimples and the bright whites of his teeth, and the birthmark to the side of his mouth… 

“I’m going.” He assured, and yet he still hadn’t moved an inch. “Even though I’d love to see you try to drag me.” With her knuckles whitening on the steering wheel, he chuckled and unzipped the small pocket on the front of his backpack, withdrawing his keys as he finally swung her door open.

Once he was out, he gripped the top of the door and leaned back in to find her staring straight ahead. “Drive carefully, yeah? Would be quite tragic for your bitter ass to die on Valentine’s Day.”

She reached over and, despite having to brush her knuckles along the side of his thigh, grabbed the handle of the passenger door and yanked. His body remained in her way, however, and he was unfortunately a lot stronger than her.

Then she finally looked up at him, and those thoughts he had earlier surfaced again as much as he’d tried to bury them. This time though, he didn’t fight it as he glanced at her lips once more, then back at her eyes, which had widened slightly just before the dimples reappeared in his cheeks. “And I guess I would miss bickering with you every day.”

With that, he was gone and she retreated back to her seat as he shut the door for her. She had no idea what to think about what had just happened. Why he’d looked at her like that again. What that look even meant. 

By the time she reached the freeway, she’d convinced herself she was just seeing things. Harry wasn’t looking at her in any other way he had before when he was intent on pestering her. But, as she took in the scent of him still lingering in the cabin, she allowed a small part of her to hope she was wrong.

Her eyes fell on the man down the hall from her door as she slipped her key into the lock, her brows furrowing as she watched him. It wasn’t unusual for their paths to cross, as they tended to get home around the same time, but it was quite odd to see him sitting on the floor outside his apartment, his head in his hands. 

They’d said hi to each other a couple times in the mailroom, but she definitely didn’t know him well enough to go up and ask what his issue was or try to fix it for him. And after it was confirmed that he hadn’t, in fact, lost his keys, as they sat beside him on the floor along with his phone, she figured it best to leave him be. 

Turning her key, she pulled her gaze from him and disappeared from the hallway.

The second she was inside her apartment, she felt all the weight lift right off her shoulders, especially when her cat came racing up, screaming at her from the floor while also coaxing her toward the kitchen to fill the food bowl. Whatever was going on with her neighbor still very much on her mind, she tried to focus instead on relaxing and getting both her and the screaming Pretzel some dinner. 

She tried to remember his name as she heated up leftover pasta. She knew it started with an A, but her brain was coming up short. So, while Pretzel crunched on his food in his corner of the kitchen, she tried her hardest to remember. 

And it was no question why she cared so much. Her neighbor was someone she was actually interested in, and she had been since she first saw him. Of course, she was never foolish enough to think he was into her, but she still let herself fantasize. He was tall, nearly black curly hair atop his head always in a state of disarray, and he had the most beautiful blue eyes she’d ever seen hidden behind his glasses. And, if she was being honest with herself, he was just a darker-haired version of Harry. Maybe that’s why she liked him.

The beeping of her microwave tore her thoughts from the dangerous path they’d been headed down. Harry’s voice rang in her head a moment later.

Like I’d lower my standards for you.

She’d needed to hear him say that, because sometimes her thoughts got carried away when it came to Harry and sometimes she did let herself be a fool who hoped. But after he’d said that one damning phrase, it was enough for her to stop. She didn’t meet a single one of his standards, inside or out. 

Still, she tried her hardest not to go back out into the hall and make sure her neighbor was alright. Maybe he just needed someone to talk to and it wasn’t like she was doing anything important. Even if she didn’t have a dumb crush on him, as she did Harry, she still didn’t enjoy seeing him in the state he’d been in.

Before she could work up the nerve, however, a knock sounded through her quiet apartment.

She held her breath as she opened her door, really hoping it wasn’t the boy from across the hall, since she was still blanking on his name, but she couldn’t imagine anyone else knocking on her door this late into the evening. 

So when she inevitably found him there, looking down at her through his annoyingly long lashes as she took in the horrible state he was in—red, inflamed eyes and hair that needed to see a brush rather than his hand—she completely lost her breath instead.

“Uh, sorry, I… saw you come in and I know we don’t talk and this is a weird thing for me to ask but…” He ran said hand through said messy hair and she found her breath again while looking up at him like she’d do whatever he’d asked just so he’d stop frowning.

He sighed, glancing down the hall toward his apartment and then met her curious and somewhat concerned gaze. “Can I come in?”

She recoiled. “Um… why?”

“Well, um, I was hoping you could help me with something and I’d rather not have the entire floor know about it.”

She was beyond confused now, but still, she stepped aside and let him pass, assuming that if he was actually a murderer he would have done her in a lot sooner than this. He had plenty of other opportunities. Plus, something in his face just… made her want to trust him.

She closed the door and turned to him, watching as his eyes scanned her kitchen and where her food still sat before he twisted around, eyes wide. “Shit, I’m sorry for interrupting.”

She shook her head. “It’s fine.” And after clearing her throat, she crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you, um… what do you need help with?”

He swallowed and she watched his Adam’s apple budge in his throat. “I don’t imagine you’ll like me very much after I ask but… I need a date.”

“What?” Again, she nearly flew out of her skin.

His eyes darted back and forth between hers, gauging her reactions and very obviously on the verge of seeing himself out and pretending this never happened. Instead, he stuffed away his pride and went on. “My ex… she, uh… well we broke up a few months ago and I saw her the other day and she’s seeing someone and we were talking and I… told her I was seeing someone too and so she invited me to go on this stupid double date with her… but the thing is… I’m not actually seeing anyone and I just told her that so she’d be jealous but she didn’t seem jealous at all and I don’t exactly have many friends to ask for help and I saw you and…” He rambled, but she managed to understand his predicament just fine. 

“A double date? With your ex?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know either. She’s… she does weird shit but… I still want her back.”

Y/N’s heart ached in her chest. As much as she detested relationships, she was a sucker for other people’s relationships and she was definitely a sucker for her beautiful neighbor, even if he was asking to use her to make his ex-girlfriend jealous.

“Not that I’m saying yes but… when? And where?” She finally asked after thinking things over for a moment.

“Tomorrow night… I can pay you. I will pay you, I mean… but, seriously, you don’t have to do it I just thought I would ask.”

“Where is this date at?” She repeated when he didn’t answer that part of her question.

“At this party… and bef—“

She cut him off. “Okay so let me get this right. You want to hire me as your date to a Valentine’s Day party?”

He lifted a brow, “Well, there’s more… she wants to get dinner before going to the party.”

She shook her head, looking away, “I don’t really do Valentine’s Day…”

“You wouldn’t have to do much. I’ll pay for your dinner, too. Whatever you want. I just… really need your help and you’re my only option.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You realize I’m not exactly…” she waved at her face and his eyebrows screwed together in confusion. “I’m not easy on the eyes and I don’t think taking me will make anyone jealous.”

He didn’t say anything for a while, just stared at her incredulously. She shifted her weight nervously and he finally opened his mouth. “You don’t actually think that, do you?”

Her features scrunched up and she kept her eyes planted on the middle of his chest. And then he realized that she, in fact, did.

“I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have asked you to do this.” He also realized that using her to make his ex jealous would possibly hurt her more than it would help him and he could no longer fathom putting her through that. “I’ll figure it out. I’m sorry.” He moved to walk past her, back to his apartment but she stopped him before he got far.

“No… I’ll help you.” And then she realized his identity was still somewhat of a mystery to her. “This sounds even worse than what you just asked me to do, but… I completely forgot your name.”

He breathed out a laugh. “It’s Adam.”

She knew it had started with an A!

“Y/N.” 

He smiled wider and nodded. “I know.” And then his face grew sad again. “I am really sorry I’m asking you to do this on Valentine’s Day, it’s definitely not my proudest moment.”

She waved him off. “I wasn’t going to do anything anyway. Just tell me what you need me to do.” She didn’t bother brining up the whole payment thing. She didn’t really care about being paid. He was nice, the only nice person she’d encountered in her apartment building and if getting him back together with his ex meant she’d never have to come home and see him in the fetal position on the floor again, she’d suffer through a date and a party on her least favorite holiday.

It was somehow even worse than it’d been yesterday. The decorations seemed to triple in size. Not an inch of the office was untouched by something pink and she prayed whoever had put up even more decorations had spared her little cubicle.

“Oh, hey, Y/N!” One of the receptionists most responsible for the overflowing decor, Kayla, called her over to her desk not even a minute after Y/N had arrived. And she stalked over until she saw the package Kayla pulled out that instantly lifted her spirits.

She stopped in front of Kayla’s desk and took the thin box from from her, already knowing what it was and thanking god for the timing so that her entire day wasn’t completely miserable. It was a new drawing pad she’d ordered, a bigger one that she hoped would be a bit more efficient to use than her current one.

Even with her back turned to the rest of the office, she sensed Harry’s presence long before he stopped beside her with his mug in hand.

He lifted a brow at the package in Y/N’s hands just as she reluctantly turned to look at him. “Getting gifts sent to the office? That’s a first.”

She rolled her eyes and stuffed the box under her arm, holding herself back from running off to her office to set it up. “Jealous?” She cocked her head.

And instead of his condescending smirk and a hateful response to go with it, the sparkle in his eyes seemed to fade as he eyed the box again, genuinely worried now that it was actually a gift from someone. 

Before either could say anything, they all turned to find a delivery man walking up to Kayla with a giant bouquet of flowers in tow. And so it began. Although, when Kayla took the vase from the man eagerly, a bright smile on her face because Kayla loved love a little too much, Y/N couldn’t help but think about Adam. About how the only time she’d managed to get a date on Valentine’s Day was when it wasn’t even real. Instead, she’d stupidly agreed to help her cute neighbor win back his ex-girlfriend in exchange for a free dinner.

It was… pathetic. To say the least.

She felt Harry watching her, too, while she eyed the bouquet of flowers as they departed reception with Kayla and made their way to their recipient. As stupid as she found everything about the holiday, she couldn’t help but want someone to send her flowers. To give her anything for that matter. To have thought about her for at least a second of their day. Harry cleared his throat and she tore her eyes away.

“So… what’s in the box?”

“None of your business.” She rounded him, heading to her office, but he grabbed her free arm to stop her short and didn’t speak until she met his gaze again.

“Can we meet up in my office to finish the proposal? Think it’ll be easier to get it done than over email.”

She had every reason to be suspicious of him. They almost never worked in each other’s offices. When they did work together, which was often, it was in one of the empty conference rooms and it was usually at the beginning of the process when they needed the space to plan things out. The last time they’d really been in each other’s offices was last spring. Figuring he just wanted to get things done so he could be out of the office on time, she let it go.

“Give me fifteen minutes.”

He watched her walk away, watched her even as Kayla returned and noticed his gaze and giggled at him as she took her spot back behind her desk.

“It was something she ordered for herself, by the way.”

“What?” Harry whipped around again, not having even realized the other woman until now.

“I know you two pretend to hate each other but I see the way you look at her, Harry.” Kayla lifted a brow at him as she began typing on her keyboard.

He feigned disgust. “I’m seeing someone, you know.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.” He insisted. “I have a date. Tonight.”

She lifted her hands in surrender. “Okay… I’m just saying.”

“I don’t look at her.”

Kayla suppressed a smile and snorted instead. “If you say so. I guess you didn’t also sneak into her office this morning, either.”

“I think all these flowers and stuffed bears and heart-shaped things have gotten to your head.” He pointed around to the decor littering her desk while holding his mug steady.

Kayla met his eyes and her smile slipped off her face. “Harry, please don’t mess with her.”

His face screwed up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If you don’t like her then don’t lead her on.”

“I don’t think she’s capable of being led on.”

Kayla froze for a moment and then nodded. “You’re right.”

He wasn’t sure what she meant by that either. “Why are you being weird?”

“Because,” Kayla sighed, brushing her curled brunette hair onto one shoulder and then lowered the volume of her voice. “I happen to know she doesn’t think very highly of herself and I’d rather not see her get hurt, especially not by you.”

Now Harry froze. The hand that gripped his mug tightened and he didn’t even flinch as it began to burn his skin. He heard Y/N’s voice in his head then as he drowned out his surroundings.

Some of us don’t have the luxury of choosing whomever we want.

He had instantly regretted what he’d said to her yesterday when she’d told him that. And now hearing Kayla, in a way, confirm what he’d read between the lines of Y/N’s words… his chest tightened in quite possibly the worst way ever. He’d hated himself most of the day after telling her he’d never lower his standards for her and he could say he was just bickering all he wanted, but he knew now for certain she took it the wrong way. And he wished more than ever that he hadn’t said something so horrible to her, especially when it was the farthest thing from the truth. 

And the real truth, that he was trying desperately to shove away with stupid remarks like that, was that he didn’t meet her standards. She wasn’t into relationships and he knew he wasn’t good enough to change her mind.

“How do you know that?” He finally asked.

“That Christmas party last year… she’s a really happy drunk until she’s not.”

He flinched. “Did she say something?”

“I don’t want to get into it, mostly because I don’t think she remembers and would probably kill me if I told you but… just leave her be.”

He hardened back up again. “She does’t have any interest in relationships anyway, ‘specially not with me.”

Kayla scoffed. “She’s a really good liar.”

Harry stood there for a few more moments, feeling as if his life had just gotten flipped upside down. He’d been in such a good mood mere minutes ago before his dumbass waltzed into reception all because he’d seen Y/N. Because, despite everything and despite the fact he was already attempting to date someone else, it was Y/N he wanted to be close to all the damn time. Groaning, he turned on his heel and left for his office, hoping she wasn’t there waiting for him so he could have a moment to himself to gather his thoughts.

In a hurry to open her package, Y/N slumped down into her chair tossing her purse on the ground at her feet and pulling out her box cutter in a rush of movements. She was so distracted, in fact, that she didn’t even notice the little stuffed frog, the box of chocolates and envelope sitting on the other side of her desk near her mouse. Instead, she unboxed her new tablet and began setting it up, not noticing the gifts until she went to turn on her computer. And then she froze.

With reluctant hands she grabbed the envelope first, her name printed on it in perfect cursive. She knew nobody in the office who had such good penmanship. Opening the card in hopes of finding out who had placed the items on her desk, instead, she just found it signed as ‘secret admirer.’ Rolling her eyes, she set the card down and realized it had to be from her boss. Sometimes he remembered to go around and give everyone little gifts on the holidays. Obviously he’d remembered this year. 

She dug into the chocolates as she set up her tablet and began calibrating it to suit her needs before finally testing it out in the little bit of time she had before she needed to make her way to Harry’s office. 

And once that time came, she left everything in its place, besides the box of chocolates, which she continued to pick at while she made her way through the room. What she didn’t notice while stuffing her face with candy was that… no one else had a stuffed frog or chocolates or a cheesy little card on their desks.

She rounded the corner into Harry’s office, which was a real office and not a cubicle that he usually shared with one other person who was thankfully out with clients for the day. She knocked on the doorframe to get his attention after just watching him focus on his screen for a moment. Harry was cute when he was focused.

But then he turned to her and his eyes fell to the box in her hand.

When he didn’t say anything, she held it out toward him. “Do you want some? I think Andrew was feeling generous this year.”

Harry’s eyes quickly panned up to hers and his brows furrowed as if she’d just punched him in the gut. And she couldn’t make out what that expression meant no matter how hard she tried. 

“He didn’t give me anything.” Harry motioned around his desk.

“Maybe he doesn’t like you.” She shrugged, setting the chocolates down on his desk while she grabbed his office mate’s chair and pulled it up beside him.

Harry sighed, turning to his computer for a moment and then watching her from his peripheral while she picked out another piece of chocolate. “I didn’t see anyone else with chocolates on their desks this morning.”

Y/N just shrugged. “There was a frog too. And a card.”

“And why do you think he’d give you all of that and no one else?” Harry hoped she’d get the hint but he didn’t hope too hard. She was still Y/N after all. And he really didn’t mean to sound so bitter… well, okay, he did. But he knew she’d misplace his bitterness, crushing what little hope there was to bits.

“Maybe he likes me better than all the rest of you.”

Harry scoffed, shaking his head as he put his attention back on his screen. 

“No one else in this office would give me a card signed as a secret admirer so… maybe I did something I don’t remember doing and he’s thanking me?” Now that she really thought about it, and if Harry was right… then it really didn’t make  much sense. It’s not like she was Andrew’s favorite employee.

Harry just lifted a brow and then pretended to lose all interest. 

Sensing the tension, she slipped the box closer to him. “Here. I think you need a knock-off Snickers if you expect me to work with your grumpy ass.” He made no move to indulge her, however. And so she went on, continuing to poke the bear. “Why are you in a lousy mood anyway? Isn’t this your favorite holiday? And you get to leave early.”

His eyes fell from his screen and he stared at the brick of sticky notes below his monitor before mumbling, “I’m sorry about what I said yesterday.”

Taken aback, she searched what she could see of his face for answers to what he was apologizing for. He’d said a few things she could imagine deserved an apology and yet, so did she. Maybe she should have been the one to apologize to him first.

“I didn’t mean to say what I did.” He finally turned to meet her face on. He’d hoped the frog and the chocolates would have been atonement enough, but considering she thought they were from their boss and not him, he just had to suck it up and actually say what he meant.

She shrugged. “It’s fine. I can be a prude sometimes.”

He searched her eyes for a moment and then shook his head, “No that’s not… I meant what I said earlier in your office… about lowering my standards. It was a stupid thing to say and not true in the slightest.”

But then she smiled and he grew confused. “Yes it is. It’s okay to have standards, you know.”

“I know that. But if we… I wouldn’t have to lower my standards. And it was cruel of me to have said that to you.”

She couldn’t stand looking at him any longer and averted her gaze, clearing her throat. “Well it doesn’t matter so… can we just get this proposal done?”

He’d wanted to spend how ever long it took to convince her that it did, in fact, matter, but Y/N was persistent, more so than him, and so he’d given in and they moved on to being productive with their time. And in less time than he’d anticipated their proposal was finished, being sent off to Andrew for approval before their presentation at the end of the week with their clients.

Harry sat back in his chair and she returned her own to the other desk where it belonged, all while he watched her. 

“What do you do on Valentine’s Day?” He asked, just trying to get her to stay longer, knowing that if those were his true intentions, then he was fucked. That he wanted to be around Y/N, even though he was seeing someone else, albeit for just a week so far, even though she’d never want the same from him. 

Maybe he was just as terrible with relationships as she claimed if he always chased after what he couldn’t have.

“That is also none of your business.” She grabbed her box of chocolates from his desk, his voice pinning her in place again though.

“Let me guess… it involves chocolate, your cat, and the most anti-romantic movies you can find?”

He would not think her very prudish if he knew what else she did on Valentine’s Day while alone in her apartment, but she figured it was best to keep that to herself. Instead, she smiled at him. “Something like that.”

He narrowed his eyes and threw his arms up behind his head as he laid back in his chair, watching her curiously like he was trying to figure her out. Meanwhile, she was trying to not make it obvious she was staring at his biceps as they just about bulged from underneath the sleeve of his pink button-up. He’d done it on purpose though, so as much as she tried to hide it, he still grinned with satisfaction when she became flustered.

“Well, have fun with that, then.” He nodded, and for a moment while she was lost in his eyes and growing embarrassingly hot, she wondered if he could read her mind. If he knew exactly what not-so-innocent things she did on Valentine’s Day. Then he brought his arms back down to rest his elbows on the edge of his desk, pinching his bottom lip between his fingers and watching as she rolled her eyes, held her chocolates close, and left his office. 

Adam arrived right when he said he would at five-thirty. It had given her plenty of time to change out of her work clothes and into one of the few dresses she owned, to at least seem somewhat convincing that this was a real date. She also fixed her makeup and put on a pinkish-nude lipstick before switching out her bulky purse for a smaller crossbody. 

When she opened the door to him, he most certainly did not disappoint. She almost let herself get lost in the delusion that it was a real date when she saw him dressed to the nines and cleaned up for the first time since she’d known him. And she especially got a little lost in it when he pulled a small bouquet of flowers from behind his back and handed them to her. 

“You didn’t have to—“

“I know.” He gave her a once over when she wasn’t looking. “You didn’t have to do this for me either.”

She quietly accepted the flowers and let him in while she found a vase and filled it with water. He leaned on the counter, watching her as she did so.

“You look… beautiful, by the way.” He blurted out once she had cut and placed the stems into the vase. Her hands froze, though, and when he met her eyes, he knew he’d made a mistake.

“You’re paying me to make your ex-girlfriend jealous. Please don’t flatter me.”

“Sorry.” He muttered, although he was beginning to wonder if the bigger mistake was not taking her out on a proper date that had nothing to do with his ex. 

She sighed and adjusted the strap of her purse. “Let’s go then.”

He went over all the final details on the Uber ride to the restaurant. Things about his ex he thought Y/N should know about. And he made sure she knew, for about the hundredth time, that she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to. And she reminded him for an equal amount of times that she never did anything she didn’t want to do. So, settling that, he helped her out of the back of the Uber when they arrived and opened the door to the restraint for her as well. Everything that she’d expect from a normal date, which only left her disappointed when she reminded herself it wasn’t.

She waited quietly, and tried to catch her nerves, while Adam talked to the hostess and gave her his ex’s name for the reservation. The place was packed and anyone who didn’t call ahead surely would not be getting a table tonight. She’d never been out on Valentine’s Day, though, so it was like stepping into a brand new world for her. And as she followed both the hostess and Adam, she paid more attention to all the couples enjoying their meals than anything else.

Except for when he reached back and grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers just before they came to a stop. She blinked her eyes at their hands for just a moment before he gently pulled her around next to him. And whatever way she’d felt about holding Adam’s hand went right out the window when she locked eyes with Harry.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

The last thing she expected to find, while Laura, the gorgeous blonde ex-girlfriend, stood to hug Adam, was Harry fucking Styles. And what a fucking coincidence it was, almost as if this was her karma for feeling the need to constantly help people. 

Adam’s hand slipped from hers but she didn’t even notice it anyway. She and Harry still stared each other down and neither of them moved a muscle either. Well, besides the one in his jaw as it tightened. Then he did move, glancing over at Adam with a blank expression before landing his gaze back on her again. And then his eyes fell to the glass of water in front of him and she felt like she’d been released from chains he’d tied around her wrists.

“This is Y/N,” Adam’s hand went to the small of her back, guiding her forward to meet his ex-girlfriend and Harry’s current… whatever they were. 

Laura held out her hand, her smile a little too forced. “Laura. It’s nice to meet you. Please, sit.” She ushered them to the table as she took her spot beside Harry again. Adam, of course, took the chair opposite Laura, which left Y/N in the one opposite Harry. 

This would be a long, hellish night.

She couldn’t help but wonder what Harry was thinking. That maybe she’d come to crash his date. Or, even worse, that he’d already figured the whole thing out. That Adam was paying her to be here. She really hoped he’d never find out because it was just embarrassing enough to make her want to change her name and move across the country, thousands of miles away from him. Harry finding out that she couldn’t get a real date to save her life… beyond humiliating.

“This is Harry.” Laura motioned to him and he just barely lifted his gaze, nodding at Adam and ignoring Y/N entirely. “You know,” the blonde went on, glancing between Adam and Y/N, “I was a little shocked when you told me you were seeing someone again.”

Adam just shrugged.

“How did you guys meet?” 

Y/N left all the talking to him. Mostly because she was still in shock that she was sitting across from Harry. And she hadn’t even taken the time to properly take him in and realized he’d also changed his clothes since work. Swapping his wardrobe out for a fitted black button-up, that wasn’t buttoned all the way to the top as his shirts normally were. The sleeves were already rolled to his elbows. He’d shaved off the scruff along his jaw as well and fixed his hair so that it was combed back out of his face, although a a couple rebellious strands hung down onto his forehead. He looked… like absolute perfection. And he was being forced to be on a date with the ex-boyfriend of the girl he was seeing and his annoying co-worker. She felt terrible for him.

“Oh, uh, well we live on the same floor.”

Laura nodded, clearly anticipating more. “Is that it?”

Y/N felt Adam tense up beside her and so she took over, easily spinning a lie. “I ran out of milk one night a few weeks ago. He’s the only one who answered the door.”

She noticed a flash of movement in her peripheral and turned to find Harry’s gaze on her again, one eyebrow lifted curiously. He was either wondering how she hid it so well, or trying to figure out what to ask in order to reveal their ploy. He never said anything, though.

“Sorry, um,” Laura’s tone changed as she glanced between Harry and Y/N, both of them looking away when the other girl interrupted. “Do you two know each other?”

Harry grinned, sitting back against his seat and folding his hands in his lap. “Something like that.”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “We work together.”

“Really?” Although her tone said otherwise, Laura’s face said everything about how she felt upon hearing that bit of information. 

Adam twisted his worrisome gaze to Y/N, but she ignored it. Harry, however, did not.

“Don’t worry, mate. I was under the impression she was celibate up until now.” With that, Y/N kicked him under the table and he sat forward to swallow the groan that very nearly left his lips after she’d jabbed him in the shin with the toe of her heels. “Guess she’s really good at hiding things, though.”

Adam just chuckled nervously and Y/N shot him an apologetic smile, trying to reassure him that this date would still work out despite Harry. 

“What a small world.” Laura laughed, trying to break the tension but dinner hadn’t even started yet. 

Sometime during the main course, Laura excused herself to the bathroom and Y/N almost, in a desperate attempt to flee both Adam and Harry, invited herself along. But she figured it’d be worse to be alone with Laura than with them. Laura might ask questions she wasn’t prepared for. So, she stayed put, as much as it pained her to do so.

“So, Adam, what do you do for a living?” Harry asked suddenly and she wanted to kick him again. Mostly because his tone was that of a jealous teenager and he’d waited until Laura was gone to pester her ex-boyfriend who most certainly did not deserve Harry’s pestering.

“Oh, uh, I’m an artist. I work for an animation studio at the moment but I’m trying to get into freelance.”

Harry’s eyes shot to the suspiciously quiet girl sitting across from him. “So is Y/N.”

Adam turned to look at her, but she just glared at Harry. “Oh, I didn’t know that.”

Harry titled his head as he narrowed his attention in on Adam again. “So you’ve known her for a few weeks and you never asked what she did?”

“Harry.” Y/N warned, trying to kick him under the table again but he dodged out of the way.

“Well… she said she was in graphic design… not art.” She had told him that, during their crash course yesterday while they got to know as much as they could about each other in a span of a couple hours.

“I think it’s the same thing.”

Adam just shrugged. “I guess. I don’t think I could be a designer, though. Most artists make what they think looks good, designers create things to appeal to customers.”

“Just ignore him.” Y/N advised and Harry was the one shooting her daggers and attempting to stomp his foot on top of hers under the table this time.

“You and Laura used to date then? She never told me how you split up.” Harry moved on.

Adam swallowed nervously. “She broke up with me.”

“Why?” Harry pushed and Y/N looked at him like she wanted to kill him, which he ignored.

“I, uh… I had a drug problem for a while. I was not the best person to be around sometimes. But after we broke up, she helped me with rehab and everything.”

“Guess that explains why you’re on such good terms.”

Now Y/N really wanted to do more than just kick him. 

Adam grabbed Y/N’s hand under the table and pulled her straight from her violent thoughts about Harry. And he didn’t lace his fingers between hers, instead, it felt as if he had just been looking for something to ground himself with. And her hand resting on her lap was the closest thing he could find. It didn’t, however, go unnoticed by Harry and his jaw clenched as he stared at the point in the table where, just below, there their hands met almost as if he was trying to set everything on fire.

Laura returned shortly after that. 

As promised, Adam paid the entirety of both his and Y/N’s bill, even though she attempted to snag it from him, seeing as the date had gone to shit and it was all her fault. Well… maybe it was also Harry’s fault a little bit too. But she definitely did nothing to make Laura jealous. Adam, on the other hand, did a great job at making Harry jealous just by existing and being Laura’s ex, whom she was still friends with. 

The four of them stood outside on the curb awaiting their Uber after dinner was over, agreeing upon splitting one car to get to the party instead of taking two. Laura was apparently very cautious about fossil fuel consumption.

Y/N shivered as she stood between Adam and Laura, wishing she’d bright a jacket instead of relying on a long-sleeve dress to keep her warm. Then an arm wrapped around her shoulders and Adam pulled her close, running his hand up and down her arm to form heat. She tensed up, though, forming into an immovable brick. She had no idea the last time she’d been that close to another person, let alone a member of the opposite sex. When he felt her go rigid, he leaned down until his lips were at her ear. “Is this okay?”

She just nodded and tried to relax. Which turned out to be quite easy because Adam was warm and he smelled nice. She, of course, didn’t let her mind wander off too far. He was still in love with his ex. He’d still shove cash into her hand at the end of the night for her troubles and go on with his life.

Adam let go of her when the car pulled up and quickly went to the passenger door to confirm with the driver. Then he opened the back door for the three of them to climb in, Laura going first, then Harry, and, at last, Y/N, while Adam slipped into the front seat beside the driver.

While the car took off, Y/N was shoved into the corner when Harry moved closer to her in order to find both his and Laura’s seat buckles in the dark. Eventually, he settled back into the middle and gave her some space again. When she made no move to do the same as them, Harry turned to look down at her. 

“Put your seatbelt on.” He whispered.

Her eyes whirled up to his. Wordlessly, and of course after rolling her eyes, she grabbed her seatbelt and he made room for her to buckle it in. Then she sat back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest while she stared out at the traffic through her window.

She would have stayed in that exact position the entire trip, too, if Harry’s knee didn’t insist on bumping into hers constantly. And she couldn’t tell if he was doing it on purpose or not.

When she glanced up at him, and found the corner of his lips curl upward, she figured it was, in fact, purposeful. So, with the hand closest to him as her arms were still crossed, she poked him in the side, right against his ribs, hoping it hurt.

“Ouch.” He whined, covering the spot with his hand dramatically. Everyone in the car glanced at Harry, all except for Y/N who snickered as she returned to staring out the window.

Harry wasn’t giving up, though. This time, with his arms crossed in his lap, and glancing at Laura to be sure she wasn’t watching, he walked his pointer and middle finger up the outside of Y/N’s thigh, close enough to her hip to make her squirm slightly when his touch tickled her. And as soon as he got her attention, he looked down at what he was doing and pressed his middle finger against her, meeting her gaze with a smirk.

In the same moment, the driver turned up the music in the car as they waited tirelessly at a red light. It was better than silence or listening to his passengers breathing. But Harry mentally thanked him and turned his attention back to Y/N, leaning into her slightly until his lips were at her ear and she shivered for an all new reason.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a dress before.” He whispered for her ears only. The music was especially loud in the back and he wasn’t sure Y/N had even heard him.

Especially since she didn’t respond right away. But how could she? Harry’s fingertips were still grazing her thigh, as if trying to emphasize the dress she had on. And his stupid knee was pressed right up against hers. She couldn’t think straight.

Though when she finally turned to him and whispered back, “Don’t get used to it,” he knew she had, in fact, heard him well enough. 

He leaned again, “Afraid I already am.” 

She hated that there were butterflies in her stomach. That he was saying such odd things to her when his date was sitting just on the other side of him. The date who most definitely met all Harry’s standards.

Huddling away from him, she stuck her eyes out the window and kept them there the rest of the trip.

It was just past eight when they arrived, a fifteen-minute trip up through the city taking half an hour due to all the Valentine’s Day traffic. Another reason she hated this holiday.

The party was being held by Laura’s best friend, who’s name Y/N did not care to commit to memory. In the elevator ride up to the penthouse, though, Harry stood close to Laura, his arm wrapped around her waist and Adam to Y/N, although he didn’t touch her. She wouldn’t have minded if he did, but she figured it was best to keep those boundaries in place anyway.

Pink and golden balloons littered the ceilings of the penthouse. The drink cups were also pink, as was the communal punch bowl that Y/N steered clear of, having no idea what was in it, or who had already spiked it. She knew nobody at the party besides who she’d come with, though she assumed both Adam and Harry were somewhat acquainted with Laura’s friends. 

It was most definitely not someplace Y/N ever saw herself being at, not only because it was a Valentine’s themed party, but also because she wasn’t exactly comfortable around so many people. Especially when those people were all so unfamiliar to her.

“Here,” Adam handed her a drink and then grabbed one for himself. She downed the thing in one go, needing to take the edge off. It might’ve been a slight mistake when the alcohol burned the back of her throat, but she didn’t care too much when she grabbed another.

Then he was leading her into the dancing pit of bodies where they huddled close enough so that his lips were at her ear. “Is it alright if I touch you?”

She glanced over at where Laura and Harry had been left, finding both her hazel eyes and Harry’s green ones glued to the both of them. She wasn’t sure what Harry’s deal was, but this was her moment to fix things and make Laura jealous, so, turning back to Adam, she nodded.

He eased his hands onto her waist as they began swaying to the music. And then he pulled her closer, his hands slipping to the small of her back as her arms wrapped around his neck, being careful with her own movements even though she desperately wanted to sink her hands in his hair.

And, god, he smelled so good as her head rested in the crook of his neck. And he felt good, too, as he moved against her body. She knew it wasn’t real, and that the alcohol was making skewing her perception of things, but it was still nice. Nice to be held and to just let go for a change.

Over Adam’s shoulder, Y/N caught Harry’s eyes again. His jaw clenched and he looked the same as he did back at the restaurant. Angry. And then she realized that maybe she wasn’t really trying to make Laura jealous anymore at all, but rather Harry.

It was dumb, she knew that. He’d have to like her in order for her to make him jealous. But… the way he was looking at her. The way he had looked at her. His eyes lingering too long on her lips. What he’d done in the car ride here. 

She heard Adam in her ear again. “I think it’s working. She just stormed off into the kitchen.” Then he pulled away and she realized she hadn’t even seen Laura. Just Harry. Harry and his stupid, obnoxious green eyes.

“You owe me more than just dinner.” Y/N teased but Adam grew serious.

“I know. And since you refuse to accept my money, I’ll have to figure out another way to repay you.” He smiled and then twirled her around so that she no longer had any line of sight toward Harry. He pulled her close again, one hand going to her waist while the other stayed locked to one of hers. “Suppose I could start with making your coworker just as jealous… although I think he already is.”

Confusion flooded her features as she peered up at him. 

“Oh, come on! He was ready to rip my head off when he realized I’d grabbed your hand. And when I put my arm around you? I thought I might be better off just giving you my jacket and freezing to death instead.”

“I don’t…” she shook her head in disbelief. It was one thing for her to be pretending to make Harry jealous in some delusional hope that it’d work. But this… this was a whole other thing.

“I’m actually quite interested to see what he does if I kissed you.”

She was shocked at first and then, possibly due to the alcohol, just as interested. “Are you asking my permission?”

“Are you saying yes?”

Y/N hesitated. “Is she back?”

Adam’s eyes scanned the room and Y/N realized he hadn’t asked to kiss her for Laura’s sake at all.

“She is.” He finally announced. 

Without any more second guessing, Y/N’s hand slipped to the back of his neck and pulled him in. As soon as their lips collided and she tasted the alcohol on him, she knew that she’d never agreed to this without it. Or maybe she would. Adam spun them back around again, deepening the kiss as her eyes opened and fell into the direction she’d last seen Harry.

He was still there.

Still watching.

His hands in fists. His jaw tightened into a crisp line. His nostrils flared. His eyes… sad.

She pulled away. Adam steadied her, grabbing her shoulders when she swayed. But, as she caught her breath, the dizziness went away. 

“I’m going to find the bathroom.” She told him and after he nodded, she left, forming a rift for herself through the bodies that danced all around them until she was in the clear. Then she was avoiding Harry as she walked past him, not so sure his gaze was still set on her. Maybe she’d gone too far. She didn’t often just kiss people for no good reason and that’s exactly what she’d just done with Adam. She barely even knew him.

She didn’t exactly need the bathroom, just an open, empty and quiet place. And so, she fell back against a wall in the foyer and ran a hand through her hair.

“That was quite the show.”

She startled at the sound of his familiar voice and looked up just as he stopped a few feet away from her. “What are you talking about?”

He lifted a brow. “You expect me to believe that that you, anti everything to do with this holiday and with relationships and romance, are actually dating that guy?”

“Is it that hard to believe?” She crossed her arms, willing to go as far as she needed to before she let Harry see the truth. That she was that pathetic. 

“Yes.” He didn’t even hesitate to respond and she flinched.

“Well, I’m sorry that you have a hard time believing that someone may actually like me.” She had no reason to nearly be shouting at him and no reason to be saying what she was because Adam didn’t like her.

“That’s not what I said. It’s hard for me to believe you just dropped all your ideas about relationships for some guy with obnoxious blue eyes.”

“I didn’t.”

“So then what is this?”

Y/N hesitated. Hating that the truth was about to boil over out of her mouth for him to see all the embarrassing bits of it, but she had no other way of convincing him. And it didn’t really help that Adam was so far out of her league that it wasn’t even convincing to begin with. Nor did she want to convince Harry of anything either. It was clear now that he hadn’t been jealous, he was just trying to figure out when she stopped hating relationships so much.

And the truth of that was she never really hated them. It was just easier telling herself she didn’t want it than admitting no one ever actually wanted her.

She trembled, not even sure why, but he was making her incredibly nervous, so much that she wished she could rewind and stay squished next to him in the back of the car forever. Being that close to him... his stupid fingers on her thigh, whispering things in her ear that made her head spin. She’d much prefer that than standing in front of him now, seeing every ounce of judgment he was about to throw her way.

“What do you want me to say, Harry?” She shrugged and dropped her eyes to the white marble floors between them, focusing on calming her anxiety while she was no longer looking at him. “He needed a date and I felt bad for him.”

“What does that mean?”

Letting her head fall back against the wall, she stared up at the ceiling this time as her eyes burned with embarrassment. “He paid me to be his date so his ex-girlfriend didn’t find out he wasn’t actually seeing anyone. That’s what it means.”

Harry didn’t say anything.

“So, yeah.” She folded her arms, looking down at the floor again, still unable to meet Harry’s eyes and see the look that would be on his face. A smirk of amusement at her expense. Even probably his dimples, taunting her and turning her into the joke she already was. “You were right. I can’t find anyone to tolerate me, which is why I’m on this stupid date that isn’t even real.”

“Him kissing you seemed quite real to me.”

There was more exasperation than humor to her laugh. “It wasn’t.”

Harry seemed to finally understand. “He’s trying to make Laura jealous.”

Y/N just nodded. “I promise I didn’t know you were going to be there, that he was trying to get her back from you.”

“You still kissed him though.”

She couldn’t argue that, nor could she tell him the real reason she’d agreed to the kiss. That it wasn’t exactly Laura she was trying to make jealous. She’d never live that one down, if she ever managed to live any other aspect of this night down.

When she didn’t say anything, he stepped closer. “Why did you kiss him?”

“I’m sorry, Harry I just... I don’t know.”

He shook his head and took another step, making her eyes widen when he was close enough that she had to crane her head back to meet his gaze. “Seemed like you were trying to make me jealous.”

She swallowed, not exactly in the position to laugh it off and argue with him when he was this close and all she could feel were the traces of his fingertips on her thigh. Her voice was quiet when it finally came out. “Making you jealous would mean I assumed you liked me in the first place... which I’m definitely not stupid enough to assume.”

A crease formed between his brow and his stupidly perfect jaw hardened as if he was biting his tongue from saying something. And fuck him for choosing then to finally stop opening his mouth.

Just then, a pair of drunk guys, one on the other’s back, came racing through the foyer, screaming at the top of their lungs while a few others followed quickly after them. It was enough to force Harry away from Y/N again, enough for the both of them to step out of the little bubble they’d been in together the past ten minutes.

Once they were alone again, their eyes gravitated toward each other and just when she thought Harry might say something after all, he flipped around on his heel and left. And she watched as he turned the corner and mixed back into the party.

After a few moments to gather herself, she followed him, not exactly sure what she was going to do now that Harry wouldn’t talk to her and it felt weird being with Adam while Harry knew everything. But, whatever plans to keep herself occupied no longer matted when she spotted Laura.

Making out with Adam in the middle of the room. 

Without even thinking, she turned to locate Harry and he might as well have been a source of gravity because her eyes fell right to him within a second. And he was watching them too. He knew. 

He met Y/N’s eyes and she wasn’t quite sure if he was upset or not. She couldn’t really read anything on his face, and stopped attempting to when he moved towards her and she had other things on her mind, like where he was going and if he was going to bother taking her with him.

Shortly after he stormed past Y/N she made sure he wasn’t going to leave her behind and chased after him. She didn’t know Adam very well and definitely not Laura to want to stay with them. And everyone else in the room were complete strangers to her. Adam had promised he’d take her home, but he probably hadn’t expected to be making out with his ex by the end of the night, either.

Harry didn’t say anything, not even when they’d reached the foyer and Y/N asked where he was going. He just located his jacket and slipped it on before making his way out the front door.

And right when she thought he really was going to leave her behind, since she was the reason he’d just lost Laura to her ex, he held the door open and glanced over his shoulder at her while she still stood on the other side of the threshold.

“Are you staying?”

Without a word, she sprung into motion and trailed right behind him into the hallway like a lost puppy, letting the door shut behind her that cut them off from the music as it faded into the background behind them.

It was a silent trip down the elevator, mostly because she had no idea what to say that would sound sincere and he didn’t say anything at all. At least not until she followed him through the lobby until he stopped on the curb just outside the main doors.

She took up the spot next to him, eyes glued to the side of his face as he took in a deep breath of fresh air, or at least as fresh as traffic allowed it to be.

Then he spoke, and it seemed like the first time she’d heard his voice all night. “I’m the one who gave you the chocolates and the frog.”

She narrowed her eyes, both not exactly sure why he’d just said that or if he was even being serious. “What?”

He looked down at her. “It wasn’t Andrew, it was me.”

“Why?” She breathed and while she was positive she’d be freezing cold soon, the fresh air after being surrounded by so many people felt good. It felt freeing and she wondered if he felt that way too.

His eyes scanned hers before he looked away. “Well partly to apologize for what I said.”

“What’s the other part?”

Sighing, he turned his entire body to face her now. “Something else entirely…” He trailed off, only confusing her more as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and stared at his feet. “I didn’t tell you because I know you don’t like all this stuff, but seeing you with him tonight... I wish I had.” 

“It’s not that big of a deal. It’s just a frog.”

He shook his head, grinning. “It’s not just a frog, Y/N... because the thing is,” he paused to catch his breath, “I’ve been in love with you for... a really long time… since last spring. But with you being the way that you are, I never thought you’d feel the same way.”

She opened her mouth and then closed it.

“And then you come in with that guy and...” He pulled his fingers through his hair. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more jealous in my life... because all this time I thought you weren’t interested in relationships, but you just weren’t interested in me.”

Inhaling, she summoned every ounce of courage she could fathom. “You were right about why I kissed Adam.” He lifted a brow, waiting for her elaboration which never came. “You were right about other things, too. I wish I had someone to come home to almost every single night I got to bed alone. No one—“ She cut herself off, trembling again as tears stung her eyes. “I pretend not to be interested so I can ignore the fact that no one’s ever wanted me.”

“That’s not true.” He had that same look on his face as before, when she’d told him she wasn’t stupid enough to think he liked her.

She just nodded. “And I’m sorry but... why would you want me when you could have someone like Laura?”

“Y/N...” He huffed and stepped closer to her, the heat from his body making her shiver. “This is not the first time I started seeing someone to get over you... in fact, all my relationships since I met you have been shit.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“Well you’re very anti-relationships so I think I was justified in wanting to avoid you rejecting me… especially since we work together and it would have been really awkward.”

“I don’t, uh... I...” She stammered, not really sure what to say to him even though her heart was screaming at her in full volume. 

He held his breath and then, in almost a whisper, “Is this the inevitable rejection?”

“No.” She didn’t even hesitate that time and at this point, her mind no longer controlled the words coming out of her mouth as she let another organ finally speak for itself. “No, I liked you the second I saw you, Harry... and at no point tonight was I ever trying to make Laura jealous.”

The corners of his mouth began to curl into a smile. “That was very cruel of you to do to me.”

“I didn’t think you liked me at all twenty minutes ago, Harry.”

“Twenty minutes ago,” he fully invaded all of her space now, leaving the smallest gap between their bodies as he could get away with, lifting his hand to her jaw and rubbing his thumb over her cheek. “I was still on this date with the wrong person.” 

“I think the date is over now.”

“No,” his eyes fell to her lips just like they had before. “It’s not.” 

“You’re looking at me like that again.” She mumbled, out of breath.

He lifted a brow and didn’t once remove his eyes from her lips. “Like what?”

“Like…” she trailed off, not having the courage to say it in case she wasn’t right. 

“Like I’ve wanted to kiss you for a very long time and I’m tired of pretending?” 

“Something like that, yeah.”

He grinned, both of his dimples making an appearance just before he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. And once her brain realized what was happening, she sunk right into him, letting his arm wrap around her waist as his other hand tangled its way into her hair to bring her closer. She threw her arms over his shoulders and he hunched lower to meet her. She staggered back a step when he did, nearly losing her balance but he caught her instantly and then drew his lips back as he laughed.

“This is not how I expected tonight to end.” She couldn’t help but think the way he struggled to catch his breath was possibly the hottest he’d ever been. Not to mention the tiny bit of her lipstick smeared on his face. She could look at him just the way he was right there and then for days and be perfectly satisfied.

“It doesn’t have to end yet.” She fully blamed her sudden burst of confidence on the cold, but refreshing February night. And maybe she also just wanted to get out of it before it caught up to her and she would, yet again, regret not having a jacket.

“Oh?” She wanted to smack the mischievous smirk off his face and leave him there on the curb. “And here I thought you were a prude.”

“You thought a lot of things about me that weren’t true, Harry.”

He thought about that for a moment and after realizing she was right, he then wondered just how wrong he was when he’d called her celibate. “I suppose… I’d quite like to find out just how wrong I was.” He slipped a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear, which is where his lips ended up as he whispered softly, “And I’d also quite like to show you just how wrong you were about me not liking you.”

They stumbled into her bedroom in the dark, Pretzel racing out between their twisted feet in a hurry, screeching at them in the process. Harry giggled against her lips, “Your cat sounds friendly.” 

“Well, since I was supposed to be spending tonight with her, and chocolate, and anti-romantic movies…” She pulled away from him, watching as his smile spread further. Maybe she could actually believe he’d been in love all this time. 

“Right… I’d be upset too.” 

She shook her head and kissed him again, then pulled back a second later. “You know that’s not actually what I do on Valentine’s Day.”

He lifted a brow and waited for her to explain but she didn’t.

“And what is it that you do, then?” He finally asked, curiosity getting the best of him, although he had some inkling as to what she was talking about.

Her smile was devoid of innocence as her hands fell to his belt. Harry’s shirt had already been lost to the kitchen floor. Her dress hardly covering what it was supposed to once Harry had gotten his hands on it. 

“Maybe you’ll get to find out.” 

When she brought her lips back to his, after undoing the buckle just under his navel, he spun them around and led her backwards to the bed. He wasn’t sure how far it was, but hoped he was headed in the right direction. And because of that, when her knees did finally bend over the mattress, he practically came flying down on top of her. 

She squirmed out from under him, crawling back towards the pillows as she watched him at the end of the bed while he stood and removed his belt completely, trying not to drool at the sight of him. At the sight of Harry, her fucking annoying ass, perfect, beautiful, coworker standing shirtless at the end of her bed where he was also about to be…

He pushed his trousers down off his hips and they fell to the floor with ease, almost with the same amount of ease that her eyes fell to the tight boxer-briefs he wore underneath. She swallowed as he adjusted the waistband back into place, quite certain that, even in the low light, her eyes were not deceiving her.

The bed shifted at her feet as he joined her, and then it took all her willpower to not fling herself at him as he crawled up the length of her. As he settled himself between her thighs and she felt every last, very hard, inch of him pressed against her. She couldn’t be blamed for the whining moan that she let out in his ear as his lips became familiar with the shape and taste of her neck. She also couldn’t be blamed when her hips instinctively collided with his.

He just giggled again and shook his head, the loose strands of his curls tickling her forehead. “Easy now.” He warned in a hushed mumble, his lips vibrating right against the vein in her neck that pulsed so much faster the more his free hand began to wander up underneath her dress.

He left her speechless for multiple reasons, but the main one was when she felt his fingers tracing down her thigh and then, moments later, after he shifted his weight and used his knees to keep her legs open, she sucked in a breath of air as she felt him pressed against her clit, forcing her nails to dig into his back but he didn’t seem to mind.

Coming back down to kiss her, he began moving his hand in expert little circles, grinning against her mouth every time her body begged him for more. It wasn’t long that he complied, either, when he sat back on his knees between her legs and tugged her underwear off for good, throwing it to the depths of her bedroom floor. He wouldn’t have known where they landed even if he tried because his gaze belong to her only as he lowered himself to his elbows before her, kissing his way up her thighs until he reached her center.

When she squirmed away from him, he wrapped his arms around her thighs and pressed his hands into her hips after gently moving her dress out of the way. 

“You know when we used to stay late at the office working?” He asked suddenly and the heat of his voice against her made her squirm again, but he held on tight. “And you would get sick of sitting in an office chair and made me promise not to tell Jim when you sat on his desk instead?” She had no clue where he was going with it, but still, she nodded. “Every single time I turned to look at you, I thought about doing this.” Before she could get words out or even a coherent thought, she felt his tongue on her. And this time when she jerked against him, she nearly slipped out of his hold until he grabbed her again and pulled her back down, digging himself further into her as she struggled to breathe properly.

She dug her fingers into his hair when he brought her close to the edge and showed no mercy. And somehow, she’d managed to get the sole of her foot up onto his shoulder in order to kick him away, but it didn’t matter much because he never budged. Not that she wanted him to, but he just felt so good… 

“Harry!” She shouted, pulling at his hair and making matters worse for herself when he moaned against her sensitive bundle of nerves. He let her come, never once lifting his mouth from her even as her hips jerked off the mattress and she very nearly pulled his hair out. When she stopped screaming, her voice caught in her throat because she was lost to her own orgasm, is when he lifted his mouth, replaced it with his fingers and watched her as she came down. As her eyes fluttered shut and her chest heaved, her lungs struggling to get oxygen back into her system. Her hold on him loosened as she came undone around him, melting into his hands it seemed like.

And when he began rubbing his index and middle finger into her, once she was far and beyond overstimulated, and he knew that, she reached down with a whine and grabbed his wrist with what little strength she had in her and pulled him away. His hand fell to the other side of her hip, which he used to his advantage to pull himself up over her again, his other hand taking her dress with it until he was able to tug it over her head and toss it. Then he came back down to kiss her, letting her taste herself on her lips. He rubbed his thumb across her cheek and when he pulled away, found her looking at him finally. Although it was with heavy lids as she still struggled to regain her bearings.

Before they could get much further, a loud crashing sound from the other room made both of them nearly jump out of their skin. She shot up instantly, grabbing hold of Harry’s bicep before moving him out of the way and sliding off the edge of the bed. 

“It’s just the cat.” Harry would have probably said the same thing even if it was not just the cat, he’d say anything just to get her to stay with him.

“I know but it sounded like…” her voice trailed off as her feet hit the floor and the moment she went to stand on her own two legs, her knees buckled. He reached to grab her waist but she righted herself before he could. She didn’t see the way he hid his cheeky smirk at the fact that he’d been so good, she was still dizzy.

“You good?” He asked as she stumbled her way into a shirt. With only a groan in response, and what he was sure was her middle finger, she left him alone in her bed to investigate the noise. Sighing, he laid on his back and got comfortable amongst her pillows. And after about three minutes, decided to locate the remote to her TV to entertain himself. 

He flipped onto his side and felt around her bedside table, but his fingers never landed on anything remote-like. So, frustrated, he reached up and switched the lamp on. Again, he found nothing. Looking further, he realized the table had a drawer and so he pulled it open in hopes of finding the damned remote before she got back. 

But what he found instead was so much better than turning on late night news.

“Fucking cat knocked over my vase.” Y/N was back within ten minutes. Harry had left the light on, but made sure it wasn’t obvious he’d gone snooping into her drawer, at least not yet anyway. She crawled back into bed beside him and it was then he noticed the bandage on her thumb.

“Are you alright?” He forgot all about what he planned to tease her with when he gently grabbed her hand to inspect the damage.

“Yeah. I was in a bit of hurry trying to clean up the glass…” 

Harry rolled his eyes and dropped her hand. “I would have come help you.”

She just smiled up at him as he fit his arm around her shoulders, his bicep under her neck. “That’s alright.”

He shrugged. “It was for the best anyways that I didn’t.” When he smirked, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

“And why’s that?”

She followed his other hand as he reached for something and then, moments later, it reappeared with a very familiar pink object clutched in his grasp. “Because then I wouldn’t have found this.”

Her first reaction was to pry it from his snooping fingers, but when she reached across him to grab it, he way too easily held her back and, at the same time, held it far out of her reach. 

“So this is what you do on Valentine’s Day, then?” He flicked his wrist back and forth, waving her vibrator in the air as he taunted her.

“If you don’t give that back to me,” she reached for it again to no prevail, “you won’t be doing anything, least of all, me.”

He clicked his tongue. “Why would I give it back when I plan on using it?”

She froze and he chuckled at her reaction.

“Would be rude of me to break your traditions, wouldn’t it?” 

She swallowed, her eyes slowly meeting his again. The appearance of his right dimple told her he wasn’t playing any games. She had no idea how many times he planned to make her come tonight or whether or not she’d even be able to walk tomorrow at work. But, given the stupid look on his face, she almost began making plans to call out sick instead.

“Do you actually know how to use that thing?” She finally asked, glancing at the wand still held very firmly in his hand.

He looked at her like she was crazy moments before he pivoted and pinned her onto her back, settling himself into the position they’d been in before the interruption of the cat. 

Just, this time… he was clicking on her vibrator and watching her face as she began to regret her words. 

“‘Course I know how to use it. The real question is,” he brought his lips to her ear, the soft vibrations and the sound of his voice mixing together like sin itself. Even more so when he nipped at her earlobe. “Do you know how to handle it?”

[sullustangin]

Darth Marr and Satele Shan:  Names and Priorities

I’ve reached the point in my Yavin fic that I’m starting to use Marr’s POV on occasion.  One of the things I’ve been chewing on (likely to the annoyance of others) has been the Marr-Satele-Theron dynamic during the Yavin 4 op.  It’s clear that Satele and Marr have put aside differences and have become friends (as much as a Force ghost and a self-exiled Jedi Master can be friends) by Chapter 12 of KotFE. 

I give credit to @swtorpadawan for posting about Satele on Yavin 4 a few months ago and being willing to have continued discourse about the post -- thank you.  In comments and reblogs, there’s been discussion about how to interpret Satele’s references to Theron during the op and her motivations for why she does this. 

This is a spin-off of that post, since I’ll be focusing more on the dynamic between Marr and the Shans instead of Theron and Satele. 

During the Yavin op, Theron is consistently referred to as Theron, not as Agent Shan or as Shan.  The issue of his last name is avoided.   A few people (including me) have the headcanon that ‘Shan’ is a common name in the galaxy, like Smith or Patel or Garcia would be on our world; two people named Shan does not a family connection make, necessarily.  It would explain why Theron doesn’t have a code name (though he jokingly? complains about it on first meeting). 

And yet, Satele avoids using the name in reference to Theron.  So does Marr.  And Theron doesn’t insist on being referred to by his last name, even though his peer, Lana Beniko, is referred to as ‘Beniko’ by Marr. (Satele never addresses Lana using her name.)

Why the dance? 

Honestly, when I try to reverse-engineer dev!logic, in terms of the game design for Yavin 4, I’d guess it was done to help the player differentiate between Grand Master Shan and Agent Shan.  And maybe that’s all it is: calling Theron “Theron” just keeps the player from getting confused, especially if the player isn’t a Jedi and doesn’t know Satele; and/or skipped the Forged Alliances quests and thus doesn’t know Theron.

Within the universe, however, what’s an explanation a player can come up with?

The Spies in Question

Theron’s name was broadcast across the galaxy as a wanted man for killing Colonel Darok.  He was to be apprehended on sight, but Theron was a spy; spy agencies to this day rarely let any images of their active duty agents be circulated, even if they do go rogue or defect to the other side.  Theron’s image in direct connection to his name and job as SIS agent would be on a need-to-know basis.  This has led me to headcanon that Director Trant was well-aware of Theron going off the grid; in fact, he aided and abetted it.

Lana, on the other hand, was a known member of the Sphere of Military Offense.  She commanded troops on Hoth.  She had a known face, and there was an Imperial bounty contract on her head, per Theron at Manaan.  If anything, Lana was in as much danger as Jakarro; someone could try to claim the bounty on her head, since the bounties weren’t lifted til the end of the Yavin op.

And yet, Theron’s name was the unspeakable one. 

Satele and Theron

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I feel that the dynamic between Theron and Satele is not that of son and mother; both of them have gotten past that decision.  Rather, it’s more similar to a child who was given up for adoption looking for some sort of acknowledgement from his birth family -- it’s not love.  It’s not approval.  It’s.... complicated.  Acknowledgement of existence.  Acknowledgement that the decision had impact on Theron well beyond his first year of life.  Acknowledgement that Satele hurt Jace. 

I’ve interpreted Theron’s bristling at the use of the term “my agent” to be more directed at the possessiveness of the word, yet how far apart they still are, despite the biological connections.  Technically, Yavin 4 was the first time they worked on an op together.  This was their first professional collaboration.  They haven’t seen each other socially, they can’t talk about their issues/relationship/whatever.....and they have to save the galaxy together.

Giving up Theron doesn’t mean Satele felt nothing. She privately struggles with what she did and how it turned out -- still does, based on 6.2.   However, she, like Jace and Theron, believe in serving the cause at great personal cost.  Seeing Theron beat to hell after Rishi bothered her -- it would bother anyone with any sense of compassion (which she does have).  Theron got the beatdown he did because he was taken by the Revanites.  Revan attempted to convince Theron to join him on Yavin 4 by invoking the idea that they are flesh and blood -- family.

Pretty sure Revan wasn’t talking about the Malcom side.  Satele knew that.  Was there a sense of protectiveness for Theron because of what happened immediately before Yavin 4?  I think so, yes, but it’s not motherly.

Theron’s experience on Rishi probably made Satele hyperaware that if Theron was of interest to the Revanites, then the Empire would doubly interested in Theron if they knew that he was not only an heir of Revan, but that the Grand Master of the Jedi Order was his biological mother.   Referring to him as “my agent” may be Satele’s way to avoid using any part of his name on Yavin 4.

I’m willing to bet, regardless of any efforts to ignore or conceal Theron’s name, that Marr quickly figured out that the agent who managed to outfox Revan, resist torture, get Marr’s attention, and unravel an intergalactic conspiracy was something special to the Republic.  Odds were that this agent had acted against the Empire.

Marr would be interested.

The History of Darth Marr and Satele Shan

Prior to Yavin 4, Marr and Satele had most recently squabbled over Makeb in the Hutt Cartel expansion through their various operatives.  When Marr saw Satele on the Imp side Battle of Rishi, he bowed.  He respected her and she respected him.  I didn’t get any other impression from their interactions. They saw each other as equals, though on rival sides; that creates tension, since a fight between them would be a draw or mutually assured destruction.  It’s highly likely they fought against each other in the previous Galactic War (which I’ll talk about below). 

Marr was born in 3702 BBY, Satele in 3699 BBY.  They’re about the same age, and they ascended almost equally quickly when the Sith returned in 3681 -- Satele is 18, Marr is 21.  I have spoken about how Satele and Jace (who seems to be somewhere between 16 and 20 in the trailer) were essentially just kids when the conflict started.  So was Marr.

The big difference, in terms of how their characters are constructed, is that we have the end product of Marr.  Period.  We don’t know what his name was before he took on the name ‘Darth Marr.’  We know nothing about his family, his relationships, his struggles.  As Marr said later to the player in KotFE, he wanted to be a symbol to the Empire.  Marr did not let himself be just a man.

Darth Marr is not the singular leader of the Sith.  Marr is the head of the Sphere of Defense of the Empire for decades, and as of the Battle of Corellia and the death of Darth Decimus, he also becomes the head of the Sphere of Military Strategy.  With 2 of Military Spheres in his grasp, Marr was the de facto leader of the armed forces of the Sith Empire.  The Sphere of Military Offense passed from Baras to Arho and then to Arkous after Ilum.  When Arkous is killed by the player’s character, there is no indication as to who was the next head; that Sphere is never spoken of again in-game.  We may assume Marr took hold of that.  Either way, he has become the de facto leader of the Sith Empire.  His voice, his robes and mask -- immediately recognizable to the whole galaxy.

The creators of content for SWTOR took the opposite approach to Satele. We can read about how her mother Tasiele was forced into exile when Satele was still a child.  We meet Satele at 18 in a SWTOR trailer during the first Sith incursion at Korriban.  We see her in comics fighting against the Empire.  We see her at the Battle of Alderaan against Malgus.  In Annihilation,we see bits and pieces of her falling in love with Jace Malcom and hoping she doesn’t get too attached... until a pair of permanent complications occur in 3667 BBY:   Jace was severely maimed in the Battle of Alderaan, and Satele got pregnant.  Jace’s injuries made him a much harder person than the soldier Satele met in 3681 BBY; he scared her with his hatred of the Empire. 

I’ll take a moment here to say that Satele wasn’t dumb or naive when she made the decision about Theron.  Satele was at least 32 years old, possibly 33 by the time Theron was born in 3666 BBY. She wasn’t a teen having a knee-jerk “oh noes, he’s evil” moment.  She had been in a constant state of war for 15 years when she got pregnant.   It’s in that context that Satele was concerned that Jace’s hatred could drag their child to the Dark Side... but also, Satele’s love for her child would make it impossible for her to serve the Republic without a second thought.  She couldn’t fight and die for the Republic if she was always preoccupied with coming home to her baby.

So she let Theron go.  She had other adventures.  She was at the Treaty of Coruscant.  Satele founded Tython.  She became the Grand Master of her order.

We don’t get any of that pathos or glory with Marr.   Marr IS.  Marr is the Empire. He is the best of them.  He has been, is, and will be. 

The odds are pretty good that Marr and Satele met each other in combat, directly or indirectly. The bow on Imp side Rishi is a big thing for me that points to that.  Also, look at their responsibilities during the last war.  Marr was responsible for not only defending Korriban and what would become the Imperial core, but also any gains the Sith made over time against the Republic.  That’s the job of the Sphere of Defense of the Empire; taking planets was somebody else’s rodeo, not Marr’s.  His job was to defend... something the Imperial people living on these planets would love him for.  He was their protector against brutish Republic troops and their systemic corruption. 

Satele was responsible for winning those territories back; we see her on counter-strikes against the Sith.  Satele is cast as the liberator of people imperiled by the spreading Sith Empire, not a conqueror taking new territory.  Marr probably had to defend against Satele at least once in their careers, possibly multiple times.  If she was absent from the front lines for any period of time, Marr would have noticed; he had to anticipate the next move of Republic counterstrikes as part of his job. 

And indeed, Satele was absent for an extended period.  How long Satele was absent from the battlefield due to her pregnancy, we don’t know. Satele did continue her battlefield duties for “months” after she found out.  The only information we have about post-partum Satele is that she stopped visiting Baby Theron at 6 months old, according to Lost Suns.  I don’t think she could just skip off at random while in command, so I think she probably was off the battlefield at least 10 months (last 4 months of her pregnancy, 6 months post-partum), possibly as long as 18 months, since Gnost-Dural reports she was assigned to duty with the Republic Navy at some point in 3665 BBY.  She did give birth on a random planet in a cave, so she didn’t exactly have the best medical care immediately.  Maybe there were complications. Maybe she did show early. We don’t know.

Regardless of the timeline, Marr would have been paying attention.  Marr would have noticed when Satele Shan stopped fighting for the Republic.  Where was she?  What was she doing?  Was this part of a greater plot by the Republic?  What were they planning?  And when Satele did return, he may well have wondered what she had been up to.  But no matter; she had returned.  Marr had to be ready.

There’s no obvious indication in the game as to when Marr figures out Satele and Theron are mother and son.  He makes no comment to indicate that he knew before Rishi.  Based on Marr’s dialogue in game on the Imperial side, he heavily suggests that he knows who Theron is by the time Iven, the former commandant of the Imperial Guard, is taken into custody and it’s time to interrogate him. Satele objects to Marr’s plans to torture Iven.  “And what do you think your agent has done in the Republic’s name?” is Marr’s response. 

The delivery of ‘your agent’ is indicative that Marr knows.

Theron himself stated at the end of the Imp side romance that if he was indeed recruited by the player to join the Empire, people would be suspicious that he’d be working for his mother.  That would have to include Darth Marr. 

Personally, I would guess that the after-action reports from Lana and Theron would have some clues for Marr.  However, once Theron had healed up from the Rishi events, Marr may well have taken one look at Theron standing next to Satele, and then had an epiphany so immense it gave him a headache that Lana felt across the compound.  There’s the answer.  That’s why she disappeared for almost two years, twenty-nine years ago. Theron Shan.

(According to Jace in Annihilation, Theron has some similar features to his mother. He doesn’t specify which ones.)

The Lie of Omission

A lie of omission is permitting an inaccuracy or a falsehood to continue to circulate without correction, even though the person knows the truth. (In contrast, a lie of commission is when you actively make something up or contribute to the lie -- you commit the act lying.)  Marr signals he knows who Theron is by the time Iven is retrieved from the Imperial Guard training facility on Yavin, but he never says the name Theron Shan out loud.   It’s simply “the agent” “your agent” or “Theron.”  But not Agent Shan.

The use of “Theron” in the Pubside story is most eyebrow-raising.  

Marr calls people by their titles. Marr always keeps professional distance.  Underlings are uniformly referred to by their titles.  Lana doesn’t like titles, so Marr doesn’t refer to her as Lord Beniko or Darth whatever;  it’s just Beniko.

Calling someone by their first name is highly irregular.  He does not refer to Satele as such until 6.2 (and that might be the Socratic Problem of Marr in the player’s memory rather than the real Marr).  It’s always Grand Master or Grand Master Shan. In a unique instance in the game, Marr calls Theron by his given name when he finds the Imperial Guard’s buildings in ruins during the Pubside story:  “But given the destruction Theron describes, it’s mostly likely a distress call.”  This is before the Pub operative annoys Marr by going to the Imperial Guard facility by themselves; it’s not said in anger or in irritation.  It’s said under ‘normal’ circumstances (if circumstances on Yavin are normal at all). 

But why?  Why not “Agent Shan”?  That would differentiate him from Grand Master Shan.  Just referring to the pair as Grand Master and Agent would work too; how many Grand Masters and SIS Agents are running around on Yavin 4?  Why is Marr avoiding attention to the man’s last name?

And why doesn’t Marr hop on this and use it to the Empire’s advantage?

Pragmatism and Prioritization

Marr is not a Jedi.  Marr doesn’t do things for the greater good.  He does things for the Sith Empire and for the people of the Sith Empire.  Offing Theron Shan?  Definitely on the agenda.  So is killing Satele, eventually.

But not now.  Not on Yavin 4.

Marr is probably the person closest to knowing what Revan is going to try to do in order to make the Emperor take physical form again so he can kill him.  It’s going to involve a lot of dead people.  That can easily happen; up until this tiny fragile cease fire between Marr and Satele, the Empire and the Republic have been engaged in a hot war. When they first make camp on Yavin, there is a real possibility they’ll frag each other regularly.  This is why players have to do daily quests, in theory -- to build good will between the factions. 

My partner is a military nerd and a Star Wars nerd.  He watched both version of the Battle of Rishi.  His conclusion:  based on the ships we see, Marr had more than twice the number of troops that Satele did (I put the numbers in my Yavin 4 fic).  The Imperial troops, at Marr’s word, probably could wipe out the Republic forces on Yavin 4, pack up, and head back to Dromund Kaas in time for tea.

But they won’t.  Marr wouldn’t permit it.

He knows how dangerous the Emperor is, and if he does let his troops kill the Pubs, they feed him. There also appears to be some sort of weird mystical thing going on with Revan’s bloodline.  Revan knew highly personal information about Theron (and Theron says so when the player opens the temple later on); somehow, Theron was able to use that connection to get Revan to give up Yavin 4 and secure an invite there at the end of the Rishi op.

Marr knows about this.  Marr doesn’t know what Revan would do if Marr did kill Theron or Satele, plus there’s the more predictable possibility that the Republic would respond to the death of Satele Shan thanks to the Jedi feeling it through the Force.  Chancellor Saresh would not let that opportunity pass by, even if it did feed the Emperor; we saw that at Ziost. 

Grand Master Shan is a public figure.  Her name and her power is obvious to everyone in the Yavin camp.  Theron, however, is everything his mother is not.  He is a spy.  His face is not known to the general public.  His work is secret, his exact abilities unknown.

Sure, the last name is common enough....

But Theron and Satele have never worked together before.  They’ve never operated in such close proximity before.  Yavin 4 would be the first time all the pieces could fall into place to someone observant.  Marr is many things, but one of the things he really gets annoyed about in regard to the Sith is their arrogance.  They get such fat heads that they can’t see obvious danger or they overlook aliens and non-Force Sensitives to their own detriment. 

Marr isn’t arrogant.

He doesn’t think he’s the only one who can see a family similarity or sense some connection between them.  Saying someone’s name is a powerful thing; we get upset when someone screws up our name.  It’s how our attention is attracted.  Shared last names of interesting people attract attention.  Attention leads to distraction away from the primary goal of stopping Revan and the Emperor.

That’s something Marr doesn’t want to deal with right now.  Revan and Emperor now.  The Shans later.  He avoids referring to Theron as “Shan” so as to reduce any chance that some young Sith will attempt to make their bones killing Theron, since that would spell doom for the Empire, whether through Revan’s anger or the Republic’s revenge.  It would also help empower the Sith Emperor to retake physical form, which is the last thing Marr wants him to do. 

Exposing the Grand Master as having a secret son would remove an ally from the field for Marr; Marr doesn’t want to destroy his assets before he’s used them to their full ability.  There’s no point in burning Satele Shan on Yavin 4 before Revan is dealt with. 

...And Marr respects her.  It’s a cheap way to win against a rival he knows to be his equal.

Marr wants to end Revan and the Emperor now, in that order, to defend the people of the Empire.  He’ll worry about the Shans later.  Marr will let Theron’s last name be overlooked and unmentioned, if only because it makes his job as Defender of the Empire less complicated for a few months.

**

Thanks again to @swtorpadawan​ and also @inyri​ @shabre-legacy​ @theniveanlegacy​ for discussing the original post about Satele and Theron and making me think about this.  

Headcanon Postface:

This last bit is purely my headcanon ideas about Marr, so you can leave here if you so desire. I’m placing them here rather than making a separate post and having to link back to this one. 

As I’ve described previously, we have the finished product of Darth Marr, with none of the personal insight that was provided for Satele Shan.  Who’s under the mask?  Nobody knows, really.  His first comic book adventure takes place in 3678, when he’s about 24 years old.  There’s nothing about his life beforehand that would let the player wonder how his past life affected his current decisions.  Marr ultimately would do the best he could for the Empire, regardless, but knowing if he ever hesitated, ever had second thought, had a regret -- that would make him mortal. 

And Marr is an icon, not a man, in the grander SWTOR universe, per the writers. That’s the point driven home to the player.  So that leaves it to fan fic to take off the mask or not. 

In “The Planter of Trees and Other Tales from Yavin 4,” Marr comes to this conclusion about the Shans’ relationship after observing two Shan chins.  He then alludes to understanding Satele’s decision to conceal Theron’s existence.

After Marr had gained his seat on the Dark Council (late 3680s, early 3670s), a lot of Sith families wanted him to add to their prestige. The man needed a legacy; he needed heirs.  Marr had already set himself on his path, however; he understood that it was better to be an icon.  If Marr was a normal man, he would be weakened by family connections, love, protectiveness, concern for his personal future.  Instead, Marr’s devotion to the Empire was unmatched and pure.  In the public’s eye, he was the great defender. He was the perfect Sith.

Marr never did have a public wife or a political marriage. His private life -- better secured than Imperial state secrets -- produced a  daughter that did not inherit her talents from her Force-Using parent.  Marr had been relieved that his daughter was not like him.  It meant she would never be pressured to come into public life. It meant she was free of the burden of his legacy. 

Lately, I’ve considered that, regardless of having access to the Force or not, a child of Marr was always in danger of becoming a pawn.  She was something Marr’s enemies could use against him, if they ever found out about her; being Force-Null simply meant that others could not detect her as easily. That may have also have been a concern of Satele in regard to Theron, especially as she rose through the ranks of the Jedi Order.  As soon as Marr could let his daughter fly away from Dromund Kaas, he did.  She was free. 

She died shortly before the Sack of Coruscant.  Marr did not go to her. The Empire had to matter more.  That doesn’t mean he didn’t love her.  He just never could prioritize her over the Empire. 

In my fic universe, Marr understands Satele’s choices.  He can keep his mouth shut.  For now. 

Theron is far more dangerous to the rival faction than Marr’s daughter ever was, however; he is an active player in the war, while she... just got caught in the middle, in the end....

Revan and Emperor now.  Shans later.

**

[babyjamiebarnes]

Build-A-Bear

Part Three

Featuring: Bucky x Stark!reader, dad!Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Morgan, various characters in other chapters

Warnings: language, sexual innuendos and implications

Chapter Summary: Reader has dinner with her family and gets grilled even harder than her food. But she’s turned to a light simmer when Bucky takes her out for their first date.

Author’s Note: This chapter is fucking monstrous lol. I did not expect it to be this long so it might be a couple extra days before the next chapter so I can catch up! I’m also not sure if my Italian is accurate so I apologize in advance. I used to work for a man named Gennaro from Naples and he called me “bella” so hopefully I’m sort of right? If you like the story so far, feel free to buy me a coffee!

Part One • Part Two

Tags: @kennedywxlsh

Dinner that night was tense, to say the least. It was nice to have your dad, step-mom, sister, and uncles Happy and Rhodey over again, but your dad wasn’t quick to forget what he saw earlier.

“What was that with Barnes today?” Tony asked as you all sat around the dining room table in your midtown flat, poking away at the remnants of your meals.

“What do you mean?” you asked innocently.

Your dad just gave you an incredulous look. “You know what I mean.”

You sighed and avoided meeting his eyes. “I was just working on his arm, dad. I didn’t wanna make him lie down on a hard lab table while I poked around to do what you wanted and quiet his arm,” you explained.

“Wait, Barnes as in Bucky Barnes?” Uncle Rhodey clarified.

“Yeah,” your dad confirmed, not taking his eyes off of you. “I found her kneeling between his legs while he sat shirtless on the couch.”

“You’re sleeping with Bucky?!” Rhodey asked.

“I’m not sleeping with anyone!” you defended, dropping your fork onto your plate. “I’ve known him for a month.”

“That’s never stopped your father,” Pepper mumbled under her breath, making you huff out a laugh despite your current grilling.

“Listen, when I said ‘no fraternizing with coworkers,’ I meant it,” your dad said.

“Please stop saying ‘fraternizing.’ It’s weird.”

Tony sighed and crossed his arms. “No ‘slumber parties’ with coworkers,” he rephrased.

This made Morgan perk up in her seat, having spent the past couple minutes confusedly watching you and your dad bicker.

“Can we have a slumber party, [Y/N]?” she asked.

“Yes, honey, we can have a slumber party,” you responded.

“Tonight?” she continued.

At this, you pointedly looked at your dad and raised your eyebrows as a way of saying ‘are we done now?’ You could tell he didn’t want to end the conversation, but you were grateful for the sudden change of topic. Tony uncrossed his arms and leaned against the table as he replied to your sister.

“If your big sister says it’s okay, you can have a slumber party tonight.”

Morgan lit up like the Fourth of July, quickly listing off all the movies she wanted to watch even though you knew she’d fall asleep halfway through the first movie.

As your family packed up to leave, leaving Morgan since she had a drawer of clothes for the impromptu sleepovers you’ve had before, you calmed your racing heart before saying the words that would either make your father more suspicious or completely quash his suspicions.

“You’ll have to pick her up by four tomorrow. I have a date.”

All of the adults turned to face you. Pepper had a huge smile on her face, clearly excited for you, but your dad and Rhodey looked ready to fight. Happy looked curious, maybe even worried, but he played a big role in raising you so while Tony was the overprotective parent, Happy was the comforting parent (not that he’d ever let anyone know that).

“A date?” The tone of your dad’s voice made you roll your eyes at him.

“I’m a grown woman. I’m allowed to go on dates.”

Your dad let out a quiet harumph at that, but understood where you were coming from. “I know, sweetheart. Forgive me for being a bit overprotective of my little girl.”

“I get it. I appreciate your concern,” you said with a smile, “but this is good for me. You want grandkids eventually, right?”

“Oh god,” your dad groaned, pressing a hand to his chest. “I’m not old enough to be a grandpa but I’m old enough to have a heart attack at the mention of it.”

You rolled your eyes. “You’re so dramatic.”

“So what’s this person’s name?” Pepper piped up. You visibly tensed and internally panicked. You couldn’t just admit it was Bucky after denying anything there. But his name was technically pretty common...

“His name is James.”

Rhodey snapped his fingers and pointed at you as he said, “I like him already.”

‘Yeah, sure you do,’ you thought. The sight of your dad narrowing his eyes at you and crossing his arms as he stood in the entryway of your apartment made you nervous. Maybe James wasn’t good enough to get him off your trail (probably because he was right).

“How did you meet this guy?” Tony asked.

If anyone else had asked, you would’ve said ‘work,’ but that’s the last place you could say to your dad — with whom you worked.

“Uhh, at the grocery store. We accidentally followed each other and got a lot of the same food so he jokingly accused me of stalking him and we just hit it off,” you rattled off. It’s a good thing he didn’t know how your friend Monique met her girlfriend or he’d know you were lying.

“That’s so cute,” Pepper cooed. She was definitely the more relaxed of your parents, possibly because she wasn’t your biological mom. She had been raising you since you were ten though, so she played a big part in your upbringing.

“Text me his last name so I can run a background check,” your dad said. You’d love to think he was joking, but you knew he was serious.

And as much as you knew you’d regret it, you had to make a joke…

“His last name is Barnes,” you said, keeping your face as serious as possible. “James Barnes. I actually know his middle name too: Buchanan.”

“[Y/N] [Y/M/N] [Y/L/N], you better be joking right now,” Tony said. He was already getting red in the face, clearly unenthused at the prospect of you dating the man who, admittedly, killed his parents — your grandparents. Yeah, understandable.

“I’m obviously kidding,” you said, forcing a laugh. “It’s just funny that they have the same first name and you’re so anti-Bucky.”

“You’re gonna send me to an early grave,” he muttered. “I’m going home before I actually have a heart attack.”

You said your goodbyes and ‘I love you’s before you and Morgan put on your pajamas and set up a pillow fort in the middle of your living room to watch her favorite sleepover movie: “Shrek.”

As the movie went on, you leaned back in the fort to take a photo of Morgan with the movie in the background. Well, the back of Morgan’s head as she was engrossed in the movie she’d seen a million times.

[Image attached] She’s got her teddy bear but where’s my Bucky Bear? 🥺

Across the city, Bucky’s phone buzzed from its spot on the kitchen counter as he made himself a late dinner. He didn’t recognize the number, but smiled when he saw the picture of who he assumed was your sister or niece.

I never got an invite. Looks like more fun than my night.

You smiled to yourself when you saw his reply, rolling your eyes at the lack of exclamation points and emojis. Typical man.

What does your night look like?

Eating a late dinner and talking to you.

Talking to me isn’t fun?! I’m hurt 😢

Not as fun as actually being with you.

Even though he wasn’t there and didn’t say it verbally, you could feel your cheeks get hot at his words.

There’s no way sweet talk like that didn’t get you in more than four beds.

You’re still on that? I swear doll, I have the same number as you.

Whatever you say! 🙄

There was a lull in conversation after that, giving you time to move your sister to lie on her back with pillows and blankets in the fort so she could sleep more comfortably.

Are we still going out tomorrow?

You let the next Shrek movie start automatically, but you didn’t pay any attention as you texted Bucky.

I’m still down if you are 👀

You sent him your address and let him know you’d wait on the front steps for him so he didn’t have to come all the way up. With the exchange of ‘good night’ messages, you drifted asleep to the sounds of Shrek 2.

•

The next morning, you somehow managed to wake up before your sister, then brought her back to the land of the living with the smell of French toast.

You spent your day watching another movie with Morgan before fixing lunch and taking her to a park down the road. Morgan’s childhood was definitely different from yours. Happy was the one who took you to parks and shopping, but Tony parented at home. Morgan would have the same early experiences, but the world knew Tony and Pepper had a daughter. They kept her identity hidden for now, waiting until she could decide if she wanted to reveal herself later in life. The world never knew about you.

And you had to be somewhat grateful for that. You still got all the perks of being a Stark — the money, the Tower, meeting the Avengers (and having James Rhodes as your godfather) — without the stress of fame. But part of you still wished you could talk about your father without keeping his occupation vague and referring to him as “Anthony” when telling stories instead of Tony.

Morgan also got to know her mom. You only spent the first seven years of your life with your mom before she was killed in a drive-by shooting. The police investigated it like crazy because everyone thought since it was Tony Stark’s wife, it had to be a targeted hit. But since she never took the same jogging route twice, all they came up with was an unplanned drive-by. You cherished the memories you had with her, but still openly welcomed Pepper when she came into the picture. She may not have played the same type of role in your life, but she helped shape your middle and high school years.

By the time you and Morgan got back to your place, she was exhausted, climbing back into the still-intact blanket fort to take a nap. When your dad and Pepper stopped by to pick her up, she was still knocked out.

“We’ll get out of your hair so you can get ready for your date,” your dad said with Morgan in his arms. “Send me this James guy’s last name. I still want to run a background check.”

“Dad,” you grumbled. “I already did my research. He’s clear.” Kind of. He technically has murdered hundreds of people, including your grandparents, but he’s reformed and fighting for the good guys now. Not that your dad would let it slide if you told him that.

“That’s my girl,” he grinned. “Let me know if you need to hide any bodies, okay?”

“You got it,” you said with a laugh as they headed out. You had two hours to get ready for Bucky, giving you plenty of time to look extra cute.

By the time six rolled around, you were all dolled up and ready to go. The autumn weather had you in a jacket and boots, but that just pulled your outfit together.

Your doorman Matt was standing inside the lobby when you ran downstairs, tossing him a small wave as you left.

“Have a good night, Miss [Y/L/N],” he said with a nod.

“See you later, Matt!”

You stood at the bottom of your building’s front steps, checking your phone and looking up and down the block for Bucky. It was six on the dot, so you figured he’d be there soon.

“Hey!” You looked up from your phone to see Bucky jogging toward you, a black leather jacket covering his arms and a black glove hiding his left hand. “Sorry I’m late. I couldn’t get away from Sam. Had to tell him I was gonna check out my old stomping grounds in Brooklyn.”

“You’re, like, 30 seconds late. I’m just glad you’re here,” you said with a smile. “So what are we doing tonight?”

Bucky’s smile faltered as he looked down at you. Your boots gave you a bit of a height bump, but Bucky still stood taller than you.

“I, uh, I kinda thought you had something planned,” he said softly.

“Oh, oops,” you laughed. “Well… what about those Brooklyn stomping grounds of yours? Care to show me around?”

Bucky lit up at the recommendation and started leading the way to the nearest subway stop. Before you started down the stairs, he paused and turned to you with a sour expression.

“I probably should’ve asked if you’d rather get a cab,” he said.

“Bucky, I take the subway to work every day. It’s fine.”

“Why do you take the train? You don’t live too far away.” You two made your way down the steps to the bustling station.

“It’s just easier. Less work for me,” you explained. “I didn’t take the train much as a kid so I like taking the opportunity now that I can.”

“Most people don’t willingly take the subway,” he laughed. “Steve and I always used to talk about how we’d be rich enough to have a car someday. But now that I could get any car I wanted, I don’t think I want one. I like the subway.”

“Even though it’s smelly and dirty?” you joked.

“Yeah,” he laughed. “It’s one of the things that still reminds me of home.”

The gentleness in his voice nearly brought you to tears. This man had been through so much and was still the sweetest soul you’d ever met. Forced into a war he didn’t want to join, experimented on, tortured and brainwashed, hunted by every government in the world, captured, frozen, and forced into another war and more battles he shouldn’t have to join. He just couldn’t catch a break.

“Well I’m excited to see what else reminds you of home,” you replied.

The trains to and through Brooklyn were relatively busy so you and Bucky couldn’t really talk much, but it was a Saturday night so you couldn’t blame people for getting out. It was tough to find seats, but Bucky was willing to stand to make sure you could have a seat. Ever the gentleman.

When you made it to Bucky’s Brooklyn stop of choice, he started telling you more stories from the ‘40s, like when Steve couldn’t get off the train in time and accidentally went down another stop so Bucky ran to the next stop and found Steve heading his way anyway. And how he and Steve followed his sister Rebecca on a date “to watch out for her,” he said, and her date thought they were stalking her and tried to beat them up. And all the fights he pulled Steve out of.

“Punk was a chihuahua who thought he was a Rottweiler.”

For a while, you two walked around the streets of Brooklyn just telling each other stories. You were careful about names you used, often just calling Happy “Uncle Harry” and Rhodey “Uncle James.”

Bucky showed you the movie theater he and Steve used to go to, which was surprisingly still in business. You walked past what used to be a diner Bucky frequented but was converted into a bridal shop.

“This used to be a magic store Steve loved,” he said, looking up at the bank on the corner of the street. “Things have changed a lot.”

You heard the nostalgia in his voice, clearly missing the New York he grew up to love. He had a soft smile on his lips as he reminisced, though.

“What about where you lived?” you asked. “Do you remember where that is?”

“Oh yeah,” he chuckled. “I could never forget that.”

Everything was within a fifteen minute walk of where you got off the subway so even though your feet were getting tired, you followed alongside Bucky as he led the way up and down the streets. Before too long, you strode up to a large brick building that had clearly been remodeled recently, if the fresh windows and front doors were any indication.

“It’s… a lot nicer than when I lived here,” Bucky said with a sigh. “But it’s been nearly 100 years so I can’t blame them for updating things.”

“Brooklyn is kind of booming now, too,” you added. “More people to appeal to, ya know?”

You stared up at him again, seeing that same lost look as before, like he wished to turn back time and show you the Brooklyn he knew. So you decided since he couldn’t do that, you’d show him the Brooklyn you knew.

“Come here. My turn to show you around,” you said, holding your hand out to him. He gave you a small smile before grabbing your hand in his and letting you pull him back to the subway.

Ten minutes later, you hopped off the train with Bucky in tow and headed to the little Italian restaurant you found while exploring the city a couple years before. It wasn’t anything elaborate; it was honestly more of a little hole-in-the-wall, but you liked the quiet atmosphere.

“Bella!” the owner shouted as you walked in.

“Hey Genny,” you smiled at him.

“Who’s this?” he asked as he approached you, raising his eyebrows when he saw Bucky.

“This is James,” you said. You opted against using his more common nickname to avoid any recognition.

“James, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Gennaro, but you can call me Genny. Welcome to my restaurant.” The two men shook hands before Genny ushered you two to a table and handed you menus. “Would you like to start with focaccia?”

“Yes please!”

“Con formaggi?”

“Si! Grazie!”

Gennaro left you and Bucky while he started your appetizer.

“You speak Italian?” Bucky asked.

“Definitely not,” you laughed. “I’ve just been coming here for a while and have picked up on some things Genny says. Like ‘bella’ means ‘beautiful,’ this pizza,” you pointed to your favorite pizza on the menu, “‘cinque formaggi’ means ‘five cheese.’ But I could never hold a conversation.”

“Un peccato,” Bucky sighed before flashing a smile at you.

“You speak Italian?!” you nearly shrieked. “No way! Don’t talk shit with Gennaro behind my back.” You pouted at Bucky, but knew he wouldn’t say anything bad about you. Maybe an embarrassing moment or two — like your dad walking in on you between his knees — but nothing negative.

“I picked it up pretty quickly back in the day,” Bucky explained. “Before I was sent to Germany, I was stationed in a small town in Italy for a while. The locals didn’t mind having us there because we kept the Nazis out, so they taught us some Italian when we were in town.”

“Maybe I should take Gennaro up on his offer to learn Italian,” you mused.

“Or you could learn from me,” Bucky was quick to offer. “I’ll teach you some stuff when you’re working on my arm.”

Your server arrived with the focaccia and water for both of you, before giving you more time to actually look at the menus instead of talking. You decided to split a bottle of red wine and two pizzas, one of your choice and one of Bucky’s. As the night went on, you and Bucky both opened up to each other even more than before. You could easily blame the buzz from a couple glasses of wine, but Bucky’s super soldier serum made you confused. His cheeks were flushed and he had more than half the bottle, so you wondered if maybe...

“Can you still get drunk?”

“Unlike Steve, yes. It takes more than this,” he said, lifting the nearly empty bottle of wine, “but since Steve and I received different serums, they work a little differently. I can definitely get drunk. Marijuana admittedly hits harder.”

You paused as you stared back at him, his elbows perched on the table and his clasped hands propped under his chin.

“Are you drunk now?”

“No,” he laughed quietly. “A little tipsy, sure, but not drunk by a long shot.”

You narrowed your eyes at him playfully, reluctantly accepting that he was just as buzzed as you but not quite drunk.

Before long, your server brought over your tab and you realized how empty the restaurant had gotten. Then you noticed the broom and mop the server had brought out to the floor, then the dark ‘open’ sign, and finally the clock on the wall.

“You closed 20 minutes ago and didn’t kick us out?” you shouted at Gennaro. “Genny, you can always kick me out! I feel bad!”

Gennaro walked over to your table as you scrambled for your wallet and handed the server your card to run.

“I can’t kick you out, bella. You and your moroso are welcome any time.”

“I think this poor girl would beg to differ,” you said as the server handed your card and signature slip back. She just laughed at your comment, agreeing without saying it outright.

You left a hefty tip and hugged Genny before you and Bucky, both still a bit tipsy, shuffled outside.

“Thanks for buying dinner,” Bucky said. “This means I get to pay next time, though.”

He said it so casually and you already planned on another date, but it still kind of caught you off guard.

“Next time?” You smiled up at him and took a step closer until you were almost toe-to-toe. “There’s gonna be a ‘next time’?”

“I sure hope there is,” he said quietly, his smirk sending a rush up your spine.

“If you insist,” you sighed. He knew better than to believe you weren’t excited for your future plans. “I’m cold. Care to get an Uber with me?”

He gently grabbed your shoulders and spun you around, pulling the loose opening of his jacket over your arms and wrapping his arms around you to help keep you warm.

“Well, yeah. I need to make sure you get home safe so ‘next time’ can happen,” Bucky said as he nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck.

“You know, I don’t usually let men spoon me on the first date,” you joked as you tapped away to order an Uber.

“I can stop, if you want,” he teased.

You gripped his arm as he started to pull away. “I never said that.”

Bucky rode back to your place with you, keeping conversation casual as you both avoided the controversy you were about to face: to kiss on the first date or not. You never really had any issues with it before, but you already really liked Bucky. You didn’t want to risk messing it up by moving too fast. But what grown man would think a kiss on a first date was too fast? Well… maybe one born in the early 1900s…

Before your thoughts could throw you into a downward spiral, the driver pulled up outside your apartment complex. Bucky stepped out first and held the door open for you to scoot out after him. As you stood at the bottom of the stairs to your building, you felt those nerves creeping up on you again. God, you hadn’t felt this nervous about a date since high school.

“I had fun tonight,” Bucky said first, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Me too,” you smiled back. “I’m excited for what you plan for next time.”

Bucky laughed at this, the crinkle of his nose making your own smile grow. God, you wanted to invite him inside already. In your defense, you’ve known him for a full month and spent even longer getting heart-eyes over him in college.

But you reined in your hormones and just took a step closer to him to rest your hands on his chest. His right hand came up to rest on your waist, but he kept the metal hand in his pocket. With your hand placement, you could feel the thrum of his heartbeat and judging by the pace, you knew you were both on the same page. As you were trying to shove your nerves aside, Bucky asked the one question you were hoping for.

“Can I kiss you?”

Knowing he wanted this as much as you did relieved some of your nerves, but also made the moment that much more real. You smiled up at him and nodded your head.

“Yes, please do.”

You perched up on your toes to meet him halfway, letting his lips mold to yours. His hold on your waist tightened as he pulled you closer; you gripped the lapel of his jacket in your fists. Suddenly the cold of the night no longer existed. All you could feel was the warmth radiating off of him as he held you close. He pulled back for a second before diving right back in, this time nipping at your bottom lip. You giggled against him, but didn’t stop him from taking the innocent kiss a step further. Your hands slid from his chest to the nape of his neck before tangling into his long hair. The vibration from his moan as you tugged on his hair ran straight down your spine, making it even harder to leave the date alone.

Reluctantly, you both pulled apart just enough for your noses to brush against each other, the stubble of his beard still tickling your nose. You opened your eyes enough to see the smile on his lips as he pulled back a bit more to see your face.

“I’ll see you Monday?” you said quietly, as if speaking any louder would break you two out of your bubble.

“See you Monday, [Y/N],” Bucky replied just as quietly. His hand slipped from your waist as you backed away, biting your lip at him before you turned and scurried up the steps. Bucky stood on the sidewalk until he could see the light in your apartment flick on, just to make sure you were safe.

[imagines-r-s]

sticking it - j. farabee

chapter 8

a/n: idk why this chapter took so long, but here it is. it’s very domestic and wholesome, so enjoy it. honestly i’m sad we’re so close to the series ending, but there will be more y/n and joel from the sticking it au i promise. and as always, lmk what you all think

taglist: @butgilinsky @barbienoturbby @sunsetholland @lovenhlboys @sortagaysortahigh @hockey-racing-fubol @oopsiedoopsie23 @iwantahockeyhimbo @dreamsndior @itsurgirlgracie @heartshapedkissxs @lwstuff

warnings: more high school musical references, a sprinkle of angst, friends fighting, idk if it counts as an innuendo or suggestive content, but some of that (not a warning, but Adrian content and ‘no thoughts, head empty’ Joel)

sticking it masterlist

wc: 6.1k

  “All I’m saying is that it doesn’t make sense that she’s the only one standing, singing to Troy about scoring a basket. Like what if someone showed up to the game late and didn’t get the memo to twist the signs around and stay seated, you know? And it’s not just Gabriella standing up,” you said, grabbing multiple outfits to choose from for the movie night that you had been invited to. 

“Well, I don’t think that it was really an ‘ok, everybody. One person is going to be staying up, but everybody else stay seated and lift your sign’ sorta thing. I feel like it was just a heat of the moment thing,” Joel replied as he walked out of the bathroom. 

“Yeah, but it still doesn’t make sense. And I’m curious to know if that mid-game duet actually motivated Troy or if he was just annoyed or something.”

“If you sang to me mid-game, I would honestly probably throw a stick at you. Out of love, obviously.” 

“That’s sweet of you, not really, but I’ll take it,” you said, turning towards Joel, “I don’t know what to wear to movie night.”

“It’s not really like you have to try to impress anyone, it’s just movie night,” Joel said, as he scrolled on his phone, “but you look hot in anything, so I’m chilling.”

“You’re definitely just saying that,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“Yeah, you’re right. You in the mornings is kinda concerning, not your best look,” he said, pointedly.

“That was not an opportunity for you to say something like that, I will throw a chair at you.” 

“That’s concerning, but well deserved. I’m sure it would be out of the kindness of your heart, so I respect it.”

“You better respect it, Farabee.”

“Oooh, the last name. I’m shaking in my boots,” he said to which you immediately shot a glare his way, “actually, you’re very hot when you’re mad, not gonna lie.”

“Better watch yourself, Beezer, you’re on thin ice,” you said, jokingly.

“Good thing I know how to skate, babe,” he retorted, making his way towards you. 

“You’re annoying,” you huffed as Joel wrapped his arms around you in a bear hug, “Bee, you better stop.” He lightly pecked the top of your head before stepping back, “wait, what was that?”

“What? The hug or me kissing the top of your head?”

“Both?”

“It’s called a display of affection. I know you aren’t familiar since you show your love by threatening to throw chairs at the people you care about, but that’s what that was.” 

“Oh, it was nice,” you said, which caused Joel to chuckle.

“God, I love you,” he paused for a moment, clearly contemplating something, “this is kinda random, but have you ever thought about posting about our relationship? Or is that a no in the gymnastics world?”

“I mean, yeah, I have thought about it. I just haven’t because I didn’t know how you felt, but if you want to post it you can.”

“Why don’t you post it first?”

“Why don’t you? You brought it up?” you questioned. 

“You confuse me so much sometimes and I’m usually confused, so it makes it kinda worse,” he said honestly.

“How about whenever we get back here tonight, we post at the same time?” you offered.

“Sounds okay with me. Come on, we have to go if we want to make it on time,” he said, softly. 

…..

“Hey, it’s Short Stack and Beezer,” Travis said, as he opened his front door.

“I still don’t know why you of all people call me Short Stack, Tiki Bar,” you said to which he simply shrugged before opening the door more to let the two of you in. 

“Ooh, Short Stack, Karly has something for you. I think she went upstairs,” you sent a confused look to Travis, “it’s nothing bad, just go.” You rolled your eyes as you made your way up the steps.

“Karly?” you called as you walked closer to her and Travis’ room.

“I’m in here,” she called. As you walked into her room, you quickly noticed her shuffling through the things in her closet, pulling out a box that had clearly been wrapped in a hurry. 

“What’s that?”

“Just open it, I hope you like it,” she rushed. 

“Um, alright,” you tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box to reveal what looked like a regular denim jacket, “a denim jacket?” you said, earning an eye roll from her. 

“Take it out of the box, Sunshine.” You picked up the corners of the jacket to see that there were multiple patches with the flyers logo and bees on the sleeves, turning it around to see a number 86 and Farabee on the back.

“Karly, wha-”

“Look, I know you and him haven’t announced it officially yet or anything like that, but I figured that you would like it. I even got the bees on there for obvious reasons. I wouldn’t be upset if you didn’t wear it out, but you needed one,” she said, gently.

“I- Wow, I love it, Karly. Thank you,” you said, giving her a quick hug. 

“You should wear it downstairs or at least show him at some point.”

“Oh no, I was just going to keep it in a bag in my closet for a while until he inevitably finds it,” you said, sarcastically.

“No need for the sass, Sunshine. You should try it on though, I want to see what it looks like,” she suggested, her smile only growing as she saw that it looked amazing on you, “oh yes, the bee patches really add to it. Definitely a great choice on my part.”

“Always the humble one. Come on, we have to start the movies eventually.”

“Wait, you’re wearing it downstairs?” she asked, to which you simply nodded as you walked ahead of her down the stairs. 

Travis was the first to notice your arrival downstairs as he talked to Joel, smiling as he saw that you were wearing the jacket that his girlfriend had stressed over for days, “hey, y/n, I’m really liking this new look.”

“Hey man,” Joel started as he had his back turned towards you, quickly turning around after hearing that you arrived downstairs, “watch yours-” He immediately recognized that similar jacket that many of his teammates significant other wore to games, a perfect sign showing off their boyfriend or husband. “Wait, hold up.”

“Yes,” you answered, already knowing what he was going to ask.

“Swag,” he answered simply as he walked closer to you to examine the jacket. “Are those bees? Why are there bees?”

“Hmm, no idea. They’re just randomly there,” you retorted. 

“Beezer, did you get knocked in the head at practice or something? I’m very concerned, dude,” Nicole asked from beside Nolan. 

“Why are there bees? I don’t understand,” he asked, frantically.

“He’s hopeless,” Nolan whispered to Nicole.

“Bee, did you forget your own name?” you asked.

“Bee,” he paused, “ohhhh, that’s me. Those are for me, wait, turn around,” you rolled your eyes as you turned around to see the back of the jacket, “oh, that’s my name.”

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock,” Kevin said, concerned from the whole exchange. 

“He’s just having one of his moments. Be nice, Kev,” you said, holding back a laugh as you turned back towards your boyfriend who looked like there was something wrong, “Bee, you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I just- you got my name on a jacket. You usually aren’t this nice, but this is something nice, so I’m just worried something is wrong with you,” he said, genuinely. 

You visibly gaped as the guys around you howled in laughter as Karly spoke up, “technically, I got her the jacket, she’s just wearing it.”

“Ohhh, okay, that makes more sense.”

“Damn, y/n/n, how badly do you treat the poor kid?” Scott asked from the couch.

“Better watch yourself, Scotty,” you said, shooting him a glare. 

“Let’s just get the movie started before Short Stack attacks someone,” Travis added. 

Drawing names to see who would pick the movie, Nicole picked out the movie, Stick It, which had always been one of her favorites. It was expected for people to be getting up during the movie, but when you noticed Nicole missing from seeing her favorite movie, you became worried that something had happened, “psst, did you see where Nicole went?” you whispered over to Joel. 

“No, did you see where Nolan went?” he asked you, which caused you to grow suspicious as you noticed both of them were gone. “Maybe they’re just making out in the kitchen or something?”

“Why would they be making out? They’re just friends.”

“Dude, they’re still friends in the same way you and me are still friends.”

“No, because if something were going on she would tell me and I think it would be obvious.” 

“Look, I know I’m oblivious, but you choose to ignore a lot of obvious details just because.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Fine, if we get up and find them together or doing something romantic? I don’t know, but either way, you have to post that we’re together first, but I choose the caption.”

“Is that a bet?”

“Yes,” to which the two of you shook on it. 

“Hey guys, how many of you think there’s something going on with Nolan and Nicole?” Joel asked the group. 

“Oh, yeah, I’ve noticed for months, they just haven’t done anything about it out of fear of what y/n will think,” Karly said like it was some simple statement. 

“What do you mean that they fear what I would think?” you asked, causing everyone to look at you. 

“Short Stack, you are literally this little spitfire that could attack at any moment, they just don’t want to upset you,” Travis added just as the pair walked back into the living room, “ah, here’s the two lovebirds now.” 

A flash of panic crossed Nicole’s face as Nolan blushed, “no, I just needed help getting drinks and Nolan was right there.”

“Okay, then where are the drinks and why does Nolan have a hickey?” Scott pointed out. 

“I forget them in the kitchen and Nolan burnt himself with a curling iron,” she offered. 

“Karly, did you leave your curling iron in the kitchen again? Silly goose,” Travis said. 

Joel quickly noticed how quiet you were from beside him, “hey, babe. What’s wrong?”

“I’m okay, I’m going to go and get a drink really quick,” you said, softly smiling before heading into the kitchen. Everyone’s eyes followed you as you retreated back to the kitchen, Nicole sighed, the guilt of not telling you finally hitting her. 

“Do you want me to come with you?” Nolan offered.

“No, this is definitely between the two of us,” she answered before following you, “y/n/n, look-”

“Nicole, it’s fine,” you said, filling a cup with ice. 

“It’s obviously not, I know you better than that,” she said, gently, waiting for a response from you, “look, this honestly hasn’t gone to anything serious yet because I knew I needed to tell you. I know I shouldn’t have kept it from you and that you would have been fine with it, we just didn’t want anyone to know. No one really knew, Karly just picked up on it because she’s Karly and everyone else figured it out. And I know you knew something was going on, you just didn’t want to accept it.”

“I don’t have an issue with it, I would have rather you just tell me straight up what’s happening, but I had to find out because Joel made a joke and you couldn’t give Nolan a hickey where it wasn’t visible,” you said honestly, filling your cup with water. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to offer, there wasn’t really another reason other than we didn’t know how you would react,” she said, leaning back on the kitchen counter as you stared at the cup in your hand, “y/n/n, please say something. I’ll break it off if-”

“I would never make you break things off with him and you know that. How long has this been going on?” 

“Uh, we’ve liked each other for a while, but didn’t do anything about it until you had to go back on crutches, so maybe a few weeks.”

“Gotcha, gotcha.”

“Are you mad at us? It was my idea, Nolan said we should just tell you, but-”

“Nic, please. I’m not mad, I knew something was up, I was just more focused on other things. Does he make you happy?” you asked, looking back up at her, smiling at the small blush that had rushed up to her face. 

“Yeah, he really does.” 

“Then, I’m chilling. Come on, you already missed half of your favorite movie making out with Nols,” she laughed as the two of you made your way back. 

“You good, y/n/n?” Kevin asked as you sat by Joel again, who wrapped his arms around your shoulder. 

“Maybe you should ask Nicole, just to make sure y/n/n didn’t attack her,” Scott added. 

“Eh, I’ve known her for years, I have a few strategies,” Nicole said, simply. 

“Oh, shut up, Nicky,” you said, jokingly rolling your eyes. 

“I know damn well that you did not just say Nicky,” she said, shocked. 

“Oh, did I?”

“You want to take this outside, babe.”

“Hmm, maybe tomorrow.” 

“I’m concerned, but this is entertaining,” Travis said, to which everyone else agreed.  

“I’ll record it and post it on world-star,” Joel added. 

“Thanks, babe. Oh and Patty Lapone, if you hurt her, I will bust your kneecaps,” you said, faking sweetness.

“Understandably, so,” Nolan said, honestly. 

“Glad we’re on the same page. And Nicky, don’t hurt him either.” 

“Noted,” Nicole said.

“Hey babe, you know you have to post us first now, right?” Joel said, smirk growing on his face, “and I get to choose the caption.”

“You’re letting him choose the caption?” Karly asked, “good luck, Sunshine.”

…..

“So, do you know what picture you’re going to post? I have mine picked out,” Joel asked you as you finished your night routine. 

“I’m still upset that you won that bet, but probably the picture of us that’s my wallpaper,” you said, patting your face dry. 

“What picture?” Joel asked, confused as to what you meant. 

“Oh, Karly took a bunch of pictures the day we were at the lake and the one that’s my wallpaper is the one where you’re about to throw me in the water and I’m laughing at you. Or I might post one of the pictures Nicole took of us where I’m wearing your jersey,” you explained. 

“Ok, one, why haven’t I seen these and two, why didn’t you send me them?” 

“Oh, I don’t know, you never asked.”

“I never knew.” 

“Same thing?” you offered before walking out of the bathroom to sit on your bed as Joel grabbed his bag to start packing for the next day.

“Ok, well get the post ready and I’ll caption it,” Joel said, holding his hand out. 

“Please keep it reasonable, I am an example to tiny humans.”

“Kids?”

“Same thing,” you said, handing your phone over to him, already open to instagram. 

Joel had been thinking about what he would caption this post for the rest of the day after you had talked about going public. Quickly typing up the caption and tagging himself, he posted it, “okay, all done.”

“It didn’t take you that long?”

“Yeah, I know. I kinda figured it out earlier,” he said, shrugging and handing you back your phone. As you saw the notifications for the post, you opened it to see the picture of you two captioned ‘the bee to my honey’. 

“That is so incredibly cheesy and adorable,” you said, smiling at your phone, “Karly already commented upset that you didn’t give her photo credit though, but she said the caption wasn’t terrible.”

“Yeah, I’m so good with words, babe. We’ve established this.”

“You’re truly something. Wait, are you captioning yours ‘the honey to my bee’ because that way it’s just in reverse?”

“Yeah, we’re just that cool,” Joel said, handing you his packing list, “will you go over this with me to make sure I have everything?”

“Superstitious King, ok, um, your garment bag with your suit?” you continued down the list as you heard him respond to everything you said, “Glasses? Glasses? Why do you have glasses on this list?”

“Because I need them to see?” he said, confused by your question. 

“Since when have you worn glasses?”

“A while actually, I just don’t wear them all that often,” he shrugged. 

“Wait, what do they look like on you?” you asked, watching as he contemplated showing you before reaching in his bag and grabbing his glasses case. 

“If you make any jokes, I will never wear them around you again,” he said before putting them on. “Ok, one joke, and that’s all.” He was shocked by how quiet you were, “y/n/n, please just make the joke already while I’m prepared for it.”

“Oh no, I actually don’t have a joke this time. You look really good in glasses.” 

“Oh, a compliment?”

“Ha ha, yeah, I can be nice sometimes. But no, you genuinely look hot in those, you look hot in general, but like, now especially,” you continued rambling. 

“Awe, you’re being nice and I made you nervous,” he cooed. 

“You don’t make me nervous, Farabee,” you said, rolling your eyes. 

“Oh, I don’t? Okay,” he took steps closer to you standing in front of you and placing his arms on either side of you, smirking as he heard your breath hitch, “you sure I don’t make you nervous?”

“Y-you don’t,” you replied, watching his actions closely as he leaned his face closer to yours, placing his hand on your thigh before leaning beside your ear. 

“Okay, then,” he whispered before standing back up to finish packing, a smirk lacing his features. 

“That was rude,” you pouted, to which he simply shrugged. “Yeah, that’s not going to work, babe. Karma is a real thing,” you said, watching as he furrowed his brows.

“What do you mean?” 

“Karma,” you said, before just grabbing a longer shirt of his for pajamas and heading to the bathroom to change. Coming back minutes later to see Joel in bed, leaning against the headboard, already looking your way. 

“y/n,” he said, cautiously, “please say there’s something underneath my shirt.”

“I don’t know, Bee, is there?” you asked, pulling the comforter back on your bed as you laid down for bed. 

“I don’t like this game, it’s not that fun,” he said, moving down to lay his head on your chest, your hand instinctively going to his hair. 

“Karma is karma, pretty boy,” you said, chuckling when you felt him start to trace patterns on your thigh, obviously looking for a way to tell if you had shorts on. “You have to be up in a few hours and Kevin and Nol will barge in here tomorrow morning if you aren’t on time.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you going to answer my question?”

“You didn’t ask a question.”

“You’re really annoying sometimes. Are you going to answer my statement?” 

“You still love me though and I won’t answer your statement,” you said, softly, knowing that he was ready to fall asleep. “Goodnight, Bee.”

“Goodnight, babe.”

The alarm for the start of Joel’s day went off way too soon, but he knew he needed to get up. Quickly turning off his alarm to avoid waking you up, he got up to get his shower and get dressed for his day. 

After getting a text from Nolan that they would be at your door in about 5 minutes, he decided to tell you goodbye, “y/n/n, baby, it’s time for me to go.”

“You don’t have to go, tell them you can’t go,” you said, half asleep, barely even realizing what you were saying. 

“As much as I wish I could, it doesn’t work like that, babe.”

“Well have you tried to see if it would work?” he chuckled at your question. 

“I love you and I’ll see you in a few days, alright,” he kissed the top of your head before grabbing his bags and heading out to the living room to wait on Kevin and Nolan. Taking a seat on the couch as he waited, he heard the bedroom door open with footsteps following, “you should go back to sleep.”

“I have to go to PT in a few hours, so might as well be up,” you said, “plus, I kinda want to say bye to Kev and Nols.”

“You have PT at noon, it’s almost 5am. Once we leave, please try to get some sleep.” 

“Awe, Bee, you worried about me?”

“Unfortunately I’m always worried about you and you’re such a chaotic person that it’s reasonable and the concern only ever grows.”

“That’s true, I am kinda chaotic,” you said, causing him to chuckle. 

“Just a tad.”

The sound of the key turning and door opening drew yours and Joel’s attention away from each other for a moment, “sup, bitches,” Kevin’s voice rang out. 

“What the fuck, Kev?” you asked, grabbing a blanket from your couch, wrapping it around you. 

“Rise and shine, y/n/n. Hope you slept well, now we have to leave, so say bye to your boy,” Kevin added, turning back to leave again. 

“Ok, I have to get going, shawty bae. Go get some sleep, text me how PT goes, and tell Adrian I said hi. Bye, babe,” he kissed the top of your head once more before grabbing his bag and heading on his way. 

…..

“So, no lover boy today?” Adrian asked as you stepped into his office. 

“No, not today,” you said, sitting down on the bench, “him and the boys have an away game tonight, so they left this morning and will be back in a few days.” 

“So, I assume things are going well?” he asked, rolling his chair over to you. 

“Yeah, things are going very well. We posted about us being together officially on instagram last night.” 

“Oh, wow. Instagram, that’s crazy,” he said, sarcastically. 

“Hey, shush. It’s a bigger step than you think.”

“Oh, yes. The power couple that you two athletes are, hmm. Forgot about that.”

“Stop, it’s not that crazy. It just kinda is a big step in my opinion.”

“Well, I am happy for you and I’m also proud of you for actually listening to me and staying off your knee.”

“Hey, that rhymed,” you softly interrupted. 

“Ha ha, so funny. Anyways, with how it looks now, I say you’re good to start training again,” he said, taking the time to examine your knee. He could tell that you had actually listened to what he had told you, just like he hoped you had. He was excited to see you back to where you needed to be. 

“Like training training? Or just training?”

“Training training. Just be careful and don’t overwork yourself. I am aware that there isn’t much time before you have the U.S Championships, but don’t rush it. Take your time. Quality over quantity. Okay, Superstar?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” you said, excitedly, jumping off the bench to hug Adrian, “thank you.”

“Hey, I didn’t do anything, this is all you. But if anyone can do this, you can. Just take care of yourself, alright? I don’t want all my work to go to waste,” he said, jokingly. 

“Wow, I see how it is. I see how it is.”

“You know I’m joking, Superstar. Don’t even.”

“Do I, Adrian? Do I know that?”

“Just leave already,” he joked, “you have a lot of work to catch up on. Good luck, y/n/n.”

Knowing that the boys were either at lunch, wrapping up morning skate, or getting settled, you shot Kevin a quick text to call you whenever he had the chance; your phone rang only a few minutes later. “Hey, is everything okay?” Kevin’s concerned voice rang through.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Adrian cleared me to train again.”

“Aye, let’s go. Alright, so you have like, what? Two weeks before you leave for the U.S. Championships?” 

“Yeah, Marcus and Michelle already figured out all my travel arrangements months ago, so no worries there. I’m just worried about the fact that I have about 12 practices, but Marcus will probably worry and have me practice less, so about 10 practices? And what if-” you rambled. 

“No, we’re not doing the ‘what if’ conversations right now. Or anytime soon for that matter. You’ll get it. And if you have to simplify it for now, then that’s how it’ll be, but you stressing out right now is not going to change the number of practices you have or how they go. Only you can be the one to determine how practices go.”

“Since when did you get all wise, Kev?”

“I read this really inspirational fortune cookie earlier, it caused me to have a whole epiphany on life. Same old, same old.”

“Alright, wasn’t expecting that one, but I’m here for it. What are you guys up to?”

“What are we up to? Or what is Beezer up to?” Kevin asked, knowingly. 

“I was honestly just asking in general, but since you brought him up-” the two of you took a little bit of time to catch up. Him filling you in on how morning skate went and how the lineups for the game were looking. He also told you how the team was looking good this morning and that if they played how they needed to, they could easily win. 

You were still on the phone with Kevin by the time you pulled into the gym parking lot, “hey, I have to talk to Marcus about training, but I’ll probably talk to you after the game. Tell Bee I’ll talk to him later too. Bye, Kev.”

“Stay safe, be careful, make wise choices. I’ll talk to you later, y/n/n.”

Walking into the gym this time was different, almost similar to your first time back after everything, but right now you had the ability to train and to work how you needed to. You just needed to get back into your element. 

Knowing that the only practice going on was for the younger kids, you made your way up to Marcus’ office. Knocking gently on the door, you opened it to see him and Michelle sitting near his desk. “So, what’s the verdict?” Marcus asked, expectantly. 

“Well, there’s two weeks until Championships and I need to get this dismount,” you said, watching as the two of their smiles only grew. As the three of you went over everything that Adrian said, the three of you planned out the next two weeks. 

“Alright, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning practices, you can spend the whole practice on beam, drills, and conditioning, but afternoon practices you need to do other events.  Then, Tuesday and Thursdays will be working on other events, and Saturdays is just a markthrough day for routines,” Michelle explained easily, which showed that they had already thought of this beforehand. 

“And we’re going to ease into it again, but this time from doubles. We both know you can easily get back to where you need to and we also believe that with how determined you seem right now, you’ll be fine. If you do okay with doubles, we’ll move onto triples as soon as we can. If anyone can do it, you can,” Marcus said, honestly. 

…..

Checking his phone after the game was over, the smile on Joel’s face quickly grew at all the encouraging texts he had gotten from you. Quickly replying, he looked up to see most of the guys sharing knowing looks, “what?”

“Nothing, we can just easily tell who texted you from the way you looked at your phone,” Nolan pointed out. 

“You don’t really hide it, so it’s kinda obvious,” Carter added. 

“Well yeah, I don’t have a reason to hide it. My girl makes me happy,” Joel said, turning to see Kevin giving him a pointed look, “okay, maybe one reason to hide it.”

“Didn’t she have a PT appointment today? Any updates?” Scott asked, walking towards the younger guys.

“Oh, yeah. She got cleared and starts training again tomorrow,” Joel answered, causing all the team to smile.

Rushing to finish getting ready, so that he could FaceTime you, he grabbed his bag and made his way to an empty hallway to talk to you. The phone rang only a few times before you picked up, “hey, baby. You did really good at your game.”

“Thank you, thank you. I was thinking of you when I scored,” he said, watching behind you to see you walking around the apartment. 

“That was really cheesy.”

“Yeah, I realized that after I said it, but it’s the thought that counts,” he retaliated, causing you to chuckle, “did you get everything figured out with your coaches to start practicing again?” 

“Babe, you just won a game and you’re worried about my PT and training schedule?” 

“Well, I don’t have an explanation, but I get hockey 24/7 for the next few days, so I kinda want to hear about your life and gymnastics,” he said, honestly, which only made you smile. 

“Yeah, we got my training schedule figured out. I start practice again in the morning, but luckily I was able to work it out to where I have a day of just beam work to mostly do the dismount and drills and then the rest of the week is for other events. But I will have to travel for this meet, which I haven’t had to do in a while.”

“Oh, it’s in Texas? Right?” he asked, causing you to hum in agreement, “and how long before you leave?”

“Well, I leave the Wednesday night before, podium training on Thursday, and then, competition Friday and Sunday. And then I’ll be back Monday.”

“Ah, so I get to know how you feel when I’m on the road.”

“Yep, and you’ll know much it sucks,” you said, rolling your eyes. 

You were happy that Joel was happy and playing the sport that he loved, but him being on the road often threw off the routine that the two of you had with each other. Waking up next to each other; either making or getting breakfast; him driving you to practice before going to his; jamming out to music as the two of you prepared for your day; the list goes on. 

“Awe, you just miss me so much. It’s understandable really.”

“Don’t get cocky, Farabee,” you said. 

“It’s okay to admit that you-”

“Bee, I will hang up on you,” you threatened.

“Babe, you would miss me too much,” he said, making you roll your eyes once again. 

“Bye, Beezer,” you said, hitting the end call button. 

He simply smiled at the action, knowing well enough that if he called back you would decline and that you were too stubborn to call him back. Quickly sending you a goodnight text, he made his way back to the locker room, not missing all the chirps the boys had to say in response. 

…..

You spent the Monday and Wednesday of that week working on drills to be able to do the dismount. With the boys still gone until Friday, you spent your practices wisely and used any extra time that you could at the gym. Your routines were getting back to where they needed to be and you couldn’t have been happier. The drills that you were doing to work your dismount were also working out very well. 

“I want you to try a few triple dismounts. Just a triple and by tomorrow I want you to go for the 3.5 twist. The drills you’re doing aren’t really doing anything at this point, you’ve basically mastered them. So, I do believe if you really work towards it, you could get the quad twist by Olympic Trials, you will compete a 3.5 for U.S. Championships, but with the way practices are going I firmly believe the quad is only a few tries away from you,” Marcus told you as you did your beam warm up.

“Marcus, I-”

“You’re doing the dismount,” Michelle added as she passed by. 

“Just go for a triple, that’s all I want to see today. Once you do one, you’ll get back in the groove of things and you’ll be able to do more than one today. You got this, y/n/n, I know you can, you just have to get past the mental block.”

You knew he was right. As you thought about the skill, you knew it was basically a step away from you. If you went for it, with the way the drills are looking, you would have it. And from there, it’s just the 3.5 and then more work towards the quad. You knew you had the skills, you just had to remind your body of that fact. 

Taking a deep breath, you started your beam routine. Hitting all the skills that you had, you made your way back and forth on the beam until you got the the start of your dismount. “C’mon, y/n, you got it. Just breathe,” you heard Marcus as you took another breath before starting the dismount. Going for the roundoff, you started for the twisting part of the dismount, watching and twisting three times, you opened up, shocked when you landed the dismount. 

“Twinkle Toes,” Marcus beamed, “you did it.”

“Huh?” you said, realizing what you did, “wait. I did it.”

“You did the triple. I knew you could. I need you to do a few more, just to create the habit. Land at least five and then switch to bars.” 

“Alright, yeah,” you answered, quickly realizing that you were one step closer to your goal. Doing the next five took a little bit of time, but you were getting used to the landing and the skill itself. After finishing, you moved onto bars. 

“Did I see a triple dismount?” Nicole asked as you walked over to the chalk box.

“Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t,” you said, shrugging. 

“Does that mean you’re trying the 3.5 again soon?”

“Most likely tomorrow. You will be seeing it soon, I promise.”

…..

When Joel noticed that he got home early enough to come surprise you at practice, he jumped at the chance. Quickly dragging Nolan and Kevin with him - considering they were his ride - he asked them to head to the gym. Once they entered, they got settled in the overhead seating area, he quickly found you standing with Marcus near the beam. 

“C’mon, Twinkle Toes, in order to get the dismount back, you have to get on the beam,” he heard Marcus say. 

“Look, trust the process. I’m mentally preparing for it before I go for it.”

“Are you actually going to get on the beam at some point today? Or will you still be mentally preparing by the end of practice?” 

“Shush, it won’t take me that long, I promise,” Marcus sighed. 

“Just get on the beam, that’s all I need.”

“Alright,” you got onto the beam, walking towards the end as you prepared for the dismount. 

“Ok, just keep the same habits, just twist faster and open up a little bit later, you got it,” Marcus reassured you. Taking a deep breath, you prepped for the dismount. “C’mon, Twinkle Toes.”

Joel and the boys watched closely as you went through your habit of mentally visualizing first, watching you go for the round off and start twisting. “Wait, she’s going for the 3.5,” Kevin said. The three of them all held a breath as they watched you go for the dismount, letting out the breath when you landed it. 

You landed it. “Wait, I did it. Marcus, I did it.”

“I told you so, your boys are watching by the way,” Marcus said, causing you to look up to see the boys smiling to which you simply waved, “I need you to do some more of those either today or tomorrow, but you can go see your boy.”

Rushing over to the stairs to go see Joel, he met you at the bottom of the staircase, “hey, honey.”

“Hey, Bee.”

“You did the dismount,” he said, smiling. 

“I did the dismount,” you reiterated, matching his smile as he picked you up and spun you around.

“I’m so proud of you, you have no idea,” he said as his lips met yours. 

[ampintherain]

I’m Yours:

Charlie Gillespie x Reader

Chapter III

Y/N is Kenny Ortega’s ‘niece’ after going through a rough breakup, Kenny decides to fly her over to stay with him, will her broken heart mend?

(Female Reader, NO SMUT, Romance, Friendship, THIS IS MY FIRST EVER FANFIC/IMAGINE, I hope it’s good, Kenny is lifelong family friend so reader calls him Uncle Kenny. I’m British so the writing is going to be British so like ‘mum’ not ‘mom’ yanno?)

(Y/n/n- your nickname. Y/e/c- your eye colour. Y/h/c- your hair colour.)

This part is going to be in Y/n’s and Charlie’s POV.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

-“I’m Charlie” he replied, “nice to meet you” he smiled back at me-

Y/N

“So you’re his niece?” I smiled at the question that Jeremy had just asked me,

“Technically no, like my Uncle Kenny said, he’s not my blood relative but I grew up calling him my uncle and it stuck, he’s my favourite person ever, I talk to him more than my own parents” I admitted,

“So... if you don’t mind my asking, why did Kenny fly you out to Vancouver?” Savannah asked, I shrugged, “you don’t need to answer, it was quite forward” she mumbled,

“No! No, it’s fine, I haven���t seen Kenny for a few months and we missed each other a lot but my mum told Kenny about my ex and I guess he decided to fly me over and cheer me up” I smiled at the girl, she pouted slightly, hearing the tint of sadness laced in my voice, I saw Madison look at me sympathetically but it wasn’t patronising, which is something I loved, I saw the confusion at the mention of ex but I decided to ignore it, I felt like it wasn’t necessary to tell a bunch of people I’ve just met about the 13 month long relationship that my boyfriend deemed acceptable to have during his one with myself.

“Right guys, are we ready?” Kenny asked as he strolled into the tent happily, coming up to me and placing his hands gently on my shoulder, “you alright my little Sun?” He questioned, looking down at me, I looked up and nodded,

“I am indeed Kenneth” I smiled and slid up off the bench, Owen following after me, dipping his head down to whisper in my ear

“Kenneth?” I shushed him, giggling, “I love it” he used my shoulders as a support whilst he jumped up in the air,

“Shush, shush, Owen no! You can’t, Uncle Ken will kill me, he hates it” I reasoned with him, turning around to face Owen as we walked together, me walking backwards.

“But I love it... Y/n, you can’t say the name Kenneth and expect me not to do anything” Owen chuckled, i scrunched my nose at him, “y’know Y/n, I think we’re going to be great friends” he continued, tucking me up under his arm, “besties even”

“Ew, don’t say besties” I laughed, Charlie slowed down on his way to the set, stopping beside Owen and I,

“Is he creeping you out?” Charlie teased, nudging Owen, causing him to roll his eyes,

“Ugh as if, am I Y/n? I’m not am I?” I shook my head and smiled up at the boy beside me, “see? Charles, I told you” Owen stuck his tongue out at Charlie and walked quickly away from him in a strop, leaving me behind with Charlie,

“Hi” Charlie said simply, I looked up at him and nodded, smiling.

“Hi” I mirrored, Charlie smirked at me and stared at me, “what?” I questioned, Charlie shook his head, laughing slightly,

“Nothing, nothing” he repeated himself, saying the first ‘nothing’ quietly, almost to himself, “so uh, what’re you gonna do on set?” Charlie questioned,

“Oh I’m helping him direct, Kenny taught me everything I know, he’s the only one that supported me through everything- my family really hate the fact that I have a love for acting, singing, dancing and directing but Uncle Kenny always inspired me and pushed me to do my best” I explained,

“Oh you’re going to be bossing us around are you?” Charlie joked, winking at me, I nodded happily,

“Yes I am, and I’m going to have a fun time doing it too” I responded, “come on” I said, tapping Charlie’s forearm lightly to encourage him to walk faster with me to catch up with everybody, Kenny watched as Charlie and I came closer to view, he smiled yet he had a suspicious glint in his eyes, and if I knew my Uncle Kenny as much as I thought I did, I’d believe that he was up to something. “Sorry Uncle Kenny” I apologised coming up to stand beside him,

“No need to apologise darling,” Kenny simply replied “ready to get to work?” He questioned, I nodded and Kenny wandered over to the cast, requesting Madison, Savannah and Jadah, he was about to film the scene where we first meet Savannah’s character ‘Carrie.’ Kenny sent Booboo home as he was only called in for a briefing and script changes whilst Tori and Sacha went to the resting tent, Tori wanted to go through some of her choreography ideas and Sacha wanted to go through his lines.

I moved away from the set and sat in Uncle Jenny’s seat that had ‘Director’ written on the back, “alright boss?” I heard someone whisper from behind me, I turned around slightly to see Charlie leaning in close,

“I’m alright, how’re you?” I asked, “all of you” I continued, looking at Jeremy and Owen who were stood behind Charlie, they all smiled at me and took their scripts out from their back pockets,

“We’re great” they all said, moving to sit in their seats and beginning to read through their lines together, “so you’re gonna help direct huh?” Jeremy asked, peering up from his script to look at me,

“Yeah, I love directing and Kenny used to come to the shows I directed back in high school” I explained, “he said I was his ‘biggest inspiration’ because he thought that I could direct anything from thrillers to love stories to comedies”

“She is,” Kenny spoke up, as he had finished going through the basics with Savannah, Madison and Jadah, “I’m her biggest fan” he laughed, “right, silence on set” Kenny ordered to the crew behind the camera, they began filming, the talent that the three girls had was absolutely incredible, however, my ‘director’ brain came into play and I began to pick out things that I thought I could change, I wandered over to Kenny and took the script he had in his pocket along with a pen and began to jot down some ideas as soon as I got back into my seat.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Charlie

I watched as Y/n scribbled in the script she had taken from Kenny, it amazed me how she had so many thoughts and ideas and wanted to put them all into effect, she was incredible. “You alright there Boss?” I questioned in a quiet tone, Y/n looked up at me with her y/e/c eyes and smiled, nodding.

“Hm? Yeah I’m okay” she said, not taking her eyes off of the script resting on her lap, I watched as Owen tapped Y/n on her shoulder,

“Whatcha working on?” He questioned, in a low whisper, “ideas for the scene?” He continued, Y/n nodded and showed him the script,

“Uh... yeah, they’re a bit rough... what do you think?” She asked nervously, pulling the sleeves of her hoodie over her hands, Owen read through the ideas, using his finger as a pointer to direct him through the scribbled notes on the page.

“They seem amazing” he said honestly, Jeremy had caught attention to what Y/n and Owen were doing, now becoming intrigued on the situation alongside myself, “Y/n has been busy coming up with ideas... show them, they won’t judge” Owen said, i heard the low whisper of the last part that he said directly to her, even I could feel her being slightly anxious about showing more people her ideas, she twisted her mouth slightly before biting her lip,

“Hey, I bet you they’re so good” I reassured, resting my hand on her arm, I heard as she took a sharp breath in, she turned to look behind her and beckoned Jeremy over, he smiled widely and jumped off of his seat, skipping jokingly over to her which caused her to stifle a giggle, she nodded her head towards herself for me to come over as well, Jeremy and I had formed a huddle around Y/n as she showed us her ideas,

“Y/n, these are really good!” Jeremy beamed, looking down at the girl sat in the director’s seat, he handed me the script for me to read through, Owen and Jeremy were right, although the notes were focusing on the small details of the scene, I could see how it would improve it, she had an eye for the smaller things, an eye for detail and that was something that not everyone could obtain.

“I agree, why don’t you show Kenny these?” I questioned, Y/n shrugged slightly, still unsure of his blatant talent, she consistently tugged on the oversized sleeves of her hoodie and brought her hands up close to her face, rubbing the fabric over her nose as she scrunched her face out of confusion and possible anxiety.

“Oh I don’t know” she trailed off, I tilted my head and smirked at her, “what?” She questioned, smiling half heartedly,

“Kenny!” I exclaimed, as soon as they stopped filming the scene, “Kenny, come here” I beckoned him over, Kenny told Sav, Mads and Jay to take 10 as he came over to us, Jeremy and I stepped to the side to reveal Y/n, who had now stood up,

“Wassup guys?” Kenny asked, his voice filled with concern, he scanned over Y/n’s face, “has he said anything to you?” Kenny questioned, Owen, Jeremy and I all looked at each other in confusion,

“Has who messaged her?” Owen asked, Y/n shook her head at the subject, waving Owen off,

“Nobody, and no, Uncle Kenny, he hasn’t...” she trailed off,

“No, she has some ideas for the scene and I think they’d really work” I said, Y/n nodded as Kenny tilted his head at her, she walked forward and handed Kenny the script she had stolen from him not so long ago,

“Ah so that’s where my script went” Kenny joked, looking through the ideas written on the script “yeah... yeah okay” he said loudly, “right, my little star, you ready to put these into action?” Kenny questioned, rubbing his hands together, Y/n began to stutter over her words, I placed my hands on her shoulders and leant down to whisper in her ear,

“You’ve got this Angel” I said, the pet name slipping out, she looked at me and smiled,

“Sav, Mads, Jay- you ready?” Kenny questioned, the girls nodded and ran over to set, “come on Star” he smiled, wrapping his arms around Y/n and ushering her over to set with him.

“Angel huh?” Jeremy asked, winking at me,

“Oh shut it” I retorted, hitting jumping on Jeremy’s back, Owen bundled on top of me,

“Charlie’s got a crush” he teased, I rolled my eyes.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Y/N

I walked over to the three girls and spoke them through my ideas, “Jadah, Madison, I think instead of seeing each other and walking down the hall together, maybe Julie could walk to her locker on her own, with her head down and after looking through her locker she closes the door and there’s Flynn. It would show a contrast between the two at the moment, yanno, Julie’s still upset about her mum and there’s Flynn who’s trying to cheer her up” I explained, the two girls smiled, “Savannah, I think what you were doing is great but instead of having a drastic change in attitude you should be more passive aggressive towards Flynn” I said, turning to the girl next to me.

“You were right Ken, she is good” Savannah complimented, Kenny smiled proudly and gave me a tight hug before walking off set with me, I saw Charlie, Owen and Jeremy standing there with their thumbs up at me, I mirrored the motion and laughed before turning back to the set,

“Right, quiet on set please... everybody ready?” The girls all nodded whilst the three boys quietened down, “action” Kenny said, we watched as the adapted scene played out, Kenny kept hugging me into him and repeating how proud he was of me, “and cut! Well done girls and well done you” Uncle Kenny smiled and hugged me again,

“Okay okay, enough with the hugs” I joked, wriggling out of his hold, “was it okay? The scene?” I questioned, Madison came running up behind me and hugged me from behind,

“It was amazing, I loved it” she beamed, spinning me around to look at her, “you’re talented Y/n” she continued,

“So talented!” Jadah called as she ran up to the group, with Savannah. The three boys came up behind me.

“You did me proud Star” Uncle Kenny beamed, I could hear a waver in his voice as I looked up at him, I saw him wiping a tear away,

“Oh Uncle Kenny” I cooed, “what’re you crying for?” The cast aw’ed behind me as they pulled him and I in for a group hug,

“It’s just, Y/n, I’ve never seen you in action before, I’ve seen the product of it but never the making” Kenny said, I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Guys! I have an idea” Tori’s voice rang through the group as we separated, “karaoke. Tonight?” She suggested and Sacha came up too,

“I’m down” Sacha said, eagerly, the rest of the group nodded, even Kenny

“Um, I think I’ll stay home, I’m not too big on” I said but was quickly cut off by Owen,

“She’s coming, she’s definitely coming” he said, resting his chin on top of my head, “please” he begged me, “please please please” he repeated, the rest of the cast joined in with the begging, Charlie and Jeremy taking it as far as to get on their knees, Kenny gently tugged me near him,

“Come on Y/n/n, you need this, you know you do” he said loud enough for me to hear,

“Oh fine! Fine okay! I’ll come” I rolled my eyes jokingly, Madison pulled me to her by my arm,

“I want to duet with Y/n first!” She screamed,

“I’m awful at singing...” I trailed off, Kenny instantly refuting that statement, saying that I had, and I quote ‘a voice of an angel’ we continued going through all of the scenes that Kenny wanted to go through that day, I had him coming up to me asking for suggestions on scene improvements and developments.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Charlie

“God I am so tired!” Owen whined, just as we finished the last scene of the day, putting all of his weight on me, I grunted at the sudden added weight before bending down and lifting Owen up onto my back “ah... this, this is nice” Owen sighed in delight as I lugged him on my back, walking towards our trailers, I watched as Y/n walked ahead with Savannah, the two had managed to become very close throughout the day, Savannah came up to Y/n anytime she wasn’t needed on set, they sat and talked for ages.

“Well tomorrow we have to film the hot dog scene” Jeremy said, “and that will probably take us hours” his voice dragging as he thought of how long it would take to film, I laughed and waved Jeremy off as he entered his trailer, I adjusted the weight that was Owen on my back before walking a little bit further, dropping Owen off at his trailer,

“Here you are your majesty” I joked, bowing sarcastically towards Owen, causing him to smack the back of my head, “and that’s the thanks I get for carrying you” I rubbed the area that Owen had just hit and turned on my heels to walk to my trailer that was just across from him.

I entered my trailer and hung my costume up on the rail, I jumped into the cold shower and washed off the sweat that had been building up throughout the day, I then changed into jeans and a t-shirt, pulling on my boots before leaving my trailer, I spotted Owen and Jeremy already dressed and leaving their trailers so I caught up with them and walked with them out of the filming lot.

“You took your time” Madison jokingly complained, resting her head on Y/n’s shoulder, Y/n giggled before quickly pulling her hair up into a high ponytail,

“So, guys! I have a whole karaoke set up at my apartment, if you guys come over for 9?” Tori asked, the rest of us nodded in agreement, Madison and her dad, Mr Reyes, walked away, bidding farewell to everyone, Sav was giggling and joking with Y/n before she took Jadah and Sacha away to drive them home,

“Bye Y/n/n!” Sav called, after giving Y/n a hug, the girl waved to Sav,

“Bye! Bye Jadah, bye Sacha!” She smiled, she turned to the boys and I, having Kenny behind her,

“So you are coming later?” I asked Y/n, she nodded and smiled,

“Uncle Kenny won’t have it any other way” she joked, “so... I’ll see you all in a few hours?” She questioned, causing Jer, O and I to all nod, “okay... we’ll see you later” she smiled, walking away with Kenny,

“Oh! Y/n!” I called out, gaining a sudden burst of confidence, she turned around and tilted her head in a silent question, “after your duet with Mads and your duet with Sav... do you think you’ll have time to fit me in for one?”

“Yeah! Sure... why not?” She laughed before turning back around and running after Kenny who had continued to walk towards the car, I bounced on my feet happily,

“Cool” I mumbled to myself, “Owen, you ready?” I asked, spinning my car keys on my finger as I turned around, Owen and Jeremy were looking at me suspiciously, “what?” I questioned.

“I think you know what” Jeremy said in an obvious tone,

“You like that girl!” Owen exclaimed,

“Pfft, what?! No! I just met her...” I trailed off, it was true. I did just meet her, but that still didn’t mean that I couldn’t of liked her in the amount of hours she was around, I mean from 8am to 6pm... could I have fallen for her in that time? Surely not.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

The time to go to Tori’s had finally come around, I had changed into a causal shirt and jeans, just so I didn’t feel overly formal, “so what duet are you thinking about doing with Y/n?” Owen asked as we got into the car.

“I don’t know... it’s just a silly duet O” I reasoned, beginning to drive over to Tori’s apartment.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Y/N

Uncle Kenny parked up his car and we began to make our way up to Tori’s apartment, “so you’re singing with Charlie?” Kenny asked,

“Yeah, and Madison and Savannah” I replied, “and Madison is singing with Charlie and so is Owen and Jeremy” Kenny looked at me in agreement and knocked on Tori’s front door,

“Hi! Come in! Come in!” She said cheerily as she stepped to the side to allow us in, as we entered, Savannah came rushing up to me, embracing me in a quick hug, then came Mads and Jadah who joined in on the group hug, “wait! Wait!” Tori whined as I heard her feet pat towards the group, quickly flying her arms around the group, “I love group hugs” she sighed in content, as the group quickly dispersed I was greeted with Jeremy, Owen and Charlie

“Sacha and Booboo couldn’t make it in the end” Savannah announced, pouting at the sad news, “also why didn’t you boys join in on the hug?” She sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest,

“Because...” Owen started as he and the boys stood up “we wanted one of our own” the three boys ran towards me and engulfed me in yet another group hug,

“Okay” I said, “okay guys” I laughed wriggling out of the hug, “I swear, I’ve never had this many hugs in my life” I joked as Owen ushered me over to sit next to him on the couch, Kenny wandered over and sat at the kitchen island drinking a glass of water.

Tori began to set up the karaoke machine whilst everyone was talking amongst one another, “so did you enjoy your first day on set?” Owen asked me,

“Oh yeah, it was great, I was really nervous, I didn’t want to mess anything up” I admitted,

“You were great” I heard a voice say, I turned to see Charlie moving to sit next to me just as Savannah got up to get a drink with Jadah, “honestly, you were amazing, a real natural” I blushed at his words and thanked him, “you excited for our duet?” Charlie asked, nudging me slightly,

“Yeah, I’m nervous though... I don’t really sing in front of people” I said just as Mads called me up to sing with her,

B

“We are singing Dynamite” Madison announced just as the song began to play, Mads and I started singing,

‘I came to dance, dance, dance, dance’ Madison started, holding my free hand and dancing with me,

‘I hit the floor cuz that’s my plans, plans, plans, plans’ I joined in, “oh okay girl!” Tori cheered causing me to laugh as Madison continued on.

The song soon came to an end and Madison and I jokingly bowed and Savannah came running up to sing our duet, “well that was amazing girls but now it’s my turn to sing with Y/n/n” she giggled, Madison rolled her eyes and wandered off the stage, sitting next to Kenny,

“What are we singing Sav?” I questioned, she smirked at me and whispered the song choice in my ear, “I love it... okay” the song began to play-

‘Eenie meenie miney mo, catch a bad chick by her toe’ Sav started rapping, ‘if she holla, if-if she holla, let her go’ she pointed over to me, signalling me to sing,

‘She’s indecisive, she can’t decide, she keeps on looking’ Sav then interjected,

‘From left to right, girl come a bit closer, look in my eyes’ we started dancing and laughing whilst the song continued, hardly managing to get through the song fully without bursting into fits of laughter. Once the song had finished, I went to walk away to sit on the sofa before being gently pushed back by Charlie,

“Uh you said you’d sing with me” he smiled at me, “and we are singing a lovely song called No Air”

“I love that song” I admitted as we walked back over and picked up the karaoke mics, ‘No Air’ started to play, Charlie turned to look at me as we sang the first part together.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Charlie

I held onto Y/n’s free hand as we sang, I kept smiling down at her. The song soon came to an end, I let go on Y/n’s hand and felt heat creep onto my cheeks, I’m blushing... I never blush. I thought to myself, looking back down at the girl beside me, she lowered her head and walked away to sit next Owen, I watched as he nudged her lightly and she laughed at what he was saying to her, I waited a while before sitting back down on the couch sitting next to Madison, “you like her” she stated, not even looking at me,

“I- I don’t” I stuttered, Madison rolled her eyes and hummed at me, clearly not convinced, “I just met her”

“Listen, you can like someone from the first day, it’s not like there’s a handbook to this kinda stuff” she explained, she wasn’t wrong, the way you feel towards someone can change from person to person and this has to be the quickest I’ve ever liked someone, I knew it from the moment she walked in, she had this beautiful y/h/c hair and these glimmering eyes, she had one of the kindest faces I’ve ever seen, her features were soft yet chiselled, her lips were plump and when she looked at me, I could easily get lost. She was mesmerising... and I had fallen, quick.

💜thanks for reading!💜

♡︎𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 : @thesweetestsinner , @ifilwtmfc , @ashleyleblancx , @chloepart03 ♡︎

[dakotafinely]

Can I please get headcannons of rottmnt leo hearing his s/o play for the first time?Like they're playing Monster from adventure time and leo walks in on them playing the song on their ukelele.

Thank you! For making me obsessed with another Adventure Time Song when I've never seen the series! It's great to add to the list!

(Sarcasm aside, I have fallen for this song very quickly! Its so good!)

So, I was making a small fic for this cause the song had me inspired. Then I accidentally deleted all of it. So, welcome to take two, where you had no idea take one even happened.

Let’s hope I don’t delete this one. And without further ado:

You’d been practicing the song for weeks. As it was your final for the first semester in your chorus class. You didn’t technically have to learn the ukulele. But you were planning to anyways so it’s just two birds with one stone for you.

You tuned the ukulele with a gentle hand. Every time you held the instrument in your hands, it felt like you could break it with the soft pressure of your palm. You strum it again, tuning the last out-of-tune string. Before beginning to play.

Leo was on his way. He’d been itching to come see you, missing you every moment you were gone. And the moment your school ended, he began making his way to your house. Sneaking from roof top to roof top with haste.  He was young, and in love. In love with someone wonderful and perfect in his eyes.

You, he was deeply, deeply, in love with you.

Your laugh, your kindness, the way you walked, the way you stood. The way you spoke, your smile. The way you held everything with a gentle touch, as if you were afraid of breaking it with the pressure of your hands. The way you lived, and the way you moved. Goodness, was there anything he wasn’t in love with about you?

He landed on your fire escape with a quiet creak when heard it.

“You're the pink in my cheeks / And I'm scared 'cause that means / I'm a little bit soft,“ You sang, eyes closed as you immersed yourself in the song. Knowing the tune and the words by heart now.

Leo froze, everything in time stopped as he listened. Practically becoming hypnotized by your voice. Slowly inching closer as he listened, his eyes wide as he stared at you through the window.

Jeez, cause he needed more reasons to love you. Falling deeper into a pit he was slowly realizing he couldn’t get out of.

“Don't beat yourself up, Bonnie / It wasn't just the sun that I was hiding from / We were messed up kids who taught ourselves how to live / And I'm still scared that I'm not good enough,” You sang, whether you choose the lyrics because they spoke to you. Or because they swept you up in emotions you couldn’t explain, but felt right. Or because you just thought the song was neat didn’t matter.

What mattered was your voice danced around the room. Making it feel lighter, brighter, an emotion that didn’t make sense yet felt perfect in a way you can’t explain. Like sunsets, or star gazing. Something that felt... good.

Leo continued to lean in closer, a hand pressing on the window as he tried to immerse himself in your voice. To hear you in all your fantastic entirety. When he tripped open the window, falling in with a loud thud as you played the last notes of the song.

You whipped your head around. Partially revealed to only see Leo breaking into your home. But also concerned, as he landed straight on his face. You quickly place your ukulele down and rushed over to his side.

“Leo! Are you alright?” You ask as you slide onto your knees. He gets on his own knees, quickly grabbing your hands. A love drunk look in his eyes as he grinned at you.

“Guess you could say I fell for you?” Leo gives a small snicker and you do to. Rolling your eyes as your face began to heat up. Despite having been dating for a couple of months, every time he made a dorky pun. It made your heart flutter.

“You’re alright,” you says grinning at him. He nods and gives you a small peck on the cheek, the two of you moving to stand up.

“So, when were you gonna tell me you could sing?” He asked as he joined you on the bed. You shrug, you never even thought of mentioning it. He jokingly places a hand on his heart, mocking being offended.

“O my dearest lover, do you not care for me enough to tell me of your song birds?” He says with an attempt at a Shakespearean accent. Whatever that really was. You let out a laugh and roll your eyes.

“Doth mine eyes deceive me? Do you laugh at my agony?” he flails his hands around for extra dramatic effect and you lightly wack him with a pillow.

“I think you’ve been hanging out with Donnie to much.”

“Well, he is my brother.”

You scoff and roll your eyes. Leaning against him gently.

“So, mineth, lover-th, how can I make it up to you-eth?” You ask, not really trying the whole Shakespeare thing. He rolls his eyes at your “attempt” but goes along with it. Lightly tossing you your ukulele and getting comfortable.

“Sing that song again, please?” He asks with the flutter of his eyes. You giggle at his antics but oblige.

And you sing for him again.

--

Whoo! I made it through this time! I hope you liked it! I really liked the song and it made me super inspired! So I hope this turned out well! I had fun, this was fun, thank you for the ask! And the song!!

[dazenightmare]

Fucking Perish Together

Sneaky bastard, that is what I am >:)

Sequel to Birds of a Feather. Doesn’t make as much sense without it, but it can probably be read as a standalone.

Anyways, here’s the misadventures of Tubbo.

T.W.: Cursing, cussing, kidnapping, technically getting kidnapped, yelling, shouting, screaming, let me know if I need to add more!

~~~~~~~~~~

Tubbo has been with them for five months.

Things have been getting easier for them since this addition, in more ways than one.

Tubbo, unlike Ranboo, was much more willing to learn Common to talk with them. Eventually, they realize whatever they teach Tubbo, they teach Ranboo too, after Wilbur accidentally walked in on them going over words with each other.

When they both are finally able to make short sentences, there’s pride. However, it is a surprise hearing the different accents the two had. Especially since nobody in their little circle talked the way Ranboo did.

They also learn that Tubbo is unnecessarily strong for someone his size. That’s helped them more than you could imagine, between battling, mining, and moving cargo around.

Tubbo also attaches himself to Tommy, much like how he’s done to Ranboo. For the longest time he switched between hanging out with them, and never liked being without neither for very long. While they account this may be a bit detrimental to Tubbo, it’s helping Ranboo come out of his shell, and Tommy seems genuinely happier with the lil fellow around, so they brush it off for now.

When Tubbo finally stopped spending every waking moment with the two, he gradually started to spend some time alone. Naturally, this worried everyone as Tubbo disappeared for extended periods of time.

Tubbo tired out easily, so what if he got far and was too tired to come back before night? He’s smaller than a lot of mobs, so what if too many swarm him to deal with? His only defense was his box, so what if he got separated from it?

They learn to let these worries go as after a couple weeks Tubbo showed them an EXP farm with a wide smile, then clung to Ranboo and Tommy as if nothing happened.

Of course, just like with every other member of the family they gained, there were downsides too...

——

It was night time, and everybody sat near the pub, currently watching Tommy jokingly hate on Ranboo with smiles. Something about Tubbo, who left to get some more fire wood and should be back any minute now.

At the thought, Niki frowned at the shore, glancing around.

Tubbo should’ve been back now, surely. Wonder what was keeping the Shulk.

Meanwhile, Tubbo hid in a burrow beneath a tree, glaring up at the night sky, staring at the swooping animal. Phantoms, the natural predator for any Shulks living in the overworld. Shulks preferred sleeping in their boxes, since sleeping in beds was too open, plus beds always blew up in the End, leaving old habits to die hard. Phantoms apparently take issue with this.

Okay, Tubbo thought to himself, eyeing the flying bastard. I am fucking freezing, and I won’t be safe until I get to my box or it becomes day. I am not spending my night under this fucking tree.

Then Tubbo turns his gaze to the flickering light far off, where he can just barely make out his friends.

“Waiting, running, waiting, running,” he mumbled to himself, looking back and forth between the predator and his friends.

Silently making his decision, Tubbo grimaces, picking up the sticks he gathered for the campfire. Before he can think it through, he starts sprinting across the clearing, screaming as loud as he could in hopes of going faster.

He can hear the screech of the phantom as it pursues him, and Tubbo’s screams turn a bit more genuine.

Back at the fire, his friends start to question where his is.

“He’s been gone for a while now,” Ranboo noted, holding his friend’s box in concern. “Should we check on him?”

Before anyone can throw in their nickel, Tubbo’s screaming makes it to their ears. They all look over to see the lad halfway across the field, just in time to see a phantom fucking snatch him.

“HOLY SHIT,” someone shouts, as they witness the phantom fly back into the sky, holding their screaming companion in it’s mouth.

“LET ME GO YOU FUCKING SELF-RIGHTEOUS PRICK! I’LL FUCKING STRANGLE YOU YOU GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING WANKER! GODDAMN BONEY ASS WHORE!” They hear Tubbo shout. Some of them idly wonder how the Hell Tubbo learned such words. Most of them are panicking.

Philza takes off into the air while everyone shouts random things, most of it being overtaken by Tubbo swearing like a sailor. It takes a while before Philza is able to pry Tubbo out of its mouth, kill the phantom, and land with a shaken Tubbo in his hands.

Tubbo says nothing as he reaches for his box and climbs inside with a traumatized look. The box slams closed in Ranboo’s hands. They all stare at the box in silence as it opens a moment later, sticks being hurled out before it’s closed again.

——

“Piss sheep, piss sheep,” Tubbo chanted under his breath, pushing his box into the water before hopping in like it was a boat. “Visiting the piss sheep. Piss sheep, piss sheep.”

He paddled with his hands before getting tired. It was only when Tubbo was in the middle of the lake, without food, that he realized something.

“... I can’t fucking swim,” he stared into the water, bobbing up and down in his box, far away from any land. Tubbo sat there bobbing for half a day in shame before his using his comm.

“Hello?”

“Hey Niki,” Tubbo started, still staring into the water. He looks in the direction of Niki’s lagoon. “So... I can’t swim.”

“Uh... yeah?” Niki warily responded. He heard Wilbur on the other end of the comm, talking, and Niki whispering an “I don’t know”.

“You however, can swim.”

“Yes...?”

“Therefore, I am asking for your assistance.”

“Assistance with what?”

“... I didn’t want to say it, but I forgot I can’t swim. I am currently in my box in the middle of the lake without food, and have been sitting here in self-pity since this morning. Please help me.”

The line immediately went dead, making him frown. It didn’t take much to figure out why as he heard many people shouting from the lagoon. Tubbo merely shrugged and waited. Eventually Niki’s head popped out of the water in concern.

“Are you okay?!”

“Nothing but a broken dignity, thankfully,” Tubbo deadpanned. Niki stressed a bit more before pushing his box towards the lagoon as she swam.

It didn’t take too long before they were in the lagoon, Wilbur and Tommy immediately looking over him once he reached shore.

“How the fuck did you forget you can’t swim?” Tommy asked after they were sure Tubbo was only hungry.

“... I don’t want to talk about it.”

——

“Did you know shulker boxes function like chests?” Philza said as he built. Wilbur tilted his head.

“No.”

“Yeah! I’m pretty sure Shulk boxes work in that way too!”

“Huh...”

Later that day, Wilbur found Tubbo walking around, following Ranboo who held his box.

“Hey Tubbo!”

“Yeah?”

“What do you keep in your box?” Wilbur asked, eyebrows furrowing. He wondered what could possibly be in such a space.

Tubbo lit up before making grabby hands towards his box. Once it was handed to him, he reached inside and pulled out nine stacks of flowers, showing them off to Wilbur proudly. Wilbur stared. This is not what he expected.

Wilbur teared up.

“That is just fucking adorable. You are adorable and I hate you.”

——

Today, an unstoppable force met an immovable object.

Or, in Tubbo’s case, a solid being met a not-so-solid but not-quite-liquid being.

He had just been minding his damn business, picking flowers in a field when suddenly he got fucking stepped on. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was the new hybrid named Charlie, who was a slime. Now, Tubbo was STUCK in CHARLIE SLIMECICLE’S FOOT.

The worst part? THE FUCKER DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE! JUST KEPT ON WALKING!

Tubbo felt nothing but misery, being submerged in this foot, not being able to move and waiting for someone to notice he was here. They noticed he was gone, but not with them.

He had to sit here, and watch everybody search for him for the entire day, more and more worried. They found Tubbo’s box in the field he was stolen from, and now had it as they met at the lake to discuss it.

They sat there for about an hour discussing it after a whole day of search. The sun was setting, and just as Tubbo lost hope, Jack glanced down and managed to see him.

“HOLY FUCK!” Jack shouted as he flinched. If Tubbo could roll his eyes he would. The next twenty minutes was everyone freaking out as they tried to get him out of the foot.

Eventually Tommy managed to get him out, and after breathing heavily, Tubbo glared at Charlie.

“YOU SLIMY ASS BITCH! I’VE BEEN STUCK IN YOUR GODDAMN FOOT ALL DAY! TODAY WAS FLOWER DAY YOU BLOODY CUNT! YOU’RE LUCKY I CANNOT FUCKING HIT YOU OR YOU’D BE DEAD WHERE YOU STAND! WATCH WHERE YOU’RE WALKING!”

——

“Tubboooooo,” Tommy whined, laying on Tubbo’s box. “I’m sorryyyyyyy...”

“Vwoop.”

“He says ‘fuck off’,” Ranboo translated, watching from nearby. Tommy just groaned more.

“Tubbo... I’m really sorry... please come out...”

“Vwoop.”

“That’s a no.”

“Tubboooooooo...”

[peaceoutofthepieces]

Sink Or Swim

tag list: @cleocc @feeling-kinda-so-so @hopelessromanticvirgo @dreamy-slytherin @adora8 @lockerfivethreefive @painfully-oblivious @poeticinemaa @jjustonemorething @sassy-sara @wedarkacademia @coolguyssyndrome @hischbabe @suckerforsobbe @tayspots @starmansander @theah0lt @zoenneforever @invisibleme @chibibanane @odi-et-amo85 @watermelonlover-123

~^~

Wednesday, 17:47

Song: Troye Sivan - for him.

“This technically wasn’t fair, because I’ve only been here a month and I had no idea if somewhere like this even existed, so you can’t judge me too harshly.”

Jens is already smiling at him, shaking his head as he bumps their shoulders together. “It’s okay. It’s hard to live up to such a perfect first date, I get it.”

Lucas huffs, but he can’t help quickly glancing around. He isn’t sure why it worries him quite so much—even if they were overheard, it can be brushed off as a joke. Jens had said it jokingly. It would be easy enough.

There is no one close enough to hear them, anyway. Not a single person, as far as Lucas can see, is paying any attention to them at all. The rather cluttered place makes it easier, creating an odd sense of privacy even with the crowd along with the strangely intimate ambience of the neon blue lights. Lucas doesn’t feel so scrutinized in this setting, where everyone is having their own fun and doing their own thing.

“Can that be considered a first date when neither of us thought it was?” Lucas questions, both dubious and hopeful.

Jens shrugs, glancing around them as well as he walks slowly side by side with Lucas. “It can be. But an arcade is also a cool first date. It’s not what I expected.”

Lucas’s lips twitch, unsure which way to turn as he looks over at him. “What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. Snuck back into your room, maybe. Some more alone time.” Jens wiggles his brows.

Lucas snorts and gives him a light shove, smiling when Jens bounces right back to his side. “That’s up to you. Like I said, I don’t know anywhere. And it was short notice.”

Jens nods, and the conversation lulls as they stop at the change machine, before Lucas begins to get nervous for a whole new reason.

“Are you disappointed?” He twists his ring—the one he’d stolen from his father’s room, just for this occasion—around his finger as Jens turns to look at him. He’s frowning, and even though Lucas is pretty sure it’s at the question itself, he can’t help but grow more jittery. There’s a sudden, uncomfortable tightness in his chest. In an attempt to make light of the question, he adds, exaggeratedly, “Did you expect to be romanced?”

Jens rolls his eyes as he fishes his money out of his pocket, but there appears to be a more reddish tinge to his cheeks. “I thought you might be the romantic type. Maybe that you’d cook us a candle-lit dinner or something.”

Lucas raises a brow. “Serious?”

His nerves have turned into surprise, and it must show in his expression, as Jens laughs upon glancing at him. “I didn’t say that’s what I wanted, though.”

“Well to be fair, I probably could manage a burger and chips. I’m guessing that’s the dinner you’d want.”

Jens turns to him after feeding his notes into the machine and wipes away a fake tear. “You already know me so well.”

Lucas hums. “I also know there’s a cafe that offers such a delicacy right down the street.”

“You, sir,” Jens points at him, bright-eyed, “know the way to my heart.”

Lucas huffs a laugh and Jens collects his change from where it has clattered into the metal pocket. His fears haven’t been curbed, but he doesn’t want to press further and ruin the experience before it has even begun. He’d thought about a handful of other options. Taking Jens to a cafe or a coffee shop, booking them into the back corner of the cinema, retreating back to his room as Jens suggested. Every idea seemed too bland or too much. He didn’t want to force them into conversation across a table. He also didn’t want to feel like he was having to hide Jens away. This had seemed, somehow, like a safe middle ground.

He’s a little worried now that he has misjudged.

“Shut down whatever’s going on in there.” Jens snaps his fingers lightly in front of his face and Lucas drags himself back to the surface. Jens’s gaze is soft with a tint of concern. Lucas’s stomach roils. “I don’t know why you chose it exactly, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great choice. In fact it’s a fucking amazing idea.”

Some of the tension seeps out of Lucas at the conviction in Jens’s tone, and he’s left with a slight smile. “Yeah?”

“Luc, it wouldn’t have mattered to me what we do. It’s a chance to be with you. I don’t care about anything else.”

Lucas feels a flush creep into his cheeks. He waits as a small group of girls pass them before nodding agreeably at Jens. “That’s kind of why I chose this. Above anything I was just really happy to be friends with you. I like how easy it is. How I can just hang out with you and have fun. And to have it just feel chill.”

Jens’s lips curve up in a soft smile, and Lucas watches the entire process. “I like when everything’s chill, too. This is very chill.”

“More your scene than a candle-lit dinner?” Lucas teases. Even though it has come to his own mind. He can’t be blamed, surely, for having a few romantic or cheesy thoughts enter his brain when it comes to Jens. It might not be his thing, but that doesn’t mean that Jens doesn’t deserve to be romanced. Lucas, really, would gladly put in the effort.

It’s possible that this is another thing that stems from his slightly-less-chill mindset.

“Definitely more my scene,” Jens laughs. “I told you, you know me well. You’re full of surprises.”

Lucas brightens, feeling another blush creep into his cheeks that he fruitlessly attempts to stave off. He clears his throat in an attempt to retain some control before saying, “I just don’t know why you changed your money. This is my organised date. I should be paying.”

Jens sets a hand on his shoulder and uses it to pull him against his side as they begin walking again, speaking slowly. “You assume we’re only playing like five games and leaving then?”

Lucas is torn between leaning into his side and subtly stepping out of his touch. He can’t quite bring himself to do either. He also can’t help but flick his gaze around as he answers with a huff. “Okay, splitting is fair. But I’m buying dinner this time.”

“You say it like I’m going to argue,” Jens snorts. He drops his arm as they reach the middle of the aisle in order to turn and face Lucas, brows raised as he takes a few step backwards. Lucas’s breath slips out of him in quiet relief and aching loss. “What are we doing first?”

Lucas smiles at him. “Your treat, you pick.”

Jens rubs his hands together, grinning like a child before leading Lucas through the aisles until he finds what he wants. They start off with a few chance games that their change is wasted on, then move on to the slightly more adventurous areas, having a few competitive shots at skee-ball and basketball. They even have a simulated bowling game, which Lucas finds only slightly easier than actual bowling. The embarrassment is worth it for Jens’s responding laugh—which he valiantly tries to bite down—and the comforting kiss he presses to his cheek after a quick glance around. It makes Lucas’s cheeks flame and leaves him shoving Jens’s face away, heart racing a mile a minute with the pure affection in his chest.

It overwhelms him enough that he has to look away, swallowing down the tumultuous mixture of excitement and nerves that seems to be warring in him. He wants to pull Jens in and give him a real kiss. He wants to get out of sight first.

“Okay, your turn to pick something, because that was truly pitiful.”

Lucas narrows his eyes at Jens, but smirks slightly as he catches sight of their next attraction.

Air hockey.

It’s free, blessedly, as most things have been; Wednesday is a surprisingly good choice for a quiet date. Jens raises his brows as Lucas moves to one end and picks up the paddle, sliding it across the table testingly. “Really?”

Lucas hums.

“What are we, twelve?”

“What’s wrong with air hockey? My mom has always loved it, and she’s far past twelve.”

Lucas isn’t sure why Jens’s expression has gone suddenly serious until he, now stationed at the opposite side, says, “You’ve never mentioned her before.”

Then Lucas realises his mistake.

“Not that you have to,” Jens backtracks quickly. “Sorry, I don’t know if it’s a sensitive subject or—“

“It’s fine,” Lucas cuts him off, even though it is. Any mention of his mother strikes a nerve, leaves a panging ache. The idea of talking about her himself—even to Jens—feels too treacherous. Yet he feels that he owes something. “It’s, uhm. It’s just more frustrating than anything, I guess. They split up. My parents, I mean. So she’s back in Utrecht.”

Jens seems to have expected something worse. The sag of his shoulders makes Lucas glad he hadn’t given him the full story. Not today. “I guess it makes even more sense why you wanna go back so badly,” Jens says softly. “Have you talked to your dad about it again?”

Lucas lets out a breath as his own shoulders slump, shaking his head. “Not yet. Things are going good, somehow, at the moment. But I think once I bring it up that will change, and...it’s been kind of nice, living in peace.”

That earns him an understanding smile. “Still, you should try. It’s important to you. He’ll see that.” Jens slots the money into the machine and adds, “If not, I’ll come break you out and we can go together.”

Lucas smiles slowly. “Someone’s a rebel now, are we?”

“Just for you,” Jens winks at him, leaving Lucas to roll his eyes in an attempt to hide his blush. Jens taps the table impatiently, nodding at him through the screen. “Come on then. Show me how it’s done.”

It’s teasing, and his scoff is equally so when Lucas shrugs off his jacket first, tying it securely around his waist. Jens’s amusement doesn’t stop him from admiring, however. Lucas notes the lingering gaze on his collar followed by the sweep down his arms to watch the movement of his hands. Lucas has begun, happily, to notice Jens’s lack of subtlety in such moments of appreciation, and it never fails to leave him grinning.

“Really?” Jens questions again. “Air hockey requires this?”

Lucas merely raises a brow, challenging. “Ah, now I understand why you were against it. You’re just scared of losing a kids’ game.”

Jens rolls his eyes in vague disagreement. “They’re all kids’ games,” he mumbles. When Lucas only continues to look at him, he waves a hand in a gesture to start.

Lucas collects the puck from the pocket on his side and drops it on the table. He aligns it carefully before leaning down, shooting one last glance at Jens before taking his shot.

It fires right into Jens’s goal before he even has a chance to move.

Jens snatches his hand away and stares at the table before lifting his eyes to Lucas in astonishment. Lucas merely offers him a smug smile.

“Okay,” Jens says slowly, while, to Lucas’s pleasure, shrugging off his own jacket. “It’s on, Van Der Heijden.”

[operationcavill]

Untangled - Part 6

He parks the car outside of her apartment and sighs heavily, “Let’s talk upstairs,” He walks around the front of the car to open her door, looking around with a scowl on his face. Neither of then say a word until they reach the elevator.

Inspired by: Butterflies // Kacey Musgraves

Y/N - Your name

S/N - Sisters name

B/I/L - Brother-in-Law

B/N - Brothers Name

B/F/N - Best Friends Name

Y/N turns her shower on and really looks at herself in the mirror for the first time in hours, “You just got laid, bitch.” By Henry Cavill no less, but what does that even mean? Was he actually that into her? He seems to be but he is an actor. He asked her to lunch, though. And technically, for another date. Did last night actually happen? The hot water feels renewing, refreshing. Should she tell B/F/N? Hell, she wouldn’t even have told her S/N if she hadn’t walk in on them. She can only imagine what was going through her sisters head. Who wouldn’t go nuts if they saw a practically nude man like that? Stepping out, she grabs her phone and decides to text B/F/N.

Y/N: I have something to tell you.

B/F/N: Please do not scare me.

Y/N: It’s nothing bad. I slept with someone last night!

B/F/N: OMG WHO

Y/N: That’s the part I’m having trouble with

B/F/N: What

B/F/N: Jesus Christ, you didn’t sleep with [Your Ex] did you??

Y/N: Bitch. No.

B/F/N: Why are you being so weird then?

Y/N: Because he’s kinda like famous.

B/F/N: Excuse me??

Y/N: You CAN NOT tell anyone ok?

B/F/N: Lmao did you sleep with a superhero or something? What’s with the secret??

Y/N: Funny you should say that 🙃

B/F/N: Ummmm what

Y/N: I may or may not have slept with the guy who plays superman.

B/F/N: Stop it.

Y/N: I did.

B/F/N: Seriously?

Y/N: We’re going to lunch in a little bit.

B/F/N: I’m fucking dying right now.

Y/N: How do you think I feel!?

B/F/N: You gonna give up the deets?

Y/N: I will later. I need to get ready.

B/F/N: bitch 😒

Y/N: You love it 💕

B/F/N: You know waiting on this is gonna kill me

Y/N: I’ll get text you soon!

Henry has a large smile on his face when Y/N arrives, “Hello there,” they share a quick cheek kiss before sitting at a cozy table by the window. They make small talk and Henry takes a picture with a little girl who said that wonder woman was her favorite but he’s second. He was sweet and gentle, he asked for her name and if she’s excited for halloween. He told her to try not to eat too many sweeties, which is much cuter than saying, ‘candy’.

“You’re somethin’ else,” She’s sure her face is going to get stuff in a permanent smile.

His face slightly twists, “Why? What’d I do?”

“You’re kind. You were so sweet to her.” She can practically feel the tug on her ovaries.

The waiter arrives to take their order. He was visibly starstruck and tripped over his words, “It’s so cool that you’re on a date with Geralt!”

She amuses him. “I know. Although, I think I prefer the grey hair.” Once they all have a laugh, the waiter trots off to the kitchen.

“Are you a nerd, Y/N?”

She attempts to be serious, “I’ll show you my Fifth Element miniatures later. How was your little trip?”

He bites his lip, “So, I got some news while back at the hotel,”

“Oh yeah? Anything scandalous?”

He nervously laughs, “I wish. I, uh,  have to go back home for a week to do press.”

“Are you excited to go home for a bit?”

“Yes, and No,” he pushes a fork around and focuses on it, “I love going home, and I like working.”

She senses that there’s something else, “But?”

Henry continues, “But I’ve met a girl in a bar and I wasn’t finished getting to know her,” he wonders how many times he can make her blush, he’s sure it’s never enough.

“Wanna make a deal, Cavill?”

He perks up his eyebrow, “What you offering, Y/L/N?”

“How about, you let me know when you get back and I let you know where to find me.”

He doesn’t hesitate, “Deal.”

The waiter brings their sandwiches and they enjoy their meal while poking each others legs under the table like children. In this moment, he completely forgets who he is. Right now, he’s just Henry. He’s Henry who likes to eat sandwiches with cute woman and talk about his dog and the show he’s been trying to watch for months. He feels good.

Y/N almost chokes on her food laughing at story concerning an unfortunate tongue biting accident that occurred during his first kiss, “What did you do?”

“I jumped and kind of yelled in pain, and I think she cried. She never looked at me again.”

“I’m happy to report my first kiss was not as tragic,” he asks her to go on and she grins, “I was about 14 and there was a boy who would visit his grandma a few times during the summer. I had known him forever, his grandma lived across the street so we’d play together. One day, we were playing spotlight with a bunch of the neighborhood kids and he just kissed me. Kissed me right there beside Mr. Hoffmans car.”

“That’s very cute,” he could get a stomach ache with how sweet she was.

“It was,” She takes a sip of her water, “I have no idea what happened to him, either.”

Henry watches her, a habit he doesn’t plan on breaking, “You wanna go for a walk?”

“If you buy be coffee first,” Y/N and her addiction to warm drinks is what makes this her favorite time of year.

“You got it.” After some deliberation, Henry finally convinces Y/N that he’s paying for her food, and coffee, too.

They begin their stroll around the chilly city, stealing small looks at one another, “So, When do you leave?”

He sighs, “Tomorrow evening,”

“That sounds like an awful time for a flight,” Y/N’s head gravitates towards his shoulder.

“I’m a little used to it now. Leave late on the east coast, arrive in the morning in the UK,”

“Don’t you get tired?” She asks him so genuinely, with so much concern.

“I’m always tired,” Henry gives her a soft chuckle.

Y/N searches his face, “You seem to sleep pretty good to me,”

“There’s an exception, Darling,” Henry can’t help but feel a little bashful.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you, it was nice and your blankets are so soft.”

She giggles and leans into him again for a short side hug, “You’re a cliche that I have no problem with,”

“I am not,” He flicks her nose.

“Wha—!” She flicks his in return, “How very dare you?”

He kisses the tip of her nose and apologizes, “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“You’re lucky you got me coffee,” She pants jokingly after taking a large sip.

“You’re quite the caffeine addict. Late night tea, 16 ounce coffees,”

“What can I say? I’m a starving artist, it was either cigarettes or giant cups of piping hot coffee, I chose the coffee,” she pulls on the collar of his shirt and he’s tempted to kiss her again, but if he kisses her now, he doesn’t know if he can find the will to stop. There’s just something about her.

They decide to circle back around and Y/N pulls out her phone to get a ride, “I’ll take you home, why didn’t you drive today?”

She looks slightly embarrassed, “Oh, my tail light went out the other night and the garage won’t take it until Friday. They ticket you for everything up here, so I didn’t wanna risk it.”

Henry escorts her to the car, politely opening and closing her door. Just a few minutes into the drive Y/N’s phone goes off, “Oh god, it’s my mom.”

He turns the radio down and whispers, “I won’t make peep.”

She answers the phone as if she’s alone and not with a world famous actor, “Hey, mama,”

“Is there something you need to tell me?” There’s no way her sister would have told her anything, even if she threatened to do so. Y/N is taking too long and her mother repeats herself.

“No? What do you mean?” She notices Henry look at her and then look back at the road.

Her mother sighs “The boy who cuts our grass showed me a picture of you with a certain someone.”

“A picture?” If they weren’t already at a stop light, Henry thinks he might have slammed on the breaks.

“Y/N, theres a bunch! He’s kissing your nose and rubbing your leg while you eat a sandwich. Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone? And HIM?”

“I’m not,” she collapses onto her couch, “I just met him.”

“Are you lying?” Mothers always know.

The light turns green but he’s still looking at her, as if he’s trying to hear the conversation, “No, mother,” She mouths to him, ‘it’s green,”

But accidentally lets out a, “Oh, sorry, Darling.”

Her mother gasps in disbelief, “You slept with him!”

Her eyes practically fly out of her skull, “What! How—no I did not!”

“He called you ‘Darling’. That’s some sweet talk, I don’t think this is a good idea. You always say you like your privacy.” Her mother always knew what her girls were really up to. Mothers always know.

“I know, ma, but you’re reading way too much into this,” She exhales, “can we talk about this later?”

And just like all mothers, she refuses to let up,“No, how did you even meet him?”

“We were at Benny’s and he was there.”

“Out of all the bars,” She just knows her mom is rolling her eyes.

“He’s kind, fun to talk to.” Henry actually blushes and can’t contain his smile.

“I googled him.” Oh, of course, “He’s 10 years older than you.”

“You’re older than dad.” He tenses, he’s a little familiar with this, and he understands, but Y/N was very grown and very independent. He liked her for her, not her age. Ok, so her being attractive was a plus, but he had no intention of ‘playing’ her.

“I’m one year older than your father, thank you.”

“I’m very aware of my age,” She hated this. It didn’t matter how old Y/N was, she was the baby, the little one, the one protected one in her family.

“Honey, I’m serious.” Mothers.

She knows her mother means well, but can’t a girl live? “Why are y’all so worked up over this? I—,”

“Who’s y’all?”, Y/N spilled the beans, “You said you just met.”

“S/N met him that night I did,” and saw him practically naked the next morning, “and B/I/L...and John.”

“Well, now the whole world knows you’re sleeping with him.”

“I’m not sleeping with him,” He snaps her a look and she gives on in return as a warning to him, he better not make a sound.

“Are you being safe?”

“Oh my god! Yes, I’m being safe!” Henry has to stifle his laughter by covering his mouth.

“Ah-Ha, you are sleeping with him,” Great.

Y/N throws her head back on the headrest, “Jesus, ya’ll are being really intrusive. You know that, right?”

“I’m your mother. It’s my job to worry about you.”

“And I’m fine, Mama.” He finds it endearing that they call her ‘Mama’. It’s sweet and brings out her accent. “Can I call you later?”

She stalls, “I guess, but I’m not done talking about this. It’s not every day your daughter get’s involved with a warlock,”

“It’s a Witcher, Ma, not a warlock.” Henry can’t keep his laugh in this time, causing Y/N to slap his arm.

He clears his throat, “Sorry,”

She can feel her mothers glare through the phone, “I’ll talk to you later, ok? I love you.”

“I love you, too. Bye,” She turn towards him, “Well, we’ve been had.”

“I’m so sorry.” He looks all too apologetic, “I wasn’t thinking about it. I’m sorry.”

While she is nervous, she knows it’s not his fault, “Don’t be sorry. I still had a good date with you, Her phone buzzes for was seems like a dozen times in a row, “Oh,”

Henry’s mood has completely shifted. He already felt as if his feelings for her were escalating too quickly, and now this? It had only been a couple of days, “Don’t look at them.”

She scrunches her nose, “Huh?”

He parks the car outside of her apartment and sighs heavily, “Let’s talk upstairs,” He walks around the front of the car to open her door, looking around with a scowl on his face. Neither of then say a word until they reach the elevator.

She clicks her tongue a few times in hopes that he breaks the silence first, he doesn’t and she finally speaks up, “What did you mean don’t look at them?”

He waits until the doors open to her floor, “Don’t look at those things they tag you in. Some people are cruel for no reason.”

Henry can tell she’s nervous and getting a bit worked up. She’s struggling with the keys and can’t get the door unlocked. She gets so frustrated that she lets out an all too loud, “Fuck!” Her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Timmons, opens her door to see what causes the ruckus, “Sorry, Mrs. Timmons.” The woman disappears back into her apartment with a huff.

Y/N tries to open the door again and flings it open, closing it and leaning against it after it’s closed, “I’m so sorry for today.” He truly looks sorrowful and guilty.

“It’s not your fault,” She takes her coat off, then her shoes, and plops down on the couch, “I’m just—overwhelmed, I think.”

“You don’t deserve to be spied on like that,” He sits beside her and rests his elbows on his knees, “have you picture taken without you knowing.”

She scoffs, “You don’t either. Just ‘cause you're in movies doesn’t mean you should have to get you privacy violated.” She takes the hair tie from her wrist and begins to braid her hair, “I can’t believe I told my mom I slept with you.”

He laughs, “Am I really that bad?”

She falls to the side, groaning as she face plants the cushion, “No, I just don’t talk about those things with her. I mean, not really.”

“I can barely hear you,” He pokes her head and she sits back up.

“Do you tell your mom who you mess around with?”

“I can’t say that I do,”

“I need to turn off the notifications. That noise is going to drive me crazy.”

“You don’t have to but maybe making stuff private would help,”

“It’s all private already, these are like, people I don’t even really talk to or I haven’t talked to for years. Stupid Facebook.” She tosses her phone onto a chair and looks at Henry, who still has a solemn gaze, “I’m pretty good at covering my tracks, you know? I don’t use twitter, my instagram is private. Whatever this is, all of that stuff isn’t gonna get in the way.”

He shrugs, “I understand if you don’t want to deal with it,”

“It’s not exactly normal, is it?”

“No,” His tone has changed. It’s no longer chipper, just melancholy.

“Do you still want to see each other when you come back?”

“If you let me,”

She kisses his cheek quickly, “I wouldn’t have asked,”

“I do like you. Last night was just a huge bonus,” He hisses, “That sounded kind of gross,”

“I know what you meant,” She gives him a light and comforting smile.

“I have to ask; Are you pissed?”

Y/N tilts her head to the side, “Just unprepared, I guess.”

“Yeah, you can’t really prepare yourself for your mum to ask who you’re sleeping with,”

“I’m sorry my family is,” she pauses, “dramatic.”

“They’re not,” He admires a strong family bonds, he strives to create one of his own one of these days.

“Henry, it sounds like my sister wants to punch you and my mom freaked out, too.”

“Any chance I can get in good with your dad?” She gives him a blank stare, “I’m only joking.”

“B/F/N is gonna shit a brick.”

“And B/F/N is?”

“She’s my best friend. She’s practically our sister,” she remembers their text conversation, “oh, god, my mom probably called her.”

He chuckles, “You’ve got quite the circle.”

“I know, I’m sorry. They’re just protective and, yeah.” She’s tried not to show her embarrassment but it’s written in her body language.

“It’s not a big deal, I understand. It’s a tricky situation,” Tricky, indeed, but if anything this just made Henry want to further prove himself.

Y/N’s phone begins to ring and she excuses herself, “Sorry, I have to answer this one.”

Henry simply nods, interlacing his fingers and relaxing into the couch. He watches her walk around a small room, her hands up in the air and at times, writing things down. He leans to the side to get a better look. He doesn’t mean to be nosy but something catches his eye, its a painting. He can only see part of it but he already loves it. Some colors blend and others are blocked together, there’s lines and shapes. If she lets him, he’d love to explore more.

She reappears and gets back to her spot on the couch, “That looks like a fun room,”

“It’s where I paint,” She fiddles with her pant leg, “I have a show coming up,”

“Oh, yeah? Where?” She’s taken aback by his enthusiasm.

“It’s called Desmond’s,” She grins so widely that Henry notices a small dimple beside her mouth, “it's my second show there.”

“That’s amazing,”

“Thank you,” The shyness that overcomes her when she talks about her work, it’s akin to enchantment.

“Will you show me your work one of these days?” Henry looks as if he’s glowing at the possible opportunity.

“Hmm,” She taps her chin, faking thought, ”maybe.”

“I’ll take a maybe.” He’s more than glad for the maybe.

“I don’t think any of these are yours,” He waves his finger around happily.

“Hmm,” He’s correct, these are gifts or purchased from other artists, “I wanna see if you can spot them.”

He points toward her studio, “And I can’t look in there?”

Y/N shakes her head, “No, that doesn’t count.”

“I just want to see what you got in there. I know where I can spot one.”

She wants to call his bluff, “You do, do you?”

“At the bar,” He states it so matter of factly, “there’s a really cool mural on the back wall where the tables are.”

He figured it out too quick, “How did you know that was me?”

“It looks like you,” He shrugs, as if that’s not a completely sweet thing to say.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, it has the best colors. Your colors.” Wow.

“Stop that.” He looks away and looks back to her, confused as to what he did, “You cannot be so cute when you’re so, I don’t know, that.” She wiggles her fingers at him and he get’s all too playful again.

Henry knows he’s good looking but it’s funny how she doesn’t even attempt to hide how it affects her, “And what’s that?” He refuses to break eye contact. If she likes how he looks, then he’s gonna make her look at him. She looks away and he catches her cheek in his hand, slowly turning it back to him, “Hmm?”

This is another one of his unfair games. She knows what he’s doing, and he knows she knows. His thumb traces her mouth and she bits the tip of it, but he doesn’t flinch. His hand travels down to her throat, feeling her breathe, “You know what you are.” He smiles in a way that could make her collapse if she wasn’t already on the couch. “Charming,” He leans forward and pulls her closer by her throat. An act so suggestive, yet gentle, “Handsome,” He signals her to come closer by pulling again, this time she’s brushing her lips against his chin, “Magnetic.”

He holds her there, so close but not close enough. His eyes look down into hers, only inches away but enough to make her feel small, but safe. She feels slightly dominated by it, and she likes it. “Such a pretty girl,” he can feel her swallow, letting him know her mouth has ben watering for him, “my girl”. He kisses her forehead and lets her go but stands up, “I’ll let you know when my flight gets in, Sweetheart.” He walks to the door with a smirk, knowing what he’s just done.

Y/N’s mouth is left agape, even after the door closes behind him, “Motherfucker.”

[Tagged: If you’d like to be tagged, just shoot me a message or ask!]

@igotkatiepowers  @xxxkatxo  @lunedelorient  @heartfelt-pen​ @omgkatinka​ @viking-raider​ @summersing69 @hell1129-blog

i had so much fun writing this! I left it a bit open ended in case I felt like coming back to it

[laprincesaelena]

EOA Ship Appreciation Week Day 7: Anything Goes!

a/n: how is it the last day of ship appreciation week already?? this week went by so fast, but time flies when you’re having fun!! this week has been so much fun, and i’m so glad i was able to participate!! i can’t thank you all enough for your love and support this week, i really appreciate it! also, if you haven’t noticed, i haven’t posted a day 6 fic yet. i didn’t feel great the other night, and i had no motivation for writing, so day 6 isn’t done just yet lol. not to worry, that (and a cheesy thank you note for the support this week from yours truly) will be posted in the next couple of days!

i’ve had this fic written for a couple of months now, but i wanted it to be posted today, on my birthday! of course, as if i haven’t projected myself onto elena enough, i headcanon her birthday as my own, february 20th. so, i wanted to make sure this was posted on our birthdays! this takes place mainly on elena’s birthday, and a couple of my adorable gabelena kiddos make another appearance!! it’s just good ol’ family fluff, and i hope you all enjoy!!!

fic is below the cut!

Elena wrapped her arms around her husband and held him close as she said goodbye, goodbye for quite a while. Paraíso was experiencing a similar conflict with a group of malvagos as Avalor had faced before Elena became queen. Elena was still a close friend and ally of Valentina and the kingdom of Paraíso, so she vowed to help them in whatever way she could. She talked to Gabe, and then the both of them talked to Valentina and Manuel, and the four of them decided on sending Avaloran reinforcements to the region, just in case. Besides, the Avaloran royal guards were trained in magic, which Valentina knew would be extremely helpful (and, she wished she had thought of that idea first!). So, in a week or so, a good chunk of Avalor’s royal guard would be sent to Paraíso, and that unfortunately included Gabe. That week went by faster than Elena would've wanted, she was going to miss her husband so much. But, she wasn't the only one who'd miss him.

Their three year old daughters stood beside them on the steps of the palace, wanting to say goodbye to their papí as well. Once Gabe let go of Elena, he knelt down to the girls, and wrapped them both in a hug. Their oldest, Catalina, was very in touch with other's emotions, and she could sense that her mother was worried, so of course, she worried too.

"Are you gonna come back home, papí?" she asked him, her brown eyes filled with concern.

Gabe held his daughter even closer, he didn't want her this concerned about his wellbeing at such a young age. "Of course i will, mija." he reassured her. "I hope to be back in about two months, just in time for your birthdays."

"Can you bring us home a present?" Carolina asked. "Maybe a Paraísan parasol? Oooh, or maybe a big, sparkly tiara!" Though Carolina was definitely Gabe and Elena’s daughter, her bold and girly personality would fit in quite well with Valentina.

"Maybe so." Gabe replied with a smile. "Is there anything you'd like from Paraíso, Catalina?" he asked.

Catalina thought for a moment, before nodding. "Maybe some Paraísan chocolate?" she asked.

Elena jokingly gasped, and looked over at her husband. "You sure this is our kid?" she asked. "These two have been raised on avaloran chocolate, which is obviously the best, thank you very much."

"Oh, she's all ours, mi amor." Gabe replied with a smile, before turning his attention back to his daughters. "I’ll put in your word with the queen, I’m sure she'll be able to get you the most delicious box of it." he said.

Catalina smiled, knowing that she had a box of Paraísan chocolate to look forward to once her papí came home. Though she'd miss him very much, she had something to think about before he came back!

Gabe wrapped his girls in a tight hug one more time. He couldn't wait to come back home to them, he'd miss them so much, along with his wife and son. Speaking of his son, Elena came over to him with six month old Luis in her arms.

"There's someone else who'd like to say goodbye to you," Elena said with a smile, and handed Luis over to his father. Luis smiled being in his papí's arms as Gabe kissed him on the cheek. Gabe was a little bummed he'd miss out on a month or two with him, and possibly a couple of milestones, but he knew Elena would keep him updated.

"And I’ll miss you so much too, mijo" he said, and ruffled the little bit of hair Luis had, which made him laugh.

Elena looked over at Gabe with their children, she was really going to miss this. Sure, it's not like he was going to be gone forever, and it's not like he was going to be in combat every day for months, but still, she just wanted to skip right to the spring when he'd be back home safely. The kids loved their papí so much, and she knew that they'd miss him as well, especially the girls. Elena would have to try her best to fill in for him for the next month or two, but hopefully she'd do alright.

Gabe’s parents had also stopped by to say goodbye to their son, so once they had talked to him for a moment as well, Elena handed Luis back over to Blanca. Even though she had technically said goodbye a couple of minutes earlier, she just had to hold him and say goodbye one more time.

Elena wrapped her arms around him and held him close. "Stay safe," she said to him. "I’ll miss you."

Gabe held Elena tight as well, and placed a kiss to her forehead. "I’ll miss you too.." he said. "Take good care of the kids for me."

"Of course I will." Elena replied, before looking up at him and pulling him in for one last kiss.

Elena didn't ever want them to break apart, since she didn't know when the next time she'd be able to kiss him would be, and she hated the thought of it. She hadn't been away from him for this long since the very beginning of their relationship, when Gabe wasn't even home for their first Navidad as a couple, since the guard was out searching for Victor, Carla, and Ash. But, after a moment or two, they did have to eventually break away.

"Say hi to Val and Manuel for me, alright?" Elena asked him. "I love you.”

"I will," Gabe replied. "I love you too."

With that, it was unfortunately time for Gabe to leave. Elena went and stood beside her girls, and wrapped an arm around each of them, holding them close. Gabe looked up at his family one more time with a wave, before hopping onto Fuego, bound for Paraíso.

Elena stood and watched as he and the rest of the royal guard who were accompanying him left, and stayed on the palace steps until she couldn't see a single one of them anymore. Carolina got bored of that quick, and went right back inside. But, Catalina stayed right beside her mamí, also watching her papí fade off into the distance.

Once they were out of sight, Elena turned to her daughter and picked her up, resting her on her hip. "I heard abuelo and abuela are making pan dulce, would you like to help them?" she asked.

Catalina’s face lit up, and she smiled and nodded. "Yeah!" she said.

Elena was glad to see her smile again, hopefully she'd be able to distract her enough while Gabe was gone, she didn't want her to worry about him more than she already had been. She kissed her daughter on the cheek, and the two of them headed inside.

For the next few weeks, life without Gabe was certainly an adjustment. It felt strange to Elena going to sleep in an empty bed every night. The hardest part had to be managing their three children on her own, or at least with less help than she'd usually have. Of course, her grandparents were always willing to help her out, as were Isabel, Naomi, or Mateo if they were free, but sometimes there were situations where Elena knew Gabe could step in, or know exactly what to do. But, Elena always tried to remember that every day she got through was one day closer to Gabe coming back

Ever since she was a little girl, Elena would always look forward to her birthday, but this year was different. Elena knew Gabe wouldn't be home for it, and she knew that even though she'd have her kids and the rest of her family and friends to celebrate with her, her birthday wouldn't be the same with Gabe not there. She secretly wished he'd be able to come back home, but she knew she would only be getting her hopes up, just for her day to end in disappointment when he doesn't show up. So, the night before her birthday, she fell asleep with a sigh. Maybe the two of them would be together to celebrate in her dreams.

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

Elena woke up suddenly to two little voices, as well as them shaking her awake, and jumping up and down on her bed.

"Mamí! Mamí! Wake up!" Carolina said as she continued to shake her awake.

"Happy birthday, Mamí!" Catalina exclaimed, and fell down on her mamí, wrapping her in a hug.

Elena smiled, and wrapped Catalina in her arms, but not before pulling her twin sister into the hug as well. She held them close and kissed them both on the cheek.

"Thank you, girls!" she said, smiling big.

Luisa was the one to let the girls into their mother's room in the first place, and she also had Luis in her arms, so all of Elena’s children could be there to wish her a happy birthday. Luisa came over and placed Luis in between his sisters, so Elena could hold all three of her children close.

"Happy birthday, mijita." she said, and kissed her granddaughter on the forehead.

"Thank you guys so much!" Elena replied with a smile. Even though Gabe wouldn't be there today, she was so grateful for her adorable little family. She hadn't even been awake for five minutes, and she already felt so loved on her birthday.

"We have to have breakfast!" Carolina said. "Bisabuela made confetti pancakes! And we can have whipped cream and sprinkles on them!" she added.

"Did she, now?" Elena asked. "Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go down and dig in!"

The girls wiggled their way right out of elena's arms, and headed straight for the dining room, their bisabuela following behind them. Elena sat up, still holding Luis in her arms. She looked down at her son with a smile, and kissed him on the forehead.

"We’ll have breakfast together, how does that sound?" she asked him. All Luis responded with was a smile, so she'd take that as a yes.

Elena brushed her hair and made herself look slightly more presentable, but with it being her birthday, her schedule was completely clear for the day, so she didn't mind walking around the palace in her nightgown.

When Elena made it downstairs to the dining room, the girls were already enjoying their breakfast. Well, if by enjoying one meant Carolina meticulously placing different colors of sprinkles onto her whipped cream. Catalina was already actually enjoying hers, simply decorating the top with rainbow sprinkles.

"Those look beautiful, girls!" Elena said as she sat down and got her own plate already.

"Thank you! But I think mine is the most beautiful." Carolina said, still alternating between colors to create a pattern of sorts.

"They’re both very beautiful in their own ways." Elena replied. "Now..which colors should I use on mine?" she asked them.

"Do red!" Catalina suggested. "That’s your favorite!"

"No, do pink!" Carolina insisted. "That’s my favorite!"

"Alright, how about I do all our favorite colors?" Elena suggested. "Red for me, pink for Carolina, purple for Catalina, and..Luis doesn't have a favorite color yet, so how about blue?"

The girls nodded in agreement, that would work. Carolina handed over the colored sprinkles to her mother, so she could decorate hers as well. Elena’s certainly wouldn't be perfect, as she was currently multitasking, holding Luis to feed him in one arm and decorating her birthday pancakes with the other. But she was used to it by now, that was just her life as a mamí, and she wouldn't want it any other way.

Once Elena had finished decorating, the twins agreed that hers looked beautiful as well. Then, the three of them, well, four of them, technically, all enjoyed their very colorful, but delicious breakfasts.

After breakfast, it was time for the royal family to get ready for the next part of their mamí's day. Naomi had offered to take them all sailing, and since Elena couldn't resist a day out at sea, especially on a day as beautiful as this one, she had to agree! She dressed her girls in coordinating dresses, of course, with a matching bow in their hair. Luis too was dressed in a cute little outfit. That was one of Elena’s favorite parts of being a mamí, she loved making her little ones the best dressed in the kingdom.

The second Carolina heard that they were going sailing, she started to complain. She didn't like going sailing, since it was always too windy, and it ruined her hair. But, once they got to the docks, and Naomi told her they might see a marposa or two, Carolina immediately perked up.

For the next few hours, they sailed all over Avalor Bay. It was a calm day when it came to the water, but of course, to get a sailboat to move, wind was necessary. So, Carolina wasn't too thrilled with the wind, but seeing a few marposas approach their boat was the highlight of her day. Luis enjoyed the marposas as well, for when they'd jump into the air or do some sort of trick, he'd giggle. Catalina just enjoyed being there with her family. She wouldn't say she loved sailing as much as her mamí did, and not even close to how much her tía Naomi did, but she didn't mind it. Except for when the seas got rough, that's when Catalina really didn't like it. What if the boat tipped over? But, thankfully, it was a calm and beautiful day, and she knew they'd return back to port safely.

But, Elena did notice that they had been out sailing for quite a long time. Not that she minded, she did love to sail, and she loved hanging out with Naomi, but Luis definitely needed a nap, and he ended up falling asleep in his mother's arms. But, Naomi kept sailing around, saying she just had to show them all one more place! This seemed a bit suspicious, but with it being her birthday, Elena knew it probably had something to do with that. But, what was Naomi planning? Or what was she involved in?

Finally, as the sun began to set over the harbor, Naomi finally brought them back to port. Luis was fast asleep in his mother's arms yet again, but he'd be waking up from his second nap that day very soon. Naomi came back with them to the palace, so she could also be there for her best friend's birthday. The rest of the night would simply be for presents and cake, but Elena had a feeling her family was up to something.

When they arrived back at the palace, everything seemed to look normal. But, they hadn't gone inside yet, maybe that's where a surprise was waiting for her! They stepped inside the palace, and everything looked exactly the same as when they left. Maybe Naomi really did have so many places to show them, and wasn't trying to distract her after all..

Elena, her kids, her grandparents, Gabe’s parents, along with Isabel, Naomi, Mateo, and a few members of the staff gathered in the parlor while Elena received her presents. Elena smiled as she opened the card from her girls, they had made it themselves. A barely legible attempt at "love, Catalina and Carolina" was signed, as well as a couple of scribbles from Luis. Though Elena loved getting actual presents too, these handmade gifts from her children were so special to her, and she'd treasure them for the rest of her life.

Elena hadn't noticed, but Naomi had left the room for a moment while she was opening her last few presents. Once Elena had opened her last one, and looked around to make sure she hadn't missed any.

"Alright, guess that was the last one!" she said. "Thank you all so much, I absolutely love everything!"

"Hang on!" Naomi said, coming back into the room. "I’ve got one more!" she seemed to be struggling, carrying a very large box, wrapped in blue wrapping paper, with a red bow on top. Elena definitely wasn't expecting this, but she was quite curious to see what was inside!

"Wow, Naomi, you already got me enough, this is too generous of you!" she said as Naomi placed the box in front of her.

"Oh, it's not from me." Naomi replied with a smile, and went to sit back down on the couch.

"Then who is it from?" Elena asked, looking around the room to see if anyone would claim it. But, no one said a word.

"Look inside! Maybe there's a card in there, or some clue to who it could be from!" Luisa suggested.

Elena raised an eyebrow, but did exactly that. She ripped off the wrapping paper, only for it to be a plain cardboard box. Maybe there was something inside? So, Elena’s opened the box, but it was completely empty!

"What? Naomi, you made it seem like this box weighed a hundred pounds!" she said, looking over to her best friend. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, shoot, did I wrap the wrong box?" Naomi asked, appearing confused. "Maybe I left it out here.." she said, and stood up to open the door. When she did, there was someone standing there, and that person was all Elena truly wanted for her birthday.

The moment Naomi opened the door, Elena immediately recognized who was there. It was none other than the love of her life, her Gabe. Elena gasped as tears began to fill her eyes, and she quickly stood up and ran right over to him.

Gabe smiled and laughed as he opened his arms to her, and caught her tight. Elena wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a kiss. She didn't want to break away this time either, since it had felt like so long since she had kissed him. But, eventually, they did have to let go.

"Happy birthday, Elena." Gabe said with a smile, holding her close.

Elena just couldn't hold back her tears, but she didn't mind, since they were definitely happy ones. As much as she loved all of the gifts she'd received that day, all she truly wanted for her birthday was for Gabe to be home. And, she was so surprised that her wish actually came true!

"Y-you're back!" she said through her tears. "B-but I thought you wouldn't be home for another month!"

"Well, I will need to go back later tomorrow," Gabe explained. "But, I talked to Valentina and Manuel, and they let me come home to celebrate with you!"

"Oh, I don't care if it's just for a night, I’m just so happy you're home!" Elena replied, still not letting go of him.

Of course, the girls were so excited for their papí to be home as well, and they rushed over to their parents, and hugged onto his legs. "Papí!" they cried in unison.

Gabe smiled and reached down, taking each of his girls into his arms. He kissed them both on the cheek and held them close.

"Hi, girls!" he said. "I’ve missed you two so much!"

Catalina wrapped her arms around him, and leaned her head on his shoulder. She had missed her papí so much, and was so happy that he was home too. But, her sister, as excited as she was about their father being home, had a bit of a different thought process.

"Did you bring our gifts?" she asked him. "From Paraíso?"

Gabe laughed, not surprised at the fact that was Carolina’s first question to him when he came home.

"Those will be coming when I’m back home for good," he explained. "But, there were some extra sparkly tiaras and the most beautiful parasols being sold for Valentina’s Day last week, and I may have one waiting just for you..."

Carolina’s face lit up at the thought of this, she couldn't wait for her papí to bring those home for her!

Elena then turned to her family and friends, who were all smiling at the sweet moment between the little family. "Were you all in on this?" she asked, to which all of them nodded.

"Oh yeah, and if you didn't already notice, I was the distraction to keep you out of the palace so they could get Gabe in here without you knowing." Naomi replied.

"That did seem a bit suspicious to me, but I definitely didn't think that was the reason why!" Elena replied with a smile. "Thank you all, so much."

"Well, now that our guest of honor is here, what are we waiting for?" Luisa asked, standing up. "A delicious tres leches cake is waiting downstairs for us!"

To the twins, this sounded great! They leaned down to get back on the ground, and headed straight for the dining room, with the rest of their family and friends following behind them. On her way out, Isabel, who had been holding Luis, handed him over to his papí. Gabe smiled, even though it had only been a few weeks since he'd last seen his son, he seemed like he had grown so much!

"And I’ve missed you too, mijo." Gabe said to him. Luis looked up at him with a smile, he clearly missed his papí a lot too!

Elena reached over and took Gabe’s hand in hers, and held it tight. "Let’s head downstairs, before the girls eat all that tres leches cake on us!" she joked. Gabe nodded in agreement, and held Elena’s hand tightly as well, as the two of them made their way into the dining room.

Once they entered the dining room, everyone was seated at the table, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the birthday queen. A seat at the head of the table was empty for Elena, along with a seat beside it for Gabe. On the table was her cake, decorated beautifully by her abuela, with multiple candles arranged around it. Elena smiled, she was so lucky to have such a loving and supportive group of family and friends that will always be there for her.

Elena sat down in her seat, and after a cue from Luisa, everyone at the table began to sing the infamous Avaloran birthday song.

Today is your birthday, we're all here for you!

So make a big wish, and it will come true!

You’re one whole year older, and so we all say,

We love you Elena on your special day!

Usually, sitting and waiting for the song to be over was the most awkward part of a birthday for Elena, but this year, it just seemed different. She smiled and glanced around the room, grateful for everyone there. Then, once the song was over, she called her girls over to help her blow out the candles, since she knew they loved to help out with that. Then, in a group effort, the three of them blew out each and every of them, and Elena was ready to begin another year.

Everyone then enjoyed their cake, which was definitely delicious, tres leches was one of Elena’s favorites. Then, luis started to get tired, so Elena went upstairs for a little bit to get him to bed. Not too soon after, it was the girls' bedtimes, and Gabe and Elena tucked them both in. The girls were so glad their papí was there to read a story to them and kiss them goodnight too, they'd missed him so much. Then, once the kids were all in bed, Elena and Gabe headed back downstairs for another hour or two of the party. Then, all of their guests either headed home or headed to bed, so Elena and Gabe headed upstairs as well.

Once they reached their bedroom, Elena closed the door behind her, and soon found herself leaning against her door, with Gabe pulling her in for a kiss. Elena wrapped her arms around him and kissed him right back, she had missed him (and this) so much.

Once they broke apart for a moment, Elena smiled and was about to say something, but before she even could, Gabe scooped her right up in his arms. She smiled and laughed, and leaned her head on his chest. Gabe placed Elena down on their bed, as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close as they kissed once again. She really wished that Gabe could stay home for good tonight, but even if he'd have to go back tomorrow, she was so glad to at least have tonight with him.

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

The next morning, Gabe and Elena were fast asleep, all cuddled in each other's arms. They were both up very late the night before, so they ended up sleeping in a bit longer than they had planned. Or, maybe it was just the fact that they never wanted to leave each other's arms, for if Elena never let go, he wouldn't have to leave again, right?

Gabe noticed Elena start to wake up, so he held her a little closer, and kissed her on the forehead.

"Good morning," he said with a smile.

Elena stretched out a bit, and smiled too. "Morning.." she said.

"So, did you have a good birthday?" Gabe asked.

"I had a great birthday, it just kept getting better and better!" Elena replied.

"I’m going to assume that my gifts were your favorite?" Gabe replied.

"No, no, Naomi’s cardboard box was definitely the best." Elena joked. "I’m kidding, I’m kidding, yes, yours were my favorite, all of them."

"Well, I’m glad you loved them.” Gabe replied with a smile.

"I sure did," Elena replied. "But I love you even more." she added, and pulled him in for a kiss.

"I know you'd just love to lay here with me all day, and I’d love to as well, but I do have to leave tonight.." he said with a sigh.

Elena sighed too, she really didn't want him to leave. But, she was very lucky that he was able to come home for her birthday, and she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could before he left.

"I guess you're right.." Elena replied. "We should probably get up soon, then.”

"I think so too," Gabe said. "Besides, the kids will probably be looking for you, especially Luis."

"Good point!" Elena responded. she rolled over to start to get up, and headed over to her vanity to begin brushing out her hair. She sighed, knowing that in only a few short hours, Gabe would be headed back to Paraíso once again.

“I really wish you could stay a bit longer, even for another day..” she said.

"Trust me, I wish I could too." Gabe agreed, getting up as well. "But hey, you'd rather me come home for just a night instead of us having to be apart for your birthday, right?" he asked her.

Elena nodded as he came over and wrapped his arms around her from behind her. "Absolutely," she said, placing her hands on top of his. "I was so happy you were able to come and celebrate with us, I wouldn’t want to spend my day with anybody else..”

"Well, unfortunately I do have to go back.." Gabe replied. "But, we're closer to when I’ll be back than to when I left, and I’ll be back home for good before you know it."

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

And, the next few weeks did go by very quickly for Elena, but, the week and a half or so before Gabe was due to return felt like years. Elena had seemed to come down with some sort of bug, and was so sick. At one point, she could barely even get up and out of bed, she was so weak from barely being able to keep anything down. She was definitely glad that she got the cute reunion with Gabe she had hoped for on her birthday, since she didn't know if she'd even be able to get out of bed to welcome him home. But, even though she still wasn't feeling the greatest, on the day he was coming back, Elena forced herself out of bed. She did manage to keep down a couple of fluids, hopefully that'd be enough to keep her on her feet for the rest of the day. 

Elena was so looking forward to Gabe coming home for a long list of reasons, but one of them was something she hadn't thought of before he had left. Her diagnosis a a week or so back was pretty basic, most likely just a bug or a virus. But, Elena knew that she probably should've been feeling better a few days later. It had been practically two weeks, and she still felt terrible, along with not being able to keep much down at all. She thought back and tried to rule out some things, such as if it were just something she had ate, or if she had been near anyone who may have been sick. But, there was one more thing she hadn't ruled out just yet, and she wanted to wait until Gabe was back home to do so.

The day he arrived back home, his family was waiting for him exactly where he had been when he left. Elena and the girls stood on the palace steps, and of course, Luis was there too, and smiled the second he saw his papí again. The twins rushed down the steps as soon as Gabe hopped off of Fuego. He picked them both up and kissed them on the cheek, before showing them what he'd brought home. Carolina was thrilled with her pink Paraísan parasol and extra sparkly tiara, and Catalina received a box of Paraíso’s finest chocolates, as well as a hand-painted fan.

Then, he went up the steps to see Luis again, before heading over to his wife, and picking her up and spinning her around. But, he didn't know that Elena had been sick, so he was a bit confused when she asked him to be put down, usually she loved when he did that! Elena stood away from him for a moment, tightly wrapping her fingers around her thumb, something she had learned could help her hold off a bout of nausea, or getting sick.

"Are you alright?" Gabe asked her, concerned.

Elena nodded, and took another moment to take a breath, before turning back to him. “Yeah, I am, it's just that i've been pretty sick lately, and I’m still not feeling too great." she explained. "I was told it was just a bug or virus, but I feel like I should've felt better days ago if that was the case..”

"You can go back to bed if you're not feeling good," Gabe replied. "You didn't even need to come out here if you weren't feeling good, I’d understand."

"No, no, the fresh air is probably good for me, anyways." Elena responded. "But the thing is, as I said, I feel like I should've felt a lot better by now, so I don't think it's really a bug or virus.."

"What do you think it is, then?" Gabe asked. He seemed to get a bit more worried as she continued to speak, he really hoped she was alright. Sometimes Elena had a tendency to hide her symptoms and insist that she was fine, but what if she did that, and whatever she had got worse?

"Well, I was thinking back as to what it could possibly be, and you remember my birthday, right?" Elena asked. "You know, that night?"

The second Elena mentioned that date, everything clicked for Gabe, he knew exactly what she was getting at. "Oh.." he said. "Do you think you're.."

"I don't know," Elena replied. "I wanted to wait until you came home to find out, so I’m having the physician stop by later today.”

Gabe nodded. "Well, whatever it may be, I hope you feel better soon," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "And if you need to rest, or you need me to get anything for you or help you out with anything, please let me know."

"I will." Elena replied. with that, the two headed back inside the palace, to continue on with their day.

For the whole rest of the day, Elena couldn't stop her mind from racing. This didn't work out too well for her, as she noticed a few things around the castle beginning to emit a purple glow, which was never a good sign. Her anxiety also didn't help her nausea, in fact, it made it worse. So, for a good portion of the day, as she had been for the past week, Elena was in bed. Even then, she couldn't stop herself from thinking of the possible outcomes of tonight, or the rest of the week.

Once Gabe had put Luis in for a nap, he headed back to his and Elena’s room. He too was a bit anxious to find out whether or not Elena’s intuition was right, but he wasn't half as nervous as she was. He found her laying in her bed, fidgeting with her hands, which was usually a sign she was very anxious, other than her emotion magic showing off obvious signs.

Gabe sat at his wife’s bedside and was about to say something to her, but before he could even finish his sentence, the physician arrived, and Elena immediately sat up.

“Let’s just get this over with.." she said to herself.

"Whatever happens, just know that everything's going to be okay." Gabe reassured her in a whisper. “And, I’m always with you."

Elena smiled slightly and leaned her head on his shoulder. He was right, no matter what the outcome was, they'd always have each other.

Soon, a second diagnosis had been agreed upon. The physician only had to say one word, “congratulations,” for Elena to know. Her intuition was correct all along, she was pregnant again.

"Here we go again..."

[kasdeyathebitterwoman]

Running Mate - Part 7

Ahh! Part 7, SEVEN! I’m so glad you are loving this series and I’m excited to see where we all end up with Henry and the reader!

If you’d like to be apart of the taglist, please let me know! My inbox is always open for suggestions, recommendations, or if you’d just like to chat!

Word Count: 4,472

CW: confrontation, feelings of betrayal

taglist:

@maeleeme @andyrazzledazzle @fanfictionaddiction99 @jhenno2002 @henrycavillluv32 @blossom-a @oddsnendsfanfics​ 

Because Cannes was still a few days away, you and Henry made a deal. You could continue doing your research for as long as you needed throughout the day, but you would stay with him. This way, he could keep an eye on you to make sure you were eating and sleeping at least somewhat regularly. He helped you pack up your research and was genuinely surprised to find how much work you already had done. You explained that after your first meeting in London months ago, you had begun research just in case. After New York, you really got into doing research.

“I thought you hadn’t heard back yet about that contract?” Henry asked as you climbed into his car to head to his house.

“Well,” you say, sighing. “I’m still not sure if we even will get it. They want to see what kind of research I can put together on my own,” you explain. “Plus, they are waiting to hear back from certain tribes and families in Peru,” you say before clapping your hand over your mouth. “You didn’t hear that!” you exclaim as Henry laughs hysterically from the driver’s seat.

When you pull up to his house, Kal greets you and your work with a comprehensive inspection. Henry does his best to keep him away, but Kal’s curiosity is greater than he can manage. It had been a while since you had been at Henry’s house and you were in awe of how simple he ultimately lived. His house was at least two times bigger than your flat and yet you were pretty sure you had more things than he did hidden away in nooks and crannies.

Henry had set up a small work station for you in what was essentially his dining room. He let you get yourself organized while he did his best to keep Kal out of your things. You giggled as Kal would trot into the room only to dart right back out when he heard Henry coming for him. And so, for the next few days, you would fall asleep in Henry’s arms, wake up in Henry’s arms, work on research for about eight hours, and then spend about two hours editing your proposal before Henry would practically drag you away from the computer.

The night before Cannes, you were satisfied with what you were able to put together. You sent James a link to it for review and editing purposes. When that was done, you closed your laptop and wandered into the living room where Henry was. He was playing a game with headphones on so he wouldn’t disturb you. He caught you out of the corner of his eye, paused his game and pulled off his headphones.

“She’s alive,” he teases. You roll your eyes and laugh as he pulls you down onto his lap and you wrap your arms around his shoulders.

“Only in spirit,” you reply and Henry scoffs.

“What’s up, beautiful?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, who’s beautiful?” you ask in response and Henry sighs deeply.

“I’m not calling you ‘unidentified woman’,” he says in a defeated voice.

“I made myself very clear at the start of this relationship,” you reply theatrically and now Henry rolls his eyes and laughs at you. You laugh with him then say, “I just submitted my proposal to James for review,” and Henry’s eyebrows raise up.

“So you’re done then?” he asks excitedly. You sigh.

“Eh, not technically,” you begin. “I’m waiting for feedback from James,” you explain. “Once I have that, I’ll edit again, send it in, and then I’ll be done. Sort of,” you sigh, exhaustion settling in for the first time in a few days. Henry notices. He glances around you at his computer screen.

“You go lay down,” he says. “Give me about ten more minutes and I’ll join you,” he continues even lower. You smirk then get up from his lap and head to the bedroom. You crawl into bed and without realizing it, you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. When you wake up again, it’s completely dark and you are enveloped in warmth. You are wrapped in Henry’s arms and it feels like the best place on earth.

The next morning, you, Henry, Kal, Henry’s hairstylist, wardrobe stylist, and assistant climb aboard his personal jet and make the trip down to Cannes. Henry and his crew head over to a hotel room he booked at the last minute while you go to the room you booked weeks in advance. You style your own hair and makeup simply because the dress you chose was simple, yet elegant. When you meet up again with Henry before walking the red carpet and he stares at you for a good minute before doing anything. Despite being with him for almost a year, Henry had a way of making you feel like the prettiest girl in the room. Henry himself looked handsome as ever in a dark charcoal 3-piece suit which complimented your dress well.

And so, you head out to the event where, as predicted, you were basically the talk of the town. Sadly, not for your documentary, but for the fact that Henry was there. With you. Having dealt with this for months, you were used to it, but you were also reaching the max of your bullshit tolerance. You are stopped by a reporter on the red carpet and asked about your film. They subtly ask you about Henry’s presence, but you brush it off. But when the same reporter asks about him for a second time, you decide you won’t hold back anymore.

“So, I see you are here with Henry Cavill,” the reporter starts. “Are you two dating?” She asks.

“No well,” you reply immediately, feeling Henry shift next to you. You glance over your shoulder and ask, “Should I just tell them? I’ll tell them,” you say, answering your question. “No, we both take professional mime classes in London and I asked him to join me here for practice,” you finish and can hear Henry laughing hysterically next to you. You smile at him, then back at the reporter before shrugging your shoulders. You and Henry walked away a few moments later after you answered a few more questions.

“I don’t think that reporter liked my answer,” you say to Henry. He chuckles.

“I’ve no idea why,” he replies, smiling down at you. He followed you as you went down the line answering questions from various reporters. The more they asked about you and Henry the more ridiculous your stories got. He texted the wrong number for a date and you showed up, you were the clown at his nephew’s birthday party and it was love at first sight, and your personal favorite, you were a stunt double on the weekends and ended up helping out on The Witcher season 2 as Henry’s stand-in for the day.

“I haven’t decided if you are truly that devious or just that ridiculous,” Henry muttered as you walked away from the line of reporters. All you offered was a devilish grin in return. Before entering the actual venue, you stop Henry and pull him to the side.

“Hey, by the way,” you begin. “I’m sorry if I just made things hard for you back there. I’m too sarcastic for my own good and I forget that not everyone understands my style of humor,” you say looking up at him. He smiles back at you gently.

“We’ll deal with that when the time comes,” he says quietly pulling you close to him. “Besides, I think it’s all hilarious. They won’t be able to report anything and that’s the best part of it,” he chuckles and you smile as you hold him close to you.

“I just don’t want to screw this up with my smart ass mouth,” you admit and Henry pulls back to look at you. “Don’t tell anyone, but, I kind of love you,” you say, dramatically rolling your eyes and Henry smiles wide.

“Your secret is safe with me,” Henry starts. “As long as you promise to keep kissing me with that smart mouth,” he says, leaning down to kiss you gently. “Also, keep this to yourself, but I kind of love you as well,” he says, a small smile on his lips. You smile back, feeling equal parts panic and love, not sure which is the dominant emotion.

—

Once you were done at the festival, you and Henry head back to your hotel room. He gave the room to his stylists for the night so they could stay and enjoy the rest of their day without him. Henry rushes into the bathroom before you to pee so you take the opportunity to check your email for any update from James. There’s nothing yet and you sigh a little so you give him a call. After three rings he picks up.

“How was Cannes?” he asks after you exchange pleasantries.

“Fine, I kind of stuck my foot in my mouth with the reporters,” you explain. “But hey, what’s new?” you ask jokingly. “Have you finished the edits yet?” you try to ask as nonchalantly as possible.

“Oh yeah,” James says and you hear the clicking of a keyboard. “Yeah, I finished this morning and sent them in,” he says and you frown.

“I haven’t seen anything in my email yet,” you reply.

“Y/n, I sent it in for you,” James says and your blood runs cold.

“I’m sorry, you did what?” you ask, your voice lowering two octaves. James quickly realizes that he did something he shouldn’t have.

“I sent it into NatGeo? Was I not supposed to do that?” James asks innocently and you can’t contain your frustration.

“NO!” you exclaim. Henry is walking out of the restroom at this point, his eyebrows raised and a concerned expression on his face. “No, James, you were not supposed to do that,” you bellow into the phone. You can feel the panic rising in your body as your hands begin to shake. “That is not what I asked you to do,” you say, trying hard to control your breathing. Henry is standing by you at this point, doing what he can to relax you with touch. He’s gently rubbing your shoulders and grazing his hands up and down your arms.

“Y/n, calm down,” James demands, but you cut him off.

“Do not tell me to calm down,” you growl through gritted teeth. Henry’s hands stop rubbing your shoulders. “This is not your reputation on the line, it’s mine,” you hiss, but James is quick to respond.

“As a matter of fact, y/n, it is also my reputation on the line,” he retorts. “Because you see, you are a part of the business that we run together,” he explains. “So yeah, my reputation is also up for debate. Besides, that was a damn good proposal and I knew if I let you get your hands back on it, you’d never let it go. It would never be good enough when the truth is, it was practically flawless,” he spits. You are huffing and breathing heavy through your nose, your jaw still clenched. You know there is a compliment hidden in there somewhere, but you are still reeling from the betrayal. Tired of talking, you say goodbye to James who reminds you to celebrate that your documentary has won a total of eight awards during the festival season. You step from Henry who is standing near you, but no longer touching you.

“Y/n, what’s going on?” he asks quietly and you suck in a breath. For a half a second, you forgot he was there.

“James,” you start, then pause to prevent the tears that are already welling up behind your eyes. “James sent my proposal in without my consent,” you explain and Henry gives you an empathetic look.

“Oh baby, I’m so sorry,” Henry replies, stepping towards you. “But I don’t think he would have done that if he didn’t think it was the best possible version,” he stops short of you when he notices the look you are giving him.

“Why does suddenly everyone seem to think they know what’s best for me?” you ask cooly. Henry stares at you slightly surprised for a moment.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” he begins painfully. “I will never claim to know what’s best for you, but you and I are very much alike. You want your work to be perfect, yet it will never be perfect,” he says. You are clenching your jaw and trying hard to keep back the tears pooling in your eyes.

“I know, I just,” you try to say, but Henry stops you. He steps forward taking your shoulders in his hands.

“Shh, shh,” he hushes you. “You don’t have to explain anything to me,” he pushes your chin up with his hand so you are looking at him. The tears are freely flowing at this point.

“I just feel so betrayed right now,” you cry. “And I’m so angry - not at James, but at myself. Because I know he’s right, but it sucks hearing and gah!” you sob. Henry places his hands on either side of your face.

“I know, I know,” he whispers. He places his forehead on yours and you try hard not to break down even further. He shushes you while gently stroking the side of your face with his right hand. After a moment, you can’t help but chuckle.

“Well, I’m willing to bet you imagined this evening going slightly differently,” you try to joke through your tears. Henry doesn’t laugh, but a small smile tugs at the corners of his mouth.

“Holding, touching, and comforting the woman I love?” he rattles off. “I can’t imagine a better evening,” he’s still holding your head gently and you try to smile, but a fresh wave of tears is threatening to erupt. Henry steps closer to you, pulling you into an embrace. It’s the most loving embrace you could possibly imagine. Suddenly you realize how vulnerable you are and the fear overtakes you. You quickly and suddenly pull back from Henry.

“I, uh, I’m going to,” you stutter, gesturing over your shoulder. “I’m going to go take a second. In the bathroom. And um, I’ll just, I’ll be right back,” you say over your shoulder as you shuffle toward the bathroom. Henry doesn’t say anything but watches you leave with a pain in his heart. In the bathroom, you lean on the counter and look at your reflection. Your mascara has run completely, your eyes are puffy, and your face is splotchy. Really attractive you think to yourself. Sighing, you sit down the toilet and place your head in your hands.

You know that both James and Henry are right. You know it. And yet, the sting of the betrayal is no less softened. You want to walk this off like you walked off being kneed in the chest while playing soccer, but this feels harder for some reason. Taking a deep breath in, you square your shoulders, stand back up, and step out of the bathroom. You see Henry sitting on the couch provided. He looks up at you with a mixture of empathy and concern.

“Hey, um, you can head on out,” you begin to say, not looking directly at him. “I know you’ve got stuff to do, things to prepare for like the Durrell Challenge and what not. So. Feel free to head out whenever you need to,” you bob your head as if the two of you are in total agreement.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Henry replies quietly, not getting up from the couch.

“No, Henry, it’s okay,” you try to say, but Henry stops you. He stands up and closes the gap between you.

“No, y/n, I don’t think you understand,” he says. “I see what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you,” he looks down at you with those blue eyes and a sweet, yet serious expression on his face. You can’t look at him, so he pushes your chin up with his hand. “I’m not leaving you,” he says quietly and firmly when he is finally able to see your eyes. Your bottom lip begins to tremble, but you laugh a little. Henry looks at you a little confused.

“I keep forgetting you’re smarter than regular men, what with being an alien and all,” you say and Henry snorts.

“Nah, it’s just the rosemary water,” he says with false humility and you laugh. He smiles at the appearance of smiles and laughter from you.

“Whatever, Superman,” you reply with a gentle eye roll and now it’s Henry’s turn to snort. He leans down and kisses you gently.

“I love you, I have faith in you, and I am so incredibly proud of you,” he whispers to you, his forehead pressed against yours. “Whatever happens, I know you will be okay and if you aren’t, I’ve got pretty big shoulders to cry on,” he says. You laugh sardonically.

“You are as thick as a pecan tree,” you reply. Henry tilts your head up to kiss you again. He’s a little more firm as if he’s trying to reiterate his statements through action.

“Now come on,” he says a little louder. “We’ve got an award-winning documentary to celebrate!” he smiles at you and you can’t help but smile back. Regardless of the pain in your heart, you want to be happy with the man you love. So, that’s what you try to do.

--

The next day, you step out of a car with Henry in front of a house. Not just any house, though, you are standing in front of Henry’s family home. You take a shuddering breath in an attempt to settle yourself. Henry glances at you then takes your hand in his.

“They’re going to love you,” he says gently.

“Have you met me?” you ask the rhetorical and sardonic question. Feelings of inadequacy immediately overtake you. You are not the girl someone brings home to meet the folks. You are the girl guys like Henry are told to avoid. The wild child with too much attitude and not enough sense to shut the hell up. Henry squeezes your hand gently, then proceeds to, basically, pull you forward. Kal leads the way and at the front door, Henry lets go of your hand for a moment to open it. The thought to just bolt and not look back crosses your mind, but Henry turns back to look at you. He’s smiling bright, his blue eyes shining with love and you can’t say no. You can’t walk away from him.

“Anyone home?” he calls out in the foyer. A female head pokes out from around a corner and she smiles broadly.

“Henry?” she asks, walking around the corner. “I thought we weren’t seeing you until after the race!” she exclaims jogging up to him. She’s significantly smaller than Henry, but clearly holds her own around him. He dips down to embrace her.

“I thought we’d come by early to say hello,” Henry says. When he lets go, they both turn to you and a wave of panic washes over you.

“Mum, this is y/n,” Henry says gesturing to you. “Y/n, this is my mum, Marianne,” Henry says, beaming at his mother.

“Hello darling,” Marianne says warmly, extending a hand. “Henry has told us so much about you,” she says. Her smile is genuine and bright.

“It’s so nice to meet you,” you say, accepting Marianne’s hand. “Henry has told me so much about you as well,” Marianne smiles at you. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Henry beaming.

“Come on, come on,” Marianne says turning and walking back to the room she originally was. You and Henry follow her. “So y/n, Henry tells us that you’re from Texas. What brings you across the pond?” she asks over her shoulder. You are walking into the kitchen and are amazed by the simplicity of their home. You begin to understand where Henry gets it.

“Work, actually,” you say. “I help produce documentaries with a friend of mine from college,” you explain.

“Y/n actually just got done featuring an incredible documentary at Cannes yesterday,” Henry adds proudly. Your face grows hot with embarrassment.

“Yes, Henry told us all about your film!” Marianne says excitedly. She’s fiddling with a dish of some sort, though you can’t discern what it is. “It sounds amazing,” she offers you a sweet smile that you return.

“Thank you, it’s been a very rewarding experience,” you reply. Henry smiles at you. The three of you chat for a while. Marianne asks you about how you came to be in England, how you met your friend James, and how you met Henry. Throughout, Henry proudly sprinkles information about you that results in you constantly feeling flushed with embarrassment. After a while, another man enters the kitchen with a flurry of sound and movement. You realize the majority of the ruckus is coming from the small children bustling around the space.

“Hey!” Henry exclaims, embracing the man. He looks almost exactly like Henry, but not. He’s definitely younger than Henry. “Charlie, this is y/n,” Henry says, turning to gesture toward you. Charlie beams.

“Hello, y/n,” Charlie says kindly. “I’m Henry’s more charming, more handsome younger brother,” Henry scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Hi Charlie, you know it’s funny,” you say smiling. “That’s exactly how Henry described you to me,” you grin devilishly at Henry while Charlie barks with laughter. Henry is squinting and shifting his gaze back and forth between you. Marianne is smiling and laughing along with everyone.

Henry introduces you to his nieces and nephews. Everyone accepts you and greets you kindly. Henry’s father comes home from wherever he is and offers you a warm, but tight-lipped smile and a firm handshake.

“Hello young lady,” Colin greets you. You smile back and quickly square your shoulders.

“Hello, sir,” you reply, shaking his hand the way your grandad, dad, and older brother taught you. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” you say.

“Dad, this is y/n,” Henry says, his hand on the small of your back. He smiles proudly at you then back at his dad. Quietly, his dad nods at you and his son. Henry’s mom calls him to the kitchen so you are left alone with his dad. Awkwardly you stand for a moment before he speaks.

“Henry tells us that you are a documentarian,” Colin states and you bob your head.

“Yes sir,” you reply. “I like telling stories, sir,” you confess for some reason. Colin chuckles to himself.

“You are dropping ‘sirs’ as if your life depended on it,” he says quietly and you look at him. He has the same eyes as Henry. You drop your gaze and smile.

“That will make the Sarge happy to hear,” you say to your feet. “He always said I wouldn’t be able to use my mouth for anything other than smart ass remarks, but I could at least learn to show some respect to a military man,” you finish, looking up at Henry’s father, blushing profusely. He’s smiling at you warmly, in a way that distinctly reminds you of Henry.

“Is that your father?” he asks.

“No sir, The Sarge is my grandad. He owns the land that my brothers and I grew up on,” you say and Colin bobs his head a little.

“You grew up in Texas, correct?” he continues.

“Yes sir,” you say. “Four wild children growin’ up in the boonies,” you joke and Colin cracks a smile.

“You grew up with three older brothers?” he asks, giving you an amused look.

“Yes, sir. They are eight, five, and three years older than me, sir,” you reply and Colin chuckles.

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to keep calling me sir,” he says and you blush bright red. From the kitchen, Marianne announces that food is ready for everyone to eat. You head on in while Colin says he has to go wash his hands first. Henry looks at you quizzically as you sit next to him, but you just smile. Marianne is on the other side of you and asks you more questions.

“Two of my other sons, Piers, and Nik, will be here tomorrow for the race,” Marianne explains to you.

“Are they also running?” you ask and Marianne nods proudly.

“So y/n,” Charlie calls out from across the table. “How exactly did you meet my brother?” he asks. You smile and glance at Henry, who is blushing slightly and looking down at his plate. You look back at Charlie.

“I smoked his butt while running,” you say. “At least twice,” Charlie laughs hysterically at that. Henry blushes even harder, but he’s smiling wider than you’ve ever seen.

“Will you be running tomorrow?” Marianne asked and you turn your head to her.

“I don’t think so,” you reply. “I forgot to send in my application to join the run,” you explain and Henry shakes his head, tsking.

“Sounds like someone was just being lazy,” Henry teases and you scoff.

“Sounds like someone was out winning awards left and right,” you gloat and the table ooh’s in surprise.

“I was out in the middle of nowhere doing my own stunts,” Henry states. “You were wearing dresses and promoting a film,” he says dryly. Once again, everyone gasps theatrically, though a few giggles escape from someone.

“Have you made grown men ball like children? No? Yeah, that’s what I thought,” you say matter of factly and laugh with everyone. Henry smiles at you and laughs along as well.

“Well if you aren’t running, we can wait for the boys at the finish line and chat,” Marianne says smiling at you.

“That would be great,” you reply and Henry immediately interjects.

“No, nope, there will be none of that,” he says quickly, causing Charlie to laugh hysterically from across the table.

“Oh, Henry don’t worry so much,” Marianne says lightly to him, teasing.

“Yeah, Henry, don’t worry so much,” you muse, giving him an equally teasing smile.

“This is only going to get worse when Piers and Nik show up, isn’t it?” Henry asks to no one in particular. You gently place your head on his shoulder and look up at him.

“Yeah,” you reply, smiling in an overtly goofy way. Charlie and his wife are laughing hysterically. Marianne is giggling and Colin is shaking his head, but smiling at the two of you. Henry looks down at you, there is a glint of love in his blue eyes, though he’s trying desperately to look angry.

[maximows]

Against the Odds - Chapter X

Half of McDonald’s menu,

MASTERLIST (mobile) AO3

Warnings: fluff and adult language

„What if it hurts?” I whispered, staring blankly into the wall. “I mean, I’m putting some stick up my uterus.”

Chris squeezed my hand and wrapped the other around me. “It’s about an inch long, very thin and much more comfortable than taking a pill every day. Also, you took a lot of painkillers and they’ll give you numbing meds, alright?”  

I decided to get an IUD as a new method of birth control, because lately I have been forgetting to take my pills with me and didn’t want an accident to happen. We had once spend almost two weeks in London and because I didn’t have my pills with me, Chris actually had to run to get a condom a few times, then eventually got a small box of them and that was when we noticed how much sex we are having.  

“Can we go to McDonald’s afterwards?” I asked, nuzzling my face against his bicep. “I shouldn’t eat junk food, I don’t want a break out on my face before the wedding…”  

“We’ll get the food and then I’ll make you drink enough water to get it out of your system.” He promised. “But we also have to pick up the rings.”

“Mhm,” I mumbled as I closed my eyes and leaned my head on his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“With the wedding rings?”

“IUD is much more permanent than pills, I haven’t thought about when I’d want to take it out and, uh, try…” I explained.  

“Put it in and don’t think about kids right now, ok? I’m fine and I’m going to wait for you to be ready and be as comfortable as possible until then. But please don't make wait until I’m 50.”

I sighed and smiled at him. “How are you so perfect, you sick fuck?”  

The doctor came out of her office and invited me in. “I know it sounds weird, but there’s really nothing to worry about. After it’s been put in, you might feel period like cramps for a few hours and it’s done.”

She put on her gloved and shoved me the object. “I know that ‘opening the cervix’ sounds horrible, but it’s not a baby, IUD is very thin and after I give you numbing meds, you won’t even feel it.”

I nodded lightly and sat on the hair. I wore a skirt and Chris' sweater, so it would be comfortable for her to access and so I could smell Chris' scent, which is soothing for me.

She put a cold gel around the area and waited some time before getting to work. “So, is it actually easier to get pregnant after taking out a IUD rather than after pills?” I asked.

“Definitely. Even with hormonal IUDs, they aren’t as invasive as pills. I’ve had patients who got pregnant during their first cycle after IUD.” She answered, already starting to do something around my crotch, but I figured she was just preparing me.

“Oh, okay. So, if I wanted to keep it for like a year and then take out, then even the hormones shouldn’t affect my ability to get pregnant?”

“Not at all, it doesn’t work the same way pills do. Technically, you could get pregnant right after taking it out. With pills, even if you forget one, it shouldn’t be a problem. You provide your body with such a big dose of hormones that it takes time for it to wear off completely,” she explained. “You might feel a little uncomfortable right now.

I felt something, like a pulling sensation, which I couldn’t really describe. I figured she was preparing me for the procedure. “Aaaand... it’s done.”

I opened my eyes and saw that she was actually taking her gloves off. “Is it, really?”  

She smiled and nodded. “Stay like this for a few moments. The numbing meds I’ve given you might make it a bit hard for you to walk now, so I’d suggest you wait a few more minutes. Also, it would be great if your partner could help you walk.”

“Oh, he wouldn’t leave my side anyway, so that won’t be a problem.”  

Soon she told me I was ok to go and let Chris in. He looked at me with a concerned face. Even though he kept calming me down earlier, he was probably more nervous than I was. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I didn’t even know it was happening, I’m alright.” I smiled and sat up on the chair in order to get up. Chris wrapped his arm tightly around my waist and tried to put all of my weight on him, but it felt like I was able to walk normally, so I wouldn’t let him.  

We walked slowly to our car and Chris opened the door for me. “I should’ve got a ‘brave patient’ badge’.” I said as Chris started the car.  

“I’ll buy you half of the McDonald’s menu for being a brave patient.” Chris smiled.

“Only a half of it?”

“I would buy you the whole restaurant, but I’m a hundred percent sure that in a month you would complain about not fitting into your wedding dress and blame it on me.” He laughed.

When we arrived at the jeweller’s, Chris hopped out of the car and went there to get our wedding bands. They had already been altered, so I didn’t have to go with him. I scrolled through the songs on my phone and played something. When I put my phone back, I looked ahead through the windscreen and saw a photographer taking photos in the distance. I sighed, putting my sunglasses on. The last time we were caught by photographers was the night before Chris’ birthday and that started a shit storm of people against both me and Stella. People were doing everything to find out if there’s any evidence of Chris cheating on her with me. It became so awful, that Chris had to stop having his daily checks of Twitter, because stuff about us was all over it. I actually asked Hannah to release a statement a few days after it all blew up, because I was so sick of the messages and e-mails.

“I have been asked by my client, Emilia Dawson, to release the following statement:  

I have never been overly concerned about details of my private life coming out, because I do like to share some of it with my fans and followers. Unfortunately, now I am forced to share some of the details as for the last few days I have been one of the main topics of conversation on social media platforms and media outlets and both my loved ones and I are tired of it.  

I met my partner in February 2014 at a party thrown by him for some of our fellow Marvel actors. I had only been a part of that cast for a few months and only knew a couple of fellow Brits there. We spent the majority of the next day together as well as the next few weeks, when we were able to take some time off from our commitments.

I am releasing this statement to deny some of the accusations that have apparently been made against me and spread by the media, without being fact checked.

Shortly after meeting my partner, I have been made aware of a break up he went through two months prior to our first meeting, which directly meant that he was a single man. There was also no way anyone had been living in my partner's house in February 2014.

If the rumours that are being spread have a an actual source, other than a very creative mind of a gossip site ‘journalist', I would like it to also release a statement citing reasons for why they would come up with lies like that and spread them.

As I am one hundred percent sure that all of this information is completely false, I would like to say that from this day onwards, every news outlet that shares any of this nonsense, will be sued. If (or when) I win the case, the money will be divided between animal shelters.”

Chris didn’t like the statement or me getting involved in this case at all. But to be honest, he didn’t have much to say – all of the articles portrayed me as a homewrecker and skipped over the fact that it takes two people to have an alleged affair. Although there were some people who wanted to ‘cancel’ him because of this, the majority only looked at my supposed behaviour and called me various names because of it.  

The statement and ‘suit threat’ worked – gossip sites stopped the articles and the only people that couldn’t let this go were some of Twitter users who seemed to just love drama. Chris had messaged Stella, asking to get involved and at least deny the cheating rumours, as ‘we all knew this isn’t true’, but she wouldn’t do that. He said that she was probably just petty, because he didn’t propose to her in the 5 years they dated on and off. More so, he never even suggested they move in together. And it only took him less than two years to propose to me. He always said that it was because it felt like Stella was a bit distant and she wasn’t treating their relationship seriously, so they were both wasting their time until a one day came and he decided that he’s had enough. In my opinion, she was just trying to play hard to get and it went a bit too far.

“I called you,” I heard Chris say as he entered the car. “Don’t tell me you were thinking about that thing again.”

“Maybe,” I murmured, looking down at my phone to discover 3 missed phone calls from Chris. “What did you want?”

“They had a few boxes to choose from and I didn’t know which one you’d like.” He explained showing me the dark green one he picked. “I thought this one would match our theme the most.”

I raised my eyebrow. “We have a theme?”

“We’re getting married in Norway, of course we have a theme.” He laughed. “So, is this one alright?”

“Perfect,” I smiled. “I think our relationship is having a great impact on your taste.”

Chris grinned and started the car. “I know it for sure.” He leaned in to kiss me. His lips captured my lower lip and I moaned lightly as his teeth bit on it lightly.  

“Don’t do that,” I whined. “ We’re supposed to last 4 more weeks without sex.” Chris ignored me and deepened the kiss, his hand travelling to my face to hold me closer.  

“That was your stupid idea,” He murmured against my lips. “The only reason I agreed to this is because you made it into a bet and I’m always willing to participate in a bet I’m sure I’m going to win.”

“We’ve been through one week of sex embargo, we can do 4 more.” I said, placing my hand on his chest and pushing him away gently.  

Chris leaned back on the driver’s seat and sighed. “We’re not even married yet and you’re denying the love of your life sex already.” He said jokingly. I knew he was kidding, because he was as eager to see the outcome of this bet as I was.  

I came up with this when one time were hanging out with our friends in our garden and Scott said that in the nearly two and a half years of our relationship  we’ve had as much sex as a regular couple would have during a lifetime. Somehow that has led to us coming up with the idea of not having sex for 5 weeks before the wedding, which is also the same time we waited until our first time.  

It went on and on for some time, until we arrived at the drive though at McDonald’s and I got busy reading the menu. “Baby, give me a maximum amount of items I can get or I’ll go crazy.”

“Ok, you can get 4 things and that’s including a drink and something sweet,” he said.

I sighed and chose chips, some double burger (because he didn’t specify the size) a cookie and a Coke. Chris quickly drove back home, so I could eat my junk there. Dodger greeted us happily and jumped around us, asking for some loving.  

We all laid down on the couch, in front of the TV. I had my comfort food on my lap and placed my feet on Chris'.  

“So have you decided on our honeymoon destinations?” I asked after stuffing my mouth with chips. “I know mine.” We decided to have a 4-week honeymoon and go to four places and spend a week in each one. Both of us were supposed to choose two places. “I bet it’s someplace cold.”

“Keep up the attitude and it will get colder.” I snapped. “We're going to Iceland and New Zealand.”

“Oh, that’s a jetlag nightmare,” Chris sighed. “I chose Italy and France.”

“That’s so cliché, hubby.”

For the next two weeks we were so busy with wedding preparations that we didn’t even have time for sex, so the bet turned out to be useless. Chris spent one week away in Atlanta, doing additional shoots for Gifted, while Claire and I took care of the finishing touches to the ceremony. We were supposed to fly in 2 days before, to see the preparations and have our bachelorette and bachelor's parties there. Although we invited around 50 people, not all of them were able to attend and the final number was about 40 guests. We rented a few cabins for them in a resort near the spot we were getting married in. Ours was a bit sedated just to make sure we had a bit of privacy for our wedding night.  

I have to say, I was starting to get a little bit nervous and everyone said it was because I haven’t seen the venue or anything, but that wasn’t it. I was nervous because I was getting married to the most eligible bachelor in Hollywood. The purest man of them all. The man who files in early for me, because he knows I’m not feeling well. The man who decides he’ll wait for me to be ready for children, even though he has already waited a long time. He’s changed so much for me and I wanted to repay him.

I knew he wouldn’t even dare to mention it, but I decided to change my name to Emily Evans. I was torn between this and Emily Dawson-Evans, but I figured that if we’re already causing such a stir in the media, we might as well start the Evans clan.

Chris joined me at the airport for our trip to Bergen. He was a little bit tanned from filming, with a new haircut and a groomed beard (although it doesn’t require much grooming). The producers were very lucky that it was a look he wanted to go with for the wedding.  

“Hello, my intended,” He grinned as his arms slipped around my waist to give me a welcome kiss. “How have you been doing this past week?”

He gave me a loving kiss on the lips and then pressed his lips against my forehead. “We’re one plane trip away from being married.”

“It’s a bloody long trip though,” I chuckled. “We’re leaving LA at 1PM and will be in Paris at 9AM European time, then 5 hours at the airport and another 2 hour flight. We’re gonna need to nap a lot.”

“Napping is my second favourite thing to do with you.” He joked.  

Even though we were never fans of this solution, we decided to rent a private jet in order to make the trip as comfortable for Dodger, as we could. We realised that we were spending so much money on the wedding then we might as well treat ourselves and have a nice flight alone to Norway.  

Although Dodger was quite used to travelling by now, he still required some attention during the take off, but was fine once we were allowed to unfasten our seatbelts. As soon as we could, we went to the bed. Dodger laid down next to me, while Chris was behind me squeezing me into his body. He pressed his face into my neck, inhaling my scent. “I can’t believe they’re going to take you away from me right before the wedding.”

“It’s so you can get shitfaced and run away while you still can.” I joked. “And so the girls can ask me about our sex life.”

“Which has been non-existent for the past month?” Chris inquired. “Just tell them that you can never walk normally after we have sex.”

“Why would I lie?” I laughed and my fiancé responded by biting me on the shoulder. “Let's sleep while we can.”

The noise of the engines actually helped us fall asleep, which meant we would avoid a massive jetlag in Europe. The stewardess woke us up before the landing, so we could fasten our seatbelts again. “Have I told you that I might be taking on a new movie and they’re asking me to grow out my hair and a real beard?”  

“You have a real beard already,” I said, imagining him with longer hair and instantly getting excited. “And I love that idea, you should say yes.”  

“Oh, that’s just a stubble.” He mumbled, scratching his hand against his facial hair. “I’m surprised you let me have a beard for the wedding.”

I turned from the window to frown at him. “The only thing I’m ever going to forbid is that stupid idea you had for a white suit for the wedding, honestly. I thought Lisa raised you better.”  

We arrived at the village and were guided to our cabin. All of them were wooden and so simple yet unique. I knew Chris loved them too and was excited about the idea of getting married here even if he didn’t want to admit.  

Before we could settle in there, we heard more cars arrive. Our guests were arriving from different parts of the world.  

The first ones to arrive after us were our closest families. We separated to help them put their luggage in their houses. I spent some time with my mum first and then with my dad.

While they were settling in, Chris and I met up to check out the venue for the first time. Chris came out from his family’s cabin. I waited for him as he walked towards me. He was wearing a plaid shirt, dark jeans and sunglasses. “That is one handsome boy I’m marrying,” I grinned and put my hands in my pockets. “Can’t wait until he has a wedding band on his finger, so other girls know he’s mine.”

He looked around and shrugged. “What girls? I haven’t seen any other girls in almost 3 years, it’s like they disappeared...”

“Oh, you always know what to say, don’t you?” I grinned and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  

“Yeah, I’m like that,” he nodded. “Now let’s see that wedding venue.” Dodger followed us closely and run around the field, sniffing everything.

I took Chris' hand and we marched up the hill. I saw a tree on the edge of the hill, which was decorated with delicate flowers. Its branches were low enough to make it look like some kind of an arch. It was surrounded with dark wooden chairs with flower stalks on them. “Oh God, Chris,” I gasped when I took it all in. “This is so beautiful, so simple... Can we just get married right here, right now?”

“I told you I wanted to elope as soon as you said yes.” he sighed and pulled me toward the tree. I took a closer look at the flowers and stalks and just the whole thing that really looked good altogether. “But I’m really glad we came here to do this.”

I noticed candle stands and flowerbeds waiting to be filled tomorrow. Claire joined us and showed some details. “I know you wanted the ceremony to start at 6pm, but I’d suggest you move it to 6:39, because the sunset will give us a perfect lightning.”

We both agreed. She moved us to the actual venue, which was a bigger cabin with only one, big room inside. All the tables were set already, the walls decorated with lights, plants and more flowers. It was so simple, yet thought through. The roof was completely covered with light that haven’t been lit yet. I was speechless.  

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to enjoy the moment for too long. Our party squad had arrived and they wanted to start our bachelor’s and bachelorette’s right away. We managed to put those off until the rest of our guests arrived.

When we went back to our bedroom, I noticed that our baggage had already been brought in. My dress was hidden in the wardrobe, while Chris' suit was out. Dodger was walking around behind us, sniffing every corner of the room. “Why is it not unlucky for a bride to see her groom's suit?” I wondered, touching the rich fabric of the Gucci suit. The team came in one day and took Chris' measurements to make him the well-tailored suit in front of me. It was black – I was rooting for dark blue, because Chris looks amazing in it, but they decided against it.  

“I have no idea, but it’s probably because men are helpless without women and need their opinions on everything,” he wrapped his arms around my waist and rest his head on my shoulder. “We’re getting married in 30 hours.”  

“Yeah, and they’re trying to separate us for the majority of the time we have left as an engaged couple.”

“We have to get though this,” he cheered. “If we got through 5 weeks of no sex, then we can get through this.”

I sighed, looking out the window and seeing Amy come closer to our house. “I still can’t believe we actually did that.”

Soon enough, there were two crowds of people in our cabin, waiting for us to separate. Neither of us really wanted that. We were a little tired and wanted to continue our nap. “If you don’t do this, we’re going to cancel the whole wedding, tell everyone you’re both crack addicts and can’t make your own decisions.” Sophie said with her arms crossed on her chest, keeping her threatening gaze on us.  

“Whoa, that’s rough.” Adam commented. “We just want to get him shitfaced, not ruin his life.”

Chris was still holding me tightly against his body. We honestly didn’t want to go. He was probably the only reason I was still quite calm, even though I was FUCKING GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW.  

“Guys, how about you give us 30 minutes, huh? We haven’t seen each other in a week and honestly fell asleep the same moment we entered the plane. Give us half an hour and we’re ready to go, alright?” Chris asked. They all agreed to give us some more time, so we laid down on the bed to get some more rest together. Dodger seemed to realise that we needed to be close to each other right now and laid next to Chris’ legs.

“So, if there something you’d like to tell me before we get married?” I asked.

Chris glanced at me curiously, probably surprised by the question. “What do you mean?”

I giggled. “Like, if you ever killed anyone and was too scared to admit it.”

He was visibly relieved and probably thought I was going to accuse him of infidelity or something. “No, nothing like that. I think you should know by now that I’m not like that.”

I turned to lay on my side and look at him. “I know, baby,” I smiled and pressed a kiss against his bicep. “That’s why I’m marrying you. Also, because of your big dick.”

Chris burst out laughing. “Yeah, I mean, good dick is important, right,” he admitted. “So, is there anything you’d like to tell me before I tie myself up to you forever?”

I sat up next to him and snuck my hand under his shirt to scratch he hair on his chest. “I’m changing my name to Emilia Evans,” I smiled. Chris also pulled himself up to face me. “I don’t know if I’m going to use it professionally yet, but I’m definitely changing it legally.”

“Oh my God,” he lit up and wrapped his arms around me. “But you said that you weren’t so sure about this.”

“Well, yeah, but I thought about it and figured that I’m not too attached to my last name and if it’s important to you, I want to do this.” I explained.  

“I can’t believe this,” Chris sighed. I smiled at his excitement and put my hands on each side of his face and pulled him in for a kiss. Chris licked my bottom lip playfully and tackled me down to lay under him. When I was right under him, he pulled away to look at me. “I’m still not entirely convinced it's real life, baby”

“It is, Evans,” I sighed. “It only gets better from here...”

I heard a loud knock on the bedroom door and we knew that our 30 minutes had come to an end. We were soon violently torn away from each other and brought to different cabins for the festivities prepared for us. Amy, Marie and Sophie were the ones who had me for the evening. Scarlett was supposed to join too, but she couldn’t fly in so early with her daughter.

Chris was kidnapped by Adam, Seth, Sam and Tom, who wouldn’t tell him or me where they were going, but I knew that Sebastian, Anthony and Hemsworth were supposed to join them soon.  The girls took me to their cabin, which was meant to be our party spot for the evening.

They were kind enough you hang balloons spelling “Fun is over” above a table full of food and colourful drinks. I noticed that they also prepared some games (obviously). “Emily, this is your last night as a single woman. Sit down and let us entertain you,” They sat me down and took a photo of me holding a drink and sitting under the balloons. “You can post it on Instagram when you decide to let the people know about your wedding.” Amy grinned.

“You can drink all you want, but for every glass of alcohol, we're making you drink a glass of water, so you’re not completely hangover tomorrow.” Mary said, handing me my first mojito of the night. “That’s us being responsible.”

They started off by saying how beautiful they think everything looked and were impressed by how much can be done without even visiting the site before the actual wedding. They all talked about how they want to get married too.  

“I think it’s weird that I never really thought of getting married before I met Chris. Like, I thought of having a fairy tale wedding when I had that crush on Steven in second grade, but I never thought I’d get married before the age of 24.” I took a sip of my drink through a metal straw.  

“Yeah. To be honest, out of 4 of us, I always thought that you'd be the last one to get married,” Amy agreed. “Not that you wouldn’t find a man or anything, I just though you were too independent for this.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Oh, he doesn’t affect my independence in any way. I was worried about that at first, before we talked about our future together, children and stuff, but now it’s all sorted out.” I explained. “I actually got an IUD last month, so he realises that having children isn’t only one missed pill away now, it’s one medical procedure away. He was fine with it.”  

“I’m glad then,” Amy smiled. “You’re strong, but him being 11 years older and stuff, I was afraid he’d maybe try to force you or something. Don’t take this the wrong way, but sometimes when they ask him about having children in the future during interviews, he sounds a bit desperate.”  

I laughed. “Yeah, he does. He really loves children, so I’m not surprised. I just got used to it.”  

“Does he have a breeding kink?” Sophie asked out of nowhere. I nearly choked on my drink and Mary froze with a mouth full of Cheetos. “What? It’s very common.”

“Sophie, that’s surely the most private thing you have asked any of us, ever.” Mary laughed.

“She told us about the time they tried anal!” Sophie yelled.

“Two times.” I corrected. “And I don’t think he has it or at least he’s ever done anything that would resemble it, but that would be kind of hot.”  

“Em, you should know, every smutty game we're going to play was her idea.” Mary sighed. “I’m only in charge of your answers for the newlyweds game.”

“And I’m charge of asking about how big his penis is.” Amy grinned. “You only ever said that it’s big, but that could mean so many things...”

“18 centimetres,” I answered quickly. “By the way, I really hope this isn’t our last night to do immature stuff.”

Mary shook her head. “Of course not, there’s at least 3 more bachelorette parties ahead of us,” she reminded. “And also, what the fuck!? He's 18 centimetres? How do you walk? Harry is 15 and I can barely... wow.”

“Ok, I think we've already established that Chris isn't only well endowed, but also skilled, so it’s not the matter of his length.” Sophie said.  

“Yeah, he’s... do you remember when I spent that night with ??? and I told you that there must be something wrong with me, because I felt nothing, and I literally mean nothing? Like, he was going down on me and I had to take every movement and sound I was making. I was so afraid of our first time with Chris, because it was not only us having sex for the first time, but also me having my first time at all. And it was just incredible, because I didn’t have to fake anything! I was moaning so much that I was afraid he’d think I’m faking.”

“I remember. And I told you that there’s nothing wrong with you, he was just bad at sex. Chris is generous on a daily basis, so he’s also generous in bed.” Mary shrugged, taking another drink.

“What’s the most times he has made you come during one session?” Amy asked.

I sighed. “Well, if he’s well rested and hasn’t been to the gym that day then I cum twice for his one time. If he goes down on me then it, you know, depends on how long he’s willing to do that... or when I start asking him to stop.”

“You have to ask him to stop!?”  

“Yeah, I get oversensitive sometimes.”

Mary sat back on the sofa, looking like she just found out that Santa Claus isn’t real. “You know, I was never jealous about your acting career, because we know that even if you earn more than decent money and have a month off, then it means you worked 18 hours a day for the last two. But for the love of God, you are less than 24 hours away from marrying a man who eats you out until you actually beg him to stop. I’m starting to get jealous.”  

“He has bad qualities too, you know,” I sighed. “He’s very indecisive and, to be honest, he was the one with commitment issues. We had a few months last year, right after we moved in together and before we got engaged when we barely talked, because he felt like we would get tired of each other too soon. Even though he was the one who suggested we moved in together.”  

They ran our of things to ask about our sex life, finally. Although, it was such a random conversation that I actually enjoyed it. They gave me some presents, actually showered me with them. “We have only just realised that half of them is sex accessories, sorry,” Amy shrugged, handing me another box. “Chris will probably enjoy them as much as you will, though.”

After my fourth drink and fourth glass of water, I was a little bit drunk already. “Do you think we will last?” I asked, laying down on the sofa, playing with the flowers in my flower crown.  

“I think Chris is glued to you like my father's nose to his TV.” Sophie said. “If you called him right now, he would be here in a second.”  

“There’s nothing you could ask him that he would say no to. Unless it’s a threesome, I don’t think he would want to share you.” Amy agreed.

“Yeah, but I mean... do you think we will be just another couple that divorces after 5 years? That’s probably what everyone thinks.”

“Who cares? You’re marrying Chris Evans, one of the hottest men on Earth, Captain America, with a big dick attached to him and a great personality, despite being a Gemini!” Sophie explained.  

“A big dick attached to him!” Amy burst into laughter. “That is the best thing ever!”

We stayed up until 2 am, when I decided that I was tired enough to fall asleep without bigger problems. They made me sleep in one of their rooms, so I wouldn’t run back and sleep with Chris.  

The moment I was alone, I texted Chris, asking if he was awake. He called right away. “Hi baby,” he said in a low voice.  

“Wait, you were asleep?” I asked. “You finished your party earlier than we did?”

“Baby, I’m 35,” he whined. “If I want to be alright for a whole day of preparations, a wedding, reception and the whole night of lovemaking, I gotta get some quality sleep.”  

I laughed. “Sure. I just called to check if you’re alright and not in Vegas by now.”  

“Nah, we had a few drinks and talked. Also, I’m ashamed to admit that we did play a few drinking games.”  

“Well, I forgive you. You don’t know any better.” I sighed into the pillow. “Are you nervous?”

“Like hell.” He admitted. “I can't believe this is finally happening. I can't believe it's already been a year since we got engaged.”

I remembered the day we drove to see Loch Ness and he just decided to drop on one knee. I can’t believe it’s been so long since that day. “I’m really glad you almost killed me at that airport.”

“Oh, that’s just exaggerating.”

We talked some more, but mostly just stayed silent, listening to each other's breaths. About an hour in, we decided we had to go to sleep. “I’ll see you at the altar, right?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I can’t wait.” I turned to lay on to my back and stared at the ceiling. “Don’t be late, please.”

“Wouldn't dare, I’m counting seconds until I can finally see you, love.”

----

@daybreak96 @coffeebooksandfandom @smilexcaptainx @betinalunardi @rollinsuh @lily2089 @stella2445 @hy-pocrite @l0rd-disick @beholdoritou @klaussstilinski @achishisha @givenchymercury @just-trying-to-survive-marvel @henry-cavill-gossip-girl @rock-titties @bombsandsparkles @marvel-fan23 @cap-just-said-language @blackaestheticislife @justsomemarvelspam @nerdchester17 @shyofaspark @cssrogersse @crispyearthquakezombie @ultragalaxy @bit-of-a-timelord @kingofallthingsz @morguleth @calicokitkat @areelphony @gemgemswift @donut-crazs @dontchawishyouknewhowtosalsa @kandomeresbitch @deafeningpsychicpandahands @severely-theoretic @chmedic @patzammit @winterssoliderss @metalarmlover @saturnki @coolkimchijoy16 @sammyjammy92 @coolkimchijoy16 @peruvian-bae  @avngersx

[angel-tries-to-write]

Somos da mesma família

After Ruff's complicated childbirth her family has to help her make a new life. Basically a fluff without plot.

A/N: Sorry for any possible mistakes, as you probably know (or not) English isn't my first language ^.^'

Also the title is in Brasilian-Portuguese and it means "we are the same family". I didn't have any better ideas, okay -.-'

It’s also on ao3.

It's been said that the worst childbirth you can go through is your own. Well, Reena would straight up laugh at the person who would tell her that, especially after this night. Her own pregnancy was hard and exhausting, but the labor was simple and easy, as well as not that painful, due to her trainings and high pain threshold. It surely was a bad experience, but not the worst.

However her sister-in-law... that was a whole different story. Starting with a terrible parent material, ending with a body that had completely zero predispositions to give birth. It was a bad idea for her to get pregnant at all, but no one seemed to care. Well, Reena was too absorbed by her own pregnancy to care about the others and even though Ruff knew she was right, no one else listened to her. Besides, Fishlegs wanted children so bad and they were the only members of the gang who didn't have their own kid. Hiccup and Astrid’s daughter was nearly two years old, Snotlout and Heather's boy wasn't much younger, even Tuff was a father already. No wonder Fishlegs was tired of waiting.

Reena sighed, wiping the sweat off Ruffnut's forehead. She should probably come back to her son, but she couldn't leave her sister. A sister she's never had, even though that was technically her husband's sister. They were so close, almost like real sisters, completely different, but still loved each other.

“How is she?” Fishlegs asked quietly, coming into the bedroom. He was mad and embittered that he was kicked out of his own house, from his own wife's side. Even though the women knew better what they were doing. Reena would even let him stay, but Fishlegs' mother as well as Ruffnut's mother made him leave. Besides of all their friends only Hiccup managed to help with childbirth, because Snotlout passed out and Tuffnut didn't manage to come in time, since as he was told, the first labor is always long. Well, Astrid’s and Heather's were, while Reena had a better shaped body that made it quick, so before Tuff finished his work, their son was already born.

“She'll be fine. They all will be” the woman answered, not looking at her friend. She knew he should be grateful he didn't have to see that, since Ruff went through hell that night. Her labor was far from quick and easy, it was long, complicated and very painful. It'll also be traumatic.

“Why didn't you let me in?” Fishlegs asked, caressing his wife's cheek.

“You know why. You weren't mean to be here” was the only answer he heard for the past few hours.

“Don't say that crap again” he scoffed. “Tell me the truth, Katarina” he demanded. Reena winced, she didn't like being called by her full name and everyone knew that.

“It is the truth” she finally looked at him. Her tired, steel grey eyes were full of worry. “The whole thing that happened tonight” she gestured around “it was terrible, it was just too much. I won't be surprised if I'll have nightmares about it. I helped with labors already, I gave birth myself, but I've never had this much trouble. She could've died tonight. As well as your kids.”

“Kids?” the big man was clearly surprised.

“She was carrying twins. She has a twin brother, does it really surprise you that she had two babies?” Reena was slightly amused.

“N-no... well... you had one baby. I didn't think...”

“I think it's actually pretty good for her. Because that's it. You can't have any more children if you want her to live. The next childbirth will kill her” she said very seriously. The risk was high before, now another pregnancy was a straight up suicide for Ruff.

“Was it this bad?” suddenly Fishlegs stopped being mad. He obviously didn't realize it was this serious.

“It was worse than bad. And I'm so grateful I already have a baby, because I would never want to give birth after experiencing all of this” she confessed. “That’s why we kicked you out. To spare you this trauma.”

“Where are the kids? Can I see them?” he asked unsure.

“They're sleeping now. I fed them myself, I have a lot of milk anyway” she answered. Apparently her body was made to have babies, or maybe her son didn't like to eat a lot? Anyway, the fact was that she had enough milk for two, maybe even three babies. Yay for everyone except for her, heavy breasts aren't comfortable at all. Even though the pain was eased every time she could help some poor mother who had trouble with breastfeeding. Like that time when Heather suddenly lost her milk due to stress and Astrid couldn't help her best friend because she didn't have enough milk for two kids, it was Reena who was able to help until Heather could feed her baby herself again. Now she worried she might have to do the same for Ruff, especially if she'll have trauma after the labor.

“Thanks. Will you let me know when she's up? I need to do some things, besides you probably should eat something.”

“I'm not hungry” she shook her head and started to untie her short raven black hair.

“I'm not saying you are, I just say you should eat. You know you should-”

“Thanks. I know what I should” she cut him off. “I'm not really able to eat right now. I'll eat later” she promised. As the chief's daughter she was stubborn and everyone knew already that it was either her way or no way. Just like Hiccup would act sometimes. A chiefs' children trait.

It took a few hours - with one breastfeeding and one quiet fight - for Ruff to wake up. When she opened her eyes she saw her brother sleeping on the chair with his son on his chest. Reena was nowhere to be seen. Ruffnut looked at her twin and sighed. He was such a wonderful dad to his baby boy, he loved him so much and they already had a unique bond. She didn't feel it, despite being pregnant for nine months, she didn't feel close to her child. She hasn't even seen it and she didn't care. Well, she hoped it's alive, because she didn't go through hell for nothing, but she definitely lacked motherly instinct and that wasn't a nice feeling.

The bedroom door opened and Ruffnut saw her wonderful sister-in-law coming quietly in. She was as beautiful as usual and it didn't matter that she had a sleepless night.

“Hey” Ruff whispered, trying to get the woman's attention.

“How are you?” Reena sat down on the edge of the bed and checked her patient's forehead. Fortunately there was no sign of a fever.

“Everything hurts like hell down there, but aside from that I'm fine” the blonde answered quietly. “How did you even do that? I don't want to experience it ever again.”

“You won't if you want to live. Fishlegs knows everything, I told him about the risk. He's been worried sick” the woman looked at her sister-in-law. She was also worried sick.

“Good. He should be happy now” Ruff sighed, shifting her position slightly.

“What about you?” the other woman was concerned about the important things.

“What about me?”

“Don’t you want to see your babies?”

“Babies?” the twin was as surprised as her husband was before.

“You gave birth to twins. Seriously, you didn't feel that you carry more than one baby?” Reena raised her eyebrows, as far as she knew the mother should be able to feel it.

“I didn't care.” Well, that explained a lot.

“Well, do you now?”

“No. Give those babies to Fishlegs, let him worry about everything” Ruffnut really seemed to be indifferent what would happen to her children.

“What?”

“You heard me. I don't want them.”

“Ruff, please-”

“No. I said I don't want them. I never wanted twins, I know how does it feel like.”

Reena listened to it shocked. How twins can be so similar yet so different? Ruff and Tuff had so much in common, yet apparently they had so different approach to parenthood. Tuffnut loved his son deeply from the very first moment he looked at him, she saw that in his eyes. He took care of the baby, especially when his wife was busy. And he wanted to protect him at all cost. Yet his twin sister completely didn't care about her newborn babies. Tuff was such an amazing father, why was Ruff so different?

“Ruffnut” she spoke softly. “Those twins are your children. And they're the only children you will ever have. Do you understand?”

“I don’t care. I never wanted them, I don’t love them.”

“You can learn if you want. It happens sometimes, not every mother loves her child from the very beginning. It's rare and no one likes to talk about it, but it happens” she knew what she was talking about, she was an experienced midwife and a very empathetic woman. “You can learn to love them and if you don't want to do that for them, do it for Fishlegs. You love him, why can't you love his children?”

“I don’t know. I should've married you, we wouldn'thave to care about any stupid kids” she sighed half jokingly. She never hid her interest in both men and women, as well as her slight jealousy of her brother's girlfriend. No, wait, wife. They were married for a couple of months by now, but Ruff kept forgetting that constantly. Heck, she was married herself and even though she really loved Fishlegs, she couldn't forget her former crush on her sister-in-law. Well, that woman was perfect in every inch, no wonder Tuffnut was head over heels over her.

“Well, I like the way it is now” Reena smiled with amusement. She never thought she might end up like this, her father was a chief, after all. She always expected he would arrange her a marriage with some noble chief's son for alliance. She was strongly against it, but that was how it supposed to look like. She could've been salty about it, but she couldn't change anything. Yet everything changed when Tuffnut Thorston stormed in her life, turning it upside down. She saw new possibilities, she fell in love and now she was here, on Berk, a wife and a mother. Something that she always feared, an unpleasant duty, became her dream. No one force her to anything, it was her decision to be with Tuff, to marry him, to have his child. She was free to do anything, if she wanted to leave, she could leave, no one would lock her up and make her stay. But she didn't want to leave and that was the most beautiful thing to her. That she found a man who made her so happy she wanted to be with him forever while staying as tough and proud she always used to be.

“Who would expect, huh? You're a warrior and yet you are a wonderful mother” Ruff didn't hide the slight envy in her voice.

“So will be you.”

“I won't make a good mother. I know it. Just look at Tuff” she gestured to her brother. “He's so good and natural in it, like he was born to being a father. You look at him and you know he loves your son. And I can't compete with that.”

Reena turned her head to look at her dear boys and her own eyes filled with love. It's not like everything was perfect, but Tuff was certainly doing his best to be perfect. Even though he was far from that.

“You don't have to compete with that” she turned her head back to look at Ruff. “I understand that, sometimes even I think I can't compete.”

“You? But you're the best mom ever, so loving and badass, and you didn't stop being a beautiful woman, unlike many women do.”

“Well, they do, because they forget that they're not only mothers. And because kids are very absorbing” she chuckled. “Anyway, yes, even such a wonderful mom can be worried she's not enough, compared to a perfect dad. But look at our friends. Do you remember how impatient was Snotlout to see his child and how terrified he was when he was supposed to hold the baby for the first time? He couldn't stay near his son for weeks, because he was scared of hurting him accidentally. Or Hiccup, he tried so much to be the perfect chief and the perfect dad, that he overworked himself and he nearly forgot that his daughter has also an amazing mother. They fought a lot about it, remember? He was stressed all the time and so was Astrid, she also didn't think she can make a good mother and look at her now. Every one of your concerns is valid, but not necessary. Even those who seem to be perfect have a lot of fear in them.”

“I bet Tuff doesn't” the twin said with a slight sarcasm.

“Then you're wrong, sis” came the deep, raspy voice from Tuffnut, who was no longer asleep. The baby on his chest also stirred, but fortunately didn't wake up. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just overheard some things.”

“It's okay” Reena smiled, looking at her husband with loving eyes. She adored that voice also she couldn't imagine more beautiful view than the one in front of her.

“Get a room, you two” Ruffnut rolled her eyes, looking at two lovebirds. They were worse than Hiccup and Astrid sometimes.

“We'll get a room when we want” snapped Tuff, he's changed and matured a lot, but not quite, especially when he was around his sister. “But you know what's your problem? You're overthinking it. Sis, you can perfectly take care of dragons and you can't take care of your babies? They're easier than dragons.”

“Easy to say, you didn't make twins.”

“Yet.”

“What was that supposed to mean?” Reena raised an eyebrow. “What if I don't want more kids?”

“I know you do, love. Maybe not now, but in a year or two. Astrid is thinking about it already. Besides, I don’t want to be worse than them and have only one kid while they have two and at the first try.”

“Haven't you heard, brother dearest, that it was the only try?”

“Well then, you should be grateful. For now you're better than me” Tuff admitted, closing his eyes again.

“I'll go tell Fishlegs you're awake. He wants to see you so bad” Reena stood up and left the room.

After a moment of silence, Ruffnut spoke.

“Tuff?”

“Ye?”

“I'm scared.”

The man opened his eyes and looked at his sister. Then he slowly stood up, careful not to wake his son up and moved to the bed.

“Me too. I'm scared all the time that something might happen to Reena or our son. Or that I'll do something terribly wrong and therefore I'll lose them. Last night I was scared I might lose you” his grey eyes looked deeply in the blue ones. “I know we wanted to kill each other more times than we can count, but we can't pretend we don't love each other. We can act as if we never cared, but the truth is that we do care about each other. We just needed to understand that.”

“Why do you tell me that?”

“Because if you try, you'll understand that you already love your babies. Even though you say you don't. You can take care of them, besides, you have Fishlegs. Stop thinking, start feeling. It helped me, it'll help you.”

Ruffnut looked at her twin clearly impressed. When did he change from her irresponsible idiot brother to this grown-up man? Tuff she knew would never do or say something like that, he would only laugh at her. Not that she complained, it was a very good change. Reena seriously did a hella good job, she brought the best out of him, that must've been Tuffnut she's seen all the time whenever someone asked why such a wonderful woman is married to the biggest idiot Hooligans know. She'd seen in him what no one else had seen. Now Ruff could see that too. She didn't have a chance to reply somehow, because the door burst open and Fishlegs stormed inside, holding a small bundle in his arms. Her child.

“I was so worried about you, cutie pie” the big man sat down on the bed when Tuff stood up.

“I'll be fine” his wife answered, forcing a small smile. Reena, like the expert she was, opened the chest that was standing by the bed and took some pillows from inside, then closed it, all with one hand and one foot. Her other hand was occupied by the baby she was holding. Ruff's other child.

“Try to sit up, I'll put these behind your back so you'll be able to sit comfortably” she ordered. With a little help from Fishlegs and only a little pain, they succeeded. “Now you may take your son” she carefully placed the baby she was holding in its mother arms.

“Take also our daughter” Fishlegs put the baby next to her brother.

Ruffnut felt a twitch in her heart as she looked at her twins. She never expected she'd ever seen something like that. Her own babies. She wasn't so sure if she really doesn't care about them.

“I will” she said, looking up at Reena. “I will learn to love them.”

Another A/N: I wasn't really sure if I should even post it, because a) there's no Hiccstrid, they're only mentioned, b) my ships are not your ships, c) my OC is not your OC. In general I was afraid that you might not agree with what I created, but in the end I decided "screw that". Fanfiction is about different points of view, new characters, new ideas. You don't have to agree with it and that's okay. There's only one thing I ask for: don't be salty on my OC, I love her so much and she's so complex character, I tried to show it here. Also don't hate me for ooc Tuff, though with that I can live ^.^'

[rusticpumpkin-blog]

Beyond Love | Paul Lahote | 5 |

A Paul Lahote love story.

(This takes place 2 years after the end of breaking dawn pt 2)

|Previous|----|Next|

The next day I didn’t have work and thanks to the fact that Charlie was pulling a double looking for whatever was killing the girls I was stuck inside the house.

Not that I really minded it was absolutely pouring. Charlie said for late September it wasn’t normal but considering how often it did rain I was willing to call that bluff.

It would be a lie if I said I hadn't been keeping my phone in hand waiting, wanting to get a text or call from Paul that It didn’t look like I was going to get considering it was nearly 7 in the evening and still not a sound. I had put the number he gave me before when we first met into my contacts list so I would know it was him calling. I was sitting there trying to convince myself not to call him. That he would call me if he wanted to.

And he did want to right?

Stop it.

Don’t be stupid and overreact you know EXACTLY what he’s doing.

He will get ahold of you when he has time.

… one text to see if everything's ok won't hurt though…

I sent it before I had time to talk myself out of it. Just a sweet and simple.

-is everything ok? ~Kat

I sat there for a solid 10 minutes with nothing so I just sighed and turned back to watching ghost adventures reruns.

Was it stupid that I felt like this? Why in the hell do I miss him so much?

About an hour later I was half asleep and bundled in an oversized fleece blanket and somehow the cold was still able to creep in and keep me barely awake. I was startled when my phone vibrated in my hand.

-Yeah everything's fine, do you have plans tonight?

I smiled at the message snuggling deeper into the blanket before replying that I didn’t have plans and I was even surprised myself when I asked if he wanted to chill and watch tv or something.

-Definitely, I’ll be there soon.

After I got that message I kind of realized the situation I’d put myself into. Paul’s coming over, I invited him over for what pretty much sounded like Netflix and chill. That wasn’t him being an overbearing asshole that was ME offering. Me?! I’d never asked any guy to do anything but here I was freaking out and tripping up the stairs to the bathroom.

I don’t think I’ve ever showered that quick in my life, I didn’t know I could wash my hair, body and shave in under 10 minutes but I sure as hell did! It took me longer to put on lotion and pick out what I wanted to wear than it took me to shower. Like it really mattered. I was sitting there trying to decide between track shorts and leggings with a tank top or an oversized t-shirt.

I heard my phone ringing downstairs and that made the choice for me Shorts and oversized t-shirt it is then. I hurried downstairs to answer the phone it was Paul who was calling me. “Hey sorry I was upstairs.” I apologized before he had time to speak.

“You’re fine, I just wanted to stop and grab some pizzas. What kind do you like?” He asked. “I’m not really a picky eater Charlie always grabs whatever the special is that day and I’ve never not liked anything if you're talking about the pizza place downtown in forks.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, alright you want something to drink?” He asked. “You don’t have to go out and buy anything we have a pop here.” I offered. “Yeah because I want Charlie on my ass for drinking his pop, he’s already giving me a hard time about you.” He scoffed jokingly but I paused for a second Charlie is a cop. What if he doesn’t like the idea that I’m under 18, is it really a good idea for Paul to be over here?

“A hard time?” I asked the concern evident in my voice because he reacted quickly tripping over his words. “No not like that, he just picks at me with the others. If he really had a problem I’m sure you would know about it.” He muttered before I heard him talking in the background to order the pizza. “I’ll be there in like 20 minutes.” He said. “Alright, see you.” I sighed before ending the call.

I couldn’t shake it though. I mean in less than 2 months I’ll be 18 so I’m able to make my own choices but I AM technically still a minor and Charlie IS a cop. I don’t want him to think that he has to do anything about it… I mean Paul and I aren’t even a thing really. I just like him a lot, no matter how stupid that may be. As long as he’s not lying he likes me too and when two people like each other things can happen.

It's not like I haven’t been thinking about it, I mean I’ve been thinking about a lot of things that I’ve never really thought about before. Now I felt bad for thinking those thoughts at all… a little.

Part of me (probably the hormonal teen part) didn’t give a shit. A very large portion of my just wanted to make out with Paul. The other more reasonable part knew that wasn’t really the best idea… not yet anyway.

It didn’t make sense, I want to be smart and not get hurt. I don’t really know him and the first ‘date’ we had was a fucking disaster! It was horrible I spent the night in jail! I didn’t even do anything! Here I was not even thinking about anything like that and just being excited about him coming over.

God I’m so dumb.

I jumped at the knock on the door even though it was around the time Paul said he was going to be here. I answered it to a soaked to the bone Paul using his coat to shield a stack of Pizza boxes and holding a bag of two leters that I took from him and lead him inside.

His hair was down covering his eyes and the shirt he had on clung to him like a second skin. It revealed all of the muscles that I remembered seeing on the night I met them.

“Sorry.” He said being the first one to speak. “For what?” I scoffed as he flipped his hair back splashing me with the rainwater and making me laugh. “Taking so long, but we’ve got to catch whatever out there.” He sighed as I walked past him towards the steps. “going to grab you a towel and some sweatpants you’ve got to be freezing.” I said before he had the chance to ask me where I was going.

“So why did you buy 5 Pizzas?” I asked as he came back from getting changed I was right in thinking that my old sweatpants would fit him fine and he looked much more comfortable in those than those wet clothes that now tumbled in the dryer.

“I wanted to make sure Charlie had something to eat when he got home.” He said sitting on the couch next to me and pulled the stack close to him and flipped open the top box. “Are those pickles?” I asked looking at the pizza as he picked up as still hot looking slice his face clearly excited. “I asked for the special, it was Bacon cheeseburger.” He said before taking a bite as I reached over and picked up a piece for myself.

“They didn’t even use pizza sauce.” I scoffed not that it tasted bad, it actually tasted very good the sauce was a mix of what tasted like ketchup, mustard and mayo. They had hidden chunks of ground beef, onion, tomatoes and bacon under a thick layer of cheese it was literally a bacon cheeseburger in pizza form.

It was fucking delicious and genius. “Charlie would love this.” I said through a mouthful of food Paul nodded in agreement as we sat there and pigged out on pizza. I got up and poured us each a glass of the pop that Paul had bought and put the rest in the fridge. I came back to the living room to see him opening the second box of pizza eagerly before literally scarfing a piece down in a bite and a half.

“Are you even tasting it? Jeeze slows down no ones going to take it from you.” I scoffed handing him his cup for him to turn it up and down it at once. “Sorry I’m just a big eater.” He said before burping obnoxiously loudly and I couldn’t help but laugh as I reached for another piece of pizza myself and scooting back into the couch.

“So have you guys found out whats killing those people?” I asked he just shrugged not looking at me. “We know what it is just haven’t found it yet. Bastards fast.” He muttered through a mouthful of food before getting up and grabbing the whole 2 letter from the fridge.

“What it is? Charlie thought it was a serial killer or something, I told him it was probably aliens.” I said making him laugh as he took a large gulp so that he almost spat it out of his nose but he was able to stop himself only to bust out laughing so hard that he fell off the couch.

I was kind of in awe if that made sense, even though I was laughing at something about his laughter made me so happy. “It wasn’t that funny, it could be an alien you know.” I said faking offense. “Well I mean I guess.” He cried whipping off his eyes and seemingly making himself comfortable leaning his back against the couch.

“You know you never told me where you’re from.” He said, yeah way to change the subject Paul. “I’m from Florida, but don’t change the subject what do you think it is?” I asked. “Woah, Florida like northern Florida or like Orlando and stuff?” He asked completely ignoring the question and not looking at me. “In between.” I said. “So like did you go to universal and Disney all the time?” He asked a lot more interested than he should be about some theme parks. “A few times but they’re way too expensive and I was too fat to ride the rides. Now stop avoiding the question what do you think is killing those hikers?” I asked annoyed with his avoidance.

“Well, I know exactly what doing it but I’m not really allowed to say but that’s beside the point what do you mean you couldn’t ride the rides?!” He answered and avoided the question at the same time. “What why aren’t you allowed to say?” I asked confused. “I mean they are open investigations not really allowed to say.” He shrugged suddenly way too interested in the commercial that was playing at the moment.

“Charlie had no problems talking to me about it last night, and you know how uptight he is with the rules at work.” I said. “Yeah and he’s the police chief. I’ll get into trouble if you find out whats doing it.” He said phrasing the words weirdly and doing nothing but making me more curious. “So you know it's not a person.” I said thoughtfully. “Kat.” He sighed whining a little at my attempt to guess.

“Because it’s a fucking alien and the government won't let you tell me.” I said faking suspicion. “Totally.” He smirked rolling his eyes. “So what does Charlie have you do? Are you like actually hunting this thing down or just looking for more victims?” I asked. “We hope we can get him, but more often than not we end up finding another person.” He sighed sounding almost deflated at the fact and I mean I’m not a part of that so I don’t understand how he would feel. Looking for a bad guy and only finding more innocent bystanders in pieces probably would be disheartening.

“Its got to be hard on the dogs being out in rain like this looking.” I sighed and Paul looked at me confused and terrified.

“What?” He asked his voice cracking slightly. “The dogs, Charlie said that you guys had dogs out looking.” I said confused as to why he acted so weird about it.

“Oh yeah… those dogs…”  he said nodding. “You don’t have a dog? He said that’s why you were helping.” I said confused because someone was lying about it. “Uh who me? No, I um, I don’t have a dog… Sam, he- he has a dog.” Paul stuttered horribly threw the explanation and I didn’t buy a word of it.

My face clearly said so too. “Kujo loves running around outside don’t worry about him.” He said waiving the conversation away. “So what you guys just go out in the woods looking for this thing?” I asked confused.

“Yes? Were really good a hunting, tracking that sort of thing. We’ve come close a couple of times to catch it.” He said making more sense than he did before. “Oh, well why would Charlie make a big deal about one dog?” I scoffed still not quite getting it.

“Yeah, why he would mention anything like that is beyond me.” Paul sighed…

“So whats the east coast like?” Paul asked about an hour later as we sat on the couch cross-legged facing each other knee to knee. We’d been playing 20 questions. Up until now it had just been stupid things like favorite colors, he was blue. Favorite bands, he loves classic rock AC/DC is his favorite with a close tie to Lynard Skynard and Metallica. Favorite foods, he loves quick easy things to make and take out because he doesn’t really know how to cook. Silly little things but it was fun and I enjoyed getting to learn the little things about him.

“The town where I’m from is very old and historic so rich old white people make sure things are as uppity as possible.” I scoffed rolling my eyes. “I mean it's nice but not as relaxed if that makes sense.” I said he nodded as I thought of the question I wanted to ask him.

“If you could go anywhere but here where would you want to go?” I asked. He looked a little confused by the question. “Would it be too cheesy if I said where ever you go?” He scoffed and I nodded rolling my eyes but unable to keep the smile off of my face. “I mean I like it here, this place is my home.” He shrugged. “My people are here.” He added. And that made sense. “A trip to LA sounds fun or maybe someplace cool like new Orleans or something.” He shrugged. I looked at him expectantly because it was my turn to ask a question.

“Why did you come to our little peninsula?” He asked. I paused not really thinking that he would ask something like that but I had to answer. “Uh my family- they uh. There was a car accident and um Charlie was the only person I have left.” I said struggling to not get to the point of where I break down, tonights going too well for me to ruin it with something stupid like that.

“Oh sorry for bringing it-.” He started to apologize. “Don’t be Paul really, it's not like I broadcast it for people to know.” I said forcing a smile. “Still leave it to me to kill the good vibes.” He sighed rubbing the back of his head gripping the hair there. “I need a haircut.” He muttered to himself and I thanked him for changing the subject.

“It's not that long.” I scoffed reaching forward and running my hands through the mop on his head dark straight thick hair that reached a little past his ears. “but it gets too hot when I’m working.” He mumbled and seeming to relax towards where I was running my hand through the front of his hair smoothing it back out of his face.

“I could cut it for you.” I offered knowing Charlie had a pair of clippers in the bathroom upstairs with all the guards in them. “You can cut hair?” He asked. “I always used to cut my brothers and all of his friends hair. I’m pretty good at it.” I scoffed. “Sure.” He said standing up and offering me a hand. “Right now?” I scoffed. “Why not it's not like we're really watching this show anyway.” He shrugged and he wasn’t entirely wrong.

So about 10 minutes later he was sitting in a chair in the kitchen a couple of towels over his shoulders as I sorted through the kit. “So what am I doing? Just taking it all off?” I asked. “Whatever you want.” He offered. “It's your hair, not mine.” I said pointedly as I tied my hair up in a bun on the top of my head. “Yeah but you’re the one who has to look at it so do whatever you want to it.” He said.

“The only thing I can do besides a fade is an undercut.” I mumbled. “An undercut it is then!” He said enthusiastically.

“What do you think?” I asked holding my phone up for him to use it as a mirror. “Dude!” He exclaimed surprised and pleased as he turned his face side to side examining his hair. “I told you I knew how to.” I said as I started sweeping up the mess of hair on the floor. “I mean this is really good!” He said happily running his hand over his scalp.

After cleaning up and putting everything away we made our way back to the living room and were both messing around on our phones sitting shoulder to shoulder. I started watching random videos on youtube mostly DIY Halloween decorations only because one was on my recommended feed and then it spiraled into the both of us watching the videos commenting every once in a while about one we thought was cool or stupid with his chin resting on my shoulder to easily see my phone screen.

It was so natural it was weird. Like we’d done this hundred of times thousands and this was another normal night it was so relaxed. He would move with me when I needed to get more comfortable leaning on me a little more each time not that I minded the weight, he was warm and despite all the muscles he was soft and made of cuddle material.

I didn’t remember the point where I actually fell asleep.

[ryuichichan]

Call Me Souji

“This is a bad idea.” “Oh, really? This seems to like the best idea I’ve ever had.” “And that’s saying something…” Okita grinned at your remark, but continued down the hill which, according to him, led to a small lake. Princess Sen hadn’t mentioned anything about a lake, but then again why should she? Okita just wouldn’t stop talking about how much he wanted to swim and insisted that it was already warm enough and you shouldn’t worry. Despite his reassurings you were highly against it, it was true that it had started to become warmer, but you were barely into the first days of spring, hardly a time to go swimming, especially for a sick person. And yet whatever reasons you put forward he didn’t care about them one bit.

It had been just two months since you left the Yukimura village; you decided that you couldn’t bare to live in a place that held so many painful memories, old and new, and after Okita healed from the side effects of being a Fury, you decided to look for someplace else. The only thing you thought of was contacting Princess Sen and, eventually, that’s what you did. She was more than thrilled to see you and after telling her all that you had been through she herself suggested that you stay in her village. There were complications, however, with Okita being a human, but since Sen was the princess no one dared to oppose her directly. Still, she couldn’t go against all laws and was forced to give you a small house in the outskirts of the Yase village; you didn’t mind at all, you were just grateful you had a place to live in and as for Okita, he was simply happy that you had the place for yourselves without any “demon eyes glaring daggers” as he phrased it.

You spent your days taking care of Okita and making him have the proper rest he had always deserved; it was not that much different than what you did for him before, but now he listened to every word you said, for the most part, he rarely went against anything that you were doing for his health, although he often distracted you with kissing, hugging and other things that prevented you from doing anything at all and despite you loved every single touch of his hands and every kiss that found your lips, you tried your best to limit those kind of distractions until Okita felt at least a little bit better, something he wasn’t in the slightest bit happy about. The lake was there sure enough. It was rather small, with a tall cliff on the other side instead of a shore, that was throwing a big enough shade to cover the whole lake; you had not doubts that the water was going to be cold. Okita, on the other side, didn’t seem to share your concerns as he turned to look at you, his gleaming with the excitement of a little kid. “Please… it’s not even that warm yet,” you said in a desperate act of protest. “You need to--” “Honestly, Chizuru,” he said tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, his eyes locked on yours with an expression rather too intense for you to be able to say anything “whenever you’re around me I feel anything but cold… so don’t worry!” He grinned after those words and his expression was back to normal, but despite that youcouldn’t suppress the strong shiver that shot through your body; Okita laughed at the sight of you and planted a quick kiss on your forehead. 

You realized that whatever you could say it just wouldn’t change his mind, so you decided you just had to make him change his mind. But to do that, first you had to play his game.

Okita took off his shirt, remaining only with his loose hakama and turned around for your reaction. Naturally, you couldn’t help but blush at the sight of him suddenly half-naked in front of you, so that just put him in an even better mood. You found yourself perplexed, as per usual, when these things happened; you loved more than anything to see him in such high spirits, but it just so happened that the things that made him so happy, more often than not, were actually bad for him. You sighed and prepared yourself for a battle in which was hardly possible to emerge as a victor, but you had to try your best. Okita was already in the lake, throwing you glances while splashing around looking almost like a child whose parents had finally let him play in the water. “Chizuru, it’s kind of cold… are you just going to let me freeze here?” he said those words jokingly, but waved his hand when a frown quickly split your face. “Don’t give me that face, I’m just joking, the water is perfectly fine.” Okita seemed to think you had no intentions of getting into the water, and usually he’d be right, but the time called for desperate measures. You couldn’t play the game without following his rules and when usually they assured his victory, this time you decided to turn them against him. Okita was lying peacefully in the water, his eyes watching the sky, as you started taking off your kimono; at first your mind went so far as to wanting go without any clothes at all, but you immediately dismissed that thought and stayed with just your kimono slip which was pretty transparent anyway. You took a deep breath and moved toward him; Okita seemed to have not noticed anything until you were already knee deep into the lake - he jumped at the sounds of the splashing water and his eyes fell directly on you. The sheer surprise that appeared on his face was next to anything you had seen from him so far and it cost you a lot not to burst into laughter; you managed to keep a straight face, however, and a rather unreadable one or at least so you hoped. Okita didn’t move an inch as you made your way through the water making ripples on the surface. “Chizuru,” he practically breathed out those words and you felt a smile tug on the corner of your lips. You had managed to find a way to make him speechless in the same way he left you without words after one of his looks or kisses. Words for Okita were his weapon as much as his sword used to be, so his reaction meant he was left completely defenseless. You put a hand on his chest and he shivered; then allowing yourself to smile just a bit, you threw him a triumphant glare. “You’re such a liar, Okita,” you said. “The water is freezing cold. Come on, let’s get out now.” “But, Chizuru, please stay for a bit like that with me… please?” He was practically begging you, even the tone of his voice sounded like he was ready to do anything just so you’d stay, but that wasn’t about to happen. “No.” “Just let me--” he didn’t finish but instead reached out for your face and much to his surprised you pulled away, leaving his hand to hang in the air. “If you want to kiss me, if you want to as much touch me, you’re going to have to get out of the water.” You hastily turned around, but started walking towards the shore with small and steady steps, a big grin playing on your lips. Your foot had just touched the grass on the shore when you felt two hands grab you from behind spinning you around. Okita was staring down at you with a wolfish grin on his face and a studying look in his eyes. “If someone were to tell me that little Chizuru-chan would one day try to seduce mе I wouldn’t have believed them for the life of me,” he said slowly, shifting his arms so he could have a better grip on you. “But here I am, surprised and seduced. But you’re gonna have to take responsibility for that now.” “I don’t--” Okita didn’t let you finish, sealing your lips with a kiss; it was a devouring kiss, one that sent shivers all over your body and leaving a tingling sensation everywhere his hands touched your skin. Okita pressed his body to yours and you fell on the ground with a thud, but he didn’t react. The heat of his body was easily felt through the thin fabric and you felt as if it was spreading through to you. You wrapped an arm around his neck and let the other run through his hair; it was getting harder and harder to breath and you felt like your heart was going to burst, but you couldn’t stop and didn’t care either, having Okita so close to you could easily make you forget any thought you might have had. “Okita…” you said in between kisses. “Call me Souji,” he whispered before his lips went down your jawline to your neck. “Souji,” you sighed his name into his ear and you felt him smile. At last, he pulled back and it was his turn to look at you triumphantly. “When you say it like that I can’t not to kiss you, you know,” he said with a mischievous smile on his lips . “Okay, Chizuru… I congratulate you, you almost won this one, seems like I have been a good influence on you.” “I think it’s fair to call it a draw.” Souji laughed once again, giving you a quizzical look. “You think so?” “Well, you are, technically, out of the water.” “But practically, not really.” “You just don’t want to admit your defeat.” “Defeat?!” he exclaimed dramatically and rolled his eyes in disbelief. “This is only slightly close to a draw, Chizuru.” You breathed out a sigh in his face making the fallen strands of his hair fly around. “This is not the kind of sigh I want to hear.” “Well, that’s too bad then.” Souji placed both of his arms on the ground just to lift himself up to look at you, his eyes were studying every part of your face and his expression slowly transformed from a teasing grin into a smile full of affection. “Man, the things you do for love…” “I’m glad you can see that at least.” He snorted and planted a kiss on your forehead. “Fine, let’s go. I’m going back to bed and not leaving it… granted you’re there with me.” “And where else would I be…? Souji.” You quickly turned around and started walking off, it wasn’t long before you heard Souji racing’s steps, he clasped his hand with yours urging you to stop. “I can’t say I’m not enjoying seeing you in this outfit,” he said sizing you up “ but if you were to catch a cold as well things would be rather bad.” You blushed in shame realizing you were still wearing only a kimono slip. Souji burst into a loud laughter, but then was quick to help you in your clothes being rather too touchy, not that you minded. Souji later said that he really wouldn’t leave the bed on the condition that every time you said something you added his name to the sentence. It was silly, but the reactions that elicited from him made it absolutely worth it.

For anynone that’s interested I have an AO3 where I’ve posted all of the Hakuouki fics I’ve written so far, so feel free to check it out!