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lifewithdavefarts · 3 years

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DaveFarts - Episode 13 “When She Finally Leaves” [Episode List] Dana spends the whole day at Dave’s place. When the girl leaves, Tim, who’s now Dave’s roommate, finds out how much gas a man can hold in just to not look gross in front of a girl.

When She Finally Leaves

In the last few weeks I’ve been spending more and more nights at Dave’s place, whether because I needed a place to work, write my essays, or simply to spend some quality time watching bad films and drinking beer. It was Dave himself to ask me to “marry him” (as he jokingly put it), basically becoming official roommates, which also meant dividing our tasks and obviously splitting the rent.

And honestly we were having a great time. We both had jobs, fortunately, which were not much but they did pay taxes for now and it was overall a great experience. Friend or not, Dave is an excellent roommate, being pretty good at cooking and organising chores; the same could be said for me actually, though in some cases we have our own preferences; for example Dave prefers cooking (the fact that I’m bad at it it’s purely coincidental) so we agreed I’ll be the one doing the dishes.

We also had our buds crashing over what is now *our* place a couple of times, which resulted in more bad films and beer, or even nerd stuff such as gaming together. Of course however, the person who most often came over is obviously Dana, Dave’s girlfriend. She’s pretty cool though we don’t really hang out with her when Dave’s not around, though as I said she’s pretty easy-going.

Tonight we’ve been watching a trash movie. Yes, the three of us. Don’t worry, I was a welcome addition today. Dave would usually just tell me to leave for a few hours if sex was on the table (sometimes literally on the table, the one where we eat our food…) as we respect each others enough to just be straightforward whenever we needed some privacy. Tonight however it was just chilling like three friends hanging out together (knowing however that Dave would just give me a signal should things get more heated up you know).

We were in the living room. I was on an armchair, working on my laptop, despite the poor wi-fi. On the long wide couch beside me, Dave and Dana chilling and watching the movie with more attention than me, my bud’s left arm around his girlfriend, sometimes making remarks on how bad it was. We all had a can of beer, because of course we did.

The couple brought some takeouts for dinner, some fast-food a few blocks from here (Dana’s idea, actually, which we were both thankful for). Dave, chilling next to Dana, was wearing his signature casual outfit: a grey shirt and pair of dark blue loose jeans, details that my gay-ass eyes immediately noticed and more than once stared at.

“Oh wow the helicopter just blew up I’m speechless.” Dave said, sarcastically.

“A Subversive Masterpiece: that’s what they were going for when they wrote this.” Dana added, and they both chuckled.

I also did my fair share of sarcastic remarks though work got most of my attention, even though it was nothing urgent, just me trying to get some stuff done as fast as possible.

“Did the shark just wink at him?” my bro commented.

“They’re best friends now.” his girlfriend explained. What a great film.

After 15 more minutes the movie ended with the three of us clapping at a shot of a man and a shark exchanging a look of gratitude to each other, as the Sun set into the never-ending ocean. Drugs played a big role into the making of this move I’m 100% sure.

“Well, that was enlightening, but I gotta head back home. The Uber’s almost here.” Dana said, as she got up and reached for her purse and some other stuff.

“You’re really sure about that? Come on, stay here for the night.” Dave suggested. “I taught Tim to play dead. We can throw food at him.” he then joked.

“I can also bring you the newspaper upstairs, tomorrow morning.” I played along.

Dana chuckled in response. “I’m sure you’ll win the next contest you two, but I gotta wake up super early tomorrow.”

The couple walked towards the front door. The entrance was next to the living room, a few steps behind the couch. Dave and I sometimes darkly joked that any assassin could easily ambush us because whenever we’re on the couch anyone could sneak into the house behind us, with enough care (we then prefer to drink about it).

“Call me when you get home.” Dave said and the two shared a quick kiss.

In the meantime I moved on the bigger (and more comfortable) couch, more or less in Dana’s spot, as I also have better wi-fi reception there. I left my laptop on the small table in front of me because apparently all of my laptops have to be shitty and take some time to even the most basic stuff. As I inspected the wi-fi icon flashing on the screen, I heard Dave shutting the door and walking back to the couch. After a few steps his tall figure was already towering over me.

“Yeah the reception is pretty bad lately.” he commented, and then collapsed next to me.

Only a few seconds and he already had that well-known smirk drawn on his face; he then quickly adjusted his position. He completely laid down, extended his demin-clad legs, with his left one resting on the back of the couch, ending right behind my neck. In a moment, Dave ended up showing off his loose, almost-sagging jeans-clad ass directly next to me, as his legs trapped me into a gentle yet strong grip. Seeing both that “wall” made of jeans and my bro’s smirk at the same time was a sight I never truly got used to. He was just lying there, next to me, with his ass pointed at me, as if it was one big prank, even though he knew exactly how much I enjoyed that.

“Bro you’re ready?” he asked, still sporting that smirk.

When even Dave goes as far as asking me if I’m ready, then I knew that the fart was going to be gargantuan. And I realized why: Dana has been with us and my bro the entire day, so it’s possible that Dave just held all of his gas in for hours. We all experienced this, then when the girl leaves, men get to “relax”. Other than that, Dave had tons of beer and junk food. I stared at that denim butt, for the first time almost scared of what my bud was capable of; I knew a fart was coming, and I knew it was going to be big.

But what Dave said next really once again confirmed how chill he is around me.

“Believe me: you might want to get closer for this one.” he said, laughing a bit.

He sported weirdly reassuring smile, Dave’s millionth attempt at saying “It’s ok, Tim.” as he probably noticed now nervous I became when he assumed that pose.

The teasing bastard then went full bully on me and simply reached for my head with his long right arm and gently pulled me down, as if I was bowing to that still silent denim-clad ass. I just heard him laugh like an idiot, as it usually happens. Despite my head being down and in front of that ass, I could still see Dave’s face and that smirk. He raised his eyebrows and half-closed his eyes as he started pushing, but he didn’t need to put all that effort into ripping that blast.

It’s like the fart was barely contained in the first place: it immediately exploded with a loud sound right into my face. Dave closed his eyes and kept his smirk as the blast probably surprised him as well. It was low-pitched and dry, a completely natural gas-eruption that sounded like an engine. The stench was unbearable, a mixture of beer and junk food, surprise to no one.

While farting, Dave adjusted his position as bit, spreading his legs bit more, with my face getting almost planted into that denim-clad butt as he effortlessly kept ripping that immense flatulence. Hours and hours of gas being erupted as if I was in front of a dormant volcano that just woke up. And I feared that “hours” was what he was going for ‘cause after 20 seconds the fart didn’t even lose power.

Dave still had this smirk drawn on his face and occasionally stared down at me as he completely destroyed my face and nose with his incredible farting skills, skills that constantly let me speechless, fetish or not. He was the fart master, a showoff with a manly talent that I could only bow to and endure in the hop-

“Sorry, I forgot my house keys.”

The fart immediately stopped and it all went silent: It was Dana.

Dave turned his head to his girlfriend, greeting her with the stupidest smile you can think of.

“Oh stay there no worries, they’re right here.” I heard Dana say as she reached for keys, probably hanging right next to the door, my face still almost planted in my friend’s denim ass. That felt surreal.

I completely froze (not that I could move) but I knew that she couldn’t see me (just like I couldn’t see her) as I was lying down. All she could see from where she was standing was Dave’s head and his right leg resting on the back of the couch, since the entrance was behind our couch.

I was terrified, while Dave was doing his best not laugh like an idiot.

“What’s so funny?” Dana asked, laughing a bit herself, definitely noticing her boyfriend being weird.

My teasing bro quickly glanced down at me, almost losing it (and still holding holding the fart in, which didn’t stop the smell from burning my nostrils).

“N-nothing’” he stuttered. That’s it, he was gonna laugh like an idiot.

“Okay” I heard Dana, not really convinced of the boyfriend’s answer though.

There was a moment of awkward silence and then we heard a car honk, thank goodness.

“Oh… it’s my Uber. Bye!” the girl said, quickly leaving the house and shutting the door behind her.

Another moment of silence followed, Dave still staring at the entrance. I was shaking, I was legitimately scared that someone was gonna find out, which was weird given the hotness I was experiencing in that moment, even without the fart being ripped.

“Ok… where were we?” Dave asked, turning back to me, with a smirk. “Oh yeah!”

And he effortlessly resumed farting, just as loud, proud and powerful as it was before the interruption, directly into my face. The terror I experienced moments before was blown away by that incredibly blast and me being rock-hard, as it usually happens when Dave showoffs his gassy talent around me, or on me.

Dozens of seconds passed and at this point Dave just played along. He nodded at me, faking a serious expression, as if he was listening to something actually interesting instead of his own loud fart still going on strong; after about ten more seconds he checked the time on his wrist-watch and acted surprised, then stared down at me as if he wanted to say “damn that is long!”. We both however actually lost the track of time and he simply relaxed as if I wasn’t even in front of his ass, all while the fart was still being blasted in my face.

Dave then reached for my head again and gently pushed it inches closer to his roaring ass, and I felt the vibrations of his rip all over my face: it was literally an earthquake.

How long was it lasting? More than 1 minute perhaps? How much gas can a man hold in? Dave certainly was pushing for a record. All I knew is that I felt privileged witnessing that, even though I was beyond being a mere witness since no particle of gas missed my eyes and nostrils.

However (finally, actually), the fart seemingly started to lose power, the once-continuous sound starting to “stutter” and turning more into a fast series of loud farts, fired back-to-back. The show (because that’s what it was: a show) ended with a loud, 5 seconds blast, and Dave’s laughter.

I slowly got up, sweaty, my nose burning, with a startled look to which my bro reacted with another immature cackle. I was now sitting next to him as I was before, and looked back at my bud, who in the meantime re-adjusted his pose. He was still lying down, still kind of showing off his loose-sagging ass, but in a less “menacing” way: now he was just chilling.

“When’s Dana coming over again?” I joked. I mustered all the courage I had left to say that. I was impressed by the fact that I could still speak considering that all of my blood probably flooded my boner at that point.

Dave laughed at that lame joke, thank goodness. “As if I need Dana to blast you like this.”

He raised one leg, again showing off his sagging denim ass in my direction. He quickly sucked some air in and after a few moments and weird noises a loud 6 seconds fart erupted. For his standards, that’s basically a weak one.

My friend just casually joking and bragging about facefarting me and then farting on command to prove it made me lose it, as I felt my boner… dampening. He didn’t notice it but he knew that I had a hard-on, that’s for sure.

I didn’t want to just rush into the bathroom so I just stared at my laptop, still on the table, in front of me: the wi-fi signal was stronger than ever. I jokingly like to think that Dave’s blast was so powerful it actually influenced the signal somehow and improved it.

I turned to my bud, still lying on his side of the couch, just checking his phone and being… casually hot.

“Thanks man.” I said, not for the wi-fi though.

He lowered his phone, revealing a blank reaction “Really?” he said, rolling his eyes, with a bored expression. “Stop being cringe and do the dishes.”

Fuck, I totally forgot about those. We had takeout food but we still used some of our dishes. I immediately got up and rushed to the kitchen, hoping that Dave was distracted by his phone enough to not notice by boner through my sweatpants.

Once in the kitchen, a place that wasn’t tainted by Dave’s gas, my nostrils could still feel my bro’s fart-stench. That’s how soaked up in his gas I was. Even my ears needed some time to adjust to the silence, now that I didn’t have a deafening fart being ripped right into my skull.

And I just knew that this wasn’t the last time this was gonna happen. I’m Dave’s roommate, and being roomies means we have to divide our tasks: he’s the farter, I’m the sniffer.

End of Episode 13

#fart story #eproctophilia #fartkink #davefarts2 #gayfart #malefarts

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sunsetcurvecuddles · 3 years

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Road trip to nowhere in particular. Bobby just likes to drive. Reggie just likes to point out cows and horses out the windows. Maybe he counts them. Maybe he names them. Either way Bobby has to pretend to be annoyed/mildly amused even as he is experiencing SO MUCH LOVE

hi this is both sadder and longer than i intended for it to be so it is now also available to read on ao3 here. warning for allusions to child abuse.

seems like i’d take a new road | boggie | 2.1k

It's still barely bright outside when Bobby pulls up and parks the car a few houses down from Reggie's, so he doesn't risk waking Reggie's parents. As he gets out of the car and goes to knock on Reggie's window, Bobby rubs his eyes, wondering what kind of insanity possessed him when he suggested they leave so early.

Reggie's already sitting on his bed when Bobby comes up to the window, hands folded in his lap, backpack at his feet. The light from the lamp on his bedside table casts shadows across his face, makes him look thoughtful, and quiet. He looks up almost as soon as Bobby comes into view, like he knew, somehow, that Bobby would be there.

Or he just heard you coming, idiot, Bobby chides himself, but when Reggie grins, eyes way too bright for the hour, Bobby feels a matching smile tugging across his face without his permission.

—

"Okay, okay," Reggie says, as soon as he's plonked himself into the passenger seat, rifling through his backpack immediately, "I've got snacks, and soda, and sandwiches for lunch later, and some mix CDs, but I don't know which one we should listen to first, since—"

"Reg," Bobby interrupts him flatly, even though it's absolutely killing him not to laugh. "Seatbelt first, thanks."

"Oh." Reggie sits back, abashed, and buckles in before returning to the contents of the bag. "It's just very important that we have the right mix for the drive. It has to fit the atmosphere. That can make or break the whole trip!" He's gesturing all over the place with his free hand, still half-buried in the oversized backpack on his lap.

"Right," says Bobby, as though he's totally on board.

"So," Reggie hums, "We've got a selection, so, I'll just read them all out to you—"

"Don't worry about it," Bobby tells him, turning the key and pumping the gas a few times as the engine rolls over before it properly coughs to life, "you just pick something."

Reggie stops, looks up at him wide-eyed. "Are you sure? I know that I like weird music. Alex would die before he let me choose a CD."

"Do I look like Alex?" Bobby retorts, and Reggie's face splits into a huge smile.

"I know the perfect one. It's gonna be so good, Bobby, promise."

—

This is how Bobby spends the next half an hour listening to a burned CD of all Reggie's favourite country songs, as the sun rises over the road and he takes them out of the city. Even this early, there's traffic, because LA is a nightmare city from hell and Bobby hates it, but leaving early has definitely given them an advantage. Reggie winds his window down and rests his arms on the window edge so he can sing Tim McGraw out to the city of angels to wake her up and ready for her the day, and Bobby settles in for the drive.

They'd both been going nuts, was the thing. Bobby’s just had too much work to do, and there’s always so much noise at home, his little siblings underfoot and on top of him and exhausting, as much as he loves them.

Bobby knows Reggie doesn't have such benign reasons for wanting to get away for the day. However, Bobby also knows better than to push him on it, especially when he's in such a good mood, belting the lyrics to Memory Lane (when Bobby swats him and tells him the song sucks, Reggie just smiles bigger, belts even louder). Reggie pretty much universally refuses to acknowledge that there's a problem until it becomes impossible to ignore.

Like last week, when he'd called Bobby from his home phone, whispering a request to pick him up — please, just for a few hours, Bobby, and then I'll get out of your hair, it's just — and Bobby had been able to hear the banging and yelling even on his end of the call. Or when he'd turned up at Bobby's place with a black eye last month, had ended up sleeping in Bobby’s studio, curled up to Bobby on the couch, shivering even under the blankets Bobby brought out for them.

It's difficult to reconcile that image, of Reggie teary and silent and meek as Bobby had given him a pack of frozen peas to press over his eye, who had only shaken his head when Bobby asked him what happened, with this image, of Reggie with his head half out the window, singing and beaming in the morning sun. Tim McGraw's voice fades out, only to be replaced by more guitar (which sounds exactly the same to Bobby's ear) and Reggie's face lights up as he whoops, says, "This song is SO good, can I turn it up?"

Forget the morning sun. Reggie's brighter than it is.

Bobby makes sure his resigned sigh is extra theatrical before he says, "I guess so."

—

The next hour or so continues mostly this way, as Los Angeles becomes a more scattered, widespread set of houses and then eventually not much except desert. They share a packet of Haribo bears, Reggie insisting on giving Bobby the 'best colours' even though Bobby is almost certain they all taste pretty much the same, but he rolls his eyes and gives in when Reggie insists there's a subtle difference. At one point, the CD comes to an end, so Reggie swaps it for the next one. Which is also full of country. "Alex never lets me play any of these," he says defensively, even though all Bobby had done was glance at him out of the corner of his eye.

Bobby just shrugs and says, "I can see why."

And Reggie delightedly retorts, "Hey!"

After winding through the open, rocky expanse for awhile, things turn a little greener. Suddenly, Reggie breaks off singing to lean so far out the window that Bobby instinctively grabs the back of his shirt in his fist.

"Jesus, Peters, ass in the seat!" he huffs, mostly because his heart is still pounding.

Reggie has the decency to look a little sheepish as he sits back down, but still more excited than anything. "Sorry, Bobby, just — there's cows! Look, a whole field of them!"

There is, in fact, a whole field of cows. "Well, don't traumatise them by falling out the window."

"There's so many," Reggie continues, like Bobby didn't even speak, and then continues at a muttered volume, "one, two, three, four—"

"Are you seriously going to count all of them?" Bobby asks. This needs to stop. If Reggie's going to be this distractingly cute — no, just distracting — the whole trip, Bobby's going to crash the car, he can feel it. "You know they're going to move around and stuff."

"Oh," says Reggie, humming, "you're right. Hang on, I should name them so I can tell them apart. What are some good cow names? I think the big one up on the hill looks like a Betsy. And the brown one is totally a Buttercup."

Bobby groans, his heart growing three sizes in his chest, like he’s the Grinch or something. "Franco," he suggests at last.

"Franco?!" Reggie bursts out laughing. "You think 'Franco' is a good cow's name?"

"Is it not?" Bobby retorts, and Reggie laughs harder, throwing his head back and wrapping his arms around his stomach. The sound of him cackling almost drowns out Dolly Parton's voice still crooning from Bobby's stereo.

This Reggie. Versus the one who lives in Bobby's memory, tiny and silent, frozen peas held to his face with one trembling hand.

"Francesca," Reggie is saying, through his wheezing laughter, "now, Francesca is a good cow's name."

"Would you shut up about naming the cows and pass me a soda?"

"The calf is called Henry!" Reggie insists, as he leans to dig through his backpack. When he pulls out a can of soda and holds it out to Bobby, still flushed pretty-pink from laughing, his hair sort of a mess in his eyes, nose scrunched up extra cute, and Bobby feels his stomach softly flip over.

Well. That's a feeling he should repress.

"Thanks," he says, careful not to brush Reggie's fingers as he takes the can from him. Reggie doesn’t seem to notice. Thank god.

"You're welcome," says Reggie quietly, snuggling back down into his seat, looking out the window again. He points and says, "That one's called Oscar."

Definitely repressing, Bobby decides. Immediately. Forever. He can't have a crush on Reggie. Like, the band, and the fact that the last thing Reggie needs is for one of his friends to have feelings for him, as if he doesn’t already have enough going on. There are so many reasons he shouldn't have a crush on Reggie. Down, he tells the feeling, pushing at it in his chest, go down, stay down. "Is he?"

Reggie is oblivious, cheerfully rambling on, with no idea that he is causing Bobby a serious internal crisis. "Yeah. And that one's called—"

Bobby hopes it stays that way. He turns Dolly Parton up a little bit, and keeps driving.

—

They park and have lunch at the top of a hill looking over the valley. Reggie regales Bobby with some needlessly complicated story of the relationship between all the cows, as if they’re living a little soap opera down in the field. If Bobby’s going to be honest, he can’t follow the plot, but that doesn’t stop him staring at Reggie’s profile, the way he looks perfect here, at home among the grass and in the bright sun, how he comes alive being out here.

Bobby’s never really known what to think of the future. Before the band, he didn’t have much in his head to imagine. All his thoughts of the future were of his little siblings, what their lives would be like, but it was Luke who had first interrupted him and asked, “Well, yeah, but what about you, man? What do you want your life to be like?”

Maybe Bobby will save up and buy a farm out here, when all the band and touring stuff is done. So Reggie can come visit. Hell, maybe he’ll just buy Reggie a farm, with their millions of dollars they’re going to make when they’re all famous rock stars like Luke says they’ll be.

If we all have that much money, Reggie will buy his own farm, the voice in his head that keeps him in line sharply reminds him. Push them down. Push the feelings down.

“Here,” he says to Reggie, shoving his sandwich over. “You wanna finish this? Then we can get going.”

—

On their return drive that afternoon, Reggie is quiet. When one of the CDs loops back to the beginning, Reggie ejects it and doesn’t put in another one. The quiet is okay, Bobby thinks. It gives him a chance to catch his breath, to focus on the road, to forget all about his revelation from earlier in the day.

Winding back through the city, the sun dips lower in the sky. The city lights start to come alive as the evening sets in. Reggie starts to fiddle with the edge of his flannel, shift in his seat, like he’s nervous. A few times he breathes in, like he’s going to talk, and then doesn’t.

Bobby waits him out. He knows Reggie hates being pushed, hates stammering and fumbling for words when he doesn’t have them yet.

Still, he’s surprised when Reggie actually does break the silence. “Can I—” he starts, swallows, and then stops.

“Can you?” Bobby prompts, when Reggie doesn’t continue. His instinct is to reach for Reggie’s hand, but he does what he’s been doing all day, and pushes the thought down. God, what if Reggie’s noticed? What if that’s what he’s about to say? For a moment, Bobby feels cold, and nauseous. He sets his jaw.

“CouldImaybestayatyourplacetonight?” Reggie blurts out, all in one go.

Bobby breathes what he hopes is an imperceptible sigh of relief. Sure, it means a night of knowing Reggie’s out in the studio, probably cold. It means Bobby will inevitably climb out of bed, and out his window, bringing his extra blankets, to curl up with Reggie on the couch, to make sure he stays warm. Because that’s what always happens when Reggie sleeps over. And that’s a whole lot more complicated now that Bobby knows that he—well.

But Bobby looks at the worry on Reggie’s face, his stupid puppy eyes, and he can’t say no. Could never say no to Reggie anyway, he thinks. He needs to be there for Reggie, and that’s why his feelings have no place in this mess. “Of course, Reg. No problem.”

No problem, he tells himself, and does his best to mean it.

jatp taglist (lmk if you want to be added or removed!!): @queenmolina @nickalicious @bi-reginald @jughead-is-canonically-aroace @multifandom-queer @cinnamonstickrayofsunlight @malecacidd

#chickwiththepurpleguitar #jatp #julie and the phantoms #boggie #bobby wilson #reggie peters #ask #my fic #boggie brain rot

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batarella · 4 years

Text

3 birds 1 stone - chapter 13

‘Dick, Jason, and Tim. Supposed brothers 'till the end, until all three fall in love with you. Who wins your heart?

The man who earned it, the man who stole it, or the man who always had it?’

A/N: Last chapter until the pre-finale!! I can’t believe we made it this far. This might be the series I’m most proud of! I love you guys so much. HAPPY NEW YEAR

WORDS: 10,448 WARNINGS: mentions of trauma

MASTERLIST | 3 BIRDS 1 STONE MASTERLIST

-----

Tim:

Perhaps it wasn’t best that he asked her to come over, instead of it being the other way around. But what good were customs when it meant seeing that very smile he’d grown to work for tirelessly, the same when she’d be stricken with the best, most pleasant surprises? She did love surprises, as he’d learned to know. Whatever it was he’d give her, whatever the gift, her eyes shone just a bit brighter when she hadn’t expected what he brought her, whether it be just a cup of her favorite drink he’d stopped to get along the way or a client that wanted to pay her five times her usual price.

But maybe he should have at least sent for a car to pick her up, with his many drivers and a limo that would have made the trip more convenient, instead of having to hail for some stinky cab and go through the horrors of Gotham traffic, but he wanted nothing more than for this to catch her when she least expected it, never mind how it was on that very day itself, and how calling her this day asking to spend it together would have been a dead giveaway, but he’d prepared for that. He’d asked her to come over to the office more times over the past month for the most stupid reasons not even he would have come up with, but she never grew irritated. She just went with it, without much question, as if she truly did enjoy his company. Every day for the past week. Hopefully, today, she’d think nothing of it and that it was, in actuality, just like any other day.

He looked like a creep as well, looking over the large, glass window behind his desk. He fixed his suit, tightened the tie around his neck, and made sure his hair was combed over the back of his head. His hands turned for each other for some comfort, something to hold onto, when he watched every taxi that drove by hoping it was hers, hoping that it’d stop in front of the building and put an end to this torturous waiting. When was the last time they spent Valentine’s day together? Years, at least. Of course, this made him more nervous than when he had to face a whole conference room full of people, if they even were to be called that, from the likes of Lex Luthor and Maxwell Lord and even Roman Sionis. That didn’t even do so much as raise a hair at the back of his neck.

This, on the other hand, made his hands shake so much, his palms sweaty and uneasy.

Tim looked out the window and he didn’t even give his work a glance of attention until he saw that cab, which he knew just had to be hers, that stopped right in front of the building’s entrance.

Y/N walked out of the car, and the wind decided to be nice to her and her hair, her flowy blouse, her pants that flared to her feet, and her graceful demeanor.

Tim loosened his tie. It had gone too tight. And he never allowed himself a second away from watching her look around the street, at the people that were nothing more than ants to him at that point when all he could look at was her, and he didn’t even have a lot of time to enjoy that view when Y/N walked into the building and disappeared. That’s when Tim realized he had his hands pressed up against the glass window trying to look past the corners just to have her in his sight.

A few minutes after, there was a knock on the door.

“Mr. Wayne, Ms. L/N is here to see you.”

His throat had clogged up and he had to take a few seconds just to clear it. “O-of course. Bring her in.”

His secretary shut the door, and he tidied himself as if he hadn’t already done enough of that the whole morning. Did he look too groomed? Would that give it away?

Too late. She was here. Even more beautiful up close, as she often is. He quickly took his seat and pretended to be so invested in whatever tab was open on his laptop, which was nothing more than the Google homepage.

“Mornin’, Drake.”

“Morning, L/N.”

He sounded casual enough, didn’t even look up from the screen to greet her, but when she walked closer to where he was sitting, not even a Kryptonian would have the strength not to look up and get lost in this seemingly infinite depth of a gaze.

Tim almost jumped out of his seat when Y/N leaned over to kiss his cheek, then she pressed her back against his table to rest. “Happy Valentine’s day.”

“Happy Valentine’s day, Y/N,” he sighed, then he relaxed and sat back against his chair. Idiot must have been smiling his face muscles off.

“Are you really gonna spend the day strapped to your desk?”

“It’s not like it’s Christmas.”

“And are you absolutely sure everyone in this building is as bitter as you?”

“Offices don’t celebrate Valentine’s.”

“You could have at least pasted cut-out hearts over at the hallway.”

He snorted. “Cut-out hearts?”

“Doesn’t match the boring gray?”

Tim playfully rocked her leg over to her side. “No. It doesn’t.”

She stood up from his desk, went over to the window to watch the streets, and Tim could look at her from the reflection of his laptop screen.

“So this is all you got planned for yourself today?”

“Pretty much,” he lied.

“You’re lucky you have me then,” she said. “Sorry I was late. I sent three commissions over to my clients so I won't have to work all day.”

“What were they?”

“Gifts. As usual. For their spouses.”

“Good for you.”

11:30 AM. Should be the right time now. Fuck, what did he just spend the whole morning rehearsing over and over again?

“Fine. Y/N. You got me.”

“I got you?”

Shit. Reverse. Reverse.

“I, uh, meant maybe I should take a breather. Just for today. Wanna go up to the balcony? I have one of your sketchbooks you left. We can spend a few minutes up there.”

She shrugged. Yes. “Sure.”

He pretended to spend just a few more minutes on his laptop, then he stood from his desk. She smiled at him and right then he knew she wasn’t expecting anything at all.

Oh, man. Oh, man. The veins in his neck should have popped out bleeding by now. Even the ride up the elevator felt too tight, tight, whatever the hell that meant. He just knew it was true, like some unknowable force had their hands all over his throat and there was no easing it until this whole thing blows over, which he definitely didn’t want to happen so soon. Even when he knew the longer this lasted, the more chance of him screwing up, even when this shook every core and nerve in him so much he had to be so cautious of everything he said and did, he wanted to drag this on so it lasted for so long as he was awake.

When the elevator doors parted, he couldn’t bring himself not to hold her hand, as he often couldn’t, and she welcomed it so naturally, too naturally, the kind of comfort that was none he could find in another. They walked down the halls, and when they reached the end of it, he held his breath.

He let her open the door, still holding her one hand, and when she did, he couldn’t miss a detail on her face even if he tried. The soft smile that immediately dropped, her mouth parting without her knowing, her eyes so wide they were wonderous and unreal, and the light that touched her face, the light he’d strategically placed just for that consequence, it made all else stop the way he knew it would.

He prepared for it all night, told her it was all for work when really, he wouldn’t trust any of his employees to do it the way he specifically wanted it to be. And it had to be perfect.

It would have been a lot better at dusk when the sun would have set so perfectly on the horizon before them, but that noontime light didn’t exactly do much to diminish its beauty. It was simple, really, with it just being one small table set at the center, two chairs laced with white and red cloth, flower petals on its surface, trays of food waiting for them on opposite ends. And outside of it, four poles on four different corners, with a vine of roses suspended from each end, forming a square that housed their space much like a little escape from all else around them, even the winds and the rushing sounds were to no effect. It was peace, beauty, and it was all so simple but it was that simplicity that made it so breathtaking.

At least, from what he could see out of her, it did take her breath away.

She let go of his hand and stepped under that archway, head up so one of the petals would fall onto her nose. He wanted to remember this picture of her until the end of time.

She whispered. “You did this?”

Tim’s head was bashfully held down, he couldn’t bring himself to be so smug when he should be proud of all this, but he kept his hands deep into his suit pockets, and still that itch in his throat no amount of tie loosening would fix wasn’t much he could ignore, but none of that mattered. All he could stare at was her, and that smile, that same when he catches her off guard of the many surprises he’s given her, it will forever make his day for every day he was awake. Because one day, the start of many days, this one might be all he’ll have.

Every day might be the day she makes her choice, and when she does, he’ll never have this again. He’ll never have her again, and be able to just call her into his office or visit her at home without it bearing so much more meaning than it should. And as much as it broke his heart, he distracted himself with his own efforts. He had to make this count. And perhaps, it already did.

He wanted to kiss her, right then, in the middle of her marveling over the tables and the flowers and everything. But he didn’t. He couldn’t.

But he could hold her hand. He went up to her and took both of them, and the way she welcomed them was incomparable.

And the way she looked at him, even more so.

“Is this alright with you?”

She smiled so brightly. Nothing has ever felt warmer. “Alright?”

“It’s not weird?” He held her hands tighter. “Or uncomfortable?”

“Tim, this is…”

She looked at the flowers, the table, the view that was just made for them, just for that moment. “This is everything…”

“Good. I was nervous.”

“You’re nervous?”

“Yeah. Believe it or not. I am.”

The way she swayed their arms together like nothing could ever pull them apart, not the sun’s hot rays nor the winds that wanted them to part, she was right. He couldn’t remember what he was so nervous about.

“You know you never have to be afraid of anything with me.”

“I know.”

Y/N had on the kind of smile that would have cured the Black Plague, as it cured every bit of doubt and darkness that had been left over in him that he didn’t even think to fix himself. Tim couldn’t fight it, even when he probably should, but he brought her hands up to his lips, and that smile grew even brighter. He wanted to whine when she let go of his fingers only to lean in even more when she had them holding the sides of his face. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He wanted to kiss her, again, but it wasn’t as if the warmth of her embrace was any worse. In fact, it grounded him.

Nothing he could ever think to accomplish could haul him up to the top of the world, no well-doings well enough that would make him soar to such great heights, as much as having her so close to him that he could feel her hair within his fingers, face to his shoulder. And he’d give up everything, the whole company even, if it meant having this kind of contentment for every day he was alive.

He didn’t let his mind trail off to even more buts and what-ifs. He just took this moment for the whole of what it was. And it was perfect. He didn’t even have to try. She was there. He was there. Tim could have this day and make it last for as long as he wanted it to, even when it wasn’t possible.

“So,” she loosened her hold around him and went over to the table, arm around his waist. “What do you have for me?”

“Pasta. Roast beef. And whatever side dish you want.”

He took the two lids off their plates and her face lit up even more as if it were possible.

“You’re a saint.”

“Thank you.”

He pulled her seat for her to take, and he sat down across from her. Even if she weren’t prepared, still she looked so radiant and perfect, and not even the flowers could grow into such bloom, going against the lights like she were a reflection from every bit of serenity there was to be seen, a mirror to the world.

He had to stop staring. He was starving.

Tim poured her a glass, then they clinked their glasses together at the brim.

“You know,” she took a sip. “I don’t remember you doing anything like this when we were together.”

He started slicing his beef, but he knew he was in for a whole day barely getting a bite out of their plate. “Come on. I wasn’t that bad.”

“I didn’t say you were. Just that it wasn’t anything like this at all.” She held her hands holding her knife and fork up to point at the flowers. “And it’s highly unlike you.”

He shrugged. “You welcome to change?”

“Oh, I do.”

He wanted so badly to reach for her hand over the table. “So what did I do for you all those years ago?”

“Mmm,” she chewed on her pasta and swallowed. “Let’s see. We were together for two years, but we made it through three Valentine’s days.”

“The first one?”

“The first one you took me to the zoo.”

“Ah.”

“We spent the whole day there. And in the petting area, you almost got mauled by a kangaroo.”

“Kangaroos are assholes.”

She laughed and took a bite out from her fork. Her hair fell to the side of her cheek. He resisted pulling it behind her ear.

“I loved that day,” she sighed, eyes on her plate. “It was my first Valentine’s day with someone else.”

“Mine, too.”

She twirled her fork around her pasta. “I remember it started to rain, and you gave me your jacket even when I told you it wasn’t cold. It was our first month together.”

“I was nervous.”

Her smile grew wider.

“Then we spent almost an hour under that shed. It rained pretty hard, but we didn’t even care. We just sat there and waited until it stopped, and after that, we kept walking around even with our shoes wet.”

He could think about that day until it grows dark. They were still so young, yet he never could say he was any less in love with her now, maybe even more.

Tim swallowed.

“The second year was that time we went to New York.”

She sighed as if looking back to a time so light and free, which it certainly was. The amount of begging he had to go through with Bruce. It was immaculate. Just to have a day in New York, to an art gallery that went on that didn’t often happen in Gotham, and so many other places after that.

“Not gonna lie, you surprised me with that.”

He shrugged like it was nothing. And compared to the results it yielded, it really was. “New York always has been so romantic.”

“I loved it. So much.”

He drank half his glass just to ease that pain that eventually faded away, and it was easier when he had her to look at.

It was nothing more than a few seconds, maybe even less than that, but when Y/N pulled a strand of her hair behind her back, pulled it up so no longer would it frame her face and instead, expose her skin and the radiance of her cheeks, her eyes now shown under so much light, the amount it truly deserves so not a speck of it wouldn’t be shown, Tim almost dropped his knife on the ceramic plate, and that would have stopped her tracks. But, thankfully, he didn’t, and he got to watch her fix her hair, eyes down on her food, and when she looked up, her smile completely destroyed him.

Fuck everything. He can't hold back from this.

“You look beautiful.”

So many times, he’s said that, but never enough. Never as often as it was true. Because if he were to say it as often as he’d like to, he’d say it every hour of every day. He’d say it when she was fresh out of bed, a bed they’ve slept in together and her skin would be dry and itchy, hair messed up in all places. He’d say it in the middle of a conversation and it would be so out of nothing that it would surprise even her, perhaps make it weird even when it never was when it came to her. He’d say it to her in a million circumstances a million times, and not one of them would be from a lie.

She reacted the same way she always does, with a bashful grin, soft, proud, but not smug about it, and with her head down as she’d instinctively look at her feet. Y/N coughed. “Thank you.”

Maybe it had been too much.

But what was so wrong about telling someone so beautiful that they were just that, other than to make the world an even more wonderful place with the smile it would cause?

“Uh,” she gulped. “The third year.”

“Right.” He forced his attention back on his plate. “The helicopter ride.”

“Yeah…”

That Valentine’s day was just three weeks before he’d break it off, which was why it wasn’t often what they talk about, even when it was all the more something to remember.

“That day was…” she smiled looking down at the table like it was anything to smile about. “That day was something else.”

“It was…”

He wasn’t in the best place that day.

He didn’t know how many calls of hers he hadn’t returned because of work, because of Bruce and his place in the company they had to cover up and explain after his disappearance. There was so much to do, and every day the work just never seemed to end, and there won't be an end for a long time.

But that day, he remembered, he told himself he would have that day just for her, even when it hurt the company and possibly lose them a few thousand just for leaving the building. But he forced himself not to care, told himself she deserved this so much more than he had.

A few hours with their helicopter going a few rounds around Gotham, with her in his hands strapped to their seats, looking out their windows much like they used to, at the top of the world. Just how they’re meant to be.

The last day, in fact, that was the happiest in their relationship that still could have been salvaged if he was strong enough.

Like a shard lodged up his throat, he didn’t know if it was something he should be asking. Yet, he did.

“We could do that again sometime. Whenever you're free. If you want.”

Whenever she’s free. When he still could. When she still hadn’t chosen someone else and forever change what they have, which he’ll ultimately accept for so long as it’s what she truly wants.

“I would love that.”

“Great,” he smiled. “It’s a lot easier now. Since I have, you know, my own helicopter.”

She snorted.

The smile she had on, the longing in her eyes, the sheer appreciation she showed just to have him for herself that one day out of many when she didn’t, it haunted him for years. It haunts him until now.

When he looked up from his plate, he thought he’d catch her wiping a tear, or frowning at him for bringing up such a memory.

Still, with the softness that glowed, she smiled, because as Tim should as well, she appreciated every bit of time she had with him no matter what surrounded them, no matter the history of hurt and whatever happened next. She didn’t see it as a day to dread or a day to despise. She saw it as a day to look back to when she wanted to remember what it was like to be content.

So suddenly, it was what he felt, too.

Y/N looked up at him, caught his eyes, but she didn’t say anything. He didn’t have anything to say either. But they locked eyes longer than any two normal friends should, with that subtle burning in his chest that wasn’t something to physically feel, yet still know that the flames went on, scorching his flesh. Her eyes were longing, knowing, and he looked back at her wanting so badly to take her hand.

Who were they kidding, calling themselves best friends for so many years, when in fact they were two people who used to be so in love and definitely still are? Two exes who couldn’t move on, two halves of a relationship that had the strength to last forever but didn’t.

And it still possibly could, if it’s what makes her happy. It might.

All those years, they weren’t best friends. They were two people holding onto what they used to have in a form of another, masking it over with another type of bond when they just wanted each other’s presence the way it used to be, even when it couldn’t.

Tim didn’t take her hand, and it added one to the many regrets that’ll continue to despise himself for.

They spent the whole of the afternoon that day up on that balcony, and he didn’t even care if there were mounds of work to be done just waiting for him at his table. And when the sun started to set, when he realized that time was tapping onto his shoulder telling him that there was, in fact, an end to this day, he never thought he’d accepted it the way he did.

Outside the elevator doors on the floor of his office, it took a while for them to wait.

But that while was all he had.

He had to make it count.

Once again, possibly for the last time, Tim took both her hands and looked into her eyes like he was purposefully trying to get lost.

“Y/N…”

It was in his bag. He held off too long. He should have given it at the balcony while he still could, while he still had even more time to watch how she’d react instead of going out the coward’s way and hide behind what he thought to have been safe, even when it clearly wouldn’t be worth missing out. The elevator was coming up to their floor.

“I have something for you…”

She didn’t look surprised, but was skeptical, though that wasn’t what he was trying to do anymore.

He took a mustard-colored sketchbook from the sling bag over his shoulder. She looked confused when he handed it to her.

“What’s this?”

He just shrugged. Her eyes were so soft and yet so enticing it burned him in the chest.

Y/N opened the first page of the sketchbook and he saw her visibly catch her breath. For the second time that day, she couldn’t speak.

“I know I’m not usually there with you when you paint and draw…” He gulped. “But I thought, if I learned how to draw myself, even when I’m not so good at it, I’ll be a lot closer to you. We’d have one more thing in common.”

His drawings.

Most of them were of her, her face, her lying on the couch, painting on an easel, smiling at the flowers, or of them both with their arms around each other. Some of her favorite flowers, her favorite spots at the manor, scenes from her favorite movies, her favorite skyscrapers around the city.

Everything was about her, everything he could ever draw was about her, because, as he’d realized, he never could draw anything if it wasn’t.

She was his muse, just as he had been hers for a time.

He had his time with her, and even with the chance that that’s all that it will eventually be, his time with her, he’d grown to appreciate it more than if there wasn’t a time at all, just to ease the pain.

“Tim…” she choked.

Her embrace was that peace he will forever miss, and without wasting so much time he pushed his face into her shoulder so he could take in every bit of her depth, every bit of her scent, her form. She was here. She was here.

“Thank you so much…”

“You don’t have to thank me…”

“I do...” she breathed. He couldn’t even look at her face. “I do…”

This wasn’t nearly enough time for him to be with her. Nothing could be enough time when it comes to her. How could this day, as something he didn’t always come to appreciate, pass by so quickly, quicker than a rabbit’s thump of its foot, and without anything he could do about it?

Nothing, nothing else in his whole life, will be a bigger mistake than when he left. Now, he pays the price. This might be the last day he gets to hold her like this.

“Y/N…”

He loosened his embrace just to hold her cheeks, and she returned that hold by grabbing onto his wrists.

“Whatever you choose to do, promise me I’ll still be your best friend…”

She laughed through the tears, which he wiped off with his thumb. “That’s the most stupid thing you’ve ever said. Of course, I will.”

He laughed as well. Or pretended to. He wanted so much to cry.

‘No. You don’t understand. You won't want me this way any longer. Everything is going to change.’

‘But I’ll accept it. For you. It will all be worth it.’

‘Choose me, so you won't have to promise me this.’

But he didn’t say any of that. He didn’t have to.

He just held her tight, foreheads touching like a lifeline’s hold.

It was a lie telling themselves they were best friends all those years.

But it won't be from now on. They’ll be best friends, whether she chooses him or not, and he’ll hold onto that if it meant everything to her.

“I promise you. I’ll still be here, even if you don’t need me.”

“And I’ll be here for you.”

To just lean in and kiss her. It would have all been too easy.

But the elevator doors parted open, and with it, the end of his time.

He’ll accept this.

He accepted this.

He has to.

And frankly, with the smile she had on the whole day, he’d wish for nothing more than for it to last, even when it meant it wasn’t with him.

He kissed the tip of her forehead, just as she loosened her hold, and with their fingers lingering as they held onto each other’s warmth, he stepped into the elevator and their hands let go of the other.

She waved him goodbye, and just as the doors closed, he waved back.

-----

Dick:

It wasn’t the best idea he’s had.

But he wasn’t at his prime either, and neither should he even be in his prime. He shouldn’t, for all good cause, do anything that could possibly take this out of hand, far beyond what should be thought of as normal. Because as he’s sought out to remember, and remind himself for so many days and weeks and months, their friendship was what he should put before anything else.

And thus, he cannot possibly screw this up. It might be a tad more romantic than it should, but it was Valentine’s day. Of course, he was expected to be romantic at the very least, as everyone else should.

He just didn’t expect his hand to be shaking so much when he raised it against the door of her apartment to knock. He held his wrist, forced the tremors to stop before it’d possibly show. Would it even show? Would the knocking be any different if his knuckles weren’t stable?

It wouldn’t, actually, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful either.

He forced his spine straight, head held up as he shut his eyes closed hopefully to ease what was dreadfully whirring about in just about every nerve cell in his body, then he breathed.

Just before his fist hit the door, he heard her voice.

“Thanks!” Y/N called out to the cab driver, then she stepped out of the car door and immediately caught her smile. It was nighttime, the sun had just set, still, she looked as bright as day. And perfect. And beautiful.

Dick stopped shaking. He stopped moving altogether.

“Dick?” She stepped over the puddle and he immediately regretted not rushing to help her. But she didn’t seem to mind. “What are you doing here?”

He took the steps down until his feet reached the sidewalk, then she was in front of him. Oblivious. Unknowing. Happy. She was grinning so much it took every bit of breath leftover in his lungs until eventually, he’d die from suffocation without there being a physical stimulant.

Dick swallowed.

“I thought I’d… visit you. On Valentine’s day. I didn’t want you to be lonely.”

Bold of him to assume she would be, of course. Judging from how she looked, where that cab came from, she was with Tim.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have. You just got home. I should be on my way-“

“No! Not at all!” She grabbed him by the jacket and he prayed to the angels above she didn’t catch how he almost choked on his own tongue. “I could use the company. Wanna stay over?”

Okay. Okay. That would be okay.

But it wasn’t what he had planned for them. At least, he could try to ask. If it was okay with her.

“I,” he started. “Actually, I had something planned for us. Tonight. If it’s alright with you, we can head out now.”

She stood there with her mouth open.

“Or not. I should have called.” Rubbing the back of his neck wouldn’t do much to ease that strain. “I’m sorry. We can-“

“No! Dick, please.” She grabbed onto his arm and led him to his car, which he’d parked over at another block. “I’d love to go with you. Take me anywhere. I promise, I’ll love it.”

He wasn’t even sure if he’d already messed up at that point and that was just her trying to salvage his own dignity or if he hadn’t done anything at all. But her smile seemed genuine. He’d know if it wasn’t.

It warmed every bit of him when they continued to walk, and he was just letting her lead the way, take him like he was made of sand stuffed into a bag or a sack. He was limp, weak. And he couldn’t have had it in another way.

Dick laughed. “Alright then.”

So lightly did it start to drizzle, and the droplets visible on their light sweaters and clothes that tickled their skin like a feather’s cold touch. He didn’t know where to start, even though, in fact, he knew exactly where to start. Is this all going to backfire?

No. It won't. Not this time. He knew what to expect, and nothing will be out of hand and nothing will have to set him back two spaces backward.

Through the sidewalks full and the lively streets, with others hand in hand with their partners and gifts being given, surprises being held and smiles and cheers for all around, it was difficult not to feel bitter being the only one who wasn’t holding a spouse or a partner.

But even if she weren’t his, she was still the woman he loved. And the fact that she was here at all, holding his arm as they turned over to the corner of the street for his car, he was the luckiest out of everyone in the block, in the whole mile’s radius. Hell, the whole city.

They got to his car and already he missed her when she let go of his arm and he stepped into the driver’s seat.

Traffic was bad, but it didn’t even matter. She was looking so brightly out the windshield, at the edge of her seat and wonderfully appreciating all else around her. It was hard not to feel the same, to be so excited for life, and even when the world had tried to pull all of her spirits down, she didn’t let it.

And he could admire all else there was if he had more time than he already had, and he had lots of time. He won't let a minute go to waste. He already had the food, the mat, the movie, everything was at the back of his car.

Thankfully, that dark, secluded spot that wasn’t exactly a hotspot for muggers in the corners of Gotham Central Plaza was still free. He had to hold back a yelp as they parked. It was perfect. Too perfect. Any sane man would suspect there possibly was something more in store than he would have hoped. But that didn’t even cross his mind.

“Alright,” he turned his car key to turn off the engine. “Close your eyes and promise me you won't open them until I say so.”

“Dick.” She looked around. “Where are we?”

“Come on. Close your eyes. Please.”

Rolling her eyes over to the other side of the window, he wanted to playfully pinch her chin. But she did as told, closed her eyes, and laid her head to the back of the car seat. He had to move fast.

He went over to the back, took everything out of the trunk, and never has he worked so fast yet so cautiously, even compared to his stealth work in the middle of a raid.

He laid out the mat and dusted the ground off of any critters that might have been littered about. He took too much time at that. A few minutes at least. He looked back at the side mirror on the passenger seat.

“I said don’t look!”

He heard her laugh so hard she had to snort, then she covered her eyes with her palms.

Okay. This should be okay. She’ll love this. He hoped. He laid out the finishing touches and turned on the projector.

He knocked on her window, then she stepped out. He put his hands on top of her eyes, as cheesy as it was, then led her over to the back. “Where are you taking me, Grayson?”

“Just trust me.”

“I don’t think I should.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t. But you don’t exactly have a choice.”

She snorted again, then when he stopped her in place, he walked over in front of her. “Okay. Now.”

Y/N opened her eyes.

Dick wished he had a camera to remember her face by.

Always the one to appreciate the little things, the details, every bit of effort. That night, it was no different.

The first thing she turned to was the quaint little picnic he’d set up, with a red and white plaid at laid out on the grassy floor, two cushions for them to sit on, and a basket full of their food, some of which he’d already placed in plates around the mat.

In front of that mat was the trunk of the car, on top of which he’d placed a white sheet over to cover the back, making it a flat surface where the projector, that he’d placed over behind the mat, would shine on. It played the first scene of the movie 10 Things I Hate About You.

And the final piece he hadn’t thought about until the last minute, were fairy lights in two separate strings, running from the back of the car over to the tree that stood right by the picnic mat, where it would shine for all of that night.

Dick wished it were daylight, just so he could see her a bit clearer, but he was thankful for the string lights he placed, or he wouldn’t see just how much her face lit up and her eyes widen beyond what he’d often remember.

“Dick-“

“Not like what I usually give you on Valentine’s?”

Y/N’s smile softened, and she just looked at him disbelievingly.

“I’m kidding. Come on. Food’s getting cold.”

His hands were shaking but thankfully they didn’t show. And he held it out for her to take one of the cushions. She sat down, but her neck was going to hurt soon at the way she was craning it up, mesmerized over everythin he’d set up.

“This is amazing.”

“Wait ‘till you see the movie. Again, that is. For the fifth time.”

“You know exactly how to please me.”

He does.

In every way, if only he could, he would. He’d give her everything she wants, even if it were a flower on top of a cliff.

And if only there weren’t anyone else out there who loved her just as much as he did, then the only thing that would stop him was if he’d die trying to bend the world over for her. Because then he wouldn’t be there to make sure she doesn’t prick her finger on a needle when she’ll be too old to clearly see, or that she doesn’t slip on the floor when her bones grow too weak, or when she needed someone to pick out the grey in her hair when she no longer could with her shaking hands. When they grow old, and he won't be there to make sure she’ll be okay, it’ll be the only thing that stops him.

But that wasn’t the case. There was someone out there who loved her just as much as he did. Two, in fact.

Which meant that nothing, not even his death, is going to stop him from doing whatever it took to give her what she wanted and needed. Because, even then, he was sure she’ll be okay if he was gone.

He wished he didn’t trust those two enough for it to be true, but he did.

The movie went on. Heath Ledger. Julia Stiles. The dialogue over the two’s arguments that he’s learned to memorize over the many times he’s watched it with her. He didn’t even pay much attention, not when the light from the projected screen lit up her curving lips. She didn’t even look tired.

They bit into their sandwiches and he inched himself closer to her.

“What do you like most about this movie?”

Slowly, she turned her head over to him, still with her eyes on the screen like she didn’t even want to miss a minute of it.

“I like how you’d first think it’d be centered on Bianca and the two guys, but then you’d realize the story is really about Patrick and Kat. And the fact that it’s accidental, which ends up being the better romance out of everyone else.”

He finished his sandwich, and he didn’t even pick out another. He listened as if she spoke music. Nothing felt better than that moment right then.

Except, maybe, when she leaned on his shoulder, and he realized he'd never actually felt like he’s sunken so deep into a place he could never think about escaping from, a place he dreaded himself for even thinking about escaping at all, never mind how much more pain it yields and the risks to be taken.

She shifted and he could feel her hair rub itself into a tangled mess onto his shirt. And his selfishness overtook him when he leaned his head on top of hers as well and closed his eyes.

It was a shame, truly, that movies had to end at all. If he’d known, he would have played The Ten Commandments or Cleopatra or any other movie there was that lasted five hours. He would if he had to if it meant she’d stay longer that way.

It was so magical that when he’d tidied up the place and they both got back into the car, he almost forgot his actual gift for the night.

Something he wasn’t so sure about at first. Though, if it worked, it would undoubtedly mean everything.

He shut the car door, and Y/N didn’t know that when Dick looked up the windshield, up at the cloudless sky, that he was actually checking for any signs of heavy rain. Which there was, but thankfully won't be for a few hours.

“So,” she cheerfully exclaimed. It was almost midnight, and still, she didn’t seem the least bit tired. “Are you taking me home?”

“Not yet…”

It will be worth it if it works.

Just do it.

“Y/N…” he said. “Remember that time you told me you wanted to fly again?”

Y/N, as she’d expectedly reacted, looked out her window. “Yeah?”

“I have… something planned for you. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I completely understand-“

When she turned to catch his eyes reassuring him that everything he was mumbling about could only make her smile, immediately he calmed. “What are you saying?”

“It’s in the back. Hold on-“

He moved in less than five seconds, heading over to the back seat, fumbling through his bags, then he sat back down on the driver’s.

“Here.”

He handed a bag to her, and she looked at it confused. She won't be for long.

And that theory was proven true when she unzipped the bag and saw, what was most probably facing up inside the bag, her Falcon domino mask.

Two years ago, she lost her left leg.

And with that, her wings.

She couldn’t fly for a lot of reasons. One, with her being the Falcon, nightly crime-fighting wouldn’t do her any good. The nerve endings on the one leg she had left had been burnt off, and the bionic one couldn’t even move much without it straining and pulling just about every muscle she had. It broke her heart, as if it hadn’t already broken so much of her, that she couldn’t even walk the same way as before.

The other reasons were a lot more complicated, but all the more understandable. The nightmares, traumas, everything else, it would have driven her mad if she hadn’t stopped.

She couldn’t fly anymore. At least, not by herself.

He could help her fly again.

Y/N pulled out her suit, turned, and saw Dick putting on his Nightwing gear.

“We have the whole night,” he said. “If you let me.”’

It was a risk. A dangerous one.

Which made it even more rewarding when he earned a smile from her so wide that it brought tears down her outstretched cheeks.

Yeah.

This was the right choice.

A bag of art supplies would have been plan B. Thank god, he didn’t go through with that again.

Her real Falcon suit was put on display back over at her apartment, behind a hidden door in her closet she hadn’t touched for years. This one was just a black slip-on that covered most of her skin, a hood over her head, and her domino mask. Dick took her up Queen Industries, a tower that soared up the skies rivaled only by the likes of Wayne Enterprises. She picked that tower as if none of this scared her at the very least. Even when it should. Hell, it even scared him.

This won't nearly be as freeing as her wings when she’d soar through the skies and clouds without the confines of a grappling rope tying her down to the realities of human capacity, when she truly could feel like a falcon, the one thing she loved so much about her days as a vigilante.

She was nervous, he could tell. She hadn’t jumped off a building in so long, even when she loved risking her life just about every night just for the feel of it.

But this was a scene he’d longed to see, to have her in his arms on the rooftops of skyscrapers and have her to hold on to, to hear her screams of joyous bliss not just from a safe distance away, and to only have her to himself. No one else.

This was what Tim had back then that he never did, and never will have. Perhaps, except now. It wasn’t the same. But it was all the more beautiful.

She was beautiful, up the starless sky so near to the clouds where the air was thin, the bustling noise nothing more than a distant blur, and her face lit up by the many specks of light littered about this wondrous city.

He saw her clench her fists the way she did when she was excited. Dick took it as a chance to hold it. And she welcomed him like it wasn’t at all out of the ordinary.

“Ready?”

From thin air, he could make out the smoke she blew out of her chapped lips, which curved up a smile as she glanced up to his eyes, then back down on the streets that awaited them below.

“Yes…”

He didn’t let go of her hand. Instead, he held it tighter.

“Jump…”

Like she didn’t even wait for his mark.

Dick has soared off buildings more times than any bird has leaped off their nests, more times than a cat has jumped off a rooftop’s ledge. Every night since he was given his first grappling gun, the rushing wind that pushes onto his face would be the most addicting experience not everyone would know about. He knew what it was like, how close it was to flying.

But he never could call it flying, never truly felt like he had wings on his own. More like barring what the winds allowed him and glide like some limp piece of paper floating about to the wind’s direction. He always thought flying was defying those rules, defying how the earth pulls them down to where humans truly belonged. On the ground.

But flying was so much more than that. And he only realized that now, now that he was with her.

He might as well be in a bubble floating across space because never has he once experienced this kind of high in his life. and it wasn’t the wind or the heights or the risks it bore. It was her.

She made him fly.

The Falcon was never known to be a great fighter. At least, within the family, everyone knew combat wasn’t her forte.

But she did love to save people.

That was what made their dynamic with Tim so perfect. Tim handled the bad guys, roughed them up, used his brute strength to take them down, all the while distracting them from Y/N saving the hostages, from a small child kidnapped to the commissioner himself.

She was an alright gymnast, and most of the time she used it to her advantage. But she wasn’t the best.

She was never the best gymnast, never the best fighter. Everyone knew that before, and only fully realized that when it was too late.

But she was, as everyone in Gotham could plead, the best savior.

She’d save everyone in the scene and wouldn’t miss so much as a cat from a burning building, make sure everyone makes it out alive from a hostage situation, and every kidnapping in Gotham could be tracked from her computer network at home. The people were her priority. And with the loss of the Falcon, the loss of her wings, with it came the loss of a savior.

At least, it should have meant the loss of a savior.

But who was to say she hadn’t stopped saving lives? Doing what she did best? Making sure every life was accounted for and saved, even for just a little girl in a burn unit?

This was flying, and it could only be with her. She saved him. And she’ll continue to save him no matter what she chooses to do, or who she chooses to have.

He heard her delightful cries, and he could thank himself later for having it in him to take a glance, take in how she looked right then, and remember it for every time he needs more saving. Her arms were up, flailing about with the air’s upward push. She could only look everywhere else but at the ground. And with the kind of beam she had on, it was apparent she hadn’t smiled like that in so long.

Yards above the floor, he took her by the waist.

Then he shot his grapple up to the building across, and she held on with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Don’t let go. Don’t ever let go. Forever.

She didn’t.

They shot up to the next building but he didn’t allow them to land on the roof just yet.

With an arm around her waist, the other holding both their weights as if it were nothing at all, it wasn’t him who was carrying her, holding her up to fly. It was none but the other way around.

Dick shot his grappling hook even more times, each time just before they were about to reach up a ledge. Y/N didn’t have her eyes closed for a second. He could feel her. He could feel her take in the air and the rush and everything she’s longed to miss. Everything there ever could be that used to mean so much.

It was the same music that played at the back of his ears from when they kissed up on that hill. This soft, serene piano playing without a tune he could point out but couldn’t get out of his head, that same melody so beautiful that as soft as it was, blocked out everything else within a mile’s reach.

He allowed them to reach a dome-shaped roof, and he reached down to carry her legs as well so she wouldn’t have to run or suffer the impact. Like she was made of glass, he carried her, ran across the rooftop.

She pressed her forehead tight against his cheek, and on his jaw, Dick could feel her smile. It urged him on. He leaped off that rooftop and shot up his grapple again.

Her laughter could have been heard from everyone below, and her eyes couldn’t leave the wonders that surrounded them, at the concrete jungles, the choppers in place of the birds, the beautiful noises it made from people and everything else.

Close to where they started, Dick carried her like he would if she were his bride, cradled her in his arms as he landed on a rooftop, and finally stopped. Her nerves were buzzing. It was all he could feel. Her hair was a mess. Her eyes were so wide. Her hands were in tremors uncontrollable.

But she laughed so hard and never has he heard that kind of laughter out of her from anyone else. The kind of laughter he’d grown so addicted to, that he couldn’t stop but draw it out of her every chance he got.

Then she hugged him so tight, so quickly did his own nerves calm. She was so warm, he couldn’t help but feel grounded.

This.

This was what it was like to see her up close.

Years of watching, to see her soar and not be there to hold her hand as he flies with her, to see her kiss another’s lips while they stood at the literal top of the world, at a skyscraper so tall with the world under their feet, on the most gorgeous city there was, with the bustling streets and the nosy citizens and the lights that continued endlessly.

To see her this close, to be with her, and actually be with her. To have their two souls put together and have that kind of high that couldn’t possibly be gotten from another.

If Y/N chooses him, he’ll make her fly every day. He’ll never let her forget being the flying guardian angel of Gotham. He’ll never let that image of the city taken from up above the cloudy mists be rid from her mind.

And if she doesn’t choose him, he’ll make sure that whoever it was that was going to be her eternal happiness, knows all those things and more, knows how much flying meant to her. He’ll make sure they’ll take his word to heart, so he never has to doubt her contentment again.

Y/N held him in an embrace so close, the smell of her lemony scalp and her arms so perfectly warm, he held her back immediately and shut his eyes so he’d only know the feeling.

“Thank you for giving me my wings back.”

It wasn’t even about her choosing him anymore. It wouldn’t change a thing.

Whatever happens, he’ll be there making sure she’ll go on to fly, that she never forgets the rush of the wind or the mist of the clouds.

Already, he was used to that feeling, of watching her from such distance, that it won’t be such a change if it happens again. She’ll find her happiness. She’ll choose her happiness. And all the while, he’ll be there to make sure she’ll have that and more.

No longer does he hope that she chooses him, as he selfishly longed for after so many years.

He was happy. He was content. Whatever comes out of this, it’ll be for her happiness.

And that’s all there is to it.

-----

Jason:

God Almighty, this was stupid.

And he should have known that hours ago. Three hours up on that fire exit, not once did he think this through enough to escape, as he hadn’t thought since the start of the day and he just happened to pass by the many flower shops suddenly rising out of nowhere down the street where he lived.

It was three am and still, she hadn’t come home. And all those hours, instead of finally knowing the risks of all this and back up before it was too late, he impatiently waited for her, booted soles tapping onto the ground, thinking ‘where the hell is she?’ as if he had no idea at all. He did have an idea. He just didn’t think to dwell on it.

Seeing Dick’s car pull up in front of her door, he only had such a window. Everything in him shattered. His head so light. Everything so hopelessly weak. To just flee and never come back, it would all have been so easy.

But as he selfishly allowed himself that kind of hope, as no one in their right mind should if they were anywhere near his place, he stayed. Because even in the middle of such darkness from whence he’d come from, from whence he was born into this disaster of a life, he let himself, albeit unconsciously, hold onto the fact that she still hadn’t chosen either of his brothers and with that, she might choose him, like he had such a speck of a chance, one too much than what he should have.

And it was because of that selfishness, that grandeur delusion of hope proven to be such a luxury for someone from the likes of him, that brought him to this exact place on this exact night.

And seeing that she’d just spent this hell of a day with his brothers, each one with a present for her grander than the last, what he’d done was some sorry excuse of a joke even he wanted to laugh at. This was ridiculous. And humiliating.

But it was far too late, with him standing so frozen with his hood up and the rainfall stronger, he let his clothes be drenched, didn’t care for the cold, not when all he could see was her stepping into her studio and taking off her coat. She had on a smile like no other.

A year ago, he was in that very room, and did the most selfish thing he ever could do to his brothers that he yearned to be forgiven for but still did not fully regret, not when it sparked a love for what was the brightest little star in this hellish earth, not when it was a time so wonderful that none of it left his head even after such a year.

He had that time. He had his time. Which was why he shouldn’t have this kind of hope for himself, not when it was the only time he ever had, which makes all this all the more impossible to go his way. Or at least, the way he dreamed for it to be.

All that thought changed, however, when she came into her room, stopped over her desk, and saw what he’d left for her.

It was a dangerous game, breaking into her house. And if it had gone on just a bit longer, he’d have thought all this was a messy screw up no U-turn was going to fix. Maybe he’d finally did it this time, destroyed everything with these overwhelming feelings he had no idea how to control. He didn’t know how to play this game if it was even a game at all. He’s never loved before. He doesn’t know how to love. He doesn’t know what to do after he falls in love.

She was confused. Jason could tell with the way her eyebrows bunched up at the center. Then she looked out the windows. Thankfully, he was hidden too far into the dark for her to see.

But she held that rose as if it were so much more than that, and when she let her fingers draw on the edges of the petals once so fresh, everything in him ceased. He couldn’t stop watching.

It was all there is really. A white rose.

The first Valentine’s day gift he’s ever given.

He knew his brothers would go all out, give her the world, give her the whole of Gotham, show her the heights of their immense love so undeniable. It was what she deserved.

But he couldn’t let this day pass without at least giving her something.

He still loved her, after all. Even if it wouldn’t lead to anything.

Y/N’s smile made him feel like the dorky kid at school in love with a girl he’s never talked to, leaving a flower in her locker without letting her know who it was from. And he was just that, in fact. There are no inaccuracies.

And he knew, without a doubt, that she’d get his message.

As she always does, with them having this bond, this connection like no other. Jason was, after all, the one who understood her best.

He understood how the most horrific thing that could happen to someone could end up being the one thing that takes over the rest of their identity. He died, and that’s what people ended up knowing him for. The Robin who died. And Y/N, no matter how much she works or achieves, will be the girl who lost her leg. But she was so much more than that. In every way.

A white rose was what she was. This beautiful, untainted slate, fresh without a single flaw no matter how much those flaws seem to be so obvious, and she does what she makes of her identity no one will be able to dictate. She wasn’t her trauma. She wasn’t her past. She was her.

Maybe he did look into it too deep, but he couldn’t help with seeing the way she smiled and took the rose to bed, laying it beside her as she changed and got under the sheets.

Maybe he should have done more.

But not even he could help grinning his cheeks off when he finally left that place, so swiftly no one would have seen even if they tried.

It was enough. At least, for him.

More so when he felt his phone in his pocket.

Y/N: ‘Thank you for the rose. Happy Valentine’s day, Jason.’

He snorted and audibly laughed, staring at his phone reading the message five times in a few seconds. He didn’t even leave so much as a note. How was she so sure it was from him?

Because she understood him, too. More than anyone. It went both ways.

It will hurt like a bitch when she ultimately chooses another. Because as much as he hates to admit it, not to others and especially not to himself, he needed her a lot more than she needed him. Even when they only had so much time, it was that time he realized he wanted that for the rest of his life.

But he’ll get through it. Somehow. Like he always does.

-----

For so much of this love that came from the purest hearts, it never calls for what was easy.

And it wasn’t at the least.

But with difficulties and trials, the triumph will be the reward that brings all else to its place. A place of peace. Contentment.

Seven days after, the story comes to an end.

An end too long-awaited but has taken the time for it to be right.

Seven days after,

She makes her choice.

-----

MASTERLIST | 3 BIRDS 1 STONE MASTERLIST

-----

A/N: WHO’S READY FOR THE PRE-FINALE AND THE FINALE!!! I’M SO EXCITED AHHHHHHH

MAIN TAGLIST:

@idkmanicantenglish, @wunderstell, @birdy-bat-writes, @multifandomgirl-us, @icequeen208, @offendedfishnoises, @arkhamtoddler, @elsenthal, @lucy-roo, @loxbbg, @reclusive-chicken-nugget, @l-inkage, @http-cherries, @river9noble, @zphilophobiaz, @annoylinglyaries, @knightfall05x, @hyp-oh-critical, @satan-s-ass, @1-800-starmora, @flowersgirl02, @nahcho, @thatonecroc, @trixie-bb, @daddyissuesmademe, jasonsbitch, @shadowsndaisies @jaybirdbooty @writing2sirvive

SERIES TAGLIST:

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#dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #dick grayson x reader #jason todd x reader #tim drake x reader #batboys #batfamily #batfam #bruce wayne #batman #dc comics #reader insert #3 birds 1 stone #3 birds 1 stone series #batarella #batarella series

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peeterparkr · 4 years

Text

perfidy;tom holland|7

chapter 7: the dialogue

enemies to lovers au/enemies with benefits

chapter summary: the name of the game

pairing: tom holland x y/n

warnings: swearing, angst, fluff, smut (oral f receiving) (skip the * if you don’t wanna read) , ROLLERCOASTER, didn’t proof read

word count: 7.8k BUT IT’S A LIGHT CHAPTER I SWEAR

here’s a playlist

social media before you read: tweets | instagram

previous chapter next chapter series masterlist

wanna be tagged?

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.

You won. That’s what you liked to think.

One kiss wouldn’t hurt anybody. That was the only thing that had happened, a simple sweet kiss. And it had felt different, it hadn’t been barely a kiss. You’d been the one to lean over, but he’d closed the gap. And it’d felt like a summer breeze, early june, and it tasted like the remaining tea he’d just had. Bittersweet.

Kissing never hurt anybody. But it had you thinking.

And he’d tried to lean over again, but you’d stopped him.

“You finish your lunch and I’ll go take some air, you have an hour to rest,” you said quickly getting off his grip. “Then I’m gonna need you back on set and—“

He chuckled. “Y/N, c’mon we’ve got time,” he assured you, as he walked over to you.

“You can take care of that by yourself, I’m going to….” you snapped as you stood up, you rushed to your purse and took out your red lipstick, you’d always carry it around. The lipstick was your weapon, it was something that gave you certain protection. Red lipstick gave you a certain sense of being in control, and you perfectly knew you were far from controlling this situation.

He coughed. “y/n.”

You watched him, “Thomas.”

“Are you angry I’m winning?”

You rolled your eyes. “Winning? Is this a competition now?”

“It can be,” Tom laughed. “Dunno, it reminds me of ‘don’t cry’”

“But ‘don’t cry’ was about pissing each other off,” you pointed out. Don’t cry. A game you hadnt played for a while. It was yours and Tom’s game, if you ever dared to call such a toxic thing a game.

“I know this whole thing pisses you off, and I love pissing you off.”

You rolled your eyes. “And does it piss you off?”

“Yes, it pisses me off that I can’t keep my hands to myself because of you, out of everyone, it’s Y/N.”

You crossed your arms and smirked. “Huh, this is… Seems like I’m winning this situation? Are you crying, Holland? I’m winning this game.”

Tom rolled his eyes. “You’re not.”

“The way I see this, Tommy, you’re kind of begging me…”

“I’m just trying to help you out, love, I made you forget about your ex, didn’t I?”

He had. That’s exactly why you were trying to run away from. You weren’t down to being played.

“I… what does that have to do with anything?” You frowned.

“Dunno, maybe if I keep your mind thinking of me, then you’ll focus more on your job.” He walked over to you, placing his hands on your hips. He stared down at your lips and then at your eyes. He leaned over to you and kissed your neck, two times he touched your neck and only once you blinked.

“My job?” You cleared your throat. He pushed you against the wall, knowing exactly what he was doing to you.

“Yes, you know you’re my assistant,” he continued his path from your neck to your ear.

“I’m a hundred per cent sure this didn’t come in the job description or did you do this with your last assistants?” You smirked. “Haz.. and Harry? Your brother? That’s so disgusting, Thomas, even coming from you.”

He quickly pulled back from you. “You’re an idiot.”

“Am I, really?” you grinned. This was great, you’d taken the control back of this situation. “But you know I’m right. This is unprofessional. Were you unprofessional with any of your past assistants?

And god, you hated him. Because you wanted to kiss him again, but you wanted him to be the one to lose. Not you, definitely not you.

“No. No,” he cleared his throat. “You’re right, unprofessional.”

“Glad you agree,” you smirked as you finally pushed him away from you. That didn’t stop you from kissing his cheek, staining it with a plump of red lips. “You better wipe that off before you come back to set,” you warned him. “I’m sorry you lost this one.”

“You’re wrong about that, darling, I always win.”

But he pulled you back to him, lips firmly pressed against your mouth, you felt your whole body initially tense up but then relax as you let your head fall into his bliss. It didn’t go any further than that, only kissing. And it had been… different. The way he’d held your head, and the way his fingers travelled down your arm. His lips so soft, and the way he’d smiled after it.

“And I’ll keep on winning. Don’t cry, y/n.”

After that, you ignored the professionalism you had prided yourself you’d had, but one can only ignore something as sweet and pretend it didn’t happen for so long.

You didn’t want to waste any more kissing because honestly, he was driving you crazy. It was just a little perspective.

Cruising through the set, changing his schedules and trying to find places where nobody could see you. And so a game started, a game which was so thriving to play. Risky, but fun. So fun. The next few days had consisted of brushing, pinning and teasing. Fingers walking down his shoulders when he was on makeup, helping him adjust his clothes if he was nearby. Him, placing his hand on your waist as he was walking past you, and moving it just slightly down, licking lips and whispering in his ear. At very inconvenient times, like before he was just going to shoot a scene, you’d walk over and go: ‘Your zip is down, don’t cry.’ and zip it up, or when he’d brush against you, or walk his fingers up your thighs.

Don’t cry, the game of your nightmares. A very toxic game which consisted of Tom and you getting on each other's nerves, pulling each other’s hair, saying something mean but ending it with “Don’t cry.” Which basically meant: “I don’t mean this, but if you cry you’ll have to do whatever I tell you.”

Those dares included eating mustard which you hated, getting into the shower fully clothed, drinking a salty glass of milk, or whatever you came up with. Eventually you stopped playing so you wondered where this particular game would go.

You guessed it was embarrassing enough teasing each other and trying to remain calm. It’d, so far, only gotten both of you to make out in his trailer. Twice. You didn’t even know why that had happened. How it had let there with him pushing you against the wall and slipping his tongue in.

But you continued that game where you both pretended to hate each other, but it seemed different this time. Less real, at least. More… flirty, if you could think of it. But more firstly.

But Tom was getting on your nerves, because he’d up the game, and he’d find ways to sneak a kiss. ‘Don’t cry’. He’d try to be careful, nobody could know about this. But he’d sneak a kiss if he could, like when you were on your way to the makeup trailer, or when you were picking up your lunch. And you couldn’t react to it, or else you’d lose.

But he’d get particularly more… teasing, especially when you were around Timothée. That was hard. Because you couldn’t react in any way, you were not supposed to be aware.

And it kept going.

Two weeks had gone by. And the game had only stepped up.

Harry would be leaving in two days, and you hadn’t seen him. Your mind had barely thought about your last conversation with him, was he really going to propose? But you knew you had to be careful around whatever you said because you didn’t want to hurt him.

The thought was roaming your mind when you were having lunch with Timothée, talking about life and other stuff, the props, the cameras. But Tom had decided to sit right beside him and not so subtly decided to play footsie. Very stupid, really.

“Hey, y/n dear, oh, hello, Timmo...y/n dear, I need help with some crying.Will you help me out later?”

You coughed.

Timothée would usually only stare at him. You knew he was probably jealous, Tim had always been very reluctant when it came to Tom. You didn’t blame him. You couldn’t blame him. Less now.

“Some crying?” Tim asked.

“For the scene, lover boy,” Tom chuckled. “And you might be aware of this but your… girl…. Your friend here really hates me.”

“And I can make you cry?” You questioned. “How lovely, would love to see you cry,” you answered as you kicked him.

Tom cleared his throat.

Timmy frowned but chuckled. “I will never understand how you guys hate each other that much,” he mentioned with poison. “I mean, you grew up together, you must have some good memories.”

“You’re answering your own question, we know each other so well that we hate each other, you would too if you’d grown up with her,” Tom laughed.

“Yeah, you’d need a lifetime to hate me, but somehow you only need five seconds to hate Tom,” you snapped back.

Tim grinned as he let out a poisonous laugh.

“Hm, you agree?” Tom raised his brows at Tim.

Tim chuckled. “I’m sorry, I was dating her so I naturally had to hate you, that’s how couples work, if one hates someone the other one should, too.”

Tom grinned. “Right., but you’re not dating anymore, why should you hate me, now?”

Tim didn’t say anything, and you just glared at Tom.

“Anyway I should go back to my friends, shouldn’t I?” Tom chuckled as he then proceeded to walk over to the other members of the cast.

You watched him walk away. You rolled your eyes, and looked at Tim.

“I’m sorry.”

Tim chuckled. “It’s fine, really, but I’m not telling him the reasons I hate him for now,” Tim admitted.

“You’ve got new reasons?”

“In a way, yes,” Tim shrugged. “But can’t really be mad at him, I mean thanks to him I get to hang out with you again,” he admitted. “And I get to see your smile, even if I’m not the reason for it right now.”

You felt a stab into your heart. “You still make me smile, Timmy.”

He smiled, slightly. “I know, but it’s not my job anymore,” he shrugged. “There’s a vacancy for that job though, can I apply again?”

You grinned, chuckling slightly. “There’s no vacancy open right now, I’m afraid”

Timothée scoffed as he clenched his jaw. “Tom already filled it up?”

“No, no, remember he's the CEO of being my mortal enemy,” you cleared your throat.

He stayed quiet as he watched you, then dedicated a glance towards Tom who was not so subtly staring at you.

“He’s in love with you, y/n,” Tim said.

You rolled your eyes. “If he was, everything would be easier, he’d be nice.”

He shrugged. “I’m not blaming him, y/n, but I see it, you know? It’s easy to know when somebody else is in love with the girl you love, it’s in the eyes.”

“The eyes chico, they never lie,” you quoted making him grin. “And his eyes… only have hatred. So you’re wrong about Tom, don’t worry there’s only hate there. Now, I need to get that idiot back where he’s supposed to be, I swear he never knows anything.” You stood up as you picked up your stuff.

“What about Harry?” Timothée asked. “Was I wrong about him too?

You only glanced at Timothée, and then walked away.

“So tomorrow’s Harry’s goodbye congratulations party dinner thing,” Tom mentioned as you were handing him a bottle of water as they’d paused a scene.

“I’m aware,” you answered coldly.

“Are you gonna bring anything?” He asked, watching you.

“Dunno,” you shrugged as you called the makeup artist so they could retouch him, while you helped him button up his shirt again.

“Y/N,” Tom sighed, as the makeup artist was brushing him up.

“What?” You frowned.

“You’ve ignored me all day long,” he complained. You had, as a matter of fact. You couldn’t stand him, even when he’d tried to keep up with the game. You hadn’t shown any type of response, you hadn’t talked to him if you didn’t need to. You didn’t smile, you didn’t even look at him.

“Get back to the scene,” you told him as you walked away.

Eventually, the director gave up for that day and said they’d continue in two days, something wasn’t going well with the scene, they kept pausing and pausing. Tom would forget his lines, or he wouldn’t give in the emotion, something was off, you could tell. The chemistry with the actress or whatever, it was off. Everybody could tell.

“What’s up? You’re really messing up,” you told him as he approached you. “Maybe you need to rest, you have all day tomorrow to rest.” You’d finally have a free day, a well deserved free day.

He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, I just… Have my mind elsewhere, alright?”

“Where?” You asked as you were walking away from him, already pulling out your earphones, not wanting to listen to him as you were walking to your car. You finally had it back.

“Don’t know,” he shrugged. “I.. maybe help me run the lines, tonight, I… I need to see how this goes.”

You turned to him. “You were a real asshole today,” you mentioned.

“What?” Tom blinked.

“You don’t get to joke about my last relationship, alright? You crossed the line,” you snapped, you had to get it off your chest. “And you can’t joke about it in front of Tim and I, it’s not your place.”

“Is that why you’ve been ignoring me?”

You plugged your earphones in. Tom stopped you.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know and I was not trying to… make fun…”Tom trailed off.

You crossed your arms. “What were you trying then?”

“I dunno, let him understand that you’re not dating, he sometimes act as if you were—“

“Habits that didn’t wear out,” you shrugged. “Besides that’s not your business, Tom.”

Tom gulped. “are you trying to get back with him?”

“Why do you care?” You sighed.

“Are you? ” Tom asked.

“No, I’m not,” you looked away. “And he knows that, we are friends, alright?”

“He knows?”

“Yes, we are not trying to get back together, I…” You took a deep breath. Less now, of course, that you were trying to do whatever you were trying to do with Tom, and playing whatever game with him. Of course you didn’t want to get back to Timothée, or maybe you did, but you couldn’t play with him right now. You couldn’t play with his heart, especially because Tim was more aware of your feelings than even yourself. “He knows me too well,” you said out loud. “But that’s not the point, you shouldn’t have said that.”

Tom shrugged. “He said he hated me.”

“Well, who wouldn’t? With that damned attitude you’ve been pulling, and flirting in front of him, god Tom, you’re so full of yourself, I can’t believe this,” You snapped. “I… I can’t stand you, of course he would hate you. And why do you even care if he hates you?”

Tom looked away. “Don’t know. Because.”

You rolled your eyes. “Why did you tell him that?”

“Because you’re not dating anymore, I just pointed out he’s allowed to hate me for other reasons. Like a reason should be I keep making out with his ex,” Tom growled.

“Ah, piss off, Tom, you’re… You won, okay?” you frowned, as you walked away, finally reaching your car.

“No, no, wait,” Tom sighed as he ran after you. “Y/N…Please.”

“What?”

“You’re coming tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, because of Harry,” You cleared your throat, and then took a deep breath. You couldn’t keep fighting with Tom, even if it hurt you, even if right now all you wanted to do was kick him, you had to write a script. “I...was gonna bake him cookies.”

“What?”

“For Harry. My way of saying goodbye. I think it’s literally my only talent, and I know Harry likes cookies.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, or do you want me to bring in anything else?” You asked.

“No, no, no, just… come, it’d kill Harry if you don’t,” he commented.

You opened the door to your car.

“And it’d bum me more if I knew it was my fault,” he added as you turned around.

“Look… I…” You really hated yourself more than him for what you were going to do next. “I was gonna open a wine bottle and bake the cookies.”

Tom chuckled. “Hm, is that an invitation?”

“No, you know what? Never mind,” you rolled your eyes as you hopped into the car. He stopped you from closing the door.

“What if I make it up to you?” He suggested.

“Hm?”

“What if I cook something for you and we open a bottle of wine and bake the cookies?” He cleared his throat.

It was time for you to chuckle. “See you in hell, Tom.”

”Oh, is that a date? Are you asking me out?” He smirked.

You rolled your eyes.

He grinned. “C’mon we need to relax a little, and we haven’t really bonded, and we could go over the lines,” he insisted.

You clicked your tongue. “I would say we’ve bonded a little bit more than required,” you rolled your eyes. “And I don’t want to bond that way.”

He laughed. “Oh c’mon you know what I mean.”

“Heard the cast was going to hang out, why don’t you tag along with them?”

“I wanna hang out with you, y/n, besides you were the first to hint at it,” he grinned. “C’mon, I’ll cook something nice.”

You looked him in his chocolate eyes, you really wanted to say no. All you wanted to do that night was cry until you fell asleep after you ate a whole pint of ice cream or ordered a cheesy pizza. That was what you wanted to do, because Timothée had opened up a wound that you hadn’t touched in a while, and because you knew this was wrong, completely wrong. You shouldn’t be caring about this, you shouldn’t let Tom play you this way.

“I… sure, fine.”

“Okay, so I’ll… buy the ingredients and I’ll see you at your place?” He asked.

“Alright.”

Tom had finished setting up for whatever he was going to cook. You were currently opening the bottle of the first wine bottle, pouring each a glass. You handed him his own glass and he grinned before clicking them together.

“I love your apartment,” he pointed out. “We could film here, it’s got the total aesthetic, 80’s like apartment with flowers and vinyls and…You really got it all, don’t you?”

“Really? I… Don’t know.”

“It’s pretty and clean,” he chuckled. “So… tonight uh, we’re having pasta with chicken, because as long as I recall, you were a fan of it when we were children,” he announced.

You sipped from your wine as you were pulling out the ingredients for the cookies. “Ah yes, big fan,” you chuckled. “Just don’t make a mess… So, I’m going to…” You took out your speakers as you were scrolling through a decent playlist to which he wouldn’t complain.

“Wait, mind if we listen to my music?” He asked.

You stared at him. “I—okay.”

“Don’t worry I made a playlist thinking of you, all old music, rolling stones kind of thing, and Harry Styles because for a reason I know you’re obsessed with him” he pointed out as he connected his phone.

You blinked, watching him as he started to play the first song. ‘Start Me Up’, a classic by The Rolling Stones.

You grinned, “Thanks.” You danced slightly listening to it. “That’s abnormally nice coming from you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dunno, it seems nicer than usual,” you chuckled.

“I’ll punch you in the face if that’s what you want,” he joked as he dedicated a smirk to you.

You laughed, and you knew this was risky. Whenever Tom was pulling this kind of stuff it meant risk, and it meant trouble and it meant he was probably trying to hurt you. But you couldn’t help but dance and laugh with him, you even were leaning against him at some point, he’d given you some of the sauce to try and you’d given him cookie dough.

It was fun, and it was nice, even. You were joking around stupid things about your childhood, and then talking about silly stuff on set or barely anything. Maybe it was the wine but you hadn’t fought about anything. Or not… in a real way, you’d thrown some flour at him playfully, and he’d nudged you. At some point he’d accidentally spilled wine on his t-shirt and he found it as an excuse to stay shirtless. Of course you’d offered him a t-shirt but he’d said he didn’t want to wear a t-shirt that had probably belonged to Timothée. Honestly you hadn’t complained.

And the second bottle of wine was opened just before you’d placed the cookies in the oven.

“I know for a fact, that your favorite movie is probably Pulp Fiction or something any other film a film student would say,” Tom said as he was plating the pasta.

“It’s not.” You laughed.

“What is it? The Godfather? Fight club?”

“No.”

“What?” He seemed in such a state of shock as he stared at you. “Oh okay… 80’s more type of movies right?”

You scrunch your nose, as you set the table. “Well.”

“The breakfast club?”

“No, it’s actually Princess Diaries 2,” you corrected him as you sipped your wine, you could tell you were happier.

“Wait, what?” He chuckled. “I do remember you were obsessed with that movie but—wouldn’t expect it to be your favourite.”

“It’s amazing!” You declared. “It’s got Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews. References to Pretty Woman… it’s perfect! And it’s got Chris Pine, and I mean… The whole enemies to lovers trope.”

“Enemies to lovers huh,” he laughed. “But what about the cinematography? I thought you were pretentious.”

You frowned. “Pretentious?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “Yeah, I dunno. I once heard you drunkenly rant about Birdman for 30 minutes,” he pointed out.

“Oh who wouldn't.”

“I just…” He laughed as he sat across you. “Well, enjoy, I hope I’m not that bad of a cook.”

“Cheers, then, to hating each other,” you laughed as you raised your glass.

“To being enemies,” he added before he clicked the glasses together.

You both started eating and you actually did compliment him on his cooking. He wasn’t a chef but it was nice. At some point, cliche enough, you’d both reach for the cheese, brushing each others hand.

“Don’t you think it’s amazing that we’ve known each other for so long yet we are strangers?” You asked as you tilted your glass just slightly.

“We are not strangers,” he frowned.

“What’s my favourite color?” You questioned.

“I actually know this one,” he snickered. “Uh… it was whatever colour the sky is, either sunset orange, or breakdown pink… that lilac dawn,” he listed.

You blinked. “I… well.”

“Am I wrong?”He smirked as you watched him. “You’ve always been so poetic, y/n. So it’s that... the colour of the sky and... yellow in flowers, they make you happy.” He cleared his throat.

You looked away. “Used to make me happy, now they’re just…. But um,” you sipped your wine instead. “Well, yours is blue, but black for clothes.”

“I’m simple.”

Honestly, you didn’t understand what was going on, it seemed irrational, and the whole night didn’t make any sense, talking about nonsense, movies, random things. But then, you were laughing on your couch just after taking out the cookies from the oven. You’d ate a few of the cookies as you had your legs on top of him.

“Alright, but that scene in Risky Business,” you laughed, drunkenly. “Like, it’s one of the best things that ever happened.”

“You're only saying that because you have a crush on Tom Cruise,” he laughed, as he searched for his phone. “Let’s watch it.”

He searched it up on YouTube and you leaned against his shoulder to watch it. You mouthed and moved your shoulders to the song.

“I should try and recreate it,” he pointed out.

You both stayed quiet but then actually looked at each other. A smirk appeared on both of you.

“Do you have… do you hic, have like an old shirt? One of yours, the big ones you like to use?” He asked.

You rushed to your room as you searched for an old big dress shirt that could fit him, and then gave it to him. “We’re doing this.”

And without further ado, he stripped into his boxers and somehow managed to put on your shirt. He laughed.

“I need more wine before I do this, I look ridiculous,” he admitted as he downed his glass. “Alright, what’s… what’s the song?”

“Old Time Rock and Roll, Bob Seger,” you told him as you searched for it, giggling.

“Tom laughed. “Wait wait, okay,” he couldn’t stop laughing. “But you’re doing this after me.”

“No,” you laughed. “Now, go on.”

“We need… we need to record this,” he picked up his phone, as he pointed the camera at you. “Y/N here dared me to-”

“I didn’t dare you,” you laughed. “You wanted to do this on your own.”

“Fine, alright,” he laughed. “Um.. we will try and recreate-”

“We?” You interrupted.

“Sh, y/n shh… I’m… I’m gonna try and recreate the Risky Business scene,” he continued. “Now, okay, I’m going to…” He laughed to himself. “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this, alright, alright I’m going to...Play the music, darling, will you?”

And the first notes hit in, and he rushed as he tried to slide in, failing as he only slid his way down to the floor, face falling flat. You couldn’t help but burst out in laughter, as Tom groaned on the floor. The song kept playing.

“Are you…” You couldn’t stop your laughter. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he sat up. “Alright, yes, yes I’m okay, man I shouldn’t be doing this… If I get hurt and I’m not able to film…”

You giggled. “C’mon, you’ll be fine.”

“Alright… You’re still recording?”

“Of course.”

He chuckled. “Your floor is too slippery…” he stood up and then sighed. “Attempt number two.”

“Okay….” You tried to hold your giggles as you replayed the song. And he slid again but now he slid too far and couldn’t stop. “You suck, Holland.”

“Shut up, y/l/n,” he chuckled. “No wait, I think… I know how to do it.”

“Another one?” You frowned.

“Yes, yes,” he laughed. “Man, your shirt feels tight,” he mentioned as he then proceeded to get back. “Okay, okay, I’m ready… wait I need… this,” he picked up a long and thin flower pot. “The mic.”

You grinned. “Good, now…” you laughed as you replayed the song.

But he finally slid like he was supposed to, and when the note hit he started to dance, you laughed throwing your head back as he tried to do his best impression of Tom Cruise.

He smirked as he danced his way towards you, moving his hips and over exaggerating his movements, you rolled your eyes as you watched him, still recording him. He jumped to his spot right beside you, laying his head on you, the way he looked into you made your stomach stagger you with butterflies. You had to ignore this, this was only the wine.

“So?” You swore he was about to kiss you, as he was leaning over, you pushed his face away.

“I could do it better,” you claimed and he laughed.

“No you couldn’t.” He frowned.

“Yes, give me my shirt back,” you demanded as you tipsily stood up.

He grinned, “that’s a weird way to ask for a strip tease,” he sassed.

You rolled your eyes. “Put your shirt back on and give me my clothes I’m going to…” you couldn’t stop giggling as he had already stripped down and pulled you back To the couch, you pushed him away . “Thomas, put your pants back on, never mind I’ll go get another one.”

He chuckled. “Why? Don’t cry, y/n.”

“I am going to recreate that scene in risky business too, I can do it better…” you said as you downed your glass before rushing for a mother dress shirt.

“Y/n, love you’re too drunk, you can’t handle your wine,” he joked, already back with your shirt on, but then cleared his throat as he watched you take off your clothes, and button up your dress shirt. “I’ll stop complaining.”

“Sh, start playing the music,” you stumbled a little bit.

“Y/n.” His drunken giggles were music to your ears.

You laughed. “Wait, sh, you had your turn, now it’s mine alright? I need to… get in the mood.”

“The mood?

“Tom Cruise mood, k?” You stretched as you tried to slide, practicing, almost falling down.

“Y/N be careful,” he warned.

“Play the music!” You ordered as you slid down but went too far. You stumbled down again, cackling up.

He laughed, “wait wait wait, no no,” he walked over, helping you up. “Okay, no, you’re worse than me,” he placed his hands on your hips. “Look, you’ve got to push this hip—“

“You literally just failed before me,” you complained. But he placed a kiss behind your ear.

“Sh, I’m trying to show you,” he whispered. “So you’re gonna move the hip forward and up,”he motioned as he moved your hip. “and then slide, okay?”

You rolled your eyes. “Can I do it now?”

“Can you, love?” He mocked.

And then you were sliding, again and again, failing until you finally got it right and danced along. To that old song, the piano notes going over and over.

But then somehow, you were both sliding together, dancing to the song. And Tom came up with a brilliant idea, to slide together while holding each other.

Of course, when you’re drunk a lot of things look like a great idea. The execution, of course, wasn’t ideal.

But you did it anyway, and you fell flat to the floor, both of you, Tom on top of you. Giggling to each other of course, as the music continued and then the pain started, your ankle.

“Are you—are you okay?” He asked between snickers.

You chuckled. “I… I think I hurt my ankle.”

“Really?” He looked worried as he was staring deep into your eyes.

But you couldn’t keep your laughter. “Yes.”

“Why are you laughing then?” He joined you as he chuckled.

“I—I don’t know.”

He snickered as he gradually stopped laughing, both of you running out of breath, but he really stared at you, pushing your hair back from your face, digging his chocolate eyes into yours, as he slowly switched between your eyes and your lips.

You were waiting for him to make a move, as you twitched your lips. He brushed his lips slightly against you just as you felt your chest tightening, everything seemed so slow. And he finally caught your lips with a hard and soft kiss, it was weird, as if his lips were kissing a petal flower but were so hungry for it. And he backed away but then kissed you more and more. Peppering with small kisses as if he knew this was wrong and he had to let go but he couldn’t get enough.

“Tom,” you said between kisses.

“Hm?”

“I really hate to ruin this but my ankle seriously hurts,” you admitted.

He sighed before giving you one last kiss, chuckling into it. “Leave it only to you, y/n,” he said. “Cmon lets get you some ice.”

Before you even knew it he had picked you up from the ground, making you squeal; and carried you to your bedroom. He kissed you after plopping you on the bed before leaving for the kitchen.

You hugged your pillow. Where was this going? And why didn’t you mind?

He brought a bag full of ice but then didn’t give it to you. He stopped at your door frame and looked around at your room, it was simple. Some vinyls on the wall, and lots of cut out movie posters, and Polaroids. Many Polaroids, some even with Tom in them.“I think I’ve honestly never been here,” he pointed out before sitting on the bed beside you. He’d brought two beers.

“You still have a lot of pictures of Timmo hanging around,”he pointed out as he finally gave you the bag of ice and the opened beer.

“I—well,” you shrugged. “He’s important to me.”

“He’s the only ex boyfriend hanging around,” he sassed. “Is there ever going to be another one as important that you don’t take him off the wall?”

“I’m not ever gonna have a boyfriend again, I lost the perfect guy,”you sipped your beer. “I’m probably gonna die an old maid.”

Tom chuckled. “That’s not true, you’re a witch, remember?” He shuffled to get closer to you, both of you leaning against the wall. “You’re immortal, don’t worry, you won’t die, you’ll stay single, but you won’t die.”

You stared at the wall. “Mm, oh to be a witch in the woods not bothered by men.”

He giggled. “that’s a dream.”

“Yeah, and I’m getting close to it, by not having any boyfriend.”

“I could be your boyfriend,” he stared at you.

You burst out in laughter, but your head landed on his shoulder. “Ha, sure.”

“Did you laugh?”

“Yes, you’re joking, people usually laugh at jokes,” you nudged him. “You’re funny.”

He faked his pride. “Am I undatable?”

“Very. And may I remind you that we despise each other?” You recalled as you chuckled. You were drunk, very, very drunk.

“Ah, minor details,” he laughed as he lifted your chin, “Wait am I really undatable?”

“Yes.”

“Or is it only our history?” He questioned.

You pushed him away and shrugged. “You’re undatable and we have way too much history,” you stretched.

He shifted to sit in front of you. “Okay, let’s put it this way, imagine if someone set us up... we don’t know each other and I showed up at your door.”

You wrinkled your nose. “Uh-huh, yeah, no, hard pass.”

He frowned. “Really? Am I not boyfriend material?”

“No.”

“What material am I then?” He laughed.

“Punching bag material.”

He rolled his eyes. “But no, okay okay, really, picture it.”

You scoffed. “Oh, cmon Tom.”

“I’d show up at your door with yellow flowers,” he trailed off.

You looked away. “Yellow flowers.”

“Yes, and I’d take you-“

“To a fancy restaurant? Hard pass.”

He licked his lips. “You haven’t even let me finish.”

“But I know you.”

He shuffled closer. “No, I’d probably take you to a train ride.”

“A train ride?”

“Ya, all that sceneric shit you like.” He was playing with your hand.

“But wasn’t this a blind date? How would you know I like that?”

“You think I wouldn’t ask about you? And please I would’ve stalked your Instagram,” he pointed out.

“And you’d still showed up? Hmm I had stalked your Instagram I would’ve passed.”

“Really?” He looked hurt.

You smiled at him. “No.”

He blushed but then cleared his throat. “but then for our second date…”

“Oh, we are having a second date?”

“Of course.”

“But we were meant to hate each other,” you laughed.

“Yes, true but you don’t show your true self on the first date so we wouldn’t fight until the third or fourth,” he commented as he was now walking his fingers up your arm.

He shifted back next to you, and your head landed back on his shoulder as you played with his hands. “So where would you take me on the second date?”

He kissed the top of your head. “Stargazing.”

You shook your head. “Hmm no, that’s more of a third date kind of thing.”

“Hmm museum then? Yes... And we’d probably make out there.”

You laughed. “Why is that?”

He chuckled,sipping his beer. “I’m 78% sure art turns you on.”

You laughed. “That’s oddly specific”

“Yes, I need to confirm it but I have evidence to support that,” he laughed.

“What’s that evidence?”

He smirked. “I turn you on and I’m art,” he lifted your chin and brushed your lips with his thumb.

You glared at him. “You don’t turn me on.”

“Sh, we are planning our dates here,” he pecked your lips. “So third date?”

“The stargazing thing and that would be my idea… Maybe a picnic in the dark, we could fly a kite at sunset.”

“Fly a kite?” He frowned.

“Yes, that’s so romantic,” you laughed.

“As long as I recall last time we did fly a kite I was the opposite of romantic,” he scoffed.

“You ripped my kite.”

“It was an accident.”

You chuckled. “You were an accident.”

“Maybe the kite flying would make us realize that we hate each other,” he sighed.

“Too bad, we won’t get to the stargazing,” you mentioned.

“Who knows maybe we do, we start fighting and we keep fighting that the sun fades out and before we know it we’re fighting under the stars,” he chanted.

“Aren’t you romantic,” you rolled your eyes.

He turned to you. “Why do you hate me?”

“Hm?”

“I—I don’t understand why we hate each other,” he whispered.

You looked at him. “Because I’m always waiting for the next time you’re going to hurt me.”

“What?”

“I… look at this dynamic alright? It’s not like we haven’t had this before,” you started, as you turned to him. “This whole… thing.”

He stayed quiet.

“Think about it, we’ve been alone like this and everything goes… decent, whatever that means. And we’ve…” you cleared your throat. “And… I simply wait for you to give me the cold shoulder again, and then… just wait for you to find a way to break my heart again.”

He didn’t say anything.

“And it’ll be like my teenage years again,” you didn’t know why you were telling him this.

“What about—?”

You let out a soft chuckle. “I was in love with you.”

He sipped his beer. “Terrible decision.”

“Ha, yeah. But hey. I was inexperienced, didn’t know better, and you simply…” you trailed off. “I mean I didn’t like you when we were children… but you were the… you were the first person I ever fell in love with…”

Tom frowned. “Really?”

You closed your eyes. “God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this. It’s like I’m giving you the weapons to hurt me, and then telling you where exactly to wound.”

“I won’t…”

“But… I guess you made me hate you. I didn’t want to hate you. All those years growing up, I was annoyed by you, you were this… kid with lots of energy and with barely any boundaries and then… it didn’t bother me you know? Little did I know it was tearing me apart. And then… you broke my heart, and you knew you were breaking it, and I’m not talking about when we were kids, I’m…it’s stupid okay, but you knew it didn’t you?”

Tom took your hand in his. “I—“

“So that’s why I hate you,” you admitted. “Because you know all my weaknesses and you use them against me.” You gulped. “So the real question here is, why do you hate me?”

He kissed your hand. “It’s complicated. I don’t hate you, but I do, I hate you because I know I should.”

“That doesn’t make any sense—“

He kissed you, a slow but warm kiss, you closed your eyes instantly.. You could taste the beer on his lips, his fingers were running up from your hips to your stomach, as he so delicately peppered your face with kisses, soft and slowly. You didn’t want an answer, anymore. You guessed this was his answer.

Your own hands were busy unbuttoning the shirt he was wearing.

Your hands found his stomach and travelled up to his chest. His lips rattled down to your neck, as his hands went up to your breasts, cupping them gently. You kissed his jawline as he pulled back slightly, you opened your eyes, as he was running his hands up your thighs, making you shiver.

And the clothes were a burden, even if you were barely wearing anything for now, the dress shirts were bothering both of you. You let him take it off of you, as his lips landed on your stomach and slowly placed gentle kisses, trailing up and down. Down to the edge of your hips, and up to your collarbones as if he was trying to map out your body, with his hands delicately pushing against your thighs. His warm breath made you squirm again and he only looked up with a grin.

His fingers teased the edge of your underwear, pressing his lips on top of it. He looked up at you, caramel eyes filled with lust… but sweetness. He traveled down to your inner thighs, brushing his lips against them, his warm breath making your core shiver.

“I hate you,” you moaned, making him chuckle as he only made your core tremble.

“don’t cry y/n,” he said before placing a kiss to the fabric covering your sex, already soaking wet. You let out a moan, throwing your head back. He slipped his fingers past the fabric and pressed the core just lightly.

“Tom,” you shut your eyes closed.

He ripped down the lacy underwear next throwing it across the room, and only chuckled against you, you tried to grip into the blanket as he opened up your legs more.

“You’re gonna hate me more, but you already ate something I cooked,” he assured before he ran his fingers up through your folds.

“Thomas,” you whined in protest.

He chuckled before leaving a soft trail of kisses on your heat but avoiding where you needed him the most.

You tried to close your legs trying to get any type of pressure, but he kept them open. He licked his lips before finally placing a soft kiss to your clit, you let out a moan.

“T-Tom,” you could barely say it as he continued to lick around the sensitive nub in slow motion, as his fingers were slipping in through your folds. You ran out of breath as he curled up his fingers inside you.

Your stomach tightened with pleasure as you continued to moan his name out loud.

Your hand went down to tug his hair, and you swore you could feel his smirk against your heat. But he continued, up and down, in circles. In and out. And you were close and he knew it, so he went in faster and harder.

“Come for me, darling,” he ordered and his name fell out of your mouth again in breathless gasps, as you came all over him.

You had to catch your breath as you came down from your high.

But he climbed back up with sloppy kisses. And you cupped his face, running your fingers down his hair and crushing your lips against his.

You pushed him back, sitting up so you’d finally be able to push back his shirt, and finally wrapping your legs around him. His hands clumsily ran behind your back as you kissed and sucked on his neck biting slightly, his hands finally managed to unhook your bra as you pulled back, you cupped his face again, staring into him.

His sloppy kisses found a sweet spot on your neck his hands went down to knead your ass, and he moved your hips, rocking into you. Your finger traced down his toned muscles as you felt you were running out of breath, as you slipped your hands into his underwear cupping his hard length. You caressed it but he pushed you back into the bed, pushing your head against your pillow as he grinned and squirmed. His hands wrapping your waist as you helped him pull down his own underwear, his cock hitting his stomach.

“I need to be in you, y/n,” he admitted as he positioned himself in between your legs, rubbing the tip against your folds. You reached for your drawer this time, knowing damn well you had some spare condoms from when you were dating Tim. You wrapped the condom around him, and he teased you again.

He didn’t even warn you before in a single rough movement, he thrusted into you, he squeezed his eyes shut as his body curved into you. You were still recovering from your own high as he started pulling in and out, you rocked your hips against him, helping you get your own friction as he thrusted in slowly and steadily but roughly. Your nails dug into his skin, as your lips found a sweet spot on his neck. Sweat dropped down his face as he connected his lips back to yours.

He bucked his hips to meet yours as he was moaning your name. You didn’t know how long it took him but you were so invested in his lips, as he arched his back, quickening up his movements to reach his own high. Your hands exploring down his body, and kneading his ass, the friction against your core building up your second orgasm,reaching your high even with more pleasure.. Before you knew it he had yelled out your name and squirmed his high, filling you up as you .

He pulled out but kept kissing your neck, not even needing to catch his breath, as his hands walked down your body.

But his lips landed back on yours and then he stared at you. You were panting as you pushed his hair back.

You wouldn’t have been ready for what he asked you next even if they’d warn you.

And you… feared it again.

Because he was poisonous. No. He was like that song that you fell in love with and you loved listening to it, over and over, until it eventually bothered you because it was overplayed. It got old. But one day, without you noticing, it played on the radio and you realized that you were falling in love with it all over again.

“What are we, y/n?” He asked as he nuzzled against your neck, placing soft kisses against it. You reached out for the blanket to cover both of you.

“Mmh?”

He cleared his throat. “I mean… this whole thing we’ve got going on?”

“Don’t know, didn’t expect to end here.”

He gulped. “Neither did I”

You say up just slightly and turned to him. “But does this need a name? Can’t we just… not”

“Cmon, it’s not that complicated, I just need to know what you think we are, so we are both on the same page,” he reached out to push your hair back.

“Why would you need that?”

He shrugged. “So I know where my boundaries are, what’s the name of this game?”

You bit your lip. “I’d say we are...Enemies with benefits.”

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kindness-bliss · 3 years

Text

New Beginnings

Timothy Thatcher x OC

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: None for now (but will make sure tag triggers if presented)

It was just another day, another day of pointless photoshoots for Maya. Photoshoots that meant nothing to her but having to look pretty and pose in front a camera for hours. To her it all just meant a job that paid her bills and kept her from having to rely on her parents. A job that paid for her college, got her an apartment in sunny Florida and got her to leave that past life.

“These are gonna look great for the campaign, your face truly pops out in them” Jasmine her photographer smiled as she shot “you’re living every girls absolute dream”. Maya chuckled “well thank you, I try hard to look and feel the best. After leaving Europe, I finally am starting to feel like myself”. Europe, a place that held the most beautiful memories for her yet caused her years of pain and self doubt. Florida represented home for her, a sense of comfort she hadn’t felt in years. She sat and fixed her hair as she looked in the vanity at herself, in no way was she vain but she knew she was beautiful. Her long brown hair that cascaded over her shoulders, her lips that were plump and proportionate, her button nose, the cheek bones girls at her agency fawned over. To put in simple terms to everyone around her called her perfect.

“Okay this has to be the last one because I promised my friends I’d meet them for dinner and drinks, I’ve been here 2 whole months and have yet to see them” Maya chuckled as she came out in her dress “we’ve got lots and lots of catching up to do”. God it had been so long since she had seen them, work never let her have a social life or even live life actually. The second she turned 17 and signed her contract she knew it meant the end of things being her choice, but the money. The money she earned, oh man that’s what made it all worth it. By 20 she owned an apartment and was able to buy her own car, something she never even thought could happen. “We got it, we got the shot for the campaign” Jasmine grinned as she showed her the camera “IMG is gonna be so happy, I think you’re getting that cover. No way they’re gonna deny this one”. Maya blushed as she felt that rush go through her veins, it never felt real to see herself on magazines or billboards. To her it was always a shock, it was a shock and feeling of pride seeing herself when she shopped and ran errands. It never felt real, nor would it ever. “Oh shit, it’s 7 I gotta go before I’m late ! Thanks again Jas you’re an angel !” She smiled as she left in her dress and heels to the restaurant and sat and chatted with her friends chatting away. “Him ?” She chuckled as looked towards the bar “oh god no, no way in hell unless I’m getting paid”. It’s 2021, humid florida weather and the man had on dickies.....dickies. She could see from afar he had on a plain black shirt and some form of ripped and faded vans. “You get him to be yours and the vacation house my parents gave me is all yours for the entire summer” her friend Veronica grinned “deal ?”. Maya looked at her and then at the man and bit her lip as she looked ahead, offering her hand “deal, he’ll be mine. I’ll make absolute sure of it”. She took a drink and headed over as she fixed her hair and dress and sat next to him and smiled softly “Hi, oh I love that book. Read it in college for my political science class”.

“And when was that ? Last month” Tim retorted as he didn’t bother to lift his head. “Excuse me ?” Maya scoffed “is this how you treat every girl who talks to you or am I just the exception ?”. Tim chuckled as she closed his book and turned his stool around “listen, I’ve seen your kind around okay. Pretty girls who come to bars and want guys to fawn over them, it’s not me sweetheart”. He looked her over discreetly and gulped, he’d dated his fair share of women but never had he seen one like her. Never. “First of all I graduated 3 years ago and I actually have a masters, and second of all I read The Socialist Manifesto during my 2nd year. I majored in Politcal Science and minored in Psychology” she said as she sat down next to him. “You want an applause ? Balloons ? A celebration ?” He said back. Jesus the attitude, the attitude of this man, the audacity. She looked at him trying to hide her dismayed expression as she studied him over, crooked nose and some wrinkles that showed age but overall handsome. He had soft brown hair, nice deep brown eyes and a dimple on one cheek. Perhaps the biggest thing she noticed was the chipped teeth, sure maybe a bit ugly but it definitely showed character. But even then his huge attitude was a turn off for her, no one had ever been so rude to her before. “Have a nice night...whatever your name is” Maya muttered as she got up from her chair and left back to her friends table

“Veronica Rose you owe me money, no way in hell that.....thing is coming by me” she shook her head as she took a shot to forget about the denial. “Jesus that bad huh ? I thought someone looking like him would be easy” Veronica laughed. “Yeah well no, I felt talked down to and like an absolute dumb ass. I’m going home” Maya sighed as she grabbed her purse and walked away bumping into a body as she felt herself get soaked “watch it idiot !”. Tim widened his eyes as he turned a bright shade of red “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there”. “Oh please, you’re like 6 feet, you really didn’t see me ? Is this some kind of sick joke I need to laugh at ? Open those big bug eyes you’ve got and control your lanky legs next time” she spat out as she left the bar furious.

“Hey ! Wait wait !” Tim walked after her “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t do that on purpose just please stop walking !”. Maya stopped and turned around “what ? What do you want ?” She snapped “what is it ?”. Tim gulped as he took in her face against the lighting of the street lights, he had never seen someone so beautiful, even drenched in beer. “Here” he said quickly as he took his hoodie out of his backpack and offered it “i-it’s a bit cold and I don’t think you wanna be wearing that dress out”. Maya gave him a look wanting to say no but taking it as she noticed her skin begin to get goosebumps from the chilly winds. “Thanks” she said softly as she put it on “I’m Maya” she offered her hand to him

“Tim, I’m Tim” he took her hand into his rough calloused one and gently shook it “Listen I’m sorry for how I treated you, I just-it wasn’t on you. I acted like such an asshole towards you” he apologized. Damn he could be such an asshole sometimes and it was always when he wasn’t trying to be. Time after time he was told to stop being the way he was, to not be uptight butt here he was at 1 am in the middle of a street apologizing to some girl he had just met for being an asshole. Not a typical night for Timothy Thatcher, the one time he decided to grab a beer after training this happens. The one time he wasn’t at his apartment in bed by 9 pm he insults a girl he didn’t even know and now there she stood 1 foot away from him wearing his favorite hoodie and smelling like beer. Just his own damn luck.

#timothy thatcher x oc #timothy thatcher fic #timothy thatcher

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much-obliged-timothy · 4 years

Text

I had so much fun writing Timothy/Axton for my fic that my stupid brain had an idea for another fic about these two chaotic idiots. Anyways, I have absolutely no plot to make this into a full fic, so here’s a little taste of the idea just to get it out of my brain.

It takes place before the events of Borderlands 2, something something Tim escaped Jack just to be forced to work for a bandit gang on Pandora, something something they capture Axton and the two end up forming a reluctant friendship and also idk how to plot for my life so experimental one-shot below the cut!

When Axton fled to the border planets, he found that he was quite good at bounty hunting.

The skills he’d honed in the Dahl military served him well to hunt and capture his bounties, dead or alive. And he found that, for a while at least, he enjoyed it. The pay was good and the challenge kept things interesting.

Whenever it became too easy, he’d move on to the next area and try to find tougher bounties. When that became too easy, he looked elsewhere.

It’s how he’d ended up on Pandora. He’d heard the bandits here were unpredictable, and some were strong. It livened up his bounty hunting again, though he knew he’d move on to the next planet eventually.

Or, at least, that had been the plan until the unpredictability of Pandora’s inhabitants led to his capture.

Currently, he sat bound tightly in a bandit tent, somewhere in their well guarded camp. He was frustrated with himself for ending up here.

But how was he supposed to know the bandit he’d been fighting had a digistruct watch? Hell, he didn’t even know what the watch had spawned, because as soon as it was activated, Axton found himself under a volley of fire, and then he’d been struck in the head.

And now, here he was, blood drying on the side of his face and a headache disrupting his thoughts of escape. He tested the bindings once again, but they were far too tight for him to slip. They’d disarmed him as well, so even if he did escape, he wouldn’t make it very far.

The opening to the tent was shoved aside. Axton looked up, realizing he’d been out for a while. It’d been daylight when he got in the fight, but now it was starting to get dark out.

In came two men. One was the target he’d been hoping to snag for a nice price, a bandit leader by the name of Deacon who apparently had a bodyguard no one had thought to throw on the wanted poster.

The bodyguard in question stood next to Deacon now. Axton glared at what little of the man he could see.

Really, it was just the man’s right eye. He had a hood pulled down to his eyes, and a gaiter pulled up nearly to his eyes. His left eye was bandaged, the bandages disappearing up into his hood and down into his gaiter. A scar cut dangerously close to his right eye, also disappearing between the hood and gaiter.

“Oh, you got us a nice one this time, Tim,” Deacon said, crouching in front of Axton and eyeing him critically. “Ex-military, I’d guess.”

“And not too out of practice,” the bodyguard, Tim, grumbled, rubbing his ribs where Axton had managed to roughly kick him during their fight.

“We can have another round,” Axton offered, tugging at his restraints.

“Nah, one and done for me,” Tim said. His voice was familiar, but Axton couldn’t quite place it. It didn’t help that it was muffled by the gaiter.

“We’ll see if they bring in a nice catch tomorrow to toss him into the fight ring with,” Deacon said, standing up. “Keep an eye on him through the night. Don’t wanna lose this one.”

“What?” Tim’s visible eye widened in despair. “Why me?”

“Because that was an order, and you always follow orders, don’t you, Timmy?” Deacon said, going right up to Tim and tapping his neck. Axton hadn’t noticed the collar fixed around it during their fight, but it seemed glaringly obvious now.

Tim smacked his hand away. “Fine. But I hate the mouthy ones, so I’m gagging him if he annoys me.”

“Do what you want. Just don’t mess him up anymore,” Deacon said, heading for the exit and clapping Tim on the shoulder as he went. “That’s a good boy, Timmy.”

“Oh, man, I wish I died in infancy,” Tim groaned.

“You could die now if you untie me?” Axton offered.

“Tempting, but no.” Tim sat down across from Axton. He held up five fingers. “Five more words. That’s all you get before I gag you, and yes, it’s because I’m still salty you broke my ribs. Health kits fixed me up, but it really freaking hurt dragging you back here with busted ribs.”

Axton was at least pleased he’d injured this asshole. Still, he wasn’t seeing a way out of this right now.

Even if he managed to get free of his restraints, he now had someone guarding him. And this guy was no joke as a fighter. Axton figured he was largely self taught by the way he handled a gun- familiar, but not exactly good form. Still, that made his movements hard to predict.

Axton might have the advantage in this enclosed space. Tim had tried to keep distance between them during the fight, and was pitiful at close combat fighting compared to Axton. It was after Axton had kicked him in the ribs and begun to aim at Tim’s head that he’d activated his watch.

That was the problem, though. Axton could see the outline of the watch under the jacket Tim wore. By the time Axton could lunge at him for an attack, Tim could activate it.

Plus, there was the matter of the other enemies. He didn’t know how large the population of the camp was, only that it had been well guarded when he’d scouted it out earlier. It’s why he’d attempted to follow Deacon when the man left on some errand, only to find himself confronted by Deacon’s...bodyguard? Slave?

“You could kill that dude and slip the collar,” Axton said, wondering if maybe he could turn Tim on his side.

“Nope, Deacon’s not the only one with a controller,” Tim said, getting up and kneeling in front of Axton. “Congratulations, you wasted all the words I’m granting you for the night on a failed attempt to win me over and aid your escape.”

He promptly gagged Axton before sitting back against the wall of the tent. Axton tried to maneuver the gag out of his mouth, but gave up before he could manage to choke himself. He settled for trying to loosen the restraints, and Tim let him have at it since they both knew it was hopeless.

A fight ring, huh? Were they going to use him as a fighter to earn bets until he burned out or was killed? He’d heard that fight rings were pretty popular on Pandora. Shit, this wasn’t how he wanted to have a challenge.

They sat in silence for hours. Tim flicked through an ECHO, looking bored. He occasionally glanced up at Axton, but never bothered trying to stop him from his meager escape attempts.

Finally, though, he sighed loudly and got up, yanking the gag out of Axton’s mouth and sitting back down. Axton took note of the fact that he was still favoring his ribs, despite claiming to be healed.

“I’m bored, but if you piss me off, I’ll gag you again,” he warned. “What’s a Dahl guy doing on Pandora?”

“Ex-military. Your master was right,” Axton said.

It was hard to make out his expressions since most of his face was covered, but Axton could tell his words had irritated Tim. He wondered if he’d be gagged again.

But Tim didn’t bother. “He’s your master now, too, kiddo.” He touched the collar around his throat, whole body stiffening at the feel. “Even if you don’t get to wear the expensive jewelry, you belong to him now. He’ll toss you into the fight ring over and over until you’re no use to him anymore.”

“Is that what he did to you?” Axton asked, nodding towards the scar he could see.

“No. I’m too valuable for that,” Tim said, his voice surprisingly bitter. He fell silent for a moment, collecting himself before speaking again. “Shouldn’t have picked up the bounty, kiddo. That’s how he gets ‘em. I either kill the ones who won’t last in the ring, or bring the worthy ones back.”

“How did he know I was following him?” Axton said. “I was careful.”

“He didn’t know. I did. I saw you scouting the camp, so I sent him on an errand to draw you out into the open. Once I was sure you were alone, I went for it,” he said. He sounded exhausted. “I’d pissed him off. Needed to please him before he got too mad. Just bad luck on your part.”

Slave, then. Definitely not a willing bodyguard.

Tim glanced at the opening to the tent, listening hard. Then he lowered his voice.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, and the waver in his voice shocked Axton. “You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would’ve let you go any other time, but I needed to...he was going to...Shit. Doesn’t matter. Picked my own safety over you, and that’s that.”

Axton stared at Tim, but Tim didn’t look at him again. Axton weakly tugged at the restraints again, but it was no use.

He didn’t bother speaking again. He knew a defeated man when he saw one. Tim was in survival mode, and he wasn’t going to risk his life to free Axton, regardless of what he morally wanted to do.

They sat in silence until the sunlight crept into the tent. The entrance opened and in came Deacon.

He roughly kicked Tim in the ribs, Tim hissing in pain and jerking away. “Hope you weren’t sleeping on the job, Timmy.”

“Obviously not,” Tim snapped, gently rubbing his ribs. “God, you freaking Pandoran scum.”

His eyes widened a little at his own words. Deacon sighed heavily, pulling something from his pocket. Axton had just enough time to realize it was a small controller before Deacon’s finger pressed against it and Tim began screaming.

Tim fell to the ground, prying at the collar in agony, his body jerking in a way that told Axton he was being shocked. Axton could smell burnt flesh the longer Tim screamed.

“You’re gonna fuckin’ kill him!” Axton said angrily. He’d seen devices like that used on prisoners of war the Dahl military had captured before. He’d thought it inhumane even back then, some of them suffering like Tim was for hours before the shocks finally became too much and killed them.

Deacon pressed on the controller again and Tim gasped for breath, body shaking violently. He flinched as Deacon placed a foot on his ribs.

“Someday I’ll teach you to mind that tongue, TJ.” He spoke the name like a slur. Tim flinched again. “You’re lucky you brought me a nice catch, or else I might’ve shocked you right into another seizure. Get up and leash our new pet. I’ll be back for him in a few minutes. You’re on thin fuckin’ ice with me.”

He left the tent. Tim tried to push himself upright, but his limbs wouldn’t cooperate and he fell back to the ground with a weak sob. He tried again, and Axton actually felt bad for the guy as he once again couldn’t get himself up.

Finally, he managed it. He shakily walked over to a box in the tent, digging through it and coming out with a black collar, like something Axton would’ve stuck on a dog. Thankfully, it wasn’t the complex device locked around Tim’s own throat.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Tim choked out as he clasped it around Axton’s throat. “Oh, hell, what the fuck am I? I’m sorry.”

“Guess I should’ve known you were the type to restrain a man and stick a collar on him,” Axton said. “Not really my scene, but I guess I’ve gotta give it a try. What’s my safe word?”

Tim let out a weak, choked laugh. “Shit.”

“Huh, weird choice, but I’ll keep it in mind,” Axton said.

“If you play along for now, you might be able to get out down the line,” Tim said, his voice quiet. “Won’t blame you if you come after me when you escape. But I’ll fight back.”

Axton eyed the collar. Just the barest strip of skin around it was revealed, but Axton could see how badly the shocks had burned him and scarred his throat.

“Nah, not you,” he said. “Deacon’s got the bounty on him. Be a shame if his controller got broken when I killed him, huh?”

Tim turned away from Axton. “I’ll just get passed along to the next one. I’m...sorry. But I can’t undo what I did. Welcome to the fight ring, Dahl.”

“Axton,” Axton said. “My name is Axton.”

“Not anymore,” Tim said.

When Deacon came back, he found them sitting in silence. Tim did as Deacon ordered him, no hesitation as he helped get Axton up and moving to drag him to the fight ring and seal his fate.

Axton considered trying to flee as they transported him. But he took one look at Tim’s horrifically scarred throat and decided against it.

He’d get free someday. And when he did, he was going to kill Deacon and break that damn controller.

#borderlands #timothy lawrence #Axton the Commando #timothy lawrence/axton #borderlands fic #borderlands au #My writing #will i ever have a coherent idea in my entire life

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omegangrins · 4 years

Text

Chibnall, Children, Choice and Consequence

Allow me to introduce a companion piece to A Treatise on the Doctor:

It's pretty simple:

Chibnall knows what he's doing and is playing a long game to show how the Doctor needs to take more responsibility.

Let me start off with my favorite examples. That's right, plural.

Every single villain 13 faces is never defeated, merely pushed away from causing them any immediate problems. Tim Shaw being the prime example.

1&10. Seriously, Tim Shaw. Her plan was to use his own bombs on him and then teleport him off the planet. Even without Ranskoor Av Kolos, the Doctor should have thought to check in on him. Especially after The Ghost Monument showed the Stenza were a greater threat than she knew. She still hasn't even checked up on WHAT THE HELL THE STENZA ARE! They sound worse than Daleks but naw, let's go rain-bathing in the upper tropics of Canstano instead.

2. Ghost Monument. We saw the END of an interuniversal race. What the fuck is the beginning that got them there? Who is Illyn and how and why did he orchestrate a super race?

3. Krasko. Sent back in time. Really, Doc? Not gonna take a look at the device and see where Ryan sent the prick so you can double check that he's not gonna cause anymore damage?

4. President Trump analog. Ooooo, you looked at him menacingly, Doc, that'll show him!! Not like he's gonna KEEP DOING ILLEGAL SHIT LIKE THIS.

5. The Pting. She literally shunted it off ship to be dealt with by someone else BUT DOESN'T GO BACK TO BE THAT SOMEONE ELSE ONCE SHE HAS HER TARDIS. That's like leaving a living nuke floating around after sweeping it under the rug while you fly off to Paris.

6. The Pakistani-Indian conflict still happens and millions still die. Not her fault but still....

7. Kerblam. Sure, Charlie's terrorism was solved but not the underlying problem that led to it. Humans still can't work because corporations like profits over people.

8. Similar to the Punjab, how you gonna solve sexism, classism and all the -isms?

9. WHY WAS THE SOLITRACT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE??!! It's been around since before the universe. Why'd it decide to come back now? It's a whole universe trying to hug our universe to death. Maaaaaaybe we should check out why.

11. She's gets a pass on the Dalek. Fucking impossible to eradicate them.

12. The Master!!! Finally she checks up on something after the adventures... and it's horrible. With everything gone to shit in her absence. Seeing a pattern yet?

And Barton? And the Cassaven? They didn't disappear into smoke.

13. Multiple Earths being multiply fucked. Remember when I said the Doctor couldn't solve racism, classism, sexism, or any of the other -isms? Starting to look like she needs to TRY.

14. The Skithra FLY OFF after getting hit by a laser beam. That kind of thing tends to piss people off. Even if they're idiots using other's technology.

15. Jack. The Judoon. The Ruth Doctor. All things I'd start checking out if I had a time machine BUT

16. WE CAN'T cause the TARDIS emergency alert is going off and we need to hurry up and run and solve this problem before we run out of time in our TIME AND SPACE MACHINE. Leading to another problem the Doctor could help solve but won't. Plastic and over-consumption.

17. Oh yeah, let's trap two Eternals from another universe in the same place. There's NO WAY that could ever turn out bad.

18,19,20. And again. Cyberium. Pushed off Shelley onto herself and onto Ashad and onto The Master.

That's almost 20 "enemies" the Doctor still needs to deal with.

Oh, not to mention that they let UNIT go defunct because they didn't have the forethought to ask if they needed any money in their alien fighting budget. After asking for an office, a desk, and a job. Kinda funny that way, aren't they?

I hope by now you've gotten the idea that this is VERY deliberate. This is Chibnall laying down some very heavy pipe to smack the Doctor like a clothesline. There isn't a one of these situations that can't come around to bite her in the ass.

Barton, Roberts, Skithra. These are all very loose strands for a time traveller like the Doctor to get tripped up on. Chibnall's past episodes prove it. They're all about the Doctor learning how to take responsibility.

42: The Doctor almost gets Martha killed and almost gets himself killed trying to fix it.

The Hungry Earth: The Doctor (a thousand year old "adult") tells Elliot (a 10 year old kid) that "Sure it's totally fine to go get your headphones while we prepare for an approaching unknown alien force." And 11 rightfully gets his ass chewed for it by the child's mother when the kid goes missing because OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS, JACKASS!

Cold Blood: I could write an entire essay about the Doctor's guilt over the Silurian/Human conflicts they've witnessed, but I don't need to. Because every single Silurian centered episode written in the new era is from Chris Chibnall. And you can feel the sad knowledge of Classic Who spill through. He KNOWS how many times the Doctor has fucked up with the Silurians (about 8 times in television format. And it's rough everytime. Rough.) and he writes those episodes like an apology on behalf of the whole human race. And the Doctor. You know why people are put off by Warriors of the Deep? 5 releases a gas that melts the Silurians. And though it's cheesy, the idea and execution is still horrible.

Add to that if the Doctor hadn't stopped to check the crack, then Rory wouldn't have waited and been around to be shot then absorbed by the time crack.

Power of Three: An entire episode about how the Doctor has a problem slowing down and really taking account of the lives of their companions.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: The Doctor actually tries to be responsible and pick the right people for a job. For once. But gets angry when they realize it's too late and there's another bunch of Silurians they failed to save. Classic!

Like I said, if you can't see the pattern, you're not paying enough attention to your responsibilites.

Which leads me to the why.

When you fly around time and space for thousands of years, you develop a few duties of care along the way. In every situation, you're the oldest. Technically the only adult in terms of experience. You have a responsibility to act a little less rude and be a bit more aware than needing cue cards to tell you that you should be sad about things around you. And that's the purpose of 13. She's unlucky but learning. Like 12 telling himself something with his face he couldn't say out loud, 13's instincts are leading her to a new place for the Doctor: being a caring, responsible person. Not so much laughing hard or running fast, but being kind. It's the one thing they recognized as a problem in themselves when seeing 1. Being a Doctor is about being kinder than that. Just because you HAVE to saw someone's leg off, that doesn't mean you can't wait a little and comfort them before you do it.

You wanna know what gave me every faith in Chibnall showrunning Doctor Who? 13 staying for Grace's funeral.

Do you understand how unprecedented that is? This is the same person who never said Goodbye to Jo Grant as she got married and fucked off into the night. The same Doctor who said, "I don't do domestic.", did it with Rose a regeneration later, and then closed himself off to everyone but a married couple he felt guilty about who ended up birthing his wife. Have you any idea the number of funerals the Doctor should have the common decency to sit through? This many.

youtube

So for 13 to stay around for the death of a woman she has only just met and not only that, BUT call out Ryan's father for not doing the same, it shows tremendous character growth. It's taken millennia but they're still changing.

Something similar happens with Rosa and The Witchfinders. Realizing that there a lot of companions who have been in situations that are sometimes worse than aliens, but they still manage to make it through. So she needs to buck it up and persevere for everyone else.

That's where her anger comes from, and really it's one of my favorite traits on her. It reminds me of 7. Someone impossibly old and impossibly kind saying to hell with it and at least having some fun with the evils who drag us through the universe. And just like Cartmel planned for 7, 13's past will come to haunt her.

That's where children come in. Most of us are crying babies to the Doctor.

There's this thing you notice most in British shows about answering the question directly as asked. Someone says "Are you sure?", you answer "Sure". That's a direct acknowledgement that you heard the question, understood it, and processed it enough to respond in a manner directly correlating to the question asked. Yas and Graham got it and said "Sure" but Ryan missed it and said "Deffo". This is like Elliot with the headphones. The Doctor should have immediately been like, "Okay, Ryan, it's obvious that you're still dealing with the trauma of your grandmother's death and probably not processing things on a logical level. I said "Are you sure?" Not "Are you deffo?" Because we are most definitely not deffo, Ryan. Graham, you wanna help here?"

I'm being sarcastic for points sake but you understand the idea. The Doctor knows better and has a responsibility as such. She should've really sat down with Ryan and Graham and seen if there was a better way to process their grief.

Because I'm fairly certain that "Deffo" is gonna lead to Ryan's death and Graham's cancer resurging as time cancer (I don't know what time cancer is. I just know it's bad.)

And that is gonna piss Yas off. Which will give you all that character you think she's missing (she isn't. Her character is in her subtleties and silences.). That's WHY her character is a police officer (like how does no else see that the man who wrote Broadchurch wrote an inspector character companion?) Imagine you're Yaz and you see the Doctor flying around in a big, magic box that says POLICE. As a fellow officer, you're gonna expect some basic safety protocols.

Like do a background check on everyone flying in the TARDIS to know whether they're stable enough (mentally, physically, emotionally) for time and space travel. It's no picnic. These people are going to go through hell. A little vetting and planning like Time Heist or Dinosaurs on a Spaceship goes a long way.

Secondly, full fucking disclosure.

"Oh. I can't die because I change my body. Oh. I have arch enemies that will try to kill and torture us any chance they get. Oh. My home planet is full of the biggest assholes in the universe and I'm including my arch enemies."

Third, police like to do this thing called "check-ups" where they go back to the scene of the crime in order to see if there is any more information that can be gleaned which you might not notice when you are busy running around trying not to be killed... Like, the Doctor has the perfect machine to do this with, but nope. Adventure done, run to the next place!!

These are all things you'd expect any reasonable person to do and say when taking others flying off into time and space and "helping". Even if they are an idiot passing through and learning. Especially when you consider the Doctor is vastly older and more experienced than everyone they encounter. They SHOULD know better. And they've got the lifespan to slow down. It's not like they need to be in a hurry because they're going to die at any moment like humans. The Doctor could easily stay for tea and it would be less than a drop in their lifespan.

Now, as usually is the case when I make these theories, I have a parts 1,2,3,4 and 6. There's allways this 5th piece I miss but I manage to get at the end.

But the 6th piece is the Timeless Child. The Doctor isn't a Time Lord anymore. They're not beholden to those people and ideas anymore. Even moreso, those people basically raped her childhood for their own gain so it's not like you'd really listen to them and their "policy of non-intervention".

I'm sensing a coming Trial of a Time Lord season (even believing these two seasons are the opening statement and preliminary evidence of the trial itself) wherein the Doctor finally gets the turnaround 6 deserved. A Trial of the Time Lords, if you will.

"In all my travels through time and space I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here! The oldest civilization: decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core! Power mad conspirators? Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen — they're still in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power: that's what it takes to be really corrupt!"

This is what it's all coming down to. Chibnall's takedown of the Time Lords. And The Master is going to play the most crucial role of all.

They're going to be revealed as an Ux alongside the Doctor and show how the only constants they have in this universe are each other and it's about damn time they work together and tell these high collars to eat Schitt while they explore every star and planet they can find.

Come on, the episode is called The Timeless "Children". If it was just the Doctor it'd be called "The Timeless Child". The Master says as much with the misdirect line, "built on the lie of the Timeless Child." since we see two kids playing in that flashback.

"Since always. Since the Cloister Wars, since the night he stole the moon and the president's wife, since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie, can you guess which one?"

Now we know which one was a lie, we know the Master HAS known the Doctor since they were a little girl. THAT little girl...

But this is all just speculation. It's not like Chris Chibnall could have been thinking about this for the past 40 years and was given a blank slate to do whatever he wanted for five years on his favorite TV show. If y'all want to think he took those reigns and is choosing to make things worse...

Well then you don't know much about responsibility.

I'll let the man himself tell you about it.

"Very early in my career,” says Chibnall, “someone told me that you learn more from a failure than you do from a success. And then I lived out that phrase for a year in Los Angeles. I learned that I would not work that way again or be put in that situation again.” The essential lesson was: “You either have to be in total control of a show or working with people who share your vision and will work with you to achieve it. Also, never work with 13 executive producers.

“Camelot was the classic case of too many cooks. It wasn’t a harmonious set-up and I think that does manifest itself on screen.

“I had a fantastic cast but you have to be free to tell the story you want to tell in the way that you want to tell it. What ended up on screen was not what I wanted and so it is a blemish on my CV.”

Credit to @thirteenthdoc

“You immortals - so entitled, so spoiled. You never clear up after yourselves and you always leave stuff lying around.” - Thirteenth Doctor in Can You Hear Me?

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crows-murder · 3 years

Note

What was the first fandom and/or pairing that you wrote fic for?

Do you participate in any writing events or challenges throughout the year? If so, what do you like about them?

Do you write fics from start or finish, or jump around?

Do you outline before you start writing? If so, how far do you stray from that outline?

What is the perfect environment for you to write in?

Which part of writing do you struggle with most?

dialogue, exposition, or plot the most?

If you could only write angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Is there a trope you haven’t written yet but really want to?

Is there a trope you wouldn’t write if it was the last trope on earth?

What is your most underrated fic?

What fic are you most proud of?

What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Who is the easiest/hardest character for you to write about? Why?

What’s your favorite minor character you’ve written?

What is the one fic that got away?

Have you cried while writing a fic?

If you had to remix one of your own fics, which would it be and how would you remix it?

Tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future. (sorry for sending so many i really wanna know)

(no don’t worry it’s perfectly okay! i had fun answering all of them 😊)

1. what was the first fandom and/or pairing that you wrote fic for?

ah. okay, so the first fandom i wrote and published for was Voltron, though i will never give away what the pairing was. i was 14 and it was on Wattpad, the rest is forbidden knowledge

2.do you participate in any writing events or challenges throughout the year? if so, what do you like about them?

i recently participated in a few events and challenges, and honestly, they were a lot of fun! i’d have to say that what i like about them is that i get to get out of my comfort zone and push my limits.

3. do you write fics from start or finish, or jump around?

well. uh, no.

sometimes i do write whole fics in one sitting, but usually it takes me a day or two, and i have more than one WIP doc open because my brain needs to switch fics when it gets bored, so to speak. i just need to jump around to avoid losing interest in a story

4. do you outline before you start writing? if so, how far do you stray from that outline?

if it’s a multi-chapter fic, then yes. if i don’t have a clear ending or goal, then the story can and will drag on and on and on lol. sometimes i’ll stray from my outline, since it’s not really a strict set of directions for me to follow, more of something to guide me. very often, my story won’t exactly resemble my outline.

5. what is the perfect environment for you to write in?

late at night with a steaming cup of tea or coffee, or just an energy drink, wrapped in my fuzzy blanket with instrumental music playing.

7. Which part of writing do you struggle with most?

writing

/hj. idk i guess i’d have to say finding the right word when i forget it. or another super annoying thing is that sometimes i have the perfect word in french, and i need to find a good translation for it, but the english version of the word just doesn’t feel the same as the original. that’s very annoying lol.

10. do you enjoy dialogue, exposition, or plot the most?

dialogue. i tend to stray from the plot and i always struggle with exposition, but i absolutely love writing dialogue.

11. if you could only write angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your life, which would it be?

angst. no questions. i need to hurt my characters because i love them.

12. is there a trope you haven’t written yet but really want to?

enemies to lovers. i don’t have any actual WIPs with that specific trope, but i do really want to write it one day lol.

13. is there a trope you wouldn’t write if it was the last trope on earth?

alpha/beta/omega. i fully support my writer friends who write it, but sadly i will never write it. it bothers me a little too much rip. i’d rather never write again than write it.

16. what is your most underrated fic?

um. personally, i think that this fic from my urban fantasy AU was really not popular lol. i kinda see why, since its pure fluff and from an AU that is a personal indulgence lol

17. what fic are you most proud of?

okay this Jayroy fic from my bad things happen bingo is definitely one of the ones i’m very proud of. idk, i just like it? i can’t explain why i’m proud of it, but i am.

18. what is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

i decided to cheat a little and i’ll be using a line from a WIP instead. and the commentary’s gonna be written bc i can

It was a mission report. Bruce had told him it was fine if he finished it tomorrow.

Tim could finish it tonight. (tim you absolute walnut SLEEP)

He was perfectly capable of doing what Bruce asked him. (not when you’re sleep deprived, idiot) He wasn’t Dick. he certainly wasn’t Jason. But he could still work diligently and without mistake. He could be better. (aw bby you dumb idiot child you dont need to be better)

Tim stared at the person standing in the hallway, eyes narrowed and mug in one hand. He knew for a fact that it took longer than twenty-seven hours of no sleep to start hallucinating. (I BANISH YOU TO SLEEP JAIL YOU UNRULY GREMLIN)

But that was the only reason Tim could fathom the Red Hood standing in the kitchen of Titans Tower at half-past three in the morning. (and that’s valid. i too would think i’d be hallucinating lmao)

Red Hood approached Tim slowly. “You have a lot of nerve wearing that uniform.” (jason please LET. THAT. GO.)

Tim glanced down at his rumpled gray shirt and flannel pajama bottoms. (i laughed writing this. i laughed a lot)

He should be more alarmed that the Red Hood clearly knew he was Robin without the mask, but Tim was too tired and he was going to have to push that freak-out to the next day. (me doing homework at 4am like)

19. who is the easiest/hardest character for you to write about? why?

this time i’ll go with the type of characters. the easiest character for me to write is definitely the one character i relate to the most/ my comfort character because of course, i know them more than any other character and to some level understand their character. the hardest character to write is probably one i don’t really know or one who doesn’t have a lot of character development or there isn’t much info about them. i’ll still write them, but i’ll be making up a lot of stuff lol.

20. what’s your favorite minor character you’ve written?

hmm. i haven’t written many side characters, but i did love writing Dana Winters. she’s very cool and i like her a lot.

21. what is the one fic that got away?

it might just be me but im struggling a bit with what this could mean, so i’m going to assume it means that one fic that didn’t go where i expected it to (if that’s not what you meant, feel free to send me an ask correcting me lol)

so i’d have to say its the second part of this 2 chapter fic i wrote because a lot of people were asking for more cuddles in the first part. i was not expecting writing another fic specifically for fluff, but here we are.

22. have you cried while writing a fic?

definitely during that one major character death fic i wrote. i wrote the aftermath of the character’s death and i was crying while writing it lmao.

i was crying so much writing the ending for this

23. if you had to remix one of your own fics, which would it be and how would you remix it?

i wrote a sort of road trip birdflash au that i wouldn’t mind seeing as a remix

30. tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future.

i’m actually writing a longfic right now. i don’t even know where i got the idea from, but it’s basically a batfam no capes AU where they all practice magic instead and it’s set in 1927.

here’s the ask game! send me an ask! (or more than one, i don’t mind)

#long post #ask game #fic writer ask game #ghost answers #ghost writes

3 notes · View notes

hxbbit · 5 years

Text

Pretender (Billy Russo x Reader)

Words: ~10k

Warnings: some angst, awful mothers, embarrassing family, smut, unprotected sex

Prompt: Fake-Dating

I am back, my friends, and here is my entry for @banditthewriter trope challenge! And my god, did I have fun writing this! I picked this trope, because I was really inspired by bandits fake-dating fic and had this idea in my head for quite a while, so here it is. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

“No, you didn’t! That’s a lie!” You laughed as you let yourself and Billy into your apartment.

“Okay, maybe I embellished the story a little, but it did happen, ask Frank!” Billy replied as he shrugged his leather jacket off.

“Ha, I knew it.” You sat down on the couch, still with a grin on your face, and Billy walked over to the fridge, getting two bottles of water out.

The world was spinning around you, so you closed your eyes and leaned your head against the back of the couch. Maybe you really had had one too many drinks.

“Your sister is getting married?” Billy then asked. You opened your eyes and saw him still standing at the fridge, the wedding invitation in his hand and the two water bottles in his other.

“She is.” You shrugged.

“You never mentioned it and the wedding is in…” Billy looked at the invitation again. “two weeks.” Billy then looked at you with furrowed brows, then put the invitation back on the fridge with a magnet.

“I am aware,” you answered. Billy came over and handed you one of the bottles before sitting down next to you.

“What, you’re not happy for her? I thought you said that Tim was a good guy?” Billy questioned you further.

You took a few sips of the cool water in hopes of sobering up a little. You didn’t really want to talk about it, not even with Billy, who was one of your best friends.

“He is and I am happy for them. It’s just… My whole family is going to be there. And I haven’t really talked to any of them since I broke up with Richard. So the rehearsal dinner and the wedding will be the perfect opportunity for them to pester me with questions. “Y/N, what did you do wrong this time?”, “Y/N, when are you finally gonna marry?”, “Y/N, why can’t you keep a man?”, you get the gist.” You let out a long sigh.

“Are you sure? I mean, Rick The Dick was an asshole and he was the one that cheated on you and not the other way around,” Billy supplied, trying to reason with you.

“That won’t matter to them, surely I must’ve done something wrong to make Richard cheat on me,” you scoffed.

“And initially, Richard was supposed to go to the wedding with me, but now I have to go alone. Fun!” You let out a little laugh and then took another sip of your drink.

“I can go with you,” Billy then suddenly offered.

“Yeah, right,” you snorted without even looking at him.

“No, I mean it. I’ll go with you if you want.”

You looked over at Billy and he looked completely serious.

“Billy, I-,” you started, wanted to say that it was nice of him to offer, but that he really wouldn’t want to do it if he knew what he was in for, but instead he interrupted you.

“No, listen, I could go with you and pretend to be your new boyfriend. I’d schmooze your parents a little bit and dazzle them with my good looks and charm, which will distract them from you. I’m sure they’d love me,” Billy explained with a grin and you really let his words sink in, you were about to open your mouth to say something when Billy interrupted you again.

“I was in Afghanistan getting shot at, I’ll survive your family.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” you then replied and that made Billy laugh.

“But seriously, think about it,” he said before getting up and then heading out of your apartment.

Billy pretending to be your boyfriend, now there was an idea.

Your friendship with Billy was still relatively new. You had met him a little over a year ago when Karen had invited you for drinks and her boyfriend Frank had invited his best friend Billy.

Billy had tried flirting with you, and if you had been single, you sure would’ve reciprocated it, but you were with Richard at that time so you just brushed it off.

But then he tagged along more often when you all hung out and a friendship developed. Billy didn’t judge, you had the same sense of humor and you really just clicked.

That was one of the reasons Richard cheated on you, at least so he claimed.

He said that he was sure that you had something going on with Billy, so that gave him the permission to cheat on you, too.

But your friendship with Billy had always been strictly platonic. Sure, sometimes he still flirted, but it never crossed the line.

However, ever since you broke up, you had some peculiar thoughts cross your mind.

Billy liked the women and the women liked Billy, he wasn’t the relationship type and he always made that very clear, but that didn’t stop them from chasing after him. This lead you to believe, that Billy must be doing something very right in the bedroom.

So was it bad that you kept wondering what he was like in bed? And if he could make you come undone? Or if his pretty mouth was good at more than just letting out witty remarks?

You always tried to push those thoughts out of your head.

You tried to convince yourself that it was only because you were horny and maybe a little desperate and, well, Billy was there and obviously he is ridiculously attractive, but deep down you knew that there might be something more to it.

However, you also felt like Billy’s flirting has increased since your break up. He always played it off as a joke and that he obviously didn’t really mean it, but you still noticed it.

But the whole fake-dating thing was Billy’s idea, he offered to help you out. It was only for one weekend. And he would really make that whole wedding more bearable, not only because it would get your family off your back, but also because you liked having Billy around and you were sure that you’d have a lot more fun if he was there. What could go wrong?

Before you fell asleep that night, you had made the decision to accept Billy’s offer.

When you woke up the next morning, you thought about Billy and your decision again and even in your now sober, mildly hungover, mind it still seemed like a good idea. Maybe not the best idea, but also definitely not the worst.

You still had to make sure that your sister still had you marked down with a +1, which meant you had to call her.

“Y/N! To what do I owe this pleasure?” Your sister greeted you and you could hear a grin in her voice.

“Hi, Ellie,” you said and you had to smile.

“How are you? How are the wedding preparations going?”

“I’m good and everything is going great. I can’t believe that I’m going to get married in less than two weeks,” she replied and you could hear that she sounded excited, if not a little tired.

“I know, it’s insane,” you said and you meant it. Ellie was your younger sister, your baby sister, and she was getting married before you.

“So, why are you really calling?” She then asked. She knew you way too well.

You took a deep breath.

“Listen, I RSVP-ed with a +1, but that was before I broke up with Richard,” you started.

“Yes?” Ellie answered hesitantly, probably wondering where you were going with this.

“Do you still have me in your plans with a +1 or did you think I was going to come alone and change it?”

“I still have an extra seat for you,” Ellie said, but then it seemed to really register what you had just asked her.

“Hold on. Why are you asking? You didn’t get back together with Richard, did you? That guy is an idiot!”

“No, no! I didn’t get back together with him. I would like to bring someone else.” You swallowed hard, obviously she would want to know who you’re bringing.

“Do you have a new boyfriend?! Who are you bringing to my wedding?” She asked, completely shocked, usually you always told her about these things, so she was probably a little insulted that you didn’t tell her about it sooner.

“You remember Billy, right?” Billy and Ellie had met only once.

“Oh, you mean your absurdly hot friend? The friend that you insisted was really only a friend and that there was nothing romantic going on between you two? Yeah, I remember”

You had a choice now. You could tell Ellie the truth, that you would bring Billy to pretend to be your boyfriend, just to get your family off your back. But Ellie wasn’t the best at keeping secrets. She didn’t mean to spill them, it always just sort of happened. So the better choice, even if you didn’t like it, was to lie to her.

“Yeah, well, Billy is my boyfriend now,” you quickly let the words slip out, flinching a little, because you really didn’t like lying to her.

Ellie let out a squeal.

“You’re kidding, right? Oh my God, why didn’t you tell me?!”

“We kept it quiet. Wanted to see if we would work as a couple before we announced it to the world, but it’s going great, actually,” you explained to her, trying to come up with something that would sound believable.

“I can’t believe it. I’ve always liked Billy. He always seemed to really make you happy, even just as a friend. And the way you talked about him sometimes… I shouldn’t be that surprised,” Ellie said.

“He does make me happy,” you replied and you involuntarily had to smile as you thought of Billy.

“Well then, he’s very much invited to the wedding”

“Thanks, Ellie”

You then ended the call with your sister and immediately called Billy.

“So you remember the offer you made me?” You asked without a greeting.

“Hello to you, too,” Billy laughed. “and yes, I remember.”

“I thought about it last night and if you’re still up for it, I would like to accept it,” you said.

“Do you always think about me at night?” Billy only replied, a seductive, yet humorous tone in his voice and while you knew he was joking, you couldn’t help but feel a pulling sensation low in your stomach.

“Billy, I’m serious and I need to know that you’re going to take this seriously as well.”

“Sorry, yes. I am still up for it and I am going to take this very seriously.”

“Good, because I already told my sister that you’re coming,” you said, shrugging, even though you knew that Billy couldn’t see it.

Billy laughed at the other end of the line.

“So what would you have done if I had said no?”

“Then I would have to drag you there by force,” you explained matter-of-factly.

You discussed some more details with Billy before you then hung up.

Billy asked you what the dress code was and what color your dress would be and when you would have to leave on Friday to arrive in time for the rehearsal.

He would be out of town for a week and you probably wouldn’t see him again before the wedding weekend, so that’s why he asked about all of this now.

You would still have to talk about what story you’re going to tell on the day and iron out all the details, but you’d have enough time to do that on the drive to the wedding venue. Your sister was marrying in the Hamptons.

You got increasingly nervous the closer it got to the wedding, starting to doubt if it was really such a good idea to lie to everyone. Eventually you would have to tell your family that you ‘broke up’ with Billy, because it obviously was all a lie and only for a weekend and you couldn’t keep that lie up forever.

You were pretty much neck deep into it now, so there was no going back. You were sure that your sister had told someone about your new relationship and that it would make the rounds, so you couldn’t show up to the wedding alone.

In fact, you were surprised that you mother hasn’t called you yet, to ask if the rumors were true.

Billy and you stayed in touch through text over the time he was gone and you had made plans that you would meet up on Friday morning around 10am and then you’d drive to the Hamptons. At first you tried to convince him to take your car, but Billy insisted on taking the Rolls Royce. He said something about strong first impressions.

You had packed your bags for the weekend and checked double to make sure that you had the wedding gift and everything else you needed so that you were ready when Billy showed up. Shortly after 10am, you doorbell rang and you opened the door for Billy.

He was dressed casually, jeans and a sweater, but his hair was still styled perfectly.

“Hey, how was your trip?” You greeted him with a smile as you grabbed your bags.

“Hey, busy. Let me take those,” Billy offered and took the bags from your hands.

“Oh my, my boyfriend is a gentleman,” you joked.

“Not your boyfriend yet. Boyfriend time starts when we’re in the Hamptons, but I see someones eager.” He grinned at you.

You locked the door behind you and then you both went to his car.

“Okay, so, we need to get our stories straight,” you started as soon as you were on the road.

“What did you tell your sister about us?” He asked.

“Well, she obviously knows that we were/are friends and I told her that we got together and kept it quiet at first to see if things would work out, but nothing more.”

“Alright, so let’s just stick to the truth as much as we can, it’ll make it easier,” Billy suggested and you agreed.

“Good idea. So, we started out as friends and you had always been hitting on me and flirting with me, because I am so hard to resist, and then when I broke up with Richard, you were there to-“

“Fuck the sadness and anger out of you?” Billy supplied with a grin.

“No!” You had to laugh, but you still rolled your eyes at him.

“I’m sure I could’ve done that, though.” He wiggled his eyebrows at you, only taking his eyes off the road for a second to gauge your reaction.

“Well, if you wanna tell my family - parents and grandparents included - that version of the story, feel free. But, I mean, where’s your sense of the romantic?”

“Okay, okay, fine. So I was there as your shoulder to lean on and help make you see what a dick Richard really was. And along the way you realized that it was me all along and that you could no longer resist all of this,” he said while gesturing towards himself with one hand, a smirk tugging at one corner of his lips.

“Yeah, exactly, and the rest is history.” You then added.

“Also, another important thing. No hitting on anyone else at the wedding”

“Obviously,” he replied, actually sounding a little offended. “But do you really think I can’t keep it in my pants for three days?”

“Billy, I’ve seen you go home with more girls than I can count, I’m just saying”

“Who do you think I gonna sleep with, your Aunt Carol?”

“Aunt Carol actually recently divorced so there would be a good chance that she would hit on you. One of my cousins, though, Ann, you’re exactly her type and she isn’t exactly ugly either.” You shrugged.

“I think hot, is everyone’s type,” he stated.

“I mean attractive, well-dressed smooth-talkers with eyes and a smile that make you want to do all sorts of dirty things,” you said, trying to sound unaffected and detached and you also desperately tried not to think of any of the dirty things that it would make you want to do.

“Huh, sounds like someone is speaking from personal experience.” Billy didn’t look at you, kept his eyes fixed on the road and you were thankful for that.

You only rolled your eyes at him again, but you could also feel the heat in your cheeks.

You then hashed out a few more details and then chatted about other things the rest of the way there. The drive was nice, you loved seeing the change of scenery. Fall had always been your favorite season, but you didn’t get to see much of the colorful trees in the city.

At around 12.30pm, you arrived at your destination. That meant show time.

Tim was from the Hamptons, but for the duration of the wedding him and Ellie would stay at the small bed and breakfast, as well as you and your immediate family, since it was closer to the venue. And since you were all staying together, you and Billy had to be on your A-Game and couldn’t slip up, you only really were safe in your room.

You were standing at the check-in when you heard Ellie’s voice from behind you.

“Y/N!” She came running up to you with a big grin on her face and she looked positively glowing and all around very happy, Tim was right behind her.

“Hi, Ellie!” You held out your arms and then gave her a tight hug.

Once you released her and she stepped back a little, you gave Tim a hug as well.

“It’s good to see you again, Ellie,” Billy said and held out his hand, but Ellie didn’t take it. Instead she opened her arms and pulled him into a hug.

“You too, Billy!”

Billy let out a laugh that sounded a little out of breath, because Ellie seemingly squeezed all the air out of him.

“Jesus, Ellie, don’t break his ribs,” Tim joked, before he then held out his hand to Billy.

“I’m Tim,” he introduced himself.

“Billy. Thanks for having me at your wedding,” he said very politely.

“Your rooms are on the second floor, Tim and I are on the third and the rest are all on the first floor,” she said with a wink and a cheeky grin.

Again you felt the heat in your cheeks and when you looked at Billy, you saw that he had a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Sounds good,” you then finally said.

“Alright, so the rehearsal starts at four, so you can go to your rooms and relax a little and unpack, and we’ll all meet down here again later,” she explained before they left you on your own again. Ellie was very busy with the last few details of the wedding.

“This weekend is going to be so much fun,” Billy then said, before draping an arm around your shoulders and then leading you towards the stairs.

There was only one bed.

Of course there was only one bed and no couch.

Obviously that meant that you and Billy had to share the bed. Somehow that thought hadn’t even crossed your mind until now. You had slept in the same bed with Billy before, but that was only ever after nights out when he slept over at your place completely wasted, because it was closer to your favorite bar.

You sat down your bag and then flopped onto the bed face first while letting out a groan.

“What are we doing here, Billy?” You mumbled into the comforter.

You felt Billy lay down next to you.

“Relax, it’s all gonna be fine,” he said, trying to calm you down and reassure you.

You moved your head so you could look at him. Billy was on his back and looking towards the ceiling. You always marbled at Billy’s perfect side profile whenever you could and right now was no exception, the sunlight that was coming through the windows accentuated his face beautifully and his hair still looked impeccable.

“You’re staring”

“What, I can’t look at my boyfriend?” You said with a grin.

Billy turned so he was on his side, looking at you and you did the same.

“Not like that,” he said, voice quiet as he looked at your face and you could’ve sworn that he had just glanced at your lips, involuntarily you darted your tongue out to wet your lips.

“Like what?” You whispered, your voice almost failing you, heart beating faster.

He didn’t answer, instead he reached out to brush a strand of hair behind your ear.

You wouldn’t let it go so easily, though.

“Like what, Billy?” You asked again, taking a shaky breath.

Billy had just opened his mouth to reply when a knock sounded at your door and shortly after you could hear your mother voice, disrupting the quiet and that tender moment you just shared with Billy.

Immediately you sat up.

“Y/N, are you in there?” She called from the other side of the door.

“Yes, mother,” you called back, getting up and walking towards the door. You looked back at Billy who was now sitting on the bed and he nodded at you, then you opened the door.

“Mom!”

“Hello, my dear!” She pulled you into a hug and gave you a kiss on your cheek.

“How are you? How was the…” She started, but trailed off mid-sentence when she saw Billy come up behind you. He put one arm around your middle, pulling you closer towards him.

“Hello, Mrs. Y/L/N, I’m Billy Russo. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he introduced himself with his most charming smile, his hand held out.

“Oh, hello,” she replied, taking his hand, seemingly taken aback.

“So this is your new boyfriend? I didn’t think you’d bring him to your sisters wedding,” she said with a certain tone of shade, glancing at you, but keeping a polite, fake smile on her lips.

“Well, I did,” you only replied curtly.

“Y/N has told me a lot about you. She seemed to have forgotten to mention, though, what a charming and beautiful woman her mother is. I see now where she got it from,” Billy continued still with that smile on his face and your mother was seemingly flattered by it, yet you had to suppress your laughter.

“Mother, if you could excuse us, we’re quite tired from the drive and would like to rest a little before the rehearsal. We’ll meet downstairs at four,” you quickly said, before she could say anything else.

“Of course, my dear. You two rest.” She kissed you on the cheek once more and then left.

As soon as you had closed the door, you couldn’t help but let out the laugh that had been building inside you since Billy started talking.

“Jesus, you’re laying it on thick,” you said between laughter.

“That’s just my natural charm,” he said, joining you in your laughter.

“She doesn’t seem that bad, though,” he then added once you’ve both calmed down a little, although you were still giggling.

“You just caught her off guard. Don’t worry, the inquisition will commence later,” you reassured him.

Once it was 4 o’clock, you went downstairs and basically your whole immediate family as well as Tim’s parents had gathered there and needless to say, it suddenly got very quiet once they saw that you had someone new with you.

“Everyone, this is Billy, my boyfriend. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time for personal introductions later,” you said to get the initial awkwardness out of the way.

Your sister arrived before anyone could say anything else, ushering you all outside.

Ellie gave you everyone directions on where to go, the venue was pretty close, but since it was drizzling a little, you would all split up and drive down.

You walked towards Billy’s Rolls when you heard your dad’s voice.

“I was wondering who that car belonged to.” There was an appreciative tone to his voice.

You turned to see him look a the car and went over to him to give him a hug.

“It’s good to see you, dad,” you said genuinely. You had always had a better relationship with your father.

“Hey, darling,” he said. “That your new guy?” He whispered into your ear and you nodded with a grin.

“That’s Billy,” you introduced him and they shook hands.

“That’s quite the car you got there,” your dad then said.

“She’s a beaut, isn’t she?” Billy grinned.

“Sure is. Always been a fan of them myself.”

“Would you like to take her for a drive?” Billy then offered, fishing the key out of his pocket while your dad only looked at you in disbelieve. You only shrugged with a grin, telling him that way to go for it. Your dad’s face lit up as he took the keys from Billy.

He got behind the steering wheel, starting the car.

“Oh, you’re good,” you said with a grin, enjoying all of this maybe a little more than you should.

“It’s what I do best, babe.”

Billy then got into the front and you sat in the back as your dad drove Billy’s car to the venue and your dad could barely contain his joy, asking Billy things about the car. You had no idea what they were talking about, so you kinda zoned out, but you enjoyed seeing your father happy. You also liked seeing your father and Billy get along so well. You tried not to think about what he would say once you were to ‘break up’ with him again. Your dad would probably be more heartbroken than you.

Your dad was still gushing over the car once you’ve arrived at the venue and you got out of the car, walking the rest of the way to the Victorian era house. It was absolutely beautiful, with a big garden and a lot of colorful trees. You could even smell the ocean breeze in the wind.

It was supposed to be warm and sunny tomorrow, so the ceremony and reception would take place outside. There was already a big tent standing in the garden.

Billy was walking next to you and you were a little surprised when he casually took your hand in his, linking your fingers.

“Relax,” he whispered so only you could hear it, his thumb rubbing over the back of your hand. PDA was part of the whole boyfriend package it seemed.

Ellie and Tim then showed you around the house a little and then you all had to practice walking down the aisle. As a bridesmaid, you were paired up with a random groomsman you didn’t know who had been assigned to you. You couldn’t help but wish that it was Billy who was leading you down the aisle.

Once you had all gathered and Tim was standing there, waiting for Ellie to be led towards him by your father, you suddenly felt tears prickle in your eyes. You were so happy for Ellie, to have found such a good guy, who made her so happy and who would become her husband tomorrow.

You looked over at Billy, who was standing with your parents. At least your mother had the decency to not bombard him with questions right now.

Billy seemed to feel your eyes on him, because he looked at you now and a soft smile spread on his lips, which you returned.

You all repeated the same thing once more, to make sure that everyone knew their places and to insure that things would be running smoothly on the big day tomorrow.

You went straight to Billy after it was finished.

“How come you’re not the maid of honor?” Billy then asked you straight out, taking your hand again as you walked outside once more. Your heart jumped a little in your chest at those casual touches.

“Uh, well, since she lives out here and I live in the city and we’re both quite busy, we thought it would be better if her best friend took on that role, since I couldn’t have been there for her as much as she’d needed me to,” you explained to him and Billy nodded his understanding.

The rehearsal dinner was right after. You all gathered again at a restaurant and of course, you sat next to your mother. She was on your right, Billy on your left.

Ellie then clinked a fork against her glass, once they got everyone’s attention, Ellie and Tim stood up.

“We just want to thank you all for coming, for all the help and all the wedding gifts we have already received that we promise we haven’t opened yet,” Tim said, he added a wink at the last part and that got a few laughs out of everyone.

Tim and Ellie then said a few more words, before everyone toasted to them and the dinner began.

Immediately your mother turned towards you and Billy.

“So Billy, how long have you and my daughter been an item?” She asked, her question aimed directly at Billy and it seemed as if she was purposely ignoring you.

“Two months. But we’ve been friends for over a year before that,” Billy answered politely.

“I see. But why now?” She asked and you couldn’t believe her nerve.

“Mother-“, you hissed at her, but Billy put a hand on your thigh, giving it a slight squeeze.

“Well, if it had been up to me, I would’ve asked her out the night I met her,” he laughed a little. “but she was in a relationship back then and I also didn’t think it would be right to ask her out as soon she had split up with Richard, so I waited, because I knew that Y/N was worth it,” Billy said and God he was convincing, you almost believed it yourself, maybe because you wanted it to be true. You took his hand that was still on your thigh into yours and Billy looked fondly at you for just a second before he gave your mother his full attention again.

“And what do you do for a living? I mean that’s quite the car you drive,” she questioned further. Your mother didn’t know much about cars, but she knew expensive when she saw it.

“I’m founder and CEO of a private military security firm called Anvil,” Billy explained smoothly.

“Is it doing well?” Your mother asked and you could only roll her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to calm yourself down.

“I would like to say so,” Billy replied with a bashful, yet proud smile.

“And what do your parents do?”

At this question, you squeezed Billy’s hand and jumped in.

“Mom, I think you’ve asked Billy enough questions already.”

“It’s fine, babe,” Billy said before answering your mother, that pet name rolling off his tongue so casually.

“Actually, I don’t have any family. I was raised in the system”

“Oh my, I’m sorry to hear that dear. But at least you’ve made something of yourself, you can be very proud of that.” This was the first time you’ve actually heard something nice come out of her mouth.

“Now my daughter here, we paid for her education and helped her as much as we could and she still can’t make anything proper out of herself. She’s a lost cause, I’m afraid.” And of course she had to ruin it.

You clenched your jaw, nails digging into Billy’s hand. Your mother had a talent of making you feel like you’re nine-years-old again, tears were burning in your eyes, but you wouldn’t let her see you cry. You told yourself before every meeting, that you wouldn’t let her words get to you and by now, you were pretty good at it, but the fact that she said those things to Billy hurt you more than you wanted to admit.

“If you’ll excuse me for a second,” you said before quickly getting up and walking outside.

“Oh, now don’t be so dramatic!” You heard your mother call after you.

You needed air, needed to get away from your mother, pacing up and down in front of the restaurant. It was dark already and cold but the sting of the cold night air in your lungs felt good.

You were still fighting the tears when someone came outside after you.

It was Billy. Of course it was Billy.

“I was never good enough. I will never be good enough for her,” you muttered, voice shaky, while still pacing up and down. You didn’t even know if you were talking to Billy or yourself.

Billy stepped in your way, making you stop in your tracks.

“Come here,” he whispered, before he pulled you into his arms and you wrapped your arms around him. You felt the tears starting to spill from your eyes and quiet sobs were escaping your lips.

“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Billy hushed you gently, his hand smoothing over your hair and after a little while, you slowly peeled back from him, running your fingers under your eyes to fix any running mascara and wiping away the last of the tears.

“I’m sorry, Billy,” you didn’t quite know what you were apologizing for. For you mother? For storming off? For crying on him?

“Hey, look at me,” he said and when you didn’t look at him, he took your face into his hands and angled it up so that you had to look at him.

“You don’t have to be sorry for anything. Your mother should be the one apologizing. Saying things like that to your own flesh and blood? I couldn’t even believe what she was saying,” Billy said, looking at you intently, brows pulled together, his eyes looking so infinitely deep in the low light.

“Yeah, well, that’s my mother,” you sniveled a little.

“Do you want me to go in there again and give her a piece of my mind?” Billy said, half joking, but you knew that he would do it if you said yes.

“No, not yet at least,” you let out a soft laugh. He then let go of your face again. “I don’t want to ruin Ellies big day.”

“Alright, you ready to go back inside then or do you wanna stay out here a little longer? Or do you wanna go home?” Billy asked.

“No, I’m ready. How do I look?” You asked him, wanting to know if you looked like you had just cried.

“You look absolutely beautiful… You always do.”

You would’ve laughed about that if it wasn’t for that tone of absolute sincerity in his voice that made your heart flutter a little.

“Thanks,” you only whispered back. He then grabbed your hand and led you back inside.

You had ignored your mother for the rest of the dinner. Billy chatted with your grandparents and they were immediately and completely smitten with him. You loved that your family seemed to love Billy and a part of you hoped that this could be real. That all of this wasn’t just a lie, but that you could make it a reality. But Billy was your friend. Just your friend.

Once the dinner was over, you drove back to the B&B. It had cooled off quite considerably since the sun had gone down and you were really looking forward to a hot shower and then your bed. You went up to your room and opened the door, but instead of it being warm and inviting, it was cold.

“Is it just me or is it freezing in here?” You asked Billy.

“Yeah, no, I don’t think the heater is working,” Billy agreed.

“Why don’t you change and shower or whatever and I’ll ask the owner if they can do something about it?” He offered and you nodded, thanking him for it.

You were happy that you had at least hot water so you could warm up a little bit, but you already dreaded getting out, because it would probably feel even colder now that you’re warmed up. When you finally had the courage go get out of the shower and put on your pajamas, Billy was already back.

“The heat’s not working in the entire house and they don’t know what the problem is, so they probably won’t be able to fix it tonight,” Billy then explained and you let out a sigh, quickly slipping under the covers of the bed.

“If I freeze to death, tell my sister that I love her,” you said over-dramatically.

“Don’t worry, baby, I’m hot enough for both of us,” he said with a grin and a wink.

“You sure are,” you laughed.

Billy also took a shower and then slipped under the covers next to you. You were still so cold, even your teeth were chattering.

“Jesus, come on,” Billy said, lifting the covers.

“What?”

“Come on, let’s cuddle, I’ll warm you up”

You hesitated only for a second before you scooted over to Billy, basically draping yourself on top of him, legs tangling, your head resting on his chest. He tucked the covers in around you both as best as he could in this position and then held you close. You sighed in content.

“Thanks, Billy. For everything,” you whispered into the darkness after a while. You could tell by his breathing that he was still awake. Billy didn’t reply anything, instead he only pressed a kiss to the top of your head. You should have probably ignored that and taken it as an answer, but you lifted your head from his chest and looked up to him, a questioning expression on your face.

It was dark in the room, only the moon and the street lamps illuminated the room a little.

And there was it again.

The same tension that you had felt when you were on the bed together earlier that day, looking at each other.

“We should sleep. We have an early start and long day tomorrow,” Billy then said, interrupting the moment.

“You’re right.” You put your head back down on his chest and closed your eyes.

You listened to Billy’s breathing and heartbeat and it seemed to be an incredible lullaby, because soon after, you fell asleep.

Your alarm rang and you groaned, not wanting to get up yet. You were way too comfortable right now. You shifted and moved a little, wanting to sleep for five more minutes, trying to get into that perfect position again when suddenly a hand grabbed your hip, stilling your movements.

“Stop moving,” you heard a raspy voice from behind you. Billy’s voice, you suddenly realized, remembering that you were sharing a bed. You had fallen asleep cuddling and now Billy was spooning you, holding you close to him.

And then you also realized why he told you to stop moving.

“Are you seriously hard right now?” You grumbled, but not moving away from him just yet.

“I’m not doing it on purpose, and your ass rubbing up against me really doesn’t help,” Billy argued, but he also wasn’t moving, instead, he actually pulled you closer, his scruff scratching your shoulder. You sighed. You wanted to bask in this moment a little longer, but you also really needed to get up, too.

“I need to get up, Billy,” you said and he only huffed in reply, his warm breath fanning over your neck and after a second longer, he released you, rolling on his back.

You got out form under the covers and headed into the bathroom, quickly getting ready. You had the whole ‘bridesmaids help the bride get dressed’ in a bit, where you would get all dolled up, too, so you didn’t take long in the bathroom.

Billy was still in bed when you got out again.

“I have to leave now, help Ellie get ready and all that. The ceremony starts at twelve, so we’ll meet at the venue and don’t be late,” you gave him all the instructions he needed.

“Yes, ma’am,” he grinned.

You then grabbed your dress and make up bag, luckily it wasn’t raining, since you had to walk down to the venue where Ellie would get ready.

“You’re late!” Katy, Ellie’s maid of honor said as soon as you got into the room.

“Cut her some slack, Katy. Have you seen her new guy? If you had him in your bed, you wouldn’t wanna get out either,” Ellie laughed, winking at you.

“Very funny,” you said but laughed as well, because it was true after all.

You went over to her and hugged her.

“Are you excited? Are you ready?” You asked her quietly.

“I’m so excited and so ready,” she said and her smile was big and genuine.

“So no cold feet I should be worried about?” You said, but you already knew that she was really telling the truth and that there was nothing to worry about.

“No cold feet!” She answered. “But how are you doing? How is Billy handling the fam?”

“I’m fine, mom is mom, but Billy is handling it spectacularly well, actually,” you told her.

“That’s good, because I want him to stick around. He’s a good guy, I can tell. And the way he looks at you...” Ellie continued.

“How does he look at me?” You asked timidly, wanting to know what she meant.

“Like you hung the moon in the sky. He loves you, Y/N, it’s clear as day,” Ellie said. “And you know what? You look at him the same way,” she then concluded. Either Billy was an incredible actor delivering an Academy Award worthy performance or Ellie was right and quite frankly, you weren’t sure what the truth was. You weren’t even sure about your own feelings towards Billy.

You then all proceeded to get ready, you had decided to do your hair and make up yourself, while some of the other bridesmaids and Ellie, of course, had a professional make up artist who made them all look very pretty.

The photographer was already there as well and took some pictures of you all, candid moments.

The bridesmaids went downstairs and Ellie went with the photographer to the back of the house into the garden where she would share that ‘first look’ moment with Tim.

And then, the ceremony started.

Ellie walked down the aisle, with your father by her side, and she looked so beautiful. The gown, the hair, the veil, everything looked perfect and Ellie glowed. You had never seen her as happy as in this moment.

And this time, unlike at the rehearsal, you couldn’t hold back the tears.

You looked at the crowd, trying to find Billy and when you spotted him, he was already looking at you. He wore a simple, yet perfectly tailored, black suit and a white dress shirt, his hair was as always, styled to perfection. And in this moment, Ellie’s words came to mind again and as you looked at Billy, you realized that Ellie was right. You could no longer deny it, the feelings you felt for Billy, were more than just friendly.

You were falling for him.

Now you only had to figure out if Billy felt the same.

You went to find Billy immediately after the ceremony and all the formalities had ended and when you found him, he had two champagne glasses in his hands, handing you one.

“Didn’t take you for a wedding crier,” he joked.

“Hey, it’s my baby sisters wedding, I’m allowed to cry,” you said, fake-scolding him.

You mingled a little, talking to various people there before Ellie found you, dragging you off to the toilets because she needed help with her dress.

“I can’t believe you’re married now,” you said to her, shaking your head in disbelieve.

“I know, it’s so strange, but the good kind of strange,” she agreed a constant smile seemingly plastered on her face.

“Have you thought more about the fact that you’re obviously in love with Billy?” She then asked.

“Why are we talking so much about Billy and me? It’s your wedding!”

“Don’t deflect the conversation, I know what you’re doing. But if you don’t want to talk about it, then fine,” Ellie said and then shrugged.

When you got back to the party you couldn’t find Billy at first, but then you saw him standing with your Aunt Carol. Billy wore suits a lot, but this one looked especially good on him and something also told you that he put even more effort into his hair today than usual.

Your Aunt Carol seemed to think the same, because she was feeling Billy up, her hand on his chest and you had to laugh a little at the scene. You decided to go over and save him.

“Auntie, I see you’ve met Billy,” you said, interrupting their conversation and stepping next to Billy. She pulled her hand away from him when she saw you.

“I have! And what a charming gentleman he is! If I were a few years younger I might’ve even tried to steal him from you,” she said and you all laughed.

“You could try, but I won’t let him go,” you then said, still with a good portion of humor in your voice.

Aunt Carol then went off to talk to someone else, leaving you and Billy alone once more.

“I told you she would hit on you,” you said.

“And I told you your family would love me and they obviously do, maybe a bit too much, actually,” Billy countered with a grin.

“You were also right about something else, though,” he said while pulling something out of his pocket. It was a white napkin with a number - a phone number - scribbled on it.

“Ah, I see you’ve met Ann. But damn, she works quick!” You said, honestly a little impressed at how she had already given him her number. You watched as Billy crumpled the napkin up into a ball and then discarded of it.

“Not interested?” You asked a little hesitantly.

“Nah,” he only said without explaining it further.

You mingled some more, had dinner and then you dragged Billy onto the dance floor after Ellie and Tim had had their first dance.

The music was still slow and romantic, Billy had one hand on your waist, you had yours on his shoulder, the other was holding your hand. You were moving along to the rhythm.

“Have I told you yet that you look absolutely beautiful today?” He said. “Because you do. And don’t tell your sister, but I think you look even prettier than her.”

You felt warmth spread in your chest and a smile on your lips.

“Thanks, Billy.” You looked into his eyes. They had always been your weakness.

“Also, you do know you owe me big time for all of this, right?” Billy then said.

“Oh, do I? And what is it that you want in return?” You asked, ignoring the sudden sting in your chest. He really apparently only did this as a favor, he didn’t really want to be here with you.

“I’ll think of something.” He winked at you.

You were a little hurt and you needed a drink. So Billy didn’t want you apparently, didn’t feel the same, that’s fine, but you still really needed that drink.

“I’m gonna get myself a drink,” you said, stepping away from Billy. He looked at you a little strangely, but you were already on your way to the bar.

For the next hour or so, you avoided Billy.

You just needed some time alone, to work through the fact that he didn’t feel the same about you, all while drinking, wanting to numb the ache a little.

Once you had reached a pleasant buzz, you went outside for some fresh air and quiet.

You went a little away from the house to be truly alone, because you weren’t the only one with a need for fresh air or a smoke.

You looked at the night sky, the music could still be heard from inside and the lights made it so you weren’t standing in complete darkness.

“There you are.” You were ripped out of your thoughts and looked to where the voice had come from.

“I just needed to be alone for a while. It’s all a bit much,” you told him and it was the truth, but not the full truth.

“I get it. But you could’ve told me. I was starting to get worried. I actually got the feeling that you were avoiding me,” Billy said, a strange undertone in his voice, he sounded a bit hurt.

You didn’t answer him and averted your gaze and Billy knew what was going on.

“You were avoiding me!” He stepped closer. “Why?”

“It’s nothing” You tried to play it off, but now he knew that something wasn’t right. Billy thought for a second.

“Is it because I said that you owed me something for being here with you?” He asked, apparently having figured it out.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Y/N,”

You still didn’t answer him, not wanting to talk about it.

“In fact, I actually have my own selfish reasons for being here,” he said and that got your attention, looking at him, wanting to know what he was talking about.

“What?” It was the only thing you could say, not understanding what he was getting at.

Billy didn’t answer right away. You saw how his body started tensing up, his hands clenching and unclenching again. He licked his lips and took a breath before he finally started talking.

“You know why I offered to go to this wedding with you?” He asked, but you didn’t answer, wanting to let him talk.

“Because I had hoped that fake-dating me, would make you want to date me for real.”

You couldn’t even process what he was saying right now, but he continued.

“All the things I said to your mother, about having been crazy about you since the day we met were true, because I am. And for a while I thought that being your friend would be enough for me, but it’s not, and then I suddenly got this stupid idea that night, pretending to be your boyfriend. And let me tell you, it’s torture. Having all of this with you, being able to touch you, falling asleep with you in my arms and waking up the same way… I had never wanted that with anyone, but now I’m dreading the end of this weekend, because it will all be over again”

Was this really happening? Did Billy really just confess to you, that he had feelings and had been having feelings for over a year?

The warmth started spreading in your chest again.

“Billy,” you started, not really knowing how to reply.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to say anything. I just thought that you should know,” he said and you saw that he was clenching his jaw. This was the first time you saw Billy being insecure, he rarely let his perfectly curated facade crack.

“I’ll leave you alone again.” He started to turn to leave.

“Billy, no, wait,” you said, stopping him in his tracks. “You know why I was avoiding you? Because when you said that I owed you something for you being here, it made me believe that you didn’t want to actually be here with me. That you were only doing this as a favor, as a friend. But I don’t want to be your friend. These past two days have made me realize that I am falling for you, Billy, and I’m falling hard.” You stepped closer to him and there was and you could see how Billy started to relax again.

Billy came even closer to you and now there was a hint of a smirk on his face.

“You know what you owe me?” He asked, placing one hand on the side of your face, his thumb gently rubbing over your cheek.

“A kiss.”

Before you could even reply anything, he had already pressed his lips to yours. It was a tender kiss, gentle and everything you had ever wanted.

You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you and deepening the kiss. You had always laughed when Ellie had compared her first kiss with Tim to fireworks, but here you were, experiencing it for the first time yourself.

Billy’s other hand moved to your backside and moved you closer against him, kissing you even more passionately before then pulling back.

“You have no idea how badly I want to drag you back to our room right now,” Billy muttered against your lips.

“Oh, I think I have an idea,” you replied with a breathy laugh.

“Do you think Ellie would notice if we were to just… disappear?” He asked, kissing you again.

“I think she’d notice, but I’m also sure that she would forgive us if I explain the whole situation to her,” you replied.

You went back inside, hand in hand with Billy, big and dopey smiles on both your faces, looking for Ellie and when you found her, you puller her to the side, leaving Billy behind.

��What’s going on?” She asked, confusion on her face.

“Okay, in short, Billy and I weren’t actually dating, we were just pretending to be, to get mom off my back for breaking up with Richard. But it seems you were right, because we’re really dating now, I guess?” You summarized really quickly and Ellie took it all in, processing the information.

“And now you’re asking me if you can go back to the B&B to screw his brains out?” She replied, getting right down to the point. Ellie knew you so well.

“Basically, yeah,” you confirmed, but there was a somewhat apologetic smile on your face.

“Go. Who am I to stand in the way of love? But I want the full story ASAP!” She said with a laugh.

“Oh, you will get the full story and I won’t spare any details,” you winked, giving her another hug before you then went back to Billy.

Ellie had organized cabs for the people that couldn’t drive anymore, so you and Billy got into one, making out in the backseat like teenagers until you arrived at the bed and breakfast.

You barely managed to keep your hands off each other on the way up to your room.

Billy opened the door and was immediately on you again once it was opened, pushing you into the room and slamming the door shut behind you.

You both didn’t waste any time, basically ripping each others clothes off, stumbling a bit as you took your shoes off. Billy had undressed you first, whlie he was still in his slacks.

“God, do you know how many times I’ve pictured you just like that?” He breathed hotly, running his hands over your sides, his touch setting your skin on fire, as you stood in front of him in the middle of the room, exposed.

“Does it live up to the expectations?” You asked with a raised brow and a half-smirk.

“It’s so much better,” he said, connecting his lips to yours again. He then kissed the corner of your mouth, your jaw, your neck, lingering a little longer there, apparently playing with the idea of marking you, but then he moved on, dragging his lips over your skin. He stopped again at your breasts, taking your nipple between his lips, flicking his tongue over it, eliciting a moan from you, before giving the other side the same attention.

He then moved even further down, getting onto his knees in front of you. Billy seemed eager, he didn’t tease much more, peppered a few more kisses to the surrounding area, before he then started licking at your pussy, flicking the tip of your clit. You fisted your hand into his hair, needing something to hold onto, a loud moan escaping you.

Billy sucked and licked, holding your hips with his hands, keeping them from moving too much as you involuntarily started to grind against him.

“Fuck, Billy,” you breathed. You knew now why the women were running after him like that. His tongue was something else. You were so close already to reaching your peak, but you wanted to feel Billy inside of you when you came.

You pulled his head back by his hair, and he hissed at the sting, but probably not only because it hurt.

“Need you inside me, Billy,” you said breathlessly. He stood back up and you immediately started to work on his pants, opening them and pushing them down to the floor together with his underwear, toeing off his shoes. You then looked at his cock. It was long and thick. You bit your lip, thinking about having him inside you, feeling him stretch you.

“Like what you see?” He asked with a raised brow and a smirk. You loved it when he was cocky. You only nodded.

He then picked you up and carried you over to the bed and laying you down on it, moving so he was over you, kissing you again. You took the opportunity to make him roll over so that you were on top.

You rocked your hips so that his length moved through your folds, already making both of you let out a moan almost simultaneously.

“Stop being a tease,” he said, bucking his hips slightly.

“You love it,” you replied, then reaching between your bodies to guide his cock to your opening and then you slowly sank down on it, inch by inch, feeling him stretch you and open you up, a pleasant sting.

Once he was completely settled inside you, you stilled your movement for a second, letting yourself adjust to him.

Then you started moving up and down his length, slowly and first and then steadily picking up your pace. Billy’s hands settled on your hips, guiding you along.

Billy then started thrusting up into you and you steadied yourself by placing your hands on his chest, nails digging into his skin.

“Fuck, so good,” you breathed out between moans. You reached between your bodies once more, this time to rub your fingertips over your clit, as Billy kept on thrusting.

“Yeah, baby, touch yourself just like that.” His eyes were fixed on you and they were darker than you had ever seen them before.

It didn’t take long and you felt your orgasm rapidly approaching.

“Billy, I-“ you started.

“I know, come for me, baby,” he replied, and it was like your orgasm had only waited for Billy’s words, because as soon as he had said them, it crashed over you like waves. You clenched around his cock, moaning his name over and over again, digging your nails even deeper into his skin. Billy kissed you again and thrusted a few more times deeply into you before he then came, too, moaning against your mouth, before his movements then stilled and you collapsed on top of him.

Billy trailed his hand along your back, tracing patterns along your spine as you both caught your breath again.

“I can’t believe my stupid idea actually worked,” Billy then whispered, breaking the silence.

“I can’t believe that you actually had this planned,” you answered.

“It wasn’t planned exactly, and believe me when I say that I’ve imagined all sorts of scenarios of how this could’ve ended. This was definitely the best one,” he said and you looked up at him to see him grin.

“Yeah, well I’m glad it worked,” you told him truthfully.

“Me too.”

“I think it would’ve broken my dad’s heart if I had let the guy with the Rolls Royce go,” you laughed and Billy joined you.

“I obviously could never break your dad’s heart, so you’re stuck with me.” Billy said it with a lot of tenderness in his voice.

“I think I’m fine with that.” You told him before kissing him once more.

A/N: So that was it, again, I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!

Tagging: @missphanosaur18 @dyingformyships @marvelite1998@ravismorgue@aylinnmaslow @badwolfsupernova@thesandbeneathmytoes@unlikelycupcakequeen @anakinsebs @qxeen-of-hearts@teapartydreams@twentyjuanpancakes @bluebird214 @xinyourdreamsx@asongofmarvelanddc@ladyblablabla @lainey-lane @tiredofthisgeneration

#billy russo #billy russo x reader #billy russo/reader #billy russo imagine #ben barnes imagine #billy russo fanfic #billy russo fic #ben barnes #the punisher #banditthewriter #bandits trope challenge #writing

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yggdrasil-mith0s · 4 years

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Another reason people probably didnt like Symphonia their first time but later loved it is because of the themes and undertones. Here is another essay that's going to be a very quick Symphonia walkthrough as a young child playing.

Here's a warning: I mention some stuff that happens in Symphonia. It will be mostly vague but there will be mention of death. There also might be some spoilers in here but nothing too serious, just some of the beginning story more than likely.

Let me begin by saying the box art looks pretty cool for the Gamecube but the front and back does look like a very, very young child's RPG. It seems like an RPG that was creates for super young children that havent hit there teens or are in the very first years of being a teen.

I'm about to give a quick walkthrough as if I am a very young kid playing Symphonia for the first time. This is to show why a lot of people had this as their first game in the series but didnt like it. Why a lot of people weren't the biggest fans until their second playthrough or when they gave it another chance and realized it is absolutely stunning. A top 10 game of all time across every platform created.

First off, there was a lot of adult themes and tones in Symphonia. Obviously, I dont mean nudity or sexually explicit material. I'm talking about the Desian Camps. The idea that millions of people are being captured, put to work, then put to death or letting them die. These type of adult themes.

The first time we played, we were young. We didnt get choked up or super sentimental about what was going on in video games. We didn't care so much about the parallels between real life and our video games. Usually, we just wanted something fun to play. I mentioned it earlier but the start of Symphonia looks super childish and like it's going to be a lighthearted adventure. You have a cast of kids (2 very young adults that added comedy and badassness). A majority of the beginning fights are snakes, birds, bunnies, and bears. The battle system is fun but also easy enough to get the hang of. You can honestly button mash with the occasional arte and not worry about combos . You didnt have to worry about combos at all, really, and just use artes when you wanted. Some of the artes were pretty cool looking and strong too which added more of a "wow, the combat system is cool. There's attacks and a bunch of power attacks you can use. You can also move around and dont have to wait like a turn base game." It's also possible to just button mash or use all your MP on Artes and really kick their ass.

Combining all of those elements together makes it seem more kid friendly than it really is. Playing through the start makes you feel like a 10 year old playing his first RPG with an age appropriate game since you control a bunch of kids. The fights are easy and usually bees or some weak animal. Nothing serious, really. The artes are cool and the more artes you learn, the cooler and more fun Lloyd gets. It's cool to play as Lloyd when you learn a new arte or two.

So far everything has been pretty lighthearted. This RPG is fun, the characters are pretty cool and can be funny. The dungeons aren't super confusing. It's just a fun game overall but nothing spectacular or crazy. Really the worst thing that has happened is "Desians bad. They destroy hometown over something stupid."

Marble's scene is the only real adult sad part in the game so far. They kill Marble in a way that you kind of don't get crushed by emotions. They let you down pretty easy and you get Marble's ring for Genis so now she is always with you. Her death isn't too bad because she was old and it was just one old woman in the game. It's sad but not devastating. Also the Ranch. They use them as slaves. But tbh it doesn't really hit you that they resemble real world stuff and you dont see the parallels like you should. You just kind of write it off as shitty and Desians are evil and the bad guys. Surely you save everyone from the ranches and that's the point of the game. Kill Desians and save everyone.

You get to the dessert oasis where Colette crashed through the wall. Cute and funny. Oh, Lloyd and Genis get captured by bad Desians but the wanted posters were bad so it made it funny. Eventually, You escaped the bad, bad Desians and are back with your friends, yay!!! You go to the fire shrine, finally see more menacing enemies but they still arent that bad, and start your first puzzle dungeon! It's short but a lot of fun with a boss fight. It was a little tough but fun!! You beat the shrine, yay!!!

The serious Angel (Remiel) comes down again and talks to Colette and the gang. He gives her wings! She is becoming an angel. At this point you are thinking, "How cool. Colette is becoming an angel!!! She has wings now and can probably fly wherever she wanted to go! This game is really fun. It's not bad at all. The weapons and equipment aren't difficult and it's fun buying or finding stuff better than what you have and equipping the new stuff. The skits can be funny too and I get to know the characters better with the skits. This game is really cool, actually." It's time to speed this post up, though. I'll be going faster and doing more short versions/storytelling.

We sail across seas and bow we are at Palmacosta!!! Here's where things get a little weird and stuff too. So Palmacosta is cool. We look through town, only to find imposters. That's right. These fools are pretending to be me and my gang. Im the one with a cool group and shit. People wanna be me so bad!!! Lol.

By the way. General Dorr is also the Mayor of Palmacosta.

Imposters are rude and we meet mayor who seems cool till he tells us he thought the imposters were us and gave them a book we need. So....little me is like

"YOU DID WHAT!?" .... so we leave. Lol

We go to mountain gate, cant pass yet, learn Palmacosta is under attack by ... you guessed it... Desians. ,

*little me has eyes stretch wide open* But I was just there!!!! Sucks, I know.

So we head back and make it to Palmacosta. Remember the girl we saved from extreme questioning and customers that were badgering the girl since she was the store clerk/owner. Of course not. I never mentioned it. I saved her back then at the start of Palmacosta. Naturally they chose Chocolate, in some weird, sick revenge way for me making them look weak when they verbally attacked her. So Chocolate is about to hang and be killed. Some stuff happens and Lloyd ends up using his sword to save Chocolate. Boom. He is a hero. He saved someone from hanging....

Wait.... hanging? In kids game? Damn that's a little intense for a kids game but I guess you do save her. Carry on.....

So let's speak to the Mayor. He was conveniently gone while that was happening but meh. Coincidence right? Yeah. Yeah.

Talking to the General/Mayor we decide to go rescue everyone who has been kidnapped from Palmacosta. By the way there's a ranch for most cities that Desian's manage. So there is a Palmacosta Ranch and a bunch of people from Palmacosta are now held prisoners in the Ranch. Boo! But I digress.

Off to Palmacosta ranch!!! We finally reach it and... oh look... General Dorr"s personal Aide/Assistant. What's this? He is a traitor!? You've got to be kidding me! I trusted that dude!!! Maybe that will teach little me to be careful about who I hang out with. A pretty good life lesson for little me and nothing too serious. I'll handle that later though, and rescue the prisoners in the Palmacosta Ranch.

We save Chocolate but she would almost rather die than be saved by you. So you save her but not without a fight and learning some shocking stuff that little me is like "WHAAAA!!!???!??? NO WAY NO WAY NO WAY!!!!!!!! she still lives cause of you and you fight the leader of the Ranch and win that battle!!!

So yay!!! You won the battle and beat Palmacosta Ranch! Good job little you! You did awesome!!! The game has been really great, with a pretty light tone for the most part. Everything is bright, the enemies arent that bad at all, nothing truly fucked up has ha---"we're going to blow up the Ranch with people still in it" -Raine.

That's right.... "YOU'RE GONNA WHAT!?!?"

So yeah, we blow up Palmacosta Ranch. Desians were probably still inside along with a janitor named Chet that everyone forgot about lol. So bye bye Ranch!!!

"That got dark really fast and Raine is pretty ruthless but most people escaped. I guess I can kind of forgive that. This game is definitely darker than I thought but it could be worse. Most people escaped anyways I am sure. So it's not that bad." -me.

Back to Palmacosta to confront the traitor General Dorr!! Here we are! General Dorr and his daughter are standing suspiciously in the basement of the government building in Palmacosta. I'm sure he knows that he has been found out. I know he tried to sabotage the Chosen's journey. He has no exc--- OH NO! They got his wife with the Demon Seed, too!! Now she is a monster! No wonder he is a traitor. He is trying to get a potion which is the cure to save his wife. I kind of get it but that's pretty messed up. He is basically being held hostage. This game just got a little darker.... but it could be worse, I suppo----WHAT!? HIS DAUGHTER IS A DEMON! DID SHE JUST SAY SHE KILLED HIS DAUGHTER A LONG TIM AGO AND HE WAS TOO STUPID TO NOTICE!?"

She really just called him stupid and is acting like he is the biggest idiot for not knowing she killed his daughter!!! This whole time she has pretended to be his daughter. That means she probably went to her school, played with her friends, talked to her dad and played with him. She probably told him she loved him which is so messed up. She also knew there was no potion but continued to watch him and be ready to kill him if he tried to snitch about his wife. This got dark really fucking fast wtf!!! She is a complete demon stranger in a girls body pretending she loves her daddy, plays with friends, and does child things but is a demon the whole time. "I love you daddy says the demon pretending to be your daughter. That's really sick and twisted. Sad thing is little me is like "well that's weird. How did no one notice at all she was acting odd?

Maybe she didn't have any friends and her dad is to distracted about the medicine for his wife, he doesn't notice.

That's absolutely crazy and completely dark. Woah. This game is way way darker than it lead me to believe when I was young. That was pretty much my first reaction/playthrough when I was little. Symphonia is dark as fuck.

I played a little bit further to the next ranch my first playthrough but quit when I found out they were killing people like it was nothing. I was really little then, too, btw. I quit because it got really dark and kind of weird and complicated to fully grasp everything going on and the parallels to the real world. I always played RPGs relating it to real life and such. I have done that since my first RPG so with Symphonia I had to quit. It was too dark and weird when I first played it.

Once I came back and beat Symphonia I thought it was Brilliant. It was absolutely amazing and worth so much more praise. I loved it and still do. Even the dark side of things.

Turns out I am not the only one who did this. Play through, reach a dark part or part where you realize how dark it is, and then quit. I'm glad I picked it back up, though. It's almost a perfect game!!!

So yeah... here's a playthrough of little me and Symphonia. I was too little to be playing games with dark themes even if they were short or small. I say this because I was stupid small and really let my imagination run wild when I played games and read. I often make things 20 times worse so I really shouldn't have played Symphonia till later.

Anyways it's amazing. Nearly perfect.

Enjoy your games, everyone. If you arent currently doing so, find a Tales game to pick up and start playing!!! Tales of Arise or some other Tales game will be here before you know it so practice up!!! Play a Tales game!!!

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