Getting sick as an adult and having the terrifying realization that when I would get multiple sinus infections a year from my "allergies" and my mom told me I would die if I didn't take my medicine even though I only felt mildly ill...
yeah turns out what she meant by that was not "sinus infections are very deadly" but was in fact "I will not take you to the hospital if this gets so bad that it starts to kill you and I cannot afford a dead kid on my hands"
âY-youâreâŠ? A-a Mew?â Sai was shocked, just what is going on in this world!?
âOkay, out of all the things youâve told me. That story as well as this? Blew my mind.â Imitates exploding sound
The red mew wiped his tears away with his tiny paw with a sniffing sound, lightly chuckling. âS-sorry for keeping this from you⊠but, pokemon such as myself arenât supposed to interact with others, but the stakes are high enough as it is⊠we have to take action now.â
âAbout what you said earlier⊠Were your erm⊠parents really that desperate to resort to that?â
Blaze gave Sai a look that was a bit blank before sighing.
â...Yeah, It was a gamble. Azul and Trish, my⊠âparentsâ knew the risks. Azul went to bring a human from your world to assist us and Trish went to Arceus so they can set up the void lands: A realm separate to trap dark matter and⊠Grandma into there so they wonât interact in the physical world.â
The mew shook his head.
âMyself and Sis went to the human world to hide⊠but we went back to see how things were several years later and⊠they failed. Time works differently between the two worlds: One year here is a century over there and we found the world ruined... Our grandpa ran and hid, trying to find some way to be safe since Arceus has deep connections to him, couldnât risk getting caught. Mom barely managed to survive⊠she told me that dad had confronted his⊠younger sister and they struck each other down after being worn out by a bunch of void shadows that grandma created and Dark matter took the human for itselfâŠâ
Trigger gritted his teeth and growled
âThat freak⊠thatâs why it took Mina⊠because she can give birth to a lot of pokemon, including mews⊠she was used to create more void shadowsâ
âYour uncle had to face⊠his sister? So wait⊠that means thatâŠ?â Sai asked as he felt a dread creeping up his skin
âExactly, Mina during her time before the corruption was known as the âmother of allâ. Another reason why dark matter went after her. To use her own children against us⊠even my own aunt and uncleâŠâ The blazing-red mew continued, crying a bit here and there.
 âThe human that was captured, through his memories. Dark matter was able to learn about your world and how much it⊠developed. So, instead of the tree of life dragging the world into its respective sun. It manipulated Palkia to create a portal and that caused the tree to collide with this one, taking dark matter with itâŠâ
Both sets of eyes were on the mew before the Zeraora asked.
âWait, back upâŠ. Something that big shouldâve damaged this planet either way, right? So why are we stillâŠ?â
âThe comet that crashed into your planet 20 years ago, was the Tree of Life. In its decayed glory, xerneasâs dying light and spirit casted a spell upon this world. Sparing the planet but with the consequence of turning every human into pokemon. But this is perfect, they can arm themselves for the inevitable darkness that encroaches this planet today. Twenty years for humans to adapt, twenty seconds for humans to be extinct. This world has changed in the blink of an eye and no one, save for us three⊠know what happened.â
The mew was stern, Sai detected no lie in the blazing mythicâs aura so he had to sit and askâŠ.Â
âSo⊠what happened to dark matter?â
The mew looked at the lucario before shrugging, a bit frustrated.
â...I have no idea, but the fact is that there are Void Shadows already, meaning that itâs somewhere in this world. Worst case, it fused with this one, but we have no way to confirm it. But itâs presence in the physical is what allows the Void Shadows to do what they did: Capture, Consume, Corrupt. Both of you have witnessed what they do and are capable fighters in your own rights.â
He pointed at Zeraora
âA mythical pokemon like myself, self-taught but can use some improvement.â
Trigger was embarrassed.
âEr⊠hehe⊠do arena fights count as actual fights?â
âEh⊠somewhat.â
A small red finger to Sai
âA human-turned pokemon who was resurrected in a way I never thought was possible.â
âDude, just say Iâm a living miracle and stick with it. No need to go into detail if you already knew about it.â Cross-veins were on his head, signaling that heâs more than a tad irritated about the experiment
âTriggerâ laughed and patted sai on the back to calm him down who sighed.
âSo thatâs why you sought us out. Because we apparently donât stick to the rules your old world applied, eh? This is our turf, not yours so you need to improvise.â
âEr⊠WellâŠâ
A really loud and lengthy sigh.
âOkay, yes. I really needed help in protecting and saving your world from the mistakes of my old home and you two are my trump cards. There, happy?â
âWait, our world? So itâs not just here?â Sai asked concerningly.
âYes, even though dark matter is aware of what happened last night⊠it's also feeding upon the negative emotions from around the world. Robberies, shootings, wars, Experimentation, even kidnapping. Your world is more chaotic than my own in many ways. Itâs a feeding ground for Dark Matter. But eventually, it would get bored and use their minions to create more chaos and cause the domino effect over and over again.â
âOh damnâŠâ Sai fell silent as he pondered all the possibilities that Dark matter would exploit
â...Crap, thereâs no escaping it, huh?â Trigger grumbled with arms crossed.
âNo. Thatâs why I'm seeking out powerful and strong-willed pokemon such as yourselves. Itâs either that or stand by as your world continues to deteriorate and get consumed by itâs schemes from behind the scenes. This world deserves one thing that my world never had the chance to get.â
âWhich isâŠ?â Sai asked, tilting his head.
âA bright future. Please⊠Help me achieve it. I canât do it without your powers.â
He bowed deeply, going on all fours even. This wasn't a demand... it was begging.
A lot of people complain about the BRF not forcefully responding to the two Montecito narcs but this never works. Once, my sister told me that my mother would throw me a birthday party. The next time I saw my mom I thanked her for throwing me a birthday party. She looked so surprised. She told me that she was told by my sister that I wanted my mom to throw me a party. Well, we were both totally confused so we called my sister over and repeated the information and what did my sister say? My mom and I were both wrong and we didn't correctly hear what she told us and off she went. Of course, there was no explanation as to what she said. My mom and I both laughed. After that, going forward, we learned to call each other to find out what that sister actually said.
One other narc story. My grandmother had called for me to take her to the emergency room but before I took her, she wanted me to go and buy her a new nightgown and robe because she was convinced that she would be admitted and stay overnight. (What caused her to want to go to the ER is another story.) I went over and to my surprise, my cousin arrived shortly after I had arrived. She was also told to buy a gown and robe. The cousin tore into me about not ever answering my grandmother or taking care of her because my grandmother would call her to cry about how I and my mother just didnt care about her. My grandmother was walking around and listening to whole conversation with a smirk on her face. I realized that any response I made 1) wouldn't be believed and 2) I couldn't prove any of what I would say and 3) anything I said would be twisted and thrown back in my face. I just responded with a vague "If you say so but you haven't proven anything." I told the cousin to take care of my grandmother and I left.
Narcs cannot be reasoned with. They live to stir trouble and they love the trouble they cause. They throw accusations which are incendiary and cannot be defended against. I also believe this might be genetic. My family had my grandmother, mother and two sisters with these tendencies. The best way to end the accusations and behavior is not to respond. Cut the relationship and move on. They don't really care about you. You are only there for their needs.
If you have a narc in your life, put yourself first and look after your mental health first.
could i please request a stefan fluff where the reader is like spanish or smth, but she speaks ij english with everyone. and her and stefan are dating. so one day she gets upset over smth so she starts ranting in spanish and stefan can't understand a thing. and he's like "oh- ok-" even though he didn't understand anything. if not thats ok! have a nice day!!
have a nice day too <33
masterlist
pairing - stefan salvatore x spanish speaking, fem!reader
type - fluff, angst
note - i put the reader as a spanish speaker and not just spanish, so it could be more inclusive :). and i'm so sorry that this is so bad. i couldn't come up with a better plot like i wanted to, but i hope you enjoy anyways!
warnings / includes - language, kissing, food and alcohol mention, cute couple stuff, you getting upset (duh), kissing, stefan trying to be supportive but also being really confused lol. you all are like in your late 20s for this lol. for those who aren't spanish speakers, i will put translations in little text under each sentence/paragraph
["Yes. Okay, I will pick it up later. Thank you."]
"Hey, who was that?" Stefan come over to you, wrapping his arm around your waist.
"That was Lucas's friend. He was able to get the cake and the cupcakes made early!" You squealed, jumping up and down in his arms.
"Oh, that's awesome! Looks like Caroline won't be bugging you anymore," Stefan chuckled.
"Oh, I know. Man, am I happy to finally get this party planning over with," you sighed, turning around and leaning against the counter.
You smiled as you came face-to-face with your boyfriend. You hung your arms around his neck lazily, twirling the hair on the nape of his neck with your first fingers.
"Tired?" Stefan raised a brow, settings hands on your hips.
"Exhausted. And to think the actual party is tonight," you chuckled. "Well, that's the easiest part, right?" Stefan asked.
"Yeah, watching over twenty-to-twenty five eleven years olds is easy," you rolled your eyes.
"You'll have help. Caroline, me, Bonnie, Ric, Elena, Matt. Even Damon has volunteered to watch them!"
"Or lure them in a back corner and fed on them," you scoffed. "Hey, Damon's a lot of things, but he is not a child-blood-sucker," Stefan defended.
"Awe, you're defending him. How cute," you booped his nose.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. We are goals. Or whatever the kids are saying these days."
You giggled at his words, turning back around as you heard the front door open. You looked to see Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena carrying the twins, a bunch of presents, and at least five boxes of pizza.
"Damn. I wish you guys bought me this many presents!" You exclaimed.
"Oh, shut up. We give you a bottle of champagne and you're already over the moon," Elena snickered.
"Well, what can I say? I'm a simple gal," you grinned.
"Hey, Stef, can you help, please? Put these next to the window sill," Bonnie ordered as she was carrying most of the presents.
"Yeah, of course," Stefan nodded. He ran over to her with his vampire speed, picking up the presents at lightening speed and laying them out in towers.
"Thank you," Bonnie sighed. "Yeah, no problem. Hey, why didn't you just use your magic to carry them in?" Stefan asked.
"I need to save my energy for the kids," Bonnie explained.
"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. I didn't know we were letting the world know our secret," you frowned.
"We aren't! They're just a bunch of kids. Plus, we can just compel them to forget. Josie and Lizzie really want to show them tricks, too," Caroline bounced the twins in her arms.
You looked to the two girls who were giggling and smiling. You sighed, "Fine. Anyways, guess who was able to get the cake and the cupcakes."
"Oh, my God! You?" Caroline gasped. "Yep. Call me Santa Claus 'cause I just delivered!" You grinned.
Elena, Bonnie, and Stefan cringed at your joke.
"Not your best work, Y/n," Elena shook her head.
"What! Hey, that was pretty good," you frowned. "You'll get 'em next time, babe," Stefan smiled, going over to you and patting you on the back.
"Okay, you guys are just jealous because you're not as funny as me," you scoffed.
"Oh, yeah, we're jealous all right," Bonnie smirked.
You opened your mouth to retort back, but your phone started ringing. You looked at the Caller ID, seeing that it was your brother, Lucas. You gave them all a death glare, picking up your phone and going into the other room.
"Hey, amigo, what's up?" You asked.
"Uh, bad news, chica," Lucas sighed. "Oh?" You raised a brow.
"Yeah, turns out that Darryl can't make the cake or the cupcakes today."
You opened your mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Your eyes were wide as saucers as you thought of what to say.
"Y/n? Please say something," Luca begged.
You turned your head, your face screwing up in guilt and anger as you saw Lizzie and Josie playing with Bonnie and Stefan. You turned back and focused on the conversation you were having with you very trusting brother.
["How can you be so stupid, Y/n? Trusting him after everything else he's done. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"]
Stefan, who was throwing up Lizzie and Josie in the air, heard your mutters in the other room. He frowned and put the girls down, promising them that he would be back in a second after checking up on you. He walked into the next room slowly, putting his arm around you lightly.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
You jumped at his voice and touch, sniffling and wiping the tears from your face. "Y-Yeah. Just some um, family stuff."
"Want to talk about it?" Stefan asked.
You sighed, turning around to him. His hand intertwined with yours, squeezing it for support.
"It's just⊠Lucas. He's just so⊠jodidamente molesto," you sighed. "Ăl simplemente no piensa en otras personas y las consecuencias. Quiero decir, trata de ayudar, lo que es agradable, pero siempre termina por pagar dinero a la gente, o termina por tener un ojo negro."
[âHe is just so⊠fucking annoying. He just doesn't think about other people and the consequences. I mean, he tries to help, which is nice, but he always either ends up owing people money, or ends up having a black eye.â]
"O-Oh, yeah," Stefan nodded, his brows furrowed as he tried to understand. But you were speaking so fast and with so much anger, he barely picked up a word.
[âAnd as his older sister, I know I'm probably supposed to go easy on him, but he's a grown man. He should know these things! Ugh, I knew I should've just ordered them from like, Target or something, but hsi friend "apparently" is able to do really cute designs and make fondant art in record time, so I took my chances. And guess where I am now?â]
"Right, right. Wow, I'm sorry, babe, I â"
"Ciento cincuenta dólares cortos con dos niñas que van a estar tristes cuando no consiguen su pastel de sirena barbie y cupcakes con temåtica de Minecraft. ¥Argh!"
["One hundred and fifty dollars short with two little girls who are going to be sad when they don't get their Barbie Mermaid cake and Minecraft-themed cupcakes. Argh!"]
You stopped your rant when you noticed Stefan looked at you with a confused expression on his face. You thought for a moment to yourself, beginning to laugh at yourself as you realised you were speaking in Spanish.
"I'm sorry, Stef. I didn't realise you couldn't understand me."
He smiled and shrugged. "No worries. At least you were able to get it all out, right?"
"A little. When I punch Lucas, I'll be able to get it all out," you grinned.
Seasons of Med: Season 5 & Seasons of PD: Season 7: Necrotizing Fasciitis Scare (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister! Imagine)
Your age: 18
Jay's age: 32
Will's age: 34
"I am going to get you to understand football at this game come hell or high water," Jay told you as you said that you really didn't understand anything about football while Kevin tried to hook up the tv. Kelly threw Jay the football and Jay caught it.
"Hell or high water, huh?" you asked. "Did you just turn southern? Isn't that a southern phrase?"
"I can say whatever I want, thank you were much. Now catch." He threw you the football and you caught it easily.
"Kelly, I can't promise this is gonna be a good throw, so be ready to move," you told him as you threw the football to him. He had to jump to the left and jump high to catch it.
"Y/N, you suck at this," he laughed.
"I know."
"Jay, teach your sister how to throw a football, will you?"
He threw the ball back to Jay.
All of you were currently at Soldier Field to watch the Bears' game on a Friday afternoon. Will was originally going to go with Jay and you were going to study for your biology class, even though it was summer. You had decided to take a summer biology class so then you wouldn't have to deal with it during the fall and winter semesters when you'd be drowning in homework with other classes...and you figured you could do this one in the summer because you had heard horror stories of how hard this specific professor at CCU was. Luckily for you, Will was a doctor and could help you understand those damn diagrams that always gave you trouble.
Anyway, Will was going to come, but he got put on the schedule last minute, so Jay dragged you here even though you didn't know the slightest bit about football. Hell, you didn't even have any Bears gear to wear! Jay had given you one of his hats to wear with the promise that he'd get it back.
"Y/N!" Hailey yelled to you. "Wanna run to Mama Garcia's food truck with me?"
"Yes!" you exclaimed.
"Hailey," Jay whined. "I was just about to teach her how to throw a football."
"Halstead, if she doesn't know yet, I'm sure you can wait a few minutes. Now, I need my Spanish-speaking Halstead to come with me."
You had taken AP Spanish last year and had gotten a good enough grade on the AP exam to give you twelve college credits. This was partly thanks to Mama Garcia. You had been studying in her restaurant one night when you asked her a question about a tense. She explained it and then said that if you ever wanted to practice speaking Spanish and make some money at the same time, that you could work or her under the table. You took her up on that offer and your Spanish improved immensely.
Once you got up to the window of the food truck, you ordered a big batch of tamales in Spanish and then translated how much it was to Hailey. Then, you and Hailey went back to Jay and the rest of all your brother's first responder friends.
Kelly was yelling at Stella, Hailey, and you not to break into the tamales before the burgers were done, but you all didn't listen and each grabbed one out of the box.
You were in the middle of eating yours when you heard a scream.
You went towards the scream along with Jay, Natalie, and Kelly, but Jay made sure you stayed behind him. But, this didn't block your entire view, though.
You looked down at this man's leg. It was red and it looked like there was a giant gash on his shin with puss, blood, and flesh coming out. Things were moving underneath the skin. He was seizing and he kept saying BRT.
It was all too much. You took the Bears hat off.
"Y/N, I need you to get away from this. Whatever this guy has, I don't want you to--"
Jay didn't even finish his sentence before you vomited into that he had let you use, using it as a makeshift bowl for your puke.
He gently grabbed your arm and pulled you to the side after you finished emptying that tamale you had started eating into his hat.
"You done? You good?" Jay asked.
You coughed and then wiped your mouth. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry about your hat. I just- I don't like blood and that was nasty."
"I know. I think everyone's going to Med, so we'll run to the bathroom so we can throw away my hat now and you can rinse out your mouth. I think I have gum in my truck."
"Okay. Be glad I had the smart idea to puke into that hat, though. Or else it probably would've gone on you."
"Yeah, but I lost a nice hat in the process," Jay said as he rolled his eyes and you two made your way towards the bathrooms.
***
"It's necrotizing fasciitis," Will said. Everyone looked at him with a blank expression.
"Flesh-eating bacteria," you supplied.
"Wow, where'd you learn that, Short Stack?" Will asked.
"Can you not call me that? I'm eighteen! And, I learned it by watching Untold Stories of the ER."
"Junior doctor on our hands I think, Jay. And, you're still shorter than me and Jay so I can call you that, thank you very much."
"After her puking just at the sight of that, yeah, no way she's becoming a doctor," Jay said. "Anyway, the victim?"
"Right, sorry. Your victim had necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as, as Y/N said, flesh-eating bacteria. And, don't worry, it's not contagious. Only about four in a million people get it each year," Will explained.
"So, how do you get nec..." Kelly trailed off, not knowing the correct pronunciation.
"Necrotizing fasciitis. It enters through a break in the skin and just destroys the tissue under the epidermis. It--"
"The epidermis is the first layer of the skin," you said, reciting something you had learned in your biology class.
"Yes, it's the first layer of skin. But, as I was saying, it would really help us treat this guy if we knew who he was," Will finished after your interruption.
"I can't open a case file without a crime," Jay started, "but I'll see if I can run prints and check traffic cam footage. Maybe make out some sort of ID."
After a few minutes, everyone's panic had died down and you and Kelly were sitting down next to each other. He was trying to explain football to you even though you really couldn't care less. Meanwhile, Jay was about to make a phone call when Will motioned him over.
"Yeah?" Jay asked.
"You or Y/N have any contact with the victim? And, if you did, do you or her have any breaks in the skin?" Will asked, clearly worried about his younger siblings.
"No, we didn't have any contact. Just had Y/N puke in my hat I let her borrow," Jay answered.
"Okay, good. But, as I said, necrotizing fasciitis is rare, so you two should be fine. I gotta get back, but call if you find out anything on the victim."
"Will do. Remember to wear your gloves." Will rolled his eyes. "What? You just said it enters through breaks in the skin."
"You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"
"One of my many talents."
***
"Hey, I'm leaving," Jay told you around noon the next day, poking his head into your bedroom while you stared at your lab lectures, trying to remember all the diagrams and pictures you'd need to help you identify body parts on your next lab practical.
"Okay, I'm going to the lab around 2:00 to study. That way I can actually see that stuff as I'll see it on the lab practical," you told him, not even looking up from your notes.
"Okay, be safe." He picked up Beary, who was leaning up against a pillow next to you, in a graduation gown and cap outfit. "Beary, can you make sure she takes breaks?" Then, his voice changed into his baby voice, what he always pretended was Beary's voice. "Oh, yes, Jay. I'll make sure she takes breaks while you're gone."
You laughed and reached out and took Beary from him. "Get outta here, you goon."
"Love you, too!" Jay called as he left your room.
You fixed Beary's cap and set him down, remembering when you got the outfit for him as you stared at diagrams.
"You ready, graduate?" Jay asked as he knocked on your door.
"Jay, I swear to God if you call me graduate one more time..." you said as you opened the door.
"You'll what?" he taunted.
"You know what, I don't know, but you won't like it. Are my bobbi pins noticeable?" you asked, referring to the bobbi pins you had pinned down to keep your blue graduation cap in place.
"Nope. You're good. Ready?"
"Ready."
You walked into the kitchen, to be met with Will. And behind him on the kitchen table was a vase of blue and white flowers, which were your school colors, and Beary leaning up against said flowers, wearing a blue graduation cap and gown. Just like you.
You laughed. "I cannot believe you guys."
"Hey," Will started, "Beary got a little backpack on your first day of kindergarten. Only fair that he gets a cap and gown on your graduation."
"Did you use the gift card from Mom?" you asked, referring to the one you had found in the letters to each of you that Will had found when you were cleaning out your dad's house after he died.
"We did," Jay confirmed. "Now, I need you to hold Beary in one hand and hold this picture." He handed you a photo of you with your little backpack on and Beary with his that your mom had taken of you on the front porch on your first day of kindergarten, right before Jay had surprised you by coming home from deployment early.
"Why do I need both?" you asked curiously.
"I saw this thing on Pinterest--"
"Wait!" Will exclaimed. "You have a Pinterest?"
"No," Jay scoffed. "But Hailey does. And she sent me a picture of something she thought you should do for your graduation pictures. You hold up a picture of you on your first day of school when you were little while you're wearing your cap and gown and then I take a picture of you. Since Beary was in that picture, I thought he could be in this one, too."
You grabbed Beary and allowed him to take the pictures. Now it was time to tell the news to your mom and dad.
***
"You won't believe what Will and Jay decided they just needed to get me," you said as you stood in front of your parents' headstone with Beary hidden behind your back. Will and Jay were over by a big tree talking amongst themselves so you could have some privacy. You pulled Beary from behind your back. "They got me a cap and gown for him because they said it was only fair because Beary got a backpack on my first day of school. And, since it's my last day of school, he should get a cap and gown, too.
"Also, which one of you called Will and Jay graduate all day on the day of their graduation? Because Jay won't stop calling me that and it's kinda getting on my nerves. Pretty sure it was you, Mom."
You sighed. "I wish you guys were here. Jay told me all about how you made him a special breakfast when he graduated and then went out for lunch before the actual graduation because the senior all-nighter was after. I don't know where we're going for our senior all-nighter, but I hope it's not boring. I've heard that a few years ago, some kids said theirs was super boring. I really don't want that. But, I'm glad that I could convince Will and Jay not to be chaperones for whatever my senior all-nighter is. I love them and all, but they can be a bit too overprotective at times.
"God, you guys should be here. Dad, I know you weren't the best, but you were trying. And, I'm sure if Mom was here, she'd make sure you behaved, because Mom would say it was a big day and that you couldn't be arguing with Jay." You laughed. "I can only imagine what it would look like with Jay on one side of you, Mom, and Dad on the other and you scolding both of them for fighting. Then, they'd both probably sit back and cross their arms. And, because of this, you'd probably say that I'm your favorite child."
"Alright," Jay laughed as he and Will made their way back to you. "I think it's time to go. We don't want to miss your graduation."
"You know none of us really care about the ceremony, right?" you asked, blinking back tears so that you wouldn't mess up your makeup.
"We know. It's mostly for the parents...or in your case, brothers," Will said.
You pulled out four flowers, two blue and two white, which you had taken from the bouquet that Will had placed on the kitchen table back at home, from the pockets in your dress underneath your graduation gown. "Give me one more minute."
You placed two flowers, one of each color, on top of your Mom's name and your Dad's name on the headstone. "I thought you two should have some, too. They're my school colors." You wiped your eyes as you felt a few tears prick them. "Remember to clap for me from heaven when I walk across that stage, okay?"
You took a deep shaky breath and turned back around. Will wrapped an arm around you as the three of you walked back to Jay's truck. Beary hung from your hand. In three hours, you'll have graduated high school.
You were taken out of your thoughts by your phone ringing. It was the coffee shop you worked at. And, no, it was not the one in your apartment building. But, Jay and other members of Intelligence did sometimes come in there to pick up coffee for them and the rest of the unit. This was only because they knew they'd get the friends and family discount since you worked there. But, they usually tipped you well, so you didn't mind.
Your manager asked you to come into work because someone couldn't come in. As much as you needed to study for your biology lab practical, you needed money for college more. And, you could always go to the lab tomorrow to practice for your lab practical. You also had Will. What good was having a doctor in the family if not to help you with your science homework? So, you decided to pick up the extra shift making coffee.
***
"Voight," Hank Voight said as he answered his phone.
"Hank, it's Wallace Boden. I need you to come down to the CCU science lab right now."
"Why?"
"Because Severide just told me that the victim at Soldier Field yesterday kept chanting BRT. This place is owned by BRT Labs. And, there was a fire set."
"You're thinking arson? You know we don't investigate that, Wallace."
"I know. Office of Fire Investigation is already on it."
"But, you think that the victim yesterday and the fire today could be connected?" Voight asked.
"I think it's highly possible. All I ask is that you come down here, maybe take a look inside, do some interviews, stuff you normally would do."
"Alright. I'll grab Halstead and Upton and we'll head down there."
"Thank you."
Voight hung up his phone and turned to his team, all of whom were knee-deep in paperwork after taking off yesterday to see the Bears game...which they didn't even get to see in the end. "Chief Boden needs some of us down at the CCU lab. There could be a connection--"
"Did you say the CCU lab?" Jay asked, standing up from his chair.
"Yes, Halstead, Upton, you're with me. The rest of you, stay here. We'll let you know if we need you or you need to look up information here." Voight looked to Jay who looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Halstead, we're going."
"Y/N's at the lab."
"It's Saturday," Hailey pointed out. "There's no classes on Saturdays."
"She said she was going there to study for a test. Oh, God. What if--"
"Jay," Hailey said as she walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "You just need to call or text her on the way there. She'll be okay. C'mon, let's go."
"Atwater, come with me," Voight said. "Just in case Jay's gotta go."
***
You finally took your fifteen-minute break after being swamped for a good half hour straight. Who knew so many people wanted coffee at four in the afternoon? The first thing you saw were seven missed calls and texts in all caps. They were all from Jay.
"What the hell?" you muttered as you pressed Jay's contact and brought your phone to your ear. He picked up on the first ring. "Why are you--"
"Where are you? The firefighters said they haven't seen you come out yet," he rushed out.
"I'm at work. What firefighters? What are you talking about, Jay?" you asked, furrowing your eyebrows together.
"You're at work?" Jay asked. "I thought you were going to school to study?"
"I was. But, then my manager called me in. Why? What happened?"
Jay felt so much relief wash over him that he almost fell over in the grass on the CCU campus. "There was a fire in the lab."
"What? Are my friends okay? Did anyone die?" you rushed out. They weren't totally your friends, more your classmates, but you figured that was the easiest thing to call them.
"As far as I know, there weren't any fatalities."
You breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, okay, good."
"Just do me a favor: next time your plans change, text me."
"I can't promise I can remember that."
"Figures. But, I gotta go. Stay safe."
***
"Son of a bitch!" Jay yelled and threw his phone on the couch just as you entered your apartment after finishing your closing shift at the coffee shop.
"What?" you asked as you shut the door and then set your keys down and took off your hat.
"Hailey's in quarantine," he told you. "And it's all my fault."
"What? It's your fault? How'd it even happen? Why are people being quarantined?"
"Turns out that necro thing isn't as rare as Will told us."
"Jay, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Uh, there were a bunch of people at an apartment building who got the disease, so Will and others are there looking for a thing that somebody says they saw spraying the building. Could've been this exterminator person was trying to poison people in the building," Jay told you. "And now everyone in the building is quarantined at Med."
"And Hailey was in the apartment building...?" you asked, not knowing what this had to do with Hailey.
"I had her go to a house to talk to someone who was in the lab the same time as the victim. She, uh, the girl Hailey was talking to, fell over and she had the infection and Hailey touched her.
"Hailey had a hangnail or somethingâat least, that's the info that Will got from Natalie, and Will passed it on to meâso now she's in quarantine at Med. If I wouldn't have told her to go check out the lead, then maybe she wouldn't be in quarantine right now."
"Jay," you started, "you can't blame yourself. If it wasn't Hailey, it would've been you. Then you'd be quarantining at Med right now. And if it wasn't you or Hailey, it would've been someone else from Intelligence and then they'd be in quarantine right now."
"How did you get so mature?"
"Trauma."
Jay's expression immediately changed. "What? Y/N, if you need someone to talk to, I can get you that."
You laughed. "Jay, chill. It's a psych major joke...even though I know I really shouldn't be joking about trauma no matter what."
"Okay, good. Do you want to watch a movie?"
"I mean, I guess. What are we watching? And, I'm gonna make popcorn, too."
"Okay. We can watch anything but Contagion," Jay told you.
"What's Contagion?"
"It's about this virus that breaks out all over a city...much like what's happening now."
"Oooh, now I want to watch it."
"I knew I shouldn't have said anything."
***
"Hello?" you said into the phone the next afternoon when Mama Garcia called you. Jay was out working the case, Will was trying to find a cure for this bacterial strain, and Hailey was out of quarantine because she was cleared by Natalie. So, Jay wasn't blaming himself anymore.
You quickly spoke Spanish with Mama Garcia and she asked if you could come in because they got a huge catering order last minute and she needed someone to man the cash register while she helped in the back making the order. You agreed and made your way to Mama Garcia's.
***
You were busy working the cash register and speaking Spanish with the friendly customers when you started hearing yelling outside, something about MS-13. You excused yourself and made your way to the back where Mama Garcia was working on tamales.
"They're saying something about MS-13 out there," you told her in Spanish.
"I'm going to need you to say that in English, chica," she told you. "I think you said it wrong because you just mentioned MS-13," she said as she wiped her hands on her apron.
"No, they're saying crazy stuff," you began. "They're chanting that you're part of MS-13. You can't hear it?"
"It's loud back here. Maybe I'll hear it if I go to the front."
She came to the front with you where some customers were leaving the building through the side entrance to get away from the mob. There weren't any customers left in the little restaurant anymore.
"Dios mio," she whispered.
There had to have been at least two dozen or more people outside all yelling and saying that she was to blame for the bacteria. Some even held signs. Some had guns or sharp objects.
You pulled out your phone. "I'm calling--"
You stopped when you heard a crash. You barely had time to register what was happening as the Molotov cocktail flew through the window and shattered everywhere, lighting the place on fire and sending shards of glass everywhere, some ending up lodged in your leg as you screamed in fear and pain.
***
The men and women of Firehouse 51 got a call of a public disturbance at Mama Garcia's. As they pulled up, they saw the Molotov cocktail fly right through the front window towards you and Mama Garcia. Casey started barking out orders and everyone sprang into action.
You were inside and the smoke was getting thicker. Whatever they made this out of actually worked. You pulled your shirt up to your nose and mouth to try and stop inhaling it, but it didn't work very well.
You had been in front of Mama Garcia at the time it was thrown through the window, so you took most of the glass shards. This caused you so much pain that it was hard for you to move through the kitchen and to the door to get out.
"Fire department! Call out!" you heard Stella yell as you kept trying to walk toward the back door.
"Here!" you yelled.
"Fire department! Call out!"
"Back here! Help! Help!"
You heard heavy footsteps coming toward you and then you saw a firefighter and you felt a hand wrap around you.
"Hang on. You're gonna get out of here." Stella. "Casey," she said into her radio. "I need some help in here. Female victim, trouble walking, in the back in what looks like the kitchen."
"Copy. Coming in, Kidd."
About thirty seconds later you were picked up and told to close your eyes. You did, and it was only when you finally got outside, did Truck 81 realize who they had rescued.
***
Will was currently working in the lab trying to find an antidote to this terrible outbreak. But, something about Dr. Seldon was suspicious. He wasn't a detective like his younger brother, Â but he still trusted his gut.
Dr. Seldon hadn't noticed that Will was still in the lab when he started pouring chemicals into the samples. Now Will knew something was most definitely wrong.
"What are you doing?" he asked loudly, startling Dr. Seldon.
"Oh, these are contaminated samples," he answered easily like he had rehearsed what he was going to say.
Will pointed directly at him. "No. You know what? You need to stay right here."
Then, Seldon threw a punch and Will caught it easily. But, then Seldon hit him again in the stomach. In the split second that Will was doubled over, Seldon picked up a microscope and cold-cocked Will right over the head, causing him to fall to the ground as everything went black and he clutched his bleeding head.
***
Hailey was now back in the bullpen after being quarantined because she got checked out and everything was fine. She had to tell Jay to stop apologizing and that it wasn't his fault he had gotten into that mess.
"That's a blue hat, right before 2:00," Ruzek said as he looked at the security footage.
"Wait, I know this guy," Jay started. "He works at the CCU lab." His eyes widened as he realized what was going on. "He's with Will. We gotta go now!"
As Jay was sprinting out of the bullpen, his phone started ringing.
"Man, your phone!" Adam yelled.
"Just let it go to voice-mail!" Jay yelled as he ran down the stairs, not knowing that it was Casey calling him to let him know that they had pulled you out of a fire and you were currently being treated at Med.
***
You rubbed your eyes as you woke up a few hours later. You didn't know if it was the meds the nurse gave you to knock you out so she could pull the shards of glass out of your body or if it was from a combination of smoke inhalation and tiredness. Whatever the reason, you were awake now.
You turned to see your brothers and were very confused to see that Will was holding an ice pack to his head and Jay looked like he had gotten new stitches in his forearm.
"The hell--" You roughly cleared your throat. "The hell happened to you two?"
"We found the guy," Jay told you. "But, not before he cold-cocked Will over the head with a microscope."
"Who was he?" you asked.
"A professor at CCU. Dr. Seldon."
"I've heard of him. I think he only teaches graduate classes though, so I'd never end up being in one of his classes anyway. I'm assuming he's not teaching anymore?"
"Not a chance in hell," Jay confirmed. "If he wants to teach, he can teach all the other prisoners at Stateville."
"What happened to your arm?"
"Oh, you know him," Will began. "He's always putting other people's safety in front of his own like the idiot he is." Jay thought about smacking his older brother upside the head but decided against it only because he had just been hit in the head. "He decided that he'd rather be infected with the bacteria instead of the people in a conference room where Seldon was. So, he cut himself."
"You what? Do you have the bacteria?" you asked as your eyes widened in fear.
"No, I don't. Hailey shot in there to distract him and then I disarmed him. Will came in with the antidote anyway, but luckily we didn't need to use it."
"If Hailey got paid overtime every time she saved your ass, she'd never have to work again."
"Tell me about it," Jay agreed.
"Now, what happened to you?" Will asked. "Casey told us you were at Mama Garcia's?"
"Yeah, she called and asked me to run the front since she needed to be in the back to help work on a catering order. I went in and an hour later, there were all these protesters outside calling her a member of MS-13 and saying she started the outbreak."
"How?" Jay wondered. "Mama Garcia's like the sweetest lady alive."
"I don't know. Because people online are crazy? And then someone threw a flaming bottle of something through the window."
"And that's how the glass got in your leg?" Will asked. You nodded. "Well, the good news is that Maggie told me the damage was artificial. The reason you passed out was because of smoke inhalation. They gave you some oxygen and you're good to go once you're ready."
"Then why don't I have one of those nose thingies in?" you asked.
"A nasal cannula?" Will chuckled. You nodded. "It's because you slept long enough with it on that your oxygen is back up. And, the paramedics gave you oxygen, too. That's why you don't need it. Your levels are back to normal."
"Oh. Okay."
"You want your discharge paperwork?" Will asked.
"Yeah, Jay's gotta fill it out."
"Nope. You are not a minor anymore. So, you get to fill out your own paperwork."
You groaned as he handed you the clipboard with the paperwork on it. Now you knew why both Jay and Will hated paperwork so much. There was so much even for one little thing!
"You know, I think since you've achieved frequent flyer status at Med," Will began, "that Beary needs a hospital gown, too."
"No! Don't you dare!"
"Just write it down and give it to her for Christmas," Jay joked. But honestly, when it came to that bear and presents, you never knew if either of them was joking or not.
Everything seemed back to normal at that moment: Jay and Will joking about your Build-A-Bear, you and Jay constantly being in the hospital for whatever reason and life. Life was back to normal after this crazy weekend that had everyone in Chicago on edge and you couldn't be happier.
A/N: Idk how I feel about this one. There was so much going on in that crossover, that it was hard for me to figure out what I wanted to focus on...so, it turned into a shorter imagine. Anyway, thank you guys so, so much for reading! I also start my new job tomorrow, so updates might be a little less frequent (one or two a week, depending on how long the imagines are and how much I have to work). Anyway, please like/reblog and comment and tell me what you think! As always, if you want to be added to my taglist, just tell me and Iâll add you!
Warnings: Puberty, James being the cutest thing ever, pain, couple cuss words for pizzaz(Maybe)
:readmore:
âOi! Y/L/N!â You smiled as you saw the one and only James Sirius Potter strutting up the hallway with his band of trouble makers behind him. Most of them were his family, but a few were unrelated family members(Very Very close friends.)
âOi! Potter!â You called back teasingly.
âHaving a bad hair day today?â He smirked, looking you up and down. You rolled your eyes and touched your crappily put in braid. It may have looked like it, but you werenât having a bad hair day. You were just crap at doing hair.
âNope. Having a hard time coming up with insults? Am I too perfect for the James Potter to insult me?â You joked. You always took the teasing light heartedly. You listened to this song over the summer called Sarcasm. It was pretty good. But one of the lines that stood out to you were âSticks and stones can break my bones but anything you say will only fuel my lungsâ. It wasn't like you let him get to you before this, but you had only rarely hit him back with a come back. Now, you always threw one back.
âHa! Perfect? You? Those two words shouldnât be in a sentence together, Y/L/N.â
âYouâre right,â you nodded, leaving him confused. You strode off down the hall with a swing in your hips. âPerfect is too dull of a word to describe me, Sweetheart!â You called over your shoulder with a wink. You disappeared behind the corner as you heard his friends laughing.
They knew you were light hearted about it. You were actually pretty close with a few of them. But James was competitive in everything. And for some reason he had chosen you to be his muse for picking on. You didnât know why, nor did you actually care. You always liked a bit of banter, especially around this time of the month. And no, you weren;t a werewolf (Though you would gladly take that over having your period)
See, all periods come with their⊠side effects. Hormones bounce crazily off the walls and make some moody. Some get cramps. Some get both. Some break out and others(A very few minority) just have it without anything to think about. You had it worse than anyone.
Cramps. That may have been all you got, but they were so bad that walking, breathing, talking, or even moving could be impossible. You were once nearly paralyzed for a whole week and a half. You only moved to go to the bathroom. Your mom had to actually feed you. You were a very active person, you can only imagine how insane that made you.
Madame Pomfrey, your great Grandmother and god mother because that woman is a queen, always took care of you during these times and often threw things at you because you werenât taking good enough care of yourself. You loved the woman dearly, but wow could she yell at you.
You watched James and his crew head down to the quidditch pitch for practice while you skipped down to Hagrid's. You loved to play quidditch but never wanted to play on the team. You knew you werenât good enough for that and you would rather have just messed around with some friends.
âHey Hagrid!â You said happily and plopped down by a pumpkin. He turned around from tending his garden and smiled at you.
â âello, Y/N. How âer you today?â
âAlright I guess. How about you? Any new creatures come crawling around?â
âNot yet. But I suspect theyâll show up soon.â
âNeed any help?â
âYou know where the tools are.â You hopped up, but not too fast because.. Well.. you know, and grabbed a pair of gloves and shoved them in your pocket in case he let you tend to the Biting thorns again. You had a knack for everything Herbology and Magical creates. You were Professor Longbottom and Hargridâs favorite student, you knew it. I mean, you definitely were, no doubt.
About three hours later you started to get a stabbing pain in your lower stomach, losing your breath for a moment.
Shit
âHey, Hagrid, I think Iâm going to clean up before dinner. I only have a few minutes and I doubt anyone wants to be sitting next to my smelly butt.â You laughed, the stabbing getting worse.
âIâll see ya there, Y/N! Thanks fer tha help!â
âAnytime!â You jogged away from him and a relaxing Fang so you could visit your great gran. Well, she wasnât technically related to you. She was a close friend of your grandmotherâs. They had gone to school together and been (And still were) closer than sisters. You grew up with her and she had become very over protective of you.
You waltzed into the hospital wing with a smile on your face. You were used to the stabbing pains. You had a very high pain tolerance, I mean, you had to.
âGran!â You yelled out, not even flinching when you felt another annoying stab.
Madame Pomfrey came walking over to you with her arms crossed over her chest.
âYou havenât come to see me all week. Does this mean that you have finally come to your senses?â
âOh, you make such a big deal out of everything. I barely have felt anything so far, and plus it's only Wednesday, perhaps I was just busy.â She gave you a knowing look. She always knew. You didnât know how, but she always did. âWell, anyhow, I was helping Hagrid and the stabs were a bit worse than normal. Got anything thatâll just subside that?â
âI have the potion you should've been taking since the beginning of the week, young lady.â
âIt's nothing major, Gran. Just something small. I donât need the whole nine yards.â She sighed. You were the only person who she would give into.
âFine, but don't come crying to me when you are hurting so badly that you can't move.â She was about to walk away when the doors banged open. You two looked over and saw James and his crew walking in. Madame Pomfrey sighed. âWhat is it now, Mr. Potter?â
âDonât know I-â
âFell off your broom and landed wrong while you were trying to do some wicked trick. I know. Set him on the table. Iâll be there in a-â
âI have to take a shower, Madame Pomfrey. Iâll come back later. Feel better, James! Hi guys!â You waved at them all and jogged off, ignoring your gran calling after you. Oh, yeah, another thing about you. You really didnât like attention. You also didnât like the fact that there was someone in more need of help than you and you were getting the help first. James needed more help than you did, you would just come back later⊠You thought you would.
You had planned to go back after dinner, but you didnât. A friend asked you with help on the Divination homework. You decided to go the next day. Asked to help first years. Friday? No. Dueling club and extra studying. Before you knew it, it was Saturday and you were in so much pain. But you just kept going.
You were headed down to the quidditch pitch to watch Lysander and a few of his buddies play against Albus and Scorpius and a few of their friends. It was just a scrimmage, nothing major, but they all liked to have an audience. And since they all knew and liked you, they asked if you wanted to join. What you didnât count on was James being there.
âWell well well. Look who we got here?â You looked over to see James, alone, walking over to you.
âHey, James.â You said a bit weakly and short of breath.
âYou alright?â You just nodded. He seemed to get more concerned. âAre you sure? You donât look so good?â You laughed.
âYeah well, I have my good days and my bad ones,â you joked, thinking he was teasing you again. He wasn't.
âY/N. Stop for a second.â You did and turned to him.
âAre you sure you're alright? You look really pale and tired.â
âIâm fine. I promise.â You smiled and continued down to the pitch with him besides you. That's when the worst one you have had in a while hit you with full force, knock every ounce of wind out of you.
You collapsed and held your stomach, trying to take deep breaths like you had taught yourself to do.
âY/N!â You felt a hand on your back and another on your arm.â What's wrong? What happened?â
âN-nothing. Iâm-Ah!â You collapsed completely to your knees. The throbbing hurt so bad. It was like someone was digging a knife in you and just twirling it around.
âObviously something. What can I do?â
âTake-take me to-to Gran. Please.â
âGran, who's Gran?â
âSorry. Madam Pomfrey.â He nodded and helped you up, putting an arm around you to keep you up.
âYou're explaining that to me later.â You laughed, which only made it worse. âCan you walk faster? You're getting paler by the second.â
âThis is⊠as fast⊠as I can⊠go.â
âHere,â he moved in front of you and bent down. âGet on my beck, itâll be faster, alright?â
âJames you really donât have-â
âI want to. Come on.â You wrapped your arms around his neck and he, carefully, hoisted you up. He quickly walked to the hospital wing, being cautious as to not bump you around too much. âMadame Pomfrey!â He yelled when he banged the doors open like he always does. A dramatic entrance for a dramatic boy. You heard the oh so familiar sigh.
âWhat did you do this time, James?â She walked around the corner and saw you on James' back, her eyes widened in horror and she quickly moved into action. âPut her down here,â she opened up a section and he set you down carefully. She quickly ran away and started to gather stuff. James stood beside your bed and stared at you oddly.
âWhat?â
âWhat happened? You seemed fine the other day. Are you sick or-â
âIâm really fine, it's just.. Um⊠girl stuff?â His eyes widened in understanding (Not horror).
âOH! Oh Merlin, are you ok? What do you need, like literally anything?â You furrowed your eyebrows.
âIt's just cramps,â you shrugged, confused by his reactions. Normally anything under the topic of puberty or periods boys were off running. Even your own brothers.
âNot just cramps, young lady.â Your gran scolded and walked in, holding a bottle of the potion you were supposed to be taking. It really didnât do much. And it tasted horrible. âThese are getting worse as you get older.â You glanced at James.
âOk. You donât have to be talking about this with him here. No offence.â He just shrugged.
âYou have to start taking this seriously!â
âGran, I do! I was just busy!â
"You came in and then you left without taking it, telling me you would be back!â
âI got side tracked! And James was in more pain than I was!â Your voice was horse and it was getting harder to talk and breathe. She handed you the potion and you chugged it.
âYou left because of me?â James asked. You swallowed the rest of the foul tasting liquid.
âYou needed her attention. And then someone needed help on homework and it justâ you coughed, making your stomach knot again. âGot out of hand.â
âThank you for bringing her up, Mr. Potter. You can leave.â
âBut-â
âShe needs her rest.â
âTell the boys Iâm sorry I missed the game.â He hesitated but nodded and left. Your Gran scolded you for a few moments before she left and told you to get some sleep, which you did.
The next day your friends visited you and you ignored the pains. They werenât as bad as yesterdayâs, but they were still pretty bad.
Soon they left and that just left you sitting hour after hour. You were still awake when it was one in the morning and you heard footsteps coming towards your bed. You figured it was your gran coming to check on you so you shut your eyes and pretended to be asleep.
They set something on the table and you opened your eyes seeing James.
âJames?â He was startled and jumped a bit. He looked down at you with guilt on his face.
âSorry,â He whispered. âDid I wake you?â You sat up slowly.
âNo. Iâve been up. Kind of hard to sleep.â You moved over and motioned for him to sit, which he did.
âCause of theâŠâ
âCramps?â
âYes.â
âYep. You know, youâre a lot cooler with this stuff than a lot of boys your age are.â
âI never understood that. I mean, it's something that happens. Why do guys have to be so weird about it? Plus my little sister goes through it soâŠâ
âThat's right! Your sisterâs Lily.â
âYeah. She gets pretty bad cramps too, but not as bad as you, I think.â
âNo one gets them as bad as me, which Iâm grateful for.â
âSo the potion doesn't really work?â
âTakes a bit of the edge off, but other than that? No.â
âIâm sorry.â You just shrugged and shifted. âIs there anything I can do to help?â You smiled.
âWhat?â He grabbed whatever he had sat on the bedside table and set it on your lap. It was a basket full of chocolates. Your eyes lit up at the sight.
âHoly Merlin! Where did you get all this?â
âI have my ways. I remember Lily said chocolate always makes her feel better so I figured it would help you too.â
âWow. James! Thank you! Can IâŠâ
âNo. Absolutely not. I just brought it down here so that it can stare you in the face. You arenât allowed to eat one piece of it.â You smirked at him and didn;t reach for a piece, just to see what he would do. âOh my go, I was joking.â You laughed.
âI know I know!â You grabbed two pieces and handed one to him. He looked at it and then back up at you before taking it. You opened your piece quickly and bit into it. âEat! Come on, you are stayen for a bit arenât ya?â
âWhy would you want me to?â
âBecause you're my friend.â
âWhy would you consider me that?â
âBecause you helped me out a lot and you gave me food. We also talk all the time. Why? You donât want to be friends?â
âI figured you wouldnât want to be mine.â
âWhy?â
âBecause Iâve bullied you countless times.â
âThat was just playful banter. I've seen you bully people. You were just teasing me.â He stared down at the candy.
âBut stillâŠâ
âJames, listen. I want to be your friend. If you donât want to be mine I guess that's alright, but I've always wanted to be your friend.â
âReally?â
âYeah. You seem really cool. And you are really nice. I've seen you with your siblings and your friends and have always been kinda jealous. I've never really had that," you shrugged and took another bite from your chocolate bar.
"You have all sorts of friends, though."
"Yeah but I'm kind of the replaceable friend. And then my family is a bucket load of insane. So I guess Iâm sort of jealous. Like this.â you motioned to the chocolate and at him. âI have been having this happen since first year and my friends come in once to check on me unless they need help on something. I guess it's kind of childish, but-â
âNo.â You looked at him, a bit shocked at his tone. âThat's not childish at all! How are they your friends if youâre in pain and they donât come to see you unless they need something?â
âJames, it's not that big of a deal. I have a high pain tolerance and plus I have gran worrying over me.â
âOh please explain that to me. You're her granddaughter?â
âWell, sort of. Great granddaughter, and honorary. Her and my grandma were as close as sisters when they went to Hogwarts and stayed that way throughout life. And when I lost my great gran and both my nans, she stepped up. Very over protective of me.â He smirked and leaned on his legs.
âIâd say. âGet out, Potter. I appreciate you bringing her up but I donât want you here.â he mimicked her voice, and not too terribly. You started to laugh, making your stomach knot in protest. You groaned and fell back on your bed. âOh! Sorry. Do you need another pillow? More blankets? Chocolate?â You smiled gratefully at him.
âNo. Just gotta wait it out. Thank you though.â You smiled at him gratefully and you two talked until you fell asleep. He smiled, finding it odd how much he actually liked you. Every âconversationâ he had he always enjoyed. Always enjoyed your banter in the halls and in class, but he had never actually talked to you before.
He stood up and pulled the blanket over you more so that your shoulders and arms were covered. He put the chocolate on the bedside table and brushed the wrappers off of the bed so that it wasnât a mess when you woke up in the morning.
He then snuck out of the infirmary and back into his dorm room. James was surprised to see that his last thought before falling asleep was of you and hoping you felt better. He really hadnât realized how much fun you were.
You werenât in classes that day. Madame Pomfrey seemed to be punishing you and kept you in bed, bringing you meals from the great hall while you survived on Jamesâ chocolate. You were reading over your notes when someone cleared their throat. You looked up, chocolate half in your mouth, to see James standing with a plate and his school bag.
âHi James! Back already?â He laughed and sat down where he had sat the other day.
âYou werenât in class or the great hall. Wanted to make sure you were alright.â
âThat's sweet. Thank you. Iâm feeling lots better, but Gran wonât let me go to classes yet. She wants to monitor me and make sure it doesnât happen again.â
He slid the plate of food and your face lit up. Sweets and meats, your favorite.
âFigured you would be hungry.â
âStarved! Yet again, thank you.â
âIt's what friends do,â he said with a nod. You smiled happily. Friends. You had finally made it to friends with James Sirius Potter. âI also brought notes. In case you wanted to copy them.â He pulled his notes from his bag and handed them to you. You grabbed it and started to flip through the surprisingly clean and crisp notes. This boy took better notes than you do. That was unexpected.
âThank you, James! I was a bit worried I was going to be overrun again.â He shrugged and stole a swipe of Mashed Potatoes off your plate. You smirked at him but didnât say anything.
He sat and talked to you while you ate and then helped you with homework when you set your plate aside and started to work on notes.
âHere. Like this.â He moved next to you up by the head board and held your wrist, showing you the proper hand motions for DADA. You tried to focus on the correction and not your burning cheeks.
Damn hormones.
âThere you go. Now try it without a helping hand.â You shoved him and laughed.
âThat was terrible!â He smiled crookedly, fixing his glasses.
âYeah, but you laughed.â You bit your lip and shook your head.
âYou, sir, are utterly ridiculous.â
âOh, Iâm sir now.â He joked, settling back by your feet. You kicked his leg lightly. âOW! OH MERLIN SHE KICKED ME! I THINK MY LEGS COMING OFF!â He fell to the ground dramatically causing you to burst out from laughter and your stomach to continue to knot up over and over, but you couldnât stop. He was twitching dramatically on the ground like a dork.
Madam Pomfrey came over and tapped her foot agitatedly.
âThis is no place for fooling around, Mr.Potter. Either stay and behave or leave.â She turned and cast you a glance before walking away. You two burst out laughing when you heard her door shut. He popped back up onto the bed.
âSo, what have you been up to? I've caught you up on all youâve missed.â You just shrugged.
âStudying. It's really all I can do. She wonât even let me stand up.â
âWell that's no fun. You havenât even been outside?â
âNope. Her one rule is stay in the bed. Not allowed to stand, unless it's to go to the bathroom, which has to be the one in this room.â
âWhy so specific.â
âSecond year I went to the restroom, on the fourth floor on the other side of the castle.â James chuckled and looked over his shoulder.
âWell, how about we make her get even more specific?â
âWhat did you have in mind?â He snuck over to where the wheel chairs were and rode it over. A wide grin spread across your face.
âYour carriage awaits.â You laughed and quickly hopped in. He then ran, pushing you in front of him. You two ran through the castle laughing like mad people.
âWhat's this?â Fred asked, a smirk on his face as he and Erinie Longbottom came out of the great hall.
âNever thought Iâd see you two get along, let alone laughing.â
âMischief is mischief.â James shrugged and stood up on the back of the wheelchair.
âMadame Pomfrey has forbidden me from walking.â You explained. âJames just wanted to get me into some trouble.â Ernie looked at the wheel chair, a slow grin spreading on his face.
âWhy donât we all get into some trouble then.â He cast a spell on the wheels on the wheel chair before making three more appear. âNow, you can control it on your own and so can we.â He sat down in his and went zooming off. You, Fred, and James watched with smiles on your faces. They quickly sat into theirs and the three of you chased after Ernie. Who knew you would become such quick friends with James and that would leave you to get into a bit of mayhem with him.
You four raced down the halls but all stopped abruptly by a tapping of a foot. You all looked up to see Madame Pomfrey standing there with her arms folded across her chest. You swore under your breath.
âMadame Pomfrey!â Ernie squeaked and fell out of his chair. âUh, we didnât see you there?â You shook your head at the lame excuse.
âMadame Pomfrey I-â
âYou, with me, now.â You sighed and rolled after her. Waving bye to the boys. They waved back and watched you go.
âSo.â Fred said with a smirk on his face. âFinally come to your senses?â
âShut up.â James muttered, feeling a bit guilty that you were the only one who got into trouble. It had been his idea after all.
âI told you that it wasnât a smart idea to get out of your bed!â Your gran scolded as she wheeled you into the Hospital wing.
âTechnically you said I wasnât allowed to stand up unless it was to use the restroom. I was not standing up, I was sitting down. And what's the big deal? Iâm fine! It's almost over anyhow!â She groaned in frustration. âGran, Iâm in 5th year. I think I can make decisions for myself now.â She looked at you for a moment before sighing.
âAlright. But, you have to promise me, when you start to get bad you will come straight-Oh!â You hugged her tight around the waist and she patted your head.
âThank you, Gran.â
âYes yes. And you should be careful around that Potter boy.â
âWhich one?â You asked cheekily.
âNow donât you get cheeky on my young lady. You know what Iâm talking about. Donât you go falling in love with him. Iâve actually had girls come in because they said that he broke their heart. Like his name sakes,â she shook her head and walked away leaving you thinking.
You wouldnât get a crush on James, would you? I mean, sure he was tall and cute and a dork with an adorable personality that kind of made your heart flutter. But that didnât mean you- You smacked your head.
âDammit. How could I have let that happen?â You muttered to yourself. You silently cursed your gran. You had been blissfully unaware and now you were very much aware that you had a tiny crush on James Sirius Potter. This ought to go over well.
Xx
Over the years you had only grown closer to James and his friends. Mostly James though. It was rare not to see you two together. You both would jam pack your schedules so you would have each other in classes. You knew he did it because of your cramps and how you didnât really discuss it with anybody or like to bring it up. So when they got too bad and you couldnât go to classes he would bring you your notes and help you study, like you didn;t help each other study any how. But now, now it was all going to change. You had passed your last year at Hogwarts and were now lying on your couch in pain. You had taken the potion your gran had sent you but the potion had seemed to do less and less over the years while James had done more and more.
You had a pile of letters in the corner that he had sent you. You two had sent back and forth non-stop, both of you now having your own separate apartments that were, sadly, not very close to each other. Of course, you could just apparate to the others house but you wouldnât really do that on a daily basis, sadly.
You had sent him a letter the other day and found it weird you hadnât gotten one in response yet, but you weren;t the most important thing in his life, sadly. As you and James had grown more attached, your crush on him had grown and grown and grown. Being away from him for so long, This was your first month, and knowing that you werenât going back on September first to see him and your other friends was killing you. How could people live without knowing if they would ever go back to Hogwarts? It may sound cheesy and a bit cliche, but it was and forever will be your home.
There was a knock on the door as another wave hit you and now you had to stand up and pretend you were alright. You looked at your empty chocolate bag, you really shouldâve stocked up after the last time.
You opened the door and leaned heavily on it as you looked up into the familiar glass covered eyes.
âJames!?â He beamed happily.
âMiss me that much? Weâve only been out of school for about a month.â You chuckled and shook your head.
âYouâre such a dork. What are you doing here?â He held up a abox.
âFigured you would have forgotten to restock since Hogwarts, like you always do.â
âHow do you remember these things? And why would you want to?â You opened the door and let him in. He strode in and looked around your apartment. He wasnât familiar with it yet.He set it down on the kitchen counter and jumped up onto it to look around the place, nodding in approval.
âNice place.â
âYou say that everytime you come over.â You said sarcastically as you grabbed the jacket you had thrown on the floor after work. It caused your stomach to cramp and you were stuck for a second because you were trying to breathe.
âOk, couch, now.â James said, grabbing your arms and leading you over to the couch, setting you down and taking your jacket.
âJames, you really donât have to-â
âYeah I do. Stay.â He left your side and went to the box. âDid you take the potion?â
âYeah. Did nothing as usual.â You whined, he sat back down and opened the box, pulling out two candy bars and handing you one, like he always did, and keeping one for himself.
âSorry, kid.â
âI am like a week younger than you!â
âA month and a half,â he corrected. You glared and bit into your chocolate, making him laugh and look around your apartment until his eyes landed on a moving picture you had put up. It was from the first year you two became friends. He walked over to it and took it off the wall. âYou still have this?â You smiled.
âOf course! That was the first Weasley Summer I had! It was the best summer of my life!â You laughed lightly smiling at the memory of James trying to get you on a broom. And then you had crashed into four trees until you semi-got the hang of that.
âDidnât you get a concussion from that summer?â
âDonât know, wouldnât let anyone check.â You laughed, your stomach cramping again, but not as bad as usual. He smiled and hung it back on the wall. He sat back down next to you.
âHow've you been, though? You always sound like you're doing great in your letters.â
âIt's been alright. Adult life isnât terrible and my jobâs pretty fun. I've been thinking about getting a dog.â
âReally?â He asked excitedly.
âYep, and I was going to name it Sirius.â His face turned disappointed.
âYou know, I brought you chocolate, you can at least be a bit nicer to me.â you giggled.
âIâm joking, I'm joking. But yeah. I do want a dog.â
âGet lonely up here already?â
âDefinitely. How are you? You seem like you are having a good time in your letters. Var hopping every weekend.â
âYou can join us. Weâd love to have you hang with us.â You shrugged.
âWell, definitely not this weekend.â
âNo, definitely not. Though you look like you could use a bottle of fire whiskey.â
âI need two.â He laughed and put his arm around your shoulders, you rested your head on his shoulder.
âI felt ya there.â
The rest of the night, James hung out with you. Chocolate and talking and radio and, when you were feeling up to it, he made you dance with him because heâs the biggest jerk in the world.
It was now near midnight and you two were on the couch listening to old muggle records because why not. You were half asleep on Jamesâ chest. He was playing with your hair and humming along to the song. It was a familiar position for you two. Madame Pomfrey had once caught you two like this, though James had been the only one awake. She had looked at him and then at you back in sixth year.
âBe careful there, Mr. Potter. I do not want her getting hurt.â And then she turned and left. He had planned on telling you that morning, but the thought that he would hurt you in any way had kept him from saying anything. But now⊠Now he couldn't help it. The smell of your shampoo and the way you smelt like chocolate and⊠and he couldn't help it. This had been the most fun he had had since Hogwarts had left out. All because he was with you.
âY/N?â He whispered, just in case you were asleep. He knew how hard it was for you to actually fall asleep when you got these cramps.
You hummed in response. Half asleep, but not completely. He took a breath.
âCan I tell you a secret?â
You hummed again.
âI love you.â He didnât get a response this time and thought you had fallen asleep. He was a bit relieved that you hadnât heard. The other part was a bit disappointed.
âWhat?â
Shit.
âI-I love you.â
You sat up and looked him in the eye. He knew this look. You were trying to detect a lie, he let you look. And boy, did you take your time.
âYou-You do?â
âI do. I get it if you donât in return but I just had to-â You grabbed his collar and pressed his lips to your quickly. His eyes widened in surprise before he quickly kissed you back. You pulled apart and both of you were smiling messes.
âYou have no idea how long Iâve wanted to do that.â You said, biting your lip.
âSeriously?â He pulled back from you with wide eyes. You nodded nervously. âHow long?â
âThe first time you helped me, I guess. And I wouldnât have even realized it if Gran hadnât said anything to me.â
âYouâre joking.â You shook your head.â He kissed you again, taking you by surprise.
âWhy? How long for you?â
âEnd of fifth. I was going to tell you in sixth butâŠâ
âBut what?â You looked at him. âJamesâŠâ
âYour Gran scared me.â
âWhat did she do?â You sighed.
âNothing!â
âJames, I am too tired, what?â
âShe just told me not to hurt you.â You frowned and looked at your hands.
âAnd you planned to?â
âNo! No no no no.â He pulled your face up to his and smiled. âI was scared that I might. I got scared that I would be the reason you were in pain. I didnât want that. I didnât even want to think that I would be the reason for that. So, I thought it was better to not do anything but be there for you.â You stared at him for a moment and bit your lip, thinking over and being completely touched. And you believed him. âWhy didnât you ever say anything?â
âI-I was scared.â You rested your head on his shoulder to hide your face, embarrassed that your feelings had been reciprocated this whole time.
âOf what?â
You muttered something that he didnât catch.
âCome on, I spilled my heart out to you, your turn.â
âThat Iâd lose the best friend I've ever had.â You muttered a bit louder. He heard this and couldnât help the soft smile that spread across his face. He pulled you onto him and leaned against the arm of the sofa so you were on top of him. You looked at him, confused. You head was on his chest again and your eyes were fluttering shut again.
âYouâre not going to lose me, Y/N.â He said with a smile. You smiled into his chest and wanted to say something but your mind was already powering down. You felt his lips press against your hair. âYou wonât ever lose me. Good night, Y/N.â You murmured an incoherent goodnight, but he got the point and smiled before falling himself.
You woke up in the morning to smell the most wonderful smell you ever had smelt before⊠Bacon.
You groaned and sat up, a bit confused as to why you were smelling bacon. You thought it was just your mind at first and your mind wandered back to the dream you had had of James. You wished it were true. The kiss seemed so real, so perfect. You pushed yourself off the couch and your foot hit a box. Your eyes widened immediately. You opened it and saw a group of empty chocolate wrappers.
Oh noâŠ
You turned around quickly and saw Jamesâ back in your kitchen over the stove. Then you heard the sizzle of food cooking on your unused stove, since you were a wreck in the kitchen. ANd then you heard Jamesâ humming. That wasn;t an illusion.
âJames?â He turned around and smiled.
âAbout time you woke up. I thought you were dead for a little while there.â You pushed yourself off the couch and stumbled into the kitchen. âCoffee in the cup.â You looked down to a steaming cup.
âIâm not so convinced yet.â He chuckled and slid the food onto two separate plates handing one to you. âI didnât even know that worked.â You muttered looking at the stove.
âFigured. You canât cook to save your life.â
You threw a piece of bacon at him, which he gladly ate.
âDid you stay all night?â You asked half way through breakfast.
âI figured we should talk this morning.â You nodded and bit your lip. So it did happen.
âRight so we⊠kissed.â
âYep.â
âYeah.â The silence turned awkward.
âOk, Iâm just going to say it, then. I donât know how much you remember but everything I said, I meant. I really do like you, Y/N.â You bit your lip and smiled.
âI-I think I remember enough to know that I have told you the same. And I-I meant it to.â
âReally?â
âReally, James. I meant it all and I really do like you alot.â You smiled. And he let out a sigh and collapsed into his chair.
âThat is a huge relief.â
âTell me about it. So what do we do now? What happens?â
âI think I'll ask you out.â
âAnd I obviously would say yes.â
âAnd then we go to a⊠quidditch game?â
âAnd Iâd buy the snacks after arguing with you about money.â
âRight. And then I would completely sweep you off your feet when I book the stadium for afterwards and teach you how to ride more.â
âOf course, unless I blow you away with my mad skills.â He beamed.
âWhich is very possible with the way you ride.â You laughed.
âSo when would this hypothetical date take place?â
âSaturday at six?â
âI think I could be there. If you were to ask me, of course.â
âWell maybe Iâm getting there.â
âMaybe you should hurry up before we spend another three years without each other.â
âY/N, would you go out with me?â
âYes.â You said smiling. He returned your smile with a crooked one of his own.
âThen Iâll pick you up here, and I am buying the snacks.â
âJames you are no-pop-James Potter you get back here!â You yelled to the open air laughing as your best friend-boyfriend- apperated from your apartment.
You bit your lip and leaned on your hand.
You got a date with the boy you loved. And who wouldâve thought it would all be because of a terrible time dealing with cramps?
[Renji birthday] Hey, hi. What about Orihime does smt to surprise Renji for his birthday, a thank-you him helping her at New Year celebration? Include fireworks that Renji secretly enjoys? Thanks. Anything (fic, hcs, sketch..) is fine.
Iâm sorry this is late, but itâs still the Renji - Orihime Birthday Weekend, so I think itâs okay!
I love the idea of the Renji - Orihime BroTP, but somehow itâs so hard for me to write, I always do a bunch of false starts or get stuck. For this round of prompts, I was trying to do the ones that inspired me the most and I liked the idea a lot more than I had ideas, if you get my drift. Anyway, I love them both too much, though, so I muscled through.
Iâm sorry if this is a little ramble-y and quite silly and I didnât manage to squeeze in fireworks (Iâve written several fireworks scenes in the past and didnât want to repeat myself), but what it is is four thousand words long. Also, I managed to remember that Kon exists, this is possibly the first time I have ever put Kon in anything. I hope you like it!
Read on ao3 or ff.net
đ   đ   đ
âInoue,â Renji hissed. âWhy am I here?â
Orihime took a quick step backwards as Keigo ran past, screaming. Ryo followed a second later, also screaming. Renji, who had served at Squad 11 for many years, managed to leap out of the way just in time. âItâs Ichigoâs birthday party,â Orihime explained. âHe wanted you to come.â
âItâs not though,â Renji pressed. âItâs Arisawaâs birthday, and weâre at Arisawaâs house. I donât think Arisawa even knows who I am.â
âYes, she does, silly,â Orihime replied. âI told her lots of stories about you and she said she wanted you to come. Thereâll probably be a football match later, and Ichigo told her we could have you on our team, as long as he got Rukia.â
âI got hauled in all the way from Soul Society for football?â Renji asked, sounding not-at-all upset about this.
âNo, I told you! Ichigo wanted you to come.â
âBut itâs not his birthday.â
âBut it is his party. He and Tatsuki share, you see, because their birthdays are so close and they have all the same friends. Itâs Tatsukiâs year to host the big friend party. Ichigo just had a little family party on his actual birthday.â
âOhhhhh,â Renji replied, finally understanding. He nodded for a moment. âWhatâs a family party?â
---
Orihime cleared her throat, and tapped her in her palm. âThank you all for coming to this very important meeting.â
Chad, Ichigo, and Tatsuki were all crammed together on Orihimeâs couch. Rukia sat on the arm, next to Chad, Kon in her lap. Uryuu sat in Orihimeâs desk chair, which she had hauled in from her room.
Orihime thwapped her pointer against the large pad of paper on an easel that she had borrowed from the Student Health Advisors Club. On the first page, she had drawn a large picture of Renji and written his name. âIt has come to my attention that Our Friend Renji has never had a Family Birthday Party.â
âQuick question--â Tatsuki interrupted. âIs he wearing a⊠fur bolero in that picture? And is the bone dragon an actual thing or just...Orihime artistic spice?â
âItâs a cowl,â Rukia said, at the same time as Chad said, âItâs a stole,â and Uryuu said âItâs a capelet.â
âThank you, that cleared up nothing,â Tatsuki replied.
âItâs his bankai form,â Ichigo said, grumpily. âHis sword turns into a giant flying snake skeleton that screams like a pterodactyl. Itâs super sick and he let me ride on it twice and that cape thing is really soft, actually, but he says it gets hot. As far as I know it has nothing to do with his birthday.â
âEr, no, I just got carried away while I was drawing,â Orihime admitted. âYour bankai is very cool, too, Kurosaki-kun.â
âGot it, right,â Tatsuki nodded, sounding very much like she just wanted to move on. âHe doesnât have a family?â
âI think youâre worrying over nothing, Orihime,â Rukia said, sounding a teensy bit defensive. âMany people in Soul Society donât have families. If thereâs anyone in Soul Society whoâs good at scraping up friends to spend a holiday with, itâs Renji. Everyone likes him. Half the Gotei turns up at the bar for his birthday parties.â
âI know that,â Orihime said quietly. âI know that because last New Yearâs, when I was lonely, he played badminton with me, even though he was very, very hungover and pretending like he wasnât, and then he went and rounded up all my friends in the middle of the night, and before he left, he told me there was nothing wrong with making your own holiday. But family birthdays are different! Family birthdays are about the people who love you most doing special things, just for you!â Orihime set her jaw. âWhen I was little, Sora always tried to make my birthdays super special! We didnât have a lot of extra money, but he would take the day off just to spend it with me and we would go to the park or watch movies or he would let me paint his nails and braid his hair. He would take a picture of me and put it in my special birthday album with my height and weight and current favorite food.â Orihimeâs mouth snapped shut. Everyone was staring at her. Sheâd said too much, just like she always did. Her cheeks started to burn.
âWhen I was little,â Ichigo suddenly said, a little bit too loud, âmy mom told us that we could have whatever we wanted for dinner on our birthdays. One year, IâŠâ he paused, his eyes darting over to Tatsuki. âI had just seen Kikiâs Delivery Service, and I was obsessed with that fish and pumpkin casserole the old lady makes?â
Orihime gasped, and clapped her hands over her mouth.
Uryuu rolled his eyes. âWho wasnât, Kurosaki?â
Ichigo snorted, but his shoulders relaxed a little. âAnyway, it took her most of the day, and I think she mustâve gotten really frustrated at some point because me and my sisters got sent over to Tatsukiâs house so the Old Man could help her. It came out kind of lumpy and huge, but it was delicious, it was exactly what I had imagined it would taste like.â
âI remember that thing,â Tatsuki added. âShe made us come over for dinner because there was so much of it. It was incredible.â
âWe didnât do Birthday Dinners for a few years after she died,â Ichigo said slowly. âBut then after Yuzu got good at cooking, she said she wanted to try doing it again. My dad really likes the Godfather movies and he always used to ask for spaghetti for his birthday, which it turns out isnât that hard to make. Karin and me helped out, and weâve been doing it again ever since. We donât usually do fancy stuff, itâs just nice to get to pick.â
âIchigo made me omurice on my birthday and let me use his body to eat it!â Kon announced.
âYou didnât have to tell everyone that,â Ichigo stammered, turning pink. âItâs the only thing Iâm good at making.â
âMy abuelo always used to sing Las Mañanitas on my birthday,â Chad put in. âFirst thing in the morning. Sometimes he would come into my room and wake me up. Sometimes I would come down for breakfast and he would be there, with his guitar. He wouldnât even say âgood morningâ until heâd sung Las Mañanitas.â
Orihimeâs spirits lifted a little. âSee? Thatâs exactly what Iâm talking about!â
Rukia crossed her arms over her chest. âRenji gets up at the crack of dawn. Iâm certainly not going over to his place to sing at him while he mixes up his horrible protein beverages.â
âWell, it wouldnât have to be exactly that,â Orihime went on. âI just thought, since his birthday was coming up in a few weeks, maybe we could throw him a party here, in the World of the Living that was⊠I donât know⊠a little more heartfelt than just going out drinking.â
âI think thatâs a very thoughtful idea, Inoue,â Uryuu said.
âOh! I was worried you wouldnât want to help, because⊠you know.â
âI had a row with Ryuuken last week,â Uryuu sniffed. âIâm honestly in the mood to do something nice for a shinigami. Besides, itâs Abarai, he doesnât really count anymore.â He paused for a moment. âYou either, of course, Kuchiki.â
âYou wanna have it at my house?â Ichigo offered. âSince me and Tatsuki are the only ones with backyards, and I donât imagine Tatsuki would want to explain this to her mom.â
âI appreciate that,â Tatsuki put in. âI can help though, if you want. In my family, we like to decorate, and I still have a bunch of streamers and balloons left over from last week.â She gestured at Orihimeâs drawing. âWe could probably make him a banner or something out of that. Itâs pretty good!â
âOh, thatâs such a good idea!â Orihime exclaimed. She should have known her friends would be helpful. She flipped to a new page on her notepad, and began to write things down.
âI can help decorate!â Kon piped up. âI am very artistic, you know!â
âI can bring my guitar,â Chad offered. âI donât know if Abarai wants to hear me singâŠâ
Ichigo shoved him in the shoulder. âShut up. We always want to hear you sing and you never do. If Renji doesnât want to hear you sing, heâs got no taste and also, he can suck it.â
Rukia rubbed her forehead, like she felt a headache coming on. âRenji goes to all his friendsâ poetry readings and community theater and open mic nights. I am sure he would be overjoyed to be serenaded by Chad.â
âWhat about you, Uryuu?â Orihime asked. âI know you and your father donât get along, but is there anything that you associate with feeling special on your birthday?â
Uryuuâs face contorted for a moment. âAh, there is, but Iâm sure itâs not helpful.â
âMaybe it will give us an idea,â Chad prodded.
Uryuu frowned. âWell, when I was very small, my mother used to make me a new kimono every year. She was⊠a very skilled seamstress.â He frowned. âI donât have Abaraiâs measurements, and besides, he couldnât take it back to Soul Society anyway.â
Kon perked up. âIchigo! Ichigo, are you thinking what Iâm thinking?â
Ichigo jabbed a finger Uryuu. âYuzu just got a bedazzler and she has a ton of t-shirt paint! We could bedazzle him a t-shirt! For his gigai! Iâll even keep it in my closet for him with all of Rukiaâs crap!â
âKurosaki, no,â Uryuu insisted.
âKurosaki, yes,â Ichigo insisted. âItâs like youâve never even met the man. Iâm gonna make the most Renji t-shirt youâve ever seen and heâs gonna love it so hard heâll make me his new best friend.â
âI want to help,â Chad put in.
âYou may,â Ichigo replied magnanimously.
âIt was my idea-- whoa, Rukia, watch out!â Kon cried as he went tumbling to the ground.
Rukia was practically crawling over Chad, trying to punch Ichigo in the head. âHeâs my best friend, you ass!â
âHe is for now,â Ichigo replied ominously.
âYou are my beloved protege, but I will end you, Kurosaki.â
âKuchiki-san?â Orihime asked tentatively. âDo you think you could come up with a way to get him to come here? I think it should be a surprise, so you would probably have to make up a story...I understand if you donât want to.â
Rukia looked up from where she was half-hanging over Chadâs shoulder. âOf course I can do that. I love lying to Renji. He can usually tell when Iâm lying to him, but heâll go along with whatever I say anyway.â
âOh, good!â Orihime replied, a wave of relief washing over her. She had no idea how they would get Renji here otherwise. Mr. Urahara, maybe. Maybe.
Rukiaâs brows creased as she rearranged herself to sit on the back of the couch between Chad and Ichigo. âDid you think I would say no?â
âWell⊠it didnât seem like you thought this was a very good idea.â
Rukiaâs cheeks colored and she waved her hands. âNo, no! Itâs not that at all! I think itâs a great idea! Itâs really sweet of all of you. Renjiâs so easy-going, people always⊠never mind! Iâll help however I can!â
âTry to find out what meal he might like,â Uryuu suggested. Kon was now sitting on his head. âThat sounded nice and I can help cook.â
âThatâs a no-brainer,â Rukia replied. âHe hasnât stopped talking about Chadâs burritos since the Advance Team mission ended.â
âBurritos are easy,â Chad agreed, âespecially if Uryuu helps.â
âWhat about you, Rukia?â Tatsuki asked. âYou have a brother, right? What do you do for family birthdays in Soul Society?â
Ichigo made a Big Yikes face, and Rukia shoved him in the head again. Orihime had stayed with the Kuchiki siblings when she was training in Soul Society, and while Byakuya could be pretty stiff, she was under the impression that he and Rukia were both working to have a better relationship.
âKuchiki birthdays are very formal,â Rukia said regally, and then frowned. âMostly, a bunch of Honored Relatives come over for dinner and you have to wear fancy clothes and itâs kind of a pain.â She thought for a moment. âBrother gave me a beautiful set of colored pencils for my last birthday. Itâs hard to buy him presents, because heâs so particular and he usually just buys the things that he wants. He writes a lot of letters, though, so I went to my favorite stationery store and bought him some pretty paper I thought he would like. I figured that if I picked wrong, he could just use it to send letters to people he hates.â Rukiaâs eyes softened. âHe really liked it, actually. I guess heâs not very used to getting gifts that people have spent any time thinking about.â
âThoughtful gifts are such a nice idea!â Orihime nodded eagerly.
âItâs hard, though,â Uryuu added, âbecause of the whole matter conversion issue.â
âWhat,â Ichigo bit off, âis not thoughtful about a t-shirt covered in rhinestones?â
âIf all of you help me think of something, I will buy it for him back in Soul Society,â Rukia promised. âNot sunglasses, though. I already bought him sunglasses.â
âIsnât his birthday, like a month away?â Ichigo frowned.
âSometimes I plan ahead! Shut up!â Rukia scowled. âBrother and I also like to make each other cards. Brother is an amazing artist, obviously, mine hardly compare to his, but he is very gracious about my efforts.â
âOh, thatâs a wonderful idea, Rukia!â Orihime agreed, writing down âcardsâ on her notes. She looked over her list. âI think this is shaping up to be a very good birthday!â
---
âThanks for agreeing to come along,â Rukia said to Renji when he showed up at her front door on the morning of August 31. âHowâs your head?â
âI feel great, but I hydrate tirelessly and also, I wasnât the one who got into a drinking contest with Captain Komamura. Howâs your head?â
âI donât want to talk about it,â Rukia replied.
âAre you sure you donât want me to just go? Iâm sure I can-- did I read your text right? Ichigo got his soul stuck in Konâs lion body and we have to go get him out? I⊠can probably handle that if you need to stay home and sleep it off.â
âLearn to read, oaf. Ichigo got his soul stuck in Konâs lion body and we are going to laugh at him. Obviously, I wouldnât miss that for anything.â
âAhhhh, okay, that makes a lot more sense!â
âCâmon, we should get moving before Orihime takes pity on him or something.â She waved him inside. âDonât worry, Brother said it was fine to use the family senkaimon.â
âAh, good morning, Captain!â Renji said, his voice bright with nervous energy.
Rukia turned around and blinked. Sure enough, Byakuya was looming in the foyer. He had definitely not been in the entry thirty seconds ago.
âGood morning, Lieutenant,â Byakuya replied. âHow delightful to see you in my house on a Sunday morning.â
âBrother, we talked about this,â Rukia pressed. âWe had a whole discussion.â
Byakuya ignored her and plowed on. âI did not expect to see you today, but since you are here, I have something for you.â He held out a handsome, hardcover book. Gingerly, Renji accepted it and frowned at the cover. âIt is the next book in the Tales of the Iron Army series,â Byakuya explained. âYou are a fan of that series, are you not?â
Renjiâs mouth gaped a little. âThis isnât⊠out⊠yetâŠâ
âThe publisher is an acquaintance of mine,â Byakuya said, looking off into the middle distance. âHe offered me an advance copy, so I asked for two.â
âUh, um, thanks, sir!â Renji managed.
âThink nothing of it,â Byakuya said stiffly. âNow, if youâll excuse me, I am extremely busy this morning.â
Rukia stared, gape-mouthed at the spot where Byakuya had been standing a moment previous. She wasnât allowed to use shunpo in the house.
âWhat?â Renji choked out.
âSometimes people just give him things,â Rukia shrugged, trying to play it off, but secretly fuming. She had told Byakuya that Renji was coming over and to (1) not mention his birthday and (2) not be weird. 0 for 2, Brother.
âRukia,â Renji reiterated, and when she finally looked over, he was holding up a little slip of cardstock that had apparently been tucked into the front cover of the book. On it was painted a little watercolor Wakame Ambassador. He was wearing a humorous hat. In Byakuyaâs immaculate calligraphy were the words âCongratulations. You are now older. You will still never defeat me.â Renji stared at Rukia, as if this were somehow her fault. âW-h-a-t?â he mouthed very slowly and deliberately, no actual sound coming out of his mouth.
âGive me that!â Rukia snapped, grabbing both the book and the card out of his hand. âI told him we were going to the Living World, I donât know why he couldnât have given you this when we got back. Mikan!â
Rukiaâs loyal maid immediately appeared at her elbow. âYes, miss?â
Renji blinked. âHow does everyone in this house move like that?â
âHold onto this for Renji until we get back, okay? You can put it with the, um, other stuff.â
âYes, miss.â
âWhat other stuff?â Renji asked, a grin tugging at the side of his mouth.
âI donât know what youâre talking about.â
âYou just said âput it with the other stuffâ?â
âNo, I didnât.â
âYou must have misheard, Lieutenant Abarai,â Mikan added sweetly.
âMaybe you should clean your ears out once in a while, dummy,â Rukia suggested.
âAre we really going to the Living World today, or was it just a ploy to get me over here?â Renji asked, doing a double take when he realized that Mikan had disappeared again.
âWeâre really going!â Rukia protested, marching into the bowels of the house. ââA ployâ, ha! You wish.â
âIt is my birthday,â Renji pointed out, sounding a little suspicious.
âAnd we had your birthday party last night! What more do you want?â
âNothing, actually! Very good birthday, as birthdays go!â He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. âThanks for coming, by the way.â
Rukia rolled her eyes. âAs if I wouldnât come.â
Renji shrugged. âWellâŠyou didnât, for a long time. And those werenât as fun. So thanks. For coming.â
Rukia opened her mouth and then closed it again. She didnât know what to say to that.
Fortunately, Renji had a keen instinct for changing the subject when things got awkward. âWere you there when Rangikuâs boob fell out? She says that since it was the right one, itâs a sign that this is going to be an auspicious year for me.â
âI did! I was talking to Momo and we were basically at Ground Zero when it happened! I canât believe Hisagi was in the restroom.â
âHeâs probably still sobbing about it.â
They continued to recap the best parts of the party as they traveled through the senkaimon and picked up their gigai from Uraharaâs, but there was something nagging at Rukia, something that had been nagging at her ever since Orihime, with her giant, squishy heart, had suggested that Renji deserved something better on his birthday, something which Rukia knew was unequivocally true.
âOi, Renji,â she said suddenly as they turned onto Ichigoâs street. Renji was in the middle of a story about Ibaâs sideburns, but sheâd heard it before, and they both knew he was only telling it to fill the time.
âEh?â he replied.
âI, uh, I just wanted to say, Iâm sorry that our birthdays were so shitty growing up,â she said quickly. âSorry in the sympathy sense, not the guilt sense. We were just kids, itâs not like thereâs much more we could have done. Just... it sucked and itâs not fair and Iâm sorry.â
Renji was staring at her with a look of mild horror on his face. âYou thought our birthdays sucked?â
Rukia stared back at him. âThey werenât great, thatâs for sure.â
Renjiâs face fell a little. âOh. Iâm sorry you feel that way. We⊠we did try, you know. I remember stealing blankets for your birthday, to make sure we had enough for all of us. We always used to try to make sure we had something to eat that day, too.â
Rukia flushed. âI wasnât talking about me, dummy!â She paused. âYou did? Crap. Now I feel even worse.â
âMy birthdayâs in August,â Renji shrugged. âWe didnât need to worry about freezing our asses off. And we almost always managed to do something fun that day. Going fishing or making a bonfire or lying on the roof and looking at the stars.â Renji gave a rueful little chuckle. âYou know, itâs fun when everyone gets together to get smashed on my birthday, but there are so many people and you can hardly hear what anyone is saying. Those old days⊠I dunno. I guess maybe they just felt a little more personal. When we were here on Tatsuki and Ichigoâs birthday, Orihime was telling me about family birthdays, and I think our old birthdays were a lot like that. Just some nice time spent with the people I like best.â
âYouâre such a sap,â Rukia said, trying to keep her voice from wobbling.
âLike you didnât know that,â Renji snorted. âIâm definitely gonna give Ichigo a hard time, but Iâm actually kinda glad he managed to pull this bonehead move on my actual birthday. Itâs a good excuse to come see him, and I got to spend a little quality time with you, to boot. Was kinda nice to see the captain, actually, even though he made a quick exit.â Renji sucked his teeth for a moment. âAfter we get Ichigo sorted, I donât âspose youâd mind taking a little stroll around town and seeing what the other kids are up to today?â
Rukia had her hand on the gate that led to the Kurosaki back yard. âThat⊠could probably be arranged.â She pushed the gate open.
âSURPRISE!â
Confetti filled the air. Someone was blowing an air horn. Everyone (except Uryuu) was wearing very bedazzled t-shirts. Even Kon, sitting on Chadâs shoulder, wore a tiny one with an even tinier lion on it.
âHappy birthday, Renji!â
âHappy birthday, you old geezer!â
âWe made you burritos!â
Rukia looked up at Renji. He had one hand clapped over his mouth and his eyes were wide. âHappy birthday, dumbass,â she said softly.
âExcuse me, I will be right back,â Renji said, turning on his heel and walking out the gate.
Orihimeâs eyes went wide. âOh, no! What did we do?â
Rukia held up her hands. âJust give him a second, heâs fine.â
The Karakura kids barely had time to exchange worried glances when Renji burst back in through the gate, at full volume. âWhat the Hell is this?â he roared. âAnd where did you get those t-shirts?â
âWe made them!â Ichigo shouted back, and thrust a poorly wrapped bundle into Renjiâs hands. âWe made you one, too!â
Renji enthusiastically tore open his present and held up its contents. âRukia,â he gasped. âRukia, look.â
âChad drew the Hihiou Zabimaru,â Ichigo explained proudly. âI was the one who wrote âOH YEAH!!ââ
âItâs so beautiful,â Renji sniffed. âHere, Rukia, hold this!â He shoved the shirt into Rukiaâs arms and immediately began to wrestle off the one he was currently wearing.
âUh⊠buddyâŠâ Tatsuki frowned, trying to throw her hand up in front of Orihimeâs eyes, but also unable to tear her eyes away. âThat is⊠a lot⊠of tattoosâŠâ
âItâs okay, weâve all seen it,â Orihime reassured her, pushing Tatsukiâs hand away.
âNever mind seeing it again,â Kon added philosophically.
âHow does it look?â Renji asked, once heâd gotten dressed again. He was flexing his biceps for good measure.
âItâs a little tight,â Rukia replied, but it didnât stop her from looking.
âThatâs how hot people wear their clothes, Rukia,â Ichigo informed her. âGet with it.â
âI love this so much!â Renji declared, looking down at his own torso again. âI canât believe you all made this for me. I am so happy!â
âBrace yourself, Abarai,â Uryuu said, âbut this is about 1% of the birthday festivities Orihime planned for you.â
Orihimeâs cheeks turned pink and she waved her hands frantically. âEveryone chipped in, I hardly did anything!â
âWe know you donât like cake, so we put a candle in a burrito for you,â Ichigo said, jerking his thumb toward the picnic table. âCome sit in front of it, so Chad can sing you your birthday song.â
âWe saved you the lawn chair without any wobbly legs,â Kon added generously.
On his way past, Renji slung his arm around Orihimeâs shoulders. âThanks, kid,â he murmured.
Orihime looked up at him. âYouâre our friend and I just wanted you to know how special we think you are on your birthday.â
Renji stared at her for a moment, an expression on his face like he wasnât sure how to make words come out. Suddenly, he tightened his elbow around his neck and crashed the knuckles of his other hand fiercely into her scalp. âI love all of you, too!â he laughed.
âYou canât noogie Orihime!â Ichigo and Tatsuki yelled at the same time, and promptly tripped over each other in an attempt to tackle him. Uryuu flung a pinecone at Renjiâs head. With his typical perfect aim, it would have been a direct hit, except that Kon had leapt from Chadâs shoulder directly into its trajectory and got beaned in the face instead.
Orihime was laughing and shouting âThat tickles, that tickles!â Renji was cackling. Chad stood, dumbfounded, his guitar hanging around his neck.
âRukia⊠avenge usâŠâ Ichigo groaned from the ground.
âOn one hand, itâs his birthday and Renji should get to noogie whomever he wants,â Rukia declared loftily. âOn the other hand, Orihime is a precious angel. On the third hand, suck it, Abarai!â
Hi I said it would happen so now it's gonna happen, time to rate asses and explain why I gave them that rating...
(also they are in order from flattest to phattest)
[This took way too long (T-T) ]
Starting with D TIER Aka Flat as fuck
Raven: Ya go to the lowest tier in D tier ya all-tits-no-ass having ass, you deadbeat fucko (I really don't like parents who leave their children, how'd you guess?).
Weiss : Sorry girl but even with all your dance training, your Sperm donor's DNA is in you, if it was just your mom's DNA you'd rocket up to A TIER, still more ass than Raven tho, which says a lot about Raven since Weiss is as flat as a wooden plank (sorry @naughtyweiss your girl has no ass).
All of team NDGO: these bitches show up once or twice, and, in the novels they do something bad? I didn't read it, but they like sacrifice some people to the Grimm or something? Anyways they have almost no ass too little to actually matter.
C TIER Aka Too much muscle
Pyrrha : Sorry unbeatable girl your life style is just too healthy, with all her exercises and no fat foods she has no cushioning, I'm sorry Pyrrha you just have too much muscle.
Reese : With all her skating she must have some muscle in the back, like literally, her muscles are trained to keep her on the board during combat so her ass is super firm, but that's a bit of a downside since it's too firm, kinda hard actually like really hard.
Also she gives me party animal girl vibes, that doesn't affect anything just thought I'd mention it.
Elm: Have you seen how tall and beefy that girl is? Now does this affect her backside...mmm...kind of? Her ass is just and, I mean just muscle which is bad because no cushioning.
But her thighs tho mm~mm delicious.
Yang : Yang is all about her upper body, she's proud of her tits and her arms, she is Miss "punch first ask later" after all, so i can actually see her skipping some leg days, like Reese her booty is alot of muscle but not so much cushion, sorry Yang.
Arslan : Like Yang, Arslan is all about working out and honing her body to peak physical fighting ability, however, this girl has genetics on her side, her tits aren't as big as Yangâs however, she make up for having a tentsy little bit of cushion for the pushin' not really enough to be B TIER though.
B TIER Aka Now were gettin' good
Penny Ver.2 : Penny Version 1 was pure metal (at least in my headcanon) so she was all legs no butt, however, Penny Version 2 (again in my headcanon) had synthetic skin, now I'm not saying Pietro is some weird pervert giving his child a fat ass, but he was "generous" which was inaccurate as...
Penny (human) : Penny as a human never had the chance to exercise [fuck you RT (T-T)], so her booty was a little lacking but it was still bigger and rounder than her robot body.
Ruby: Now you and I both know that with all the sweets Ruby eats she isn't exactly thin, good thing though is all the fat goes to her ass, Ruby has that fatty y'all!
Neo : I'm sure people will question this one but, Neo's height is a detrement on her ass, since she's so short her ass has to be proportional to her actual height, so for women her height she has so much ass but compared to the others in this list it isn't as much.
Coco: Coco takes care of her fashion and her body. She does squats often and keeps a balance between fat and firmness. Unfortunately genetics gave her a cute face but not a phat ass, sorry queen.
Summer: Same as Ruby except she has that MILFY boost to her hips and booty (she also has bigger tits but, oh well this isn't the Titty Tier list so...).
Winter : Training for the military helped null the taint of Jacques DNA in her, so she took a bit more of her motherâs blessed genes, her ass isn't exactly impressive like the girls in A TIER but it's nothing to scoff at either, unlike her sister (sorry Weissey).
Miltiades "Miltia" : both sisters wear heels, however, Miltia has bigger boobs than her twin while Mel has a bigger booty, still wearing heels and being as acrobatic as they both are requires a lot of lower body training, and also since they work at a club as security they do know how to seduce people, and that did affected their rating.
A TIER Aka Nearly perfectly fuckable
Harriet : Now to be one hundred percent honest Harriet has more thighs than ass, however, with her focus on speed and the training she does, she must have a nice fuckable ass, not the biggest or roundest but really, really nice.
Melanie: Both sisters are guards for Junior's club, but, I like to think that Mel also works as a Stripper or Lap dancer (Hooker if you got enough to buy her services and have a dick big enough, she's a bit of a size queen), so she worked on making her already fat ass even better and also took the time to hone her sex appeal, those being her twerking and lapdancing.
Velvet : Bunny gal has some phat Bunny Buns if ya catch my meaning, like go back to volume 3 and get a good look at her costume, girl's got hips and ass like she was bred for it!
Willow: Have you seen her in the newest volumes?? She has a chance (admittedly small) against the legendary bellabooties Gahtdayum!
Too bad she wasted it with a nearly sterile fucking shit pile of a human like Jacques, ugh... (How he managed to have 3 children baffles me, must've taken half the worldâs supply of Viagra)
[Side note our favorite Schnee femboy took after his mom, if he was on the list he'd be just below Harriet hehe].
A+ TIER Candidates for the Bubble Booty Brigade (BBB)
Glynda : Glynda is a professional huntress, she is a teacher and she's decked out in dominatrix gear, can I make it any clearer?
Salem : Salem is the original MILF, the thiccest witch of remnant , and also, she has magic and is technically a monster girl sooo... that gives her extra points (who would've guessed I like monster girls hehe).
The next entry might be blasphemous for some and for that I apologize but...
Blake and Kali : I'm sorry kitties, even though the belabooties are know world wide they are not yet in the BBB. Blake has the firmer booty because of her time in the Fang but Kali has the MILF bonus.
Because of their similarities and their diferences they tie for top of A+ tier.
S TIER The BUBBLE BOOTY BRIGADE
The three heavenly asses of remnant, only three girl stand a top the mountain of the perfect Bubble Booty and they are in order...
May Zedong : May has been depicted by the fandom as being really curvy, especially the cow udders she calls breasts, however she hides her curves under her clothes. The same applies to the fucking badonk she hides in her baggy pants, so much so in fact, that May should be number two of the BBB but because she's so shy about her body she's demoted to number three, still, being a member of the Brigade is a blesing of itself.
Emerald Sustrai : As stated in the previous entry Em should be number three, but because May is so shy and Emerald isn't they swaped places. Em is number two because of one singular thing, she knows her ass is her best atribute, and she fucking flaunts it, she knows she can make men and futas pitch tents, and make women stare like horndogs just by walking past them. Not only that, but she wear clothes that accentuate her ass from short shorts to miniskirts, she knows how to make anyone undeserving cream themselves just by swaying her hips a little and winking. Her seduction skills boosted her above everyone else except one.
NORA VALKYRIE THE ONE TRUE BUBBLE BOOTY OF REMNANT
Every single step a jiggle, every single jump or tiny hop and the world stops to stare, every time she passes by jaws hit the floor, every man woman and futa either wants Nora or wants to be Nora.
Nora's voluptuous cheeks are legendary and the worst part of it all is: She does know the effect she has on people, and she gives zero shits about it.
Because no one is worthy of her divine ass cheeks, except for two men: Jaune Arc and Lie Ren.
She's found her studs the ones who care for her, love her, give her the world AND the ones who have huge bitch breaking cocks to fuck her into the sheets like rutting animals.Every.Single.Night.
Every day of her life is one big teasing session for her studs, she purposefully wear skirts just short enough to see the glorious bounce, she always finds excuses to bend over, she sits on their laps as often as possible.
Just so she can have the mind blowing three ways she has every night.
All hail Booty Queen Nora Valkyrie.
Now everyone thank you for being patient this was something i spent a few days writing (like 3-4 days) and I only wrote this for that time so I hope y'all like it.
Some chacters are missing I know, but I really am comfortable with how it is now.
As always this SHOULD NOT AFFECT YOUR WRITING.
This was a thought experiment of mine, and like I always say in this sort of thing WRITE HOW YOU WANT TO WRITE I hope this was clear.
Thanks for reading and please if you so desire share it with friends.
Four Times Fate Brought You to Vince Dunn, and One Time You Found Him on Purpose
I wrote this simultaneously with another Vince 4+1 (coming tomorrow, hopefully!) and yelled to @captainpettyâ and Erinâ about them constantly. Sorry guys.Â
length: 3k words
An Accident
You met Vince Dunn for the first time in an emergency room in St. Louis. Normally you worked the pediatric floor, and not on the night shift, but sometimes you floated to the general emergency room for an extra shift because, well, money is money.
You liked pediatrics because dealing with kids was far easier than adults, in your opinion, even when parents could sometimes be just as difficult as a screaming toddler. But at least screaming toddlers could be calmed down with the promise of a sticker or a lollipop.Â
âHey, can you pick up the new guy that just came in?â one of the other nurses asked as she breezed past you to handle one of her patients. âI think they said something about him being important around here.â
âBeing importantâ meant that, when you pulled the curtain back to face your newest patient, you came face-to-face with a very drunk Vince Dunn and a significantly less drunk Colton Parayko. You simply raised an eyebrow and moved over to the computer to start charting.
âIâm not really sure I want to know what happened here, but I think I have to ask,â you said, trying to ignore the fact that you were pretty sure Vince was whispering to Colton about you.
âIs there any way, like, our training staff-â
âAnd Petro!â
âGod, yeah, and Petro, wonât find out about this? Because I wasnât supposed to let anything happen to him, and we have a game tomorrow,â Colton finished.Â
That really didnât answer your question, and you werenât sure how anything that brought the two of them into an ER after midnight was going to be easily hidden for a game the next night. You turned then, properly looked at the boys, took in Vince sitting on the bed with his feet swinging above the ground like a child. His shirt was a little wet with what was probably beer, and, when you looked closer, blood. His left hand was wrapped in a bar ragâthat you really hoped had been clean when they got itâthat was definitely blood-stained.Â
Colton explained to you, as you started an IV in Vinceâs right arm and cleaned the gash in his palm that would definitely need stitches, that they had gone out in spite of their captain telling them it was a bad idea. Vince had had one beer too many and had ended up on a table, then fell off the table, catching his fall on someoneâs pint of beer. By the way Vince winced when you moved his hand around to clean it, you were pretty sure his wrist sprained, too.
You hovered a bit as one of the ER doctors came in and checked out Vinceâs hand and wrist. Vince was quiet, but you could feel him watching you as you fidgeted around the small room. By the time everything was ready for him to be sent home, he was definitely more sober himself, but that also meant he was lucid enough to be embarrassed about how he ended up in the ER. You watched as Colton led him out of the ER and to a waiting Uber, and you wondered just how the hell they were planning on hiding his hand from everyone the next day.
At a Bar
The second time you met Vince Dunn was, somewhat ironically, in a bar. You had seen him as soon as you walked in, laughing with some of his teammates in the corner, but you diligently ignored him as you headed to the bar with your friend to get a drink. Why would he remember some random ER nurse from over a month ago, when he had been drunk? You shook your head, determined to ignore the loud hockey boys in the corner and have a good night yourself.Â
You had been at the bar almost an hour and had done a pretty good job of ignoring and avoiding the hockey players in the corner. You headed over to the bar for a second drink, when you felt a hand press against your lower back. You tensed, twisting around as much as you could in the crowded bar to see who was behind you.
âSorry, didnât mean to sneak up on you,â Vince said, but he didnât move his hand. He raised his left hand to get the attention of the bartender, and you saw the flash of a still-healing scar on his palm, pink even in the dim light of the bar. âYou were that nurse from the ER, yeah? I never thanked you for taking care of my drunk ass that night.â He smiled, then, wide and genuine, hand still warm against the small of your back, and you relaxed a little bit.Â
You were surprised that he recognized you. Youâd heard stories of the younger players on the Blues wheeling multiple girls at once; you vaguely wondered how they kept track of them, much less a nobody nurse heâd met once.Â
You didnât say that, though, just smiled back at him as the bartender slid two beers in front of you. You reached into your pocket to pay but Vince grabbed your wrist.
âNah, this oneâs on me. Said I had to thank you, didnât I?â he told you. You tried not to think about how green his eyes were up close.Â
You shook yourself again; you didnât need this. You didnât need this. Besides, how many more times could you run into Vince Dunn?
In Enemy Territory
It was in Pittsburgh, of all places, when you saw Vince Dunn again. One of your brothers had moved out there for work, and you were visiting him for a week, helping out with babysitting his kids, hanging with your sister-in-law. You hadnât even thought to check the Bluesâ schedule; you had no idea they were on a road trip to play the Penguins.Â
You were standing in line at a Starbucks, your two-year-old nephew balanced on your hip, your sister-in-law still outside with the other kids. You heard the door open behind you, and a loud group came in, but now you were focused on ordering before the toddler you were carrying decided he got bored and threw a tantrum. You were struggling to reach your card one handed when someone else reached past you.
âAdd it to ours,â the voice belonging to the arm said. You spun, only to see Colton Parayko looking down at you with a smile. You looked over his shoulder to see several of his teammates shoving each other playfully in line. That would explain the loud group youâd heard come in. Colton was introducing himself to the two year old you were carrying, but you were still watching his teammates. Vince caught your eye from where he was trying to put Jordan Kyrou in a headlock and grinned, immediately letting go of Rouzy. You smiled back, a little caught off guard.Â
You stepped to the side as you waited. Before long, you were joined by Vince, both of you trying to ignore the catcalls from his other teammates.Â
âAnd whoâs this little guy?â Vince cooed, actually ignoring you aside from a quick smile. You raised an eyebrow a little bit at his baby-voice.
Your nephew tucked his face into your neck, suddenly shy. âOh, come on now,â you said to him. âThis is Jake, heâs my brotherâs youngest,â you explained to Vince. Vince continued to talk to your nephew in that same high, gentle voice, until he was giggling and chattering right back.
The barista called your name, and Jake picked that moment to decide he was done being patient and started fussing, very close to crying and screaming. You couldnât balance two drinks and two sandwiches as well as a fidgeting toddler, and you groaned.Â
âHere give him to me,â Vince said, reaching out to take him before you could protest. Jake settled immediately, and you glared at him a little. You could hear Vince talking to him more as you scrambled to pick up all of your order. He followed you outside, and you ignored the interested stares of the rest of the guys.Â
He continued to hold Jake as you handed off your sister-in-lawâs half of the order, stood there to chat with her and the other kids, long after Sammy came out with Vinceâs drink. He used the same voice he had used to befriend Jake on the other two kids, but he talked and laughed with you and Sarah in the next breath, even teasing her for the Pens shirt she was wearing.Â
You were doing your best not to think about how that voice was making you melt every time he used it. His teammates eventually dragged him away to get back to the hotel before the game, but not before Vince talked you into exchanging phone numbers.Â
You tried telling yourself that you were never going to use it.Â
In a Grocery Store
You were pretty sure the universe was laughing at you at this point. Your mom had invited herself over for dinner, and you had nothing in your apartment to cook. Which meant you rushed to a grocery store on your lunch break, and you ended up at a different one than you usually went to because it was closer to work.
Why couldnât all grocery stores be laid out the same? You were trying very hard to make it look like you werenât turning in circles as you tried to find everything you were looking for when your phone buzzed. You pulled it out with a huff, fully expecting it to your mom again, but instead the name on your screen read, âVince Dunn.âÂ
You paused. It had been nearly another month since Pittsburgh, and neither one of you had texted the other one. You were (mostly) perfectly content with leaving it that way, but clearly Vince had other ideas. The screen had gone dark, but it lit up again, reminding you it was there. You read the text, the simple words âyou look a little lost.â With that you spun around, and, sure enough, Vince was standing a couple feet behind you, leaning against a shelf with a smirk on his face.
âI donât have time for this,â you said, turning back around and starting to push your cart in a direction that hopefully ended in pasta.Â
âHey, wait,â Vince said, taking a couple annoyingly long steps to catch up to you and put a hand on your cart to stop you. âLemme help. Itâll be faster. Iâve been watching you walk in circles for like ten minutes.â You blushed as he smirked again, but his eyes were soft.Â
You wanted so badly to just push past Vince, forget you had ever met him, and then met him again and again, delete his number from your phone, but you also knew he was right; he would probably get you out of this damned grocery store a lot faster than you could probably manage on your own, and maybe you really wanted to spend a little time with him, too.Â
So you sighed, handed Vince the list you had scribbled on the back of a gas receipt, and let him lead you around the grocery store. He let you rant about your mom, and then about work, only pausing to offer opinions on the food he was putting in your cart. After a while, you realized you had actually managed to get everything on your list, but now Vince was wandering aimlessly around the store, sneaking junk food into your cart. You raised an eyebrow as you watched him slip a package of cookie mix behind the box of pasta. He looked up at you as you leaned on the cart handle, sheepish now that heâd been caught.
âWhat?I like snickerdoodles,â he said in defense.
You shook your head and pulled the package out of the cart. âI can make better snickerdoodles from scratch, dude.â You looked closer at everything in your cart. âAnd I donât like jalapeno Cheetos,â you said, throwing the bag at Vince.
âIs that a promise on the snickerdoodles?â Of course he focused on that.
âI donât know, maybe. Now go put the damn Cheetos back.â
Vince laughed. You willed yourself to focus on getting out of the store and home to cook dinner, not just kissing Vince in the middle of the baking aisle.Â
âDonât knock âem until you try âem. Thommerâs gotten the whole team addicted at this point,â Vince told you over his shoulder as he went to put the Cheetos back from wherever he found them.
You turned around and headed back in what you thought was the direction of checkout. Vince found you again as you stood in line. You had honestly thought the whole Cheetos thing would be the end of this interaction with him, but apparently not.Â
âDonât you have your own grocery shopping to do?â you asked, realizing just how much time Vince had spent with you in the store. âInstead of helping some random girl?â you added, allowing the insecurity you were suddenly feeling slip into your voice.Â
Vince started putting your groceries on the conveyor belt. âNah, Sammy just wanted some snacks, and he can wait.â
You let Vince load the rest of your stuff onto the belt, you didnât let him payâthough he fought you on that one for several minutesâand you let him walk with you to your car and put all of your groceries in the trunk.
You were halfway home before you thought to wonder if he actually went back and got snacks for Sammy.Â
At a Hockey Game
When your best friend texted you and asked if you wanted to go to a Blues game with her, you didnât hesitate to say yes. You had grown up a hockey fan, had found Hannah in high school, and there you two were, years later, still yelling about the Blues over texts and phone calls and in person. Your eagerness had absolutely nothing to do with Vince Dunn.Â
You also didnât hesitate to snap a picture of your ticket and send it to Vince after Hannah handed it to you. You didnât really think heâd see it so close to puck drop, but you still regretted it as soon as the tiny little âsentâ appeared underneath the picture.Â
The game was exciting, and the Blues won, which helped distract you from the anxiety you were feeling over Vince. Mostly. Until he scored a goal, and his eyes swept the sea of blue in Enterprise Center, and, for a split second, you let yourself think he was looking for you.Â
Until after the game, when you and Hannah were getting up to leave, and an usher appeared next to you, saying your name and telling you to follow her. Getting down below the arena was a blur of people and security, being given neon wristbands and convincing people that, âYes, I was invited down here by a player, I belong down here,â even if you didnât really believe that second part was true.Â
You both hovered awkwardly in the doorway to the room where all of the WAGs and kids were waiting, and suddenly you regretted wearing your Parayko jersey just a little bit. You were thankful to have your friend next to you, though, and you explained the whole grocery store thing to her while you waited. You were starting to debate leaving, telling everyone that, yeah, actually, letting you down into the tunnels was a mistake, that you have no business being there, when youâre wrapped up in a hug suddenly, and thereâs Vince, freshly-showered and back in his suitâ and this is new, but itâs nice and you let yourself relax into the hug.
Vince pulled back, and he was smiling at you and introducing himself to Hannah, and Colton was standing behind him with a matching smile. You remembered the 55 sprawled across your back, and you knew Colton saw it, but then he was wrapping his arm around your shoulder and didnât say anything about it.
You werenât so lucky with Vince. âIâve gotta get you a new jersey,â he said. You just rolled your eyes and shrugged.Â
âIâll sign that one for you,â Colton whispered.Â
Vince and Colton started arguing over that, and you were starting to think that this is something you could get used to, since this was apparently your new normal, when Alex Pietrangelo comes over to your little group, and you were reminded a little just how not normal this was for you.Â
âIs this the nurse Dunner wonât shut up about?â Petro asked Colton, who nodded over your head. âYou really freaked him out when you texted him before the game,â Petro was talking again, this time to you. âWe thought he was gonna go out into the stands to find you himself.â
You laughed, more at the bright blush that was spreading over Vinceâs cheeks. âWhat happened to âPetro canât find out about this?ââ you asked.
âThat went out the window pretty fast,â Colton told you.
âAnd I donât know how you ever thought you could hide eight stitches in your hand and a sprained wrist from me,â Petro added.
âYou should have heard him after we saw you in Pittsburgh. He kept looking for you at the game that night, too.âÂ
You smiled up at Vince, who was blushing all the way up his ears now, but he just wrapped his arm around your shoulders and buried his face in your hair. Yeah, you could definitely get used to that. You elbowed him in the ribs a little bit, but his arm just tightened around your shoulders.Â
He and Colton walked you and Hannah back to your car outside the arena, Colton chirping Vince relentlessly the whole way.
Vince grabbed your hand before you could get in your car. âIâll text you, yeah?â He looked unsure, which was probably the first time youâd ever seen him nervous around you. âSammy wonât stop asking me when youâre baking us cookies.â
âI donât remember saying anything about baking Sammy Blais cookies,â you laughed. âText me when your next day off is, and weâll see about those cookies.â And then, because apparently you couldnât stop doing impulsive things tonight, you pushed up on your toes to kiss Vince on the cheek before climbing into the car.
Your phone vibrated in your cupholder less than five minutes later, and you knew without checking that it was Vince.Â
Authorâs Notes: Thank you so much for the love on my first chapter! Hereâs chapter 2! If youâd like to be added to the tag list, pls reblog, message, or submit in my ask box. Also, requests and suggestions are always welcome đ
Tag list: @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @lovingchoices14 @gkittylove99 @darley1101
ââââââ
*Drakeâs POV
With boxes towering over, there was no way I could catch a glimpse of the woman who offered to help me get my last boxes up the stairs. When I turned around to take them from her, my eyes instantly recognized her - the waitress from Liamâs bachelor party.
That night... We walked into the restaurant she worked at. Pretty, sarcastic, quick to her wittiness, I immediately was attracted to her. It wasnât as if I was planning on taking her on a date or getting to know her - we had only had that night.
I swore I kept seeing her stare at me from the bar as she talked to her co-worker. Her brown hair was pulled up into a loose bun, her green eyes were accented with mascara, and though she was wearing a baggy t-shirt that represented the restaurant and black shorts, her beauty was absolutely undeniable.
She kept shooting small smiles, well, until he walked in. Then everything changed because now, my best friend, Liam, held the attention and the power as he always did. First to speak for everyone, polite, forward, and a gentleman.
Liam now was the one speaking for the group, like I had been before. He was charming her by being personal rather than just another guy at the restaurant. I couldnât be mad, I couldâve taken opportunity to flirt or say something, but I didnïżœïżœïżœt.
All at once, she was introducing herself as Riley and she was tagging along with us guys. I played it off as I was angry that it was our last night together and a girl was tagging along, but deep down, I was kicking myself because I wish she was tagging along with me, and not Liam. Jealousy was an ugly trait and I wore it proudly that night.
I remember the feeling in my gut when they walked off the beach hand in hand. The feeling I got when Liam walked through the door late that night, smiling ear to ear, telling me all about how she took him to see the Statue of Liberty. I assumed more had happened but he never spoke of anything more.
That was when I boarded Liamâs private plane heâd prepared for us after he had left earlier that next morning. I was waiting on Maxwell, who as usual was late. After waiting and waiting, a defeated Maxwell entered the plane and slumped in his chair, but never let up on blasting his godforsaken playlists. I asked him, âwhatâs wrong with you?â when he proceeded to enlighten me that he had attempted to get Riley to come compete in Liamâs social season. My mouth had dropped, and I had scolded him right there on the plane about how much of a security breach that could have been and how ridiculous it sounded.
But Iâd be lying if I didnât say I wouldnât have minded having the chance of actually getting to know her.
Liam talked about her for weeks, talking about how she was a breath of fresh air, and I just listened. The talk about Riley finally slowed as social season got more in depth and the girls were practically cat clawing each other for the crown and the prince himself.
Now, here I was, standing in front of her, and she obviously recognized me.
âDonât I know you?â
I stared at her blankly for a moment. âEr, I do believe weâve met before.â She had her head cocked and she took a step closer. âThe bachelor party.â âAh, yes, I do recall. You were our waitress.â
For a moment, she looked slightly hurt that maybe that was all I referred to her as. âYes, your waitress. You were the brooding man who couldnât crack a single smile the entire night.â âOh, is that who Iâm known as?â âWell, Iâm just the waitress. I guess we all have our reputations.â
With a smile, she held her hand out for me to shake it. I shook my head, grabbing her small hand compared to mine. âI guess Iâll reintroduce myself to you. Iâm Riley.â âIâm Drake.â She let go of my hand and let her bag of food move from her shoulder to her hands.
âIf you need anything, Iâm just a wall away.â She pointed towards the wall towards her apartment. âOf course.â âI hope you enjoy New York. Maybe we can catch up sometime.â She said, giving a wave and headed out the door. âSure.â
As she walked out, I closed to door behind her. I turned around, putting my back against it. I observed my new home. It was much different than what I lived in before. My room back in Cordonia was the size of this entire apartment. It was marble and had accents of red. It grew to be home as I knew it. Now, I was being introduced to a new world.
I thought about calling Liam, explaining to him that I had just ran into her, but he wasnât sure how much his new wife would like to hear that. I wasnât even sure I wanted him to know. Not that Liam would cheat because he barely knew this girl, and not that I was keeping her a secret, but maybe I could just let that conversation go for a while.
I let out a sigh as I looked around the rooms. I was wishing the boxes could unpack themselves. I started with my living room. With my couch and television already placed, I broke out the new coffee table I had to piece together from the box. Taking no time, it was up and ready.
I began placing all of my things in each and every spot. I got to the small box Bastien had shipped over. I found myself sitting down and opening it right up. I began thumbing through the memories that lay in front of me. There were pictures of my dad and I camping that he had taken on his throw away cameras. Pictures from the ranch with my mom, my dad, and my sister when we went to visit. Picture of Liam and I just knee high, kicking soccer balls, picking apples, running around. We had toothless grins in the pictures.
I laid back on the couch, feeling myself getting homesick suddenly. The place I grew up, the place I truly knew, was behind me. I walked over to the window, looking out and watching over the bustling city. I was used to looking out the window and admiring mountains and valleys, or orchards and country, or tree lines and lakes. Not rustle and bustle.
There was a quiet knock on my door. Expecting another neighbor to welcome me, I looked out the small peephole to find Riley shifting back and forth on her feet. My brows furrowed with confusion as I opened the door. âRiley?â âHey! So, I figured you hadnât even thought about eating so I brought you some of the food I got. Iâm not even sure if you like Chinese food, but I can assure you where I got it is the best.â âI canât take your food.â I said with a small laugh. âI got my share next door. Just take it, call it a small housewarming gift.â
This story is grounded in the world of both the movie and the book. So in this we will see bits of Abraâs mom (Danâs sister) & dad.
As you sat, mostly lounged there he looked up at you. You nodded. âI am. What if they donât like me?â
He knew already that Abra was beyond excited about today. He had to tell her to give him some time to wake up. She had already excitedly hopped around his mind trying to slip and see you. He had told her that you were younger, but he wanted to introduce her like people normally would with each other.
âMy niece already adores you since you make me so happy and Iâm sure my sister and her husband will too.â
You wrinkled your brow. âReally?â
He nodded. He went up on his knees in front of you. Gently, he slipped his hands under your robe and rested them on your thighs. âYes.â
âDan.â You breathed his name.
He made a soft sound, brushing aside the robe he pressed a kiss to the side of one thigh. Looking up at you, he loved seeing the new flush of your cheeks and how your lips parted. He pressed a kiss to your other thigh.
âThis is for you honey. Just relax.â He cooed softly.
Reaching up he undid the belt of the robe and opened it. He smiled. âYou are so lovely.â With ease he brought you closer.
He began pressing kisses here and there. The scent of the flowery body wash from his shower enveloped as he drew close to your body.
You were softer than any pillow or any scrap of fabric. Soon your breathing shallowed and as you writhed under him, he couldnât be any happier than he was just then.
As he finally drew to your core where he first kissed it like the rest of your body, he soon felt your fingers on his hair. That pulled a sound from him.
He sighed as he slipped his tongue into your warmth. You were more than welcoming. It made him smile. Soon his tongue and lips simply took over as you moved and made sounds that were a delight to his senses.
âDan.â His name came out as a purr from your lips. It made his stomach tighten as he glanced up at you. He loved seeing the look of pleasure splashed across your face. Your eyes were half closed, lips parted and breath shallow.
His moans finally came to him as he felt you press against him and your thighs were closer to him. He loved their softness. He held onto you to make sure you two would not fall
You called out and with how you pressed against him, he almost did topple over but soon you wilted into his chair.
Out of breath you now practically laid there, open and beautiful for him to look at all your curves, as he gulped the glass of water on the table beside the chair.
âHow do you feel, love?â He asked sweetly. He knew all of you was enveloping, his shining gave him that but he wanted to hear you say it.
âOh Dan... Dan.â You managed to mumble before managing to bend down, then cupping his cheeks you kissed him. Breaking the kiss you met his eyes, âThat, that was great.â He put his hands over yours
âIâm glad.â
******
âWeâre here.â He smiled over at you as you chewed on your bottom lips and looked at the brick house. Excitement and nervousness filled you. He squeezed your hand. âIt will be fine.â
His blue eyes twinkled, and his winning smile that you loved so much peaked from under his beard that you loved so much. Since winter was already being felt you had encouraged him to grow it out.
You closed and opened your eyes, nodding. âYes!â
âCome âere.â
You did and turning to face you a little more, he cupped your cheek. âI care about you and they will too.â You shared a quick kiss. âNow we better get in there or Abra will eat us alive.â He chuckled.
You watched as Dan did what he always did when he drove with you. He came around and opened your door.
âThis will be great.â He whispered.
Closing your door, he reached out and grabbed your hand. A sigh between the two of you passed as your fingers interlaced.
You began walking over to the the door, when it burst open. The outer glass door banged. âUncle Dan!â Called out a cheery, bright voice.
Dan let go of your hand. âOof, Abra you are getting stronger and stronger.â Danâs voice was rich and deep, only matched with a glow of happiness that was evident across his face.
Moments later a bright-eyed girl finally pulled back from their tight embrace and you felt as she looked you over with intelligent eyes. You could already see the family resemblance between the two.
âSo youâre,â She glanced back at Dan. âUncle Danâs girlfriend?â
You smiled brightly. âYes.â
âGreat!â She closed the distance and threw her arms around you. You hugged her back. With that hug, your nervousness over her was gone. She smiled up at you. âUncle Dan said you were pretty, you are!â
You flushed. âThank you.â You looked back at Dan who gave you a half smile.
âAbra, give Y/N a moment to breathe, her and Dan are barely up the driveway.â
âOh all right mom.â She let you go and skipped back to Dan. I need to show you my room, I redecorated it.â
âSounds great, kiddo.â
******
âHere you go.â Danâs half sister, Lucy said with a smile and handed you a cup of tea. âSo you attend New Hampshire U?â
âThank you.â You nodded. âI do. Itâs a good school.â
âMom, can I have a coke?â
Lucy shook her head. âNot now, but when dinner comes.â
Off to the side where she sat with Dan, she sighed. But then you saw her roll her eyes. âI donât want to wait till after the food arrives and we eat.â She jumped up and tugged on Danâs hand. âCome on, Uncle Dan. I want to show you what I did with my room.â
He looked over at you.
âAbrado, we have a guest.â Her dad reminded her.
She came over to you then and grabbed your hand, her eyes shone with excitement. âYou can come too.â
âAll right!â You smiled up at her and then got up. âLead the way.â You gave a sheepish but sweet smile to her mom and dad.
*****
âSo what have you done with your room?â Dan asked. So I guess you like her huh? He smiled.
âWait till you see it, itâs really cool.â Well, of course I do. She makes you happy and that is all that matters. She seems really nice. And she is pretty.
âOoo, Abra is that the Black Widow?â
Abra turned and gasped. âYou know who she is?â
You nodded. âI do! She is really neat.â
You watched as Abra ran over to Dan, she put a hand on her hip. âSee? Black Window is awesome.â
Dan shrugged. âShe is, but Hawkeye is cooler.â
You chuckled, seeing the two interact was really sweet. It was melting your heart.
âDan, can you come down here a minute?â His sister called.
You and Abra both looked at him.
âI hope Iâm not in trouble.â He joked.
Sheâs going to ask you about Y/N, well you can tell her I already like her. He went over to you.
âYou gonna be all right if I leave you up here with Abra?â He teased lightly looking at his niece.
You smiled. âWeâll be fine. Anyone who likes Black Widow is cool with me.â
âAll right.â He pointed to the two of you. âActually, you two better not get into trouble.â
You smiled and just shook your head.
******
He went over to the kitchen where his sister and her husband began unpacking the pizza and the salad that had arrived.
âYes, Lucy?â
She wiped her hands and came over to where he stood. He leaned against the kitchen island.
âSheâs a little young, Dan.â
He grimaced. âI already told you that.â
âI guess that runs in the family.â
âHey, thatâs a bit of a low blow.â He knew that was a dig at their dad who had an affair with her mom who had been one of his students.
âIâm sorry. I guess I just want whatâs best for you.â She grabbed his hands and squeezed.
âShe is, little sis. She makes me happy.â
âSeriously?â
He nodded. âAnd I think Abra already adores her.â
As if on cue, above the two of them laughter erupted between you and her. Lucy finally smiled.
âAll right, well be good to her. She does seem nice.â She shrugged. âAbra was right. She is pretty.â
He chuckled and stepped back. âWhy are you all saying that? Am I that ugly?â
Lucy pushed him. âNo, but she is like super pretty, like she could be a model.â
âAh, all right.â He rolled his eyes.
******
Shivering and rubbing his hands together, he turned the heat up in his apartment. You came up behind him and hugged him. âYou have a wonderful family.â
He turned and stopped. Just beyond you he saw something. It was hunched over and limping, it was a mass of black. Eyes yellow like bile stared back at him. âWeâre coming.â An almost too bright of a white smile.
âDan? Dan, are you ok?â He felt your hand on his cheek. He looked down at you and then back at that black mass. It was gone.
Prompt:Â Everlark the movie Elf [submitted by @alliswell21â]
Rating: G
Authorâs Note: This is a story based off of the movie Elf as requested by @alliswell21â Itâs from âJovieâ i.e. Katniss POV, what she would have seen and fell in love with one Peeta âBuddyâ Mellark.Â
Special thanks to @norbertsmomâ for her betaing skill and for the name of the story. Parts 3 and 4 will post separately.
_____________
Pt 1
I watch Peeta gently kiss the top of our first bornâs head. Hollyâs dark hair is braided into two plaits; her blue eyes closing softly.Â
âAnd Papa Elf said, grandpa was on the naughty listâŠâ his voice is soft.
Suddenly Hollyâs eyes widen as she remembers something. Her blue eyes are laser focused on Peeta. âPapĂĄ, es verdad que mamĂĄ estaba en la lista de los niños malos?â Â
âY quien te dijo esto?â I ask from the door. We never discuss my role in Peetaâs adventure, or the fact that I was on the naughty list. Ever.Â
âSanta,â Holly says.
Ese gordo, Santa has loose lips. I think about teaching him about keeping secrets until itâs time to explain to our child about the past. But before I can say anything, Peeta gives me a look. He always knows when Iâm having evil thoughts. I sigh, and redirect my thoughts, because Peeta made me believe in love, joy, and Christmas.  Â
âYour papa saved more than grandpa that Christmas. He saved me too.â
Hollyâs eyes lit up like her fatherâs before the sleepiness creeps back into their depths.
âNow go to sleep so Santa can come down the chimney.â
âNight, mama, night papa,â Holly whispers right before she drifts off to sleep.Â
Together we walk out of our daughters bedroom. Peeta slides an arm around my shoulders. He dips down and nuzzles my cheek. He steers me to the living room. I drag my feet. Peeta is up to something.
âOkay, spill it, Mellark.â
He gives me a wide eyed smile.
The hair at the back of my neck stands up straight.Â
Heâs got that look, that please tell me a bedtime story stare, and not just any story.Â
âNo.â
Peeta pauses and gives me a puppy dog look with a full lip pout.
âNo.â
âCome on, Sweetums, my liâl sugar plum,â Peeta says in an excited whisper.
âNoâŠno donât waggle your eyebrows at me, Peeta. Buddy. Mellark.â I pronounce each one of his names.
Peetaâs grins so brightly; his eyes shine brighter than Christmas lights. His hat is slightly crooked as he hops and does that stupid little dance of his that makes me want to tear off his green tights. Yep, I said tights. My husband was raised as an elf, a six foot two, blond, wavy haired, giant with broad shoulders, washboard abs, and is genuinely sweet. Sweeter than eggnog.
He grabs me by the waist. âYou know you wanna,â he says in that sexy time voice of his thatâs reserved only for me.Â
Canasto!Â
I should clarify for everyone listening to my tale; you should know canasto isnât a vulgar or bad word. It means basket. But I like the way it sounds in Spanish. So I say it with real vehemence. Itâs like peaches in Spanish sounds like a curse word. MelocotĂłn! Tu eres un MelocotĂłn! Which translates into youâre a peach.Â
I digress.
I let out a big sigh. Thereâs no way I can say no to him and he knows it! Canasto!
âI love it when you tell the story of how we met from your point of view.âÂ
"Youâre an evil gremlin,â I say with no heat in my voice. Itâs my personal nickname for him. As in the gremlins when they ate after midnight. However to be fair, if you see Peeta, heâs not scary at all, heâs more like a big teddy bear. Â
Peeta laughs and my heart flip flops. Because he is anything but; he is so congenial.
Peeta puts his hands on my belly, my very big belly. Itâs baby number 2; actually itâs baby number two and three. They are counted as one until theyâre born. I know what heâs doing, the evil gremlin! Heâs trying to distract me because Iâm due to give birth. I have mild pangs because Iâm carrying twins and Iâm nearing my due date.
He carries me and sits me on his lap. âNow start from the beginning.â
âFrom the candy cane forest?â I ask.
âNo from your point of view,â his eyes dance gently as he rests me against his chest, rubbing my bulging belly.
âOkay,â I say quietly.
âDonât forget to start with once upon a time,â Peeta insists, trying to contain his excitement.
âOnce upon a time.â
âThis is going to be good,â Peeta whispers.
âAre you going to let me tell the story?â
âOh yea,â Peeta placed a kiss on my nose. âGo ahead.â
Closing my eyes I picture the year things changed. Because everything in my life was about others and never myself. I was always trying to be someone else, what everyone expected of me.Â
Itâs hard being a foster kid, and getting out of the system is kind of like getting out of jail. Suddenly you have all this freedom, but youâve been conditioned to follow all of these rules, so when you are free, you do one of two things. You get in trouble, and try to get sent into an institution; some of us call it the iron college. Or you try to keep your nose clean and learn in the school of hard knocks. In my case, I kept my head above the water for my sisterâs sake. Â
âI love my family,â I muttered underneath my breath.Â
I muttered it again as my sister destroyed, no scratch that, mutilated Mariah Careyâs âAll I want for Christmas."Â Â
Did I forget to mention that I love my family? Â
I do. I love my family and thereâs nothing I wouldnât do for them, but at that moment I wanted to scratch my ears out with dull spoons. Â
My perfect baby sister is a smoking hot blonde runway model and the muse for Karl Lagerfeld, but she has the worst singing voice known to man. You want to torture someone, hire my sister, and have her sing to the person you want to torture. Within 3 seconds flat, she can have even the most hardened of spies spilling their guts like a canary.
The one thing I could not stand beside my sisterâs singing was Christmas.Â
I loathed Christmas.
I was not ashamed to say it. Every fiber of my body I hated Christmas!  If I had ever met the real Santa back then, he had better hoped that I was not holding my bow and arrow, because I would have shot him through the eye. Not that I believed in Santa then, but if I had known there was a real life Santa Claus, Iâd have hunted him down, and burned the fat manâs jolly red outfit. I would then gleefully take a joy ride in his sleigh into his workshop like Bill Murray did in Groundhog Day when he allowed the groundhog to drive him off the cliff into a fiery death.
At this point you are wondering why I hated Christmas so much.
There were many reasons why the holiday was so contemptible to me. One, my father died on Christmas day. Two, my mother checked out on us that same Christmas day. The next Christmas Eve was when my sister and I were separated into different foster homes. It took me a few months to find my six-year-old baby sister. I had been sent to a foster family who used foster kids for slave labor, to have them wipe and clean their floors while the Mrs. of the family spent the whole day in luxurious spas and getting Botox treatments, as if that was going to improve her mug.Â
My baby sister was luckier. Primrose was placed in a foster home in the middle of suburbia with a 2 story house with a picket fence. A woman named Cecilia and her husband Ronald had never been able to have kids, and they doted on my sister. They brought her up to be the princess she always said she was. Honestly, they were rather shocked when my twelve-year-old cynical self rolled up into their home screaming for my baby sister, Primrose. Prim came running out of nowhere and latched herself on to my leg like an octopus. Best Spring ever, so I do love the Spring.Â
But before you think we were reunited, we werenât. The family that had Primrose never wanted me. And even if they did, we technically didnât have the same last name. Primrose carried my momâs last name while I carried my dadâs. My sister was Primrose Emmerson and I was Katniss Everdeen. Our parents had a silly agreement. They were also foster kids, so they decided that I would take dadâs name and the next one born would take our mothers name.Â
They didnât have family, and her parents lived a common law marriage. Their childish decision caused havoc. There was a mix up and we werenât processed as sisters. Plus, I never stayed in the same foster home for long so even if they wanted me, they never knew where I was, but no matter where I was, I found a way to talk to Primrose, because as long as Prim was loved and cared for, my situation didnât matter.
After our brief reunion, I had to go back to the family that I was placed in, and my sister stayed with her family. I didnât stay with mine for very long; I became a statistic. A rolling number on someoneâs computer screen. I was bounced around from one family to another in all sorts of seedy homes.Â
So you can see why Iâm so jaded. Every bad thing that ever happened to me, has happened on that freakinâ holiday. And there was one more reason I disliked that holly jolly holiday so immensely. For some reason, the universe hated me.Â
No matter where I went, what city, what town within the state, I could guarantee you that it was a racket, a billion dollar racket to make parents crazy and buy things for their kids they didnât need. For some reason, it pleased people to take my olive skin, dark hair, scowling self and put me into a sparkly Christmas cheer, âgagâ pointy eared elf costume.
So with a week until Christmas, I was listening to my sister butcher another holiday favorite song. Then Prim screeched. And I sighed in relief.
"Katniss,â Prim said, coming out of the bathroom. âThe water is cold!â
I looked heavenward. âThe pipes. I forgot theyâre working on the water main outside. They said there would be interruption to service.â
âOh, you know I can get us a hotel room,â Prim said toweling dry her pale blonde locks.Â
My studio apartment wasnât what my sister was used to. She was a freaking couture runway model, six foot one, so slim nothing off the rack fit her. âIâm sorry Prim, I was so excited to see you.â
Prim smiled. âLook, I only have a few hours left. How about I treat you to lunch before I go back up to Connecticut to spend Christmas with Cecillia and Ron.â Prim smiled at me. âYou know youâre more than welcome to come. They always ask about you.â
I loved my baby sister. She was amazing. And I was damned glad that the Henderson's were an amazing couple, but I knew the score. They didnât know what to do with me. âAs long as you donât mind me wearing my elf costume.â
Primrose chuckled. âYou make the cutest elf though.â She patted me on the head using a baby tone with me. Prim was taller than me by a foot. I was tiny, or as Prim said, compact size.
âI could still put you over my knee, little duck,â I growled. âAsĂ que mira ver.â
My sister laughed and she delighted in taunting me. Prim no longer spoke Spanish, but she understood the language. âYouâre adorable when youâre angry, an angry little elf, arenât you?â
âPrimrose,â I said in Spanish. I rounded my ârâsâ when I said her name.Â
âAwe, I donât donât get why you hate Christmas so much.â Primrose winked going to the screen divider to get dressed. My sister was used to dressing and undressing in front of dozens of people. I, on the other hand, was not so free with nudity. Primrose said I was a prude. If I hadnât I told her to use the screen, she would have changed right in front of me.Â
âDid you know there are only three jobs an elf can have,â Prim said from over the screen.Â
I sighed. Unlike me, Primrose loved Christmas. Hell, she even suggested that there might be a real Santa Claus. I told her the only people who look for ways to sneak into peopleâs houses were criminals.Â
Prim continued her story about elves. âThe type of elves that live in trees and make cookies, the types that make shoes, and the best type.â
âLet me guess, Christmas elves,â I said, rolling my eyes.
Prim grinned. She came around the screen wearing thigh high red boots, jeans and a camel tunic sweater that looked like cashmere. âCome on sis, let me treat you to breakfast so that you can go terrorize the children of Macyâs toy department.â
 Pt 2Â
Peeta grins excitedly, breaking the narration. âYou know sheâs right. Papa says the cookie elves have high insurance premiums because their tree catches fire all of the time.âÂ
âPeeta,â I huff. âDo you want me to finish the story?âÂ
âAbsolutely,â he hugs me closer. âIâm so sad you and Prim never got to grow up at the North Pole with me.â
I canât help but smile at his sincere wish. âOh Peeta,â I kiss his cheek.
âThe only thing I would never let you do was toy testing,â Peeta whispers.
I chuckled. Peeta hated Jack-In-The-Boxâs. They scare the dickens out of him. I lay my head on his shoulders. âAre you going to let me finish the story?â
âYou know,â he says, blue eyes twinkling. âIâd spotted you in the city that first day.âÂ
âYou were jumping across the lines of the cross walk, â I grin at the memory.Â
âI followed you until I saw the Empire State Building. Then I went to see my father.â
âI know,â I caress his face.
âStart from that point.â
âOkay, you ready now.â My babies were moving in my belly.
âRight, you were in your fatherâs office delivering the most awkward Christmas gram.âÂ
Peeta chuckles. âI donât have your pretty voice.â
I sigh. âPeeta.â
âRight, Iâll be quiet.â
I give him a look.Â
âBut just so you know, when those guards told me to go back to Macyâs, I was curious as to why you were dressed as an elf.â
I roll my eyes. Did I forget to mention my husband is a talker. He is a chatterbox. I swear Peeta is the type whoâd make friends with a paper bag.
"I thought your elf name was so pretty,â he sighs happily.
âPeeta, if you want me to tell the story. You have to hush!â I admonish, if I didnât we would be here until tomorrow.
âOh,â he gushes. âYes, tell the story.âÂ
âSo, there I was in the middle of New York, like a morsel in shark infested waters. I.EâŠ.â
âThat passion fruit spray is horrible,â Peeta grumbles. âI do not know how women drink that stuff.âÂ
I want to laugh. There are still things that Peeta doesnât understand about human society; perfume was one of them, and that fact endeared him to me.
âCan you start at the moment our eyes met?â Peeta gives me a wobbly smile.Â
Ah, now I know why heâs interrupting so much. âOkay.â
Sighing I recall that day. Prim and I were out to breakfast. She was harping on me to find someone. Did I fall to mention Primrose was only twenty years old at the time, and at that age I was ancient at the tender age of twenty six. Seriously twenty-six. So what if I had never dated, never had a boyfriend, and never kissed anyone. My sister was right. I was a prude, but Iâd seen how love could screw you over. My mom never recovered and she died alone in some home of a broken heart. All I had in the world was my sister. My Prim, and she was the only person I would love. Until that afternoon.Â
âSeriously Katniss, youâre twenty-six,â Prim said.Â
Eye rolling was a national pastime when speaking to a glamazon who thought I needed to date.
âDonât roll your eyes at me,â Prim said, removing my sunglasses. âAnd also, sunglasses in the middle of December, so not tre chique.âÂ
I knew my sister wasnât mad at me. Annoyed, yes. Mad, no. âPrim, itâs just Iâm not interested in dating anyone.âÂ
âKatniss, I just donât want you to impersonate elves for the rest of your life, and when youâre like forty-six, youâll realize youâre alone with a cat, who pisses in your shoes, and scratches your furniture.âÂ
I moved to pay our bill.
âNo way,â Prim said, slamming her hand on the bill. âI make what you make in a month in two hours of work. This is on me.â
âFine,â I grumbled.Â
âAlso, stop closing yourself to Christmas. Santa isnât going to leave you anything under the tree.â
âLike Santa exists,â I snorted.
Prim gasped. âYou take that back. Santa Claus is real Katniss, just like the rainbows, and pigs and frogs having a long term, caring relationship, and love exists.âÂ
My sisterâs wide eyed passionate confession shook me, but the only words that came out of my mouth were, âa frog and a pig?âÂ
âMiss Piggy and Kermit are together, and if they can make it, no matter what the media says, anything is possible.â
âHuh,â I said, leaving the luncheonette near Penn Station. We walked to the corner, where sheâd take the stairs to the lower level.Â
I took a look at the stairs, knowing this was the moment I would say goodbye to my sister once again. My eyes filled with unwanted tears. I could still recall the little girl with the untucked shirt that looked like a duck tail. Itâs where the nickname liâl duck came from.
âDonât cry,â Prim whispered. âQuack, quack.â
âI hate it when we have to say goodbye,â I said quietly.
âItâs not goodbye, Katniss; itâs until the next time.â Prim grinned then she took my elf hat and put it on my head. âGo on, terrify the poor children of the city with your menacing scowl. But you better watch out, better not cry.â
I groaned. âPrim, I would rather hear seagulls squawking then you singing.âÂ
âI know, thatâs why I do it,â Prim said.
âYouâre a brat.â
âBrat, Iâm on Santaâs nice list. Youâre the one on the naughty list.â
âThereâs no such thing as SantaâŠâ the words died on my lips as I saw a huge man dressed in an elaborate elf outfit jumping on the lines of the crosswalk gleefully. I was struck by the joy on his face.
He looked like an angel with wavy blond hair and innocent blue eyes. It was one thing to see a six-year-old child with that wide eyed innocence, but a tall, broad shouldered man with large hands made me think perhaps heâd escaped his caretakers. His elf outfit wasnât like the cheap one I had to wear. It was made from a rich fabric with elaborately embroidered gold thread.Â
If there was something I knew about, it was fabric. I never had soft fabrics growing up and I was obsessed over soft materials. I dreamed of cashmere, Egyptian cotton, mulberry silks, and linens. His green tunic was made from merino wool, like the ones they made in England in those bespoke shops. Even his hat, although a ridiculous cone shape, was not some cheap fabric covered cardboard that youâd find in a costume shop. It was made from genuine thick green wool felt with a yellow satin ribbon wrapped around it. A red feather bobbed up and down as he jumped.
He was so happy. He looked up, as if sensing my presence. Our eyes met and he smiled jovially and waved at me. My mouth went dry, because, gaw, Canasto!
This man-child was gorgeous.Â
âEarth to Katniss.â Prim snapped her fingers in my face.
âSorry.â I looked back to my sister.
Prim looked over her shoulder. âAre you okay.â
I dipped out of my sisterâs way. âI think I saw an elf.â
Prim laughed. âItâs Christmas, Katniss. Santaâs elves are everywhere.â Prim gave me a hug before descending the stairs to the lower level of the station.Â
Seeing my sister go was difficult, but I couldnât shake the tall man dressed as an elf. He even had on yellow tights with black elf shoes.Â
I made my way to Macyâs. I could see the Empire State building in the background as I took a left to head to the employeeâs entrance.Â
When I arrived, the floor manager Brutus headed straight to me. He was a ridiculous man with muscles in his neck and a bald head. His meaty fingers held a tiny clipboard.Â
Brutus did not believe in technology. He refused to use a tablet. He said the muckety-mucks, as he called them, were out to get him. He wore dark brown pants that were too small for his large frame and even when he stood you could see his white socks. He wore a sweater vest with various pens in his front pocket and a cheap plastic necklace that was supposed to look like tree lights. Â
âJovie,â Brutus said looking over his shoulder.
âYes, Brutus,â I smiled. Jovie was my elf name.
âOur last Santa quit, and we have no one, so until then I need you to help out in gift wrapping. Donât forget to make sure the ribbon curl is six inches.â
âBut you need more than six inches, to make a good curl.â
âSix inches.â
Sighing I walked to the station and nodded to the girls who were at the gift-wrapping station. I sat there trying to make six inch curls. People were insane at Christmas; they were stressed out to buy things, and things never made anyone happy. Things were just things. Â
The line of people got shorter and I noticed the tree in the center of the sales floor was looking a little sad. So getting the ladder, I rearranged the ornaments and noticed one of the lights was out. From this vantage point I saw Brutus drag him in, the elf I saw on the street.
Heat rushed to my cheeks and I focused on the tree, eavesdropping the entire time.Â
âBuddy, you need to remember you get a half-hour break when you work under six hours and a one hour break when you work over six hours. If I catch you on the floor again Iâll have to write you up.âÂ
His name was Buddy. My lips formed a goofy smile at his name. Up close he was prettier, his wavy hair curled up at the ends. A shiver ran up my spine at all of those curls. I could picture little boys with blond ringlets and a little girl with dark tresses in green colored elf clothing. I held on to the ladder as I swayed.Â
âWow, whatâs this?â HIs eyes quickly darted to the crowded sales floor.Â
âThis is the north pole,â Brutus said looking at his precious clipboard.
âNo itâs not,â Buddy waved at a pair of babies inside of a stroller.Â
âYes it is,â Brutus said.
âNo itâs not,â Buddy eyeâs traveled to the tree and I hid behind it so that he didnât see me.
âYes it is,â Brutus put his hands on his wide hips.
âNo itâs not,â Buddy said smiling. âWhereâs the snow?â
âHeâs right, thereâs no snow,â a six-year old girl said. Sheâd been listening to the conversation. Â
I nearly snorted.Â
âWhy are you smiling like that?â Brutus brows knit together.
âI just like to smile, smilingâs my favorite thing,â he said. Bouncing to the Christmas music that was being pumped through the speakers.Â
âWell stop smiling, and make work your favorite thing to do. And who gave you that outfit?â
âItâs mine,â Buddy said, splaying those large hands on his chest looking down at his elf outfit.Â
Brutus looked at the intricate gold embroidery. âFine, if thatâs your story. You should make work your priority instead of shopping.â Brutus sighed, looking at his clipboard again. âI have to make the announcement.â
Buddy nodded, but once more was looking around.Â
I was working on the tree lights by now and really didnât want to get down because I wanted to keep staring at him. At his great legs. Normally tall guys had spindly legs. Not his, yum.Â
âOkay Iâve got an announcement. Santa will be here tomorrow at 10AM. Keep your receipts so you can see Santa.âÂ
âSANTA!â Buddy yelled. He jumped, clasped his hands and a little girl next to him joined him. Soon there was a flock of kids doing the same thing, all speaking at once and he was nodding and speaking to them as if he knew Santa.Â
I chuckled cause Iâve never seen Brutus look so stunned and speechless. He was carried away by Chaff, his second in command.Â
Buddy turned and focused on me. I pretended that he wasnât just a few feet away from me. I could feel his gaze as I fixed the bulb that was not letting the string of lights to turn on. The tree lit up and I swear his eyes seemed to glow brighter than the lights on the tree.
My stomach did a little flip-flop. âWhat!â I said defensively. I turned and saw how big his eyes were and the genuine smile. âAre you enjoying the view?â
âI love Christmas trees,â he said hesitantly. âItâs nice to see someone else who enjoys elf culture as much as I do.âÂ
Of course the guy that would make butterflies dance in my stomach was a wackadoo. I scowled. This wasnât happening. Getting down from the tree, I quickly walk away, grabbing a few stuffed animals that were discarded and putting them back on the display.
âLooks like someone needs Christmas cheer and the best way to do it is to sing.â
âI donât sing,â I muttered.
âOf course you can.â He chased after me.
âNo,â I said trying to get him to stop, but liking that heâs walking after me like a wide eyed puppy-dog.
âAnyone can. All you have to do is put a group of words together in a tune,â he said sweetly.
I hopped on up on the stage where the guy in the red suit would be seated tomorrow. I turned to look at him. As I spoke to him, I couldnât keep the hurt from my voice. Because the last time I sang a Christmas song it was with my dad, hours before he died. âI know that, I can sing, but I choose not to sing.â
âLook, Iâll do it for you maybe it will make you smile,â Buddy said. He takes a deep breath, âIâM SINGING. IâM IN A STORE AND I AMâŠâ
It was horrible, but I couldnât help but smile.Â
âTHEREâS NO SINGING IN THE NORTH POLE!â Brutus comes running out from behind the registrar.
âYes there is,â Buddy says grinning at me. âIâm Peeta.â
âWait I thought your name was Buddy?â
âThatâs my middle name,â Peeta said. âIs Jovie your name?â
âNo,â my voice sounds breathy. âJovie is my elf name.â
âSo whatâs your real name?â His voice sounded deeper and I swear I could see nothing else but his big blue eyes tenderly gazing at me.
âKatniss,â I said, wondering why my knees were so wobbly. I couldnât fall for a guy who thought he was an elf. A very good looking, broad shouldered guy with the face of an angel, but nonetheless, a complete wakadoo.  Â
The ten minute warning came on letting people know they needed to go home.
âOh Iâve got to get ready for Santa,â Peeta muttered under his breath. But before he could move Brutus appears.Â
âBuddy,â Brutus grabbed him by the arm and hauled him away. I was left standing on that stage with a big old goofy grin on my face.
A/N: This is the sort of backstory to Harry and you, I think it can be read on its own if you want, or before you read the first part too. Itâs angsty af, but it has some death and sensitive topics jsyk. I tried to keep it concise but it got a little wordy as angst does. xx
Part 1
-------------------------------------------------
About 12 Years Ago:
âSo are you coming to that party or not?â My roommate asks. She was one of the first people Iâd met last year when we started uni and even though we came from different backgrounds we remained friends over the last year, even choosing to room together again. She got me to open up and find the extroverted part of me that was able to enjoy uni outside of academics.
âUgh, Iâm volunteering for the voting booths for the rest of the week. Maybe if I can make it?â
âYouâre actually doing that?â She scrunches her nose. âI donât get it. Youâre just way too nerdy to be my friend.â
âAnd yet you loove me,â I squeeze her against me and she laughs. âItâs my mom, she said I had to do at least one extracurricular so I could meet friends this year.â
âYou already have friends,â she points to herself, and with her came her group of friends thatâd quickly taken me in last year.
And my mom doesnât like that I hang out with you, I think. She thought we partied too much even though my grades stayed decent. âShe wants me to have nerdy friends too, I dunno. Theyâre helping me pay my tuition until I get a job so I kinda have to play nice.â
âParents suck,â my roommate flicks through her closet. I agreed, this was just something I would get through to get through. Then they would leave me alone for the rest of the year.
Little did I know the person theyâd partner me with at my polling station was someone who would be in my life for the next decade.
âIâm Harry by the way,â heâd said after we received our orientation and assigned the building we were going to babysit the votes in. âSecond year.â
âMe too! Iâm Y/N. Whatâs your major? Iâve never seen you around.â
âLaw--well I havenât decided if itâs law but thatâs what Iâm in right now.â
âReally? Law?â I was openly judging, he just didnât seem the law type.
âWell what are you in?â He demands.
âBusiness,â I cringe.
âReally? Business?â He has a cheeky smile on, one that would become familiar to me.
âWell, you just donât seem like the law type. Theyâre usually more uptight, dress way too smart for me.â
âI know, itâs like, weâre not even in the courtroom yet,â he joins in and it makes me laugh--how he could poke fun at his own people. Thatâs when I knew we would get along fine, and I actually looked forward to the next few days getting to know him better.
âIâm definitely telling my mum about you, sheâs been begging me to make friends outside of my circle. Iâll tell her Iâm friends with a law student.â
âSo weâre friends already?â Weâd reached our booth and began setting up the partitions. He takes over when I set it up wrong.
âObviously,â I say. âI actually like you which means youâll have a hard time getting rid of me.â
âIâm alright with that,â he grins and I notice the laugh lines that are brought to life as he does. It somehow made him seem more genuinely.
We spend the rest of the time swapping stories, classes, rants. We check student IDs and hand out voting cards in between but it doesnât feel like a drag anymore. At the end of the day, I invite him to the party my roommate was going to with our friends. If he was going, maybe I would too. He seemed like he might be fun at a party.
âEr,â he suddenly seems nervous. âIâll have to ask my girlfriend, she wanted to hang out tonight.â
âWell bring her too!â I say excitedly. âIs she law as well?â
âNo, sheâs in the arts.â
âI like her already,â I push. âBring her, my friends are fun youâll learn how to have a good time.â
âI know how to have a good time,â there was the flash of his dimples again. âText me the address.â
And thus began a friendship for the next four years, partying together, studying together (trying to), and hanging out in each otherâs rooms. We would set each other up with other friends, double dated, went out for sunrise-hikes, and took long drives at night when we had to blow some steam off from being over-stressed, over-studied uni students. Our friend circles overlapped, the fabric of our lives eventually bleeding together. We were made of the same fibers, sticking together even after uni, when our friends got more serious about their careers. When they moved out of the country or to another city, we made sure to rent places close enough that we could still see each other often. And somehow, in the new chapter of our lives, without the partying and our other friends to buffer, we became closer than before.
We cared for each other--we didnât deny that ever. And somehow that platonic love turned romantic as we depended on each other while we navigated adulthood. I canât exactly pinpoint where things changed, but one evening our relationship was changed forever.
7 years ago:
âShe literally wants me to stay until 7, and she was offended when I said no! Iâm not even getting paid for that!â I was bitching to Harry about my shitty job.
âThatâs bollocksâ Harry shrugs. âJust say youâve got family obligations or something.â
âI said that the one time she wanted us to come in on a weekend and she gave me shite work the following week! I just...I canât afford to lose this job Harry.â
âThatâs shitty, Iâm sorry.â He takes the last swig of his beer. âWant another one?â
âI havenât even finished this one,â I moan at my now warm beer that Iâd been nursing for the last hour, too busy ranting to drink it. âItâs getting late though I should head home before itâs dark. Donât want that nutter that hangs around my building to harass me again.â
âIâll walk you home,â Harry suggests. He lived a 15 minute walk from me.
âNo no,â I get up and take our dirty dishes to the sink. âI didnât even ask about you, how was your day?â
âSame old,â he sighs against the counter. âI feel like I donât fit in, everyone my age is finishing their law degree but I donât think I want to.â
âI knew from the day I met you, you werenât destined for the courtroom.â I pull him into a comforting hug. âDo what makes you happy, or what doesnât make you want to say fuck it and quit your job to hibernate.â
âYou really know the perfect thing to say,â Harry chuckles but he pulls me tighter against him. I stroke his back, reassuring him heâd be alright in the end.
âY/N-â he pulls away to say something but freezes mid sentence. I raise an eyebrow but heâs still, staring at my face.
âHarry?â I ask, but he continues staring. âHello? You alright?â
âYeah,â he breaks into a sudden smile. That was weird--I make sure heâs okay before letting go.
Before I leave, I kiss Harryâs cheek goodbye--I was never shy in the affection I gave my friends and Harryâs bummed mood needed extra affection tonight. But what I donât expect is for him to catch me before I pull away, staring intently into my eyes. The lighthearted energy between us disappears instantly as it dawns on me, how close we were, the unspoken feelings in his eyes, the hesitation before he presses his lips to mine.
I kissed him back then, barely understanding what was happening, before pulling away. I give him a smile but thatâs just what he sees at the tip of the iceberg, underneath my mixed feelings churn away. My best friend just kissed me, and I wasnât totally mad about it.
âItâs getting dark I-â I say as Harry says, âSorry was that okay?â
We laugh awkwardly, neither of us sure what to do at this point. We decide to ignore it instead.
âIâll talk to you later,â Harry lets me go and opens the door for me. âWatch out for the neighbourhood nutter yea?â
I stand in place, feeling the fibers of our friendship unraveling but feeling hopeless in mending the tear. âTake care Harry.â
I high tail it out, my thoughts going at an impossible rate as I sort out what happened. And we try to ignore it the next couple weeks,
We hadnât made it official then, too nervous to face what this meant about our friendships. It was only at my sisterâs wedding, that I realised what was wrong between us. Iâd been mourning our old friendship, and avoiding him in the weeks since the kiss. But what I didnât realise was that our friendship had been changing over the last year anyway, and getting drunk on champagne and dancing with Harry, while my sister celebrated the happiest day of her life, made me realise there was a cause for celebration here: a new chapter in our lives.
A couple days later, after a stressful day at work, Iâd taken the tube to his flat and waited for him outside. He was surprised to see me there, not saying much except to open the door and let me in. As soon as heâd closed it, my lips were attached to his and weâd let our bags drop, coats, and any piece of clothing between us. After that night, we didnât even try to deny how we felt about each other.
âI didnât think I could ever be this happy,â heâs whispered to me after. I thought heâd fallen asleep but his whisper in the dark made me grin to myself. âAre you awake.â
âI am. Awake and happy.â I turn to face him, giggling. âWho knew this could feel so right.â
âOur first kiss was quite wrong though wasnât it?â Harry says and it makes me laugh.
âThatâs why I needed to do a redo,â I tease. âCanât leave you to plan anything.â
âIt wasnât planned I swear, I was trying to be spontaneous.â
âLetâs not try âspontaneousâ again then,â I kiss him in the dark. He pulls me snug against him, I never knew how safe it felt. The safest I would ever feel, wrapped in the warmth with my best friend and now something else.
It was a good few months, testing the waters as our relationship underwent a transformation. All of our friends were supportive, but we never missed the glances between them. Apparently, they were waiting for this to happen. But as sweet as those first few months had been, finding out my mum was sick with a timeline was devastating. I came apart at the seams but Harry stayed through it all, holding me together. Heâd proposed then, wanting my mum to be part of the ceremony. We had a small wedding, intimate but still magical. It was bittersweet, the amount of love and happiness I felt towards Harry and our loved ones around us as he said I do and as he took my arm and swept me across the dancefloor. But the amount of sadness crushing my chest kept me from being the weightless bride I always thought I would be.
Through it all, Harry stayed by my side. While we were hopeful, the day our hopes were dashed, the days and weeks I mourned. When my sister and her husband came to stay with their crazy toddlers and Harry kept them entertained giving my sister and I time together. I thought he was perfect, that Iâd lucked out.
That lasted a few years, 3 and a half to be exact. There were months leading up to our split and we could point to a bunch of things that couldâve led to it. a) him wanting kids, and me wanting to wait or b) long hours we worked as we changed careers and tried to make our way up or c) how hard getting pregnant actually was. Maybe I pushed him away, or he didnât love me enough to try and make it work.
I think I lied to myself, avoiding the tension creeping into the relationship. The tired excuses and time spent apart, the lack of usual affection, or casual conversations. I was an idiot, I realise every time I think about the end in retrospect. Maybe if I caught on earlier I could have fixed us before we fell apart. Maybe I could have saved us.
âThereâs someone coming in Tuesday morning to fix the broken washer, will you be home?â I ask, still in bed and scrolling through my phone. I hadnât meant to be up this early but Harry woke me as he got up and I couldnât fall back asleep.
âNo,â Harry responds, his back to me as he ruffles through the dresser. âIâve got a thing that morning.â
âWell Iâve got to go in early Tuesday-I thought you might be home.â I say. I hear an edge to Harryâs voice but I try not to focus on it. Heâd been a little cold all weekend and I was scared to think what it meant.
âYou couldnât be bothered to check in when you confirmed the date?â Harry asks harshly.
âI...guess not.â I put my phone down and wait for Harry to turn, maybe I could read his expression. Maybe he was stressed. âHarry?â
âWhat?â He turns, but he looks at me with no emotion. No stress, no frustration, not even anger. Itâs the lack of emotion in his face that cause my eyes to prick with tears. Harry raises his eyebrows and I shake my head, untangling myself from the sheets so he doesnât see any tears. I rush to the bathroom but forget to close the door out of habit.
âY/N,â a kinder Harry appears by the doorway. His face has smoothed out the harsh lines, his eyes hesitant and cautious.
âWhatâs happened with us?â I blurt out. âWhy are you so cold all the time? Am I doing something wrong?â
Harryâs face falls and he walks towards me but doesnât touch me. âItâs nothing like that. Itâs...I donât know. We should talk.â
He reaches his hand out but I flinch away. âDid you meet somebody new or something? What are we talking about?â
âLetâs not do this here. Right now.â
âWhy not!â I finally had enough. âIâve been walking on eggshells for months Harry! I donât know whatâs wrong and I keep waiting for you to bloody tell me!â
âThis isnât working!â Harry raises his voice to compensate for mine. Iâm immediately silenced by the volume, and then the words sink in.
âIs there someone else?â I ask.
He doesnât answer, his gaze on the hanging vines by the window. My heart drops into my stomach like a boulder, and I find it hard to breathe. I clutch the porcelain sink and ask in a surprisingly even tone, âHarry. Answer me.â
âWhat we have, Y/N...itâs dysfunctional.â He says quietly, meeting my eyes. âIt doesnât matter if thereâs someone else, weâve been fighting for months. Things arenât the same between us-â
âWho is she?â I ask. I needed to know.
âThatâs not relevant,â he shuts my question down quickly. âIâm sorry Y/N, I...I donât want to hurt you. I care about you, I donât want to hurt you.â
âThen donât,â Iâd pleaded. âWe can go to counseling, talk it through-â
âI canât Y/N.â
âBecause of her.â
âNo, because this isnât good for either of us.â Heâd walked up to me, cradled my face. âWeâre not good for each other, not like this.â
âWho is she?â I yank his hands away.
âSheâs...it doesnât matter, I swear nothing happened between us Y/N. Knowing who she is isnât going to help this situation--â
âIt is! If it werenât for her, youâd be willing to work on us--to see a future. You...Harry how could you do this to me? To us?â The tears come with no control. âYouâre moving on before weâre even over. How are you giving up on us like that?â
âIâm not!â his voice booms in the tiled bathroom. âIâm not bloody giving up on us! I tried Y/N, so many times. I tried! You just keep pushing at me to be someone Iâm not and-â
âI can say the same thing about you!â I throw the brush in my hands into the sink. âWe were good! And you got it in your head you wanted a baby even though weâre young, oh my god Harry you kept pestering me to change my mind even though I told you I needed time!â
âItâs not like we could have a fucking baby anyway,â Harry says bitterly before realising what heâd said. âShit-â
âThere you go,â I mock. âI knew it. I knew you were holding that against me. And that,â I jab my finger into his chest. âIs whatâs made you so moody, so mean and why weâre always fighting. You held it against me.â.
There was absolute truth to what I said. Last year, Harry had brought the baby topic up. Iâd told him we were only in our mid-20s, we had a lot of time, and we still had a career to establish. But he would bring up the topic often enough that Iâd given in.To make him happy. And months went by, trying for a baby. Went we finally went to our doctor, sheâd told us why it was so hard, it could take us years sheâd said.
Harry came home that day dejected, and left me feeling like a failure. I think it tore us up.
âYou wanted a baby so fucking bad and when I couldnât, it made me feel like a complete failure. And I told you that! And you did absolutely nothing to make me feel better. You held it against me, Harry! You didnât even try to tell me it was okay.â
âItâs not so fucking simple,â he says, his cheeks flushed pink. Maybe it was anger, or maybe it was embarrassment from being confronted with an ugly truth.
âIt is. And now youâve upgraded to a newer model, maybe her version comes with a fertile womb.â I take the cheap shot.
He doesnât say anything though. And I donât know why that hurts more than knowing heâd fallen for another woman while he was still married to me. My best friend in the whole world had just broken my heart into a million irrevocable pieces.
âItâs a bunch of things Y/N,â he finally says. âThatâs just part of it. Weâre not...weâre just not working!â
âDid you even try to make it work?â I ask, swiping my sleeve across my face. âDid you ever think how I felt? How you made me feel Harry? Youâve been slipping away from me without talking to me-â I break off. I couldnât speak through the heartbreak, the thunderstorm of grief threatens to consume me and my sobs are the only thing that manages to come out.
âI never wanted to hurt you,â Harry tries to place a hand on my shoulder but I jerk away, moving to sit on the edge of the bathtub. âY/N...â
âJust go,â I say through the tears.
âWe can talk more about this later-â
"Just go,â I say louder.
Harryâs phone rings again from the bedroom and he sighs. But he leaves me, crying on the bathroom floor. The sadness that was always in my peripheral consumes me. Iâd carried this sadness for a long time--ever since I found out my mum was sick, the sadness plagued me. Iâd neatly packed it up once I decided to move forward with my life like my mum would want me to, but now it comes back tenfold, marrying the grief of losing Harry like this. And I stay on the floor crying my grief away for hours, eventually crawling into bed and sleeping the daylight away.
When I wake, itâs 6 and Harry isnât home. I take that as a sign and get up to pack up a few things. I call my sister who still lived in London then, and crash on her couch, staying there for a few weeks and ignoring any call or text from Harry. When I need to go back, for my things, I find him sleeping on the couch with the TV on, something I always found endearing. But I canât afford to dwell on how much it hurt seeing him like that.
He must have woken from the noise because when he finds me, he tries to stop me and tell me that we still needed to talk.
âAbout what?â I ask, just tired now. Too many tears shed and too many hours laying awake thinking about the exact moment we went wrong.
âUs,â Harry looked tired too. He was probably throwing himself into his work with nothing like me to hold him back, I think bitterly. His girlfriend had probably already been to our house--his house.
âWhat about us?â I barely look at him as I begin folding away all my clothes.
âI donât know,â Harry sits on the bed. âDonât you want to talk?â
âIâve got nothing to say, do you?â
Harry sighs, âI donât know.â
âNice talk then,â I say, shoving the rest of my things in just so I could get out.
âI just want you to know I care about you Y/N, I donât want to hurt you.â He says as I pack.
âIt doesnât matter anymore. If you cared about me, and you didnât want to hurt me you wouldnât have done this to us.â
âI wasnât trying to--I didnât mean to go and fall for someone else-â
âJust stop,â I cut him off. I couldnât hear it, how the man I loved fell for someone else. I couldnât break down here. Again.
He said he cared but it didnât feel that way. It hurt more than I wished to admit. He knew what Iâd been through and he still betrayed me, tossed my heart like it was replaceable. The cut he left in me ran deep.
As I leave he tries to talk to me, but I barrel past him. He still reaches for me and pulls me into a hug, I struggle against him but heâs too strong. He wraps me in his arms until I go still but itâs too much. A sob escapes me, and this time he lets me push him off and leave, my bag banging into my hips every time I take a step. As soon as I got into my Uber, I canât stop crying. There was an infinite pool of tears where Harry was involved.
3 years ago:
My trust and my heart had been been lost in the war between Harry and I. It only took him a month to mail my divorce papers which sat collecting dust on my dining table until he showed up at work one day and demanded I sign them by the end of that week. Iâd taken the day off the day I mailed those in, mourning the end of something that was once so safe and beautiful.
When a close friend calls me on a warm July afternoon, I donât consider her warning that I shouldnât check Instagram. That I still had Harryâs friends on my list. I open Instagram before she can tell me why, and see it. Harry was getting married, again. To the woman he gave up on us for. I try to zoom in on a picture without liking it, she was pretty...and blonde. She looked familiar--probably from his office. It didnât take him long.
It was like someone had taken a retractor to the wound I thought had finally scabbed over. The physical proof that Harry had moved on is just the salt on the wound.
I cry myself to sleep that night.
2 Years ago;
The guy in front of me drones on about his job, mansplaining to me how a mortgage worked as if I wasnât in finance myself. I excuse myself to use the restroom, checking my phone to see a text from my sister. Sheâd moved to Scotland this year, to where her husband was from, and Iâd missed her terribly in the last year.
A little birdie told me your demon-ex just got divorced đ„
I stare at the screen, chest feeling tight. I felt vindicated somehow, but I also felt a small bit of sadness. What a fuck-up.
Good for him I had texted back. A part of me wanted him to hurt the way he hurt me.
I went back to my date with a renewed enthusiasm. Iâd ordered more wine and got so drunk he was actually interesting enough to take home.
About 1 year ago
âY/N,â a voice from my past says, one that haunted me some nights. I turn as I exit the shop I was just in. I blink at the sight before me, Harry in a vest and hat. He realises what Iâm staring at and laughs awkwardly. âIâm in uniform.â
âYouâre...police?â I look up to his face finally. He hadnât aged a day, although the hat he wears makes him look a little silly.
âYeah I joined the force uhm...almost 4 years ago now...law didnât really suit me.â
I know what he was doing, trying to find a baseline to have a conversation. But he was dead to me, and I didnât want to invite him back in when I was finally forgetting about him.
"Seems like you dropped a lot of dead-weight four years ago.â
I watch his face fall as he realises I wasnât going to pretend to be friendly.
âSeems that way to you,â he says cautiously. âBut thatâs not how it happened.â
I shrug. âSo. I heard about the divorce. Mustâve been hard being put through that.â
I knew I was being petty, obviously I never got the closure I want (according to my therapist) and I wasnât over him hurting me the way he did (also according to my therapist). This was how I got my peace, and it wasnât the best version of me but it was the only one I knew how to be right now.
âYep,â he crosses his arms over his chest. âSo, are you seeing anyone?â
He knew I wasnât, I donât know how but the way he stoops to my level I know he knows I hadnât had a long term relationship since him.
âNot at the moment,â I say awkwardly. âJust focusing on my job...trying to get this promotion.â
âSorry,â he seems to shake off whatever had come over him. âThat was...nosy, I shouldnât have asked.â
Having him be the bigger person sets something off in me, like there was an anger-bomb inside my mind where he lived and knowing that he was doing okay enough to be able to be the bigger person disrupts this calm I was trying to keep.
âMaybe you shoudnât have stopped me to ask anything at all. We donât have anything to talk about anyway.â
I turn around and start to walk away but he catches up, âI wasnât trying to upset you-â
âWell you have a way of doing that. Please just leave me alone Harry.â
He huffs beside me, âAfter all this time, canât we just bloody talk like two adults?â
I freeze and turn to him slowly. He seems to sense this was the wrong thing to say because he takes a step back. âAfter all this time? Are you serious? I was the one you left behind Harry when you went off to lives your best lift Harry. Weâre not living the same life, and weâre not coming from the same bloody place. Donât fucking patronize me and ask me to talk to you like an adult when you bring out the worst part of me. I meant what I said: I want you to leave me alone. And you know what, if we ever run into each other again, just donât even talk to me. Pretend you donât know me. I want nothing to do with you.â
He opens his mouth but his partner calls him from the shopâs entrance. He stays silent, letting me go. As soon as I turn the street corner I rush the rest of the way to the tube, collapsing into a seat and trying to sort out my breathing. It was a shitty feeling, knowing someone was going to be in your life forever because you shared so much history that even when that part of your life ended they were still there. There was so much apart of me, around me, that reminded me of him. And it felt so lonely carrying that around. I wanted to be done with him, I wanted my heart to purge him out. But it couldnât stop carrying him around everywhere I go.
Hanamaki didnât know what to expect from the day when he woke up. But running desperately through an airport trying to catch the love of his life from leaving without confessing his feelings was definitely not at the top of his list. He didnât really know what heâd say if he was able to catch you in time, he just knew he needed to tell you- before he never got the chance.
 Today was the first day of summer vacation, yesterday having been the last day of his 2nd year of high school, and today being the last day of volleyball practice for 2 whole weeks. So imagine his surprise when he walked into practice, expecting to be greeted by their beautiful funny and wonderful manager, you, only to not see you there at allâŠâEh, Mattsun..whereâs Y/n?â Matsukawa put on a shocked, then saddened expression. âShe didnât tell you?â Hanamakiâs face fell. You didnât tell himâŠwhat? âUmâŠno? Whatâs going on, where is she?â Matsukawa looked away before sighing and looking back at his friend in sadness. âDudeâŠsheâs goneâŠor she will be. Sheâs moving to (country of choice) today. She seriously didnât tell you?â Hanamaki felt his heart drop to his stomach a wave of nausea coming over him. Fighting through the cracks in his voice he managed to sneak out a pained âwhat?â. Matsukawa nodded giving his friend a firm pat on the shoulder before turning around. âWhich airport?â Matsukawa deviously smiled before his sad expression returned when he turned to face Hanamaki. âSendai Airport.â Before anyone could say anything Hanamaki was running out of the gym towards the nearest train station. ââŠYou know, as much as I say it to Oikawa, youâre a real crappy guy Matsukawa..â Iwaizumi said as he slapped the back of his head. Sighing Matsukawa rubbed the back of his head before shrugging a dorky smile making its way to his face. âYeaaahhh I know. But how else was he ever gonna tell her?â Rolling his eyes the newly appointed ace and vice-captain turned towards the team, âMinus Hanamaki, letâs make this last practice count guys!â After several train rides, nearly tripping on his own two feet a couple thousand times and going through airport security as fast as he could he was now running through the airport looking, no searching for a familiar head of h/c hair. While he was losing his mind, he couldnât help but keep wondering, âwhy didnât she tell me?â. You didnât know it but Makki had had the biggest crush on you since first year. Not only did he find you extremely pretty but you were also funny, enjoyable to be around, easy to talk to and you had been super supportive of himâŠso it was pretty inevitable that he had caught feelings for you. But did he tell you that, of course he didnât. HOW COULD HE?!!? Sure, he knew he wasnât bad looking but standing next to Oikawa he felt like chump change. Matsukawa was taller, Iwaizumi had bigger muscles, he just feltâŠaverage. But you, even if he saw you as out of his league, you made him feel like he was the most special person on earth. You chose to spend your time with him, you chose to tell him all your secrets and troubles. And you chose to kiss himâŠohâŠmaybe thatâs why youâre leaving. In all fairness itâs not like the two of you kissed on the lips, you kissed him on the cheek. But seeing as you kind of ran away after made him think you regretted itâŠso he let it go, since he didnât want to make you more uncomfortable with him than he already did. Even if he couldnât have you as his girlfriend, he still wanted you as a friend. Even if it would hurt, he at least wanted you by his side. Dodging yet another small child he continued on his way. âGate BâŠGate BâŠwhere the hECK is Gate B!!â He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, his hands finding their way to his knees as his chest heaved. But he couldnât stop, he couldnât just let you go from his life like that. â*pant* Y/nâŠ.gottaâŠfindâŠY/nâŠâ He paused for a moment when he felt a small tug on his sleeve. Looking up from his hunched over position he saw a small girl with her mom behind her. âUhmâŠdid you say you were looking for Y/n?â Makkiâs eyes widened as he knelt down in front of the small girl profusely nodding his head. The little girl looked back at her mom making sure he was okay to talk to. âMy name is Hanamaki Takahiro, Iâm a friend of Y/nâsâŠI really need to talk to her.â The little girls eyes widened, she knew that name. âY/nâs my big sister, she talks about you a lot. Sheâs over there,â The little girl pointed to the one area Makki hadnât gone yet. âYou better be fast, sheâs gonna leave soon.â Hanamaki stood up thanking the little girl and her mom, er, your little sister and your mom before running off in that direction. His heart was racing, his lungs were about to give out, and if his adrenaline were to wear off heâs pretty confident heâd pass out. But that all went to the back of his mind when he saw the h/c locks he loved so much. Those same h/c locks that were about to board the plane. âWAIT!â Just as you were about to board your flight (albeit incredibly early) you paused, recognizing that familiar voice, turning around you especially recognized that head of strawberry colored hair. âWhat- Makki? Makki what are you doing here-âHe paused your questions with one of his hands while he stood there hunched over with the other hand on his knee. âI *pant* I had to tell youâŠâ You stepped out of line, walking towards him, as you did this a small crowd had gathered around the two of you. âTell me what? Can it wa-âHe stood now, walking towards you as he took his hands in yours. He shook his head, his hair was hilariously disheveled âNoâŠno it really canâtâ He looked up, intense gray eyes looking into your e/c ones. He let out a shaky sigh before starting again. âListen, Iâve got a lot to tell youâŠand I need you to listen, so please promise me youâll wait until Iâm doneâŠeven if you donât feel the sameâŠjustâŠlet me explainâŠâ You opened your mouth to speak before closing it, slowly nodding your head to show him you were ready for him to continue. He took a deep breath, gave himself a firm nod and looked right back in your eyes. ââŠIâll give you seven secondsâŠseven seconds to push me away and if you do I wonât hate you or hold it against you.â You looked at him in confusion before he tugged you towards him, his lips meeting yours with nothing but his love for you. Although passionate, the kiss was short and seeing as it had been more than seven seconds and you were now forehead to forehead with your hands on his face and his just above your hips, he figured you at least didnât hate him. âI like youâŠa lot..heh Iâve liked you since our first year. I didnât tell you because I know you probably donât like me backâŠand itâs fine if you donât! But, I needed to tell you, before you moved and I lost my chance. So, go ahead, you can reject me now, I can take it.â You kept your hands on his cheeks, pulling away only a little so you could look him in the eyes. âTakahiro,â His gray gaze met yours, a little shocked at hearing his first name fall from your lips. âIâm not moving.â His head shot up, âWait- then why did Mattsu-âŠ.that bit-â He was cut off by your laughter. âDid he tell you I was moving?!?!â Hanamaki sighed as he nodded. Before chuckling, âYeah, he did...â You smiled as her thumb stroked his cheek. âTakahiroâŠIâm not moving.â. . . âWhat?â You laughed before nodding. âIâm just going on vacation for two weeks, Iâll be back.â Makki shook his head. âWhy didnât you tell me?â You looked down, moving your hands to intertwine with his. âAfter I kissed you the other day, I thought you hated meâŠI guess I just needed some timeâŠto get over you not returning my feelings. But I guess thatâs not really an issue huhâ Makki laughed as his head rested against yours once again. âWeâre really stupid arenât we?â you both laughed at your statement. âAt least now I wonât be stupid alone. Assuming that it..youâd like to be my girlfriendâŠ?â You nodded smiling as you hugged him tight. âIâd love toâŠMakkiâŠâ He shook his head, âThatâs Takahiro to you maâam.â You both stayed in the otherâs arms until you pulled away. âWait, you actually believed him when he told you I was moving? And then you came all the way here..? You didnât question it once?â Makki let out a sigh of frustration. âLetâs just call it a heat of the moment thing.â Y/n leaned in and gave him one more kiss, this time to the lips, before pulling away. âIâm glad you didâŠOH! I have to go! Uhm, Iâll call you, Takahiro~â He nodded his head. âYeah, and as much as I loved risking my life to get here to complete this awesome scene straight out of a romance movie, I kind of feel like Iâm gonna pass out. Have fun on your vacation Y/n, Iâll talk to you later Beloved Girlfriend~â You laughed, gathering your luggage, âTalk to you later Beloved Boyfriend.â Waving to him one last time, you turned and walked onto your plane, claps and whistles all around you two as you both went your separate ways. So, maybe he had been lied to, risked his life, and broken a *few* laws but in the end he ended up with the most precious thing he could ever wantâŠyou. So, he headed home with a smile on his face and a pep in his step. He had finally gotten his dream girl, he had finally gotten Y/n L/n.
*Back at the gym*
âSoâŠâ Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, ââSoâ what?â Mattsun couldnât stop the lop sided smile that formed on his face, âSo do you think he figured it out yet?â Iwaizumi shrugged, âDunno, depends on if he was able to catch her or not.â Mattsunâs smile turned into a full blown smirk. âOh, believe me, he caught her in time. With the bait I gave him, which he snatched up, there was no way he was ever gonna let her go without telling her. I simply helped light the fire is all.â Iwaizumiâs face held his signature scowl as he shook his head. Sure, he disagreed with Matsukawaâs instigating, but he couldnât deny he was happy for his friend.
Ch1: GI Joe And Army Barbie
Co-Written with @icanfeelastormbrewingâ
Intro:Â Following the Child Sex Trafficking job, The Losers all go their own way for a break before they are due back in Fairfax County. Stella is enjoying some quiet time with her mother.
 And Jensen.
 But, it isnât ever quiet where he is involved.
Warnings:Â Bad Language words.
Pairing:Â Jake Jensen x OFC Stella Stevenson.
A/N:Â So here it is! Weâve been waiting to bring you this one for a LOOOOONG time, and we hope we donât disappoint. We canât wait to dive into this fic! We pick up in 2007, roughly 2 years or so before the events of the Losers Film (in our head anyway) and we canât wait to cram it full of adventure. Please let us know what you think with a reblog and a comment.
TLAYLI Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Prologue
May 2007
Stella and her mom sat in the kitchen of her childhood home in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was late morning one Friday morning, the day after she had returned home following debriefs at the CIA base in DC. It had been an emotional reunion, not having seen her mother for almost 8 months in person. Theyâd stayed up late with a bottle of wine before retiring to bed and after a lazy morning she had eaten a huge breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs, god knows how many rounds of toast and some decent coffee.
âHave you had enough to eat honey?â Her mom asked.
âYup, honestly Iâm stuffed, Ma. It feels good to be eating home cooked food for a change.â She smiled.
âYeah, well, God only knows what youâve been eating out there.â Julie mumbled as Stella smiled at her momâs typical mother concern.
âSo when are you due back in the office?â Julie pressed and Stellaâs smile grew even wider at her momâs name for the George Bush Centre for Intelligence in Fairfax County, the CIA HQ where The Losers would be based predominantly when they werenât running missions.
âI have another week of leave. They gave me longer seeing as I was down there for so long. Clay and the rest only got a few days, much to Jakeâs disgust, he heads back over there Monday.â Stella shook her head snorting âYou know if he had his way he would be on permanent leave, drinking and watching football on TV.â
âHe hasnât changed then?â Julie grinned.
âNope.â
âI bumped into his mom the other day at the supermarket.â Stellaâs mom continued.
âYeah? How is Janet?â
âSheâs good.â Julie nodded âJohn has been building a new shed for the gardenâŠor maybe it was a summer house. Either way, they were planning on having a BBQ soon when Gracie finishes schoolâ
âSounds good, have you seen them much at all recently?â Stella asked.
âWeâve got together a few times yes. Which reminds meâŠ.â Julie narrowed her eyes âShe told me Jake has been back in the US now for 12 months. You tell him from me heâs gonna get a slap for not coming over to see me when he came back home to visit.â
Stella laughed âIâll make sure he knows how disgusted you are in him, donât worry.â
They sat chatting for a little while longer before Julie stood up to clear the plates, waving away Stellaâs offer of help, as she always did when she was home. Stella headed into the lounge, picked up her laptop and opened up her browser, dialling into her military account. About 15 minutes later Julie walked in.
âWhat are you doing?â
âI got some paper work and stuff to sort, you know for the accommodation in the Condo that Clay sent me through.â
Julie shook her head, âYou know, Estella, I really wish youâd get a normal job-â
Stella sighed âMa, donât startâŠâ
âYouâre as stubborn as your father and look where that got him!â
âWow.â Stella looked up, arching her eyebrow. âNice. Good guilt trip.â
âYouâre my little girl.â Julieâs voice grew quiet. â I worry. And I miss you.
âI know, butâŠthis is my job. Itâs all Iâve ever wanted to do.â Stella shrugged âBut now, Iâm home andâŠIâm not on tour all the time. Iâll be back for a week once very month and, well, you still have Rey, she literally lives 10 minutes away!â
Julie rolled her eyes âFor all the good that does. She only visits when she wants food or to complain about something.â
Stella seized the opportunity to divert the conversation and she snorted âComplain about what? Which fucking sports car Richard wants to buy her next. Or because he doesnât like whatever pretentious middle name she has planned for their first born?â
Before Julie could reply they both heard the back door open to the kitchen and a familiar voice called âYo, StevensonsâŠâ
Julie looked at Stella who rolled her eyes. âSpeak of the devilâŠâ
Jensen appeared in the doorway to the lounge, grinning âOh, weâre you talking about me gorgeous?â
âNo I was, and how youâve been home on US soil for almost a year and not paid me one visit Jacob.â Julie glared at him, folding her arms.
âOooh the full name. Am I in trouble?â Jensen grinned.
âYes, you damned well are JJ.â Julie said, opening her arms âNow come hereâŠâ
Grinning Jensen stepped forward to give Stellaâs mum a hug, pulling back with a yelp as she slapped him round the head.
âShit, Jules!! What the hell was that for?â
âI told you! Your mother was telling me just the other day youâve been back to Manchester now a few times and didnât even think of paying me a visit?â
âSorry Jules, been busyâ
Julie narrowed her eyes âBusy doing what?â
âWow. I really am in trouble huh.â Jensen shrugged. Stella snorted and Jensen looked over at where she was concentrating on the screen of her laptop. âWhat you doing Stel?â
Stella let out a sigh at the same time her mother did, before Julie headed back into the kitchen.
âWhatâs going on?â Jensen asked, watching Julie leave before he turned to Stella âAm I supposed to sigh now?â
âI was just filling in the paper work for the condo.â She replied as Jake sat next to her âMom still isnât a big fan of me being in the military. Swear she still thinks Iâm 10 or something.â
âWell I know for a fact you arenâtâ Jensen flashed her his trademark goofy smile and Stella slapped his arm.
âShut up JJâ
âOuchâŠ!â Jake rubbed his arm âStel, be gentle.â She rolled her eyes and he reached for her laptop âOk, let me seeâŠâ he glanced at the computer âYou know this thing is totally outdated?â
âIt does a job, I donât care.â
âSpeaking of jobsâŠâ Jensen looked towards the kitchen door, âHow about you and meâŠâ
âJesus Jake!â Stella looked at him as he grinned âHere, whilst my mom is home? You have issues.â
âDidnât bother you 10 years agoâŠâ
âYeah, well I didnât know any better, youâre living proof of that. And besides, Iâve grown up since then. You should try it.â
âHmmm, you know one of the perks of being Black Ops means we all get our own private digs in the Condoâ he wiggled his eyebrows.
âI swear to god Jake, youâre a fucking nightmare.â Stella rubbed her temples âWhy are you here?â
âCame to invite you to the Petuniaâs game tomorrow. Itâs been a while since we went out on a date babe.â
âA while?â Stella shook her head laughing. âYour concept of time measurement really amazes me.â
Jake chuckled âSo whaddya say?â he asked, giving her a goofy grin.
âYeah why not?â Stella asked âWhich girl wouldnât dream of going to watch an under 8âs girl soccer game? Canât believe my luck.â
âDonât be a whiny bitch!â Jake rolled his eyes âWeâre meeting Pooch and his girl later in the evening for drinks.â
âGreat, so now itâs turned into a double date.â She rolled her eyes.
âWhy you being so grumpy Stel?â Jake frowned.
Stella sighed âSorry JakeyâŠjust..oh I dunno, I guess mom just pissed me off a bit thatâs all. Bringing up my dad, suggesting Iâm gonna go the same way he did.â
Jake pondered this for a moment before he took a deep breath. âYou know sheâs just worried about you thatâs all.â
Stella smiled âI knowâŠI know. Doesnât help I canât really tell her what Iâm doing, other than running CIA tasked missions.â
âComeâ ereâŠâ Jake threw an arm round her and she leaned into him, laying her head on his shoulder. âHow about I help you fill that paper work out and then we can head and grab some lunch or a drink, whatever.â
âNow thatâs actually quite a good idea.â
Jensen smiled and gently kissed her head. âIt happens occasionally.â
Stella looked up at him âGuess itâs my lucky day then.â
âWell mine was like 10 years ago so guess I can say about time Stel.â
âSmoothâŠâ she rolled her eyes and he shrugged, dipping his head and pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss, but before it could go any deeper another loud voice rang out from the kitchen and Stella pulled away giving a groan.
âJust what I fucking need.â
Jensen grimaced at the sound of Stellaâs eldest sister as her airey tone grew louder, before the door to the lounge opened
âAww GI Joe and Army Barbie are back in town.â Â
âFuck off Aubrey.â Stella looked up at where her sister was stood leaning in the doorframe.
âHello to you too.â Aubrey rolled her eyes.
âSâup Rey? Howâs Dick?â Jensen grinned at her. Stella nudged him, trying hard not to smirk
âYou know full well his name is Rick, Jacob.â Aubrey replied with a bored tone. âYou were at the wedding after all.
âYeahâŠâ Jensen mused âStill looks like a Dick to me.â
At that Stella snorted and he flashed her a quick wink. She loved how he always had her back against her sister and her snobby bastard husband. Aubrey merely rolled her eyes, she was well used to Jake and his quips by now.
âYeah laugh all you want losersâ and with that she left and made her way to the kitchen
âWell, sheâs not wrong we are Losers.â Jake shrugged
âYeah but she doesnât know, letâs keep it that way.â Stella sighed, before she shook her head âI donât know how your sister is still friends with her, I mean out of choice? Really?
âWell, us Jensens are made to please.â
At that point Julie re-entered the living room âJake are you staying for lunch or are you expected anywhere else to please today? Iâm making lasagne.â
âMom we literally ate breakfast an hour ago.â Stella looked up at her and Julie smiled.
âI know, but Iâm making the pasta from fresh and have a few other things to do so it wonât be ready for a while.  You two do yourâŠthing and let me know what you decide. Rick and Rey are staying, heâs coming later soâŠâ
âCanât wait.â Stella deadpanned.
âPlease donât start EstellaâŠâ Julie shot her a look.
âAnyway, change of subjectâŠhow is her shit soap selling?â Jake leaned back on the sofa and Stella snorted.
âAsk her, I dare you. Â Iâd pay to see her face.â
âIâd do it for free if it makes you smile.â
âYou two, behave if youâre staying.â Julie said sternly, pointing at them both.
âYou gonna be pissed if we donât stay?â Stella looked at her mom.
âIâll be more pissed if you do and donât behave.â The reply came back.
âCross my heart JulesâŠâ Jensen made the sign over his chest âBest behaviour. Anything for your lasagne.â
âGlad to hear it Jake.â Julie raised her eyebrow and then turned from the room.
âLooks like weâre staying then.â Stella looked at Jensen who merely grinned back.
âSorry Stel, but you know I love verbal sparring with Rick the Prick.â
She snorted âYouâre a bad man JJâ
âIâm your bad man.â He winked.
Stella looked at him, cocking her head to one side trying to figure out what exactly he meant. As far as she was concerned he wasnât after anything serious. Especially seeing he was the one that broke it off 8 years ago. Sure theyâd fallen into the whole friends with benefits thing but it was no strings and all thatâŠ
She took a deep breath, cleared her throat and nodded to her laptop âSo, erâŠforms?â
****
Two hours later they were still filling in the damned paperwork, Stella having a lot to completeâŠthat and the fact theyâd been distracted a bit by laughing and joking around, Jake showing her on Google Maps the location of a few good restaurants and bars not too far from the Condo to head to. They both looked up as Julie walked back into the lounge to tell them lunch would be ready in 20. They finished up what they were doing before walking into the Kitchen where Stella was greeted by her brother-in-law with his usual stiff hug, whereas Jake took great delight in pumping his hand up and down furiously, grinning at him.
Stella shook her head, smiling to herself as they all sat down outside in the garden, making the most of the nice weather, and began to eat. Richard was telling some boring tale from his office and Jensen was hanging off his every word, pretending to give a shit when Stella knew nothing could be further from the truth. He was merely waiting for his opportunity, which was handed to him a few minutes later by Rey who couldnât resist getting the first shot in.
âJake, howâs the army geek life treating you?â
âGreat Rey, howâs the soap?â
Stella instantly choked on her water, and Jensen looked at her, patting her on the back as she recovered.
âOh, itâs ok.â Rey waved a hand âI havenât made much recently, been so busy with you knowâŠother stuff.â
âYeah, that other stuff just keeps gettinâ in the way ofâŠsoap.â Jake shook his head.
âAre you joking with me now?â Rey narrowed her eyes.
âWouldnât dream of it.â Jensen shook his head. âIn fact, Iâm in awe of you. I mean it literally amazes me how you can make that stuff and sell it when you hate getting your hands dirty so much.â Jake swallowed a mouth of his food and grinned at her.
Rey glared at Jake âI wear gloves, ass-wipe.â
âYou really donât get irony do you?â Stella laughed, taking a drink from her glass of water.
At that point her mother caught her eye and gave her a stern glare, her earlier warning to the two of them to behave flashed across Stellaâs mind but she was struggling to care. Her and Jake âTag-teamingâ Rey and Rick was a well-practised art that the two of them had fine-tuned over the years, and it was the only time Stella ever felt she could get one up on her sister.
Rey looked at her and flicked her hair behind her shoulder âYou may laugh but its selling really well. Iâm actually thinking of expanding into a baby range.â
âBe handy for when we get pregnant.â Rick smiled at her.
Stella pulled a face as Jake grinned âYou guys have that planned too? A designer little Rick or Rey on its way?â
Aubrey smiled and looked adoringly at Rick in a way that made Stella want to barf âYeah, weâve been trying.â
âCode for weâve been fucking non-stop like Rabbits.â Stella mumbled.
âEstella!â Julie said sharply as Rey glared at her.
âJust because you canât get your own relationship sortedâŠâ she shot
âIâm not in a relationship, as well you know.â
âYou sure?â Rey stared back at her, her eyes flicking to Jensen for a second. Â Stella felt herself grow red.
âFuck off.â
âOk thatâs enough!â Julie said loudly âCan the pair of you just not stop this sniping for even one damned hour?â
Stella took a deep breath âSorry Ma.â
Jake who had remained quiet, up until that point chipped up again, deflecting the conversation.
âHuhâŠâ he pondered something before he pointed his fork at Rey âYou know, if youâre trying to get pregnant itâs highly recommended to be in good spirits. You keep getting so angry and snippy at people, youâre gonna scare Rickâs little soldiers away. Itâs a question of PH.â
Rey and Rick exchanged a glance whilst Julie looked down at her plate, coughing slightly, a smile flickering on her mouth, her admonishing clearly forgotten. Stellaâs eyes moved from her mother to Jake and she mouthed âare you for real?â
Jensen simply grinned, shrugging, as Stella shook her head, trying not to laugh. She adored Jake when he was in full on playful mode like this. He was always full of random, stupid trivia that you could never tell whether was actual fact or simply made up for the sake of sheer, stupid comedy value and he could use it perfectly to diffuse a situation and divert attention just as he had done right now. The best bit was, that Rey and Rick were utterly oblivious to his tactic and were now looking at him, like his words were gospel.
âWhere the hell did you hear that?â Rey asked.
âI read it in NatureâŠâ Jake shrugged, taking another mouthful of his food.
âIâm impressed Jake.â Rick looked at him.
âWell, sometimes Iâm more than just a pretty face Dick.â Jensen shrugged.
Rick blinked âDid he just-â
âJules, I gotta sayâŠâ Jensen cut him off before he could finish, flashing Julie his best smile âThis lasagne as always is delicious.â
*****
âDamned StelâŠâ Jakey mumbled to himself as she heads to car. Taking in her tight jeans that show off her ass and legs, her khaki green silk chami top which hung loosely off her frame, exposing her collar bone and her light grey jacket, set off with a pair of stylish Oakley Holbrooks with matte black frames and red iridium lenses. Her hair was pulled into a side braid which hung down her right shoulder and when she smiled at him he shifted slightly in his seat.
âYou look nice.â He recovered himself enough to smile as she climbed into the car.
âThanks JJ.â She turned to him, taking in his dark jeans and grey and blue button down. âNo Petunias T-shirt?â
âWell I figured seeing as weâre going out afterwards I should make a bit of an effort.â He grinned, pushing his glasses back up his nose. Stella arched an eyebrow but didnât say anything.
âSee your dad got a new carâŠâ she mused, taking in the interior of the silver chevvy blazer before she grinned âPity he got rid of the fordâŠâ
Jensen smirked âYeah, we hadâŠgood times on that back seat.â
Stella smiled and looked out of the window, before she turned back to Jake as he drove off up the road.
âSo who are they playing today?â she asked
âA team called the Oaks.â He said âI was checking their scores the other day, they lost their last 5 games so...â
Stella smiled âYou get far too invested in this you know?â
Jensen shrugged. âWhat can I say, I like soccer.â
Their conversation continued on the 10 minute or so drive to the Petuniaâs home pitch, and eventually strayed to Jensenâs sister Jane before it moved onto their lunch yesterday and how Julie had given Stella a ticking off once Jake had left.
âYou know Rey has been googling that PH bull shit donât you?â Stella looked at Jensen as he drove towards the soccer pitches âAnd sheâs realised itâs just that. Bull shit.â
Jensen shrugged âI donât care, she was being a bitch to you.â
âWell thankfully she left about an hour after you did yesterday so I didnât have to put up with her for much longer.â Stella shrugged âStill, was long enough for her to keep talking about fucking soap.â
Jensen grinned âI think I touched a nerve?â
âNo shit.â Stella grumbled âYou know what she said? After all that about how well it was selling and them expanding the range, she told ma she only made $500 last month!â
Jensen laughed as he swung the car into a spot by the side of the road. âYeah, thatâsâŠnot great.â
âI did point out that maybe the reason people donât buy whatever shit she sells because they freak out at the ridiculously ostentatious name of the company.
âThe Bath To Righteousnessâ Jensen grinned as they both climbed out. âYeah it is pretty pretentious. Stuff like that needs an angle you know? These companies selling homemade, organic shit are ten a penny. It needs to be a catchy name, something punchy.â
âWhat would you call it?â Stella looked at him, slipping her arm through his as they headed over to the pitch The Petunias were playing on.
âIâve got Soap, Bitches.â He nodded firmly. Stella burst into laughter. âOr Lick My Soap.â Jensen continued reeling off stupid names as they approached the side lines. âSoap In Your HoleâŠHit Me with Your Best SoapâŠSlippery when Wet⊠Donât Buy Soap, Wonât Be Soapâ
Stella was laughing that hard she was struggling to breathe. Jensen grinned as her nose crinkled up and she let go of his arm, doubling over, clutching her stomach. âDonât buy soap, wonât be soap?â she managed to stutter, wiping her eyes âWhat the fuck does that even mean?â
âItâs from an ancient Tibetan philosophy- donât start none, wonât be none.â
âYouâre so full of crap.â She snorted, shaking her head.
âMaybe I should eat one of those soap bars then?â
Stella began to laugh again and at that point Jakeâs sister Jane appeared from wherever she had been and looked at the pair of them over her shades. âWhat the hellâs got into you?â she looked at Stella, a smile playing on her face.
âHey Jane, Whatâs soap, I mean up.â Jensen quipped and Stella let out another loud howl of laughter. Jake looked at her, laughing a little before Jane shook her head
âI just canât with you twoâŠâ Jane grinned and gave Stella a hug. âGood to see you Stel.â
âYou too Jane. You look well.â She said, stepping back to take the blonde woman in fully. âWhereâs Gracie?â
âOh theyâre over there with their coach.â Jane said, waving her hand in the direction of the pitch âSheâs been asking about you all day. Ever since Jake said you were coming sheâs been so excited.â
âI canât wait to see her either, itâs been like a year!â
âOh sheâs grown up a lot. Youâll see.â Jane smiled.
âHear that JJ- grown up.â Stella looked at him. âSeems even your niece can manage it.â
âSays the girl that almost pissed herself laughing at the phrase slippery when wet.â Jensen eyed her over his shades and she shrugged.
âI darenât even askâŠâ Jane looked at them both and Jensen simply waved her comment away.
âOh we were just trying to think of ways to help Rey boost her soap sales.â He shrugged.
âDo I really wanna know?â Jane asked, âMind you, sheâll probably chew my ear off about it all later.â
It wasnât long before the teams head out to the pitch and the three of them took their seats on the small stand as they kicked off.
âIâd kill for a beer.â Stella mumbled about 5 minutes later.
âWell, I nearly bought some but thought better not. I got caught last time and fined- broke a by law apparently.â Jensen said, his eyes not leaving the game âJane went bezerk. Sheâs kinda scary when she gets mad. Like you.â
Stella smiled and turned back to the game for a little while, until the Petunias made a break for goal, only to have the girl who was running through felled down by one of the Oakâs defenders.
âOh look at that!â Jensen yelled, jumping up âFoul refâŠare you blind?â
âJake sit down.â Jane hissed, looking up at him from where she sat to Stellaâs right.
âIâd say this is embarrassing but Iâm used to it.â Stella shook her head.
âI swear to god behave or Iâll ban you for life.â Jane threatened him again as he continued to yell down to the pitch.
âCan you sit down please?â A voice came from behind them and Stella looked at the woman who was speaking âYouâre blocking my viewâ
âFor fucks sakeâŠâ Stella grumbled, reaching up with her left hand and yanking on his shirt âJakey, sit!â
With a grumble he did as he was told and leaned across Stella to look at Jane âYou soccer mums are a nightmare.â
Jane glared at him, Stella remained focussing on the game, trying not to laugh. When Jensen moved to sit back she looked at Jane and mouthed âSorry.â
âDonât be.â Jane shook her head âHeâs far worse when youâre not around.â
âGod help you.â
âYeah there was this one time he was that bad Gracie stopped talking to him for an entire weekend. Poor Kid hadnât been so embarrassed in her life.â Jane mumbled. Jensen turned to look to his right at Stella and his sister, frowning.
âWhat are you two whispering about?â
âYou.â Stella looked at him âNow shut up and behave.â
âNo need to be so aggressive babe.â He arched an eyebrow but obeyed anyway.
âStella, can I hire you for like ALL the games?â Jane asked, nodding to the fact Jensen was, for once, doing as he was told.
Stella snorted, shaking her head as she turned back to the match.
As it was only a kidâs game, they only played 20 minutes either half. The first one closed at 0-0 and after a quick 5 minutes break they swapped ends and kicked off the second half. About 5 minutes in the Petunias broke and this time thanks to a great pass through from Gracie they scored. Naturally Jake cheering loudest. The rest of the half was uneventful and the game ended at 1-0. As everyone began to move, the three of them headed down to the side lines, Gracie trotting towards them.
âStella!â she grinned, throwing herself at the woman. Stella grabbed her in a hug, swinging her round slightly.
âOMG look at you! You got taller!â she smiled, ruffling her hair.
Gracie grinned âI know. But it has been a while since I saw you.â She admonished Stella a little.
âReally?â Stella grinned âDoesnât seem that long.â
âDid you see my goal assist?â Gracie asked and Stella nodded.
âOf course I saw it honey, you were great!â
âAlright, alight, favourite uncle right here.â Jensen said, gesturing to himself.
âYouâre my only uncle, duh.â Gracie rolled her eyes.
âWell guess that makes me your favourite by default then.â Jensen shrugged.
Stella pat his shoulder gently. âYou were brilliant JJ.â
At that Gracie gave a snigger.
They chatted for a little while longer before Jake said they needed to leave to meet Pooch and âfuture Mrs. Poochâ. Gracie wasnât impressed at Stella going so soon and there was a brewing tantrum until Stella assured her it wouldnât be too long before she saw her again. In all honesty, Jensen could have spent the rest of the evening watching his niece and Stella interact. He had to concede Stel had a way with children which contrasted with the focused military Captain persona who was now part of an elite black-ops team . Mind you, Gracie had known Stella her entire life. Granted, Gracie had spent more time with Aubrey, being as she was one of her mother's best friends, than with Stel and yet it wasn't hard to tell Stel was one of Gracie's favourite people in the world.Â
So after a vague promise to take Gracie out for an ice cream during the week she still had left of her leave, Stella managed to avert the tantrum and they said goodbye and headed back to the car.Â
Stella was asking the reason for their wedding ceremony being in Mexico when they finished their first round. Jensen, noticing their glasses were empty, stood up to go get another round, he had already had his share of Pooch's wedding plans for the past year, and Jolene excused herself to go to the bathroom soon after, leaving Stella and Pooch alone.Â
"So you enjoying the chance to be at home for a few weeks Arty?" Pooch asked her.
"Itâs great being with my mom but sheâs already driving me crazy, telling me I need to leave the army and get a good, normal job. Sheâd have a fit if she knew I was part of this Elite Black ops shit."
Pooch chuckled "Well, itâs not all undercover life or death situations. You know, Jensen ended up doing 2 months at HQ working on some online terrorist cell last year. Cougar has run a few sniping jobs too. I ran a couple of training ops with some troops in Canada."
"Yeah. Clay mentioned I might get a few normal jobsâŠ" Stella nodded, as she fiddled with the coaster on the table.
"So itâs good to be reasonably close to home, you know? Well, I say reasonably closeâŠstill like a 7 and a half hour drive. Hurrah for Military Discount on airfareâŠor you can go via New York and take a night there.â Pooch shrugged âMe and Jensen done that a few times. Although keeping tabs on him in Times Square can be a pain in the assâŠ"
"Yeah I can imagine." she laughed.
"So, whatâs your dad think about your career choice?" Pooch asked then.
"No idea, he died when I was 10." Stella shrugged.
"Shit, sorry." Pooch apologised, eyes wide open at the realisation of his gaffe.
Stella gave him a comforting smile. "It's ok. You didn't know."
"No siblings?" Pooch inquired and Stella could feel his wariness as he asked another personal question.
"One." she smiled again. "Sister, sheâsâŠâ Stella hesitated, trying to thing of the most diplomatic way to phrase what she wanted to say. âWell, sheâs very different to me. Her husband is a Finance Director for Lockheed Martin and earns a ridiculous amount of money so she doesnât work. Well, unless you count running an online Etsy shop selling home-made soaps. Sheâs friends with JJâs sister although fuck knows how Jane puts up with her."
"I could ask you the same thing about Jensen." Pooch joked, nodding at Jensen at the bar and Stella smiled again.Â
By then Pooch had noticed Arty smiled a lot. She had a warm smile that made him feel comfortable around her. That and the fact she wasn't shy to talk about her life with him. He liked her and thus he was curious about what the real nature of her relationship with Jensen was.
"So you know his family as well then?" he asked.
"Yeah Iâve known them all since I was 11." she offered.
"Thatâs nice." Pooch nodded.
"What is?"
"You guys being so close since you were kids." he said, smiling.
Stella smiled at him again but it was now a mischievous smile "He told you how we met?"
Pooch shook his head "No."
"It was first week of middle school. I was walking to class and my bag split. He came over to help me pick up my stuff, smacked his head straight into mine as he stood up." Â she stopped to let Pooch laugh it up.
"He banged his head?â Pooch snorted âYeah thatâŠthat sounds like Captain Chaos alrightâŠâ
Stella shook her head as she gave Pooch a nudge, stretching her arm over the table. "Donât laugh, he was cute. A dork but cute. And he was a friend. My dad had only been dead 6 months or so and we had moved back home from Kentucky to be nearer our grandparents so I didnât really know anyone. But, he came straight over when everyone else was laughing at me and he deliberately placed himself so no one would see me crying." At that Pooch saw Stella glancing over at Jensen, smiling softly. "Been hanging out ever since."
"So when did you twoâŠyou knowâŠcross the line so to speak."
"He asked me out on my 17th birthday. Iâd liked him for years but didnât think he thought of me in that way. We dated through senior year and then we both went off to Norwich University for the ROTC." She explained.
"Oh, so you didnât direct enter either then?"
"No. I talked to Clay about it and he suggested I do the ROTC so I could get a college education as well. I suggested it to Jakey and we both went for it."
"So, excuse my prying but why you two beak up? Seems like you were together for pretty much the most important decisions of your lives?"
Stella hesitated before answering. Although she didn't mind talking to Pooch it was the first time she explained her and Jensen's story to anyone. She hadnât needed to up to that point, seeing as everyone she had met till then didn't know Jake too, bar their respective families and friends and they already knew what the deal between them was. Sort of.
For the first time Pooch felt like she wasn't that willing to answer. "Well, after the ROTC thing we both got our first overseas postings and, well, he suggested that maybe it was better if we called it quits before the distance tore us apart and we resented one another. I agreed. We stayed friends though."
"Friends with benefits, huh?"
"Yeah, you could say that." she snorted.
Pooch looked at her. He sensed it was better not to pry more on the subject so he decided to change topics.
"So, you know Clay of old then?" he asked, remembering Clay had warned them she was like a daughter to him.
"Yeah he was in the Army with my dad. My dad was a major in the Screaming Eagles, you heard of them?"
Pooch nodded "The 101st airborne division, right?"
Stella nodded too. "Clay was first lieutenant in his command. He was killed when they launched the operation to cut off Highway 8. One of only 16 to die. Clay took it hard, he was literally right by dad when he died. A foot to the right and heâd have taken the bullet not dad, and he felt guilty for ages for not spotting the sniper butâŠeither way one of them ended up dead. I mean, dad was only 45 when he died and Clay would have beenâŠwhat, 28 or so at the time, maybe? Either way itâ no age, total waste of a life."
"You know, Clay never really talks about his past much but he did tell us once that seeing his friend die at the hand of an insurgent was what spurred him into the Special Ops. He wanted to get involved in tracking down terrorists, making places safer. Never knew who he was talking about though." Pooch offered.
"Well now you do." she shrugged "I expect it's painful for him to talk about. Weâve all been there, lost people âŠitâs hard."
"So that's why you joined as well? Your dad?" Pooch asked.
"Yeah. Much to Momâs disgust. She called Clay, thought he would talk me out of it. I think his words to my mum were, and I quote â I donât stand a chance Jules, you know she looks up to Ianâs memory like heâs Captain AmericaâŠ.â."Â
Pooch laughed out loud and Stella grinned. "Yeah sheâs still not best pleased with him. And when I got stationed over in Iraq, well, I thought she was gonna hunt him down and kill him with her bare hands."
"You clearly made the right career choice though, I mean you made Captain pretty fast." Pooch stated with real admiration. âJust like Jensen did.â
"A lot of that was down to doing the ROTC and circumstance. Right place, right timeâŠyou know what itâs like in the field. They need commissioned, senior officers in Delta Force, I dare say female ones specifically to âfil the quotaâ so to speak. I did my job well andâŠ" she shrugged.
"From what I hear youâre selling yourself short. Clay speaks very highly of you. He was raving about this person on the inside for the entire time we were running that last op."
Stella smiled, after the conversation with her mother the day before and having to put up with her sister and brother in law's perfect life all over the weekend, Clay's words were like a balm to her.Â
"Good to know Iâm doing something right."
Pooch was pondering Stella's words when Jensen returned from the bar with a couple of beer bottles and two deep orange coloured cocktails.
"Sorry guys, they had a new bartender who wasn't very sure about the best way to prepare a Sailor's Grave." He shrugged âSo, this is for Pooch, this is for Mrs. Pooch and this one is for my girlâŠ" he said, placing the drinks ceremoniously on the table, flashing a wink at Stella when he said the last part.
Pooch raised an eyebrow at Stella. The boundaries in Jensen and Stella's relationship, whatever that was, were clearly a little blurred.
Stella rolled her eyes before speaking "Iâm not your girl Jake, not since you dumped me when you went over to Burkina Faso." She flinched a little as that came out slightly harsher than she meant and Jensen noticed.
 "Ouch doll. Bitter much?" he frowned.
Stella took a deep breath but didnât say anything. Worst thing she could do was encourage him, whether it was in favour or against, his attempts of flirting. Thankfully, at that moment Jolene returned to the booth.
"Sorry I took so long, I got a call from the office." She apologised as she sat at her place next to Pooch.
Stella seized the chance to divert the conversation and get Jake out of her mind and sight for a minute and she smiled at Jolene and asked âSo what do you do for a living?â
"Oh Iâm a paralegal for a local firm in Concord." Jolene explained before taking a sip from her cocktail.
Soon both women were engaged in a lively conversation as Stella continued to ask her questions, happy to keep her mind occupied and off all thoughts of Jake and the little tension earlier. Eventually, however, last orders were called and the 4 agreed it was time to go.
âJolene seemed nice.â Stella broke the silence that had fallen in the car. âThey make a nice couple.â
"Yeah, Pooch is a good guy and sheâs a nice gal soâŠ" Jensen agreed, hands on the wheel.
They both fell silent again, Jake concentrating on the road ahead. He was anxious and hoped Stella hadn't noticed, though they had never been so silent in a car drive. Something had been bugging him since that night in the barracks after the mission. The sex had been amazing, it always had been, but whereas they normally left it at that but now⊠well, being around their hometown, the place they had grown up and first started dated, going out and just doing things they used to do was sparking all sorts of feelings within him. Just an hour before, calling her his girl had just slipped out, and heâd realised from her reaction as soon as heâd done it that he shouldnât have.
He chewed the inside of his cheek as he drove, trying to convince himself that he had done the right thing breaking it off 5 years ago. But he was also cursing himself at the same time, because being around her yesterday and today, in a normal environment, he realised that just as heâd told her that night after the mission he missed her. And not just the sex. But her. The difference being now, as he pulled onto her road, he realised he didnât just miss her because he hadnât seen her. He missed her being his.Â
 His. That was his last thought as he parked up at her driveway.
"Thanks Jakey, I had fun today." Stella said, looking at him for the first time since they got in the car.
"Me too, Stel." Jensen said as he nodded.
And there was a silent pause as Stella digested the fact he wasn't even looking at her. His eyes were fixed on some point beyond the windshield.
"Ok, erm.." Stella spoke but paused to clear her throat. "Well, have a safe trip over to Base and I guess Iâll see you in a week."
He still didn't say anything, he only nodded in agreement. His eyes still not on her. So she opened the door, ignoring the lump on her throat, and made to leave when she felt him gently grabbing her arm.
"StelâŠ"
She stopped and looked at him. He was now looking at her, almost pleadingly, as he reached out, gently gripping her chin in his finger and thumb, his eyes bouncing across hers.
"Jake, I donât think we..." she whispered but her protests died as he pressed his lips to her. It was a furious and needy kiss, his tongue harshly dominating hers, and when he pulled away he pressed his head to hers.
"See you in a week, doll." he said, his eyes boring into hers.
"Yeah, see you." she whispered, before getting out of the car
She looked back once to wave as he was waiting to make sure she got inside, as he always did. Once in she shut the front door and headed to the kitchen. Just as she turned around and took the first step her mom walked out of the living room.
"Not in a relationship, eh?"Â
"Were you spying on me?" Stella asked. Best defence is offense after allâŠ
Her mother shrugged, a smile threatening to spread on her face. She liked Jake, she had always liked him and what was more, though she would rather be caught dead than admit to it, she liked him more than she would ever like Rick in a million years. But then, what was more important to a mother than their daughters' happiness?
 Stella sighed. "It's complicated."
"Sure it is. Night honey.â her mother said and, after placing a kiss on her head, she left her to it.
Stella said goodnight and headed into the kitchen for a bottle of water. She uncapped it and leaned on the counter. It had taken her a while to get to a point where she could simply fuck Jake and leave it at that, but even then deep down she knew she had been kidding herself, fooling herself. He had been right in the bar before, she was bitter. Bitter that he had given up so easily when she thought they had something special. And sheâd been that much of a sucker that sheâd gone along with the whole âfriends with benefitsâ arrangement because the thought of not being with him at all had made her feel sick.Â
During the last 12 months they had drifted apart and even though sheâd hated it at first and it had killed her, it had done her the world of good in that she had finally worked him out of her system.
Or so she thought she had.
Because here she was, less than 2 weeks of being back in his presence and she was already slipping back down that deep, dark hole. After that night post the mission they hadnât been together that way, at all, but then the previous day heâd shown up and today he had taken her out, for what had been a really fun afternoon and evening, and it had felt just like old times.Â
Especially when he had kissed her like that.Â
Jensen was the king of giving off mixed signals, he always had been. Hell, it had taken her years to figure out he liked her that way. But they werenât in high school anymore, and it was easy, far too easy to get swept back into something that meant more to her than it did to him. She knew she had to put a stop to it, because someone was going to get hurt. And that someone was likely to be her.
Lost in her thoughts she drained the bottle and tossed it into the recycling bin before running her hand through her hair sighing to herself.Â
summary: Although he would never admit it, Apollo really wants to impress Klavier by making dessert from scratch for their first date at his apartment, despite his complete lack of baking experience. With the help of his overenthusiastic sister (and no help from his mischievous cat), Apollo thinks he just might be able to pull it off.
word count: 4.8k | read on ao3
a/n: For @klapollo-week, day four of seven (prompt: "cooking"). All seven of my fics take place in the same continuity! However, each can be read as a stand-alone, with the exception of day seven being a sequel to day five.
This fic takes place at some distant point in time after Spirit of Justice where Apollo and Trucy have learned that theyâre siblings, but doesnât reference any specific plotlines otherwise. Fic title is from the song How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) by Marvin Gaye.
âDonât look at me like that, okay? I can feel you judging me, and I donât appreciate it. I swear, I-I know what Iâm doing! But it doesnât help with you staring at me like you just know Iâm gonna screw up!â
Mikeko blinked. âMreow.â
âPolly, are you talking to your cat again?â Apollo turned to see Trucy walking towards him with huge bags of flour and sugar in her arms.
âJust a reminder - his name is Mikeko, and heâs an asshole,â Apollo grouched, hurrying over to help before she could drop everything on the floor. The last thing he needed was to get white powder stuck in his kitchen tile grout, again. There was a reason Ema wasnât allowed to bring her forensics kit to his place anymore. âHe peed on my rug the other day. I thought he was sick so I took him to the vet, and nothing. Heâs an asshole.â
âYou talk about your cat like you talk about your boyfriend, and I dunno which oneâs worse,â Trucy mused, elbowing him playfully. âThough obviously, you love âem both, since that cat tree over there looks like it costs more than your TV. And, yâknow, the fact that you asked me to help you bake for him! Er, your boyfriend, not your cat.â
âYou donât say,â Apollo said dryly, hoisting the bags onto the kitchen counter. âKlavier has an insatiable sweet tooth for a guy with a six-pack. I blame his parents and their baking habits.â
âCâmon, you love his parents,â Trucy giggled. She hopped onto the counter, nearly knocking the flour over in the process. Apollo shot her a dirty look that she blatantly ignored. âSo, whatâre we making? Iâm surprised you asked me to help and then didnât tell me what we were gonna do!â
âSorry, sorry,â Apollo sighed, smoothing out the wrinkles in his apron. âWeâre making, uh...bienenstich, or bee sting cake. Itâs one of his childhood favorites, apparently; itâs got vanilla cream andâŠâ He paused to glance down at the recipe on his phone. â...âa crunchy caramelized almond toppingâ.â
âSounds yummy!â Trucy replied, idly swinging her legs back and forth. Mikeko seemed very interested in chasing her untied shoelaces. âSeriously, though, why did you ask me? I mean, when I first started living with Daddy, I learned how to cook pretty fast, but I never really learned how to bake.â
Apollo softened. âI just wanted to hang out with you, Truce. Thatâs all.â
Trucy folded her hands over her heart. âAww, Polly!â She then grinned devilishly. âOf course you did.â
âNow youâre an asshole, too,â Apollo informed her, kissing her cheek before turning back to the other side of the kitchen. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Mikeko, sitting in his sink, lounging lazily across every last mixing bowl heâd just washed. âMik, what the hell - you were just on the floor a second ago, you - â
âMeow,â Mikeko interrupted, his tail swishing nonchalantly through the air.
â...cool, cool.â Apollo wiped his hands, then proceeded to lift Mikeko right out of the sink and deposit him onto his cat tree. His paws were still damp; he mewled in protest. âWell, this is going about as well as I expected.â
âIâm excited,â Trucy offered, still beaming. âLetâs go!â
_____
Once Trucy found the appropriate playlist to blast on her phone (âAny performer worth their salt knows they need good background music, Polly!â âBut...this isnât a performance. Also, this is more Maroon 5 than Iâm comfortable with.â), she got to work on re-washing the dishes Mikeko had ruined while Apollo shuffled around the kitchen, grabbing the rest of the ingredients. Heâd bought quite a few items he didnât usually have in stock, having next to no experience with baking. The recipe claimed bienenstich was easy to make, though he had his doubts when it came to his abilities - and his luck.
âSo, howâve you and Klavier been?â Trucy asked, drying the last of the spatulas. âThings must be pretty good if youâre baking for him.â
âGood, definitely good,â Apollo replied. âWeâve had a couple of hiccups, but nothing weâve had to worry about, yâknow?â
âGee, how romantic,â Trucy drawled. âI was hoping for something juicier than that, Polly! Have you had any fun dates lately? Cute moments? Nice gifts? It sure was nice of his mom to send more apple strudels to the agency the other day!â
âAre you my sister, or a tabloid reporter?â Apollo flicked a spray of flour onto the front of her apron, ducking before she could retaliate. âWell, we had a good time at his parentsâ house the other day. I made pretzels with his mom, and his dad had a ton of podcast recommendations for like, nerd stuff. We, uh...we even talked about Mom for a bit. They wanna meet her someday.â
Trucyâs eyes widened. âReally? Whenâs that gonna happen?â
âNot sure,â Apollo admitted. âBut hey, do you wanna join us when it does? Theyâve been dying to meet you, too.â
âLike you have to ask!â Trucy said brightly. She took a moment to methodically spread out all of their equipment across the kitchen counter, smiling in satisfaction when she was done. âThere - weâre ready to go. Whatâs the actual first step?â
âThe dough, it says,â Apollo said, turning back to the recipe. âWeâre sâposed to mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Although I guess the actual actual first step is measuring the ingredients.â
âIâll do dry, you do wet,â Trucy replied, passing him one of the mixing bowls. âYâknowâŠâcos you're such a wet blanket and all.â
Apollo blinked. â...okay, wow. Weâre here to bake a cake, not roast me.ïżœïżœïżœ Trucy giggled mischievously, then got to work on measuring out the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Apollo, meanwhile, started with pouring the milk - easy enough - then stared at the egg carton and sticks of butter sitting in front of him. Heâd never been intimidated by either before, but right now, he found them oddly daunting.
âPolly, are you trying to perceive the ingredients or somethinâ?â Trucy asked, rapping her knuckles against the side of his head a little too sharply for his liking. âThe cake isnât a lie, you know.â
Once again, Apollo found himself looking at her incredulously. âWha - th-that joke is older than you are!â Then, a brief swish of movement over Trucyâs shoulder caught his eye. âWaitâŠâ Sitting on the opposite counter was Mikeko, who was innocently sniffing the bag of sliced almonds. âMik - â
âMrrh,â Mikeko purred, his tail perking up at the sound of his name. He then flopped onto his side, rolling over to present his belly. âMrrh?â
âDonât âmrrhâ me, get away from there,â Apollo huffed, flapping his hands in Mikekoâs direction. He seemed unmoved. âDo you want me to lock you in my bedroom? Really? Is that what we have to do?â Sighing, Mikeko got up and hopped down from the counter, sauntering off to the living room with a sulky grimace. âThank you.â
âYou really do act like heâs human,â Trucy commented, watching Mikeko go. âMr. Edgeworthâs like that with Pess, only heâs way nicer to her than you are to Mikeko.â
âProbably because Pess doesnât sit on his chest in the middle of the night while he's sleeping and make him think heâs having a heart attack,â Apollo said wryly, reaching for the sticks of butter. If he let them sit out for too long, they were going to start melting. âHowâs that whole...thing going, anyway? I feel like Mr. Edgeworthâs been visiting the agency a lot lately...only, nothing ever seems to happen.â
âStory of their lives, according to Ema and Aunt Maya,â Trucy said, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. âAt this rate, Iâm gonna get married before Daddy does!â She then smirked. âOr should I say, youâre gonna get - â
âHey, l-letâs not get ahead of ourselves,â Apollo protested, his cheeks reddening. âHowâs it going with the dry ingredients?â
âAll done!â Trucy chirped, tilting her bowl slightly so he could see. âWait, you still havenât done the butter or eggs yet? Apollo!â
âYeah, yeah, I was kinda busy dealing with that jerk over there.â Trucy glanced across the way to the living room; she couldâve sworn Mikeko was sticking his tongue out at them. Apollo then pushed the butter towards her. âHere - you do the butter, Iâll take care of the eggs.â The two of them worked in silence for a minute or so, the only sounds in the apartment being the crinkle of the butterâs parchment paper and the tap-tap of the eggs against the mixing bowl. It didnât take long before their silence was broken. â...shit.â
âEggshell?â Trucy guessed without looking up. âSheesh, you really did need help. Here, give it to me!â
Apollo nudged the bowl in her direction, defeated, then wiped the sweat off his brow. âDamn, I didnât think I was gonna be this bad! I made bread and pretzels with Klavierâs mom, and that went pretty well.â
âI bet itâs âcos she did most of the work,â Trucy teased. âWait - Apollo, thereâs more eggshell in here than actual egg!â
âIâŠâ Apollo paused. â...have no excuses.â He then groaned. âUgh, we still have so much left to do! This cake better be worth it.â
âItâs more like if you think your boyfriendâs worth it, and he is, isnât he?â Trucy finished fishing out the last of the eggshells, then poked Apolloâs side with her yolk-covered finger. âSo câmon, letâs keep going. We mix them together, right?â
Apollo smiled softly. âYeah. And hey, Iâm...Iâm really glad youâre here, Trucy. Thanks for helping me out.â
âItâs just baking, Polly, you donât hafta be so dramatic,â Trucy said, though she was beaming regardless. âNow move it, or this cakeâs still gonna be in the oven when he gets here!â
_____
A little over two hours later, Apollo jumped up from his couch at the sound of his doorbell. His face brightened when he saw Klavier on the other side of the door, dressed casually in an oversized hoodie and joggers. Klavier had been so particular about how heâd dressed for their first few dates that Apollo was always happy to see him in more relaxed attire. âArenât you a sight for sore eyes?â
Klavier raised an eyebrow. âYou always greet me in the strangest ways, schatz. Did something happen, are you okay?â
Apollo let out an internal sigh of relief; Klavier had yet to notice anything off-putting at all. âNo, no, I-Iâm fine, just - i-itâs been a long day, and itâs good to see you. I mean, itâs always good to see you - usually good to see you, depending on whatâs going on, âcos not gonna lie, you still pull the most inane crap in the courtroom, but, uh. Itâs good that youâre here. Hi.â
Klavierâs eyebrows remained raised. â...hi. Anyway, I brought dinner and dessert.â He lifted the two bags he was carrying so Apollo could see. âAs it turns out, our favorite Taiwanese place was having a promotion. Spend thirty dollars or more, we get free tofu pudding. Achtung, I love a good deal!â
âThatâs not what your bank account says,â Apollo teased. âAnd, er, thatâs great, and we should definitely eat it while itâs fresh, but I actually made dessert for us, too.â
âReally?â Apollo was starting to think Klavierâs eyebrows were never going to come back down. âWhat did you make?â
âNo spoilers,â Apollo said, tugging on Klavierâs sleeve. âCâmon, get in here before my neighbors spot you. I swear, I heard one of them blasting Love With No Chance Of Parole the other night. If they find out youâre my boyfriend, Iâm never gonna hear the end of it.â
âFinally starting to recognize my songs, are you?â Klavier chuckled, stepping into Apolloâs apartment. âIâll make a Gavinners fan out of you yet, baby.â He then looked around, curious, as he took off his shoes. âYour place doesnât look nearly as bad as you made it sound. Itâs...charming.â
âReal diplomatic way of saying it looks like crap,â Apollo said wryly, closing the door behind him. He was well aware of his peeling wallpaper and cat-scratched furniture, his dusty windows and his water-damaged ceiling. âWait until you have to use my bathroom. I swear the sink is haunted.â
âHow comforting.â Klavierâs eyes lit up at the sound of tiny little feet padding over in his direction; he crouched down so he could be at eye level, one hand outstretched to beckon him closer. âWhy, guten tag, kĂ€tzchen! Iâm so glad I finally get to meet you.â Mikeko stopped dead in his tracks, eyeing Klavier up and down warily. Then, without another sound, he turned and walked away, tail swishing pointedly in the air. Klavier looked up at Apollo dejectedly. âAch, what did I do?â
âMikeko only likes me and tolerates Trucy,â Apollo shrugged, trying not to laugh at Klavierâs miserable expression. âI wouldnât take it personally. Câmon, letâs eat!â
âIâm going to take it a little personally,â Klavier muttered under his breath, following Apollo across the open living space. It wasnât long before they were set up at the dining table, working their way through their Taiwanese beef noodles, fried chicken, and scallion pancakes. Apollo hummed happily as he ate; he hadnât realized how hungry he was or how difficult baking could be until now. âSo, how was your day?â
âDidnât do much,â Apollo said, shrugging. âSince itâs my day off, I just kinda - yâknow, played video games, watched some TV. Re-organized my bookshelf for the millionth time. I still havenât decided if my brain likes it organized by author, title, genre, or color.â
âYou also made dessert, apparently,â Klavier replied. âAre you really not going to tell me what it is?â
âCuriosity killed the cat, and even though my catâs an asshole, I prefer him alive,â Apollo said, playfully nudging Klavierâs leg with his foot. âYou can wait thirty minutes, canât you?â
âAch, the suspense,â Klavier laughed. âFine, fine. Can I at least ask why you decided to bake for us?â
âItâs the first time youâve been to my place, so I figured Iâd do something nice,â Apollo said, sniffing very slightly. The smell of burnt sugar was starting to waft into his nose; he crossed his fingers underneath the table in the hopes that Klavier couldnât smell it, too.
âEr - are you okay, Apollo?â Klavier asked, lowering his chopsticks. âYouâre...sniffling. I didnât accidentally bring some pollen in here, did I?â
âSniffing, not sniffling,â Apollo corrected. âThereâs a difference. And nah, itâs nothing. Just wasnât sure if Mik mightâve peed somewhere...as he does.â
âAh, cats,â Klavier said, nodding sagely. âDonât tell your kĂ€tzchen Iâm more of a dog person, bitte. Weâre already off to a bad start as it is.â
âBrave of you, saying that out loud,â Apollo remarked. âIf Mik comes after you in your sleep tonight, donât say I didnât warn you.â Klavier turned to look at Mikeko, who was currently on the kitchen counter, scarfing down his dinner. He lifted his head to make direct eye contact, chewing menacingly all the while. Klavier shuddered. âHow about you, what were you up to today?â
âThe most boring prosecutorâs office meeting ever, not that thatâs anything new,â Klavier sighed, turning back to face Apollo. âAnd I had no cases to prosecute, so I spent my day wishing I was here instead. Even if you and Mikeko werenât around, Iâd rather watch your wallpaper die a slow death than listen to Herr Payne whine about his life while weâre all waiting for the coffee maker. I donât see how itâs my or Herr Blackquillâs fault that he hasnât had a raise in over ten years. If all he can brag about is making new defense attorneys cry instead of actually doing his job, then he should be grateful he still has a career to begin with, ach.â
Apollo blinked. â...huh. I guess I never really thought about the kind of office politics you have to deal with. Meanwhile, the only thing Iâve had to deal with lately is Athena nearly breaking Trucyâs finger during an arm-wrestling match.â
Klavier winced, popping a piece of chicken in his mouth. âIs that something that happens often?â
âMore often than it should,â Apollo replied sagely. Klavier wasnât sure whether to be impressed or slightly terrified.
After they finished dinner, Klavier insisted on helping Apollo with the dishes, seeing as how there was a huge pile of them in the sink, almost none of them from their dinner. Some were splattered with cake batter, others with vanilla cream. Thankfully, Apollo had already rinsed all the pans and utensils heâd used to make the topping, or else the sliced almonds wouldâve given him away entirely.
âNo peeking in the fridge or youâre not getting any,â Apollo warned, waving a spatula in his face.
âAre we talking about dessert, or...something else?â Klavier blinked innocently when Apollo continued to glare. âJa, ja, I hear you.â He then paused. âCan I at least speculate? I have an educated guess.â
âYou have zero patience sometimes,â Apollo complained, knocking his hip against Klavierâs, though with their height difference, it was more like his hip against Klavierâs thigh. âLetâs finish up here so you have nothing to complain about, alright?â
As they puttered around the kitchen together, Apollo had to subtly, but constantly direct Klavier away from the oven before he could see the remnants of a burnt pan still left on one of the stovetop elements; he hadnât had enough time to completely scrub them away, though he had gotten rid of the worst of it. For once, he was grateful Klavier favored heavy scents, which seemed to be masking the smell for him.
âMrrp.â Just as Klavier was drying the last of the plates, he felt something weaving between his ankles. âMreow?â
âHave you changed your mind about me, kĂ€tzchen?â he asked, delighted. Mikeko aggressively smushed his face against Klavierâs calf in response. Apollo watched them both in amazement. âIs that a ja or a nein?â
âMrrh,â Mikeko rumbled.
âOh, this is definitely a trap,â Apollo warned. âHe probably wants something from you, so donât fall for it, Klav.â
âYou talk about him like heâs an unruly witness on the witness stand,â Klavier said, amused. âHeâs just a sweet little kĂ€tzchen, what could he possibly - â Mikeko sneezed, violently.
âThere it is,â Apollo sighed.
Klavier winced at the wet spot Mikeko had left behind on his sweatpants. âAchtung, gesundheit!â He then chuckled, shaking his head as Mikeko wandered off, clearly pretending nothing had happened. Either that, or he was embarrassed, though Apollo suspected it was more the former than the latter. âLike human, like cat, I see; itâs allergy season all around. Is it my cologne, do you think?â
âMight be,â Apollo shrugged, wiping his hands. âOkay, you big baby, are you ready for dessert now?â
âYouâre acting like Iâve talked about nothing else,â Klavier protested, wrapping his arms around Apollo from behind and burying his face against Apolloâs neck. He then began pressing slow, deliberate kisses along the length of Apolloâs throat. His nose was momentarily filled with the scent of Klavierâs aforementioned cologne, the scent of sandalwood instead of burnt sugar. âI would love to have dessert, baby.â His voice dropped to a whisper. âThen we can eat what you made after.â
âWhy am I dating you,â Apollo groaned, lightly shoving him away. Klavier snickered, hopping up onto the kitchen counter. âSheesh, youâre like a cheap Hallmark card and a bad pick-up artist at the same time.â
âIs there such a thing as a good pick-up artist?â Klavier mused, still grinning. âAnyway, Iâm serious. Letâs see what you made for us, liebe.â Apollo felt oddly nervous as he opened his refrigerator and carefully pulled out the covered tray from the top shelf. He set it down on the counter, right beside Klavier, then went to grab plates, forks, and a decent-sized knife. âAh, a knife! Was my prediction correct?â
âCan you let me live for two seconds, please?â Apollo grumbled, softening when Klavier leaned down to kiss him on the cheek. âOkay, okay, careful around the guy with the knife in his hand. I-Iâm gonna take off the cover now.â
They both held their breaths just as Apollo lifted the tray cover, as overly dramatic as it sounded. The sensation was stupidly similar to how they felt during a particularly stressful trial. Klavierâs eyes widened at the sight before him. â...bienenstich?â
âWaitâŠâ Apollo leaned closer. â...what happened?!â
The state of his bienenstich was...questionable, to say the least. To start, the caramelized almond topping, which had hardened nicely in the refrigerator earlier, now looked like it had been through an earthquake, full of little holes and fissures. The thick layer of vanilla cream between the two layers of cake was oozing out the sides, having somehow melted since Apollo put it in the fridge over an hour ago. Finally, most of the bottom layer of cake was soggy and crumbling apart, clearly thanks to the melting cream.
âYou gotta be kidding me!â Apollo exclaimed, setting the knife aside and hurriedly digging his phone out of his pocket. âHere, I took a picture earlier, i-it - it looked perfect, I-I made sure of it - â
âIâm sure it did, Apollo,â Klavier said gently, rubbing his shoulders in sympathy. âLetâs see your picture, then.â
Groaning, Apollo held his phone up to Klavierâs face. âSeriously, look. I took so many photos, I was gonna send âem to your parents and thank them for teaching me the basics...I even made the topping three times âcos I burnt the first two attempts!â
âIs that what that smell was?â Klavier shrunk at Apolloâs venomous expression. âSorry, baby, I just - I didnât want to say anything in case it was, you know, a weird apartment smell.â He then perked up. âBut if you ask me...looks have nothing to do with taste. That goes for both food and people, apropos, though I consider myself blessed that youâre the very best of both.â
âHar, har...also, ew,â Apollo added, wrinkling his nose. âWell, letâs hope youâre right.â With renewed vigor, he picked up the knife once more and carefully cut two modest-sized pieces, transferring them to their respective plates. He passed one plate to Klavier, then, after they exchanged nervous looks, they both took their first tentative bites. â...oh.â
âSee? Itâs just as I said!â Klavier declared, grinning victoriously. âIâm not going to pretend itâs the most perfect bienenstich Iâve ever had, but - itâs good, Apollo. Itâs really, really good. I wouldnât have known it was your first attempt if I hadnât seen it. Even then, itâs hardly a disaster. Just a bit, ah, lopsided.â
Apollo was quiet for another moment or so, letting the taste linger on his tongue. The texture was a bit odd, thanks to the half-melted cream and the soggy cake, but it was just as sweet and satisfying as heâd been hoping it would be. â...huh. So I guess we didnât accidentally swap the salt and sugar like I thought we mightâve done.â
âWe?â Klavier echoed as he took another bite, more generous in size this time.
âYeah, Trucy came over to help me. Guess I forgot to mention that,â Apollo added. âWe havenât had much time to hang out outside of work stuff lately, so...I thought itâd be a fun afternoon thing. Kinda turned into a nightmare instead? Like, the smell of burnt sugar is everywhere for a reason. Donât look inside my oven, please.â
âDonât worry, I wonât,â Klavier laughed, delighted. âI can only imagine what went on before I got here, achtung.â It wasnât long before he was scraping his plate clean; he was still eyeing the rest of the cake hungrily. He turned when Apollo made a mild noise of disgust. âAh - what happened?â
âWhat always happens around here.â Apollo plucked a tiny, but obvious cat hair from the end of his fork. âAt least I didnât eat this one. I think Iâve consumed more cat hairs than Iâve had paying clients.â He then looked at Klavier with raised eyebrows. âYouâre not expecting another piece right now, are you?â
âI like bienenstich, okay?â Klavier said defensively, though he finally got down from the kitchen counter so he could put his fork and plate in the sink, dropping a sticky-sweet kiss on Apolloâs cheek on his way over. âDanke, baby, that was really good. Can I take some back with me, bitte?â
âOf course, babe. Iâm certainly not eating the rest of it by myself,â Apollo snorted, finishing off his own piece. He put his dishes in the sink, taking a moment to rinse off his and Klavierâs plates, then let out a relieved sigh. âWell, at least it tasted good, even if it looked like crap.â
âI know itâs pointless, saying this to you, but - donât worry so much, hm?â Klavier wrapped his arms around Apolloâs midsection; before Apollo knew it, he was being lifted and set down onto the counter, right where Klavier had been. He rolled his eyes good-naturedly, bringing his hands to rest on Klavierâs shoulders, his legs wrapped loosely around Klavierâs waist. âIâm impressed, liebling, I mean it. I know Mamaâs been teaching you how to bake, but for you to do it on your own time for us to enjoy...I should really step up my game here, donât you think?â
âHardly,â Apollo said, dropping his head to Klavierâs shoulder, pressing a kiss to Klavierâs neck. âThanks, Klav. Glad you liked it.â
âBitte schön,â Klavier replied, gently lifting Apolloâs chin so he could kiss him properly. They both tasted like vanilla and honey; Apollo pushed Klavierâs hair out of his face so it wouldn't run the risk of getting sticky. Mere seconds later, they were interrupted by a tiny, impudent meow. Sighing, Klavier reluctantly broke away so he could stare down at the culprit by his feet. âCan I help you, kĂ€tzchen? I thought we were cool...until you used my sweatpants as a tissue, that is. These are Moncler, Iâll have you know.â
âMreow,â Mikeko trilled, tail thrashing violently against Klavierâs leg. Shaking his head in amusement, Apollo got down from the counter so he could pick him up and cradle him, rocking him back and forth like a baby. âMrrp.â
âIâm kinda curious to see if heâll let you pet him,â Apollo said. âYou wanna try?â Klavier lifted a cautious hand, then slowly began petting Mikeko, taking care not to disturb the sleekness of his long, thick fur. Klavier let out a soft laugh when Mikeko began to purr, his eyes closing contentedly as he smushed his face against Klavierâs hand, just like heâd done to his leg earlier. âHey, would you look at that - itâs a not-Christmas miracle!â
âI feel as if Iâve been blessed,â Klavier chuckled, rubbing Mikekoâs ears for good measure. âHave I passed your secret test somehow, kĂ€tzchen? Am I a good partner for your papa?â Mikeko mewled happily.
âI canât believe you didnât even do anything and he already likes you,â Apollo sighed. âMik, I thought you were smarter than this.â
âI canât tell if you want him to like me or not,â Klavier said dryly, dropping a kiss to the top of Mikekoâs forehead. Mikekoâs purr only seemed to intensify. Apollo rolled his eyes; now Klavier was just showing off. âSo now that all of our bienenstich excitement is over, should we put a movie on, maybe try a small bite of that tofu pudding? I have a desperate need to cuddle after the day Iâve had.â
âDay you had?â Apollo echoed, neatly depositing Mikeko back onto his cat tree. âYou said you had a boring meeting and no trials. How bad could it have been?â
âI had to listen to Herr Payne gush about his wife that definitely exists,â Klavier bemoaned, lifting the back of his hand to his forehead as if he were about to faint. Apollo was sure if he rolled his eyes any harder, he would sprain something. âHerr Debeste kept asking to borrow a pencil for some reason. Iâm serious, baby, donât laugh at me, he kept knocking on my door every thirty minutes - â
âThe only baby I see around here is you, baby,â Apollo teased, prodding Klavier in the chest. âBut fine, fine, I hear you. You go sulk on the couch and pick out a movie while you wait. I'm gonna put the bienenstich back in the fridge and send your mom my pre-disaster pictures. Maybe sheâll have some advice for my next attempt.â
Klavier perked up. âNext attempt? You mean youâre going to make it again? Ah, ich liebe dich, mein schatz, mein sĂŒĂer, mein - â
âOh my god,â Apollo groaned, sighing. âMaybe, okay? Maybe. Iâm not making any promises, I donât want my apartment to permanently smell like burnt sugar hell.â Still, Apollo found himself biting back a smile, kissing Klavier briefly before lightly nudging him in the direction of his living room. â...and I love you, too. Dork.â
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a/n: Welcome to my fourth entry for Klapollo Week 2021! Continuity-wise, this is the sixth of seven fics, but again, there is no need to read the others to follow each fic on its own. Mikeko being a jerk who only likes maybe three people at a time is one of my favorite random headcanons! I know I set a lot of my fics in Apollo's apartment (or Klavier's), but one of the main reasons that I do is for Mikeko and Mikeko alone. If you're looking for a Mikeko-centric fic (kind of), if you could read my mind is one of my favorite short-ish fics that I've ever written.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Likes and reblogs would be much appreciated. Hoping youâre all safe and healthy and doing well â€ïž