#also the opening was inspired by my mom who once jumped out of a second-story window onto a trampoline--

[everliving-everblaze]

If i send two emojis do i get two snippets 👀👀

You know what, why not?

(note: the snippets below are cut and not currently planned for any publication.)

---

She tore herself away from him. “You’ve missed me, huh? That’s rich.”

It looked as though her words had hit a little too close to home, but she pressed on. “You haven’t called in weeks, and now you’re telling me you’ve missed me? I’m convinced you only wanted to date me to parade me in front of your friends.” She shivered, the bite of the wind and her words prickling.

Keefe and Biana stood gaping. It was all going according to plan.

---

As you might be able to figure out, the above snippet is from a fake breakup scene. I ended up cutting it because it didn't have the right emotional tone for that point in the fic, but I think it's befitting of the side eye emoji.

---

The coffee shop was cozy and brown, like a grave.

Not that Sophie had any knowledge about being dead. She had come awfully close to dying a few times, but what was she supposed to do when her project partners dared her to jump from the second story window? Refuse?

Anyway, the coffee shop may not have been a grave, but she was ready to make it a crime scene.

---

That's one of my absolute favorite cut openings. Similar to the other snippet, it just didn't have the right emotional tone for the fic (it's a romance, not a murder mystery LOL), but it was fun to write.

(send me an emoji for a deleted snippet of my wip)

[sapphireplums]

𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬.

DESCRIPTION || you have company when you take a shower and you definitely don’t mind who's in there with you

WARNINGS || fluff, mentions of sex

PAIRING || druig x mortal!reader

A/N || HELLO LOVELIES! I am finally done with finals so i will be posting more again hehehe. i hope you all enjoy this fic which is also inspired by post-finals haha, so whoever has finals, i hope this will sooth you when you finish!

THROWING YOUR PENCIL HARSHLY, yet happily, the sounds of the lead breaking softly was something you didn't care about at the moment. You were finally done with finals and nothing felt better in the world.

Besides the warm hugs and cuddles from your boyfriend, but he knew not to bother you especially when you were really focused on your schoolwork. Druig has been working around the village all day as you were finishing up your finals inside your home.

It was a happy and bright sunny day, ironically matching your mood. With finals out of the way and the holidays coming closer than ever, your mind was at peace. Walking outside of your home, you were determined to find your boyfriend, his presence desperately needed, but when you turned around the corner, you were met with the large eyes of one of the children from the village.

"Well hello, Angelica. Why are you out here alone without your mother?" You asked in a motherly tone and she pointed her finger behind her, showing that her mom was working on the crops.

"I see, but you best be getting back to your mother so you wouldn't worry her, yeah?" The sweet child smiled widely with a nod as you pinched her chubby cheeks and she skipped back to her home. You were always so fond of children and you asked Druig if the two of you would ever have kids and he said yes, but in the future.

You searched the village and yet there was no sight of Druig, so you went back inside your home, waiting for him to come back. But it slowly started to get darker by the second and Druig hasn't come back home yet. It was starting to worry you that he wasn't home, especially since he would usually be cuddled up beside you by this time.

But your worry depleted when you remembered Druig was no average being. Being a human and dating an Eternal was definitely something new. You heard stories as children about Loki and Thor and even the Avengers which you considered as role models and the fact that you were dating someone that was nearly 7,000 years older than you, made you question your life choices.

But it was all okay since you were utterly in love with Druig and he was in love with you.

Knowing Druig would probably not be home anytime soon, you decided to take a shower, so when he would get back, you would be fresh and clean for movie night.

You lit the scented candles that were placed on the countertop and pressed play on your playlist from Spotify then started to strip out of your clothes. The temperature became warm almost immediately and you hopped in the shower, the steaming water refreshing your shivering body.

Humming to your favorite song, you lathered the shampoo that was in your hands and massaged it on your head, the vanilla-lavender scent making your nose happier and calm.

But since your music was so loud, you didn't even notice the other person that walked into the bathroom. There's stood, Druig, smirking lightly at the fact that you were completely oblivious of his presence. He started to strip out of his black pants and his blue vest, being completely naked as he walked into the shower.

Once you rinsed out the excess shampoo on your head, you wiped your eyes with your hands and opened them to see Druig standing right in front of you, making you jump in surprise.

"Shit, Druig, you scared the shit out of me."

"I'm sorry, my love. Your music is incessantly loud and you still didn't hear me when I called your name over a thousand times." You laughed slightly before grabbing the body wash and the loofah. But before the loofah could make contact with your body, it was snatched out of your hands when Druig started to scrub your body gently.

You adored Druig for little things like this. Whether it was his sweet kisses or the delicious morning sex the two of you had, Druig never took advantage of you. He worshiped you and was extremely protective of you. He was never angry with you and his patience was extended whenever you were within his presence.

Druig was scrubbing your body gently with the purple loofah in his hands and you couldn't help but laugh when he started to scrub your ticklish spot which he knew exactly where it was.

"Dru, you know I'm ticklish there," you said with a laugh.

"That's exactly the point, darling." You turned around so your bare body was now facing Druig's. His eyes were scanning your figure up and down and you felt your cheeks burning as his sapphire eyes were on your body.

"I can't believe this is all mine," Druig said with a smirk plastered on his face. You rolled your eyes playfully and were about to turn your body to face the showerhead again, but before you could even try anything, strong arms were suddenly wrapped around your waist. Now your flesh was in contact with Druig's and you smiled up at his beautiful dimples.

"How did I get so lucky to find someone like you?" You asked, your eyes completely lost in his.

"I should be asking myself that. Out of my thousands of years of living, you are the best thing that has happened to me," Druig said genuinely. You didn't say anything else as you pressed your lips gently on Druig's. He deepened the kiss by pressing your bodies closer if that was even possible.

Your fingers were weaving through Druig's dark locks and before the kiss could get any more heated, you pulled away, making Druig groan.

"Why do you always do that, love? You know I can't resist you." You slapped his chest playfully and continued to rinse off your body once more.

"Now that I finally finished finals, we can cuddle and watch holiday movies together, okay?" Druig sighed overdramatically, but then placed a kiss on your lips one again before walking out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist.

"All right then, darling. I will be waiting outside on our couch while you do this shower thing alone. Unless you want me in there with you because I will be more than glad to—"

"I'll see you out there, my love." You blew Druig an air kiss before he closed the bathroom door, you shaking your head with a smile.

'How did I get so lucky to find someone like him?' You thought in your mind.

[slimy-vore-bog]

Show of Trust

NS/FW Shoo!

Guess who got a random burst of inspiration and wrote a story in half a day! Me, I did.

(the comic I've mentioned is finished btw, I just need a paper scanner... And there's one at my mom's place, I'd just need to go there to use it)

This is a rewrite of my fic titled "A Consuming Curiosity" which is almost a year old now! It will be a year old the 15th of July.

Don't have a lot to say, but this is a lot better written than the last one!

Context: This is based on a random story from when I was 16 and was a mix of size-shifters and pokémon.

Pokémon will not play a big part in this, but they are still there, because they would be more important for the whole story.

Minor but important changes from original TOH fic: No restrictions on pokémon

Note: I recently found out I'm selectively mute, and it will be briefly described, but not directly.

Also Amity is autistic, and if you argue I Will Bite You /hj

Ao3

Word Count: 3.6k

***

Luz relaxed on a firm bed at the place her and her friends were staying.  They had finally gotten to a proper resting spot after weeks of camping and hiking in the wilderness.

It wasn’t that she didn’t find it fun, she wouldn’t be out there if she didn’t, but carrying camping gear everywhere was exhausting. And as much as she liked the rain, walking in it without waterproof clothes was a terrible experience. She had a raincoat, but it didn’t help much with her shoes or pants.

She yawned lazily and felt slightly unfocused. She reached down to pet her shiny luxio, Sunny, who was relaxing next to the bed. Sunny let out a quick purr, as she enjoyed getting pets and scratches.

Luz smiled wide. “D’aww, you’re so cute!” She squirmed around in her bed to face her, nuzzling her own face into the mane of the pokémon as she hugged her. “The cutest shiny luxio in the whole world!” She kissed the pokémon’s forehead, before she continued to pet her.

There was a hesitant knock on the door a second later. “Hey, Luz… can I come in?”

Luz blushed slightly at the sound of Amity’s voice. “Oh, uh… yes! Yeah, of course!” Luz flinched; that was not a cool way to say that. She swore in her head, before she tried to pull herself together when the door opened. “What’s up?” she tried to ask casually.

Amity’s face reddened slightly, before she looked away from Luz. “Well, I was thinking… Do you want to go on a walk? Just us two?”

Luz took a deep breath to calm herself. Friends could ask each other to go on walks one on one; it didn’t have to mean anything. “Sure, that sounds great!” She got Sunny back in her poké ball, before she hopped out of bed to get ready for the walk.

¨¨

Once they were deeper out in the forest, Amity glanced at Luz unsurely. She was clearly about to say something, but she turned back around without a word.

Luz questioned the look, but didn’t ask about it. As curious as she was, if Amity didn’t want to talk about it, she wouldn’t pry. Her friend’s privacy was more important than her own nosiness. Luz focused on something else. “Sooo…” She didn’t actually know what to say, as she looked for something to talk about. “How is Aster doing?”

Amity’s eevee was a lot like Amity. He used to put on the same tough act Amity did, but now where she was showing her soft side more; so was he.

Amity glanced back with a raised eyebrow. “He’s doing good, why do you ask?”

Luz felt slightly embarrassed. “Well, uh… I think he’s cute, and I wanted to make sure he was doing good!” Maybe that was a bad start. She couldn’t find anything else to talk about, as she instead just messed with her hoodie strings while she did her best to forget her awkward question.

She nearly jumped when Amity addressed her a minute later. “What did you say?”

Amity stood at the edge of the path, gesturing with her head for Luz to follow. It looked like someone had been that way recently. Maybe the day before or that morning. “We’re going this way…” She hesitated another second. “And… I have something important to tell you, but it has to wait until we are farther away from here.”

Luz perked up, almost letting herself ask what, before she realized that would be a dumb thing to say. At least she had stopped herself from saying something stupid for once… She followed Amity closely, as her curiosity grew.

¨¨

Amity seemed to know exactly where they were heading, and Luz was sure it was her who had left the marks of flattened vegetation and snapped twigs. “When did you go looking for this place?”

Amity tensed for a second. “Oh, uh… I went for a walk yesterday, when you were spending time with Willow and Gus.” Her voice quivered slightly, before a shiver ran through her and she began fidgeting with her hands. “Luz… How much do you trust me?”

Luz’s foot rolled on a large root. “Woah-” Amity caught her hand last second. “Thanks…” She smiled sheepishly, glancing at Amity to see if she seemed annoyed or amused. It was thankfully neither, as she only seemed to be worried. “What was the question?”

Amity shook her head, letting go of her hand. “It can wait…”

¨¨

They walked for a bit longer, when they finally arrived at a treeless patch in the forest. “Here it is…” she turned back towards Luz; Amity’s expression seemed almost pleading. “Can I take a few seconds to feel ready?”

Luz nodded firmly. “Of course.” She watched Amity walk out into the field of unkempt grass, before she turned her head up against the sky and took a deep breath.

She mimicked Amity’s behavior without thinking, as she closed her eyes and felt the sun shine down on her face. After a second, she sighed and looked around the clearing. And on a second look; it was pretty beautiful.

Not in a usual sense, but in a natural sense. Nothing about it seemed like it was made by humans for the view. It was overgrown with thistles and the grass looked like it had not even felt steel brush against it… Yet the grass had gained a reddish-brown shade, and the thistles had bloomed with pretty pinkish-purple flowers. And there were specs of color by small flowers growing in between it all.

Luz’s heart felt soft at the sight and her eyes fell on Amity. ‘This place is kind of romantic…’ Her heart thumped at the thought she had. ‘Did Amity take me out here to confess?’ She shook her head to get the thought out as fast as she could. ‘Of course not! That would be too cheesy; Amity would never find this romantic…’

Amity finally spoke up again. “Luz… I don’t want to sound dramatic about this, but it’s really hard to get out.” Luz’s eyes widened with a mix of nerves and hope. “I can’t say it…” Amity’s eyes squeezed shut, as a few tears rolled down her cheeks and Luz rushed over to her.

“Amity, you don’t have to-” she began, but her friend shook her head.

“No, no, I need to, I can’t keep it secret…” She took another deep breath. “I’m a size-shifter.”

Luz took a startled step backwards, but didn’t do anything else. Footage of size-shifters swallowing people whole and alive immediately jumped to the front of her mind and her stomach churned at the thought. Her mouth hung open with unasked questions, as she tried to process what Amity said.

Both of them stared at each other, neither finding the words to ask or explain.

Luz spoke first. “I don’t understand.” The confusion in her voice was clear. “Am I missing something?” If Amity was a size-shifter and she viewed it as a bad thing, she had to be one of the people eaters, didn’t she? Yet Luz couldn’t believe it. “You’re… not going to eat me, right?”

Amity still didn’t say anything, and Luz took another step back as she continued to stare weirdly desperately at her. She mouthed something, but nothing more than a hushed whisper came out.

Luz realized what was wrong. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it!” She knew exactly what was going on with Amity; she had been through that herself many times. “Do you want to sit down?” Amity shook her head the tiniest bit.

Luz waited patiently for Amity to calm down.

After a few minutes, Amity spoke. “Thank you…” She sat down, putting her head in her hands. “I don’t know where to begin…” She looked up at Luz, before realizing she had sat down next to her. “What do you want to know?”

Luz didn’t feel comfortable asking, but she couldn’t think of another question. “Well… The obvious, I guess…” She could at least try to be less blunt with her wording. ‘I could be sitting next to a murderer.’

Amity gave a short nod. “So… I know you’ve seen the reports, but… It’s not what it looks like-” She looked at Luz for a reaction, before continuing. “-I know it’s confusing and it’s hard to explain… I’ll try.” For a few seconds she thought it over. “I guess… it’s hard to put into words.” She looked at Luz. “Imagine… hugging someone you like as tightly as you can.”

Luz shifted uncomfortably. “Where’s this going?”

An intense blush spread across Amity’s face in embarrassment. “For size-shifters… We can swallow people safely, and that’s almost how doing that feels to us.”

It took Luz a few seconds to process, but it was as if something clicked when she did. “So you’re telling me that all this fear and hatred towards size-shifters is pointless?!” She sprung up on her feet and began to pace. “It shouldn’t matter if it’s kind of gross; it doesn’t mean you have to be treated this way!” Being judged for something you couldn’t help… That was a feeling Luz knew all too well. “You’re not even hurting anyone!”

Luz looked at Amity, seeing her shocked expression. For a second she worried she had said the wrong thing, but Amity smiled and got up to hug her tightly.

Luz felt a cold shiver run through her, despite her not wanting to be scared of Amity. If eating someone was like a hug then… Did Amity want to eat her?

Amity took a step back after Luz shivered. “What’s wrong?” She only took a second to figure it out. “Luz, it’s not the same exact feeling, it was a comparison.”

Luz let out a relieved laugh. “Oh thank Arceus! I thought it was for a moment!” She felt a bit nervous. “I don’t judge, but… I can’t really imagine I would like being eaten.” Her eyes fell on Amity’s stomach, and she suppressed the urge to shiver.

Amity seemed a little hesitant. “Uh… Would you let me hold you in my hands?”

Luz smiled awkwardly. “Only if you promise not to eat me,” she joked, though she was a little wary of her.

Amity smiled back. “I promise…” she paused, but didn’t think about whatever was on her mind long.

Luz felt a jolt of adrenaline rush through her, as she stared up at Amity. Luz shook her head to try and make sense of it, but it didn’t help much. Amity lowered her hand down, and Luz climbed up on it.

As they watched each other, Luz suddenly felt her face heating up. There was something about the look in Amity’s eyes that made her blush. She had just been looking at her, but it felt like it was a lot more than just curiosity. It was a soft and admiring look.

She felt Amity’s hand shift carefully, before she gently lifted Luz’s arm with her finger. Luz looked up at Amity, slightly confused, but she didn’t protest. Amity focused on her. “What do you think?”

Luz tried to reach for any good thoughts, but all that came to mind was… “You’re huge.”  Luz grimaced. “I mean- yeah, but uh…” she trailed off. “I like being held... at least by you.”

Amity licked her lips, before she smiled joyfully. “I like holding you too.” Her brow furrowed suddenly.

Luz didn’t take much notice of Amity licking her lips; it didn’t have to mean anything. But she was slightly concerned about her friend. “Something wrong?”

“Not… really?” replied Amity unsurely. It was clearly not the entire truth, but Luz didn’t have to prod. “It’s just… Are you… sure you don’t want to try being eaten?”

Luz got dizzy at the thought of Amity wanting to eat her. “Please don’t do that…”

Amity’s face fell into a sad frown. “I won’t…” She sighed. “I won’t do anything you’re not okay with.” Her expression turned from letdown to sincere. “I promise.”

Luz wasn’t sure what to think. It wasn’t more than the bare minimum of respect, but for some reason her tone made her feel like her feelings weren’t as one-sided. “Hey… Amity?”

“What?”

Luz felt a nervous jolt in her chest. “I…” She had to pause for a moment. “I like you… As more than a friend.”

For a second Luz panicked that Amity was going to be upset when she put her down, but she turned back to her regular height. “Luz! Are you trying to make me want to swallow you?”

Luz sat up straight. “What? How- why would I do that?!”

Amity seemed slightly defeated. “It might not be the same as a hug, but it’s still a form of affection.” She blushed slightly. “Also… I don’t know how to say it, but I like you too.”

An awkward smile stretched across Luz’s face. “Well, I could have gotten that from what you said before…” Her stomach whirled with emotions, as she looked up at Amity. “What… What exactly do we do now? I mean… I haven’t dated before.”

Amity seemed just as unsure. “We’ll… figure it out?”

Both of them stared at each other without any words.

Luz thought about what Amity had asked earlier. Maybe she could… at least look at her mouth. “So… If I just wanted to have a look at your mouth, but not be eaten, would that be okay?”

Amity’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah!” She grew back to her giant height faster than Luz thought she could have.

Luz climbed up on her hand again. “You promise you won’t eat me unless I say you can?”

“Yes, I promise.” Her tone was sure, and it calmed Luz’s worries.

Amity lifted her hand to her face, before she opened her mouth wide.

Luz felt slightly uncomfortable at the sight. “Hold on, I need to take off my belt.” She grabbed the flashlight from it, before she took it off. “I don’t want to risk you swallowing any of these things.” Amity closed her mouth briefly, as she took the toolbelt and put it somewhere she could find it.

“Anything else?” Amity tilted her head slightly, and Luz shook her head in response. “Alright.”

Luz gulped, as she watched Amity open her mouth again.  She turned on her flashlight, before shining it into Amity’s mouth. To her surprise, it didn’t scare her as much as she thought it would.

She leaned a tad into her mouth, touching her tongue gently. It was soft and warm, but obviously also wet and slimy. She tried to move her hand away, but the tongue followed and licked against her arm. She immediately got cold feet. “Never mind, stop!”

Luz felt Amity blow out a sigh, but she listened and lifted her back out. “Want to go back now?”

Luz shook her head. “No… I’m not sure.” She looked at Amity’s lips. “Can you open your mouth again?”

Amity did as Luz asked, bringing her back to it.

Luz leaned in again, but a lot farther than last time. “Don’t eat me.” She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, before she climbed into her mouth. “You… You can close your mouth, but don’t swallow.” Her pulse thundered in her ears, as Amity’s mouth closed around her. ‘Calm down… it’s just Amity…’ Though she didn’t get to tell Amity to spit her out.

Amity let her back out into her hands. “Luz… Please tell me if you want to back down.”

But that wasn’t what she wanted. “I don’t think I want to.” There was… something about it. “I know I can trust you.” She looked at Amity’s throat, before her eyes drifted to her stomach. “So… I’ll let you swallow me.”

Amity didn’t move. “Only if you promise to let me know if it’s too much.”

Luz nodded, but Amity didn’t do anything. “I promise I will.”

Amity lifted her up to her mouth, before she tilted her head and hand to let Luz slide onto her tongue.

Luz squirmed, and Amity paused. “I’m fine!” she reassured her, and she felt the tongue under her moving.

Amity obviously tasted her, as she lapped and pushed against Luz’s body wherever she could find a bit of exposed skin. “Wait… Do I taste good?” She was suddenly pushed towards the front of Amity’s mouth as she hummed. “Oh, now you have to tell me what I taste like later!” She was pretty sure she didn’t taste like anything other than sweat, but Amity clearly had a different experience.

After a few minutes of being rolled around by Amity’s tongue, she was soaked and in a good position to swallow. Amity licked her one more time before she waited for Luz’s decision. “You can swallow.”

Amity didn’t wait another second, as her tongue immediately squished Luz down into her throat and she gulped noisily.

Luz felt a prickle of panic, as the esophagus grabbed tightly onto her and dragged her down slowly. She took a deep breath; there was no reason to panic. And she had a feeling her last chance to back out of this whole thing was when she gave Amity permission.

She felt Amity’s tongue move again, and she resisted the instinct to try to grab onto it, before her tongue shoved her down her throat.

She heard Amity swallow again and some more saliva joined her. She could feel and hear Amity’s heart beat to her left. It was calm enough that her own pulse was slowing down from her panic.

Luz let herself get squeezed down into Amity’s belly with no protests.

Her feet slipped through the opening of the stomach and it only took a second before the rest of her followed.

She listened to Amity’s body working, finding the thumping of her heart and the sound of her breathing sleep-inducing. She couldn’t hold in a yawn.

“Luz?”

Luz perked up slightly. “What?”

Amity breathed out a sigh. “Just wanted to check on you… How does it feel to be in there?”

Luz couldn’t help the blush that spread across her face. “Oh uh… It’s really nice… and relaxing. Could I… maybe take a nap? Just a short one?”

Amity chuckled slightly. “Go ahead.”

Luz closed her eyes, falling asleep in a few minutes.

~

Amity sat still, in awe of what had happened. Luz had told her she liked her, she accepted her being a size-shifter, she was willing to let herself be eaten AND she liked it. Amity was pretty sure it had to be a dream, but the feeling of Luz sleeping in her stomach was too real. She hugged her belly tightly, feeling happier than she had maybe ever felt.

She wished she could keep her even closer, but this was as close as she could get. Luz was completely hidden away from everything, and it was all because of her body. She would keep Luz safe in whatever way she could, and nothing could keep her more hidden than having her inside her belly.

Amity gently shifted to lie down, hoping she wasn’t jostling Luz, as she stared up at the clouds.

She licked her lips, still tasting a hint of sweetness from Luz. She rested her hand over her belly, as she thought of her. The taste was hard to describe as anything other than sugary and sweet, but she liked it. Maybe something like very sweet marshmallows. Amity compared the thought with the taste in her mouth, and it seemed to fit.

‘Marshmallow…’ She tried the thought out as a possible teasing nickname, but it didn’t seem to fit Luz well. It sounded better fit for a chubby person.

She relaxed and watched the sky, until Luz woke up.

¨¨

~

Luz woke up from her short nap, slightly disoriented. She was wet and it was dark… After a minute of thought she remembered where she had fallen asleep. She stretched, not feeling much like coming out of Amity’s stomach. “Hey Amity, how long did I sleep for?”

Amity’s heartbeat sped up slightly. “Oh, uh… Maybe half an hour? Not too long, did you sleep well?”

Luz thought about it. “Kind of? It’s really soft in here, but... I didn’t sleep for long.”

“Do you want me to let you out?”

“Eh…” Luz considered it again. “Not really, but I can’t stay in here forever.”

The stomach constricted around her, as she was quickly forced back out of Amity’s body.

She slid into Amity’s hands, before she felt her tongue drag across her. “Wha- Ugh! AMITY!” she spluttered. “Gross, I was just in your stomach!”

Amity smiled sheepishly. “It wasn’t for the taste, Luz; you’re a lot slimier than before.”

Luz snorted in amusement. “And you decided licking it off was the best way to deal with it?”

Amity rolled her eyes. “If you keep being snarky, I might just eat you again,” she teased.

Luz grinned. “Oh? Is that meant to be a threat? I could use another nap.”

After they finished goofing around, Amity offered her sleeve. “Dry yourself off as much as you can.” She looked a bit unsure. “If anyone asks, just don’t tell them what happened.”

Luz nodded, and did her best at getting the slime off herself and her clothes.

When Luz couldn’t get any drier, Amity gave Luz her toolbelt and turned back to her usual height.

They looked into each other’s eyes, hesitant to speak.

“So… what did I taste like?” Amity snorted out a laugh at the unexpected question. “Extremely sweet marshmallows.”

***

And that's the end! I really hope you enjoyed, reblogs and likes are always appreciated!

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day/night! <3

[tangledstarlight]

...i said i was going to make it and well, here we are i guess. im so sorry for this.

Carlos Molina’s to Guide to Ghost Hood (title subject to change) 

welcome to the 1st edition, maybe i’ll make a 2nd if i get inspired enough but also, this is such a mess already i don’t think the world needs a part 2 dfghg

Link to the power point is in the first reblog. (i’d highly recommend watching it for the full experience dfgh)

Link to ao3 also in the first reblog. 

below the cut is the accompanying fic and description of the rules/guide.

The tape recorder lets out a low buzzing sound as Carlos presses a button on the side and stands it up between them on the dining room table. Julie shoots an amused glance at Reggie who’s taken up residence in the chair next to him, the two of them flipping open notebooks and clutching pencils. 

“Where did you even find a tape recorder?” She wonders, stretching out a finger to touch the silver rectangle only for her hand to be swatted away by Reggie.

“Found it in a box of moms stuff and dad said we could order some tapes from amazon,” Carlos replies matter of factly, straightening up in his chair once he seems to have found the page he was looking for. “Right. Let's start off easy, shall we?” 

He looks at her expectantly and Julie rolls her eyes, waving a hand at the two of them, “Lets.” 

“Question one,” Carlos taps his pencil at the top of his page before squinting at her, “Did you conduct any séance related activities before the ghosts showed up?” 

Julie blinks at him, wondering if he’s joking but the pair of them just look back at her, heads both slightly tilted and it’s at that moment that she realises how serious they’re going to be about this. It was going to be a long afternoon of questioning apparently. 

“No, I didn’t conduct any séance related activities. I just put on their CD and they y’know, fell out of the sky.” 

“Interesting, interesting,” Carlos mutters as he looks at Reggie’s notebook as the older boy writes her answer down, underlines something and taps it with his pencil that makes Carlos let out a small hm. “So you don’t know anything about the dark room? Didn’t make any wishes?” 

“No,” Julie shakes her head, watches Reggie write something else down and tilt his notebook to Carlos. It’s weird, watching them communicate like that, like they’ve created a shorthand between them and don’t even require her presence to have a conversation. Which is obviously true because they’ve clearly discussed all this beforehand. 

“You walked through Luke right? What did that feel like to you?” Reggie’s question catches her off guard and she looks between them, but Carlos is already looking at her, waiting for her answer. 

“It was um cold? But also not. I--” she frowns, trying to think back to that first night in the kitchen when she’d turned around and walked through him. Back when she’s barely known any of them and was more annoyed by their presence then comforted. “It was weird. The first few seconds after I walked through him I just felt cold but then it was like a rush of warmth? You know when you get one of those random shivers that runs through your whole body? It feels all weird and tingly but also kinda nice? Like that.” 

“Did it feel like you got a feel of Luke?” Carlos asks and Julie shrugs, a slight blush on her cheeks and somehow, despite the fact they can’t see each other, the two of them share a look. 

“What’s the next question,” anything to move off the topic of walking through Luke and how it felt. 

//

“Oh Julie is gonna be so pissed at you guys,” Alex mutters but makes no move to step in and stop the ‘experiment’ currently going on. He watches as Reggie tries to put a hand on Carlos’ shoulder, fingers phasing through the younger boy's jacket with a frown. 

“She won't be pissed if it works,” is all Reggie says, face morphing into one of concentration as he slowly lowers his hand on to Carlos’ shoulder again. 

For his part, Carlos bounces slightly on his toes, eyes fixed on the notebook in Alex’s hand in case they need to tell him something. And okay, Alex might not fully agree with the way the two of them are going about this whole thing, but he can’t say he’s not on board with it. Their whole stint as ghosts has been nothing but confusion after confusion that not even Willie has answers for. Does he think Reggie and Carlos are going to uncover some fundamental thing that makes them the way they are? Probably not. Will they maybe get him some kind of answer? God he hopes so. 

Especially since there’s been small moments in the last few weeks where Ray and Carlos have been able to hear them even without them playing music or Julie nearby. Which had scared all of them. Thought it was nothing compared to Ray’s reaction when he’d apparently walked into the kitchen to find Julie and Luke hugging, only for him to vanish when they suddenly let go. It was a hell of a way to find out they could be seen if they were touching her. 

“Oh!” Carlos suddenly exclaims, head whipping to look at his shoulder where Reggie’s hand is resting solidly on the fabric of the jacket. Alex feels his eyes widen a fraction and watches Reggie’s smile widen as he squeezes slightly on Carlos’ shoulder. “Oh my god! I can feel that!” 

“Holy shit,” Alex whispers, grip on the pencil in his fingers growing. 

“Hey! I heard that too! Quick! Write it down! 30 minutes and- and however many attempts it took!” Carlos grins, face turning towards him and Alex doesn’t even have time to feel guilty about swearing before he’s scribbling in Reggie’s notebook.

//

“Thanks again for taking me,” Carlos says as he pulls his seat belt across his chest and clicks it in, eyes drifting from his tia in the front seat to the little notebook resting on the back seat and the pencil that’s hovering just a few inches off the paper. Subtly he sees it tap on the page, once, twice, and he bites down on his grin, tucking his hands under his thighs to stop from bouncing in his seat. They’re ready. 

“Of course mijo,” Victoria smiles over at him as she turns on the engine, fingers already messing with the buttons on the radio to find her favourite station. “I have to say I’m impressed. Planning ahead for your dad's birthday.” 

“Mhm,” he agrees, his eyes on the notebook that he can just see in the rearview mirror. The pencils resting between the creases in the pages and he holds his breath as the radio jumps to a different station. 

Victoria frowns slightly, her eyes darting from the road to the radio and back, hand reaching out to change it back. When it jumps to another station. And another. Carlos feels his eyes widen a little, legs bouncing on top of his hands as he watches the radio cycle through station after station, only lingers for a few seconds on each before moving on. 

Finally it stops, the words of Despacito ringing through the car and it’s lucky they’re at a red light he thinks, because when Victoria tries to change it it jumps right back. 

“What the f-” she starts, the furrow between her brows growing deeper and the knuckles on her hand that’s still gripping the wheel turning white. 

“Can we leave it? I like this song,” he looks over at her with a smile, blinking in what he hopes is a completely innocent way. He’s pretty sure she’s too distracted by the radio to question it. 

“Sure, sure,” she mutters, not even looking at him, eyes going from the road to the radio. 

The song ends and from the corner of his eye he can see the pencil in the back moving, Reggie or Willie writing something down and he has to stop himself from turning around to see what it is. Instead he watches as tia starts changing the radio station again, her fingers never leaving the touch screen as if that was the problem. But the second she lands on her favourite 80’s classics station and is moving her fingers away it changes. Skipping through stations again until Despacito is once again filling the car. 

It’s probably lucky that they’re at another red light and that there’s no one behind them because her eyes widen and she’s suddenly saying words in Spanish that he knows he shouldn’t know and is pulling over to the side of the road. 

“We have to get out! The car is being possessed! Out, out Carlos! Come on!” Her seat belt is off and her door is open before Carlos even has a chance to process what’s happening. The notebook from the back is pushed in front of his face and he tilts his head a little to side to read Reggie’s familiar handwriting, 

Too far? 

“Maybe,” he whispers back, taking the notebook out of the ghost's hand as he starts to get out of the car, plucking the pencil out of the metal spirals and making a note about not pushing tia in a moving vehicle and to wait until after they’ve gone shopping first. 

She’s got her phone pressed to ear when he joins her on the sidewalk, pacing up and down. Carlos is pretty sure there’s going to be a family dinner story time in their near future. 

//

Luke watches as Carlos sets his tape recorder up, idly plucking out a half finished tune on his guitar in order to be seen and heard. He doesn’t really get the other boys interest in figuring out their ghostly state of being. The same way he doesn’t really care about finding answers to all of Alex’s questions. 

They ate some bad street dogs. They died. Julie brought them back and then she saved them a second time. They can play music and sometimes be seen. He already has all the answers he needs and it’s two words: Julie Molina. 

Would it be nice to know what the black room was? Sure. Did he sometimes wonder why they could be seen but other ghosts couldn't? Sometimes. Did he want answers? Only if someone was going to give them to him without having to do the work. Was he going to sit here and answer all of Carlos’ questions because it was important to him and to the others? Fuck yeah he was. 

“Does that think pick up our voices even if we’re not playing and not near Julie?” He nods at the recorder on the table after Carlos hits a button. 

“Yeah! It’s so cool too. You sound like, all static-y and I have to listen really hard sometimes because your voices fade in and out but they’re there!” 

Okay, Luke can admit that is pretty cool, “That’s wicked. Maybe we should start using that to communicate instead of writing.” He was really sick of people commenting on his handwriting. 

“Dude that’s genius! It would be like leaving each other voice notes!” He gestures in the air with his pencil the same way Julie does when she’s realised the issue with a verse and Luke smiles softly. He doesn’t know what voice notes are, but he’s glad he could contribute to the communication issue. 

“What questions have you got for me then little dude?” He raises an eyebrow at Carlos as he flips through his notebook. 

//

When he’d first knocked Alex down Willie never thought it would lead to him sitting in the Molina’s family living room, a whiteboard resting on his knees as a twelve year old shows him bar graphs and pie charts of information on ghosts. 

There was probably some kind of domino-butterfly effect going on that had led him here. But he’s too busy trying to fit all his know ghost knowledge onto a whiteboard so Carlos can fill in the gaps in his knowledge. 

Over the years Willie has met a lot of lifers, has interacted with a handful at the HGC but he’s never met a family like the Molina’s. Who found out ghosts were real and instead of running, or trying to profit off of them, had just...welcomed them into the family. Arms wide and hearts open. 

And more than that, here was Carlos trying to get answers to questions that none of them really had an answer too. 

“Black room, yes or no?” Carlos asks, holding up a flash card and a clothes peg, ready to add it to the line of string stretching across the room. It was already littered with other cards in an order that Willie really didn’t understand but seemed to make perfect sense to the younger boy and Reggie. 

Not for me, or anyone I asked at the club, he scribbles down, turning to the board around. 

“Just like we thought,” he nods to himself, taking two steps to the left and reaching up to attach the card, “An anomaly.” he whispers it to himself and Willie has to bite his lip to stop from smiling before remembering that Carlos can’t actually see him. 

“Hey,” Alex’s voice from the doorway drags his gaze away from the lifer and the smile he’d been trying to stop spreads across his face, “How’s it going?”

“I don’t think we’re even half way through,” he chuckles, gesturing with one hand at the stack of flashcards and the charts he hasn’t even seen yet. “Do you understand this system?” 

The exasperated laugh that leaves Alex’s lips is answer enough before he’s even shaking his head, strands of blonde hair dipping into his eyes and Willie wants to reach to move away, “Not a clue. They’ve tried to explain it to us but it makes zero sense to anyone but them.”  

“Hey, Alex, stop distracting him, we’re working here!” Carlos’ voice makes him jump, head turning back to where he’s standing with his arms crossed and shaking his head in disappointment in the vague direction of where Alex is standing. 

“Wait, can he see you?” Willie frowns, mind trying to remember if he knew this or not. 

“No, he’s just really good at sensing us these days,” Alex sighs, but there’s a fond look in his eyes as he looks at Carlos, “He says it’s his ghost powers kicking in from how often he hangs out with Reggie and from all the failed teleportation experiments.” 

“The failed what now?” 

“Oh, you’ll find out. I think it’s section 7?” Alex grins, pushing off from where he’d been leaning against the doorway and waving.

Willie turns back to Carlos feeling a little more confused than he had minutes ago but also much more intrigued about teleportation experiments. And if he could help get some answers for any of the many questions Alex had, that was cool too.

//

Carlos Molina’s Guide to Ghosting. So you became a ghost, huh?

 (working title, subject to change)

By Carlos Molina, with special thanks to Reggie Peters and Willie Skateboard. 

1st Edition. 

Dedicated to Alex Mercer, so he can stop asking so many questions. We’re working on it buddy.

1. Tangibility 

They can walk through anything (except my sister now, reasons still unclear). 

Works especially well with walls, doors and locked vaults (see exhibit a) 

When they walk through people it “allows them to get a feel for the person” – Reggie Peters. “It’s weird” – Alex Mercer. No comment from Luke Patterson as he was too busy staring at Julie. 

2. Souls

Objects can be attached to their souls. 

Still unclear if it has to be an object that they were close to in life, or if they can attach their souls to any object once a ghost. 

Experiments with Reggie Peters are still ongoing. Updates will follow.

3. Being Seen

Can be seen by “lifers*” when they play music with Julie. 

This is the first rule which only applies to our ghosts. 

They can be heard when they play music without Julie. This is also unclear as to why, working theory is “Our music is just so awesome it transcends deaths!” – Luke Patterson.

Mr Willie Skateboard was quick to point out it’s “weird” and “ghosts aren’t supposed to be seen by lifers.”

4. Touching

Our ghosts can now touch Julie. The biggest change in their afterlife. 

Still no explanation for it. Experiments are ongoing (see exhibit b) 

Have witnessed Julie hugging the air many times only for Alex or Willie to appear. Same with hand holding. (see exhibit c for dads reaction) 

5. Magic

Some ghosts have powers and abilities. 

Willie* can control different types of technology. Appears to work best with cars. This we believe correlates with who a ghost dies. 

In our expedition to test his skills he skipped through 15 different radio stations of Tia’s car until he found one playing despacito. Test was a success. Tia does think her car is haunted now however.

6. ???

There was a dark room. 

All other ghosts interviewed had never heard of it before. 

All our ghosts agreed it was weird and creepy. 

We are choosing to pretend it didn’t happen. 

Working theory: a hole in time that they fell through. Must find a way to test.

7. Teleporting

part 1)

Ghosts can teleport wherever they want in the world. 

Only the most powerful can teleport a lifer with them (will keep attempting)

part b) 

Our ghosts can pinpoint Julie’s exact location wherever she may be in the world. 

Will be helpful if she is ever kidnapped, Julie however wishes they would stop using said power to find her in gym class.

“I already have find my friend activated” – Flynn had to say on the matter. 

part c) 

Julie can summon the boys to her if she concentrates hard enough. Came in handy when an evil magician tried to kidnap them.

Also possibly how they escaped the dark room, no way to prove or deny this as dad won’t let me eat a bad hotdog to become a ghost.

Working theory: magic of music and family 

See Exhibit d 

See Exhibit e  

[markosmate]

lady

Pairing; Marko x Emerson!Reader

Summary; Moving to a different state with your younger brothers and mother just to live with your grandfather was hard enough, but falling in love with a vampire and then watching your brother do the same thing? Much different story.

Warnings; strong language

au://  Welp lovelies I had promised you a Marko series in February that I started writing while I was manic, then after writing a good five/six chapters I fell into a deep dark hole of depression and didn’t write anything but sad, worthless poetry about a boy I’m in love with who doesn’t love me back :) But now it’s May, a spark of inspiration and happiness has suddenly hit me and I’ve come back to this series to finally deliver it to you!! I hope y’all like it cause I literally stress cried over finishing it three different times :,)

I’d also like to point out that any kind of feedback at all is so so appreciated. Most of my inspiration comes from feeding off of people’s reactions to what I write. So if you enjoy it or have any recommendations or comments at all please please don’t be shy to send me an ask or DM or even comment to let me know :( Thank you and enjoy!!

Part 2

I wasn’t exactly mad about moving, there was nothing holding me in Phoenix that I would be particularly sad about leaving behind. The only thing that struck a nerve was that it was dumped out of nowhere on me. Suddenly Mom had divorced Dad, let him keep everything, and made plans with Grandpa for us to move into his place with him. A little prior warning would have been appreciated, but regardless when we were told it didn’t change the fact that everything we knew was changing. Sam wasn’t happy about it at all, leaving his friends, leaving Dad. Michael... well Michael didn’t really have an opinion. In my view, he was just indifferent. He didn’t really care where the hell we were as long as he had a motorcycle, a job, and some hot chicks to swoon over.

But here we were, packed into Mom’s truck and driving through a town that I’d most likely have memorized like the back of my hand in a good few days. As the three in the car argued over which station to keep on, I turned my head and leaned my forehead on the window of the car. I watched the beach as we drove along the road, and admired the waves hitting against the sand.

I was ready to drift off until we got to Grandpa’s house when a short, exited yell left Mom’s lips. “Oh!” She grinned happily as Sam landed on a station familiar to her. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Oh, that’s from my era! Grooving on a Sunday afternoon!” She sung along with the song as Sam threw his head back and groaned in protest. I laughed at her antics, enjoying seeing my Mom acting so carefree and happy. 

“Alright, keep going, keep going.” Mom and Sam agreed with each other at the same time, Mom leaning over to continue skipping through the stations. Finally, the next station was agreed on and my pounding head thanked the universe for the quiet that I hadn’t been able to achieve the entire drive here. “Hey we’re almost there!”

“Ugh,” Sam scrunched his nose up in disgust after taking a deep breath. I leaned forward to wrap my arms around his head-rest and pull my face closer to the open window. The pungent smell hit me, and I recognized it immediately, low tide, but it wasn’t bad - anything to do with the beach was calming to me regardless. “What’s that smell?”

“Ah!” Mom breathed in deeply and turned to share a knowing grin with me, “That’s the ocean air!”

I turned to look at the welcoming sign, taking in the colors and faded lettering. “Smells like someone died.” Sam muttered as Mom tutted at him softly. 

“That’s likely.” I muttered to Michael, nudging his head in the direction of the back of the sign, where in big red spray-painted letters sat the phrase “Murder Capitol of the World.”

“Aw guys, I know the last year hasn’t been easy. But I do think you’re really going to enjoy living in Santa Carla.” Mom tried to remain happy about the situation, but a shared glance with Michael after we both read over the sign revealed there wasn’t much he was excited for.

The rest of the drive only increased my excitement. Hippies galore filled the streets, a large amusement park covered most of the boardwalk, and the rest was filled with small shops and food stands. We stopped for awhile so Mom could give some teenagers rummaging through garbage some money to eat and so Michael could unhinge his bike and ask around for job openings, but before I could even think to step out of the car and get a look around we were already heading into the backroads to get to Grandpa’s house.

Grandpa’s house was farther into the plains than expected, but still only a good fifteen to twenty minute drive away from town. Before Mom could ever fully park the car, I had already jumped out and was looking around the property. Michael pulled his bike up next to Mom’s car, and they all took a good few seconds to look around at all the wood carvings and chimes before turning their vehicles off. I took note of the horses grazing in one of the back fields before walking around the front of the truck and seeing a man laying on his back across the front porch steps.

Sam lead the way towards him before Mom cut in front and marched up the steps to squat beside him. “Dad?” She questioned gently. “Dad?” The three of us leaned closer to get a better look.

“Looks like he’s dead.” Michael remarked.

“Like... really dead.” I quipped in, raising an eyebrow at Mom.

“No, no. He’s just a deep sleeper.” She brushed our comments off.

“If he’s dead can we go back to Phoenix?” Sam remarked, earning a snort from me and a sharp look from Mom. 

Suddenly Grandpa sat up, a cocky smirk apparent on his face. “Playing dead. And from what I hear, doing a damn good job of it.”

Sam rolled his eyes in exasperation before Mom laughed faintly. “Oh, Dad!”

-

That night, Mom decided that it would be good for the four of us to leave the house after a night of unpacking and explore the boardwalk when it’s at its liveliest. I could admit it looked much more enjoyable now that it was dark and a little chilly, the sweaty people that had been occupying it earlier were now less sweaty and more stoned.

Almost as soon as Mom’s car and Michael’s bike were parked, Mom sent us off on our own so she could spend some time staking out a job in one of the family-owned shops. “Do you think she’ll be able to find one?” Sam questioned as the three of us weaved through crowds, trying to find our way to the beach concert. We could certainly hear it, we were just having a bit of trouble actually getting to it.

“One what? A job?” Michael scoffed as if it was hard to believe, still bitter over the fact there was no legal jobs for him to get hired in.

I laughed, elbowing him softly in the side, knowing that this place was exactly his vibe and in time he would most likely come to love living here. Sam was the only one I was actually worried about. “She’ll probably be able to find one. What, with all these missing people, there’s bound to be tons of job openings.”

“You’re telling me. It’s like there’s hundreds of bullet-boards around every corner with dozens of people missing. This place really is the Murder Capital.” Michael remarked as the concert finally came into our line of sight.

“Don’t say that!” Sam pleaded, shoving Michael’s shoulder with his eyebrows knitted tightly.

Michael just held his hand up in surrender and with one last shrug of his shoulders he turned to me. “You checking out the shops? We’ll find you once we get bored.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I agreed, turning sharply on my heel and blindly making my way back into the crowd. The concert was loud, sweaty, and crowded, and it wasn’t even my style of music - the last thing I wanted to do was spend my first night there. I figured it would be much more productive if I were to check out all the shops and stands running up and down the entire area, maybe find some new pieces of jewelry, or even a possible summer job opportunity.

Many places caught my eye, and I made a mental note to check them out the next time I had free money to spend, as it wouldn’t be wise for me to make an impulse-buy when I’m so close to being completely broke. Instead a small stand in the middle of the walkway drew me to it. A piercing stand. One person working on someone already sitting on the chair. There was a large wall selection of different studs, and many different kinds of disinfectants lined along the counter.

I walked closer to the wall, admiring all the different designs they had. I’d absolutely love to get a helix or orbital piercing, but I knew it wasn’t the wisest to spend money doing something like that at a small stand on a boardwalk in Santa Carla of all places. I was suddenly broken out of my thoughts when a voice spoke up directly behind me.

“It’s a scam, you know.” I jumped, hand flying to my chest, and whipping around to look at the owner. A teenage boy, my age, maybe a little older, with long curly blond hair and a grin that could have probably wooed me into his bed by the end of the night had he not literally just scared the shit out of me.

I laughed breathlessly, shaking my head. “What is?”

“The piercings. If you need one done, I could do it for you. But they use the guns instead of a needle which will definitely infect if you’re planning on doing a cartilage one.” He explained with a tilt of his head as he turned and began making his way towards the restaurants. I took that as an invite to follow, jogging to catch up and walking next to him.

“You know a lot about piercings?” I tried to make small talk, not wanting him to get away just yet.

He nodded with a confident smirk. “I did my own, and my friends. Someone had to learn.” I laughed a little at his mock-annoyed tone and shoved my hands into my pockets to appear to be doing something. He suddenly stopped and turned to me, holding out his hand. “Marko, by the way.”

“Ivory.” I accepted his hand and we both shook, hard and firm.

“You’re new.” He nodded as if finally understanding something that had been going on inside his own head. “I would’ve noticed you before if you’d been here all along.”

We dropped each other’s hand and I gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean by that?”

He barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Nothing rude, you’re just too gorgeous to go unnoticed around here.” Before I could reply, another voice cut in from a few yards away.

“Marko! Marko, man, we’re supposed to meet David in ten!” I looked over to see another punk-looking dude calling out to Marko with his hands cupped around his mouth.

I laughed and look back towards the curly blond. “See you around?”

He nodded in confirmation, sending me one last crooked smile before turning to jog over to his other friend. I turned as well, making my way back into the crowd and away from the middle lane stands. I didn’t make it very far before the body of my youngest brother crashed into my side. I glanced down at him in bewilderment as we used each other to steady ourselves.

“Sam? Aren’t you supposed to be with Michael?” I laughed as he looked as though he’d just had the weirdest conversation of his life.

“Well, I was. Then he saw some girl at the concert and wandered after her so I went to check out the comic store.” He explained, shrugging before letting his eyes wander around once more in search of Michael. I rolled my eyes, of course Michael left Sam behind to go chase after some girl. It didn’t take long to find him, he was only a little further down the stretch of restaurants. He was more towards the end, walking out of the crowd near where the last building - a bar - sat in place.

We walked up behind him, and as soon as I was at his side I followed his eyes to a girl who was walking behind a small child, hand on his shoulder, and steering him in a certain direction. She was pretty - with big, curly hair and a beautiful smile that curled her lips up as her eyes grazed over all the lights of the carousel one last time for the night. I followed her line of sight, trying to place why Michael was following her instead of just walking up and introducing himself, but I immediately realized what the problem was.

She hoisted herself up onto the back of a motorcycle, accepting the help of the blond driver. He had a spiked mullet, dressed in all black, and when he realized Michael was staring at his girl, a cocky kind of smirk crossed his face. His friends parked next him all revved their engines to a start, and I tore my eyes from the platinum blond to see the others. I didn’t manage to catch a good look at two of them, because my eyes immediately looked onto those of the punk from earlier who’d started a conversation with me over pierced ears.

He was already looking at me, and when he realized my attention immediately locked onto him, a predatory look filled the black circles of his eyes and his lips formed into a boyish smirk directed exactly at me. He lifted his hand in a short wave, laughing along with the friend who called him away from me earlier as he shoved Marko’s shoulder in a teasing way. I lifted my hand in a small acknowledging wave back, but was knocked out of my small trance by Sam, who began teasing Michael.

“Come on, she stiffed ya!” Sam laughed harmlessly, gently punching Michael’s shoulder and turning to probably go and find Mom. I broke my gaze away from Marko immediately, turning to follow after Sam and not bothering to look back at all as I heard the bikes pull out and speed off down the road.

“Too bad she left with Mr. Mullet, she was pretty.” I tried to break the tension with Michael, I really didn’t want him to be upset over the lose of the girl, he still had all of Santa Carla’s teenage population of girls to meet.

He cracked a smile and nudged his shoulder into mine. “She really was.”

Once we made it home for the night, I separated from both my brothers and made my way into my own room. It was the smallest of all of ours, but that’s the main reason why I had chose it. It was cozy, and cute. I liked the way it came out once I had finished decorating it.

I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to those boys on the motorcycles from earlier that night. Marko seemed nice enough, even if I didn’t know whether or not I was brave enough to try to pursue a friendship with his more than intimidating friends. Just as I came to the conclusion that I should just get over myself and approach them, a sharp sting of anxiety wedged itself into my gut and nauseous filled my stomach and rose up in my throat. No. I didn’t need to become friends with those boys, there was something off, something I didn’t need to meddle in.

If I saw them again, I’d avoid eye contact and conversation completely. I was never able to understand my anxiety, but I always listened to it when it struck me.

[regrettablewritings]

Soulmate AU: The First Drawing You See From Your Soulmate is Tattooed on Your Skin

A detective having a tell would probably be considered inappropriate to most people. Detectives were supposed to read tells, not have them. But then again, Benoit had never been much for keeping up appearances. Besides, what was the harm in rubbing his thumb along his right wrist? It helped him focus; it helped him think.

Or at least, that was what he’d told himself. He wasn’t entirely lying, either, rather the larger whole of it all was more so that when he rubbed that spot on his skin, he felt calm. Composed. He liked to think that that was the feeling his soulmate had intended when they painted that image, whenever they made or would make it. Whatever it was. After all, it had plenty of blue in it.

He was pretty sure it was meant to be a pond or some kind of body of water; that might explain the blues and greens and maybe the bits of white that he could make out. And if he squinted his eyes a little, he could swear there were little flecks of gold. Goldfish, maybe? Honestly, he had no clue. Benoit wasn’t much for complaining or expressing a lack of gratefulness, but he couldn’t help but sometimes feel envious of those whose tattoos covered a larger part of their body. Not a massive amount, but at least just enough to be able to tell precisely what the heck their soulmate’s image was trying to portray. Clearly, the image was larger than what that patch of his skin could afford, and honest to God, he’d spent a good part of his life trying to make out what it was!

(The embarrassment of it all, he would sometimes muse deprecatingly: That the acclaimed “Last of the Gentlemen Sleuths” could solve the most absurd cases in the country, yet had spent most of his natural-born life completely stumped by what might as well have counted as a body part!)

And yet, Benoit could never stay frustrated about it; not when his thumb gently grazed against the image, imagining the smoothness of his skin ebbing into the aquatic swirls of the proposed water. But just for extra precaution, he saw no harm in distracting himself.

That afternoon’s distraction? A quick skim of the local paper, accompanied by a mug of hot tea. He tried not to think of how such a method revealed his age, instead snapping the paper open to a page discussing the local goings-on. It was the usual sort of content: The community theater’s spring production was seeking house crew members, a mom and pop-style restaurant was having an anniversary special . . . It was the same sort of thing Benoit had grown used to expecting.

But what his pale blue eyes landed on next didn’t make the rest pale by comparison -- it downright washed all else from existence: An art show.

Benoit considered himself a well-rounded person, but it was more so in an almost tongue in cheek sort of manner: As a detective, it was his job to be appropriately versed in an assortment of fields. However, a jack of all trades was never truly a master of none. Benoit’s experiences with art theft and forgeries had lent him a hand in only about as much observation as was necessary for the respective occurrences.

But . . . he knew those swirls. He knew that blue, those greens, that white -- he recognized how the gold was patterned! Sure, the cheap ink job of a colored newspaper picture might have dulled the quality ever so slightly but there was no mistake to be made: That painting was his. No . . . It was theirs!

You tried to make calming breaths without making your anxiety obvious. A nervous but otherwise acceptable smile twitched into place, fooling the guests as they wandered about the gallery. Or, at least, you certainly hoped it was fooling them; but it was probably all to be outdone by the fact that you’d been nursing the same champagne flute for the last half-hour.

Is this what “making it” feels like? you wondered. Because if it was . . . you weren’t too fond of it. You felt bad for not relishing this opportunity; the art world was highly competitive, and you were more than blessed to have had the chance to not only display your work in a showroom, but to have said room be dedicated entirely to your pieces. But in that blessing was also a curse: The curse of criticism, of weary eyes, of people both waiting to pounce on you with ribbings of how you lack the magnanimity of the classics or the free thinking of the contemporaries --

Shitshitshitsmile! You did as you were told -- both by your brain, and by your manager earlier when they walked you through how you were to compose yourself through this entire ordeal. Just smile, enunciate when spoken to, and let the potential schmoozing flow and oh god, that Karen-looking lady who definitely owns a house in Martha’s Vineyard for when she wants to get away from her husband for a day totally hated that piece you’d spent months working on, didn’t she?!

The thought made your stomach twist, your already awkward smile along with it. You inhaled sharply. You had to find something to distract yourself with. 

You turned and faced the painting nearest to you. Some might call it vanity, but you were actually quite pleased with this particular piece. That, and its blueness gave you a sense of . . . serenity. You imagined the ripples washing over you and into you, the scent and sound of the painted environment gently caressing your nose and drowning out both the stench of perfume and pretentious chattering . . . And also, apparently, the sound of approaching footsteps.

You hadn’t realized anyone had joined your side until the rumble of a southern baritone carded through the water.

“It’s gorgeous. Isn’t it?”

You hadn’t meant to jump and appear so clumsy.

“Oh, sh -- ” You cut yourself short as you eyed the droplets of spilled, room temperature champagne. If your manager found out that you had cussed around a potential buyer, they would’ve mounted your head on the wall. Thankfully, however, the stranger didn’t appear at all fazed. If anything, the chuckle he responded with sounded genuinely amused.

“Oh, my dear girl, I’m terribly sorry!” he insisted, holding up his left hand. “I didn’t mean to scare you; I can imagine most anyone would be mighty transfixed over a piece like this.”

You gulped as you looked up at your unintentional scarer. His eyes were the same blue as the one that brought you calm just moments earlier, yet they had the almost opposite effect to you now. As you looked into them, you didn’t feel calm; not necessarily: Instead, you felt your heart beginning to ripple the pattern of the painting, your cheeks burning as bright as the gold swirling amongst the little waves. And yet you found yourself transfixed by them, only offered freedom when the older gentleman offered you a hint of a smile. A warm one.

Crap! Uh -- Answer his question! Think of something to say! your mind scrambled.

“Uh . . .” you stammered. The only way to save what atoms of confidence you still had left was to turn your eyes back to the painting. “I -- I should hope so.” Smooth. You tried to remember your calming breaths. You heard the man hum, shifting his position ever so slightly in your peripheral.

“What can you tell me about it?” he asked, revealing just how close to you he truly was. You could feel the warmth of his person and the richness of his voice vibrating into you. Or perhaps it was butterflies? Maybe both? Well, whatever it was, it almost made you stumble over your words. You’d spent the entire evening up to that point rehearsing stories of your inspirations, recounting whatever education you had to people who probably didn’t give a crap.

But this instance was different: Maybe it was foolishness sourced from a sudden and sophomoric attraction, but you almost wanted to believe that perhaps this man genuinely cared. That he was genuinely interested in what you as the actual artist had to say and not you as some painting mannequin made to recite lines over and over.

The excitement of such a possibility broke through your nerves . . . and, unfortunately, right out of your mouth.

“I just really wanted to paint a mermaid in a mall coin fountain,” you admitted. You wanted to kick yourself. Up until that point, you’d been rather proud of your nifty little idea. But when you said it out loud, you sounded ridiculous! You could barely hide the reactionary wince, much less how your breathing hitched and hiccuped with nervousness. Just as soon as it had come, the hope that perhaps this man was different disappeared, leaving you awaiting his ridicule.

A ridicule that never came. Instead, there was quiet between the both of you. Perhaps he was at a loss for words?

“Mm,” he hummed, making you tense with expectation. You glanced at him just enough to see him nod, his blue eyes still focused on the canvas before him. “Go on . . .”

You blinked. Was he . . . for real?

“I . . . What more is there to say?” you wondered. The entire night, nobody had really asked for more on your part. They usually just took whatever purple prose you gave them and left it at that. Your initial assumption was right after all: This gentleman was cut from a different cloth from the lot.

He pursed his lips and shrugged. “What inspired this?”

“Oh, uh . . . Well . . .” Was it worth telling him? Aw, hell: you’d already made a bit of a fool of yourself being honest, so what harm was there in doing it some more? “I did it because I never saw anything about a mermaid that lived in a mall fountain, collecting the coins people toss in there.”

You didn’t even have a chance to worry about his criticism before the man’s features broke into a smile. It wasn’t like the others’ more courteous grins; this one reached his eyes, making their icy coolness warm and welcoming. You hated the cheesiness of it all, but for a very split second you wished that you could be a mermaid in them.

He chuckled once again. “Can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything concerning a coin-hoarding mermaid myself, let alone a professional art piece.” It was small, but the assurance made you offer your own smile.

“Well . . . But then maybe I have . . .” At that, your heart dropped. There it was: The anticipated criticism. He thought you were a hack after all: Uninspired, boorish, unskilled, whatever word there was to describe a person who didn’t know how to use a fan brush properly if any.

The wound stung as one so sudden should: Heavily and down to your core. You wanted the floor to open up and eat you whole. Or better yet: You wanted to climb into your apparently uninspired painting and drown in the mall fountain. But none of those could be an option, and neither was the possibility of hiding in the bathroom or an empty corridor. Instead, you had to put on a brave face and do your best to get through the moment.

“Oh?” you uttered. Your throat pained from the threat of anxiety. “Where do you suppose? I’ll admit, I’m not much into contemporary art so I don’t know the what’s what of what if you catch my drift.” You tried to weakly smile at your sad attempt for a joke. God, this so wasn’t what “making it” felt like.

But the man didn’t offer a courteous hint of laughter. Nor did he offer you a verbal response. Instead, he turned to face you. You did the same, even though you really didn’t want to. But it was the polite and expected thing to do when being confronted. Damn politeness and courteousness.

You weren’t sure how to respond when the man began to make work of his right sleeve, unbuttoning the cuff and beginning to roll the rest of it up. Your paranoia was unfortunately the first to respond due to your preexisting discomfort of the entire ordeal of an evening. You were just about prepared to scream, yelp, make any kind of distressed call -- only for it to trickle out into a gasp. An amazed exhale. The image the man presented to you on his wrist was small. Clearly, for it to be recognized for what it was, it needed a larger stretch of skin to belong to. But you knew what it was: You knew those swirls, the placements of those flecks of gold, those blues and greens surrounded by white.

For the umpteenth time that evening, your breathing changed. Only, you were pretty positive that none of your deep breathing would be necessary this time around; you would be more than happy to look at your painting on your soulmate’s skin for the rest of the night.

Epilogue:

“Mr. Blanc, please,” you insisted. “You’ve grown up with that thing on your arm, surely you’re bored with it by now. You can have your pick of the gallery. Hell, I’ll even make you something on request!”

Pickings hadn’t become slim, but the night had ended surprisingly successful. Well, surprising to you: You hadn’t expected anyone to buy anything of yours that evening, let alone six. You supposed that perhaps they just wanted to participate in the elitism brought on by owning newcomer art. Benoit, however, insisted that the buyers simply had functioning eyes. What a sweet-talker your soulmate was.

You watched as he shook his head stubbornly, eyes still fixated on the painting that adorned his wrist. He’d seen all the other remaining paintings, and even the ones that wound up selling by evening’s end. They were all gorgeous, he insisted, but . . .

“Benoit, if you will, Ms. (Y/N),” he corrected, apparently missing the irony. He gestured insistently at the composition. “And no. I . . . I truly would be quite satisfied with this one.” He heard you raspberry in defeat as you made your way back to his side, folding your arms in exasperation. 

“Seriously, though,” you sighed. “Is a painting of a mermaid dwelling in, like, a fountain you can find nearby an Auntie Anne’s really . . .” You waved a hand as if searching for the right word. “. . . Befitting? Of a detective’s abode? I was thinking more of a bucolic piece or like a portrait of some kind or . . .” You trailed off, only to be met with an amused huff.

“Some detective I am,” Benoit muttered. He broke his gaze back to you and placed his hands on his hips. “Took me well over a damn decade or two to learn what it even was. And only because you told me!”

[kiirokero]

Outro: Love Is Not Over (2)

Pairing: Daycare Teacher! Hoseok x Single Mom! Reader.

Genre: Single Parent! AU, Teacher! AU, Hybrid! AU, Fluff, Angst, Adorable Kids,

Warnings: Nothing, just very cute moments between mom and son.

Word Count: 1.6k

Note: Heyo, if you want to be added to this story's tag list, you can reply to this post or message me!

Summary: Years after a relationship goes south. You are the single mother of a beautiful 6-year-old golden retriever hybrid who you named Yunho. He is the light of your life. Yunho is everything to you, and you’d do anything for him. But you’re a human. Yunho doesn’t care, he will tell you he doesn’t. “You’re still my Eomma. No matter what.” He says. But you can’t help but feel like you will never be enough for him. You can’t be the mother he deserves. You can’t show him the ropes of being a hybrid, and you can’t teach him things the other moms can. But you try. You try your damn hardest. So, when a handsome German Shepard hybrid comes into your life, helping you and guiding Yunho in a way you can’t, you can’t help the cozy home he sets up in your heart.

Chapter Guide:

Previous / Next 

Tag List: @kurochan3​ @mrcleanheichou​

      “Yunho! Are you dressed?” I called up the stairs. “Yes! I’m coming!” Yunho called back in an excited voice. It was a wonder how he could be so awake and peppy at 6am. Maybe it was his hybrid genes... Golden retrievers are notorious for being cheerful dogs. 

      I heard Yunho’s rapid steps, and he quickly came skipping into the kitchen, immediately hugging my leg. I set down the butter knife I was using to make his lunch and gave him a full hug, kissing his forehead. 

      “Are you excited for your first day of school?” I asked, picking off some lint that was on his shirt. “Yes! I get to make new friends!” He exclaimed, hopping up and down. It made me chuckle. Even if I was exhausted, he was like a dose of happiness medicine. “I’m glad.” I smiled. 

      I got Yunho his breakfast and finished preparing his lunch. I did a check over all of his things to make sure he had everything he needed. I checked off every box in my head. Pencil case... Notebook... Water bottle... “Eomma!” Yunho called out for me. I walked over to the dining room and saw him sitting in his chair, still eating his breakfast. “What’s up bub?” I asked. “Can you sit with me? Please?” 

     I nodded, walking over and sitting in my seat. Yunho smiled and went back to eating. We sat in comfortable silence while I pet his head. I just admired him for a minute. I don’t know what God blessed me with such a son, but whoever it was, I’m indebted to you for life. 

     Yunho was a calm baby. In the way of, he wasn’t a screamer. I remember Hyejin telling me horror stories about Hajun screaming in the middle of the night, startling both her and Yoongi awake. They worried me when I had Yunho, but he never screamed, maybe once or twice, but he normally kept his volume to a reasonable decibel level. 

     Yes, Yunho was enthusiastic, but he never raised his voice enough to where it was anything but childlike excitement. As a baby, he’d just cry, but he’d cry softly. There wasn’t a right way to describe it. If I was in the kitchen and he was sitting on a blanket in the living room, I would hear him cry, but it wasn’t ear piercing. Maybe it was due to the small house that I could easily hear him... He was just a calm baby. 

     When he was around 3 and 4, he started being very emotive and enthusiastic. At first he’d do it all the time, even when he was supposed to be extra quiet. But after teaching him that there's a time and a place to be expressive, he caught on pretty quickly. 

    That didn’t mean we didn’t have problems though. More than once he’d draw on the walls or walk through the house with his shoes on. Sometimes he was in a foul mood and would throw a fit, but that was rare. There was a time he refused to clean his room, and it hurt my soul to put my foot down, but I was still his mother. 

Point being, Yunho was the sun. A sun that deserved the universe. 

      “Alright bub, are you ready?” I held Yunho’s hand as he stood wide-eyed in front of the school building. Yunho had only been to a small daycare that was also a kindergarten, so this is all new to him. I slowly started walking forward with Yunho walking behind me. It was cute, but I knew he couldn’t hide from school forever. I don’t want to go to jail. 

      The building was dazzling and straight out of a fairytale. Artwork lined the halls and the walls were painted with dragons and princesses, the occasional mermaid here and there. All in all, a very welcoming place. I could see Yunho’s eyes light up as he looked at the walls, and he was slowly walking next to me again. 

    We stopped in front of a room labeled, “Mrs. Hopkin’s First Grade Kingdom!” It made me chuckle. The building seemed to have a theme going on here. We walked in, hand in hand, and if I thought the hallways jumped out of a fairytale, this room jumped out of a Disney movie. 

     It was set up like the ordinary first-grade classroom, but the one wall had a whole mural. There were fairytale decorations hanging from the ceiling. The floor tiles were white with dots of rainbow colors, and they set the desks up in clusters inspired by different fairytale creatures. As in, one table cluster was mermaid-inspired, decorated with scales and a seashell rug underneath. One was dragon-inspired with flame details and a dragon stuffed animal in the middle of the table. A green rug was also underneath the table.

     It made you wonder for a second if you stopped at the wrong school because this seemed expensive and you definitely didn’t have the money to send Yunho to a rich kid's school. Being a writer paid well, but not THAT well. 

     Soon, an old woman walked up to us. She was wearing a floral, floor-length skirt and a white button up. “Hello! I’m Mrs. Hopkin. Welcome!” She smiled, and it was the classic grandmother smile. “Hello! I’m Y/n and this is Yunho.” Yunho waved, still holding my hand. “Lovely to meet you, we’re just about to start!” Mrs. Hopkin exclaimed, so I let Yunho go and ushered him to go play while I went to stand with the rest of the moms and dads. 

     This was a primarily hybrid school since Yunho and I lived in a predominately hybrid community. Meaning, most the parents were also hybrids, but I didn’t care. I hung around hybrids for 2/3rds of my life. Funnily, hanging out with another human would be odd for me. However, that didn’t stop the occasional side glances and looks I would get. 

     I was used to it at this point because I stuck out like a neon sign. It happened everywhere I went. We lived in a pretty sizeable community, meaning I didn’t have to go out of town a lot. At first, it made me insecure, but Hyejin and Yoongi snapped me out of it and told me they weren’t judging me; they were just surprised. I remember Yoongi’s wise words... “Look, dumbo, what the hell are they gonna judge you for? Living? Breathing? I already do that, so no need to worry.”

He got a pretty good punch from Hyejin for that one. 

     Mrs. Hopkin clapped her hands, calling everyone's attention to the front of the class. “Hello everyone! Welcome to first grade!” She exclaimed enthusiastically, “We’ll be going over the rules and then we will say goodbye to our mommies and daddies.” And just like that, she started explaining the basics. It made me think she rehearsed this in a mirror last night. She flowed as if she was running on muscle memory. Or maybe she's been teaching for way too long. 

      It was fairly simple. Keep your hands to yourself, listen to whoever is speaking, raise your hand, yadda yadda... I’ve been to first grade before. After Mrs. Hopkins finished speaking to the parents about expectations and what happens if one of our kids is bad, she let us all say our goodbyes. Yunho ran and jumped on me, burying his face into my chest. 

      He was scenting me, showing me he was nervous. “You’ll be okay, bub. I’ll be here to pick you up before you know it.” I pet his head and his tail started wagging. “I don’t want Eomma to go...” He whined. I swore that my heart exploded. “But you were so excited this morning?” I chuckled. “I take it back.” He grumbled. I cooed and softly put him down, unraveling the scarf I had around my neck. 

      “Here you go. Just for today, okay? You’re a big boy now, Yunnie.” I smiled at his big puppy eyes. Yunho held to scarf to his nose, and I gave him a kiss on the forehead. “I love you, baby.” I whispered. “I love you too, Eomma.” 

      Stepping out of the school, away from my son, was eye opening. Yunho was growing right before my eyes, and before I know it, he’ll be walking out of this school grown. Ready to tackIe the next level of school. It makes me tear up a bit and I feel like a mother in a slice of life film. I chuckle, shaking my head as I get into my car. 

      Just as I’m about to start it up, my phone rings. Hyejin. “Hey, what’s up?” I ask, deciding that I’d drive after this call. “Y/n! Thank god you answered!” She sighed in relief. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” She hums and I can hear ruckus in the background. “Yes... No...? I’m in a predicament.”

     “What?” I chuckle nervously, unsure if I should be worried. “So... Um... I forgot today was the boy’s first day of school, so Hajun is not there...” She cautions. “Okay? He can go tomorrow.” I reason. “He’s with me... And I can’t watch him, I have to go to work.” If I was in The Office, this would be the moment where I would look directly into the camera with a blank stare. 

“Hyejin-”

“I know! You can scold me later... Can you come pick him up? Please~” She begged.

“Yeah, I can... I’m at the school right now.” I grumbled.

“Great! Meet me at the daycare so you don’t have to drive as much. I love you!” 

I sighed, shaking my head. She’s going to be the death of me. 

[outofsstyles]

WILDEST DREAMS

a/n: soo I’ve been working on this for a little while now and I’m very excited to share it with you al!! This piece is inspired by Taylor Swift’s music video for her song Wildest Dreams. If you’ve never seen the video, or don’t remember it really well, I recommend you watch it *after* reading the story so you don’t get it spoiled! If you’re interested then you can watch it by clicking *right here!!*

Word count:  17.2k                     Rated: M, mature           

You agree to help your friend on her film project and Harry is playing your love interest.

“You’ve been frowning a lot and haven’t said a single word in the past five minutes, what’s wrong?” You looked up to your quiet roommate sitting opposite to where you stood near the kitchen counter. 

A playlist you both had made months ago, meant only for cooking days, as Nia had instructed, played faintly in the background. You hummed along to the melody of a song you didn’t really know the name of, but had listened to it enough to mumble the lyrics, as you focused on cutting banana slices.

Nia was the one who brought up trying out a new fruit smoothie recipe she had found while scrolling around on Pinterest. She was pretty excited after coming home with the groceries, ready to start the process. Which is why seeing her sitting quietly as she glared at her phone was a big sign that something was wrong.

“I think Jordan is about to pull out on us,” she groaned loudly, locking her phone and throwing it on the counter, running her hands on her face, “I can’t believe this is happening a week before filming starts.”

“Oh, that’s not good news” you said, looking back at your friend’s defeated state in front of you as you threw the banana slices into the blender. “What happened?”

“He said he decided to go with his cousin to Ibiza.” Her arms muffled her voice as she lied on top of them, sighing once again, “this is the third one that leaves, I might as well just cancel the entire thing and fail this class.”

You rolled your eyes lightly at her, shaking your head as you listened to her dramatic reactions. Being her friend for as long as you have, you knew how stressed Nia got with a project, specially something she was passionate about. She was always too hard on herself, trying to push everything to be as perfect as possible, which is a good thing when you focused on the ultimate results. But she often tended to over-stress herself, and that’s what makes you worry.

With this one in particular, you could tell how excited she was from the day her teacher assigned it. She came back home and rambled for hours on end about making her first film. Which is why when she begged you to be part of it, and you couldn’t find it in your heart to say no. 

It was a small production after all, it just being Nia and her partner Evan, whom you have known had gotten close to her in the past months. She assured it would a rather simple concept, with only two characters. The trickiest part being the fact that they would film it out of town, in a camp house that belonged to Nia’s aunt. You had agreed to it to make her happy, and with her promise of buying you chocolate muffins. Most uni students, however, didn’t seem as keen to sacrifice a week of their spring break as you were.

“You’re being dramatic Nia,” you reassured, turning on the blender and cringing at the loud noise that took over the place. “Maybe they just read on the script that they would have to kiss me a couple of times and got too nervous about it,” you tried to humor, raising your voice a bit before turning the processor off. Nia looked back at you with a serious expression, making you scoff, “calm down, grumpy pants, I’m sure Evan knows someone who can do the role, stop worrying.”

“All I do is worry, you know that,” she sighed, standing up to walk towards the cabinets behind you. She selected two matching cups that she had gotten for your birthday, one had Elsa printed on it, and the other Anna. You smiled as she placed them on the counter, knowing you always thought matching friendship objects were silly, but Nia loved it, so you loved it too. She looked vaguely at the blender, letting her shoulder weight down.   “At least we have a banana smoothie.”

“And something else!” You said, jumping on your feet to get to the fridge and retrieved a tupperware. You held it in her direction and smiled, “leftover spaghetti from Joe’s!” you exclaimed, attempting to brighten her mood. She looked back at you, grabbing the container from your hands, as she tried to fight back a smile.

“Yes,  how could I forget the leftover spaghetti?”

**

As the days passed by, the both of you had gotten more stressed out. Nia was still worried about everything related to her film project. With the days passing by and no one to fill the other role on the script, she found herself on a daily cycle of stress breakdowns. 

Just two days after your former cast partner dropped out on the project to spend his week on the busy beaches of Ibiza, she had bought three different boxes of hair dyes. And as you helped her turn her hair into a light shade of pink, she cried about how everything seemed to go wrong in her life.

Meanwhile, you had been struggling to fight your procrastination tendencies and try to finish as much work as possible before spring break. A task that was showing itself to be extremely difficult, considering your mind seemed more focused on binge watching true crime shows on YouTube. 

The blank document stared back at you from your computer screen, as you wished that if you looked at it for long enough, the essay would somehow write itself. Writing a couple of words but soon deleting them and going back to an empty page, you signed. Why was it so difficult to introduce a topic? You took a sip of the hot drink on the sparkly Cinderella mug you had chosen for the day, another one of Nia’s Disney-related possessions. 

You frowned at the blank document, your failure to write a single paragraph still open in front of you. You heard a light knock on your bedroom door, but before you could even say anything, you spotted the already fading pink hair coming into the room. 

Nia walked in jumping excitedly, saying your name in little squeals and almost tripping down as she made her way to sit on your bed in front of you. Breathing out, she looked at you with a big smile and messy hair before blurting out.

“We’ve got you a husband!” you stared back at her, arching your eyebrows. You knew she was referring to the role on the film, but you still laughed off at her choice of phrasing. “Evan got someone, it’s like his old friend or something, said he trusts him not to drop out.”

“Well, fourth time’s a charm, I guess?” you smiled at her. 

“We’re planning a pizza night this Friday, so we can, you know, set the details and all that.” She properly lied down next to you, playing with the strings on the hem of your pajama shorts. “Also so you two can meet each other, of course, you’re going to be married for a week after all.”

“The way you say it seems like we’re actually doing it,”  You laughed, finally closing your computer, and moving down to face her. “We’re just playing characters, Nia.”

“I know, I know… You’re really no fun, aren’t you?” She moved her arm up to support her head and poked you with her free hand as you rolled your eyes at her. “Also, he seems pretty cute, Evan showed me his picture, maybe you two can hit off.”

“I’m sure he is,” you tried not to fall for her attempt on teasing you over someone you don’t even know. Sure, you’ll be playing love interests, but you’ve done this plenty of times before, back on your theatre days. Kissing someone on stage doesn’t mean you have feelings for them in real life, and you knew that pretty well. You sighed, looking down at her, not wanting to engage into this kind of topic.

“Anyway, should we celebrate your new cast member and my inability to write a single sentence about art history?” you changed the subject, trying to distract yourself from your own thoughts. “We could watch Devil Wears Prada and make caramel popcorn.”

Nia gasped dramatically, “these are the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard coming from those pretty lips of yours,”  jumping to her feet as she pulled you to stand with her. She then ran out of the room, screaming back, “I’ll get the blankets and you start with the popcorn!”

It’s been years since you’ve known Nia, but yet the dynamic between the two of you has never really changed. You’ve always considered yourself very lucky for having a friend like her in your life. From the day you met her in your English class, it was like seeing someone you had already known your entire life; it was always that easy to be with her. 

You two became inseparable from day one.

Looking back, it’s crazy for you to realize how well your high school plans with each other had turned out. Most people you know had those friends in school they only really talked to because they saw them five times a week. But as soon as graduation came by they parted their ways and became only good nostalgic memories for one another. With the two of you, everything just worked out. 

You both got into the university you wanted, ready to get matching art degrees. On your second year of college, you moved in together. And halfway through the course, Nia just dropped out to enroll on an eighteen months film school. And that’s when she met Nate. 

You always knew she was destined to be that kind of person who just has one great love in her life. Which was funny considering that anyone who spent over five minutes with her and Nate in the same room could swear they would never work together. They just were those kinds of couples who are the polar opposite of each other. 

Nia was a little social butterfly, who could start a conversation with anyone about anything. She could talk for hours with the old ladies at the grocery store about how the new brands of beans are just not as good as the ones not as well known. Or chat with the yoga moms about a new reality show that had premiered on Netflix. She loved experimenting on new things, trying out new recipes or mix distinct colors together on her clothes.

Nate, on the other hand, just wasn’t much of a talker at all. Since the start of their relationship, he often stops by at your apartment -wearing a different shade of grey every time - but it would be a lot to say that you two have had a conversation for longer than five minutes. He just mostly kept it to himself. 

They balanced each other, which is why they worked so well.

It would be a lie for you to say you didn’t think about having something like that for you. You thought maybe you just weren’t the kind of person to have one meaningful relationship in your life. And that was okay. You’d like to think you’re better off on your own, anyway. But now and then you wondered how it would be to fall asleep in someone’s arms every day.

But you tried your best to keep those thoughts locked away in the back of your head. You knew that for the most part love is not really meant to last, Nia was just part of the lucky few.

**

The atmosphere in your shared apartment was cozy, as you waited for Evan and his friend to arrive before you started the pizza hangout, as Nia called it. 

You both had spent the day tidying up the place, trying to decorate it a bit with some fairy lights and nice pillows you found in your room. It had been a long time since you had done any kind of social gathering in your home, and Nia wanted everything to be perfect. She even insisted on making the pizzas herself, which took most part of the afternoon, and a lot of bossing around on her part. 

By the time the food was in the oven and the only thing left to do was wait, her boyfriend joined the two of you. 

She was very talkative and bubbly, as she usually is, getting the wine bottles she selected for the evening and placing them on the counter as she chatted with him. It was nice seeing her back do being her usual self after such a stressful week. 

You got the right amount of glasses, placing them next to the bottles, as you hummed along to the Declan Mckenna’s voice playing in the background. You weren’t really paying attention to Nia’s babbles, catching a word or two as she rambled about some dolphin documentary she had to watch for one of her classes. Pouring out a glass for yourself, you looked over to Nate who had a puzzled look on his face, as he tried to make sense of whatever rant his girlfriend had going on. You took a sip of your wine, and laughed lightly at yourself at the contrast between the two of them, something you had always found very amusing to observe. But before you could go further into your thoughts, the sound of the buzzer took over the small apartment.

“They’re here!” Nia gushed, as she quickly made her way out of the kitchen to get the front door, yelling back at you to get the pizzas out of the oven.

“Yes, ma’am,” you teased after she left, earning a light chuckle from Nate. 

Making your way around the kitchen, you took out kitchen gloves that had figures of little chicks printed on them, giving one last check inside the oven to make sure everything was ready, before opening it and taking out the food. You could hear Nia greeting Evan excitedly in the background, as she rushed him and his friend to come inside. As their voices got closer, you turned your back to the entrance, concentrating on not burning yourself while you placed both pizzas on top of the counter.

“There’s our star!” You heard Evan’s loud voice taking over the kitchen space, making you look over your shoulder and laugh at him. 

You turned around while taking off the gloves, as he pulled you into a tight hug, the strong scent of his cologne invading your nostrils. He wasn’t much taller than you, making him being considered short for a man. But his presence in a room was always so loud and bright that he seem much bigger than he actually is. You pulled back and looked at him, suddenly feeling underdressed in your own home. His entire outfit was bright red, being consisted of a jean jacket and silk pants, his eyes matching with vibrant eyeshadow taking over his whole eyelids.

“It’s very nice to see you again Evan,”  you smiled at him, his hands still holding onto your shoulders as he looked warmly at you. “It’s been too long! You look fabulous!”

“Oh honey, you flatter me too much! It’s why I love coming here,” he scoffed playfully, coming to your side and wrapping one arm over your shoulder as he guided you. “But tonight is not about me, unfortunately. It’s about the two of you.”

As you finally moved your attention to the kitchen entrance, you realized another presence standing there. A man, who you assumed was Evan’s friend, already smirking down at you as both of you approached him. 

You suddenly felt nervous under his stare while you could hear Evan commenting on something you didn’t really pay attention to. You had been taken completely by surprise by the man standing in front of you. Sure, Nia had mentioned to you once or twice that he was good looking, but you were not expecting this. 

It was a weird feeling, being this affected by someone you had just met, but you would have to be blind not to notice. His face was beautiful, a sharp jawline contrasting his soft skin, his fingers poked at his bottom lip as he smirked, you could notice the hint of a dimple forming on his cheek. His hair was short, but still long enough to see the shape of slight curls forming in it, some locks falling charmingly against his forehead. But what hit you the most were his eyes, thanks to the dim lighting you couldn’t really tell if they were a shade of forest green or more of a hazel tone, but you could feel your cheeks warming up from the way he watched you as you got closer.

His shoulders were broad, as he was leaning against the entrance, the hand that wasn’t poking at his lip resting inside the pocket of his brown pair of trousers. He wore a blank white shirt, partly tucked in, underneath a beige cardigan. The sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows, making you notice the tattoos hugging the skin of his arms. You felt a curious wish to know how many more you could find under all the layers of clothing..

As you and Evan got closer, he moved from his leaning position to stand tall in front of you. The smile never leaving his lips, and his eyes still watching you closely.

“So, darling, meet Harry,” Evan spoke up, gesturing you towards his friend. “He’s a pest, but I’m sure you’ll get along just fine”

“Way to give a first impression, E,” Harry rolled his eyes at his friend’s teasing, before turning his attention back to you. He moved closer, embracing you into a side hug “S lovely to meet you-”

You quickly cleared your throat, afraid that your voice would give you away, before saying your name. The attempt didn’t really seem to work, as your words came out higher than you had intended. You could feel Nia’s gaze turning to you on the corner of your eye, but tried your best to ignore it. He repeated it, before shooting a smile in your direction, the sound of his deep voice and the way his lips circled around the words making the hairs behind your neck rise.

“Okay! So how about we move this party to the living room?” Nia’s voice broke into the atmosphere. “Everyone can get their wine glasses and make themselves comfortable while y/n and I finish arranging the pizzas.”

She shot you a knowing look, before moving to get the wine bottles and handing them to Nate. Everyone shifted to get their glasses and settle in the other room, leaving you and Nia alone. 

You moved to get the knives and looked at the pizzas standing on the counter in front of you, calculating how you could cut out even slices on each. You could see your friend from the corner of your eye leaning on the counter staring directly at you.

“You know you can’t fool me even for a second, miss,” she teased, you could hear the smirk on her voice.

“I’m not doing anything,” you murmured, still not looking in her direction. She scoffed, elbowing you lightly as she mimicked you, saying your name in a high-pitched voice. You shot her a dirty look before shushing her, afraid the guest in the other room could hear her teasing. “I didn’t sound like that!”

“Oh please! You should have seen how you looked at him!” She rolled her eyes at you, “thought you were gonna drop down on your knees right then and there!”

“Nia!” you screamed in a whisper, your cheeks warming up at her words as you pinched her, making her squeal. You quickly shot a look at the entrance to see if anyone might’ve heard her, but they seemed to be enrolled in their own conversation. “Let’s just get this done quickly before they suspect we’re in here for too long.”

“Okay, cheeky girl,” she bit her lip and moved to get a knife to cut one pizza, but still eyeing you with a slight smile, leaning in one last time, “but I told you he was cute.”

Eventually, the two of you finished sorting out the pizza slices and joined everyone in the living room. Nia then rushed to join her boyfriend on the loveseat, leaving the only spot available for you being between Harry and Evan on the couch. She shot you a teasing smile, but you tried your best to ignore it and focus on finishing the wine glass you had poured for yourself earlier.

“Okay, so I’m going to need everyone to eat the food and tell me how good it is,” Nia pointed out to the center table where the  pieces of pizza laid upon, “I’ve spent the entire afternoon on these babies, so eat up!”

“You know that I’ve helped you with them, right?” you added, squinting your eyes at her, “some credit wouldn’t hurt.”

“You only laid the toppings on the dough so they would look even,” she snapped back pointing a finger at you, “I did all the hard work, so shush it.”

But before anyone could move to get a slice, Evan was already stretching out his arms to stop you from moving. “Wait a second,” he spoke, “I feel like I’ve watched enough seasons of MasterChef to be the first one to judge.”

“I mean, you are the best critic I know,” Nia pointed, leaning in to get a slice and offering to Evan, “but again, I don’t really know any other critics.” She humored as he took the food, making a show of analyzing it.

Everyone waited expectantly as Evan bit into the pizza slice, keeping a straight face that didn’t reveal much of his opinions. Nia leaned in his direction, nervously biting her bottom lip as she waited for his final verdict.

“You have to be honest,” she warned, observing him, “but know that I can get my feelings hurt pretty easily.”

“I don’t mind that,” Evan finally said, straightening his posture as he looked back to Nia’s waiting eyes, “I’ll say that it’s not the best pizza I’ve ever had,” he announced, “but it works.”

“You know what, I take it,” everyone laughed lightly as Nia visibly released a breath she had been holding in, “It’s not a bad review for a first time.”

The hours went by quickly as you eased into a conversation with everyone. It was nights like this you missed the most when the stress of all the accumulative work weighted on your shoulders. Having a more of a cool night to hangout with a few friends, drinking some wine and chatting about whatever topic came to mind.

As time passed, you could tell Nia and Evan got more agitated, probably due to the amount of wine they had consumed without even realizing. They chatted excitingly about Midsommar, their voices raising a bit too loud. But every time you tried to shush them, jokingly reminding of the neighbors next door, they would soon forget about it again.  You watched them babble, giggling when they would get excited on a certain topic and start to trip over a few words. 

You also felt lighter because of the alcohol, not as much as them, but still enough so you could feel your chest warmer and your mind a bit dizzy. You still felt an annoying tingle at the pit of your stomach when you felt Harry’s eyes fixating on you when you spoke, or when your hands brushed as you reached for the bottle at the center table. It was silly, and it made you feel like a teenager being in the presence of an attractive boy for the first time.

When it all quiet down eventually, Nia had dragged Evan to her room so he could give an insight on how she could decorate it. It was something she would do now and then, give her room a big renovation so the change in the space could make her more motivated, or something like that. Sometimes, if she felt inspired enough, she would change around the living area or  even your own room - when you allowed her, of course. 

Nate was still sitting on the loveseat looking like he was about to fall asleep at any moment as he scrolled through his phone. He hadn’t spoken a lot during the night, which wasn’t unusual for him, but he still managed to chat for a bit. 

That left you and Harry alone sitting on the main couch, with one person less it left you enough space to cross your legs, making yourself more comfortable. He was sitting on his side, his back resting on the big pillows by the arm of the couch, his chest turned towards you.

You reached for the wine bottle at the center table, realizing there was just a bit left, enough for a last glass for the two of you. “Wanna help me finish it?”  You turned to him with the bottle in your hand. He had a smile resting on his lips, as he raised his glass toward you so you could pour the liquid into it. You could tell his eyes were a bit cloudy, but you knew none of you had had enough to be drunk.

“Thank you, love,” he said, the raspiness on his voice as he spoke the pet name making the hairs in the back of your neck rise. You poured yourself the rest of the wine left, emptying the bottle as you settled it back where you got it. “Should we make a toast?” 

“Sure,” you replied easily, smiling at him, “what should we toast for?”

He looked away, puckering his lips slightly as he made a puzzled expression, a hand scratching at his chin as if in deep thought. You giggled at his dramatics before he pointed his finger up, his face turning into a big smile. He raised his glass in your direction, as you did the same. “A toast for being husband and wife?”

You chuckled, clinking your glasses together, “that’s fair,” you said, “ ‘s why we’re here after all, isn’t it?” you joked, taking a sip of your drink before settling it down on your lap.

“Sure is,” he mimicked, rising his glass to his lips, a smirk still adorning them as he managed to not break eye contact. He took a small sip before settling his glass back on the table.  He scratched the tip of his nose slightly with the side of his finger, before he relaxed back on the couch. “So” he spoke up, bringing your attention to him, “E told me you’re an actual actress,” he raised his eyebrows at you, “made me a bit nervous, love.”

“That right there is a lie,” you chuckled, biting your lip and shaking your head. “I used to do theatre back in the day, haven’t done any acting for years though.”

“A theatre kid, huh?” He laughed as you rolled your eyes jokingly.

“I’m aware we have a poor reputation, yes,” you said,  “I reckon we deserve it, but we weren’t that bad, I promise.”

He giggled, making your heart skip a beat at the sound. His smile was something you could easily get used to, the way it formed crinkles in his eyes and the dimples deep on his cheeks. You had to stop yourself for staring too much, moving your gaze to the glass on your lap.

“People are too harsh on theatre kids,” he reassured, “I think it seems pretty fun — only time I did it was when I played Elvis when I was about five, I think.” He added, resting his arm against the couch, his hand just a few inches away from your shoulders. “Had the time o’my life though.”

“You got main character though, that’s impressive,” you expressed, raising a hand to poke at his side playfully. “Have you done anything since your big debut as the king?”

“Can’t say I have, no,” he chuckled, “guess this is my big comeback, maybe I’ll get a call from broadway soon.”

“I’m sure you will!” You giggled, taking another sip from the glass in your hand.

You found it easy to dive into a conversation with him. You were both giggly from the wine, but it still seemed like you could stay like this for hours on end,  just talking to each other. 

He told you he wasn’t planning on doing the film, considering he never really thought about acting. But when Evan asked him if he could be part of it, he saw how desperate he was to fill the role, so he agreed. It warmed your heart to hear how fondly he spoke about his friend, telling you how willing he was to help, even if it involved doing something out of his comfort zone.

You two bounded over your mutual wish to become teachers. You found out he was studying Literature, a choice that for him as an easy one, considering throughout his life he had always been an avid reader. He said no matter how harsh thing got, he always found an escape between books, you could tell how passionate he was about it as he spoke about his favorite reads.

Eventually, you could hear voices coming closer from Nia’s room, as they seemed to be gushing about the filming that was starting soon. 

As Evan came into the room, he made his way to the couch, placing his hand on Harry’s shoulders. “Honey, as much as I wish we could stay here ‘til dawn, I’m afraid we must get going.”

With his declaration, everyone moved around to gather the dishes splattered across the center table to put it all at the kitchen counter. After some insisting -mostly on Harry’s part- on helping with cleaning, you convinced them you two could handle the task just fine. And they were the guests, after all.

Finally, you said your goodbyes, pulling Evan on a small hug, assuring him you’d do your best to do his script justice.

And as you came to face Harry, he leaned into a hug, giving you a last kiss on the cheek, before telling you how lovely it had been to meet you.

**

You had woken up with your door opening abruptly, making you jump a bit from the sudden change in the peaceful atmosphere from your deep slumber. Before you could process the situation in hand, Nia was already pulling out the covers and spitting out words at a faster pace than you could comprehend in your mind state.

“Get up already! We are very late,” She urged as you lazily scratched at your eyes before sitting up to look at her. “Evan is going to kill us!” She cried out.

Your head pounded slightly, making you search for your water bottle previously prompted by yourself the night before, knowing you would need it in the morning. You reached for it in your nightstand, taking big gulps as you watched amusingly Nia run around your room picking random clothes and throwing it in a duffel bag you had just noticed.

Resting the bottle down on your lap, you yawned lightly, still in the process of waking up. “Calm down Ni,” you mumbled, “We still have time, we’re only leaving at like, two.”

She looked back at you as if you had just slapped her across the face, your shirt falling partly from her hand. “It’s already one,” she informed, making your eyes bulge as you reached to check on your phone, confirming as it read 1:16pm. “We don’t even have our bags packed AND we got a sink full of dishes to wash.”

The minutes after that were rushed, as you two did your best to get ready as fast as possible. Mentally slapping yourself for leaving everything for the last minute, but still managing to pack your bag in record speed.

But as time passed and the list of things to do was still far from over, Nia phoned Evan and let him know you would need a few more hours to be ready to leave. To say he wasn’t the happiest about the news was an understanding, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

A couple hours later you were finally packed, and after a quick stop to shop for road trip snacks you were off on the road. 

You left much later than planned, and even if it wasn’t that much of a long drive, it was still 3 hours until you got there. The ride itself was mostly quiet, except from Lorde’s Melodrama playing softly in the background. You hummed along to the words, but apart from that there wasn’t a lot of talking between the two of you, all due to the limited amount of sleep you got from the previous night.

As you got closer, the scenery of open grass camps and blooming flowers at the peak of spring was a peaceful change of scene from the busy city streets you were used to. And when you finally got to the house, the sun was almost setting on the horizon. The sky being a satisfying mixture of blue and orange. There was a car already parked in, and as you got closer, you could see two figures sitting on the front stairs. 

Getting out of the car, you quickly made your way to where they stood. “Have you been waiting long?” Nia asked as you got closer to them. 

“Longer than I was planning to, I’ll say that,” Evan replied, taking off his sunglasses to greet you.

Harry came up from behind him, looking incredibly cozy wearing a knitted cream sweater. It took everything in you not to nuzzle on him as he met you with a quick embrace. You had to focus on keeping your breathing steady as you looked up at him when you parted. The sun coming from behind you doing wonders as it hit his face perfectly. His eyes were the prettiest shade of green as he smiled down at you before moving to greet  Nia.

“We’ve been here fo’ ten minutes, don’t listen to him,” he assured with a small laugh.

The house itself was much bigger than you expected, it wasn’t huge, by any means, but you had pictured a small cottage with barely any space for the four of you. The place, however, was big enough for you to have your privacy but still small enough to feel cozy and welcoming. 

You quickly found there were three rooms, and despite you arguing you didn’t mind sharing one with Nia, considering you two lived together, she still insisted that you and Harry had your own bedrooms. It was her way of thanking you for agreeing to help them.

After you got established in your respective room, you met everyone down at the kitchen. The place was loud with chatter as they played around while making dinner. Nia seemed to boss the boys around to cut the vegetables properly, as she concentrated on figuring out how to work the old stove. They laughed lightly as she cussed under her breath in frustration after another failed attempt. You watched quietly for a moment, before joining in to help her.

You finally turned the stove on with the help of a few matches you found laying on the counter, being able to cook with no more trouble. It was already getting late when you finished eating and gathered the dishes to lay them on the sink. Still, Nia insisted on watching one of the movies she had carefully selected on her extended collections of DvDs to bring with her. 

You decided to make yourself some tea while the rest of them moved around to arrange themselves for the movie night. After offering if anyone else wanted a cup as well, you were met with Harry’s warm smile as he accepted shyly.

Soon enough everyone settled down on the big couch to watch the movie. Evan took his place on one of the armchairs, while Harry opted to sit by the end of the couch, setting his legs on the footrest in front of him. As you walked in with your mugs, he gazed up at you, shooting a soft smile and muttering a quick ‘thank you’ as you handed him his drink.

He patted the spot next to him, indicating for you to sit, to which you happily obliged. 

“Wanna share?” he asked, holding up a blanket that lied at the arm of the couch. “There’s jus’ three of ‘em.”

“Sure,” you replied, moving to pull the blanket, so it was covering the two of you. You knew very well you could always get an extra one from one of the bedrooms, but you would never bring yourself to suggest it.

Finally, Nia entered the room with a small pack of m&m’s on one of her hands and the DvD case for ‘Love Actually’ on the other. She was quick to insert it on the player before settling down next to you. Pulling out the leftover blanket for herself, she lied down to rest her head comfortably on top of your legs.

It didn’t take long until she fell in deep slumber, cuddling up on your lap as soft snores left her lips. You pouted slightly down at her. The poor thing was exhausted from driving all the way, and the bad night of sleep the day before.

As the movie progressed, you could feel your eyelids getting heavier as well, the words coming from Keira Knightley’s mouth becoming more of a background noise as you fought to keep yourself awake. But before you could doze off, you felt Harry shifting slightly next to you. Suddenly feeling his arm hugging your shoulders, as he gently pulled you closer.

You moved your head to look at him but before you could say anything he shushed you softly and pulled you back in. “ ‘S fine, love,” he whispered, “can see that you’re tired.”

And with a half-woken mind and heavy eyelids you laid back on his shoulder and allowed yourself to snooze.

You woke up with him shifting again from under you, opening your eyes slowly to find the end credits rolling up the screen in front of you. You yawned lightly before sitting up, being careful not to wake a still-very-much-asleep Nia on your lap.

“Sorry,” you heard Harry say as you scratched at your eyes, “didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine,” you assured, your voice a bit raspy from your nap, “would have to happen, eventually.” You looked down at the unconscious girl lying on you, knowing you had to get her to bed so she could sleep properly. “We should wake her.”

“Want me to carry her to her room?” he asked.

“I think she’ll be okay,” you replied, gently calling her name so she could slowly wake up.

Surely, it didn’t take a lot of coaxing to get her eyelid to flutter open, as she lazily rose from her sleep.

You helped her to her room, afraid she’d trip down the stair in her hazy state of mind, still half asleep as she dragged her feet across the floor. 

As soon as she laid down in her bed, you made your way back to the kitchen to fix yourself a glass of water so you could go to sleep. 

It surprised you to find Harry still awake as you entered the space; he looked up at you from his position leaning on the counter with his phone in his hand. Quickly placing it in his back pocket as he saw you coming in, giving you a slight smile. “Thought you’d gone to bed.”

You reached for the cabinet Nia had pointed you to earlier where the cups were placed, picking one with little thought and closing it. “Just came here for a glass of water,” you spoke, moving the cup under the tap, “always have one next to my bed, y’know, in case I get thirsty and stuff.” You shook your head slightly, not wanting to ramble about the benefits of staying hydrated during the night just to make a conversation.

“Smart girl,” he joked, causing you to chuckle as you felt blush creeping out on your cheeks. You could see him coming closer to stand next to you from the corner of your eye, which didn’t help the tingly feeling forming at the pit of your stomach. “Excited fo’ tomorrow?” he asked, crossing his arms on top of the counter as he leaned next to you.

“Guess I am,” you answered, looking up at him and finding he was closer than you had realized. You smiled nervously as you met his eyes gazing down at you, before clearing your throat lightly. “What about you?”

“To be honest ‘m a bit nervous, love,” he confessed.

“Why’s that?” 

“I mean,” he started, his eyes still fixed on you, “ ‘s not every day I get to pretend ‘m married to a pretty girl like you.”

You could feel your heart skip a beat as he reached one of his hands to move a strand of your hair behind your ear. He kept his hand on your cheek just as his eyes seemed to gaze down at your lips, so subtly that it felt like you might’ve imagined it. 

The silence in the room was loud as you could almost hear your heartbeat pounding in your ears, as he leaned down just barely, getting closer to you. He looked down one more time at your lips, this time making sure you realized the unspoken question behind that action. You suddenly felt water pouring through your fingers, as the forgotten cup in your hand overflowed. This caused you to jump back a bit, quickly turning the tap off and resting the glass on the counter. 

“Oh my god,” you squeak, reaching out for a towel right next to the sink to dry your hand. “I’m sorry, that was-” you chuckled, glancing at Harry who seemed to watch you with an amused expression. “That was awkward, sorry.”

“No need to apologize,” He assured, picking the full glass and moving it in the counter so it was out of your reach. “ ‘t was actually quite cute,” he moved closer to you again, reaching his hand to hold at your jawline. 

You held back your breath as you felt his own hitting the top of your upper lip, your noses brushing slightly. 

“Been wanting to do this fo’ a bit now, love,” he spoke a bit above a whisper, his deep voice sending chills down your spine and making you grab at his sweater, ”would you let me?” his thumb caressed your cheek lovingly, “would you let me kiss you?”

You could feel your heart beating strongly against your rib cages, swallowing hard as you looked up at him. He was watching you closely, his dark emerald irises gazing down at you as your lips barely brushed. You nodded at him, trying to pull him closer.

“Use your words, darling,” he insisted, not budging from his position. “Wanna hear you say it.”

“Please, Harry I-” you moved your hand to grasp on his waist, “just —kiss me.”

Giving a satisfied hum, he finally leaned down, closing the space between the two of you. His hand remained stroking your cheek softly, as the other sneaked under your neck.

He moved his lips ever so slightly, his cupid bow founding its way above your inner lip, sucking on it gently. The kiss was teasingly slow, making you hyper aware of all of your senses. Your hands feeling the soft fabric of his sweater, grabbing at it as if asking for more. 

He moved the hand on your neck, pulling gently at your hair, making you angle your head up a bit. As his tongue poked to lick at your bottom lip, you opened your mouth, deepening the kiss.

You stayed like this for a while, pressed against the kitchen wall as you enjoyed the taste of each other. 

When you pulled back, he splattered a few kisses along your cheek, giving one last peck on your mouth before pulling back.

“As much as I don’t want to end this now,” he muttered, moving his hand, so they were both holding your cheeks, “We should get some sleep fo’ tomorrow.” 

“We should,” you agreed.

“We’ll get the chance to do this again,” he said, making you bite down a smile at the innuendo behind his words.

He gave you one last kiss before pulling away completely, reaching for the glass of water you had already forgotten about on the counter and handing it to you. 

You walked back to your rooms without saying a word, but still sharing glances and smiles along the way. And as you got to your respective rooms, you whispered quiet good nights before parting ways and closing the door behind you.

**

The days that followed were rushed, considering the filming had officially started. You two barely had the chance to be alone again, which was disappointing. But still you couldn’t find yourself time to miss the feel of having his soft lips against yours, considering the scenes you had with each other. What you did miss was being able to kiss him without it being written in a piece of paper, or having someone from outside tell you to. You missed the intimacy of feeling his tongue meet your own and having his hands pulling you close as you both craved for more. You missed the shared secret between just the two of you, that was knowing how it felt to have him all to yourself.

It was discomforting, earning for someone you barely even know. Jumping into a feeling you know there’s no way can end well. You both were playing characters. Lovers, yes, but it was all pretend. It didn’t help that he was so good at it. In front of the cameras he would be so loving that you often wondered how much of it was just part of the act. 

It was subtle things that made you think of it, like a glance across the room between takes. Him leaning close to you every time they called you to watch back something you had just recorded. Or when he sucked in your lip during a scene, so softly you could barely notice but still made your heart skip a beat.

But as much as it was nice to pretend that you two had some shared secret, you knew that the most likely scenario was that he was just doing his work and being friendly. So you tried your best to convince yourself that all of it was just your mind playing tricks, this way you could prevent yourself from inevitably getting hurt. That encounter in the kitchen was most likely his way of making things less awkward to when you inevitably would have to do it in front of a camera. That was it, nothing more. 

It seemed to have worked pretty well, you two had the chemistry Evan hoped for when he wrote his script. Nia kept teasing you with every given opportunity. You didn’t tell her about the late night kitchen situation, but you knew she could sense the ‘chemistry’ was not simply because you two were just that good at acting. No one was complaining though, considering everything was going so smoothly they suspected it could be wrapped up even earlier than expected.

Every time they would mention the possibility, you found yourself wishing deep down something would set you back on the schedule. You felt bad for it, and you never voice your inner thoughts, but you knew wrapping up early meant going home early, and you were getting a bit too comfortable getting to act all loved up on camera.

As if some kind of outer force had listened to your wishes, just as you were halfway throughout the week, mother nature seemed to be your biggest ally.

You had just woken up with the annoying tune of your alarm clock, one you had chosen for finding it soothing at first. But you soon found that those sounds are not meant to feel soothing at all, as it woke you from your deep slumber. You were quick to turn it off before rubbing your eyes softly and enjoying the warmth of your bed for a few more minutes. You could hear the gentle sounds of raindrops hitting your window, but barely paid any attention to it as you rose lazily, stretching your arms above your head.

Making your way down the stairs you first noticed Evan standing by the big window in the living room, looking out with a hand resting on his hip and the other one holding a mug. Behind him, in one of the armchairs, sat Harry, also drinking out of a mug as he read a book quietly. But as if he felt your presence as you got to the bottom of the staircase, he looked up, smiling at you as you made your way into the room.

“G’morning,” he spoke, alerting the man by the window of your presence as he turned around to look at you.

“Good morning,” you said back, before realizing the worried expression on Evan’s face, “is everything okay?”

“A disaster just happened, honey, look out the windows!”  he snapped, gesturing behind him where you could see the rain hitting the glass. The sky was dark with clouds, suggesting it was just the beginning of the storm that was to come. You looked back with a puzzled expression, knowing the weather was not the best, but as far as you remembered you had already shot all the scenes you needed outside. Evan rolled his eyes, “our natural light is gone, honey, it’s too dark to shoot!” he barked.

“Hey, no need to yell at her like tha’,” Harry looked back at his friend, attempting to calm him down, “ ‘s fine, we were early on schedule anyway, one day is not gonna delay it.”

He shot a look at Harry, his hand finding its way back on his waist as he let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry, this is just incredibly frustrating.”

You smiled at him to assure it was fine, knowing how much stress he was putting on because of this project. “Doesn’t Nia have one of those light things you were using the other day to make the scene brighter?” You suggested.

Evan sighed, “that’s a reflector, it just— well, reflects the light, we would need the sun for it to work, and seems like she’s not showing her face anytime soon,” he weightened his shoulders down, clearly feeling defeated. “I guess today is our off day — we should use it to pray for sunlight tomorrow, otherwise I’m pulling my hair off.”

When Nia woke up, you could tell she was not happy at all with the news that filming had to be cancelled for the time being. She spent the whole breakfast whining and crying about the poor weather. You tried your best to console her, but knowing your friend you knew her dramatics showed off when she worried about something. She tended to overthink every scenario that could go wrong, which did nothing to help the pressure she put on herself.

The day went on as eventless as it possibly could, the rain outside just seeming to get angrier as time passed by. You did your best to distract Nia from her own head, asking her about the recent documentaries she had watched, knowing she could go on tangents for hours. You talked about crime shows you have started before filming and shared different theories you had on them. You even listened to her deep analysis of trashy reality shows she loved to watch and always tried to drag you to get into it.

You talked and talked with no end, considering there wasn’t much else to do. Nia’s aunt hated computers and refused to install any kind of wifi, leaving you with a shitty connection that barely loaded a five-minute video.

As the evening came by, and the raindrops still hit angrily at the windows, you decided to watch another movie — this time it was Evan’s choice of Freaky Friday. 

You volunteered to grab the blankets from the cabinets on the second floor, while Nia excitedly announced she would make popcorn for everyone.

Quickly moving along the hallway, you made your way in front of the doors and opened them. You could hear footsteps coming up the stairs as you tiptoed to  reach the top shelf where the soft blanket you had used the first night lied on top of. 

“Need help?” You heard a voice approach, looking over your shoulder to find Harry walking towards you with an amused expression on his face. You nodded, chuckling as you quickly stepped out of the way to allow him to take your place. He reached up, easily retrieving the blanket and giving it to you.

“Thank you,” you muttered, looking up at him for a moment.

“No problem, darlin’,” he said, fetching two other blankets  before closing one door with a swing of his hip. You closed the other one with a small giggle. You started to quietly move along towards the staircase when he cleared his throat, causing you to look up at him. He kept his gaze down before speaking softly, “After the movie, think I’ll go back to my room a bit early,”  he looked at you for a moment, “ ‘f you want to join me.”

You stopped walking to look at him arching your eyebrows surprised, not expecting this kind of proposal at this moment. He stopped a step ahead of you, staring back with nervous eyes and shooting you a shy smile. “I’m not saying we have to do anything, I just-” he spluttered, “just wanted to be with you, without the camera and stuff.”

You smiled at him, “of course,” you voiced, “sounds nice.”

Shortly, you found yourself in the same position as the first day. Sharing a blanket with Harry, but this time Nia was wide awake next to you with a bucket of popcorn plopped on her lap. Some people would consider her to be the worst kind of person to watch movies with, considering she would always get too excited and comment on every scene she could. You had gotten so used to it with time, that it felt weird watching a movie without her voice interrupting a scene every five minutes.

It got hard to concentrate on this one in particular, and not because of Nia’s speaking over the lines, but the sudden feeling of Harry’s hand resting on your knee halfway through it. Your legs were crossed on top of the couch, making part of it rest slightly on top of his as he eased his thumb over your skin.

As time passed, he moved his hand up a bit, finding its final place on your inner thigh, causing goosebumps to arise on the back of your neck as he caressed it softly. You caught yourself holding your breath multiple times, something he was also probably aware of, considering the position of his arm on the side of your chest. 

The tension between you two was almost palpable as the end credits rolled up. At that point you had prompted yourself to lean your head on his shoulders. He grasped your skin slightly before removing his hand and motioning his position to get up, making you pull back from him.

“‘m going back to my room now,” he announced as he got up, shooting you a knowing look, “g’night.”

You stayed back for a few minutes so as not to look too suspicious, folding up the blanket you had used and scrolling through your phone for a bit. Not long after you excused yourself, climbing the stairs two steps at a time.

You found him in the hallway, leaning in on the wall right next to his door as he looked down on his phone. As he felt your presence he gazed up, grinning softly before bringing his finger above his lips as to warn you to stay quiet.

The two rushed inside his room, trying to be as quiet as possible, considering your friends downstairs could come up at any second. He closed the door behind him, looking right at you as he leaned back. His room was similar to yours, the difference being a few more clothes lying on top of the small couch standing at the corner. The curtains hanging on the big windows were pushed open, allowing the moonlight from the now-clear sky to illuminate the place. 

Your breath got caught in your throat as you stared back at him, meeting his dark irises. He started stepping closer to you until he could lean his forehead against yours. His hands found their way caressing your jawline, one of them going as far as to pulling lightly on the hair above your neck. You held your breath, gazing up at him as you waited for his next move.

He smiled lazily, brushing his nose against your softly before placing a peck to the corner of your lips. He was teasing you, his hand leaving your hair to find its way down your body, paying special attention to the side of your breast before placing itself holding your waist.

You swallowed dryly, feeling your heart speed up as you pulled him closer, wanting desperately to close the space between the two of you. Too scared that your voice would give out your desperation, you moved one of your hands to the back of his neck and pulled him in. He didn’t think twice before finally closing the space and allowing you to feel his lips against yours.

The kiss started slow, both of you still trying to figure it out how it was to taste each other like this. His lips were soft, moving teasingly as he sucked on your bottom lip. Your hand pulled his hair gently, causing him to whine into mouth, licking at your tongue as he deepened the kiss. The hand on your waist moved up, caressing the side of your breast softly as he tried to pull you in as close as possible.

He started easing you backwards, considering neither of you were willing to break the kiss to watch where you were going. You felt the mattress of his bed hitting the back of your knees. You allowed him to lay you into the bed, parting for a moment so you could move upwards, laying your head on the pillows. Shortly enough he joined you, placing his elbows on both sides of your head, not wasting any time before closing the space between your mouths again.

The two of you stayed like this for a while. Slowly kissing each other, as your arm found its way back behind his neck and one of his hand caressed your cheek. You could get used to this, with him being the only thing you could sense. His taste. His touch. His scent. 

He was all you could think about.

When you finally pulled back, you could see his red, puffy lips even with the limited amount of lighting going into the room. 

He looked into your eyes for a moment, “you look so pretty like this, darling,” he murmured, his voice just above a whisper, sending chills down your spine. “Could eat you up.” 

A small whimper left your mouth, as he dove back in to spread kissed along your cheek and down your throat. You bit hard into your lip and swallowed back a moan as he sucked in a spot right below your jawline. You could feel him grinding his hips down on your tights, making you aware of the growing bulge inside his sweats.

You placed your hand on his shoulders, pushing him gently and disconnecting him from your neck. He pulled back, looking back at you with a puzzled look. You kept pushing him until his shoulders hit the mattress, reverting the previous position you both were in, as you stranded his waist.

Looking down at him, you wanted so badly to discover his body, to make him feel good. So you took the same position he had on you. Placing your lips against his neck and running your tongue against it, sucking in his skin. You kept doing it as your hand smoothed down his body, finding the hem of his shirt and lifting it enough so you could scratch at his love handles. He gave you a small moan, a sound so delicious to hear you that made you want to swallow him whole. 

Both his hands found their place on your waist, pressing you down so you could feel his need between your tights. You quickly pulled your head from his neck, giving him a soft peck on the lips.

“Please, love, just-” he grunted, looking up at you with pleading eyes. “Just do something, please, I-“

His hands gripped tightly on your waist as you rolled your hips against him. Neither of you could contain your moans as you repeated the movement, even fully clothed his bulge rubbed deliciously against the place you needed it the most. 

You leaned down again, this time pushing his shirt up as you made your way down his body, splattering open-mouthed kisses along his warm chest. You paid a special mind to the tattoos you met along the way, sucking spots over the wings of a butterfly inked on his stomach. As you licked along the leaves of the ferns that adorned his love handles, you felt one of his hands tangling in your hair, his hips rising slightly as he whimpered.

“A bit impatient, you are,” you spoke, feeling his belly tighten as you placed a playful bite under his belly button, causing another moan to leave his lips.

“Darlin’, please,” he whined, “Just- fuck, just need you right now.”

You decided not to tease him for too long, considering you needed it just as much as he did. Finally, you moved down once more to place a kiss above the hard on over his pants. He lifted his head, watching your every move as his hand that was placed on your hair pushed some strands away from your forehead. You wrapped your hand around the hem of his sweats, rising your eyebrows at him as you felt he wasn’t wearing any underpants. The thought of having such easy access to him making you press your thighs together, feeling your wetness already damping your underwear 

Slowly, you bit your bottom lip, keeping your gaze focused on him as you moved his sweats down, he raised his hips as to help you out. Once his cock was fully out, you stared back down at it lying proudly against his stomach. You ran your fingers gently along his length, causing him to hold his breath, his abdomen tightening once more. He was definitely bigger than anyone you had ever been with, causing your mouth to water a bit and your thighs to press together once again at the thought of fully having him.

You could feel him peering down at you as you wrapped your hands around the base and applied the smallest amount of pressure. The precum was already escaping from the tip and sliding down the tiniest bit. 

Moving your head forward you looked back at his waiting eyes, spitting on top of the head as you moved your hand up caressing it. This time he gave you an actual moan, throwing his head back at the pillows behind him. 

Looking down at him, you didn’t know where to place your lips first, wanting to bite and lick every part of his body. Finally deciding on sucking a spot on his thigh, right next to where rested an ink of a tiger head.

You kept the movement of your hand, twisting it and applying more pressure eventually as you watched him shift around under you. He raised his hips slightly as he pleaded under his breath for more, his hand firmly on top of your head as the other was thrown above his own.

You moved your thumb to run across his slit, caressing the head with a flick of your wrist as you moved your mouth to place kisses at the base. At this point he became a moaning mess, throwing his arm over his mouth as to muffle the sounds while you licked up his shaft.

“God- fuck- such a good girl,” he moaned on his arm, moving it out of the way so he could look down at you. “Doing so good, you feel so good- shit.”

Smiling at him, you jerked him off a couple of times before resting your hand at the base so you could replace it with your mouth.

You licked around his head, giving it a small kiss before you moved down as far as you could go. He cried out, tightening his grip on your hair and moving his hips up to meet your movements as you sucked on him.

He was desperate to reach his climax, and you were desperate to see him cum undone under your touch. So you started speeding up, your mouth licking at his veins, your hand helping you as you moved it along his dick. He was cursing and moaning over you, pleading for you not to stop. You kept moving your hand as you licked at his head once more before detaching so you could look up at him with pleading eyes.

“Almost there?” you asked, having him nod frantically at you, “will you let me have a taste?”

That seemed to do it for him, as he pushed your head back down, making you attach your lips to his head as you felt him shoot his load inside your mouth. You milked him as he came down from his high, feeling his softness on your lips as you swallowed down.

You sat up and looked down at his hazy eyes while he calmed down with heavy breaths. He adjusted his sweats quickly before moving himself up to pull you in for a frantic kiss. “God, darling, you’re a dream,” he spoke between kisses, his hands gripping at your waist as he positioned you to lie on top of him, moving one of them under your shirt, pulling it up slowly.

You quickly placed your hand on top of his stopping him from going further as you detached from him. He furrowed his brows at you. “I should go back to my room,” you said, “got an early day tomorrow.”

He gave you a puzzled look, “but you still haven’t- “

“it’s okay,” you interrupted, moving to get up from his bed, suddenly feeling nervous under his gaze, “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Good night!”

You left his room before he could protest, wanting to slap yourself from running away like this. 

**

The next morning was thankfully much brighter than the one before, with sunlight shining through the windows at the earliest hours. You didn’t get a lot of sleep, tossing and turning around, replaying the previous night in your head. The thought of what could’ve happened if you had stayed imprinted itself in your mind. You started to overthink it. What did he even think of you? After running away like that? 

Your thoughts consumed you as you sat in of the stools in the kitchen by yourself, for the first time being the first to be awake. Your coffee running cold by the minute, as you frowned to yourself, taking a sip every so often.

It didn’t take long until you didn’t find yourself alone anymore, having Evan join you as he happily cheered about the nice weather. You nodded along to him, not really in the mood for talking as you anxiously poked at your nails.

It was when you walked towards the sink to wash your used mug that you saw Harry walking into the kitchen. His hair messy and his eyes sleepy, making you annoyed at how charming he managed to look even after just getting out of bed. 

He greeted you with a raspiness to his voice, his eyes lingering on you a moment too long as he smirked before moving to the cabinets. He stood next to you while you washed the dishes, grabbing himself a bowl while he worked on his breakfast.

Yours arms would brush every so often as you moved while doing your tasks, making you gaze at him. He kept a grin sitting on his face as he casually made a conversation with Evan, his dimple poking out the smallest bit, but still not looking back at you.

As soon as you were finished you left for your bedroom so you could get ready for the day, but not before sparing one last glance at Harry. This time his eyes were already trained on you as he chewed slowly his fruit salad. You felt your cheeks getting a bit warm from the eye contact, making you look down and leave the room with a speeding heart.

The work started early, as you ran around to keep up with the schedule after losing one day of productivity. 

Harry seemed to be in it for teasing you. His touches lingered longer than needed. His kisses were harsher, the need behind them being almost palpable. His gaze on you told you something you couldn’t really tell exactly what it was. Lust? Desire? You weren’t entirely sure, but every time you caught him watching you felt a warmth take over your face.

In one occasion, between takes, as Nia and Evan discussed the best position for the camera considering her broken tripod. You stood awkwardly waiting for their instructions as you played with the hem of your dress. You could feel him staring closely, looking up to find him with the same smirk he gave you in the morning. He looked quickly over your friends who were still trying to figure out the problem before leaning up close to you “Still haven’t let me have a taste, love,” he said quiet enough to that just you could hear, the words sending a chill down your spine and making your core twitch as you glanced back at him.

That same night, after you announced you’d tuck yourself in, just as you changed into your pajama shorts, you heard a soft knock on your door.  You opened up to see his darkened irises staring back at you as he quietly let himself in. And within a few minutes he found his place between your legs, your hand gripping tightly at his curls as you moaned into your pillow.

The  following day wasn’t much different, starting with a tight filming schedule that was coming to a close end. An exchanging of glances across the room and yearning touches with underlying motives behind them. Ending with you lurking into his room at the dark hours of the night, craving-filled touched and muffled moans.

**

The wrap up of the film was welcomed with a bittersweet feeling settling itself in the pit of your stomach. Knowing as much as you were glad everything had gone as smoothly as possible during this week, it was time to leave it all behind. 

You were nervous about how it would be with Harry after you got home. Was this the start of something that could potentially become a warm and beautiful feeling? Or was it just a lust-filled affair that would end as quickly as it had started? It made you anxious to think about it, not wanting to let go of it just yet.

Nia walked into the living room with two champagne bottles that had been brought up for this exact moment. The atmosphere was filled with chatter as everyone celebrated the end of the hard work. 

You were dressed in the fanciest clothes you had brought on your rushed-packed bag, which consisted itself in a black blouse and a loose pair of pants you stole from Nia’s wardrobe a couple weeks prior. But you once again could not compete with Evan’s sense of style, as he seemed right out of a cover with a hot pink turtleneck under a sparkly black dress that hung all the way to his feet.

But you still couldn’t keep your eyes off of him.

You watched as he laughed along at something that had been said, his eyes meeting yours for a moment before fixing on Nia as she offered to serve him the champagne she had just opened. 

He looked so good. 

Like you, he didn’t opt for a very glam look, wearing a simple graphic white tee with a rainbow printed on it, and a simple pair of checked trousers. But as plain as someone could argue it was, he still managed to look incredibly inviting, which made it harder for you not to latch yourself onto him.

You were coming into your sixth or seventh glass when it all died down. Your head was fuzzy, and you felt giggly as you cheered along with everyone about the successful week you had. Nia had already gone back to her room. She didn’t  drink as much considering she would have to drive early in the morning, wanting to leave most of the celebration for the premiere day. 

The glances stolen between you and Harry were getting more frequent, the longing in each other's eyes visible with the effect of the alcohol.

**

He had you pressed up against your bedroom door as he sucked in your bottom lip harshly. His hands gripped at your waist tightly, putting his weight against you.

You wrapped your hand around his neck as the other pulled at his shirt desperately with the need of having him close. You felt overwhelmed by him in the nicest way. Having his hips pressing against your own, making you open your tights slightly as you felt his arousal straining on his trousers.

You whimpered into his mouth at the feeling, suddenly needing him as close as possible. You could tell his desperation matched your own by the way his hand pressed on the side of your body and his mouth moved against you. His groans getting lost in your throat every time you tangled your fingers on his roots, pulling at it.

“You’re gonna kill me like this, baby,” he breathed out, his lips moving against your wanting ones, “so fuckin’beautiful.”

You tried to keep your shaky hands steady as they travelled down his chest, scratching as his tummy lightly under his shirt before you began pulling it up. He detached from you to quickly reach over his shoulders and pull it off completely.  He didn’t waste any time bringing his hand to unbutton your blouse, peppering kisses along your lips as he moved it down your shoulders, only to be met with your bare breasts underneath.

“Fuck me,” he groaned staring down at you, attaching your lips once again as he pulled you from the door as he fiddled with the zipper of your pants. You stumbled on each other's arms across the floor until you were met with the plush feeling of the bedcovers on the back of your thighs. 

You stepped out of your pants as they got loose around your waist and fell damply to the floor, allowing Harry to push you gently into the mattress. He quickly got rid of his own trousers, wasting no time before towering above you, connecting your mouths once again.

It was like no matter how close you were, it still wasn’t good enough to satisfy the craving you had. You still wanted more. Needed more. 

He was fully licking into you, his hands gripping your tights as he rolled his hips to meet yours. You moaned in unison at the feeling of your arousals meeting deliciously as he repeated the movement once more before parting your mouths so he could spread kisses along your neck.

“Harry,” you breathed out his name, dragging your nails along his back as you moved your hips up eagerly.

He moved his head from your neck o hover above yours, licking his lips teasingly as he looked down at you with dark eyes. He moved one of his hands to caress your cheek lovingly, as the other found your breast, his thumb grazing over your nipple. “Can I have a taste, baby?” he leaned his forehead against your, not breaking eye contact, “just a fo’a bit, then you can have me.”

You nodded frantically, brushing your nose against his. He gave you one last peck on the lips before moving down again to lick down at your skin. He pressed open-mouthed kisses at your chest, sucking harshly between your breasts.  His tongue moved along your belly, craving his finger into it playfully like you had done to him, making you squeal above him.

He finally settled down between your thighs, his hand gripping at them to keep it apart before moving teasingly slow to the hem of your underwear. Your breath got caught in your throat as you moved up to lean on your elbows, gazing at him, hyper-aware of his every move. 

He looked up, grinning like a devil, before moving his face down to nose gently at your mound. Pulling away, he pressed his hands on your sides, sliding your underwear off your legs as you helped him, raising your hips slightly.

You whimpered as you felt him kiss along your inner thigh, meeting your middle as licked you once. Your hips raised impatiently, making him smirk at you again before completely diving in.

You got lost in the pleasure as he licked his tongue into you, letting yourself fall back in the cushions behind your head. Your hand moved to grip at his hair tightly as he sucked in your clit, making you yelp and call out his name. His mouth was warm as his saliva mixed with your own wetness every time he licked into you.

Feeling your arousal pooling on your folds, you desperately needed to feel him as close as possible. Wanting every inch of him against you.

You pushed him from you, grabbing at his shoulder so he could move up to face you again. He didn’t protest, spattering quick kisses along the way before pressing his mouth against yours. The taste of champagne still lingering on your tongue mixed with your own taste on his as he licked into your mouth.

“y’taste so good, baby,” he groaned, parting from you as he moved to remove his briefs. The limited amount of light illuminated his face beautifully, making you able to notice the glistening of your juices down his chin. You felt your core twitch at the scene above you, desperate to have him fill you up.

“Please,” you urged him, grabbing at his hips to pull him down.

“Can I have you, darlin’?” His voice was raspy, as he looks down at you with hooded eyes, “‘d you let me?”

Your arousal blurred your mind, your grip on his waist tightened as you raised your hips impatiently, nodding along to his question.

“Have to hear you say it, love,” he spoke, leaning down to place kisses along your neck, “just say it, and you’ll have me.”

“You can have me, please, I-” you moaned desperately, babbling words without thinking, “I need you, please.”

He raised his head from your shoulders, giving you a quick peck before reaching down to guide his length between your folds. Your belly tensed as he rubbed his head against your clit, holding back your breath as he finally slid in you.

“Fuck, you’re wet,” he choked, pushing his hips all the way, allowing you to feel every inch of him fill you up. You breathed out a moan, reaching your hand on his back. “‘s this all fo’ me?”

You whined out a ‘yes’, rolling your hips as a way of urging him to move. 

His movements began slow, his cock rubbing heavenly against your walls, making you clench around him. You both moaned and whimpered as your lips brushed.

“Can feel me deep?” He asked, resting his forehead against yours as he pushed his dick all the way in. You nodded, yearning for him to start moving again. “Can feel me in y’belly?”

“H, please,” you begged, gripping your nails on his shoulder blades.”Want you.”

“y’have me,��� he kissed you hard before moving again, rolling his hips as he picked up the pace.

 The air around you was hot as you threw your head back with the delicious feeling of him hitting the spot inside of you. He was addicting. The salty taste of his skin. The touch of his hands gripping on your sides. The smell of his cologne faintly mixed with sweat. The sound of his skin meeting yours. It made you earn for him in every possible way. 

You felt your wetness dripping out of you as he pulled your leg up to your chest, allowing him to effectively hit deeper spots. The new position made a cramp start to creep up on your thight, but you ignored it to focus on the way his hips met yours.

Time seemed to pass like a blur as you pleasured each other, but soon enough you felt your orgasm building up. His thrusts became more frequent and smooth as he felt you clench more around him.

“that’s it, baby - fuck,” he grunted, moving his hand down to flicker your clit, causing to arch your back, moaning loudly. “Wanna feel you come for me.”

His cross necklace dangled over you as he watched you closely. You kept your gaze locked on his as you felt the feeling deep in your tummy take over your entire body. A moan got stuck in your throat as you opened your mouth to an ‘O’ shape, digging your nails further on his shoulders as you reached your high.

**

Getting home, you soon realized that throughout the week you had been so lost in your feelings with Harry that you didn’t even think of asking him for his phone number. 

The month that followed passed by surprisingly quickly. During the first week you were swiftly thrown back again into your old reality of course essays and textbooks. You hadn’t heard a word from Harry, and the most frustrating part is that he seemed to have settled his place inside your thoughts. You tried asking about him to Nia once or twice again, but every time she seemed to come up with vague answers and change the subject, so you figured she had other things to worry about. 

It was a disappointing end, to say the least. Even knowing from the start that being let down was the most possible outcome, it didn’t hurt any less. You often wondered if it had been something you’d done that made him pull away, or if he just wasn’t in it from the start.

By the second week you had gotten a job at a tiny local cafe you used to go after class to study and eat cinnamon rolls. That’s when time starting to rush by, as you found yourself busy through most of your day. Nia was working more than you’ve ever seen her. You two barely talked as she spent most of her time with Evan or inside her room editing. And as the week at the camp house got further away, it started to almost seem like you had imagined all of it. 

Having a lot of distractions helped, but you never seemed to push the thought of a certain curly-haired boy completely away. Sometimes during a tedious lesson you would daydream about the feeling of his lips against yours. Or right before you fell asleep you would think about the taste of his skin, how strong his hand were gripping on your thighs. Maybe even at work. When there wasn’t a lot of movement, you could almost hear the sound of his voice.

It was aggravating, the effect he left on you. It got to a point where you got angry; sometimes at him but sometimes at yourself. He was the one who had gone after you, and yet he was the one who disappeared. But again, he didn’t really owe you anything, and that’s what’s frustrating. You were the one who allowed him; you knew from the start that you would get hurt but you still went for it, anyway.

As you got closer to the premiere night that was planned, you started to get anxious. You would catch yourself daydreaming more often, not being as focused as you were. You even started picking your nails again, which is a habit you thought you’d kick it a long time ago. But truth to be told, you were nervous.

The thought about seeing him again made your heart race. You wished that you could somehow find a way not to go. Maybe ask Nia if the two of you could have a private viewing. You had even thought about bribing her with making your mom’s brownie recipe. But you already knew the answer before you even suggested it. This was an important night for her, and you would be there to support it.

You were overthinking this. Was it going to be awkward when you met him? How would you even greet him? Would he kiss you? Would he ignore you? Should you ignore him? All the scenarios in your head made you want to throw up and run away.

**

When the two of you finally arrived, you were greeted by a cheerful Evan, who jokingly teased you for being late. As you got into his house, you found a bigger group than you expected. It seemed like you and Nia were the last ones to arrive, as there was around ten other people in there. Some of them you recognized from being Nia’s friends, others you had never seen, but none was the one you earned to see the most.

Evan guided you across the living room area, “I’ll show you the kitchen so you two can get some drinks,”  He held up his glass as he spoke. Gesturing to the entrance of the room, “We’ll start everything in around ten minutes, so get ready.”

As you entered the kitchen behind Nia, you could feel her stiffen her posture a bit, before looking back at you. You frowned lightly at her, confused by her behaviour, gazing inside the room and finding immediately a pair of green eyes already watching you. It made you think back to the first time you were in this exact position, except in your own kitchen. This time, however, he was the one to approach you.

He looked really good, which did nothing to help the butterflies flying relentlessly in your stomach. He was in all black, a buttoned up shirt with a few buttons open, exposing a bit of the skin on his chest where a silver necklace laid upon. You swallowed dryly at the sight of his hand running swiftly through his hair, with a ring hugging each one of his fingers. 

As he got close, he greeted Nia first, giving her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, before turning his attention back to you. He shot you a shy smile, before embracing you into a hug. You didn’t really know if it was your mind playing tricks but you felt him a bit hesitant as he greeted you and placed a kiss on your cheek. Pulling away, he cleared his throat, running his hand again through his hair, he almost seemed… nervous?

“‘S nice seeing you again,” he mumbled, “this uhm… ‘s my girlfriend, Jess.”

You could felt your heart drop with his words as you finally noticed a smiley girl coming to his side. 

She wasn’t much taller than you, her red hair pulled back in a perfect ponytail. She matched him with a small black dress that annoyingly hugged her body in all the right ways. You could barely register her greeting you, as you tried your best to keep a straight face to hide the shock that took over your body. You felt a heaviness at the pit of your stomach, a feeling so distressful that made you want to scream as an attempt to make it go away.

You didn’t pay a lot of attention as Nia made a conversation with the girl, knowing that’s what she did best. You kept your gaze directed to Harry, your eyes asking a million questions - you didn’t even think you wanted to know the answers to. But he kept his eyes locked on the floor, eventually looking up at the girl in his arms as she seemed to mention him. But never meeting your own.  Her hand was caressing his chest lovingly while his found their way on her waist, keeping her close.

“I think I’ll get something to drink,” you announced, realizing you might’ve interrupted the conversation as they stopped talking. You turned to Nia, “do you want something?”

She looked back at you with sorry eyes, “I should go with you,” she quickly turned back to the girl, “It was lovely meeting you, Jess.”

“Oh! Sure,” she smiled brightly at you two, her hand moving to rest on Harry’s chest, “we should go get our seats as well, right, babe?” 

You left the scene as quickly as you could, not wanting to hear any more of it. Looking at all the drink options on top of the counter, you tried to think which one could get you drunk enough to stop feeling hurt over someone you spent just a week with, but still sober enough so that you could pretend everything was fine. Before you realized, Nia was standing next to you, getting two plastic pink cups before she stared at you with guilty-filled eyes.

“I should’ve just told you about it,” she sighed, “I didn’t want to make you sad, but looking back it was probably best if you already knew.”

You turned your head to look at her, “so you knew it all along?” You swallowed the lump in your throat as you felt it close once again.

“Evan told me like a few days after we got back!” She rushed, “I don’t know if they were together while we were filming.”

You took a deep breath, knowing Nia was probably blaming herself for putting you into this situation. But you knew it wasn’t her fault, she would never purposely put you in this position if she knew about it before.

“You know what, it’s fine,” you tried your best to cover up the hurt and gave her a weak smile, “it’s not your fault Ni. It’s okay. I’m fine.”

She pulled you into a tight hug, “I’m sorry, bubba,” she said, “let’s get you something to drink so you can enjoy this party like the star you are!”

The two of you decided on the vodka mixed with watermelon juice, something you had never even thought of trying before but seemed to be ideal to handle the situation you found yourself in. You walked back to the living area, where people were already beginning to settle on the chairs. 

Following Nia, you prompted yourself on a seat at the edge closest to the door, opposite to where Harry sat with the girl. His girl. You thought bitterly, taking a big sip from your cup and cringing at the strong taste.

There was a speech you didn’t pay much attention to before they started the film, only giving a slight smile when you realized the mention of your name. 

Before you knew it, the lights were out and your face took over the screen. 

It was harder than you thought it would be.  Looking up at the scenes you had with Harry, knowing everything that happened behind the cameras. Knowing every touch and every kiss felt more than just playing a character. You knew the actual feeling of having him to yourself. But now staring at it right in front of you, it just left a sour taste in your mouth. 

You finished your drink barely ten minutes into the film, the feeling of your chest aching starting to become overwhelming as you watched your shared kiss on the big screen. You could feel your throat close once more, your eyes watering a bit.

“I’m gonna get some air,” you whispered to Nia sitting next to you, who gave you a sympathetic smile as you got up. You glimpsed quickly to Harry who had his eyes trained on you, the girl next to him leaning to whisper something in his ear.

You could feel the tears falling down stubbornly as you left the room. Standing in the hallway, you made the decision to turn to the front door instead of the back, not wanting to face anyone with reddish eyes.

You left the house, picking your phone with shaky hands as you managed to call a ride home, sighing in relief as your screen told you it was just about three minutes away.

You heard the door open behind you as stood on the sidewalk hugging yourself to get some warmth on the chilly night. You tried your best to swallow back your tears as you turned around, expecting to find Nia looking at you with pitiful eyes. 

To your surprise, the person standing there was Harry, looking like a deer caught in the headlights as he took in your tearful eyes. He spoke your name in a soft voice, causing you to look away.

“Don’t-” you interrupted, raising your hand at him, “I don’t wanna hear it.”

He frowned at you, not wanting to upset you more. “I’m sorry,” he hesitated, taking a step forward.

Your phone buzzed in your hand, as you watched your ride pulling in front of you. You looked back at him, “I’m sorry too,” you said before moving to enter the car. 

You spared him one last glance through the window as the driver pulled away.

[redhoodieone]

Hate You More

A new fic that I was inspired to write! There will be a Part 2 since this is going to get VERY smutty. Enjoy!

WARNINGS: Language. Mentions a little smut.

I’m a princess. Well, a “bit” of a princess. But that’s not exactly my fault. I’m an only child. My mom and dad always wanted one kid and once they had me they were happy...until they divorced when I was eight-years-old and my dad left somewhere far away. Ever since then, it was always just me and mom, which was never a bad thing.

We were close and got along just fine. Every weekend was our Nicholas Sparks movie marathons on the couch, eating a shit ton of strawberry ice cream straight from the carton, and painting each other’s nails and having her braid my hair and tell me stories of when I was little.

Everything was perfect with just me and my mom...until she married him.

Bruce Wayne.

I never thought my mom would ever want to remarry but Bruce somehow stole her heart and made her fall in love with him.

I didn’t want to blame her for being so stupid for marrying him. I mean, Bruce did treat my mom right. I just hated him so much for convincing my mom to move us into his mansion.

So far away from my first home.

But I know he really loves her, despite being known as a billionaire playboy, womanizing, man whore. After three years into their marriage, I noticed he really cared about me and treated me like his daughter; certainly overprotective and reminding me if I ever needed anything to always go to him.

He even helped me get into GCU. With his help, I’m now into my second year. He’s really proud that I’m a responsible, twenty-one year old college student, and that makes me feel good.

But it hasn’t always been perfect with Bruce. Not only did I get a stepdad, but I got THREE asshole stepbrothers: Dick, Jason, and Tim. They’re the boys Bruce adopted.

Dick wasn’t exactly an asshole. He’s twenty-five years old and he’s always in and out of the mansion. He’s a party animal and I rarely see him unless he’s home for Sunday dinners and for Alfred to do his laundry.

Tim is tolerable. He’s always kind to me, but he’s also a shy and awkward fourteen-year-old. He’s seriously a nerd and he’s becoming an addict to coffee and always being on his computer. But he doesn’t bother me at all.

Not like Jason Fucking Todd.

He’s twenty-one years old and is a complete lazy ass who mooches on everyone.

I honestly hated him the second I met Jason. The second my mom and I moved into the mansion, I had set down backpack on the kitchen counter so I could remove my sweater and throw away the empty bag of fried fast food I had for lunch. The moment I turned around, Jason had jumped up to sit on the kitchen counter and had the nerve to pick up my backpack and throw it to the floor.

“Oops! Your shit was in my spot.”

I had my fucking cell phone, laptop, and picture frames of my family in there.

And that’s how it all started. Jason made it very clear he hates me and I refuse to back down and be nice to him. I mean, the fucking asshole has zero respect for me anyways. All he does is drink, eat all the food, and bring bar sluts home to fuck loudly in his bedroom which is right NEXT DOOR TO MINE!!!

All night and early in the mornings. All I can hear is Jason’s headboard slamming repeatedly against the wall and his bimbos screaming, “Oh God! Right there, Jay! Oh my God, HARDER!”

Seeing him afterwards is worse though. I could be walking to the bathroom or the kitchen and he’d just happen to come by to use the bathroom too, or get a drink of water...only using a sheet that’s wrapped around his waist!

He’d fucking smirk at me and I would try so hard to not look down at his big bulge and thick hard on.

Jason is my stepbrother...only my stepbrother, I constantly remind myself.

But Jason is also an asshole. He may look sexy and taste delicious but his one unattractive flaw is his behavior.

And I’m not one to sit back and let assholes walk all over me. I do get back at Jason quite a bit; enough to piss him off.

Today is one of the days I decide to have a big appetite. After my shower, I run downstairs only wearing my comfy pajama short shorts and a black tank top. I remember Dick is at his own apartment and Alfred is away in London on “holiday” as he calls it. Entering the kitchen, I see Mom making breakfast for us: pancakes, bacon, and sausage.

Bruce is sitting at the kitchen table, drinking his coffee and reading on his cellphone. Tim is drinking a cup of coffee (maybe 5th refill?) and eating pancakes and some sausage.

“Good morning,” I say to all of them.

“Good morning sweetie,” Mom replies with such a warm motherly smile.

Bruce grins at me. “Good morning, Y/N.”

All Tim does is nod his head to me and continues to eat.

“I’m starving,” I say and already fill my plate with two pancakes and some bacon and sausage as well.

I take a seat next to Tim and dig in. Ace, Bruce’s dog moves closer to my feet and looks up at me for some food. Fucking puppy dog eyes...I sneak a few pieces of bacon to him.

Mom eventually sits down with hers and Bruce’s plate. He smiles lovingly at her and the two kiss.

It’s a calming morning. Everyone’s eating and just enjoying the silence...until the asshole comes into the kitchen.

Jason literally has no shame. He comes in only wearing his black boxers and has very cute bed head. Stop it, Y/N. He’s completely shirtless. Not even acknowledging he’s in the kitchen, Jason quickly makes a plate for himself which he only puts three pancakes and like two handful sizes of bacon.

I silently growl and tighten my hand around my fork as I’m stuck looking at his bare, muscular upper body. His arms look strong. He’s just...all muscle. All man.

But then I remember he’s a fucking asshole and I hate him.

As if he can feel my eyes on him, Jason quickly glances at me and smirks. He actually fucking flexes his muscles for me.

I immediately look down because I just know my cheeks are red like tomatoes. God, does he have to be so attractive???

“Good morning, princess,” Jason taunts me, after greeting everyone else, obviously. He sits directly in front of me with that shit eating grin. “Did you sleep well last night?”

I glare at him. Fuck him. “Yeah, I did. You know very well that I can’t sleep peacefully unless you bring a whore home and fuck her until she’s blue in the face, Jason. I mean, when it’s so quiet at night, I just can’t fall asleep! It’s impossible! It’s like I HAVE to hear you fuck just to go to sleep!” I say sarcastically.

“So, you do listen to me when I fuck my girls, huh? Is your sex life nonexistent that you have to get yourself off on others who actually get off?” Jason jokes and shoves a piece of bacon in his mouth. “That’s pretty pathetic, even for you, Y/N. At least Tiny Tim here watches internet porn. Maybe you should start getting yourself off with that instead of listening to me fuck.”

“Jason...” Bruce warns. “Don’t even start this morning.”

“Start what? I’m not even doing anything,” Jason says. He raises an eyebrow at me and keeps that fucking smirk on his face.

“Leave Y/N alone, Jason,” Tim butts in.

“Quiet Timbers. Let the princess tell me off. I love it when she gets all red and pissed off.”

My mom glances at me with a serious look, too. Why is she giving me that look when I didn’t even do anything?!

“Aw, there’s sausage?! I didn’t know there was sausage up there!” Jason whines. His eyes dart from my plate over to my mom and Bruce.

“I actually served the last few pieces to Bruce. I’m sorry, Jason,” my mom apologizes. She frowns and looks down at hers and Bruce’s empty plates.

“That’s all right. I see there’s still five uneaten sausages on Y/N’s plate,” Jason says and smirks at me. He looks down at my plate and back up at me. “You’re not going to eat them, are you princess? Because if not, I want them.”

He’s fucking teasing me. Jason is mocking me with those green eyes and that fucking smile that wets every girl’s panties. It’s like he actually believes he’s going to get away with this. He really thinks he’s going to get what he wants. Jason slowly reaches a hand towards my plate to get my sausages.

I want to burst his cocky bubble in front of everyone.

“Actually...I’m going to give them to the dog. And by dog, I mean Ace,” I say, quickly grabbing all the sausages in my hand and feed them to Ace under the table. “You see, I don’t feed dirty dogs like you. Ace is a clean, loyal, and sweet dog. You on the other hand are a dirty, disgusting, slut who fucks anything with a hole.”

My sudden outburst startles everyone at the table. I see everyone’s wide eyes and open mouths hanging in shock at me.

Jason chuckles lowly. His eyes are full of anger and hatred for me. “What did you just say to me?” he asks.

“You heard me,” I reply with the same tone. “Unless you lost your hearing due to all the screaming from the banshee skank you brought home last night from only God knows where.”

“You know, you’re starting to sound like a jealous bitch. For someone who has claimed to hate me and not want anything to do with me on multiple occasions, you seem to be really obsessed about my sex life,”

“Oh please, don’t flatter yourself,”

“Y/N stop,” my mom says.

“You think I’m flattering myself?! I’m not the one who always checks myself out! You know, I always see you staring at me right?! If anything, you’re flattered by me!” Jason snaps.

“ENOUGH!!!” Bruce shouts.

We’re all silent but Jason and I continue to stare each other down.

“I’ve had enough of the two of you fighting! It’s old and it’s seriously ridiculous. It needs to end now. Your mother and I are going to leave for Spain tonight, and I don’t want to hear anything bad about the two of you while we’re gone. Now, apologize to each other,” Bruce says.

“Apologize to the princess? For what?! She’s a fucking bitch, who’s always bitching, and she’s basically the biggest bitch who ever bitched!” Jason yells. “She should apologize to me!”

“If I’m a fucking bitch then that makes you the biggest asshole here! You’re literally the most disgusting, disrespectful, lazy ass guy I have ever met! You have NO respect for anyone who lives here! Why should I fucking apologize to you?! All you do is drink, eat all the food, and bring random whores to our house and force us all to listen to you have sex!” I yell back.

“Our house? You think this is your house, too? I hate to burst your “bitching bubble” sweetheart, but this isn’t your house! You’re extra baggage that had to be dragged here! Your mom was wanted here; not you. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not even family!” Jason yells louder than before.

My bottom lip trembles uncontrollably. I feel tears running down my cheeks. I need to get out of here before I completely break down in front of Jason.

“You’re such a fucking asshole, Jason!” I choke out.

I quickly jump out of my seat and run up the stairs. After I slam my bedroom door, I throw myself down onto my bed and cry. I can even hear Bruce screaming his head off and tearing Jason a new one.

——————————————————————————

I wake up to an empty stomach. Rolling over onto my back, I rub my eyes and yawn. It’s dark in my bedroom; indicating it’s already nighttime. I reach for my cellphone on my nightstand and see it’s already eight o’clock.

I must have been really exhausted to have slept the day away. Those days usually happen after I cry a lot and feel like shit.

Mom and Bruce are probably already gone. Their Spain trip is only for the weekend. I’m seriously glad about that since I don’t know how I’m going to get through the weekend with Jason still around.

Maybe if I’m lucky he’s already at the bar and picking up skanks. That means I have time to eat and a few hours of silence for myself.

I decide to go downstairs and I instantly notice all the lights are off except for the kitchen light. Slowly stepping into the kitchen, I see it’s empty and that there’s a big box of pizza and two drinks; a bottle of beer and a glass of orange juice with the bottle of Vodka next to it.

Raising an eyebrow in question, I look around to see who did this. Noticing the back sliding door is open, I walk over slowly to peek out.

Jason.

On the phone and sitting at the patio table.

He doesn’t see me but I can hear him clearly.

“Do you think she’ll really like it?”

[greenygreenland]

Father! Garmadon & Reader: The Day I Died

-kinda inspired by the movie ‘A Better Tomorrow’ [it’s on Youtube if you wanna watch it] and my own experiences 

Summary: A few months after the Overlord’s ‘demise’ he returns and you find yourself feeling hopeless. Thankfully, Garmadon has your back this time and you aren’t alone.

NOTE: SAME TIME-LINE AS LIAR, SO YOU ARE THE GREEN NINJA INSTEAD OF LLOYD

Liar Part 1

Liar Part 2

Your mother was an amazing person. Sure, she left you and Lloyd when you were incredibly young, but only because she wanted to stop the final battle from ever happening to save you both from the pain of fighting your father in a showdown to the death. She may have left you, but she came back and tried to make it up to you even if it felt...odd to have a mother back after being alone for so long.

Your father was a different story. He was the imbalance that tipped Ninjago off its feet, the reason why you defied Destiny to become the Green Ninja, and the cause for all your suffering. He was evil, and sometimes, you wished he weren’t your father. 

Despite the venom running through his veins being vanquished, he hadn’t dared show his face around you ever again. According the rare passerbyers you conversed with, he had set up his own ‘lovely and successful dojo’ a few hours away from Wu’s Academy (you thought that was a dumb name). 

You weren’t sure if you wanted to be confused by how the former dark lord of evil could somehow attract people to his dojo or angry that he never bothered to visit. He knew where you were because your mum told you she talked to him a week ago. You didn’t know where he was because, well, how the heck were you supposed to locate your ex-adversary’s dojo in the middle of nowhere? 

So where in Ninjago was Garmadon? You decided to wait and see if he’d decide to show up sometime before you perished of old age, but he never did. A few days passed, then a week, then another and another and another. You waited, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he might decide to show up and tell you he was sorry for being absent for ten and up years of your life, but why should you expect anything when your whole life had been a let-down?

Being the Green and Golden ninja practically meant holding up the sky. You had duties, a reputation, and an incompetent family to care for. Not only that, but being a teacher at Wu’s Academy meant wasting your life away in a classroom grading paperwork. Before that, you sacrificed yourself to defy Destiny and save Lloyd from all the trauma and heartache you currently dealt with, and even way before that, you were his stand-in parent for your absent father and mother. You were done wasting your thoughts on the false hope that you’d get what all your students had--a family with parents who were actually there for you. 

“(Y/n)!” 

That broke you from your thoughts. You turned in your chair to face Lloyd, pausing for a second to blink. It was still odd to see him so tall since he magically aged up, so it took a second for you to adjust to what you thought you’d see. “Do you need something?” you inquired. Lloyd shoved a gi in your arms. “Put that on and hurry. We need to go, like now!”

“Now? But the others? Are they still on that field trip or--?” Lloyd slammed the classroom door shut. “I’ll explain later, just hurry up!” 

“Okay, okay!” 

As soon as you’d finished changing, Lloyd took you by the hand and ripped open one of the windows. “We’re gonna have to jump.” He broke into a sprint, but you yanked him away from the window. “What do you think you’re doing?! We’re on the top floor!” He yanked you towards the window with a strength you didn’t know he even possessed. 

“STOP LLOYD!” you shouted. “I SAID STO--!”

“Don’t use your elemental dragon!” he interjected. You were suddenly free-falling, clinging onto your brother like he were a stuffed animal. Oh, this was it wasn’t it? You’d die here, falling through a window as Lloyd reassured you you’d ‘be okay’. You screwed your eyes shut and wrapped your arms around Lloyd to break the fall, all the while preparing the goodbye speech you’d announce once you were dead. 

The landing came, but the impact was softer than you expected. Lloyd let out a light chuckle as you opened your eyes and took in the sight of the Ultra Sonic Raider. 

“Oh.” 

He snickered at you, wiggling out of your tight embrace and climbing in a separate compartment. You settled into the familiar leather, strapping in and closing the hatch as Lloyd revved up the engine. He closed his own hatch, and just as you were about to ask him about what the heck was happening, he slammed the petal to the metal. You yelped as your head hit the back of your chair, gripping onto your seat belt for dear life. “Lloyd, you’re going over the speed limit!”

“Well I’m sorry I can’t abide by the law when we’re about to die!” he sarcastically exclaimed. “The Overlord’s back, and he’s after our power!”

Your eyes widened. The Overlord was back? That couldn’t be. You saw him die--he vanished into nothing, leaving only your father behind and nothing more. Not only that, but what did Lloyd mean by ‘we’? He didn’t have elemental powers. You took his place so he could be how you liked it: safe. 

“What do you mean ‘our power’?” you grimly inquired. Despite taking the role as the Green Ninja, you knew that in theory it was possible Lloyd also inherited the same power you possessed since you were both A, siblings, and B, descendants of the First Spinjitzu Master. If he truly did inherit elemental powers, then all your hard work would have been for naught.

That was a scary thought.

“I,” Lloyd paused, heaving in a deep breath, “I have Golden Power.” Your heart stopped. 

Golden Power. 

Lloyd had Golden Power. 

How were you supposed to keep him safe now? 

You had the sudden urge to scream or do anything to let those in Cloud Kingdom know that you wanted to take the burden to your grave so Lloyd could have a better life than you. The burden would be miserable for you, but that was how you wanted it. Lloyd wasn’t supposed to share your burden, and you feared if he’d become as bitter as you. A sorrowful sigh left your lips as Lloyd frowned. 

“There was a falling street lamp and Jay would’ve been crushed if I didn’t step in.” he said. “I don’t really know how I did, but there was this golden glow around my hands and then it hit the pole and made it explode. I’m sorry sis, are you mad at me?” His voice was softer than the time he apologised for spilling juice all over your favourite book. You shook your head, running a hand through your hair. “Lloyd,” you began, “I’m not mad, I just--I just wish I could have done more. Maybe if I...or...I could have....” 

You gave up on trying to formulate a cohesive sentence, taking to shaking your head again. “I’m sorry Lloyd.” He huffed from the driver’s seat. “It’s not your fault that this happened. Maybe it was meant to be so that you wouldn’t have to deal with everything on your own.”

“Lloyd--”

“So what you’re my older sister? So what you’re supposed to take care of me? You’re always doing that no matter what it is, risking your life, your health, your freedom, your everything. You always forget that you’re still human even though you’re doing this and that.”

You sighed. “Lloyd, that’s because I have to. It’s my responsibility and--”

“So?” His voice shook. “I don’t want to be your responsibility anymore! You think I don’t see you stay up all night writing out how much you hate being the Green Ninja so no one has to hear you complain? You think I don’t see how much you keep giving until you’re left with nothing? The only reason why you hate dad is because you blame him for everything you’ve done.”

“I don’t blame him for my misfortune.” you icily retorted. “But it’s his fault for leaving. And because he left us, I wanted to make sure you grew up happy even without him and mom. I give so you don’t have to go through what I went through, but now look what’s happened. Destiny has been cruel and you’re the Golden Ninja just like me.” 

The rest of the ride continued in silence, something you were unused to around your brother. He was a chatterbox and loved to talk about the latest issues of Starfarer, or the newest video games, but this time, his lips were sewn shut. He didn’t utter a word, and when you asked if he was heading back to the Bounty, he remained silent. 

“Lloyd,” you gently said, “just tell me where we’re going.” 

His grip on the steering seemed to tighten, a sign that he was nervous. “You’re gonna get mad if I tell you.” You huffed, crossing your arms and frowning. “I don’t have a reason to be angry because you haven’t told me yet.” 

Another pause.

“You’re not gonna like this, but we have to stay here and lie low. The nindroids--they’re the guys who attacked us in the city--won’t be able to find us here.” He rounded a bend and stopped the vehicle. You opened the hatch and climbed out as Lloyd turned off the Ultra Sonic Raider. He followed after you, an apologetic look on his face as you made your way up a hill. 

No explanation was needed; you knew exactly where you were. The only question that stayed in your mind was, ‘why?’. There could have been a hundred other locations to hide so much harder to find than here, yet the ninja just had to choose the one place you swore to never set foot in: your father’s dojo. Being in the same building as him was something you silently said you’d never do after waiting for him to visit you for months on end. 

He was supposed to take initiative because he was your father, especially after everything he did. 

You had the sudden urge to weep as Lloyd took you by the arm and dragged you along. Maybe you could wait outside for everyone, or sneak away to some remote village where you could go into hiding alone. As long as it was anywhere but here, you were fine. 

Along the way, you passed Zane and gave him a wave. He smiled kindly as he always did, juggling the objects in his hands. “Did you run into any trouble along the way?” he inquired. Lloyd shook his head. “No, but I’m glad we didn’t because I don’t think I’m that good at driving yet.” You were about to interrupt and tell Lloyd you were staying out here, but he suddenly yanked you away from Zane and further up the hill. There was a beautiful waterfall behind the dojo that made you wonder how your father found such a serene place, but that thought left your mind as you stopped at the front doors. 

You sucked in a sharp breath as Lloyd took your hand, giving it a good squeeze before sliding open the doors. Soft, yellow light flooded the darkness, drowning out the stars and moon. Your father stood in the middle of the serene room, staff in hand as he lectured the class. Kai and the others waved frantically from where they sat as Nya whispered for them to shut their faces. Your father followed their pointing and waving, raising a brow inquisitively until his gaze met yours.

“Ah,” he warmly said, “if it isn’t my daughter and son, so glad you could join us.” You curtly nodded while Lloyd broke into a full-on grin. “Dad! It’s great to see you again.” He smiled in return, motioning for you both to come in. “It’s wonderful to see you both as well. Take a seat wherever you’d like, the lesson was just about to start.” You closed the door behind you as Lloyd gladly made his way inside. You followed after him, taking in every bit of your surroundings as you could. 

Jay motioned for you to take a seat on the floor between him and Cole. You swiftly sat down as Lloyd settled next to Kai. “Did you guys run into trouble?” whispered Jay. “We’ve been here way before class started!” Your father made his way around the room and sent Jay a look. “Silence!” He bonked him on the head, but not enough to injure your poor friend. You frowned, sending your father a disapproving look. He didn’t see it though since his back was turned.

“Close your mouth, and open your ears. Tonight’s lesson is the Art of the Silent Fist, to fight without fighting.” He turned to face everyone again. “May I have a volunteer?” The walls were suddenly real interesting for everyone, and you couldn’t blame them. 

“(Y/n) would like to volunteer as tribute!” Lloyd piped up. Your jaw dropped and you looked over Jay’s shoulder with wide eyes. “No I--”

“The Ultimate Battle, round two!” he exclaimed. You sat there for a moment until you realised there was no getting out of it, so with a roll of your eyes, you stood, making your way to the middle of the room. Your father still had a warm smile on his face, but you didn’t return it. “Attack me,” he said, “but please, no powers, I happen to like my monastery.” There was a collection of giggles and snorts from his students that set you a bit on edge. 

You rolled your eyes and threw a swift punch, aiming straight for his face. At the last second, Garmadon dodged and you ran straight into a wall. “You see?” he said. “The key is balance.” He set his staff on the ground to stand on its own before holding it again. “Let your opponent fight himself.” You gritted your teeth, this time throwing a roundhouse kick and then an uppercut. He dodged, and dodged, and dodged again. As you threw another punch, he yawned and that made you angry. 

You threw a punch first, then a kick, and finally another kick, but he kept dodging. Heaving in a deep breath, you ran towards him, readying a kick to put this so-called ‘lesson’ to a close. At the last second, Garmadon bent over, taking your arm and tossing you over his shoulder like a sack of flour. 

The world spun and you let out a groan. “Oh, (Y/n)...” mumbled Kai with a face-palm. The others followed, shaking their heads as you ran a hand over your forehead. “Pupils,” said your father, “I present to you the greatest ninja in all the land, the Golden Ninja.” There was a chorus of laughter that made your chest burn. You didn’t deserve that, or this, or the embarrassment leaking onto your face as you hauled your tired limbs off the floor. Nothing could have been worse than humiliation by the man you loathed.

Suddenly, you found yourself on that unforgiving sandy beach. You were on the Dark Island, preparing to prematurely confront your father before anymore harm could be done to you and the world. You couldn’t wait any longer, and so you had stepped in his way like an annoying fly that wouldn’t leave. You were going to end the imbalance once and for all.

“Easy, easy dear.” 

You blinked away the haze from your eyes, the familiar voice grounding you in the present. Your hands were balled into fists and green light danced across your fingertips. When had your powers activated? You didn’t remember doing that.

“It’s only a lesson.” your father said. His voice was gentle, and there was a gleam in his eyes that made you falter for a fraction of a second. You saw regret on his face, but you weren’t about to stick around to confirm your observations. Your arms dropped to your sides and you let out a curt sigh. “Sorry.” Your tone was harsher than you wanted it to be. “Force of habit." You saw the ninja and Nya frown. "I think I’ll excuse myself from the lesson.” You respectfully bowed and silently made your way out the door, ignoring the calls of your friends. 

The chirping crickets and gentle breezes of night helped ease the emotional pain building in your heart. You took a seat at the bottom of the stairs and placed your head in your hands. For a while, it was only you and mother nature savouring each other's presence. It left a lot of breathing room for you to think, so you did and reflected.

"May I ask why you are out here alone?" You met Zane's familiar eyes with a weak smile. "Hi Zane." He eyed the spot next to you. "May I?" You nodded and he sat down, adjusting his grip on the golden objects he tightly held. "What are those?"

"The Techno Blades gifted to us by Cyrus Borg before we were attacked. They can hack the system of a corrupted computer and are currently our only hope to defeating the Overlord." You nodded in understanding, allowing your shoulders to droop just a bit. "I can't believe he's back, it felt like only yesterday I defeated him."

"At times, one can forget to count the days." he softly said. You smiled as he scanned your face, taking in every single detail that cracked through your smile. 

"What bothers you?" 

You fiddled with your hands and shrugged. “It’s nothing, just...” 

“Your father?” You nodded and Zane scooted closer to you. “It is only logical you are unused to his presence. You have been separated since you were very young, so it will take time to allow him into your heart again.” 

You sat there in silence for a while, nodding in understanding as he offered a reassuring smile. The door of the dojo suddenly opened and Zane looked past your shoulder. He stood, taking the techno blades with him. “I will take my leave now.” You watched as he disappeared down the hill, sighing at the empty space by your side. 

“Hello (Y/n).” 

You jumped to your feet, balling your hands into fists like you were about to sock someone in the jaw. Your father closed the door behind and made his way down the steps as you relaxed your pose. “It’s just you.” you sighed out. Garmadon nodded. “Just me.” he confirmed. “About earlier--”

“It’s fine.” You turned your back to him, crossing your arms to hug yourself with an uncomfortable frown. He made his way down the stairs, taking a seat on the steps as you plopped down as far away as six feet could take you.

"The sky is quite beautiful tonight." You turned to Garmadon, raising a brow with a look of distaste as he kept his gaze focused on the stars. "When you were younger, you used to sit by your window every night," he smiled to himself. "You refused to go to bed because you were afraid of offending the stars amd moon."

You frowned, picking at a loose thread on your gi. "You remember that?" you quietly mumbled. He nodded, turning to face you with a sad smile. "Of course I do. How could I forget when that was your favourite pass time?" He paused, releasing a long sigh that really spoke of his age. "I know I have caused you and Lloyd so much suffering--something I wish I could reverse--but dwelling on the past won't change anything."

Dwelling on the past won't change anything? Now where have you heard that one? A bitter chuckle rattled past your lips. "Yeah, it's not like I spent everyday wishing you were there to give me the love and support I need. And it's not like I lost my childhood to take care of Lloyd and find a job when I was only fourteen and a half. I totally understand why it's best not to dwell on the past, but it's kinda hard when it's the reason why I'm who I am today."

You kicked at the ground absentmindedly, again avoiding the gaze of your father as if it were fire. "I don't understand why you're always absent. Even after the Final Battle, I've never seen you until now. At least mom stops by and drops something off, or sends post cards and photos of where she's been. She tells me she's missed me and writes letters, but you? I never hear anything--I've always heard nothing. Do you...do you even care?"

He sent you a heartfelt glance, but you ignored it, throwing a hand out to make a point.

"I probably shouldn't have expected anything because I'm always let down anyway. You've never seen this cartoon or movie? Well, course not, because I never had the luxury to sit down and take a break. How are your parents doing, are they coming to the school conference? Course not!" Your shoulders tensed and your breaths became shorter as anger finally took a hold of your heart. "One's been turned into an evil lord and the other's disappeared to find a way to stop a prophecy that could either make or break Ninjago from becoming a land of darkness! You know, I always dreamed of having a perfect, whole family, but that's never gonna happen, not when mum's always gone and you never, ever show up!"

You began walking down the last steps of the stairs, voice cracking as you continued. "I can't believe I began to hope something would change. How...how foolish of me."

You waited for Garmadon to say something, or anything really. Even if it was an insult, a scolding, or a yell, you would take it because then at least you'd remember how it felt like to have a parent tell you what was 'right' or 'wrong'.

Instead of shouting, he sighed.

"(Y/n)," he softly said, "there are three things I've been wanting to tell you for ages, but no matter how long I thought it over, I never found the right words until now." He paused and you kept your back facing him. "You have done all you could to protect Lloyd by defying Destiny to take his place. You became the Green Ninja to fight me and restore balance, then the Golden Ninja to defeat the Overlord and I combined. But now that Lloyd has begun to realise his powers, even you know that you cannot hold his hand much longer."

There was another pause that made your loud mind go insane. Why did he suddenly stop talking? Why had he gone quiet? Was he only saying this to make you feel bad for him?

You licked your chapped lips, clenching a fist. "Well? What's the third thing you wanted to say?"

"I am very proud of you."

Your heart seemed to weigh a ton as it sank in your chest and made your fingers go numb. You suddenly whipped around, marching back up the stairs with a look of disbelief on your face. "'I am very proud of you'?" you demanded. "You're just saying that! How can you be proud of a failure?" You placed a hand on your chest, giving it a good pat to throw your point across.

"I've...I've suffered and had to be a stand-in parent for Lloyd--heck, I even infiltrated Darkley's and pretended to be a boy just to w-watch over him!" You cursed your voice for cracking as you continued. "I hate you. I hate you for making me like this--for taking away my childhood and giving me all these burdens I can't carry! Everyday, I wondered if I was ever going to be able to save Ninjago when I knew I couldn't save myself. I've died a thousand times just to be who I am today, and I'm--" Tears streamed down your cheeks as you threw a hand over your face to hide your tears. "I--I can't..." You sniffled. "Where were you when I needed you dad?! When everyone else had someone, why did you...why did you leave me?" There was a moment of silence as you sniffled before warm arms were around your shoulders and hugging you tight.

"I wasn't there." admitted Garmadon. "I know I wasn't there when I should have been, even when I wanted to make it up to you. The truth is, I wasn't being responsible. I knew you would reject me, so I was a coward and feared the consequences of my actions." He hugged you tighter. "I love you (Y/n). I love you and Lloyd so much and I am more sorry for everything I've done than I can put into words."

And so you stood there in his arms, sobbing as he simply hugged you tighter. You didn't say anything, and maybe that was because you couldn't, so your father took the first step and released you from his arms, keeping a gentle hand on your shoulder. There were a few tears in the corners of his eyes but he smiled despite that. "It's almost dinner time. Why don't we head back inside?"

"Okay."

[mushyjellybeans]

Close To You (Bucky Barnes)

Pairing: Single!dad!Bucky x Babysitter reader Summary: You babysit Bucky’s daughter and over the years you fall in love with Bucky. Warnings: NONE, teeth rotting fluff. Word Count: 2,834 (it’s a longy) A/N: A one shot that was inspired from a conversation with @valkyriesryde​ and my submission for @ficsxreaderr​‘s writing challenge!! I’ve also re-written this 3 times and this is the version I was most happy with!

Taglists are open // Requests are open // [Masterlist]

If Bucky had to name two of his most favorite people in the world, his first choice would be his little peanut, his 6-year-old daughter Rebecca Winifred Barnes and his closest friend, his babysitter Y/N Y/L/N.

Bucky would have no idea what he would do without you now. He hired you just a few weeks after the baby was born just as Rebecca’s mom Dolores took off with his money.

You were an angel, and you were more than willing to actually work for free until he sorted his finances out.

He was a new, single dad and he had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t know how long he needed to warm the milk up, he didn’t know the correct way to feed her, or how to successfully change her diaper and you have only had a few weeks experience previously looking after babies but together, you both would figure these things out and there were no words in the world he could say to let you know just how appreciative he was.

Rebecca was now 6 years old, and she was just as sassy and sarcastic as her father. He, of course, blames her uncle Sam for the bad influence.

Over the years you have developed a very strong bond with the little girl. You made her sandwiches for her lunch box, you helped Bucky with her school essentials, you did her hair every morning. You effectively became a mom to Rebecca, she even called you mommy once or twice by mistake when she had zoned out and you called for her attention.

When Bucky sees his two girls bonding so closely, nothing makes him prouder. Bucky is in love with you, and he has to keep reminding himself you’re his babysitter and refrain from coming up behind you and wrapping his strong arms around your waist and kiss your neck as you’re cooking dinner for them. And if you wanted to be honest, it would have been something you would never reject. Your feelings were just as strong for him and they were for you.

Fear stopped you from saying anything, firstly it would make things awkward if you spilled your feelings out on a plate to him and he didn’t feel the same way, you would lose your job and would never see either of them again so for you it was just easier to keep quiet and try to bury your feelings.

For Bucky it was the opposite, he feared you didn’t see him as anything more than a friend and he couldn’t cope without you. He needed you and Rebecca needed you.

Hey Y/N! I have to Skype with my colleagues for a meeting in my office in 30 minutes, are you free to come to take care of Becca?

Your phone vibrated on the table beside your armchair, where you were currently sat with your feet tucked under you reading Pride and Prejudice. A smile crawled it’s way to your face from just seeing Bucky’s name.

You texted him back that you would be right over. Since you only lived 3 doors away from Bucky, it made it so much easier for times like these and you did tell him if he ever needed anything at any time to just send a text.

You didn’t understand how a woman would want to leave such a wonderful and kind-hearted man like Bucky. She had everything you wished for, a husband and a child.

Your feelings for Bucky got in the way of your dating life. Every date you went on you felt empty and wished it was Bucky sitting opposite you.

Bucky had only been on a total of two dates in the last 6 years. One successful but she wasn’t that keen on raising someone else’s child. And the second woman stood him up at the restaurant. He was devastated and your heart sunk for him when he kept questioning if there was something wrong with him, you wanted to tell him there and then you would never do such a thing, you almost told him but you didn’t.

Cheerfully walking up the long path to his house, you knocked a total of 3 times and walked in, taking off your shoes and hanging your bag up on the coat rack. Bucky had given you a spare key a long time ago and told you that knocking was unnecessary.

You walked through his spotless kitchen and stopped in the doorway of the living room, a smile gleaming on your face at the adorable sight in front of you.

Bucky was busy giving the carpet a quick vacuum, whistling to an unfamiliar tune as he didn’t sense your presence. His hair tied back in the nape of his neck, a red Henley that seemed a few sizes too small as his biceps were bulging out of the arms, his dark-clad jeans and his very manly Avenger slippers his friend and colleague Sam had gifted him one Christmas.

Rebecca had her little arms clinging around his neck with her legs dangling down his front clutching her favorite stuffed koala bear.

She loved clinging to her father as much as she could. Any time he would cook, clean, do the laundry, wash the car or work on his bike. If she wasn’t hanging around his neck or upon his waist, she would wrap her arms around his leg and sit on his foot. She would have his love and attention one way or another.

A loud giggle escapes your lips at the sight of them, you loved them so much. Your sound catches Bucky’s attention and a toothy grin appears on his day’s old stubble.

“Oh, Hey Y/N!” He greets cheerfully, turning the vacuum off and putting it to one side, putting one arm on Rebecca’s back to stop her from falling off. “Listen, I’m so sorry for the short notice but they insisted and I didn’t know what else to do.” He smiles apologetically, knowing you were probably at home reading one of your favorite books.

“Nooo don’t apologize please!” You rub your hand up and down his arm subconsciously, and it’s not until he looks at you with a surprised expression on his face that you realize what you’re doing, quickly pulling your hand away and putting down by your side. “I don’t mind. We will bake cookies and I can even get started on dinner.” You smile sheepishly.

“Cookies?” Rebecca grins with her missing front teeth and wiggling her eyebrows at you, causing you to laugh and nod your head enthusiastically.

As Bucky locked himself in his office for his meeting and apologizing for the tenth time within 2 minutes, you and Rebecca spend some quality girl time baking cookies and allowing her to decorate them as she wished.

“This is my favorite thing to do with you.” You say to the little girl who’s perched on the kitchen stool opposite you watching as your kneading the cookie dough. She gives you a goofy grin and you can’t help but pull a funny face at her, causing her to have a fit of giggles.

“I wish you were my mommy so we could do this all the time.” She says sadly, and it catches you by surprise. You stop kneading and rest your palms flat against the countertop looking at her with a serious but sad expression.

“You know what, sweetheart? So do I.” You say with a sad smile, rubbing her cheek with your finger. “C'mon, do you wanna do the honors and use a cookie cutter on my dough?” You lighten the mood and a smile plasters on her face once again as she ponders which cutter to use, you put the dough in front of her and watch with adoration in your eyes, how much you also wished for this every day.

You could imagine it perfectly; your husband working hard in his office as you spent time with the little girl baking cookies and watching cartoons on the couch or the three of you in your shared bed watching Disney movies, you on one side, Bucky on the other and Rebecca in the middle cuddling her koala bear.

Your talk with Rebecca didn’t go unheard of by Bucky. He was leaving his office to grab a glass of water when he heard the sweet exchange between the two of you, his heart shattering into pieces because it’s what he wanted too.

It’s been 2 hours since the cookies were baked, you were watching Tom and Jerry on the TV and laughing alongside Rebecca when Bucky reemerged from his office with a tired expression on his face, the meeting took a lot longer than he wanted it to and he was glad it was over.

Rebecca looked over the back of the couch when she heard her father’s footsteps. “Daddy!!!” She screeches jumping off the couch and running into his arms, he swiftly picks her up and giggles as she wraps her arms tightly around his neck. “Hey, peanut!” He tickles her ribs and she squirms in his arms. “It’s time for your bedtime!” He says, holding her tighter.

You realize the time and stand up, straightening your sweater out. “I could give her a bath if you wanna relax, I put some of your beer in the fridge for you.”

“I couldn’t ask ya to do that, doll.” The pet name slips out unexpectedly and Rebecca giggles at her dad’s surprised face, yours probably matching. “I mean uh… you’ve been with her all day and I couldn’t ask ya to do that as well.” You notice Bucky is looking at you differently, almost as if he’s searching for something in you. You panic a little if he had somehow heard that exchange in the kitchen earlier but you try to keep composed.

“I don’t mind, honestly.” You reassure him and he smiles lopsided and passes Rebecca to you as you take her upstairs to run her a quick bath and get her ready for bed.

When you’ve successfully tucked her and read her a bedtime story, you go back to the living room to say goodnight to Bucky.

You see the back of his head leaning against the back cushion with a beer resting on his thigh. You clear your throat as you approach, his head looking towards you with that unreadable expression.

“She’s all tucked in. I just wanted to say good night.” You smile as best as you can but you’re nervous and you’re sure he can sense it too. You probably shouldn’t have said that to Rebecca earlier, he was going to hate you for getting his girl’s hopes up like that.

Bucky isn’t sure how to bring the conversation up, so he decides now is the best time to inform you.

“I should probably let you know that I have a date tomorrow night. Will you be available?” He stands up in front of her and watches her expression change from nerves to disappointment.

A lump seems to be stuck in your throat at the thought of him on a date with another woman is in your mind, if this date went well he wouldn’t need you anymore.

But it wasn’t about you, your job was to babysit his daughter when he needed you to.

Not wanting to risk your voice cracking, you just nod your head and manage to put a big smile on your face, and Bucky knows it’s not real.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night Bucky.” Your voice cracks a little and you head off home, climbing under your duvet and crying your heart out.

And Bucky is satisfied, your expression told him everything he needed to know. He just needs Rebecca’s help. *** The evening came around a lot quicker than you would have liked. You slipped a cream sweater on with a pair of jeans and a pair of your comfiest shoes, it was almost 6PM and you figured Bucky would have liked you at his house a bit earlier to get ready for his date without his daughter hanging from his shoulders.

You walk up the long path and nerves are settling into the pit of your stomach as the lights are dimmed. You knock 3 times and let yourself in, taking off your shoes and putting your house keys in the fruit bowl next to the door.

“Hello?” You call out, expecting Bucky to be waiting by the door for you with Rebecca. You hear hushed noises and little feet padding against the tiles from the kitchen.

Rebecca runs and jumps in front of you, with a suspiciously large grin on her face and her hands behind her back. You kneel down to her level and quirk an eyebrow.

“Hey, Ms. Barnes. Where’s your father?” You smile at her attempt to not giggle.

“Shhhh I can’t tell you but you must close your eyes and follow me, I hold your hand! Let’s goooooo Y/N!!” She jumps excitedly and does as she says.

Your eyes are closed the entire walk to only she knows where. You’re apprehensive even if it is Rebecca guiding you someplace.

The strong scent of vanilla candles permeates the room.

“Rebecca is that candles I smell?” You ask in a chuckle, but seriously hoping she hasn’t been playing with them.

She pulls on your arm and you lean down for her to whisper in your ear, “you can open your eyes now.” She giggles and jumps in her spot.

You hesitantly open your eyes and it’s not at all what you were expecting.

Candles are lit everywhere around the room, the lights are off, a selection of movies are on the table in the middle of the room. Two glasses and a bottle of wine on the same table and a juice for Rebecca. But most of all is Bucky standing in front of the table with a shirt he’s attempted-but-failed to iron, his black jeans and instead of his usual long hair or bun, he’s trimmed his hair and slicked it back and shaved his stubble.

A breathy gasp leaves your mouth as you take everything in. And then you remembered he had a date and your heart dropped again.

“How do I look?” He asks, spinning around once for you.

“You look great. I’m sure your date will love you.”

“I really hope she does.” He says winking to Rebecca.

“Well, it’s 6PM, where did you want me to take Rebecca?” You change the subject, not really wanting to hear about the date. Your question erupts a laugh from the little girl and her giggles are contagious, causing you to giggle with her.

“Well, that’s the thing.” He starts, stepping slowly towards you. “There is no date. I just needed to know and I found out yesterday that you felt the same way I did.” He takes a breath and your mouth falls open.

“Y/N I don’t know how long we’re gonna dance around the subject. You mean more to me than just a friend than just Rebecca’s babysitter. You’re more like a mom to her and… wait for it because this is going to sound cheesy. But I’ve loved you for a really long time, I just had no idea and I understand if you don’t really feel the same way and I looked at it wrong but-”

“I do feel the same.” A watery smile on your face as a few drops of tears roll down your cheeks. “A life with you and Rebecca is what I want and it’s what I’ve wanted for so long, I actually cried myself to sleep last night because of your date tonight.” You chuckle embarrassed by the whole thing.

“I want the date with you, and I wanted a night in with my two favorite girls so I set this up, I hope it’s okay for now and I promise you a real date soon.” He smirks. “If I can find a babysitter.”

“What about Uncle Sam?!” Rebecca gleams up at her dad, he picks her up and rests her on his waist, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I’ll arrange it with him.” He agrees, holding his free arm out for you and you waste no time closing the gap and returning the group hug, burying your face in the crook of his neck as Rebecca rubs your head. Your one arm around Bucky and the other is around Rebecca as the three of you hold each other.

You’re the first one to pull back and notice they are both looking at you. Bucky’s eyes dances around your face, alternating between your eyes and lips and you lean up to give him the first of many kisses.

Rebecca giggles at the unfamiliar sight and groans in disgust, pretending to vomit over the two of you locking lips. She snuggles in closer to her father and it was this dream right here that came true.

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[storiesforallfandoms]

surprise performance ~ eminem

word count: 1288

request?: no

description: on the night of her first big award show, her boyfriend isn’t even responding to his text messages, but little does she know, he’s already there

pairing: eminem x actress!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist

i’ve had this in my drafts since the oscar performance and i wasn’t going to post it cause i didn’t think anyone would like it but fuck it it’s happening now

She checked her phone again as they called for another commercial break. She sighed in annoyance upon seeing that her boyfriend still hadn’t responded to her text messages.

On any other occasion, she wouldn’t have been this pissed about. He had just released an album and was working on a tour for the album, she understood that. He wasn’t obligated to go to these award shows with her if he didn’t have to, and she knew how much he hated award shows.

But this was different. This wasn’t just any normal award show. This was the fucking Oscars, and (Y/N) was nominated for her first Oscar! In the Best Actress category too! This was a big deal for her, and Marshall knew that.

She wasn’t upset that he couldn’t come as her date, that was fine. But the fact that he wasn’t even responding to her texts was starting to piss her off. He may be planning a tour, but she knew he had at least a second to text her to wish her good luck, like he always did.

(Y/N) shook her head, trying to let the anger wash out of her. The last thing she needed was to be caught looking upset and have every entertainment news outlet write an article about why she looked so upset - they’d probably even twist the story to make it seem like she was angry if she lost the award.

They announced that the show was starting again and advised everyone to return to their seats. The lights went down and a spotlight lit up the stage. Lin-Manuel Miranda took the stage to announce a segment about music within films, and showed a compilation of famous movie scenes that included famous songs.

The compilation had the room grooving along to the songs, (Y/N) included. It started to lift her mood, until the instrumental for Lose Yourself started to play and scenes from 8 Mile were shown. Her slight annoyance returned for just a moment, but seeing Marshall’s face on the screen, she couldn’t help but smile.

The compilation ended and the opening chords to Lose Yourself began to play. (Y/N) sat up a little straighter, not sure if she was imagining the situation. An entire orchestra rose from the floor, and Marshall was stood in front of them, starting to perform his Oscar winning song.

The entire audience was in shock but were soon jamming out to the performance. Marshall had the entire room captivated. (Y/N) was glowing with pride for him. Her face was hurting from smiling for so long.

When the performance ended, (Y/N) was the first out of her seat, cheering the loudest as everyone followed. Another commercial break was called and (Y/N) immediately ran for backstage, determined to find Marshall as soon as possible. He was stood talking to some producers of the Oscars, his back to her. She ran for him - at least as fast as she could in heels - and jumped on his back, nearly pushing him over.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” she asked, jumping off his back and properly giving him a hug.

“I wasn’t allowed!” he told her. “Sworn to secrecy. These fuckers had a snipper to my head on the regular. If I even hinted at it my head would’ve been gone.”

The producers laughed and continued on to make sure the rest of the show was going smoothly. Once they were gone, (Y/N) took Marshall’s face in her hands and kissed him.

“You could’ve at least answered my texts,” she told him. “I was starting to get upset. Full on ready to be a crazy bitch and start a fight.”

“You’re a crazy bitch anyways.” (Y/N) hit his arm. “See? You’re just proving my point.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come as your date, and I’m sorry I didn’t text you but I knew I’d accidentally tell you and ruin the surprise. I wish I could’ve seen your face.”

“Oh, I’m sure someone caught it on video,” she assured him.

“You know I would’ve walked the carpet and been in the audience with you if this wasn’t planned. I know this is a big night for you.”

(Y/N) smiled and leaned into him. “I know you would’ve. And because your surprise was so epic, I’m not as mad anymore.”

“Not as mad?”

“Yeah, I’m still mad cause you didn’t fucking tell me!”

~~~~~~

Instead of going back to her seat, (Y/N) decided to stand backstage with Marshall until the Best Actress category was called. Suddenly, she was filled with nerves. She was shaking so bad she could barley even see.

Marshall squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry about it, okay? Whatever happens, you’ll always be a winner.”

“That’s way too corny of a thing for you to say, say something insulting,” (Y/N) told him.

Marshall chuckled. “You’re a fucking loser.”

“Thanks, I needed that.”

The presenters gave a brief monologue about the nominees before presenting the award. The mere seconds of silence felt like forever as (Y/N) held her breath in nervousness. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest.

“And the Oscar goes to...(Y/F/N).”

(Y/N) nearly collapsed when her name was read out. Marshall wrapped his arms around her, holding her up while also hugging her tightly. Tears started running down her cheeks and she thanked her stylist for recommending waterproof mascara.

When she finally was able to compose herself, she walked onto the stage and accepted her award. She took a few deep breaths before beginning her speech.

“Wow, this is...wow,” she breathed. “I didn’t even prepare a speech, I really didn’t think I’d win. Um...first and foremost, thank you to the cast and crew. Everyone worked so hard to make this movie a possibility and, I know it’s cliché, but every one of you guys deserve this Oscar too. I wish I could just list off everyone but I’d be here all night. Of course, thank you to my mom and dad who were always there for me, who always hyped me up and told me I could do whatever I put my mind to.”

(Y/N) looked over her shoulder, spotting Marshall standing backstage, watching her speech. “And finally, thank you to the absolute love of my life, Marshall Mathers. Before I even met you, you were such an inspiration to me, and ever since we started dating you’ve been so supportive of me and you’re always pushing me to take any movie opportunities that come my way. You always believe in me, and if it weren’t for you I might’ve let this role pass me by. I owe so much to you, I love you so much. Thank you, and thank you to the Academy for this award.”

The crowd cheered as (Y/N) walked off the stage, gripping her Oscar so tightly as if her life depended on it. Everyone standing backstage cheered and congratulated her. She thanked them all quickly and made a beeline for Marshall, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him deeply, so lost in her happiness that she forgot the full room behind them.

“Let’s go back to my hotel room,” she told him.

“You don’t want to wait for the end of the show?” he asked her, although he didn’t look like he was about to fight back on the idea of leaving.

“Why? I already got my award. And this statue is pretty cool, too.”

Marshall smiled, kissing her again before wrapping an arm around her waist and escorting her out of the building.

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Prisoner Of OTP-Love: Sunset Shimmer x Scourge The Hedgehog

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

Credit for My Little Pony goes to Bonnie Zacherle

Credit for My Little Pony Friendship is Magic goes to Lauren Faust

Credit for Sonic The Hedgehog goes to Sega

Credit for Archie Sonic The Hedgehog Comics goes to Archie Comics

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

I had to edit this drawing today, because I needed to put my tumblr name on it, as well as edit out Sunset's third arm that wasn't being held by Scourge.

I mean it is possible for some humans to be born with more than two arms, or only being born with one.

and besides that one error I made on this drawing, I also had to edit the ends of Sunset's hair to have some yellow.

I believe that if I remember right,

this was inspired by Shadow Meets Equestria Girls,

it's a crossover and it's on Cryil Smith VA's Youtube Channel,

their channel and works is one of many Youtubers,

I want to be protected from the video/episode stealing shisno.

I really REALLY can not stand those toxic-youtubers,

you do NOT re-upload a episode of Helluva Boss on your channel,

to share it, if your gonna share it, put it in a link to someone.

I’m still not okay with finding out what that youtuber today.

and there is a reason why I put Redacted instead of their real youtube name.

when I was first looking up Helluva Boss, it was to see if episode 6 was out yet, but then I found that there was another episode stealing jerk.

if a youtuber is gonna re-upload a video from another youtuber,

it should only be if the original is off of youtube.

it’s because of most toxic-youtubers, that half of other youtubers

who don’t know where the original videos come from

and don’t bother checking the description below more carefully,

that the original ones end up getting false reported,

and if I had to guess, if you don’t inform that you have a youtube amv you made and uploaded on both youtube and at another video sharing site, and a person sees it over at the other place first

and then see it on youtube, it is possible they will not think they are the same person and will falsely report the video.

that might of been the reason for what happen to one of

the Undertale Amvs. either the person who false reported saw the sub version of it by a person who got permission, or they saw it on another video sharing site and then didn’t bother to ask before jumping the gun.

 later I am gonna write about how the Toxic-Youtubers

need to be stop, because of their taking episodes or amv and gmvs

without permission of the other youtubers that end up the victims.

right now I’m just going to post some drawings up on here.

I don’t think Sunset will end up in Shadow Meets Equestria Girls,

at least not to my knowledge.

too bad she couldn’t stop Discord, Celestia and Luna

from turning Cozy Glow, Tirek and Chrysalis to a stone statue.

could of used the Element of Empathy during that battle.

I still love the last episodes and all the other episodes of MLPFIM.

but if characters like Discord, Celestia, Luna, Star Butterfly, Scrooge McDuck (from the ducktales reboot) , Pink “Rose” Diamond,

and Mr Death’s girlfriend Miss Life from Adventure Time series

(worst Mom Ever of all time.)

do a Anti-Hero move, and end up hurting others who for what they believe is the fully the right thing to do.

no matter if Discord had turned Cozy bad or not,

it is possible that the reason why she was trying to get rid of the magic,

was because of how Unicorns (even if it’s not all Unicorns)

treat Earth-Ponies and Pegasus as second class citizens.

the only ponies that seem to higher in rank than Unicorns,

would be Alicorns.

in theory, the Bat-Ponies might be treated third class citizens,

seeing as no filly or colt or equine of the bat-ponies

have ever made much appearances or went to Twilight’s school of friendship.

let’s turn to the Buffalo in MLPFIM,

we know that the earth-ponies took over their lands and planted apple trees.

but it is possible that the Buffalo weren’t the only ones who lived in the land that would then become Equestria II.

before they were driven out, Tirek’s family ruled the land that would then become the new equestria.

and the three wendigos are possibly from the Equestria I,

before Equestria II was founded.

I believe that the wendigos are the spirits of the original sirens

that Stygian met and when he went to get help,

the three original sirens end up tricking three little filly sisters

those being Adagio Dazzle (the eldest sister)  Aria Blaze (the middle sister), Sonata Dusk (the youngest sister)

the siren gems end up bonding to the three young fillies,

and transforming them to sirens, while the originals

become the wendigos.

wendigos go after ponies with negative energy/magic,

the dazzling’s use to do the same until their power was taken away,

but it returned to them when they re-learned how to sing,

and it appears their powers might of changed a bit.

 find the magic is one of my favorite songs that is sung by the dazzlings.      

when the three of those sisters

(and yes they are really sisters in canon)

were tricked by the original sirens who then became wendigos,

Stygian did not see this and because of him and Starswirl and the others, innocent fillies that were overcome by the power that was given to them by the wendigos, were banished from equestria I.

over time the Wendigos frozen the land beyond healing,

and all ponies moved to another land, taking it over,

and driving it’s original ruling family and half of their people

to a new place, possibly underground.

the only ones that were left, was the native animals

such as the bugbear, chimera, cockatrice and other monster type animals.

the animals that weren’t originally from the land that would become Equestria II, were brought from Equestria I by the ponies.

the other natives of Equestria II besides Tirek and maybe even the changelings,

would be the Buffalo.

before earth-ponies became crystal ponies,

they took the original Queen Changelings Crystal Empire,

this was long before they become what they look like when we are first introduce them, in theory, I think they look like their reform selves

but possibly in Crystal form.

I wont force other fans to believe that theory,

but I see it as headcanon.

the earth-ponies that would become crystal ponies,

were welcome into the crystal changelings home,

but then were exiled by them and without the crystal heart,

they slowly became corrupt and starve.

over time the earth-ponies that took over their rightful home

became the Crystal Ponies, maybe by Princess Amore’s Grandmother.

I guess it could be possible that Amore didn’t know how the Crystal Ponies and her grandmother had founded the Crystal Empire,

not knowing it was the original home of the changelings,

and without the power of the crystal heart to share their love that would then in return feed them, they would slowly become the changelings that we end up introduce to.

I also have a theory that Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie

and Rainbow Dash from the human world, might really be the original ponies from Equestria, from the first season of when Nightmare Moon returns.

like what if when any pony finds out the truth about the history of Equestria, they were taken to that magic pool, cloned

and then banished to another portal to the human world

or the mirror to the human world was open by Alicorn Magic.

the only one who possibly didn’t have a human counterpart,

was Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer, well they might have in the fanon.

but we know that most of the humans we see in the human counterpart world, aren’t seen in Equestria.

what if Trixie from the human world, was really the original Trixie

who had used the Alicorn Amulet and after everything seem to work out in the end, Trixie was taken by Celestia to the magic pool,

cloned and then the real Trixie was banished to the human world.

even if most of the humans from the human world,

would be originally born humans, most of the humans could turn out to be ponies who were banished by at first Starswirl and then later Celestia.

at some point Celestia stop that kind of banishment,

and started to turn ponies into stone instead.

I think that half of the pony statues we see along with Discord,

were real ponies once, who perhaps were the original elements of harmony along with Celestia and Luna.

but they were betrayed by Celestia,

and when Luna found out the truth of what happen to their friends,

it gave her the final push (besides the other being jealous that their subjects seem to love Celestia more than her.)

to give in to the negative side of Alicorn Magic,

and transform into her dark half.....which is Nightmare Moon.

the Statue Pony that looks like they are holding a stroll,

might be the element of inspiration.

the book of the elements of harmony, was perhaps rewritten,

to hide the fact there was more than just six elements.

to hide this truth, Celestia took the elements that she and her sister could not use, and destroyed them and threw their shards into the human world, where they would end up in a cave

and then grow into a new tree of harmony for the human world,

and later their power will be given to Sunset and her friends.

Rarity was original suppose to be the element of inspiration,

but because of the word might not be understood,

it was changed to generosity.

it is easy to explain the element of inspiration,

it’s like you get a idea that inspires you, like drawing a fan art

or writing a fan fic or writing a story or drawing that doesn’t have to do with fan art or fan fic and or if you write a song or poem.

that is what is the true element of inspiration is like.

Trixie being the element of forgiveness in Princess Trixie Sparkle,

is awesome.

in theory if she ends up meeting Starlight in that fan series,

I think they would still end up becoming friends because of the bond they shared in the canon.

if my theory ended up being true, and not just a fan theory.

if the shards of the lost elements of harmony were destroyed by Celestia, then thrown into the human world and ended up in a cave,

and then grew into a new element of harmony tree, or what appears like a broken tree crystal rock thing.

then those broken shards would have some of the original powers of the elements that are still in equestria, in them which would grow each of all the elements, first the ones that are needed by Sunset and her friends, then when the time comes the lost elements would grow from that crystal rock tree stump.

one of those who might be the ones who represent the lost elements of harmony.

might be Trixie, Moondancer, Starlight Glimmer, Wallflower Blush,

Juniper Montage, Maud Pie, Vinyl Scratch possibly.

those who are the Neo-Elements of Harmony,

would have to be Smolder, Yona, Gallus, Sandbar, Ocellus

and Silverstream.

and if Cozy ended up forming a friendship and deep bond with those six.....she might of became someone who represented the element of empathy.

and those who represent the lost elements of harmony

might be Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara,

Silver Spoon and Silverstream’s brother.

there is always the comic series of MLPFIM,

and maybe Cozy, Tirek and Chrysalis

will be given freedom in the comic series...maybe, I don’t know.   

anyway I hope some of you like this drawing that has a ship

of Nicolette x Fiona and Scourge x Sunset.

 even if this was partly inspired by Shadow Meets Equestria Girls,

it is still possible that Sunset might not end up in that fan series.

but it be nice if she was, and Scourge fell in love with her.

if anyone can reform Scourge and understand why he became the way he did, it would be Sunset Shimmer. 

in this drawing Scourge captures Sunset, that is why he is the only one smiling and she is not too happy,

but it also hints that they will fall in love. 

and it is Scourge and Sunset’s love and bonding with each other,

will help Scourge reform, he will still be himself,

but be a bit different too.

well that is how I view it anyway.              

[adaodinson]

Would she?

Here´s the second part of Would she? I´ve had some free time and got the inspiration to write it. And one thing, I mention a movie called “Wolfwalkers” during the story, I highly recommend it, it´s a beautiful and artistic but deep animated movie.

Again, I´ll leave the translations to the Spanish words and phrases at the end of each phrase.

Relationship: Marcus Moreno x Fem Mexican reader (it is in English and most of the dialogues are too, her being Mexican is more about the story)

Summary: You are having dinner with the Morenos for the first time and a feeling of both nervousness and excitement covers both yours and Marcus´ body.

Warnings: Age gap, reader is Mexican, some swearing.

Part 2

Part 3

You woke up at the feeling of a small certain creature jumping to your stomach and purring softly. You blinked many times trying to get used to the light of the day and spotted your cat Wolfie staring at you. You turned around to see the time and as you saw your clock, you basically jumped out of bed scaring the living crap out of your cat. You weren´t used to the way your furniture was arranged in your new apartment, so it took a few more seconds than usual for you to find the bathroom.

-Shit, shit, shit- you said acknowledging it was 2 in the afternoon and realizing you wouldn´t have time to do everything you had planned to do. You had bumped into Missy for the second time yesterday and she had quickly told you dinner would be at 7 the next day, since earlier she hadn´t told you at what time you would be expected.

You had offered to bring dessert and you had planned making your famous chocolate chip cookies (famous between your family and friends, obviously) but you were waking up insanely late and still had to go out and buy all the ingredients. You hurried to the store and the second you got back home you started with the dough. While the cookies were in the oven, you went to your room to decide what you would wear. It was a simple dinner, you had no reason to be this nervous but you were. You cursed at the feeling that strange man caused on you and wondered how you would be able to make it through the whole dinner without imploding in your seat in front of the nice girl and handsome guy.

A pair of jeans, black boots, a white blouse with long sleeves and no shoulders and your favorite leather jacket. Simple but perfect. You looked in the mirror with satisfaction. Sure you had some insecurities about your body and face, but you were working very hard on loving yourself as you were, and with all honesty, you liked how you looked on that outfit. You got the cookies out of the oven and took a shower. Once you finished, you put on a light makeup and got dressed. It was 6o´clock and you only had to put the cookies in a plate and wait till it was time to go.

Marcus had woken up pretty early, he was a nerve rack not only because he would get to talk to you that same day, but because he had to make dinner himself and had no idea how he would pull that off without setting his house on fire or ending up ordering food and plating it to make it seem he had made it.

He decided he would try to make something simple so that he could put more effort into it: a pasta and some salad. How hard could it be? He had been stuck in his mind for so long he didn´t realize it was almost 3 and he still had to buy what he needed, so he asked Missy if she was decent enough to go to the supermarket and got ready to go.

She joked around reminding him all the things he had done in the kitchen that deserved their own TV show for how unique and disastrous they were.

-That time when you broke the whole carton of eggs in the sink instead of the bowl, or when you were making pasta but forgot the water so it got caught on fire. Oh or when instead of vinegar for the dressing you used vanilla- She said not being able to hold back the tears from how hard she was laughing-

-Ha ha ha ha you´re very funny. But really, I need your help, I don´t want to mess this up- He said as he pushed the car through the fruit aisle.

-I will help you, remember I like her too, I don´t want her to have to move again because her crazy neighbor made some pasta sauce explode on her- They both laughed all the way back to the car after buying everything. Rushing back to the house they started preparing everything.

They took turns so that one could be cooking and the other getting changed and ready. Things looked pretty good, nothing smelled weird, the kitchen was still standing, no vanilla and vinegar had been mixed up. Everything seemed perfect, almost too good to be true.

It was time, finally. You hugged your cat and asked him to wish you luck. He just lovingly stared at you and you took that as a good thing.

You were carrying the cookie plate and your bag while you locked the door behind you. You looked at both sides of the street before crossing and in a matter of seconds you were in front of the Moreno´s house. You took a deep breath and knocked on the door before your fear could stop you.

A shorter head peeked through the door as the owner of it opened it. Missy received you with a bright smile.

-Hi! Welcome- she said as she moved from the door to let you in.

-Hi Missy, how are you?- you said as you walked inside. It was a beautiful house, not too big but with enough room for two to three people. It was simply decorated but with a clear style and it smelled amazing.

-I´m good, thanks. This is my dad- She said as she pointed at the tall man standing next to you that for some reason you hadn´t seen. You looked at him and you swear you had to swallow a freaking moan from how gorgeous he was.

-Hello, I´m Marcus- he said as he extended his hand for you to shake.

-Hi Marcus- you said and then told him your name as you reached out for his hand.

-Welcome to the neighborhood and to our house- he said with a small chuckle. God, he swore you were glowing. You seemed so perfect, with your bright eyes and precious smile. He though your name suited you perfectly and he just couldn’t take his eyes off of you.

-Thank you so much for everything, it has been pretty hard for me to settle with the small amount of time I´ve lived here, but it´s amazing to know already I have such nice neighbors- you had no idea where that came form but you thanked your brain for coming up with it and your mouth for being able to say it so well.

Both looked at you with the same smile shining in their lips. They were so alike in certain ways.

They showed you around the first floor and then guided you to the dining room where the food was resting ready to be eaten. It all looked amazing.

-This smells amazing- you said happily.

-I hope you like it- Marcus said with a hint of fear in his tone.

-Be glad if you do- Missy said with a smirk and Marcus hit her playfully in the shoulder.

The three of you sat down and Marcus served all of you a generous portion of red pasta and salad. You stared down at your plate and smiled for yourself. You all started talking about your day as you tried the salad. Missy shared some stories of how Marcus had failed in the kitchen before and you shared crazy stories about your family. Like that one time when you got stuck at a parking place because your uncle that happened to be about ten blocks away had kept the car keys and the place was about to close; or that time when your parents were still dating (you weren´t born) and your mom drove you dad´s car into a pool by accident. As you told that last story Marcus laughed so hard some of his drink came out from his nose just like Violet in the Incredibles 2. Missy and you laughed so hard your stomaches ached.

It was time to try the pasta. Carefully, you used your fork to grab some of it and put it in your mouth. You had expected it to be an only tomato pasta, apparently it had peppers too, but since you were Mexican you were used to spicy and you loved it. You thought for a second you hadn´t told Missy where you came from, so you guessed they liked spicy too.

-JESUS NOOOOO WHAAAT- you jumped so high you almost saw the lamp that hanged from the celling in front of you. You looked at Missy who stood up from her seat and basically ran screaming through the kitchen looking for water.

Marcus´ face was covered in red and he looked at you with a strange look.

-You want milk for spicy sweetie! I´m so so so sorry, how are you not dying?- he asked looking at you. Okay now you were quite confused.

-What?- you said.

-Well the pasta, I mixed up some of the tomatoes with peppers and it´s spicy as hell. I´m used to spicy because of my mom but Missy isn´t- he stared down at you with a disappointed look in his face, but also a puzzled one. Why didn´t you react like Missy? Why didn’t you spit out the disgusting thing he had made?

-Marcus- you said with a soft chuckle- I´m Mexican, I adore spicy food and I´m used to eating it too, I loved the flavor of your pasta, it´s amazing. I didn’t tell Missy where I come from, so I assumed you guys liked spicy too and that had been why you made it like this. I honestly love this pasta.

Marcus looked at you and he swore he would never let you go, even if it was just as a friend, he wanted you around.

Without thinking and letting his arms move on their own, Marcus reached out for you and trapped you in a hug. He was as shocked as you were, but even more when you locked your arms on his shoulders hugging him back.

-¿Hablas en serio?- (Are you serious?) He asked softly wanting to know if what you were saying was true.

-Claro que hablo en serio- (Of course I´m serious) You answered quietly with a perfect Spanish pronunciation and a hint of laughter in your voice. You both stayed like that for what seemed forever until Missy came back and coughed softly.

-Are you done you fools? Or do you have another plan for almost killing me and then celebrating with a hug?- She asked with a serious look at first, but breaking into laughter at the middle of the sentence. The two of you split not daring to look at the other one because of the embarrassment.

-I´m gonna go get changed because I spilled half of the water I used before SOMEONE decided to tell me milk was better for spicy- she said as she walked upstairs.

You took another bite of your pasta and smiled at the memory it gave you about Mexico.

-So- you said swallowing what you were eating- Missy told me your job keeps you away from her a lot, what do you do?- you asked.

Marcus hadn’t thought about whether or not he would tell you about his job. He now knew you didn´t know anything about the Heroics because you weren´t from around, but he also knew you would eventually find out and, honestly, he preferred to be the one to answer all the questions you could have rather that you looking it up.

-I´m what we call a Heroic, I basically fight to defend people when needed- You did not see that one coming. Some people had mentioned the Heroics and you had seen things about them in the TV, but Marcus being one of them… it was AMAZING.

-WHAAAT YOU´RE A HEROIC?- that came out way louder than what you had planned. He smiled and nodded.

-So you´ve heard about us?-

-Well of course, but you´re one of them?!- that was too much for you, this man was perfect- So you have like a superpower or what?- You said expecting him to laugh and saying you were ridiculous.

-Yep, I can control metal, basically- he said amused at your reaction.

-WHAAAAT you mean like Magneto?!-

He laughed out loud at your comparison and with a gaze he invited you to lift your unused spoon for a demonstration. You did as he asked and with all the surprise of the world, you saw the utensil leave your hand and land on Marcus´.

-NOOOOOO THAT´S SO COOL- you said, and without thinking you stood from your seat, ran towards him and grabbed his hand to examine it. You both felt an electric current run through your fingers as you touched, but trying to ignore that, you carefully looked at each one of his fingers and traced them in a gentle way that made him melt.

He sat quietly and let you examine his hands. He was dying on the inside though. He was so amazed by your reaction and he even let himself run his eyes through you now that you were busy. He saw your hair falling at your side, it looked so soft he felt the need to touch it but held back. He ran his eyes through your back and landed his gaze on your ass for a few seconds but he scolded himself and looked away. He turned his gaze back at your head and to your face. You were looking at him as if he was the most amazing piece of art you had ever seen, and his heart sunk at the sight. He traced your nose and your rosy cheeks, then your lips and subconsciously he licked his.

Missy had been observing you two for about five minutes and was between amused and consumed by a tender feeling. You were going to have an amazing long-lasting friendship, or if life smiled at the three of you, a beautiful and romantic relationship that she had already decided she completely supported.

She decided it was time to interrupt though, she would offer you to watch a movie as you ate the cookies you had brought, and she did.

-Okay I´m sure there is a perfect explanation for why you guys are like that, but instead of giving me nervous unfinished sentences, let´s choose a movie to watch while we eat dessert- Marcus and you both stared into each other´s eyes for a few seconds with clear embarrassment and slowly walked away from each other. You were already missing the other´s touch.

You all finished eating dinner, and after washing the dishes you decided to watch a new movie that came out called “Wolfwalkers”.

-Oh my God, these are amazing- Marcus said with a pretty surprised look in his face as he tried one of your cookies.

-They really are, wow- Missy responded with the same surprise as her father.

-Thank you guys, I´m glad you liked them. I love making them so anytime you want some just call me-

-We don´t have your number- Missy said quickly before any of you changed the subject.

-Oh that´s right- you said as you took the piece of paper Missy was handing you and you wrote down your number. Missy gave a discreet wink to her father while you were focused on your task and he just smiled at his daughter.

The three of you sitting on the couch, eating cookies and crying over the beautiful movie after an afternoon of laughing and hugging. It was perfect. You were dying to know what your future with the Morenos would be like.

[hiddennerdworld]

Homesick (pt 2) with Koji Koda

Note: hello! I got a comment about doing this with Koda so here we go! This is going to be more platonic tho bc Idk a lot about them and being a best friend type seems more up their alley. Sorry if this isn’t what you expected. I still hope you like it :) (also trying to use they/them pronouns for Koda)

It was finally the weekend! After a rigorous week of classes and training you finally get a break. Everyone was kind of doing their own thing. Some were still training, some slept all day, some went out (with permission ofc). Koda had worked out early that morning wanting to keep on improving their quirk. Now it was late afternoon and they were reading in their room while looking out their window at the beautiful golden sky. It was rare to have moments like this where the dorms were quiet, so they were enjoying every second of it. Suddenly they heard a weird sound. They turn around to find their pet bunny scratching at the door.

“Whoa, hey! What are you doing buddy?” They whispered to the rabbit. It made a little squeak and Koda listened. “Okay we can go check I guess since you think something is wrong and there’s not a lot of people here. I’ll follow you.” They said as they opened the door. As soon as it could manage to get out, the rabbit took off. “W-Wait for me!” Koda still struggled to yell but has definitely gotten better with their training.

They quickly caught up to the lil fluff ball who was perking their ears up. Then it just went down the hall again every so often stopping to listen more. Eventually they both ended up in the common area where they found you on the couch silently crying. The bunny just ran up to you and jumped in your lap.

“No- wait - you can’t just jump on people!” Koda panics.

You giggle and pet the fluffy bunny, “It’s okay, Koda. I love animals, especially this cutie.” You just look down and continue pay attention to the rabbit, not wanting to make eye contact with its owner.

“Oh okay Y/N. Then you can cuddle them if you want. They love attention.”

“Thanks Koda.” You look up for a quick second and give them a forced smile.

“No problem! Well umm actually they came to you specifically.” They are also trying to avoid eye contact now, not wanting to push you with bringing up the elephant in the room.

“Really?” You raise your eyebrows and give a genuine small smile to the bunny in your lap.

“Ummm yea. Funny story really. T-they told me there was someone in trouble and we had to find them, which is why he ran to you right away. He could sense you were stressed.” They slowly stopped talking shakily and looked at you to say “Y/N if there’s anything you want to talk about I’m here.” They were being entirely genuine.

You were starting to sniffle again. “Thank you so much Koda. I really appreciate it but it’s stupid anyway.”

“No way! If something is making you feel upset, it’s not stupid. I promise I won’t judge you.” They were now sitting next to you on the couch making sure to let you know they were listening.

“O-okay.” You said shakily, trying to hold back the tears that were burning in your eyes. “I just really miss home. I know we’ve only been here for 2 weeks but I was hoping this weekend I’d get to visit my family. B-but the teachers said it was too soon. I’m not sure when I’ll get to go back.”

They placed a hand on your shoulder. Something you’d never expect from Koda, but you didn’t really expect any of this from them.“Hey. That’s not stupid at all. I know exactly how you feel. My mom was my main motivation for coming to UA and now I barely get to talk to her during the day. I miss her so much too.” You looked up and could see their eyes getting watery.

“Oh no I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you.” You jumped up scaring the resting rabbit.

They chuckled. “No, no it’s okay. Sometimes you just need to really feel these things in order to get through them.”

You were so surprised on how good Koda was at advice. They’ve gotten so much better at speaking their mind since the beginning of the year. It was inspiring really. All you could do was give a nod.

“It may not seem like it Y/N, but Class 1A is kind of like a family. It’s not the same as our actual families but we’ve all gotten closer than we ever expected after all the things we went through. When you feel like that piece of you is missing we’ll all be here.” They were speaking confidently while still fidgeting with their fingers.

You wiped the leftover tears from your eyes and looked towards Koda, making actual eye contact for the first time in this conversation. You both had slightly puffy red eyes but tiny smiles on your faces.

You leaned over and gave them a hug. Koda hesitated for a second but then reciprocated the hug. They wanted to be as supportive as possible. It was their goal to help people after all.

“Thank you so much Koda.” You whispered, still having some raspy ness to your voice. A weight was lifted off your shoulders and it was apparent.

“Anytime.”

. . . . . . .

The sun set and you cleaned yourself up after talking to Koda, getting ready for bed. Then suddenly you heard a knock at your door. You hear a muffled Mina on the other side “Y/N! Movie night in the common room in 10! Bring all the pillows and blankets you want!”

You squealed! Yay! You were going to get to have some quality time with friends away from your dorm. You grabbed your things after changing into PJs and headed downstairs. Once down there you found mostly everyone in front of the TV getting themselves situated and bickering over what you all were going to watch. Not even after being there for like 5 minutes you see Bakugou kick Kaminari off the couch earning a bunch of giggles from the others and complaining from Pikachu. You were trying to hide one yourself. Looking around the room trying to find a spot you see Koda. They gave you a smile and a thumbs up. You had no idea they were in on this, but now it makes so much sense. Koda really is the sweetest, you thought to yourself. You smiled back and mouthed “Thank you.” Just seeing you so content was enough for Koda to know they did something really good that day. They were even able to make a friend.

[writingchalamet]

I’m happy for you

kristineyoshaii said to writingchalamet:                                                                

Hi I love your stories 😍❤️ can I request an angst where Timmy and the reader are together but Timmy fell out of love with the reader. Inspired by Demi Lovato's song "stone cold" the line in the song " if happy is her, I'm happy for you" really got me. Thank you please notice me 😊

A/n: We do love a bit of angst don’t we. 1.7k

You didn’t know where it all went wrong. But you blamed yourself for allowing him to fall out of love with you, but how could you have changed his mind. As the saying goes ‘if you love someone, set them free” but you couldn’t deny the utter ache in your chest, or the constant lump in your throat, the sick feeling in your stomach or the panging inside your head. He hadn’t been right for months, it was as if he just woke up one morning and all the capacity to feel human emotion had been drained out of him. That wasn’t the Timmy you knew and loved so dearly. You idolised him, every aspect of him and wanted to help him through what ever hardship he was facing but he wouldn’t allow it.

You couldn’t begin to explain the numbing feeling of having him lying so far away from you in the bed, that’s where it all began, from tossing and turning in the sheets to taking himself down to the sofa in your shared apartment. That’s what hurt the most the night’s he didn’t want to be anywhere near you.

~~~

 You passed through the halls of your home looking at pictures hung on the wall of happier times. Pictures of him smiling brightly like he does pulling you close and nuzzling his face close to yours, all things you miss a great deal. Tears begin to burn your eyes. You step into the living room noticing him sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal, a book perched on the arm of the couch. The silence in the room was deafening. You had grown accustomed to it being so quiet you begin to hear piercing ringing noises in your ears. You take a seat on the other end of the sofa at least eight feet apart from each other. “I was gonna cook tacos for dinner do you still want some?” you mumbled quietly, gesturing towards the cereal he was eating at four in the afternoon. 

Afraid you’ll say something to frighten him away. “Yeah, sure.” He kept his head in his book but felt your soft eyes looking his way. “Need any help?” he muttered almost under his breath, you got the hint to leave him alone. “No it’s fine, I’ll just go get everything ready” you sigh getting up from your spot on couch and made your way to the kitchen. 

~~~

There were times his entire demeanour just changed completely when you walked into the room. You could hear him from the kitchen on the phone to a friend just bursting with exuberance, the tone in his voice was something you hadn’t heard in weeks, you followed the voice down the halls, your feet padded against the cold tiles leading you into your shared bedroom that he hadn’t slept in, in a while. He was pacing around laughing and smiling brightly something that made tears lightly trickle down your face. “Aw love you too Saoirse, see you soon okay!” His voice was so kind and soft and you felt your heart in your throat. Why was he neglecting you like this? What had you done? The second he lifted his head and saw you standing in that doorway the colour drained from his cheeks, he looked almost guilty, as if he knew what he was doing. Clasping his phone in his hands he slowly made his way towards you, you felt your heartbeat raise a little as he edged closer, but you were soon let down by the feeling of his body awkwardly brushing against you to get past the doorway. Your head dropped, along with your heart. 

~~~

You wanted to confront. But every time you mustered up the courage you took one look into those dead green eyes that once glimmered when you looked into them you couldn’t find the words to use. But today something had to be said, you couldn’t be quiet anymore and let your emotions eat away at you. You practically dragged yourself through the dimly lit apartment and followed the muted sounds emitting from the living room. You could here Timothée’s laughter scoffing at the TV through the closed door. You slowly opened it with a creak, your face flinching not wanting to disturb the boy anymore than you were already about to. Waddling over to the sofa, you sat beside him, closer than you had been for the past few weeks. 

He seemed to notice this and shifted his position slightly, turning more to face the arm of the chair, clutching the couch cushion to his chest. You let out a defeated sigh, he didn’t even want you next to him on the sofa. “ Is there something wrong with me?” Your sudden outburst and volume of your voice made Timothée jump, the past month or so you had both been barely speaking above a whisper. “What? No you’re fine.” The dismissiveness in his voice only egged you on further. 

“Then why won’t you talk to me? Or hell even look at me, or sleep in our bed?! I miss you, why are you hurting me like this? What did I do?” You raised your voice as you spoke, cracking towards the end, Timothée finally looked up and he could see the pain in your eyes, and it nearly broke him. He sighed, screwing his eyes shut, he finally turned towards you. “You didn’t do anything Y/n” he sighed. You shook your head rolling it onto the back of the sofa staring at the ceiling. “It’s me, I don’t know I - I can’t really explain it” he paused for the longest time. You turned back to him and tried to take his hand, something so simple but so meaningful, but the second your fingers brushed against his he retreated, standing up from the sofa. “I can’t I’m sorr-” you cut him off with a huff. “Am I that repulsive that you can’t even touch my hand! Timothée! We’ve been together for four years! Please tell me whats going” You rose from your seated position standing opposite him.

The tension in the room was thick, A lump was forming in your throat making it hard for you to breath, salty tears began to make their way down your cheeks, Timmy started to shed a few tears himself, the feeling that this was all ending was beginning to feel all too real for him. “I met someone.” Three words. just three words you never wanted to hear, that would shatter your world completely. To think that the man you were once irrevocably in love had met someone else, made your heart feel like it had been ripped to shreds. The room was silent apart from a few odd sobs and gasps for air. “Have you done anything with her?” something you didn’t want to know the answer to but you knew he owed you the truth. “No, I would never betray you like that, I couldn’t...” he trailed off, taking his tearful eyes away from yours to look at the floor which had become very interesting. 

“Do you love her?” Another question you also didn’t want to hear the answer to. “Yes” he spoke barely audible, head hanging low not meeting your eyes, you could see the tears falling to the floor as he made his confession. “Do you love me?” Your voice broke into a sob already knowing the answer, it pained you to know that the man you had been with for so long had slipped though your fingers while you so still so madly in love with him. A softly shook his head before breaking down into a sob, he fell forward pulling you into his chest, the realisation had finally hit him and it broke his heart, he didn’t want to let you go, but he couldn’t stay knowing he couldn’t love you with his whole heart. “I’m so sorry” he sobbed onto the top of your head, squeezing you so close, you had missed his smell and his touch, you clung onto him for dear life not wanting to ever let him go. 

When you both finally pulled apart you looked at each other with saddened eyes, you looked around the room you standing in and all the memories that filled it. One of you had to leave you both couldn’t stay here. But you didn’t have the heart to go and you didn’t have heart to tell him to leave either, in all honesty you wanted him to stay. “I’m gonna call my mom and see if I can crash at their place for a while, just give us some time you know” he let out a breath before shuffling into the bedroom to pack a bag, leaving you standing there with your thoughts.

~

You heard him dragging bags to the front door ready to leave, you jumped from your seat wanted just one more look at the boy you always thought you’d spend the rest of your life with. He looked defeated, Wearing a hoodie and sweats, his soft curls were dishevelled and going all over the place, his eyes were red and swollen and his lips were puffy, nose dripping, but you still loved him. “ Timmy?” You spoke softly peaking round from the doorway, he turned his head to the side to meet your gaze. “does she make you happy?” He shut his, reopening them before answering “yes.” he sighed, nodding his head plainly. “I’m happy for you.” You nodded your head giving him the faintest bit of smile before turning away “I love you Timothée” You whispered, but you know he heard it, and you’re glad, you wanted him to know that he still holds your heart. 

Timothée practically threw his bags in his car before slipping into the drivers seat. He hit the steering wheel several times a sudden burst of anger and pent up tension all pouring out at once. He couldn’t help the tears falling from his eyes. The words ‘I’m happy for you’ rang in his ears, you were so kind and thoughtful and that was something he had always loved in you, It broke his heart he couldn’t love you back. But you deserved someone who could love you to their full potential, not half heartedly.