#best friends and brothers... forever... in every life... sniffles. turns around and cries into the corner

[mikethebrave]

[darkenedreaper]

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader, Avengers x Reader

Featuring: GoTG, Peggy Carter

Warnings: Angst, sad I suppose

Summary: 2 years after her death, your struggling even more. And it’s killing the team to keep their secret. (I changed Endgame because I can. Come at me. I might make it into chapters.)

Masterlist

‘It can’t be undone’ she said

*2 years ago*

You had gone through years with her. Years with the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. You had gone through love with her. You had gone through the 5 years with her. You had gone to Vormir with her. Yet you had won the final fight without her.

When you all came back from the time travel success you had to try and keep yourself from collapsing. You saw the others standing with smiles on their faces but all you saw was her. Her lips and eyes pleading you to let her go. Her body descending forever. And her sprawled out onto the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her head confirming Natasha Romanoff no longer wondered the earth.

“Are you telling me this actually worked?” Rhodey questioned, followed by Thor’s wheezy laugh. Their faces became confused when they heard a long bang. You have dropped down onto your knees, stone in hand and body wet from wherever you had been teleported to after she had sacrificed herself.

“Y/n where’s Nat?” The big green guy said. Your eyes were stuck in front of you. A sorrowful look on your face. You couldn’t even move. You couldn’t speak. You could’ve all been there for hours or seconds. But Steve lifted you up by your arms and tried to read your expression. With the help of Nebula you were taken to your bedroom you shared with Natasha. The both of them tried to gently take you to the bed but instead you walked shakily to the bathroom and shut the door. Of course Steve was upset. He had a lost a part of his family. He had shed tears while he walked with you. He could only imagine what the scene must’ve been for yourself. The unspoken news of his friends death was indescribable, but having to be there in an unimaginable situation would’ve been even harder. And he understood that. Nebula grieved, she barely knew the woman. But she grieved. She saw the distraught and pain on your face and in your eyes. She placed her hand on Steve’s shoulder and took him out of your room.

In the bathroom you had caged yourself into. You had your hand gripped to the sink. Your eyes trained to the sink bowl. Your eyes drifted to the left for you where her makeup and hairbrush had been layed out this morning. You took a step back, nervously clasping your hands together. You tried to calm down before someone got hurt. You looked down at your hands and you were maintaining some level of sanity before you remembered that your hand had let her go. If anyone would walk past your bedroom door, they were bound to hear glass smashing and screams and words of anguish.

You didn’t speak to anyone. You completely shut yourself down. The only reason you spoke to someone was to communicate over the earpiece when you were fighting. There was a short debate over the coms as to who was going to steal the stones from Thanos. You nearly went into a fit of rage and upset before Carol ordered you to look into her eyes. Your excuse to use the stones was so you could be with her again. When Tony clicked his fingers the enemy became dust, and the world became a little more louder and a bit more lighter. The battlefield was filled with new and old faces. Tony’s snap had been so powerful he was able to bring back the people that mattered the most to those around him. Steve had Peggy in his tired arms. Clint had Laura and his children. Wanda had Vision. Quill had Gamora. Thor had his mother and brother back. Tony had Pepper. He was unharmed and Bruce’s arm had healed. Everyone had someone. You had someone. You had your whole family. But your special someone was Natasha. You had never felt so lost. Natasha would be holding you, you holding her. She would tuck your head into her shoulder while letting your arms envelope around her. But all you got were sad looks.

Some of the ‘newbies’ had questioned their closest. After a lot of loud whispering, there was silence. The battlefield was silent in memory of Natasha. The only noises were the hundreds of sniffles and sobs of those who had the news broken to them. The dying fires crackling. The next minute footsteps were approaching you. You had internally begged for it to be Natasha. But you looked up to see a short boy. His suit red and blue with a spider on it. His brown curly hair was tinted with grey. His teary eyes gave you the saddest smile before and steadily put his arms around your shoulders. You accepted the young boys embrace. You were thankful for it.

The news were around the place as quick as they could’ve been. Pictures were taken. Statements were took. The public had tried to surround the heroes but were pushed away by the helping police. It has been released to the enormous crowd that one of the most heroic heroes had died. The crowds became distraught. They sounded like how you felt inside. They tried to surround you and shout out their condolences but you kept walking. Where to? Who knows.

*2 years later/present time*

You spoke to no one. You spoke out in bursts of anger. Anger if someone tried to tell you to come away from your desk and to stop working and trying to find a way. Peggy, Steve’s wife, had became close to you. She understood how it felt to lose a loved one. She understood she wasn’t Natasha. She understood why you were working yourself so hard. She would never judge you, if you looked all disheveled or smelt from not taking a shower. She encouraged you to do your best, but she never pushed you. 2 years ago, you found a solution to stop Thanos. 2 years ago you lost her. 2 years ago Steve returned the stones. You haven’t been able to go through any videos or voice messages of her. Just a photo that you have framed. There were and still are memorials for her, but you would never attend any.

You had only cried to yourself. But right now you were on the edge of having a definite breakdown. Tony and the whole team of Avengers, Wakanda, GotG and Carol had wanted to check in as you had been back to Vormir. Which you greatly regret. Scott had made an extra time travel refill for you. All you were told by red skull was a ‘soul for a soul’. You argued with a ghost. You lashed out a ghost. You didn’t dare look to the edge. Knowing you would either throw yourself of or cry so much you wouldn’t be able to move.

They all met you at the Compound. At the platform that sat on top on the lake.

Steve and Peggy. Tony and Pepper. Rhodes. Bucky and Sam. Clint and Laura. Thor and Loki. Bruce. The Guardians were there. Rocket was by your side. Peter was there with Happy. Carol was at the edge of the platform. Wanda and Vision. And the rest were all there. You had your back turned to them. You were silent trying to understand why they all had such guilty faces, except Thor. They all had a secret. One they had agreed to not tell you, for fear it may completely break you. But they decided enough was enough. They had to tell you.

“Look we need to get her back to stop this shit with the Avengers get it together.” Thor spat at Steve, as he still saw him as the Captain.

“Can’t get her back.” You spoke up, causing everyone’s attention on the two of you.

“Wh..wha..what are you..?” Thor mumbled out.

“It can’t be undone. It can’t.” You said quietly looking at him from over your shoulder.

He laughed at your words before saying, “Look.. I, I’m sorry but your a very earthly being okay, we’re talking about space magic and can’t seems very definitive. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah look I know that I’m way outside my.. my paid rate here. But she still isn’t here is she?” You said. Tony took of his sunglasses, getting upset.

“Yeah well that’s my point.” Thor said in a hushed manner.

“It can’t.. be undone.” Your voice cracking, your tears had crawled their way down your face now. “Or that’s at least what the red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him. Ok, go grab your hammer and you go find him you talk to him!” You yelled at him. He looked down to the floor. You shouldn’t be angry with him. He missed Natasha. But you couldn’t help it.

“It was supposed to be me.” You admitted with a breaking voice. Bucky let a tear fall freely from his eye. “She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone, she bet her life on it.” You started to breakdown in the middle of everyone. Angry at how she could’ve died for nothing. How it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Even Wanda began to breakdown. She felt your pain from far away. Your longing. And your grieving. Rockets fur was wet as he was upset just like everyone else.

He couldn’t take it anymore. The lies. Not the acting. But the lies. Clint stood up and said, “Y/n we’ve been lying to you. Natasha is here. She’s perfectly fine. She’s alive. You just can’t see her.” No one else bothered to look up as he said what was needed to be said. You slowly turned around to him. “What?” Was all you could choke out. Steve stood up and walked towards you before keeping a distance. “When I returned the stone. He told me that we could all get her back, after all it was a soul for a soul. But the one who travelled there has been cursed. You can’t see or hear her and I don’t know if you ever will. But she’s alive.”

You took time to observe his words.

She was standing in front of you. Her arms crossed but her eyes were stuck on your face that was wet from the tears you had cried. Your eyes brows moving in a sorrowful way. She wasn’t crying for herself no. She cried for you. For your pain. She had never seen you so upset. And because she had been with you ever since she got back, she’s had to watch you cry almost every day.

Natasha wishes you could see her. She has been next to you this whole time. She was gone a few hours and then she was back. She couldn’t find you and instead ran into Sam who held her tightly. Instead she sped off to Tony’s cabin where she found Bucky and Steve, who explained everything.

She wishes you could hear how proud she is of you. She wishes you didn’t have to see you break yourself and live in your mental anguish. It hurt her. Every night you fell asleep at your desk, she would drape a blanket over you, and almost cry at your confused state in the morning of who had been to your office and covered you.

She wishes you hadn’t been traumatised by her silly yet heroic actions. She wishes she could tell you how much she loves you and how she wants to be held by you and she wants you to be able to hear her words, “I love you.” The others heard it. But they didn’t dare tell you.

She was determined to get her words to you. If not by speaking to you then by page. Determined to prove that she was with you all of this time. She wants to tell you how much she loves you.

She wishes there was a way.

If you would like a part 2, let me know.

[arcadianmoonshadowjedi]

Moving On...

Hey y’all! This is my first fanfic I wrote for the TOA fandom and I’m excited to finally share! Since I felt pretty unsatisfied and disappointed by the ending of ROTT, I felt the urge to write my own version rott fix it fic. This is a pretty bittersweet ending I came up with where Jim makes a different decision with the Kronisphere. I hope this provides you with closure and most importantly, enjoy!

~~~

Heart Shattered, speechless, Jim just couldn't accept that Toby was gone. Tobes, his lifelong best friend since they were kids, gone. If it weren't for his sacrifice, Jim wouldn't have defeated Bellrec and saved the world. When he finally let go of Toby's hand and stood up, he was hugged tightly by Blinky, his surrogate father. He couldn't stop trembling as everyone around him cried. Claire ran to him for a comfort hug. He knew that no one was able to recover from everything they've been through. He was already missing Toby now.

"Master Jim," started Blinky as everyone looked at the green ball rolled towards them. "The Kronisphere" Jim wiped his tears and knelt down to pick it up.

                        The Kronisphere will make everything right.

Nari's soft voice rang in Jim's head as he figured out its purpose. Time. He could start all over and bring back everyone he loves. Toby, Strickler, Nari, Nomura. Not just them, but everyone he'd lost on his trollhunting journey, Merlin, Draal, Vendel. He noticed everyone around him staring at him waiting for him to make a decision.

"It's your choice, Master Jim," Blinky smiled at him. "Just know, you will always be my son. My magnificent son." Jim knew that behind that smile was a lot of wariness. Aja and Steve held hands tightly and lovingly as they looked on. Then there was Claire, the love of his life who stood across from him with teary eyes. They've been through so much together and he couldn't ask for a better soul mate.

The heroes of Arcadia have all been through so much together. They defeated Gum-Gums, Morgana, Morando, the Arcane Order. Jim turned to look at his fallen best friend and burst to tears once more. He and Toby went through so much in their trollhunting adventures and have had so many victories together leading up to this. Jim clenched the Kronisphere in his fist.

"No" he said as he tossed it. "We've made it this far. We've finally won! We can't just go back and let that all go," With Excalibur in his hand, he lifted it into the air and delivered the blow that would destroy the Kronisphere once and for all to prevent it from ever falling into the wrong hands.

Jim had never been this determined before despite all the pain he felt. "Toby and everyone we lost sacrificed their lives to save the world we live in. If we go all the way back, we not only throw that away, but we bring back everything we fought to destroy." Jim paused and took a deep breath. "We need to honor their memory by moving forward and rebuilding Arcadia for the better,"

He finally knelt down by his best friend and held him tightly in his arms one last time. "Goodbye Tobes," he whispered as tears fell from his eyes onto his friend's cheeks. "Thank you for everything buddy, you'll always be in my heart." Finally everyone knelt down and paid their respects to their fallen friend. Aaarrrgghh, finally recovering from his mental breakdown, approached and knelt down by Toby, grabbing his hand. "Goodbye... wingman,"

*** 

In the days to follow, on a dark, gloomy morning, the remaining trollhunters gathered along with the Arcadian citizens to mourn those they have lost along with the destruction of their home. All dressed in black and surrounded by rubble and debris, they held hands and sought to comfort one another. 

After giving Toby the proper burial he deserved, Jim walked up to the podium and grabbed the mic, looking ahead at the grieving audience. Darci grieved her beloved T.P. as her father and Mary held her tight to comfort her. Nancy Domzalski wailed uncontrollably in Varvatos's giant arms. "I should've said goodbye to my Toby Pie when he went off to college," she sobbed harder as Varvatos stroked her gray hairs with his three fingers. "Your grandson fought with valor and honor. He had... a glorious death," 

Claire stood with Barbara who was grieving her fiancé and they held hands as they looked towards Jim, encouraging him before his speech. He cleared his throat and finally spoke. 

"Tobias Domzalski was more than just my best friend and fellow Trollhunter, he was my brother. He's always been there for me  since we were kids. He always supported me in all my adventures and I know for a fact I wouldn't be the trollhunter I am today if it weren't for him. I couldn't have asked for anyone else to find the amulet that day in the canals. He was with me from the start, and he will always be with me," Jim placed his hand over his heart and looked up to the sky, smiling with tears in his eyes. "Rest in peace Tobes. I'll always remember you," 

As Jim stepped away from the podium, a round of applause along with sniffles came from the audience. Everyone walked towards the pictures of Arcadia's fallen heroes and placed flowers and other things they've remembered them with. 

Jim and Claire walked towards each other and reached out for a heartwarming hug.

"You did great up there," Claire whispered in his ear as she stroked his hair. He held her even tighter and buried his face in her shoulder. They looked at each other tearfully and lovingly as they held each other tight. 

"I love you Claire, always and forever," 

"I love you too, Jim Lake," 

They held each other once again, not intending on letting go anytime soon. 

*** 

In the years to come, the citizens of Arcadia all worked together to rebuild their beloved home while Blinky and Aaarrrgghh rebuilt Heartstone Trollmarket from the revived heartstone, inviting the trolls from Hoboken, the quagawumps, and from all around the world to come help them and live there. The citizens of Arcadia were eventually welcomed to Trollmarket as friends and trolls would always be welcomed to Arcadia to spend the night with their fellow humans. 

As for the fallen heroes, they each had statues built in Arcadia. Despite the Hero's Forge always having previous Trollhunters chosen by Merlin, Toby had a statue of him built there by his wingman with his warhammer in his hand. To honor one of his valued customers, Stuart renamed his taco truck Toby D. Burritos. Strickler's portrait was hung at the school where everyone would see. The museum honored Nomura by showcasing troll, extraterrestrial, and magical history and promoting harmony. Last but not least, a vast, colorful garden was planted in the center of town in memory of Nari. Each and every one of their stories, along with those of everyone who fought for Arcadia and the world, would continue to be told for centuries to come. 

The remaining heroes of Arcadia all went their separate ways, but not after a heartfelt goodbye. They each promised to stay in touch and to unite wherever the fight takes them. Douxie traveled to Hong Kong after receiving a spare Horngazel from Trollmarket to save Archie and Charlemagne, always keeping a flower pot with him. Steve moved to Akiridion-5 to be with Aja and to become a co-Earthen ambassador with his fellow Creepslayer Eli. Nancy was unable to stay in Arcadia any longer on her own, so she moved to Akiridion-5 to be with Varvatos, but always kept her Toby-Pie in her heart. Krel stayed in Arcadia and helped advance the technology available on Earth and promoted further education on extraterrestrial presence at the high school. Barbara continued to save lives in the hospital while also strengthening ties between humans and Trollkind. She never stopped wearing Walt's engagement ring and always made sure to keep his memory alive. 

As for Jim and Claire, they eventually married and built their home in Arcadia. They had a girl, Deya Nuñez-Lake and a younger boy, Toby Nuñez-Lake. The two kids would never get bored of hearing their parents' trollhunting adventures and the story of Toby's heroism and sacrifice before bedtime. They were always eager to accompany their parents to Trollmarket and role play their parents' adventure with their favorite troll Aaarrrgghh. They also loved when Blinky would share trollkind's marvelous adventures from the start of time. 

Arcadia had become an attraction site known worldwide for all the crazy magic and extraterrestrial activity that people would crave to visit in their lifetimes. It may have been at peace in recent times, but that doesn't mean there wouldn’t be any future threats to come. But the trollhunters battled life-threatening wars in the past, and would be ready for whatever comes their way.

~~~

Thank you so much for reading this! This definitely took a huge toll on me to write and I was pretty emotional but writing this helped me cope with my disappointment with the movie’s ending. I do plan to do another fix it but with a happier ending where Toby and Strickler are alive so stay tuned!

[haloshornsinkstains]

Carrying This Imagination, I'll Go

The aftermath of the Inarizaki vs Karasuno game and how it affected y/n, their manager, and her relationship with the team.

Kita x F!Reader (but its pretty mild)

cw: female reader, attempts at writing Kansai dialect

a/n: i’m debating turning this one into a series, I have ideas and I've written some of it past this chapter but still it may be a while between chapters if I do. At least until work eases up and I’m not pulling overtime so much.

As the ball hit the floor you felt your heart lodge itself in your throat, grip white knuckled against the edge of the bench as your muscles screamed at you to move. There would be time for that later, you told yourself, blinking back tears as you watched your boys congratulate the other team before turning to line up and bow. The few simple words of thanks lingering in the air like the bittersweet sting of a wound. They filed out of the hall, a line of bowed heads and black jerseys, and still you couldn't let yourself move. Not until the coach rested a gentle hand on your back did you unfurl your fingers and slowly push yourself to your feet.

"C'mon l/n. They'll need ya around."

You nodded, exhaling a long sigh as you glanced towards the bottles on the side. "I'll get water."

You didn't see his small frown as you collected the empty bottles and headed for the taps, smiling at the other teams manager as you passed. 

"Hope to see ya around. Good luck."

She smiled softly in return and you could almost feel the burning jealousy of her team on your back. Not that you could blame them, she was gorgeous. 

"For once he's right." You chuckle. "Next year Shin, ya better be watchin' us 'cause we're gonna win Nationals."

Later you carried the newly filled bottles through the corridor, listening for the loud shouts of your idiots. You find them not long after by the stairs, just in time to hear the Captain's soft spoken admission and Atsumu's impassioned reply. You smile up at them, holding the bottles aloft.

"Yeah! An' when I'm a famous volleyball player yer better tell all ya friends that ya taught me!"

You shake your head and behind him Suna laughs, clapping one hand on the blonde setter’s shoulder. “Oh don’t worry Tsumu, I’ll tell everyone plenty of stories about you.”

You dissolve into full blown giggles, memories of the plentiful escapades of the Miya twins flashing behind your eyes and the bottles of water forgotten at your feet. You don’t see the way Kita’s face softens into a smile as he watches you, the pain of the loss softened a little by the antics of his team. Suna though, his analytical gaze doesn’t miss the affection in the captain's eyes, and he nods his head just a little at the older man. Eventually your breathing evens out and you wipe a few stray tears from the corners of your eyes, nodding towards the water bottles.

“Well I didn’t lug all this water here for ya to not drink it! It was a long game, grab a drink everyone.” You hand out the bottles with a smile, turning to glance over your shoulder once they’re all drinking. “When yer all done we’re heading back to the hotel, and you stinky boys are going straight to the bath.”

“Oi! We don’t stink!” Atsumu’s outburst sent water and spit flying all over Osamu and Aran, and you burst into giggles all over again as both men smacked him in retaliation, Osamu yelling at his twin for being a disgusting scrub.

Before another fight could break out between the Miya’s you heard Kita clearing his throat, levelling them both with a stern look. “A hot bath will do all of our muscles good.”

You offered him a soft smile in return and nodded. “See, Captain knows. C’mon stinky boys.”

Amidst the grumbles the team headed back towards the bus, you falling into step besides Suna with a chuckle. Gently you bumped your shoulder against his arm.

“You did real good out there Rin. Glasses really got on yer nerves huh?” You hummed, glancing at him sideways. 

“Hmm. Surprised you aren’t crying yet.” He chuckled, gently ruffling your hair. “You were sobbing when we lost to Itachiyama.”

“Later. Lookin’ after you boys comes first.”

“We had the same idea.”

The tears didn’t fall until you were washing the jerseys, as much as they didn’t really need them the next day it gave you some time to be alone. A place to cry, hidden from the boys you wanted to be strong for, the sound of your sniffles drowned out by the hum of the machine. Under the dull hum you didn’t hear the sound of the door opening, startling when the familiar warmth of a body filled the space beside you.

You relax, feeling lips press against the crown of your head as you nod.

“It needed to be done.”

Kita chuckles quietly and you can picture the small nod of agreement.

“Routine is important.” He agrees, lifting the washbasket ready to collect the wet jerseys. “Routine is the foundation that made me who I am.”

“And it makes ya happy.” You laughed.

“And it makes me happy.”

“I just… it felt like something I could do to help. I feel like I let ya all down, like-” you hiccuped, holding back a sob “I wish we had won.”

Strong arms encircled you, Kita pulling you into the warmth of his chest. One hand gently petted your hair, letting you tremble against him as you cried.

“I know. But, at the same time, I’d like to see how far those crows go.” His grip tightened, just a little. “The boys were talkin’ about watchin’ the rest of the matches, I think ya should come too.”

You nodded. “I’d like that.”

Watching games without the pressure of winning was a surprisingly good way to relax, and you were able to focus on the abilities of the other teams. Picking up plays that you could suggest to the boys, and making note of players who would be worth keeping an eye on for next year's competition. Inarizaki might be a powerhouse school but it was always worthwhile to keep an eye on the others. Kita and Aran had disappeared to watch Itachiyama with Omimi, while you, Rin and the Miya twins wanted to see Karasuno’s next match. The others had their phones, so wherever they’d wandered off to you weren’t too worried.

“Those two are scary even from here.”

You tipped your head back to smile at Osamu. “You two were pretty scary yourselves yesterday. But Nekoma are pretty terrifyin’ too.”

Rin nodded. “They’re a great defensive team.”

“Yeah. That middle blocker Captain of their is- holy shit! That Libero is so cool!”

“Yaku.”

You whipped your head around to stare at the two men who had appeared next to you, noting their white jackets.

“Um, bless you? Hey, yer from Fukurodani right? I was plannin’ to come watch ya play later, you guys are awesome.” You grinned, leaning across Rin to wave at the two men.

“Hear that Akaashi! She thinks we’re awesome!”

“I did Bokuto-san. Nekoma’s libero, his name is Yaku-san, and he is indeed very talented.” The dark haired setter, Akaashi, sat himself next to Suna and gestured for Bokuto to join him. “You’re from Inarizaki High yes?”

“We are, I’m l/n, this is Suna and those two behind us are Atsumu and Osamu Miya. It’s nice to meet ya Akaashi-san. And thank you for the information.” You nodded turning back to the match.

“Kuroo is cool too.” The grey-haired Ace sounded almost pouty.

“He is Bokuto-san. I’m sorry to hear about your loss to Karasuno, from what I hear it was a close game.”

Suna nodded, eyes focused on the middle blockers while you sighed and offered the two men an apologetic smile. You didn’t miss the way Bokuto muttered something about Akaashi wanting Karasuno to win but were polite enough to ignore it.

“Get back here ya scrub! Yer not having my onigiri!”

“Learn to share ya pig!”

With an irritated growl you shook your head. “Sorry, those are my idiots. Rin, if you even think about pullin’ out yer phone I’ll be after you next.” 

You vaulted over the chairs, stalking towards the arguing twins just in time to see Osamu preparing to kick his brother. With a grimace you put yourself between the twins, gripping each by the front of their shirts and glaring at them in turn.

“Oi, idiots! Yer gonna sit down and behave yerselves or so help me god…”

“But y/n!” 

“Don’t but me! Sit yer asses down and behave.” You narrowed your eyes. “And if yer not gonna listen to me, I’m sure I can get Kita to come here.”

Suna chuckled, slipping his phone back into his hoodie and nodding towards Bokuto and Akaashi. “And that’s why our manager is the best.”

“Agashee! Did you see that?!”

“I did Bokuto-san.”

“She’s so cool!”

You laughed, jumping back over into your seat and shaking your head. “Glad ya think so, dealing with those idiots had to have some upsides.” 

Akaashi made a small noise that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle before it was interrupted by a quiet beeping from his pocket. Sighing he stood and gently pulled on Bokuto's arm.

"Bokuto-San, we need to go prepare for our match. It was good to meet you all." He gave a polite bow and a soft smile, his reserved nature all the more striking compared to the chaos surrounding you.

"Come cheer for us l/n!"

"Likewise. I'll be sure t' come find ya when they finish." You grinned, waving the pair off. "Ya done makin' heart eyes Samu?"

"Shurrup, yer always droolin' over players." 

You shook your head. "I only 'drool' over one player, I just admire the rest." You huffed, ignoring the heat in your cheeks.

Focusing back on the match your heart felt lighter than it had done in a long time, here, surrounded by people you loved and the sound of volleyball, you came to a realisation. This was something you always wanted in your life. Volleyball was something you never wanted to leave behind no matter what.

The rest of nationals went by in a blur, Kita joining you for more matches than not once the pain of losing so early had dulled. You cheered for Fukurodani as promised, and joined the Miya twins watching the duo of terrifying first years from Karasuno. Every moment just cemented the idea that you wanted Volleyball in your life forever further and further into your mind.

Time continued moving forwards. You cried when the third years graduated, Suna took so many pictures of your teary face you almost threw the phone at his head. But the third years graduation meant the end of so many things, their patience and calming influence, the routines you had built up since joining the club, and your first relationship. Still time seemed to fly, the Miya twins made for surprisingly good leaders (officially Atsumu was captain, but you were grateful for Osamu being there to keep him in check no matter how many fights you broke up) and all too soon you found yourself at Nationals once more, earning your revenge against Karasuno for the previous year. Your unlikely friendship with the new Fukurodani captain cemented when the pair of you exchanged numbers on the first day. (Osamu had pouted over it for hours, and none of your insistence you were just friends helped).

University only fuelled your focus, managing the boys team there and watching them rise through the ranks. Joining in on practice to help them out and feeling the old familiar rush in your veins. You kept in touch with the other second years, thankful for their support when your family were disappointed in you. They were the ones there when you graduated, and the ones to throw a celebratory party when you landed a job with the JVA. And they were the ones there to keep your spirits up when a few years into your dream job it seemed like you were about to lose everything, even when they didn’t all know the details.

[tinyboxxtink]

"Clueless" *Part 3*

Okay so my dog ended up being totally fine, and luckily I had most of this written beforehand. <3

PS- REALLY shouldn't have watched the actual movie while writing this...lulz. Count how many actual lines from the movie you catch.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 4

Tag List:

@lolliepopsicle

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@wanniiieeee

@milkshqke

@gibbs274

@aprildecker-blog

@objection-argumentative

@word-scribbless

@stars-in-the-skies-world

-----

He drove back up the Beach House, but you and Ariel had abandoned it for a loft in the city, no forwarding address. He asked himself why he was putting so much effort just to get back in contact with you. He couldn’t explain it, it was like something against logic.

He dialed Ariel’s number.

IGNORE.

Redial.

IGNORE.

Text: “Answer your phone!!!”

Redial.

“What do you want?”

“I want to talk to Y/N,”

“Well she doesn't want to talk to you,”

“What did you tell her, Ariel?”

“The truth,”

“I don’t...I can’t even begin to imagine what that means in your language,”

“Oh whatever Raf, what does it matter what I told her? She’s MY friend, not yours!”

“You don’t OWN her Ariel,”

“Don’t I?” She smirked. “I feed her, I clothe her, I give her a roof to sleep under. I even gave her a cute necklace with her name on it, like a collar,” she smirked.

"You're evil," he sneered.

“I’m a saint,” She scoffed. “Do you know where that girl would be without me? Do you know the years it would take in a therapist's office to heal the emotional trauma I so selflessly saved her from? Her life will be enriched and better because of me, how many girls can say that about you?"

“Oh right, like helping her hasn’t served you any purpose?”

“What purpose could it possibly have?”

“Please, if I ever saw you do anything less than 90% selfish I’d die of shock,”

“Oh that would be reason enough for me,”

“Look, I get it. You've never had a mother so you're treating her like your personal Barbie doll,"

“And what, you wanna be her Prince Ken? Or, lawyer Ken,”

“She’s NOT a Barbie doll!”

“You’re right, she’s not. So I’m not going to let you play with her emotions,”

“What does that even mean? For fuck’s sake Ariel, I just want to be her mentor,”

“Really?” Rafael could hear her rolling her eyes through the phone. “You’re trying THIS hard to mentor some girl you met less than 24 hours ago? REALLY,” She chuckled.

“I may not be ‘Harvard’ smart BRO, but I’m not stupid. I know when a guy has let’s say, less than moral intentions with a girl,”

“It’s not like that,” He growled. “She’s a sweet girl, Ariel. And I’m not going to let you try and change her into your clone,”

“Wha--my clone? Please, Raf she could NEVER reach my level. Believe me, I’ve tried for four years. She’s a good sidekick,”

“This isn’t over,”

“Isn’t it? You have ZERO idea where we are,”

“Please, there’s maybe 5 places in Manhattan you’ll go, and they’re all on the Upper East Side. It’s not hard,”

“Well then, I guess we’ll see who’s better at hide and seek!”

CLICK.

------

Ariel rolled her eyes with a smile just as you walked in the living room.

“Who was that?” You asked, toweling your hair from the shower you had just exited.

“Mom,” She rolled her eyes. “She wanted to make sure we weren’t tearing this place up,”

“Oh?” You asked, suddenly hopeful. “Was she going to ask Rafael to check?”

“What? NO,” Ariel shut down that thought quickly. “I assured her she didn’t need to send that dog over here to sniff around you anymore,”

“Ariel,” You rolled your eyes with a sigh. “I’m a big girl,”

“I know sweetie,” She walked over and scrunched your face. “Such a big girl,”

“Whatever,” You rolled your eyes again walking back to the bedroom.

“Hey…” Ariel grabbed the TV remote. “Do you wanna watch Clueless?”

“What? ….Why?”

“I don’t know, you mentioned it yesterday and now I can’t stop thinking about a young Paul Rudd,”

“....Who looks exactly like present Paul Rudd,” You laughed.

“I know right? I want the magic face cream he must use,” She giggled as you both sat down on the couch to watch the movie.

----

“See, Cher isn’t a bad person, right? She saved Tai,” Ariel gestured to the TV.

“Am I Tai in this situation?” You eyed her.

“Well, yeah,” She shrugged. “Duh,”

“I’ll take it, I love Brittany Murphy,” You shrugged.

“RIP,” Ariel made a sign of the cross with a kiss looking up to heaven. “We should pour one out for her,”

“On your mom’s thousand dollar rug?”

“Okay, so maybe just pour one for us,”

Her phone vibrated wildly; it vibrated so hard it fell off the coffee table onto the floor. You picked it up to put it back, but you happened to glance at the screen.

BHOLE BARBA: You can’t keep her from me forever, Ariel

Wha….keep who from him? You? Did...was he...did Ariel….?

“Alright, who’s ready for mimosas?!” Ariel said in a singsongy voice as she returned with two flutes of champagne.

“What is this?” You held the phone up to her. She read it, her eyes grew wide.

“I...He’s talking about the Adele CD I borrowed from him forever ago, he’s weirdly possessive about ‘her’,”

“Ariel,” You interrupted her with a stern face.

“What?” She played dumb.

“...How could you do this to me?” You asked with a hurt expression.

“Do what?” She rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Protect you from my loser ex brother?”

“You--! Oh my god,” You couldn’t believe it. Your own best friend was trying to mess with your happiness?

“Oh come on Y/N, it’s not that big of a--” She rolled her eyes with a laugh, pissing you off even more.

“It IS a big deal!” Tears stung your eyes, you hated that you started crying when you got angry. How pathetic was that?

“Why? You can’t possibly be in love with him or something,” She scoffed.

“NO! Of course not,” You crossed your arms. “But he could help me with school, with my career! Don’t you want me to get a good job, eventually move out of here?”

“Maybe I don’t!” She yelled suddenly.

“...What?” You asked in disbelief.

“Look, Y/N,” She sighed. “I...you...we both know under normal circumstances, we would never be friends,”

“...I mean, I guess…” You shrugged.

“Oh come on,” She gave you a look. “You’d have to explain every sentence you spoke to me,” She had crocodile tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Oh come on Ariel,” You sighed and sat next to her. “You’re NOT stupid,”

“I’m stupider than you!” She cried.

“...More stupid,” You corrected her.

“See?” She sniffled.

“Okay, but-- still,” You took her hand. "You're my best friend. Do you think that if I don't have to live with you anymore, I won't be your friend?"

"Maybe…" She looked at the floor.

"Ariel!" You cried. "Really? Come on,"

"You come on!" She was actually getting upset now. "Look, Y/N. I don't have...friends,"

"What?" You snorted. "You have the biggest social circle I know!"

"Yeah but--" she tried to find the right words. "They're not like….friends, friends ya know? They're more like…. followers, or leeches, of--"

"Sycophants," you chuckled. She did surround herself with as many people who would tell her she was amazing as possible.

"I don't know what that means but probably, yes," She nodded. “You’re the only one who I can actually talk to, you’re like my little sister,”

“....Right, so…? You think I’ll just give all that up if I move out? If I don’t need you financially anymore?”

“Maybe…” She mumbled. “But ALSO, if that stupid asshole gets into your head about me!”

“Oh God…” You put a hand over your head. “Ariel,” You took both of her hands and looked at her very seriously.

“You are my absolute best friend in this entire world, no…’boy’ could change that! I’ve known you so long, I know you completely. Nothing he could tell me would make me turn on you, I swear it,”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow at you.

“Really! You held a hand up like an oath. “AND, even if-- WHEN, I get financially stable and can live on my own two feet, I will ALWAYS be your friend,” You used the oath hand and placed it in hers again. “I swear it,”

“....Okay, but absolutely ZERO sleepovers here,”

“Oh, my god, ARIEL,” You gasped. “I JUST want to talk to him about law stuff!”

“Yeah, that’s what he said too,” She rolled her eyes, not believing either of you.

“He did?” You felt your face fall.

“Ah HA! See? Disappointment!”

“Shut up,” You hit her. “I don’t care, we should just be professional anyway,”

“Uh huh,” She nodded sarcastically.

“Are you going to give me his number or not?” You gave her a look.

“No,”

“ARIEL,” You crossed your arms.

“No, then you’re going to immediately call him and give him ALL the power,” She wagged a finger at you. “I’m going to give him YOUR number, and if he calls you, he calls you,”

“Ariel…” You gave her another look.

“What? You don’t believe me?” She feigned offense.

“I really don’t,” You shook your head.

“Alright FINE,” She pulled out her phone and opened her texts with Rafael, typed in your number and hit SEND.

“Happy?” She showed you her phone.

“....Maybe,” You hid the giddiness that was building in your stomach.

Almost IMMEDIATELY after sending the text, your phone lit up wildly.

“Good god I’m gonna get out of here before the nerdy phone sex starts,” She ran out of the room with her mimosa in tow.

“Shut up!” You hissed, mentally preparing yourself for this phone call. The phone call you’d been waiting for for days, even when you thought he was a “player”. You took a deep breath and hit ANSWER:

“Hello?”

“Y/N?”

“Yeah who’s this?” You asked coyly.

“It’s...Rafael, Barba…”

“I’m sorry, who?” You teased.

“Ariel’s….brother?” He skipped the asterisk that went along with “Brother”.

“Ohhhh right right right,” You nodded, keeping him nervous. “Yeah, Ariel told me all about you,”

“I knew it,” He growled thinking about Ariel and her lies. “Whatever she said, she’s lying,”

“Oh so you don’t want to be my mentor?”

“Wha--?” He was shocked. Did Ariel actually change her mind? Or dare he think...a change of heart?

“Yes! I mean, I do! I absolutely do!” He may have said that a little too overzealous, so he dialed it back. “I mean, if I have some time I’d be up for it, if that’s okay with you,”

“I might, maybe…” You were twirling your hair in your fingers. “When do you think you might have time?”

“Well you know I was thinking--” He started, but there was a knock at the door.

“Oh sorry, one second,” You got up and walked over to the door and swung it open to reveal Rafael standing there, right in front of you. He was dressed in a black suit with a pink tie. As amazing as he looked in street clothes, you thought you might mount him right there in that suit.

“I have some time right now,” He smiled, acting as if he was still on the phone. You couldn’t help yourself, you leapt into his arms and kissed him, HARD.

-------

“Hello? Y/N?”

You snapped back to reality, Rafael was talking to you on the phone.

“Oh! Um, Yeah, sorry what?”

“I said I have some time right now, if you wanna meet for coffee or something,” He half laughed, still enchanted by your awkwardness.

“Yes! Sure! I...let me just get dressed, just text me the address, I’ll meet you in a few,” You were so glad he couldn’t see how beet red you were from that little fantasy you had just been in.

“Sounds good,” You could hear him smile; even through the phone it made you weak in the knees.

You hung up and ran to Ariel’s room, hoping she’d help you get dressed.

What could you wear to impress him?

[dreamescapeswriting]

Jungkook X Reader ~ Stuck With Me [Request]

>>> Word Count: Dead on 5K

>>> Pairing: Jungkook x Actress!Reader

>>> Genre: Fluff with maybe like the tiniest amount of angst…I’m sorry

>>> A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this one actually lmao, hope this okay for you @thewoundsinmyheart !! PS Yes the ending about the plants is something that has happened to me…I now only care for fake plants ;)

To you, travelling to a new country was scary and something you never imagined yourself doing before you became an actress, 

"Thank you," You whispered as the air stewardess handed you some earphones and a drink you'd order, you glanced out of the small plane window, it was raining heavily and it made you think of the last time you were on a plane. It was your flight back from Korea, you'd split with your boyfriend, it wasn't a bad split, you both understood why it had to happen but it didn't make it any easier for you both and you both remained really close friends, staying in touch with each other. The media had a field day when they found out you were still friends with him, claiming no one could be friends with an ex. 

You could still remember the breakup as if it had only happened yesterday, but it was a year ago now but it was still a fresh wound to you, you gripped onto the seat tightly trying to think of something, anything else as the plane started to run up the runway. 

"It's not like I had a choice baby." You whispered to Jungkook as he laid his head on your lap, both of you sitting outside the dorms that he lived in staring up at the stars together. 

"I never see you anymore." He mumbled as you looked down at him, feeling the tears well up in your eyes. It was true, you never had time for one another anymore. You were always away filming, and when you were off work he was promoting their albums and filming new music videos. You'd missed being able to stay up all night talking to him on skype, but you couldn't do that anymore because of your filming schedule. You had no time for each other and it was only a matter of time before things started to break apart. 

"We've been dating for a year now, you'd think we'd have this together by now." You mumbled laying down on the grass next to him, he sighed and pulled you to lay on his chest, wanting to stay there with you all night but you had an early plane. 

"Sometimes I wish I'd never become an actress." You admitted to him, he let out a light chuckle and you felt it vibrate across your face making you giggle.

"We never would have met though," You nodded in agreement, you'd only met Jungkook because you bumped into him on James Corden's show when you'd gone on for an interview and you both hit it off right away, talking about video games, and about the flinch game you were both playing since then it had been a friendship until he finally got the courage, or rather Jimin took his phone and asked you out over text. Date one lead to more dates and then dates turned into you being his girlfriend, in secret at first. Your company had one rule and that was no dating, but who follows rules? No one but that wasn't going to stop you meeting and dating Jungkook. After dating for six months you both let out a magazine article about it, feeling guilty about hiding it from people.

"We can always skype again?" You offered but you knew where this was going and neither of you wanted to admit it. 

"It's not the same." He whispered to you, sitting up and crossing his legs. He sat across from you and then looked into your eyes, neither of you had mentioned the words but both of you were crying. 

"We have to-"

"I know." You finished, not wanting him to say it, he nodded at you and you nodded back. You did that a lot, you would have your own conversations, finishing off each other's sentences. It annoyed the other members when you did it in front of them, they found it too cute and pretended to vomit whenever you did it. 

"Can we just pretend for one night that we're okay, one night and then tomorrow we can end it?" He nodded at you and you smiled weakly, trying not to let yourself cry in front of him but it was hard not to when you knew it was the last night you would spend together. 

"Don't cry, don't cry tomorrow either." You nodded in agreement with him and he kissed you softly, putting his hand on the back of your head to pull you closer to him, you kissed back, placing your arms around his neck and leaning closer to him.

"Let's go inside, it's getting cold and I don't want you getting sick." You nodded and he helped you stand up, but just as you were about to walk he picked you up bridal style, carrying you through into the dorms, earning some weird looks from Taehyung who was playing video games and Jimin who was on his phone. 

(X)

You knew that Jungkook going to the airport wasn't going to end well because of the fans that would go there to see him. So you were standing in the dorms saying your goodbyes to each member, you were close with them all. You had a year to get to know them and you loved them all like older brothers. 

"So this is it?" Jungkook asked when you were alone, the rest of the boys going into the dorms to give you some privacy, you nodded sadly not trusting yourself to talk. 

"We don't have to say goodbye, we can say see you later." He whispered to you, his voice cracking at the end but you nodded. 

"Sounds like a good idea." You whimpered and he took you into his arms, you wrapped your arms around his waist and buried your face into his chest. 

"I love you Kookie." You sniffled as you pulled apart, your driver was waiting and you didn't want to be late, though the thought of missing your plane and staying in Korea did sound appealing. 

"I love you too." He wiped the tear from under your ear and you looked over your shoulder, 

"We can still call and text, we can be friends?" You questioned bending down to pick up your bag and he nodded helping you to carry your bags over to the car. 

"Always." He whispered as the driver shut the boot, going over to the driver's door and getting inside. You shook your head trying not to cry but it was too late, the tears were flowing and you could tell Jungkook was holding it back because his hands were shaking and his eyes were bright red. 

"I love you." He said again, taking your hand in his and walking you to the car, helping you inside as you stared up at him, 

"Tell the boys I'll miss them...But I'll miss you the most." You wiped your face and he sighed bending down so he could see you better, 

"This is starting to sound a lot like 'goodbye,'" You swallowed the lump in your throat and looked at him with a sad smile.

"I'll see you later Kookie." You whispered, kissing his lips and then he shut the car door, watching from the garden as the driver drove away the love of his life.

Despite everything you were still really close to every single member, so when you heard that you were going to Korea for a shooting you called them up, asking to go for a meal or drinks together and they all agreed. You had two weeks in Korea and only one of those was to film for, you'd taken a week off knowing how much you loved Korea. You wanted to have time off to spend with friends and to go sightseeing.

"I'm telling you the sign isn't good enough! She's a huge star she needs something big!" You heard Taehyung complaining as you reached the baggage area, you turned around looking for them but it was hard without your contacts in or your glasses on. 

"Y/N!" Jin screamed grabbing your attention, you looked over to them and smiled waving your arms around like a crazy person and laughing as cameras starting flashing wildly. You knew the cameras followed you and the boys everywhere but it was still something you weren't used to. Your manager promised she would grab your bags and you ran toward the boys, turning into a sprint when the area was free. 

"DUMPLING!" Jimin screamed moving in the way over Jin and picking you up as you jumped into his arms, you wrapped your legs around his waist and he stumbled backwards, falling into Taehyung and then onto the floor, you sitting on top of him in a fit of laughter. 

"Fuck, I missed you guys." You cried out looking at each of them staring down at you, Jin helped you up and you hugged him. 

"We missed you too," Namjoon said to you, you glanced at each of them and then realised Jungkook wasn't there. Jin saw your smile fall from your face and then looked around, 

"He's at the studio, he'd been busy lately." You nodded sadly but tried to pretend to be fine. You should be fine, your six best friends were all around you and engulfing you in hugs. 

"I have filming for this week but after that, I'm all yours." You promised them as Jimin hugged you for the sixth time in a row, he didn't want to let go. None of them had seen you in person for a year and talking through texts and skype wasn't enough for them. 

"I've got the week planned," Namjoon told you, you'd expressed to him your love for museums at the moment and he told you he'd take you to every single one in the area. Jin had promised you home-cooked meals and Tae was promising you photography lessons with him and Yoongi. Jimin, on the other hand, was too busy flirting with you and asking questions about your life now to make plans but you didn't mind. You wanted to relax with them, even though you were feeling bad that Jungkook hadn't bothered to reach out and make plans with you. 

The truth was when Jungkook found out you were coming back to Korea he threw himself into work, not wanting to see you. Not because he didn't love you, or miss you. It was because he loved you too much and didn't want to go through the heartache of saying goodbye to you all over again. He'd tried to move on but no one compared to you, no one was you except you. He could manage talking over the phone and texting you but seeing you in person was only going to heighten everything he felt about you and he wasn't ready for that.

"You can't avoid her forever, she'll be staying at the dorms," Yoongi told him as he arrived in the studios, Jungkook looked at the photo of you on his desk and then over at Yoongi. 

"Hyung, it's hard." Yoongi sighed at the younger boy and sat on the sofa that was in the studio. Yoongi was the most understanding when it came to this situation and Jungkook always found himself going to him for advice. 

"You're both older now...Schedules are less hectic maybe you could try again?" Jungkook shook his head, 

"I doubt she'll still be interested." Yoongi looked at the photo that Jungkook was staring at, 

"I wouldn't be so sure, you didn't see the way she looked when she realised you weren't with us at the airport. She misses you." With that Yoogni left the studio and went off to his own. Leaving Jungkook to stare at the photo in silence while he thought of how he was going to get some time alone with you, he knew the boys wanted to hang around you as much as he did. He took out his phone and debated texting you, deciding against texting you and throwing his phone against the sofa. 

Filming had gone by in a flash and you'd spent most of the second week with Namjoon and the boys. Jungkook occasionally showing his face at the dorms to grab a spare change of clothes before leaving again, it hurt for him to stare right through you as though you weren't sitting there in front of him but it didn't hurt as much as the first time he'd done it, the first night was awful, 

"Hyung have you got the beat on that USB stick still?" Jungkook asked as he walked through the dorms front door, he looked at Taehyung who was sitting next to you. You looked up from the camera to Jungkook who was staring dead ahead at Taehyung, 

"Hi, Kook." You spoke hoping he would greet you. It was your first night at the dorms and Namjoon told you Jungkook was really busy with music and wouldn't be around much but you didn't think he would do this to you.

"Hyung?" Jungkook repeated as though he hadn't even heard you say his nickname but you saw him sneak a glance when he thought you weren't looking and you bit down on your lip. 

"Yeah, right here." Taehyung got up looking at you, you stared at the floor not knowing what to do with yourself. The dorm fell silent, even Jin who had previously been laughing at a bad joke was silent as they all stared at Jungkook in shock. He'd been talking about you coming back for months and now you were here it was as if he didn't care. 

"I'm going to get some air." You said to Yoongi who was sitting across from you, you walked past Jungkook and out towards the kitchens. Jungkook reached out for your wrist but stopped himself from grabbing you earning a dirty look from Yoongi who'd told him earlier that morning that you wanted to see him. 

"Thanks." He muttered taking a USB stick from Taehyung and turning to leave before anyone could question him but Namjoon stood in his way.

"Why are you acting like this?" Jungkook pushed past the leader and out of the dorms while Jin went out to the back garden to find you sitting on the grass. The same spot where you spent your last night with Jungkook. 

"He just doesn't want to get hurt." He reminded you but you wiped your eyes on your sleeve, turning to look up at Jin. Your knees were pulled against your chest as you cried into them,

"It hurts Jin. I thought we were friends." He sighed and sat down next to you, trying to comfort you in any way he could but he knew he could never comfort you the way Jungkook could. 

The boys had enough towards the end of the week, both of you were making eyes at each other when the other wasn't looking and it was starting to get on their nerves. Neither of you would talk to each other, you gave up trying after the third day of him ignoring you and you didn't want to try again. Every time you did you felt your heart crumble a little more.

"We're all going out to a meal tonight, all of us," Jin said in an authoritative tone that morning, he was directing most of his attention at Jungkook who was sitting at the breakfast table facing away from you. Last night was the first night he'd spent at the dorms since you'd been in Korea and he ignored you. 

"No lame excuses as to why you can't go, you're going," Namjoon ordered looking at the younger boy who nodded at the leader. 

"Great. Can I leave now?" He pushed himself away from the table and left the dorms, you looked at Jimin. 

"I need to go shopping, do you want to come with me?" He nodded along with you and you got up from the table, going to change before you went shopping. If Jungkook was going to ignore you like that you were going to try and make it harder for him to ignore you. You'd wear his favourite colour on you and his favourite style of dress if you had to. You were sick of him acting like a child when he wasn't one anymore.

Jimin loved the idea of teasing Jungkook to the point of talking to you and helped you find something that would make you irresistible. So now you were standing in Jimin's room trying on the dress for the night, your hair curled and pinned back, your makeup a simple winged eyeliner and mascara, no need to go over the top too much. You stared at yourself in the mirror, it was a black midi dress with a frill hem and sleeve, it wasn't revealing enough for people to think badly of you, it was just revealing enough to show Jungkook what he was missing. The tight waistline made your curves look amazing and the deep V line made it just sexy enough for an evening meal. You thanked Jimin for his fashion advice since he was the one picking out dresses for you and giving you advice on them, something you were tempted to kidnap him for and take him back to the US for when you had shows to prepare for. 

"You look-" Namjoon started,

"Yeah." Jin finished as you walked down the staircase in the dress and heels, taking Jimin's hand as he waited at the bottom for you twirling you under his arms and smirking at the boys. 

"My handy work." He chuckled looking at Taehyung who was taking Selca's for twitter, 

"Oh, I want some." You giggled taking your hand away from Jimin and getting your phone from the black clutch bag and taking photos with each of them when the door opened. Jungkook was standing there sweating,

"I'll go have a shower and then get ready." He told Jin who was staring at him disapprovingly, while you were busy taking photos you hadn't noticed that Jungkook was staring at you, his mouth hanging open as he noticed what you were wearing, watching as you smiled in photos with his friends and giggled. God that giggle. He'd missed hearing you giggle like that, he remembered when he could make you giggle that way. 

"Go," Jin told him and Jungkook was pulled from his trance, rushing up the stairs to get changed, the fastest he'd moved all week. Searching through his wardrobe for something to wear.

"If you make eyes at him one more time I'm going to lock you in a room together," Jin said to you at the table, Jungkook had gotten up with Jimin to get another round of drinks in and you were staring at him. The way his lips turned up at the corners when he showed his bunny smile, then the way he laughed at something someone had said at the table, how he'd hide behind his hand if he laughed too hard at something that no one else found funny.

"Sorry Jin," You whispered looking down at your phone, your ride was almost there. You hadn't told them you were leaving that night, you couldn't stand the heartbreak of saying goodbye. You looked up again and Jungkook was talking to someone at the bar, Jimin came over with a tray of drinks and placed yours in front of you, following your gaze to the tall blonde that Jungkook was talking to you. Skinny, legs for days, her hair was thrown into a messy, yet stylish bun, and she was wearing a black dress that revealed almost everything and you hadn't seen Jungkook smiling that much since you'd been there. 

"She's just telling him a joke." Jimin lied, you knew what she was doing when she placed her hand on his bicep and acted shocked as it was ''Bigger than she expected''. You looked at the drink in front of you and then at your phone as it vibrated, 

"Excuse me." You passed Jin on the way out of the table and he kept his eyes on you, glancing at your phone. 'Uber'. Why would you need an Uber when he was driving everyone back to the dorms in an hour. 

"Yeah, thank you. I'll be right down." He heard you say into the phone, he looked at you and then over to Jungkook. 

"So you're just going to leave again, without even saying goodbye?" You looked at Jin, he looked hurt by your actions. 

"It's easier to leave without a goodbye, it hurts too much to say goodbye to you guys." But he was shaking his head at you, 

"I meant him." He pointed over at Jungkook who was still laughing with the blonde at the air, you swallowed hard and looked at the floor. 

"Look he'll be fine without me." You spat out, turning away from the bar and going over to the balcony doors but Jin wasn't going to let you drop this that easily. He followed you out onto the terrace and stood behind you as you stared at the floor below, all the people passing you without a care in the world. 

"How do you know he'll be fine? You've never seen him without you but we have, and it breaks our heart. I don't care about you leaving without a goodbye to us but you have to say something to him. I'm sick of you both acting like kids." He mumbled to you, both of you were so lost in your conversation you hadn't seen or heard Jungkook coming out onto the terrace to see what was happening. 

"You're leaving?" Jin turned to look at Jungkook and then you, nodding at the youngest and leaving the terrace, shutting the door so no one else would go out there. 

"Yeah, I am." You said as a matter-of-factly not looking at him in the eyes, if you had you would have seen him tearing up. 

"Without a goodbye?" You scoffed at him and went over to the seating area, sitting on the cold fabric and looking at Jungkook with a glare. 

"I didn't even get a hello, why should you get a goodbye?" He looked down at the floor, he knew you were right. He'd been treating you like a piece of shit with no reason except for the fact that he didn't want to get hurt but he ended up hurting you in the process. 

"We were supposed to be friends Jungkook and now we're nothing to each other." You whispered finally letting everything out that you'd been feeling for the last week, all of the hurt and anger you'd been feeling towards him.

"It was low of me, I'm sorry." He said coming over to the seats and sitting opposite you, the only thing between you was an outdoor table but it still felt like he was a whole other world apart from you.

"It was." You told him, looking up at him to see he was already staring at you in the eys. 

"But I didn't want to get hurt again, seeing you all week has driven me wild and then tonight..." He pointed at the dress and groaned laying his head down on the table in a dramatic fashion, 

"You drive me insane, after this year and I'm still not over you. I'm still madly in love with you and I didn't want to see you in case you didn't love me anymore," He still loved you? He wasn't being a child because he didn't care for you anymore. 

"You still love me?" You muttered turning to look at him and he lifted his head from the table to meet your gaze, 

"I could never stop loving you, I tried." You wanted to leap over the table and kiss him but you knew you had to remain cool anyone could be watching you right now. 

"Jungkook I-"

"You don't have to say it, I know you don't love me back." That was it, you pushed the wooden table away and sat on his lap, shocking him as he looked up into your eyes, they were sparkling the way they were on the last night you had together. 

"You're a fucking idiot Kookie." You mumbled before smashing your lips together, his hands froze on your hips as you kissed him but once his brain caught up to him he moved them, one resting on the small of your back to stop you from falling off his lap and the other resting in the back of your hair to pull you closer to him. Your hands resting on his shoulders as you kissed him passionately, he pulled away from your lips but putting your foreheads together as you panted out of breath. 

"I love you. Always have and always will." You mumbled to him, slowly sliding from his lap and sitting across from him again, looking at the table that was pushed to the side. 

"Are you going to leave tonight?" You looked at your phone and shook your head. 

"My ride just left." You locked your phone and looked at him and he was crying, 

"Are you going to leave again?" You looked over at him and then over to the wall, trying to stop yourself from crying. 

"I don't want to, I want to stay here." You whispered to him and he grabbed your hands in a rushed fashion,

"Then stay. Stay here." You frowned at him, glancing from your interlocked fingers to his face, he looked like he was in pain as he spoke to you. 

"We can figure it out, you can work here. You're fluent in Korean, you can find jobs." You giggled a little through the tears as he continued to rant on about what you could do here instead of back in the US. It didn't sound like a bad idea, 

"I could see what I could do." You whispered to him, looking over at the door to see Jin smirking at you through the glass, Jimin and Tae standing next to him and making kissy faces. You groaned at them and shook your head, Jungkook looked over his shoulder and waved them away, 

"You're serious about staying?"

"Only if you're serious about wanting me to stay?" He nodded and you smiled at him, 

"I'll see what I can do."

There was nothing you could do. Nothing that your company was willing to let you do except moving to Korea and flying away when you had shots which you did. You packed up everything for Jungkook, you knew you needed nothing but him to make you happy. 

"You're sure about this?" Jungkook questioned as you unboxed the last box into your new shared apartment, 

"It's a little late for that isn't it Kook?" You giggled as you looked around at the apartment you owned. You'd brought a place together, moving in together seemed like the better option since you would both be together all of the time anyway, and when he was away on tour you would look after it and when you were shooting he would look after it. Both of you were determined to make it work this time. 

"You're right, you're stuck with me." He whispered as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you against his chest as he looked around your shared bed. 

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked wiggling his eyebrows, you groaned pushing him away and jumping onto the bed. 

"I think," You giggled picking the pillow up behind your back and waiting for him to come closer to you and smirking. 

"Fuck, you're gorgeous." He mumbled coming over to you and taking your head in his hand but you smacked him away with the pillow. 

"Oh, it's on!" He screamed grabbing one of the other pillows and chasing you down the stairs as you ran away from him. 

"I will call Jin and tell him you're bullying me!" You screamed from one side of the sofa and he stared at you, laughing. 

"I'm not scared of Jin." You smirked standing up straight and pointing at the front door where Jin was standing, holding a container of food. 

"You're not?" Jungkook dropped the pillow and sprinted to hide behind you, kissing your shoulder and looking at Jin. 

"Can't get me if I'm behind Y/n." Jin hummed in response and stared at you, you dove out of the way and ran out of the living room leaving Jungkook without protection. You turned into a fit of laughter as you watched them chasing each other, the oldest and youngest acting as though they were kids again. You were never going to get bored of this and you smiled to yourself, opening the door to let the rest of the boys inside. All of them bringing food, except for Namjoon who had a house plant for you,

"Thanks, Joonie, I'll try not to kill it." You promised, giving him a side hug and smiling up at him.

"It's fake, I know how you are with plants." You glared at him and took the fake plant into the living room, sitting it on the windowsill of the living room. 

"You kill four cacti and everyone thinks you're a monster." You said dramatically throwing your hands in the air, 

"In our defence, you did kill a Dracaena trifasciata plant and they're impossible to kill." You pouted looking down at the floor as Jimin spoke. 

"He looked thirsty." Jungkook chuckled at you and picked you up from behind, 

"We'll be able to keep the fake one alive unless Joonie breaks the pot." You giggled and Jungkook put you back down on the floor, asking who was ready to eat and taking everyone through to the kitchen as you stayed behind to watch them all. This was the best decision you had ever in your life.

Tagline: 

@yourguessisasgoodasminemate @yoongisdumplingcheeks @ficdump101 @btsiguess-kpop @snowy-meowl @lynnthevirgo @babymochichimmy @mitzwinchester   @lyoongx​

[colorfullfalls]

Adore you

Summary: Sam and Emily finally get to their wedding day. The outside venue is beautiful and everything is in order except for the fact that Embry and you are fighting.

La Push, ah. What a wonderful- dare say mystical place to be. Waves roared violently against the beach, crashing roughly into the minuscule pieces of sand. Rain pelted among the ground, mixing with ocean, grass, sand, skin, and materials. Clothes stuck to russet toned flesh, sticking like a temporary tattoo for a child.

Panting hard, Embry Call's hands reached up his hands to pushed back Y/N's hair away from her neck, peeling the thick mop away to rest on the other side. Her eyes refused to meet his, wavering to look at the waves. She wished she was anywhere on Earth but in front of him. The way he looked at her hurt. His face held the upmost gaze of betrayal, beautiful brown orbs burning you from the inside out.

Behind her ear held the mark that would cause wretching heartache. A dainty black tattoo rested, rooting anger between the two. Tattoos were meant to be meant to have a deep meaning, and her's did. It was a sail boat. A symbol for the sea. Vast area of the unknown that humans did not get the privledge of ruining. Getting their hands and tainting the beauty it beheld. Embry did not mind her logic behind it, nor did he dislike her love for the sea. But the tattoo. He hated it. Disgust curled in his stomach, gripping his ribs like quicksand and pulling. He wanted to scream.

"You lied."

His words came off venomously. A snake's bite. Harsh syllables announciated with distrust. And pain. Mostly pain. You bit your lip to stop it from trembling. Crying would not solve the issue that was present because you betrayed him. Broke his heart a bit when you swore to guard it and protect the beautiful organ.

"I'm sorry, Embry. It was impulsive-"

He cut you off by shriveling back by your words. A cold laugh escaped his lips, "Damn right it was impulsive. Must've been if you couldn't have talked to me about it."

Fighting over a tattoo seemed dumb. But not in this situation. Embry was not mad that you got a tattoo. It was that the sailboat was your first tattoo. Years ago you promised Embry at the ripe age of 13 that you two would get your first one together. You a small sun and him a small moon. Both on your hips so that it would be a private thing. The ultimate proclamation of love. It was obvious as kids that you two were meant to be, even before you were his imprint. You were raised as best friends. Learned together. Aged together. Grew as individuals together. When the promise was made and 13 you had not yet been lovers, but it was a promise as two beings connected molecularly as best friends.

Even dating you two were still best friends. No one understood you like Embry, and no one ever would. His corny jokes made you laugh so hard that snorts would skip out of your nose. His hugs melted you to the bones. He made you feel complete. Best friends turned lovers, but best friends still for eternity.

"I didn't tell you to avoid this! I knew a fight would ensue." You cried out helplessly, feeling incredibly guilty but defensive at the same time.

"Why do it then? Or maybe consider taking to me about it, telling me at the least. You hid this for, well, it has to have been a while. Clearly healed." He deadpanned, pointing to it like it cut his foot off.

"It's been three weeks, Em."

His eyes lit up in realization, "You wouldn't have sex with me in the daylight. I figured it was just odd timing but no. Just blatantly lying to me to cover this up."

Tears welled in your eyes at how removed your gentle boyfriend was. You didn't recognize the person in front of you. Not that you didn't fully deserve it, but it still stung to see the love of your life so repulsed by your actions. Your female best friend convinced you to get one with her when her long time girlfriend broke her heart. She said she needed it to heal. And you. Against your better judgement, your ass was in a leather chair while a needle plunged relentlessly into your skin. You loved her and wanted to be there for her. Your mind was foggy when it happened due to a few drinks in you too.

Your best friend knew that you and Em talked about getting tattoos together, but she didn't know it was such a sacred vowel or else she never would have helped you break it. She got an eye that had a ring around it like a planet on her forearm. She was an artist and drew it up herself. It meant a lot to her. You loved her, but now you were paying for the actions.

"Y/bff/n made you get this?"

"What?! No! Of course not. I willingly did it, but a few drinks were in me. Which doesn't excuse it, but she got one too. Not like marching or anything..."

Embry stared.

You scrambled to get in as much as you could without interruption, "Wholeheartedly my heart is pounding with guilt that I broke our pact to get our first tattoo together. But to be fair you already have yours."

Embry shook his head in disbelief, "Are you fucking me right now? It wasn't my choice to get this. It's membership into the pack, Y/N. My culture."

You sighed, "I know that Embry, and I'm not trying to disrespect that. I love you and the pack. I love your culture. Undoubtedly it's your first tattoo though. We can get our second together."

You tried to grab his hand but he pulled it away, searing a burn mark right into your heart. Rain pelted down even harder. What had been a nice beach date went to hell when Embry went to move your hair back to kiss your neck when he saw it. Usually you could dodge his attempts to get close to there, but you were so blissed out by his intoxicating kisses that your mind wasn't all there. Ironically the weather went to shit as soon as fighting began.

"Don't touch me. I don't want to hurt you." What you failed to notice earlier was that his hands were shaking. Typically you could caress his bicep or face and he would melt into you. Today the same touches would have the opposite effect. No matter how angry he was, he was terrified to harm you. Any wound inflicted by him would drive him crazy. He loved you. Forever. Even when he was furious he was cautious to keep you safe. This only made you feel worse.

"I think I rather have you physically hurt me than you be angry with me." You mumbled, sniffling at how bad you just wanted to touch him.

He snarled. His veins bulged as he pointed at you, "Shut up! How dare you wish for something like that?"

"I don't wish for that. I'm just saying us fighting is unbearable!"

"You just said you rather me hurt you physically! You want scars like Emily? You want me to be in withering pain and agony as you bleed on the floor?!" He bellowed, shaking even worse.

You let out a sob at his words. This all escalated too quickly. His eyes softened momentarily at your cry but his anger got the best of him as he reminded himself why you were crying. He scrambled to throw his clothes off. His body contorted until his grey wolf stood tall in front of you.

It whimpered, but turned and booked it for the woods. Leaving you alone with his clothes, the rain, guilt, heartache, and the beach. You slid down to your knees, clutching his shirt to your chest.

Emily's wedding was tomorrow. She would look gorgeous in her wedding dress, smile beaming with every step down the aisle towards her wolf. Laughs, happy tears, and hugs would be shared between the wedding and reception. Of course dancing would be a necessity. You were unsure if you were going to be involved in their experience anymore. The pack loved you. You were one of them. But with Embry so upset and not knowing when you two would makeup, maybe it was for the best if you stayed home.

Half an hour later you were still on the beach crying. Jacob ran next to you, scooping you up in his strong arms. You snuggled into his warmth, wishing that it was Embry instead. After everything you still wanted him to be with you. Jacob took you home and helped you dry off before leading you into the shower to encourage you to take a hot shower. If you got sick Embry wouldn't be happy with his packmate.

He sat in the livingroom as you got dressed in the bathroom. You sheepishly walked out, embarrassed of the state he had found you in. His large frame took up the lounge chair. Two cups of hot tea sat on the coffee table.

"For me?" You asked, gesturing to the cup. He picked one up and handed it to you before taking his own. It felt good going down your throat. Warm and reassuring.

"Embry should not have phased like that. He feels like an ass for losing control like that." Jake began.

"He had enough control to strip first. I wasn't in danger." You assured.

Jake nodded, "I saw the whole fight go down. I was on patrol."

You laughed sadly. Poor Jacob had to relive Embry's anger and pain through the shared pack bond. He seemed to not be effected by it. You wondered how Embry was doing now. Texting him seemed like a bad idea. Especially with how things were left.

"It was an ugly fight. Worst one to date. His eyes held repulsion, Jake. Like he could barely look at me. This tattoo is giving me hell."

Jake sighed, motioning for you to come sit next to him. You squeezed into the chair with him, resting on his lap. Jake was like your brother that would help you through anything. His warm hand rubbed your back lightly to assure you that he was there. He would always be there.

"Life is weird and there's a lot that I don't know. What I do know is that if anyone is meant to be together, it's you two. Bonded and meant to be before he even shifted. Imprints are strong but you two are even more. This fight is a pebble that will chip away, I promise."

"Thanks but I don't know. He looked crushed. Phasing like that.. showing up to the wedding tomorrow might not be good. I'm not going."

Jake recoiled, "What? Of course you have to attend! Emily wants you there. Screw Embry. Tomorrow is about Sam and Emily and they certainly need you there. You're family."

"Don't say screw him." You mumbled. Feeling defensive was part of the bond, "I will think about it."

Jake ignored you scolding him because he understood the loyalty you felt for Embry. He felt the same exact way towards Reneesme. Rough times caused fighting like any other couple, but the bond required unconditional love and affection. Some portrayed it as toxic, but you didn't. Relationships typically didn't happen like this but you couldn't stay mad at Embry while growing up. It was an impossible defeat.

"You're a bridesmaid, not going would be terrible. Embry wants you there whether he admits it right now or not. I'll come pick you up, make sure you go."

You sighed, nodding. Lack of your presence would only cause a bigger rift between you two. On top of that, Emily would be crushed and that would make Sam frustrated towards you too. And that would lead to arguing between Sam and Embry because another wolf cannot be rude to an imprint. You helped plan this wedding and you deserved to be there. Jake was giving you big puppy dog eyes. Begging like Embry did. Begging that you could not deny.

"Fine."

Jake stood up, "I will see your pretty face tomorrow."

***

Hours later you laid in bed. Ceiling fan high blast cooling the room. Goosebumps danced across your skin, chilling you more than it should. Embry's warm embrace should've sheltered you from the breeze, making the ceiling fan actually necessary compared to his radiating heat. He wasn't with you tonight. You were alone. Restless. Where did he go if he didn't come home to you? Was he on Jared's couch? Sharing Quil's bed like he did when they were kids? Back home with his mom?

Phone screen said 2:41. Four hours after you laid down. Sleep was battling you, heart beating too fast with each memory of the argument. His hurt tone rang through your ears. Past text messages assured you that things would get better between you two. His corny jokes and memes made joy fill you.

This fight was dumb.

Your thumbs typed out all the words you wanted to say and you were about to send it you saw three dots meaning that he was typing too. He was reaching out too! The three dots dissapeared with a lack of text. Mood officially dampened. Who knew texting could be an emotional roller coaster.

Hours later your ass was seated in an uncomfortable chair while your hair was being done. Makeup had been applied an hour ago and you already wanted it off. Your upset hands liked to rest on your face and makeup didn't allow that. Emily and the other girls were chirpy. Gorgeous teeth on show from beaming. You did your best to match their mood. Key word, tried.

"Okay, you're hair is done. Go get in your dress!" Emily cooed, hands on either side of your shoulder. You offered a smile.

Putting on the dress took help from Leah. She was in a sour mood. Her first love getting married to her cousin and all. It was reasonable and truly expected. She may be a shape shifter, but human she still was. Her warm hands zipped up the back of the dress. Leah sensed your bad vibe like second nature.

"Go find Embry, makeout for a minute and get over with whatever the hell this is. It's ridiculous. You two are disgustingly in love. Fix it because it's dragging us all down." Her words were honest. Leah was always honest. Basically in her DNA.

You snorted, "We are not making out here. Im sorry that this is impacting you guys too, but this is not getting dealt with today. Emily and Sam are getting married."

"Won't be perfect if our favorite couple is on the outs."

"Favorite couple?" You questioned.

She nodded as if her sentence was as obvious as stating that the vast sky was blue. You rolled your eyes and moved the bottom of the dress so that it was in place. The light pink silk dress suited you. It suited all of the bridesmaids. Nice dress. Emily had great taste. Speaking of the devil, Emily walked around the corner. Her brown eyes widened at the sight of you and Leah. As if it wasnt her wedding day. As if she wasn't the most stunning looking woman for the day.

"Gorgeous! Oh my goodness, you both look amazing. Thank you for sharing this day with me," her eyes shifted to her Leah, "Especially you, Leah. I know I don't deserve your support considering what happened on your wedding day, but it means the world to me that you are here."

"Yep." Leah gave a tight smile. Emily's face fell at the lack of words from her cousin. You sighed and nudged Leah. She rolled her eyes but tried, "This isn't easy but I'm doing it. For you."

Emily closed the distance between them and pulled her cousin in for a hug. Tension resides and still would for a while, but the bond was slowly mending. Cousin like sisters trying to reconnect. It was hard when Leah was the one who lost everything and Emily gained what she had. Leah still did have one thing. Seth. And you. Seth was her brother and best friend. He always had her back. But you did too. Days after Embry introduced you to the pack you befriended her.

You felt intrusive of the moment so you walked out into the hall. A few doors down led to the outside. Some fresh air would be lovely. Sunshine fluttered through the glass door when you arrived. Glancing outside you halted.

Embry.

Black material covered his toned body, rose sitting perfectly on his left peck. His brown floppy hair was styled perfectly. Your fingers longed to run through the thick locks. You should've been the one to help him do his hair rather than peaking at him behind a door like a child that is supposed to be in time out. He was standing with Jake and Quil. His two friends were laughing as Embry leaned against the wall. Not laughing. Although his face didn't look miserable like yours did.

Jake's eye caught yours and you froze, terrified of what would happen next. Talking to Embry in front of them would most likely cause more issues. You knew Jake would side with you and Quil would side with Embry. Quil was forever Embry's best friend. Jake could see past that.

"There's Y/N." Jake spoke. Embry leaned off the wall and looked around for you. And there you were. Looking gorgeous as ever on the other side of the door. His face faltered into vulnerability as he realized how sad you looked. He did that. He made you sad. Before he could do anything you walked away. He grunted in annoyance, hitting the brick wall behind him.

"Fuck!"

Line up for walking down the isle was what you dreaded because obviously Embry was your match. Room silent as you grudgingly came to stand beside him. His eyes scanned over your beautiful face in sorrow. You busied yourself by picking at your nails. A tick that you did when you avoided confrontation.

Walking down the isle, an arm intertwined in his was mandatory. You did it. Sparks flew up your arm at touching him after so long. His warm skin blazed against yours pleasantly. During the wedding Embry kept stealing glances at you. You noticed and held his gaze when you could.

Sam and Emily's vowels were beautiful. Raw and true words about their unconditional love. Hell Emily has scars on her face from his anger and they got past that. Certainly you could get over Embry shifting yesterday. He did look incredibly handsome across from you.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

The crowd cheered as Sam and Emily kissed. He dipped her back like a princess and the cheers only got louder. Kim nudged your shoulder and you two shared a smile when they road off to the reception hall in their decorated car.

You contemplated how you would get to the reception yourself. You arrived with Jake but your body was buzzing with anticipation to touch your boyfriend. Fighting seemed pointless. Today was about love. And you loved eachother. This tattoo was permanent but so were you guys.

Embry was leaning against his truck when your knuckles tapped on the door. He jumped at the surprise but he calmed down when he saw it was you. Looking beautiful as ever. Your hair blew in the wind, giving him a nervous smile.

"You look gorgeous, baby." He lowly said, gesturing to you.

You blushed, "Thanks. Not so shabby yourself, mister."

"I love you." He blurted, "I love you so much. I'm sorry for yesterday. I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm especially fucking sorry for phasing."

Your eyes watered as you walked straight into his blazing embrace. He scrambled to pull you as close as possible. Your hands clutched the fabric of his tux as his hands gently rubbed up and down your back. Your mind was flooding with euphoria at how close he was to you. Intoxicating. You hadn't been this far away from Embry for so long since you were fifteen.

"I'm sorry for my tattoo. It was shitty of me not to talk to you about it."

"I was just hurt that you got one without me. I wanted your first tattoo to be shared with me. It was selfish. You may be my imprint, but it's still your body." He confessed.

You pulled away so that you could look up at him, "Yes. My body is mine. But my soul is undoubtedly mixed with yours, belongs to you. Getting a tattoo doesn't make that any less."

An infectious smile broke out on his face. His hands cupped your face as he brought you closer, noses rubbing affectionately. His hand moved to your chain to raise it up, lips slotting quickly against yours. His tongue slipped into your mouth, eliciting a moan. You pulled back when you heard someone behind you two.

Jake stood there with a shit eating grin, "Was gonna ask if you needed a ride but you two clearly made up."

"Shut up dude." Embry groaned, pressing a few kisses to your cheek, "I missed her."

"Yeah, as if the whole pack didn't know that. See you guys at the reception." Jake retorted.

"See ya Jake!" You called out.

"Think we can manage a quickie before the reception?" Embry asked, hands dangerously roaming your body as he lifted you into the truck. You laughed as you were put on your back in the backseat. Your head lifted to see that no other cars were in the parking lot. You hummed as he shut the door and climbed on top of you. His hands pushed the dress off from your shoulders, head dipping down to appreciate what was his.

"This is a church parking lot." You teased as his tongue ran along your collar bone, hot saliva trailing behind. You grabbed his head and pulled it back up so that he could look at you.

"Yeah and? Everything about you is holy."

You snorted, pulling him down for another kiss. His warm hands slipped under your dress and grabbed your thighs, soft flesh melting against his. He pulled your hips up closer to him, grinding into you. You moaned at how his body moved against yours, two bodys and basically one soul. His lips moved to press hot kisses to your neck until they sucked on your tattoo.

"I think I actually like this spotch of ink." He murmured, running his tongue over it as he bunched up your dress to rest around your torso.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. It's hot."

Twenty minutes later you two walked into the reception hall hand in hand. Embry was especially lovey after the ten minutes spent in his truck. You both made sure that no evidence of your quickie was present. Emily and Sam were sharing their first dance in the middle of the dance floor. You led him to your table where Jake, Quil, Jared, Kim, Paul, and Rachel sat. Seth and Leah sat with Sue and Charlie a table over.

"Hot make up sex?" Paul teased as Embry pulled your chair out for you.

You shook your head at his blunt question. It wasn't like your sex life was a secret. Embry could not keep those thoughts to himself when he was shifted. Actually none of the boys could. It was how it went. Over time you got used to it. It wasn't Embry's fault.

"The best." Embry said intertwining your hands, "But not that that's any of your concern."

Paul raised his hands in surrender. The hothead knew better than to overstep and disrespect a fellow wolf and imprint. That would lead to a fight and Sam would murder them.

"Don't listen to Paul. We're glad that you two fixed things." Kim sweetly said. Her eyes were always so wide and kind.

"Yeah, bunch'a miserable kids in love. Embry was mopey all morning." Jared added.

Embry rolled his eyes, thumb rubbing affectionately across the top of your soft hand, "Beg to differ.."

"Oh wanna bet, Call?! You leaned against walls and didn't talk. Like uh," Paul snapped his fingers as he tried to think of the word, "like a mute."

"Love you man, but he's right." Quil spoke. Embry snapped his head to glare at his best friend. In return Quil sheepishly shrugged and sipped his water.

Embry then shifted towards you again, "Do you think any other wolf packs are around that I can join?"

You laughed at his deadpanned tone and lightly slapped his bicep, "You love them and you know it, bub."

"Yeah, bub." Rachel teased, a beautiful smile gracing her lips. Paul smirked with a profound proud feeling bubbling in his chest as he listened to his imprint.

Sam and Emily's dance ended and the dance floor was opened up. Embry took this chance to escape the ragging from his friends to share a slow dance with you instead. His hands rested on the curve of your back while yours intertwined around his neck. His face bend down to be close to yours.

"So I was thinking about our tattoos..." Embry started.

You cocked a curious eyebrow, "Oh? And what conclusion did you arrive at?"

"Let's get them tomorrow. Quil knows a guy who does some wicked cool ones and I just know he will make them exactly how we want. And why wait? Why did we not do it a year a or two ago?" He rambled, twirling you around and bringing you back into his arms.

"No clue why we waited. But.. I am so down for tomorrow. Sooner the better."

He hummed happily, "Great. Tomorrow it is."

Harry Style's Adore You came on and you grinned, "You may be an ass at times Embry Call, but I adore you."

"Thank you baby, but hey." You looked into his loving brown eyes and waited for him to go on, "I'd walk through fire for you."

Song lyrics or not, Embry Call would legit do anything for you, "Just let me adore you." You responded.

He leant down to peck your lips, "That's the only thing I'd ever do."

[getthesamovarready]

And they said "Speak now"

Owen × Michelle

TK x Carlos

I had a bit of this written a few weeks ago, and was re-inspired to finish it.

Michelle returns from Oregon (I don't know why I chose Oregon, don't ask me) to be Carlos's best-woman, and Owen can't keep his eyes off her.

He doesn’t see her all day until she’s walking up the aisle in front of Carlos. Since she landed in Texas a few days ago, all he’s been able to think about, was how beautiful she would look in her dress. It’s part of the reason he suggested the colour to Carlos when he and TK were trying to co-ordinate the wedding party. He saw the shade of green and all he could think was how well it would look on Michelle’s skin. He was right. He hadn’t, however, accounted for what the dress itself might look like. Hadn’t anticipated the deep velvet, hugging to a figure he had previously only really seen in uniform. Hadn’t thought about how much he might enjoy watching that velvet twirl around her ankles as she walks. Or how much he might focus on her shoulders, which he’s sure he’s never seen uncovered. She’s let her hair grow since she left Texas, even curled it falls well below her shoulders, with what isn’t pinned up swept over one shoulder so he can admire it all at once. And above all that elegance, is her wide grin, bursting with pride for her best friend. It is nothing short of mesmerising. 

They had rehearsed this moment yesterday, but nothing could possibly have prepared him for this. Her warm greeting, as comforting, and overwhelming as it was, is completely overshadowed by the tidal wave of...something, that hits him when she smiles at him now. The twinkling smile, and the wink of mutual pride when she takes her place across the aisle, turning to watch Carlos follow her. 

He has to rip his eyes from Michelle to watch Judd swagger up before TK. He’s glad he does, because the tear in Judd’s eye when he nods at Owen sends himself over the edge into tears as Gwyn takes his hand, and they watch their son nervously approach his husband-to-be. A husband-to-be who grips Owen’s hand with teary gratitude when he steps forward to offer it a shake. 

He doesn’t even pretend not to cry during the ceremony, can’t help thinking about how close they came to never being able to have this moment. And watching Carlos promising to support and love his son forever, fills Owen with a sense of relief that he just can’t ignore. He catches Judd straightening his back, and he knows that the whole team must be thinking the same thing. He puts an arm around a sniffling Gwyneth. 

He catches Michelle mouthing along with sections of Carlos's vows, and he has to stifle a laugh picturing a terrified Carlos phoning Michelle for advice on wedding vows. She lifts a hand to swipe a finger under her eye and he stops laughing. 

TK's turn comes, and it's Owen's turn to mouth along to words struggled to late at night. He thinks about TK calling him at night, claiming that two weddings made Owen an expert in wedding vows. Ignoring that two divorces made his experience a rather bad example to follow. But still, he had helped TK put his commitment to words. Somehow, it sounds better now, in TK's nervous, choked voice. 

He cries again when it's made official. His heart straining in his chest when the couple turn to walk back down the aisle, hand in hand. He wraps an arm around Gwyn's shoulders, hugging her tightly once, before they follow Judd and Michelle down the aisle. 

His high doesn't diminish through the rush of picture-taking in the hotel gardens. Though he does wish he could pull Michelle aside, just for a second, to thank her again for saving TK's life. And to tell her she looks stunning. But any moment that he's not busy with pictures, she is. They are released for the couple-only photos, and then he can't see her anywhere, she is lost in the sea of guests. 

She isn't with the team when he finds them congregated at a table at the bar. He accepts their congratulations with a hug each, before trying to dart off to find Michelle. Unfortunately,  everyone else wants to offer their sincere, and detailed, congratulations. 

He catches her out of the corner of his eye every now and then, always engaged in conversation with who he assumes to be relatives or friends of Carlos. But he doesn't manage to pull her aside, and all too soon they are ushered into the ballroom to sit down for dinner. 

Judd, though a great dinner companion, is obviously nervous. His leg shakes constantly though the entire first course, and only gets worse when the microphone is brought out for speeches. 

Carlos's father is first up, and even though his speech is short, by the end of it Owen's own leg is bouncing. 

Gwyn squeezes his leg, and Judd gives him a pat on the shoulder when the microphone is handed to Owen. 

"I uh…" He starts, hands shaking. "TK didn't want to move to Austin. I didn't really want to move either, but I felt like we had to." He admits. "Standing here today, I am so glad that we did. Not only has Austin changed our lives, it has made TK's. This place has been a blessing in so many ways, but right now, I have to thank Carlos, for being the most important one. Carlos has stood by my son, even when it wasn't easy to do that. For that I owe him a great debt. All I've ever wanted was for TK to be happy, to be loved. And you gave him that Carlos, so thank you. I can't think of a better person for my son to spend his life with. And I couldn't be happier to call you family, Officer." He lifts his glass from the table. "Thank you Carlos." He tips his glass towards him. "And congratulations, to Carlos and TK Strand-Reyes." He raises a toast, and passes the microphone to a terrified Judd. 

"I almost said no, when TK asked me to be his best man." Judd admits. "I ain't a talker, so speeches aren't really my thing. Especially not about feelings and stuff. But TK is my brother, and I couldn't let a brother down. So here I am...giving a speech." Owen glances over to the 126, all of whom have phones out recording, all of whom are laughing along with the moment. "Owen said he didn't want to move here, and I'll admit, I did want them here when they arrived. I thought TK was a punk, I thought he was entitled, that he didn't work hard, that he didn't care. I could not have been more wrong. TK Strand, is one of the hardest working people I know, and he's fought hard, in a lot of ways, to get to this day. And I'm proud of him, as proud as any big brother could possibly be." He nods at TK. "Carlos, on the other hand, I've known for a long time. Best friend of my overbearing sister." He winks at Michelle, who blushes into her champagne. "Who is always getting in trouble that Carlos has to get her out of. Even though Carlos is usually helping her get into that trouble. Because Carlos actually is a little punk. A punk, but a really good guy, and the most loyal person you'll ever find. I know you both know how lucky you are, because I see it every day in the two of you. It'll shock some people to find out that I am actually a very romantic man, don't let nothing fool you. I know true love when I see it, and I see it in these two fantastic men. Congratulations TK and Carlos." The 126 erupts into applause, and Owen has to chuckle at Paul and Marjan banging their fists on the table. He glances back at Judd in time to see him throw a wink at Michelle before raising his glass to the newlyweds. He sits with a heavy sigh, handing the microphone to the waiter standing by the table. 

And then it's Michelle's turn, and Owen's stomach turns to butterflies as he waits to hear her voice. "Thank you, Judson, for clarifying, that it is Carlos that gets me in trouble." She chuckles shyly, brushing loose hair from her forehead. "I'm not going to get into all that, in case I embarrass myself any more than necessary. Judd is right, Carlos is the most loyal person anyone could be lucky enough to have in their life, as he has proven to me, over and over again. He's helped me through some really difficult times, he's done his best to keep me sane when I couldn't do it myself, always reminding me how important friendship is. How important it is to have fun, to laugh, to tell eachother about boys that we like." She chuckles wetly, wiping at teary eyes. "Carlos is the kind of person who supports you through the very worst of your life, and makes sure to keep you smiling. I remember when he first told me about TK, he was berating me for being a bad friend. He was confused, scared, he didn't know if it would go anywhere. When he told me it was TK, everything made sense. Even though I'd only known TK a few months I knew he would be good to my Carlos, I knew he wouldn't hurt him, that even if it took some time, it would always lead us here. Carlos is loyal, loving, one of my favourite people. And he's now married to one of my other favourite people. I'm not part of the family anymore, but as anyone will tell you, a firehouse is like family. And that is true for nowhere as much as the 126. A family rebuilt by the Strands, and so beautiful, supportive, and resilient because of it. So in my view, TK is my family, just as much as Carlos is, and I couldn't love them more if we were actually related." She laughs again, eyes flicking downwards. "I'm so proud of you both." She chokes. "Congratulations."

She raises a glass, nodding at both of them, before she lets herself glance at Owen, accidentally letting their eyes meet briefly. She smiles weakly, eyes still wet from unshed tears, before she swallows thickly and sits, passing the microphone to Carlos. 

"I'm gonna keep this brief, cos I'm pretty sure the kitchen hates us for having so many speeches. I just want to thank everyone for coming, and thank everyone who helped plan this thing, weddings take way more planning than I ever thought, especially when your best-woman lives halfway across the country." He glares at Michelle with a slight chuckle. "I want to thank my parents, just for  being wonderful, for raising me, for loving me. But mostly for loving TK, for welcoming him immediately into your hearts. I want to thank TK's parents, Owen and Gwyneth. Firstly, for bringing someone as beautiful as TK into the world, for making him into the person I know. And for bringing him to me." He chokes slightly. "TK I love you. I've been in love with you since I met you, thank you for loving me back." He raises a glass. "To TK." 

"I hate speeches just as much as Judd does, me and speeches? We don't get along." TK starts, after standing from his seat to kiss Carlos before taking the microphone from him. "Like Carlos said, thank you all, for coming, for supporting us, we both really appreciate it. I really didn't wanna move here, my dad forced me too, and I was angry at him about it, for longer than I even realised. But it was the best thing that either of us ever did, even if dad did insist on driving the whole way from New York. And playing country music the whole time. I didn't know it then, but we were driving towards a whole new future. A future that brought me a whole new family. I got closer with my dad, I gained the 126. I got Carlos, and his beautiful family who make me feel like I'm one of their own. I second my dad's opinion that moving to Austin has been a blessing in our lives, so thanks Dad, for forcing me into it. And thanks Mom, for not going too crazy on him when he did." Beside him, Owen feels Gwyn shift in her seat, shaking her head with a laugh. "And thank you, to my beautiful husband, for making me the happiest man in the world, as cheesy as that sounds." TK reaches down to take Carlos's hand, squeezing it before leading the room in yet another toast. 

Speeches are followed by dinner, and then everyone is kicked out to the bar while they prepare the ballroom. Again, he can't find Michelle, and he's roped into a new series of congratulations, and compliments on his speech. He barely has time to grab himself a drink before the ballroom is ready, and they're called in for the first dance. 

He gets caught up in the dancing, somehow never managing to catch Michelle in a mural free moment, until he miraculously finds himself right next to her, and she takes his arm, turning them both away from their respective groups. "Quite a day Captain." She grins at him, and it reminds him of after-work drinks at the Honky Tonk, and bad, drunken line-dancing. But they aren't after work. And this isn't line dancing. 

It's definitely not line dancing when the music slows, and he has to slip a hand around her waist or stop dancing. She makes his mind up for him, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder, so his rests on her hip. "I've been trying to catch you all day." He tells her. "You're a difficult woman to pin down." She flushes, dipping her head. "I've been trying to find you all day, because I wanted to thank you. Without you, none of this would be happening." She lifts her head again to question him. "If you hadn't saved his life, TK wouldn't be here today. So this, all of this, is thanks to you." 

"Owen, that's not…" She shakes her head. "There would have always been a paramedic there that day. It's got nothing for do with me." She tries to brush it off, but Owen won't let her.

"But it was you." He argues. "And I wanted you to know that I was grateful." She let's him have it, nodding with a slight frown. "I was going to put it in my speech, but it didn't feel right."

"Carlos thinks it was his fault." She blurts out, cursing herself. "So it's good that you didn't. He was supposed to clear the place of weapons, and he didn't. " She explains at his questioning look. "It took him a long time to get past it." She's silent for a moment. "Don't forget that you saved his life too." She tells him, brow furrowing. "A few times, or so I hear. It's no less heroic to save your own family." Her hand squeezes his, and he nods in assurance, and thanks. 

"You look beautiful, by the way." He can't help but blurt out in response to her soft smile. "I've also been wanting to tell you that all day." His skin burns, and he hopes that the lighting will hide his blushes. 

"Green is my colour." She tells him with a bright grin, and a flush to her cheeks. The lighting doesn't hide it. He can't help but feel a twinge of pride at suggesting the colour. "You don't look so bad yourself." She straightens his tie. 

"How's your sister?" He asks, trying to ignore his tightening chest. 

"Better." She nods. "A lot better. It's done her a lot of good to get away, she's a lot more willing to accept help." She nods, but she doesn't smile. "It's quieter out there, that helps her." It doesn't seem like Michelle is overly enthusiastic about her quiet little corner of the Oregon coast. "Maybe she'll get stable enough to come home." She says hopefully. "But I'm not really sure that it would be good for her." He's heard the whole story, and he has to agree. Her mom was still pretty in denial about Iris's health before Michelle dropped everything to get her help while she spiralled. Taking her back to denial might just undo her progress. 

"What about work? How is the great Michelle Blake handling small-town life?" He changes the subject, earning a bashful chuckle from Michelle. 

"It's not nearly as much fun as Austin." She laughs. "Though nothing ever is." He laughs in agreement,  even New York wasn't as much fun as Austin. "But it's nice, my crew are nice." She's brightened considerably, but he finds that it doesn't quite reach her eyes. 

"Well we all miss you." He assures her. "It's been really great to see you the past few days." The team had been buzzing with talk of her return for days, planning her welcome home with enthusiasm. Their initial plans had been consumed with urgent wedding preparations, though he knows they have a back-up plan for a few days time, for her send-off. 

"I'm sure some of them just miss the jelly-beans in my office, they have to pay for their own now." She glances over to Matteo with a grin. 

 

"Oh we miss you for more than your jelly-beans." He laughs. He misses her for everything. He misses their rhythm at work, he misses her teasing, he misses her leaning on his doorway with a cup of tea after a trying call, soothing the pull of hard work. He misses her at the bar, playing him with tequila. He misses her smile, only full when she let's herself release the chains of responsibility. When she makes the decision to let herself life for herself, even just for the night. She's doing that now, has done her best, just for a while, to shed the responsibility of her sister. Giving him her full smiles. "We can't forget about the M&Ms." He takes the opportunity to spin them slightly, causing a giggle to rise from her throat. 

"I'm sorry to have deprived you all of your candy dealer." She laughs, flicking some stray hair, which had come undone when he spun them, from her face. 

He almost tells her how she has deprived them, or more specifically him, of so much more. He almost tells her how much he has actually missed her. He almost tells her everything. But just as he tries to speak his throat closes, and he can't. So when the music changes, and their position is rendered awkward, he is glad of an excited Nancy pulling Michelle off to dance to something they clearly both have a memory of, and he plops himself at an empty table to rest. 

The table doesn't stay empty for long, as Gwyn settles herself next to him with the offer of a scotch. "She's quite something, your Michelle." She starts, and Owen hates the knowing in her voice. She's always been able to read him easily. 

"She's not my anything, she's Carlos's Michelle." He tries to pass it off as not at all dissapointed at that fact, but fails miserably. 

"Oh don't even try that with me Owen." She tuts at him. "It's so clear how you feel about her,  I knew it before I even met her." She pats his hand when he scoffs. "You're like a little puppy when someone mentions her name. I swear I can see your ears perk up." She's laughing, and Owen would love to think she's just being mean, but he knows her better than that. And he also knows himself better than that. Gwyn is being horribly truthful. "Everyone else knows it too, why do you think they've been trying so hard to get you two together?" They've what?

"They've what?" He can't think of a single moment that would suggest some kind of scheme like that.

"The DJ changed the music in the middle of a song Owen." Her chuckle shifts into a smirk."Or didn't you notice?" 

Honestly he didn't. He'd rolled with the change in music without questioning it, welcoming the excuse to slow down and talk. "Well I uh…." 

"TK bolted to the DJ when you two started talking." She explains. "He seemed very determined." 

"That's probably just TK trying some kind of prank, I mean I did the same thi-" he tries to brush the whole thing off.

"You haven't been able to keep your eyes off her the past few days. I watched you watch her at the rehearsal you know." His stomach drops. "When she was walking up that aisle in front of Carlos, you looked at her the same way you looked at me when we got married." 

"Gwen come on…" Surely he hadn't been so obvious. Besides, having your ex-wife scold you on this type of thing at your son's wedding isn't the best feeling. 

"And then there was today." She chuckles. "I don't think theres anyone here who didn't notice how you looked at her today. If the rehearsal was obvious, I mean, today you might as well have put up a sign. You couldn't keep your eyes off of her. And any time you haven't been staring at her, you've been looking for her." 

His face is burning, and he has to suppressa groan. She's right, obviously. So he might as well be honest, and ask the advice of a friend. "It doesn't matter anyway, she lives in Oregon. She's taking care of her sister, that's her whole life. What kind of person would I be if I tried to insert myself into that?"

"The kind of person that loves her?" Gwen offers. "Who thinks she deserves to know that. Because that woman is in love with you Owen. And you can't not tell her you love her too because you think it might be selfish. Because letting her leave without knowing because that would just be cruel." She stands with a very pointed nod towards the bar, where Michelle is leaning against the counter. 

She steps away with a smile and a glass of Chablis, and scans the room for a friend. He watches as she catches sight of Grace, calling out to her for a catch up. He watches as Grace lifts a hand to admire the velvet of Michelle's sleeve. Watches as Michelle gushes about the dress, her eyes sparkling while Grace compliments her. 

He downs his drink and immediately makes his way to get another. Which conveniently places him right in earshot of Michelle and Grace. "It's beautiful there Grace. And my crew are nice. Nothing like good old Texas though." 

"We've missed you." Grace assures her. "Maybe some more than others, if you know what I mean." Owen knows exactly what she means, and quickens his pace towards the bar, ordering his drink with just a hint of desperation. If Grace is talking like that, then Michelle must have some kind of feeling. And he's just being a coward. 

With everyone's efforts, it's nearly impossible that Owen is getting through this night without having the conversation. The conversation he has literally dreamt about having with her. For years he's thought about what he might say to her. How she might react. He's imagined soft shock in her eyes, his chest constricting as she frantically asks him to explain, praying she didn't hear him wrong. He's also imagined her laughing him off, disappearing again, leaving him in his humiliation. 

He'd like to keep imagining. Would like not to be forced to know what happens after he stops talking. He'd like to keep thinking about hope in her eyes. About the shy little smile she might have. Or even something similar to her usual teasing and a, “took you long enough Captain.”

He tries not to imagine her laughing at him. His ridiculous notion that she might feel anything for him at all. Tries not to imagine that this has all been some little joke that everyone is in on but him. He tries so hard not to picture her backing away in horror. But somehow that is always the last thing he thinks of before he almost tells her. 

But there are some things he wants to stop imagining. He wants to know what she tastes like. He wants to know what it would feel like to kiss her. He wants to know if he should have told her before she left. Before she left him in Austin, stuck in the almost of her. He wants to put all his wondering to rest. 

He downs his drink, slamming it on the counter before ordering another. "What did that glass ever do to you?" A voice asks from beside him and he jumps, nearly knocking the poor glass clean off the counter. He fumbles with it pathetically while his heart races, as though she had overheard his previous thoughts. "What? You don't want to tell me?" She teases, smiling at his panic.

His stomach drops to the floor. He watches as she orders herself a glass of wine, leaning gracefully against the counter. Her heels make her tower over him, and he suddenly feels very small. He does want to tell her, desperately, but she looks so relaxed, he couldn't possibly ruin it for her.

But his mouth has other ideas. "I do actually." He admits, swearing internally. It gets her attention, and she turns to face him properly, straightening her back in curiosity. She looks concerned, and his heart clenches to think that maybe she worries about him sometimes. "It's got nothing to do with the drink." He admits, stupidly, as if she genuinely thought that he had some personal vendetta against a glass of Scotch. 

"No, I didn't think it did." She smiles, eyes shimmering down at him. "You were in a good mood earlier, what happened? TK's mom driving you crazy?" She teases him, bringing back memories of him spilling out his past after too many drinks after work. It became a habit of theirs, another night another anecdote. 

"No she's not driving me crazy." Even though she is, a little bit. "You are." She tenses, her shoulders squaring as she drops her head.

"Sorry," she starts, eyes on the floor. "I'll just…" She gestures vaguely, and he realizes that he's seriously messed up already.

"You've been driving me crazy." He whispers, grasping her arm when she starts to leave. "For years. You've been driving me crazy since you put me in my place my first day at work. And I can't get you out of my head." She doesn't pull away, but she doesn't look at him either. "And I've tried, a lot, to let it go, before you left, after you left...but I can't, and I'm sorry. I just can't stop thinking about you. My son got married today, my only child, and all I could think about was you." He can't stop now that he's started. "The past few days I've barely been able to think about the wedding at all, all that I've been able to focus on was how much I missed you when you were away. And how much I'm gonna miss you when you go again."

"Owen...I…" She tries, helplessly. After thinking about this for so long, she suddenly can't figure out how to respond. 

"I know it's selfish. I know you're going back to Oregon and I shouldn't make you take this with you. But I don't think I could let you go again, without telling you. That you drive me crazy. Without telling you that I can't get you out of my mind. I couldn't let you go without telling you that I'm in love with you." He lets her arm go, sighing.

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Judd and Matteo watching them, and a quick scan of her surroundings tells her that the rest of the team are looking on too. So she grabs Owen's arm, and drags him out of the ballroom. He keeps pace as best he can, obviously shocked by how fast she can move in heels and a floor length dress. They're outside before she says anything. Actually, before she shoves him into the wall by the door, kissing him with everything she has. 

Even the balmy evening is cooler than inside, but he absolutely burns. Everything from his toes to his scalp is on fire, only soothed by her cool hands on his cheeks, the fingertips tracing his cheekbones. The velvet on her hips is warm under his touch, and he knows that if he were to raise his hand to rest on her exposed upper back, it would be just as burning hot as he is right now. He doesn't dare to bury his hands in her hair as he so wants to, she wouldn't forgive him for ruining the time and money spent on getting it to look so effortlessly glorious. So he keeps his hands safely on her hips. 

"Thank you for telling me." She whispers, after breaking from him with a gasp. He lets his thumb trace the curve of her hip as she breathes him in, as she brushes a thumb across his lip, wiping away lipstick that has smudged along it. He almost lifts his hand to do the same, before she smiles softly and presses her lips to his again, lighter this time. It only lasts a moment, but somehow it sends him reeling again. "I'm sorry I dragged you out here." She laughs, stopping only slightly out of his space. "I didn't want everyone watching." Both of them know that the team is probably just in the foyer, waiting for them to turn the corner and reveal exactly what's just happened. Neither of them would be surprised if one of them was standing just on the other side of the doorway, trying to listen in. 

"I think dragging me out if the ballroom also made a scene." He points out while she settles herself against the wall beside him. Silently, she brushes the back of her hand against his, twirling her fingers around his.

"I still have to go back." She tells him, after a while of silence. "I wish I didn't." She doesn't look at him, just runs her eyes over the pavestones at her feet. Iris still needs her help, still needs to be out of the city. And she still has a job she needs to go back to, as much as she would like to leave it behind and come home. "You said it was selfish of you to tell me, when I have to go back anyway. I feel like the selfish one. Dragging you out here, letting this happen." She gestures between them. "For spending my whole trip here wanting to say the same damn thing to you, even when I have to leave again." 

"Just….don't be a stranger Michelle." He tells her, squeezing her hand. And somehow that settles everything. And she kisses him to seal her promise. 

[liebegott]

Pinky Promise. | George Luz

as requested by @stressedinadress​

(click here to read on wattpad)

feel free to send me a request!

pairing: george luz x reader

wc: 1.3k

synopsis: angsty luz. that’s all i’m saying.

a/n: i’ve been meaning to write some angst for awhile now, so this request was absolutely perfect! thank you so much.

i hope you enjoy reading this! 💓

i mean no disrespect to the real george luz. this is all purely based on rick gomez’ portrayal of him in band of brothers.

tagging: @floydtab​ @alienoresimagines​ @order-of-river-phoenix​ @julianneday1701​ @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant​ @wexhappyxfew​ @rarmiitage​ @mavysnavy​ @punkgeekchic​

my taglist!

***

George Luz stared off into the distance, his eyes, so typically full of life and warmth, now cold and distant. He had watched helplessly as Muck and Penkala's foxhole got hit, and since then, he hadn't said a word. They had found him trying to dig up the foxhole at the break of dawn.

You stared at him from aboveground, watching as George picked at a hole in his sleeve. His mouth was slightly agape, his breath coming out in little swirls.

"Luz," you heard Malarkey call for him, his voice intensely gentle. You knew he was hurting as well- Muck and Penkala were his best friends after all. At first, George didn't move, and you suspected he hadn't heard, but after a few breaths, he looked up at the two of you.

"Hey," he breathed, his eyes glassy, "Did you guys need something?" His voice was so soft, you could feel your heart breaking as well.

"No," you shook your head, crouching down to hand him a canteen filled with warm stew, "Domingus cooked us something up."

George stared at the canteen in your hands, seemingly zoning out. You waved it in front of him, watching him snap back into reality, cupping it with both hands. "You mind if I sit with you?" you whispered, and he nodded in response. You looked up at Donald who was just watching, and gave him a look that assured him that you could handle this. He smiled at you sadly, turning on his heel and leaving.

"You should eat while it's warm," you mumbled, jumping in the foxhole with him. George was back to staring off into the distance, making no move to eating the food in his hands. "It actually tastes good this time." After a considerable amount of urging, he brought the cold metal to his lips and took a sip. From the expression on his face, you gathered that it did not, in fact, taste good this time.

"This tastes like shit, Y/N," he mumbled halfheartedly, but continued eating anyway, "Like actual dog shit."

"Hey," you chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, "That's a good thing. The dog shit really brings out the flavour." George looked at you and made a gagging face, the most expression he had done all day.

"Don't say that to a man eating, love," he replied, but you saw a small smile form on his face.

You shrugged, resting your head on his shoulder, "I learned it from you."

"That you did."

The two of you sat in silence as he ate, the only sound coming from gunshots coming from the distance and the voices of the men as they sang behind you. Their songs were less joyous this time.

"You think I'll ever stop seeing their faces?" George suddenly asked, setting his empty canteen on the snow. His voice was barely above a whisper, and he leaned in to speak to you. Looking around to see if anyone was watching, you lowered your head as well.

You shook your head, answering honestly. His face fell sullen, his shoulders dropping. "You'll always remember their faces when we sat in the grass in France. Remember that?" you asked, using your finger to tilt up his chin. "Skip was telling a stupid joke about something as he always was, Penkala agreeing with his every word like it was the law." George sniffled.

"Or," you continued, turning your whole body so you were both facing each other, sitting with your legs crossed, "Back in Holland, when we had to completely peel poor Penkala off of that woman. Do you remember that?" He nodded slowly, he did remember. "You'll never forget, and maybe it'll haunt you forever, and that's okay. We're in this together. Pinky promise," you whispered, resting your forehead on his and extending your pinky towards him.

George exhaled and intertwined your pinky with his.

***

George leaned down to kiss you, wrapping his arms around your waist. You had made dinner that night, and was washing the dishes when he offered to do it himself. "I'll do it," he grinned, pushing you to the side with his hip, "You go upstairs and rest."

Despite how quickly he bounced back from everything, George never fully recovered from that night in Belgium. You rarely left him alone in the dark.

You pouted at him, but did as you were told anyway, watching his shadow from the staircase as he washed the dishes. It had been years after the war ended, and the two of you instantly moved in together. It just felt like the right thing to do, and besides, no one understood George Luz like you did.

He was hunched over the sink now, looking nowhere near like the man he was during the war. He was a lot older, a lot less skinny, and he always looked tired now. But who he was in Europe was still him, and it would be him forever. You bit your lip and headed up the stairs to prepare for bed.

As you laid in bed with a book in hand, you heard something crash downstairs. Rushing down, you spotted him on the ground, head in his hands, remnants of a broken plate by his feet. "George?" you called, rushing to him. You quickly brushed away the broken plate, and sat by him. He had tears streaming down his face.

You held his face in your hands briefly, and he quickly pulled away, turning from you. Instead, you wrapped your arms tightly around him. "I'm here. We're at home," you breathed slowly, "We just had a lovely dinner, you were just washing the dishes."

Sometimes, you both needed reminding that you weren't still in Europe. His shoulders trembled under you, and he clenched at your clothes as he cried. "I could have helped them," he cried, his lips trembling, "If I had called them out with me."

You shook your head fervently, lifting his head to look at you. "No, George," you said as he shut his eyes, "That's not your fault. There was nothing you could do. You did all you could."

"I could've saved them," he whispered against your hair, slowly calming down. He was no longer crying, but George still clung to you tightly.

"Maybe you could've," you replied, resting your cheek against his head, "But also think about all the other people you've saved in turn."

The two of you sat there, on the kitchen floor, illuminated only by the small lamp in the corner. You were both leaned up against the kitchen sink, hands intertwined, staring off into the distance like you had done many, many times since the war ended. You often got lost in thought during dark nights like these.

"I'm sorry," George said, a sigh escaping his lips, "I tried to fight it this time."

You looked at him and smiled, planting a gentle kiss on the tip of his nose. "That's alright," you extended your pinky towards him, "We all have those days. We're in this together, remember? Pinky promise."

George linked his pinky with yours, like he had done nearly a thousand times since that morning in Belgium.

Both of you had kept your promise and were in it, nightmares and attacks, together.

[yannasunflower]

flux

on today’s episode of “yanna needs to stop writing new things and work on her wips”. i love this show and i wanted to write a lil something that’s been at the back of my mind for a while. always wanted to know what happened while Katara and Zuko waited to hear if they were able to win the war, or if their friends would survive or not. may keep this as a one-shot, may turn it into an actual fic with an Azula redemption arc and actual Zutara shenanigans and politics GALORE. who knows? enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~

Katara is sure he’s dead. She’s never been more sure of anything in her life, to be precise. Azula’s aim is impeccable, Zuko has always been at least a little suicidal, and Katara is a waterbender who is absolutely useless against lightning. Tears are streaming down her face and she’s trying to convince her sputtering heart to keep beating even as she runs toward his prone body, so lifeless, so helpless on the cold, stone ground.

It is no place for a son of Agni.

She falls to her knees and doesn’t stop to listen for a heartbeat, just puts her hands to his chest and prays. The wound is gaping and raw and scorching. She tries to keep her memory from racing to another night on Appa’s back when she held the world’s future in her hands for the first time. Katara hiccups, not sure if she has felt fear like this since Aang took the same lightning bolt in Ba Sing Se. Lightning that put him in a coma for weeks, a wound that didn’t let her sleep for days at a time. 

Aang had been necessary to world peace but right now, looking down at Zuko’s pale, fine face, Katara knows in her gut that Zuko is just as instrumental to the future Aang saw, was willing to die, that they were all willing to die for. The comet is still streaking a path of fire through the sky and behind her, Azula is screaming like a wounded animal. 

Katara flutters her fingers, inhales, holds her breath, squeezes her eyes shut and tries to imagine the heart in Zuko’s chest, one that is red and bleeds just like hers would be if Zuko hadn’t been so damn noble, so honorable. The thought makes her flinch even while her hands stay steady.

And then she feels more than hears the first tremblings of a heart that’s alive. The heart beneath her stirs, beats, skips, and beats again, stronger and steadier with every passing second. She’s sobbing and thanking every spirit out loud she can think of: Agni, La, Tui, Yue, Agni again for saving his son.

Zuko’s body twitches, his fingers curling inward. Katara could jump for joy when his eyes open, still gold and bright. His voice is quiet and low but strong. 

“Thank you, Katara,” he rasps. 

Katara can’t stop herself from throwing her arms around his shoulders, sobbing freely now, unable to imagine a future where his heart had remained still forever. Was it only weeks ago she had wanted to throw him from a cliff?

“I think I’m the one who should be thanking you,” she sniffles when she can finally let go of him, trying her best to give him a big, if somewhat watery, smile. Zuko smiles back, awkwardly like he does everything, and Katara resists the urge to hug him again. 

“Where’s - what happened to...Azula?” his words are halting. Katara helps him sit up, healer eyes careful to catch any wince. 

She jerks her head in Azula’s direction and watches as at first, understanding, then, an indescribable sadness passes over Zuko’s face. She helps him stand at his insistence and when he finally sees his little sister, chained and broken, tears streaming down her face even as she sends fire roaring into the red sky, Katara’s heart breaks. A single word is threaded in Azula’s cries, mama, and Katara’s breath hitches. She looks away, unable in that moment to see anything but a frightened girl she knows she cannot help. A war criminal, a killer, a teenager who was never meant to fight the way she did. 

Attendants are flooding the courtyard. Katara can see the understanding dawning on their faces, many of them scurrying in the direction of what she presumes are the Fire Sages who fled at the first sign of Zuko. She glances at him, sees the grim knowing in the set of his jaw.

“Find the Fire Sages. And someone sedate my sister.” Katara flinches. She does not envy the poor soul tasked with shutting a wild Azula up.

His voice rings through the courtyard, commanding, more powerful than he probably feels, sagging against Katara. She frowns up at him, guiding him to the stone steps and setting him down carefully, gently.

“I need to clean that wound and bandage it Zuko, now is not the time for state matters,” she admonishes, preparing herself to pull more water from the soaked ground. Zuko grits his teeth and she recognizes the way his eyes flash molten gold at her. Zuko is truly the most stubborn person she’s ever met, and she’s met Toph Bei Fong. 

“Scowl at me all you want, I’m cleaning that wound right this second, even if I have to tie you up to do it. Wouldn’t want your Fire Sages walking in on that I bet,” she growls. He shuts his mouth with a click and she gets to work, trying to be gentle, clenching her jaw at every hiss of pained breath Zuko lets out. With Zuko out of immediate danger, her mind wanders to Aang and Sokka and Toph and Suki. Spirits, her father and her tribe’s men. She wonders if Iroh and the White Lotus have recaptured Ba Sing Se, if they ever even had a chance in hell of it. 

Mostly, she tries not to imagine her father’s face if Sokka never comes back. 

“Do...do you think Aang is out there, fighting my father?”

The question is quiet, almost a whisper. Katara pauses to consider it. She manages to flash a smile she doesn’t fully feel at him. 

“Aang always comes through,” she answers. It is as honest one she can give. It seems to satisfy Zuko, who leans back on his palms as Katara rips the hem of her tunic and wraps it around his torso. 

“If,” Katara can’t finish the question. She looks away, at the damaged rooftops still burning, gnawing on her lip. Azula is still shooting blue fire and sobbing and really she knows there’s a comet but how much fire does Azula have? Zuko waits. “If Aang doesn’t defeat Ozai...what will happen to us?”

There is silence for a moment. Katara is afraid to look him in the eye, to even look at his face, so she keeps her gaze focused on wounding the bandage around his chest, tightly but not too much. She ties it off much more carefully than usual, trying to avoid the moment when she will have to look up.

“He’ll try to kill me,” Zuko finally says after a long pause. He can’t run from his homeland again. Her horrified eyes dart to his, mouth open with shock at the mere idea of a father murdering his son. A grin almost curls at the corner of his mouth. Zuko knows that Katara, for all her strengths and intelligence, for all the awful, inhuman things she had seen during the war, he knows that perhaps the one thing she and her brother cannot imagine is that. He realizes, a little abruptly, he has never told any of them how he got his scar.

It’s a story for another day, one bathed in sunlight, where his father’s shadow cannot reach him. He likes to think that day will come, that it exists in his murky future.

The Fire Sages arrive, immediately falling to their knees and pressing their foreheads to the ground, still wet from Katara’s water. She glares at them balefully, disgusted by their spineless cowering and simpering. 

“Prince Zuko,” one whimpers, voice somewhat muffled by the floor. “The Fire Sages welcome your return as the rightful heir to the throne.”

Zuko says nothing. She can’t read his eyes or his face, smooth and imperturbable. With a pang, Katara sees the Fire Lord he could become. She is sorely tempted to tell the cowards to scramble in language she has picked up from travelling some of the coarser parts of the world. But this is not her nation, not her palace, and it is not her crown at risk.

“Sit up,” Zuko orders. He speaks with a new authority, one he never uses when talking to her. She blinks a little. It is hard to keep up with Zuko’s faces and sides at times. “Preparations for my coronation will begin immediately. You will declare me Fire Lord in the next hour. We can have a more formal ceremony at a later date.”

Whatever objections the Sage had been about to sputter died on his lips with one hiss from Katara and a little help from the water rapidly freezing around his wrists. Swallowing, hard, he rises to his feet, as well as his companion, who pulls a familiar object from his robes. 

“An honor, my lord,” this one rumbles and he meets Zuko’s eyes with a little more defiance than the first. Zuko holds his gaze. The air warms by at least a few degrees. While not versed in Fire Nation politics, Katara is somewhat sure the proper address should have been your highness. By the narrow slit of Zuko’s molten eyes, the slight had not passed unnoticed. She shivers. Katara resists the urge to throw the Sage into the ocean, to make him and his hard, dark eyes disappear. He is a viper in a snake’s nest, at home in a court that Zuko has not truly belonged to for years. The hairs at the back of her neck prickle. 

The ceremony is brief and to the point. Katara is beginning to scan the sky for a messenger hawk or some other sign that her brother and their friends are alive. The comet is fading away into the darkening sky. Every moment that passes is painful, agony really. Zuko stands up, shoulders squared and straight, crown gleaming in his black hair. Katara forces a smile, swallowing bile, taking his arm and walking with him to a chamber just a little ways down the hall. When the door closes after a bowing servant, she presses a careful finger to the wound, relieved to find it still closed and not-bleeding. 

Her body sags without permission. She is tired, deep in her bones and blood, with a world to rebuild in front of her. Zuko doesn’t look any better off, the dark circles under his eyes difficult to miss. He plucks the crown from his hair, letting it fall loose around his face once more. Katara brushes an errant strand from his cheek, gently, and she marvels at how Zuko no longer flinches from her touch. When had he begun to look at her with trust in those eyes? When did he stop wincing at every movement she made?

He leans into her touch, just a little, and she allows her fingertips to graze his cheek, enjoying the way his eyes fall shut seemingly without permission. There was a time when Zuko had found it difficult to sleep around her, and there was a time when Katara had stood guard outside his door, stiffening at every noise while he slept. Now, his eyes remain shut and it doesn’t take Toph’s hearing to know his breathing has slowed. 

They don’t move for what feels like days. When he stirs, Katara startles just a little, averting her gaze quickly, praying Zuko hadn’t caught her tracing the thick black (how unfair) eyelashes that fluttered against his cheekbones (too fine, too angled, the bastard even had good bone structure) with her eyes. She stands, wringing her hands, feeling the last of the water in her skin swirling restlessly. 

Katara orders tea and watches with no small amount of amazement as Zuko pours it gracefully. She had nearly forgotten his time working a menial tea shop job in Ba Sing Se. Somehow, the sight of an injured Fire Lord Zuko skillfully pouring her steaming tea is both humorous and disconcerting. 

“We should have heard by now,” she frets as the sky still darkens and time still passes with no word from any of their allies. Outside, she knows the palace is in disarray and the nobles are probably wondering if it is safe to come out yet, but Zuko is in no condition to appear before them as their new Fire Lord, he looks exhausted, La she wishes she could let him sleep. But the world is on fire and Katara is drinking tea mostly to preserve her sanity at this point, so damn the nobles and damn the politics. 

The waiting is almost worse than the fighting. After a few comfortable minutes spent in silence, Katara’s worrying breaks it again.

Zuko flashes her a familiar, exasperated scowl. 

“Stop fidgeting, for Agni’s sake,” he sighs. His tired, overly-patient tone is familiar. Afternoons watching him and Aang work through firebending forms flood her mind. She grins sheepishly. “If Ozai had defeated Aang, we would know by now. That’s not something he would keep to himself for longer than necessary.”

The words soothe her, but only slightly. Because by defeated he meant killed and the thought of Aang’s small, broken body is too much for her to bear. 

“Katara.” Zuko hesitates, and she waits, because they always know when more is coming, they always know when to wait for the other. 

“Thank you, for healing me,” he says and she can’t help but laugh at the genuine, earnest way he looks at her from under those unfair lashes. It’s a boyish expression in a face that long ago lost its roundness.  

“You already said that,” she dismisses him. “And I told you, I’m the one who should thank you. I would be dead if it wasn’t for you. You almost threatened the future of the world to save me.”

Zuko looks slightly confused. 

“You are the future,” he says and damn him he’s done it again. Her heart is sputtering, blood rushing to her cheeks and she briefly considers trying to bloodbend the blush away. Because Zuko’s face, no longer boy-round, permanently scarred by the cruelty of his father, is so damned honest and grateful and la, she is trying hard not to wonder what would happen if she leans forward, just a little.

Zuko’s eyes are more than gold, she finds, especially in firelight, and is this what Agni’s eyes would look like she tries not to wonder, tries not to see that she has leaned closer, unwittingly, or maybe not, her thoughts a jumbled tangle of heat and fear and spirits there’s still a war going on. But she can’t help but notice that Zuko isn’t moving away, is just watching her face in a way that sets her bones on fire and spirits, she wants to touch his cheek again - 

A rapid, soft knock on the door makes her gasp. She throws her body away from him in a ridiculously dramatic motion. It’s only a servant, asking if her new Fire Lord would like food, bowing all the while. Katara takes that moment to straighten herself, gulping in steadying breaths and pushing the stolen moment far, far from the front of her mind.

“Have any messages come for me?” Zuko asks and the servant girl shakes her head. Katara’s heart sinks and from Zuko’s thin mouth, fear is beginning to settle into his bones, too. 

It only takes a few moments of awkward silence after the servant leaves for Katara to start fidgeting again. She has just about made up her mind to take Appa to where the Fire Nation’s fleet had planned to raze the Earth Kingdom to the ground when a servant enters, bowing low at the waist, a sealed message in her hand. 

“Pardon me, Your Majesty, but a messenger hawk has just arrived from Ba Sing Se.”

Zuko grabs the message hungrily, breaking it open and scanning the words before the girl has straightened from her bow. He sighs, deeply, and Katara reads it over his shoulder, nearly bursting into tears again with relief. 

“They recaptured Ba Sing Se,” she whispers. Her hand grasps Zuko’s shoulder and he reaches a hand up to clasp it silently. For a moment, the world straightens. 

“Please bring any other messages directly to me,” Zuko says. The girl can’t quite stop herself from blinking rapidly before bowing low again and retreating, red definitely crawling up her neck. Zuko looks confused and Katara nearly laughs. She doesn’t have the heart to tell him that she doesn’t think Fire Lords often say please when addressing servants. 

A distant scream sends Katara scrambling for her waterskin and Zuko trying to jump to his feet, failing miserably and crying out as he slumps back. 

“Stay put,” Katara orders him, forgetting for a moment the crown on Zuko’s head. She runs out before she can think too hard about it, her legs taking her to the courtyard, water already rising from the stones, fire burning in her veins because Zuko bled for this palace, these people, before a familiar wolf tail registers in her heart. 

“Sokka!” She definitely screams it a little, nearly falls at least twice as she rushes forward and throws herself into his arms, his healthy, alive arms. He’s on crutches and his leg is bent strangely but she doesn’t care because he’s alive and holding her tight and trembling against her. Suki grunts a little, bearing the brunt of his weight, but makes no complaints, smiling too broadly to feign irritation. 

Aang is standing next to him when she finally pulls back, a tired smile on his young face. 

“Hey Katara,” he says and he sounds his age for once but she doesn’t care because La, he’s alive and so is Toph and Suki and she’s going to cry again. She’s not sure who is hugging who but it doesn’t matter because all of her friends are breathing and here. 

“Where’s Sparky?” Toph asks when they all manage to disentangle themselves. Katara’s eyes widen and she gasps. 

She turns on her heel to find a very injured Zuko hobbling down the steps. 

She runs to him, throwing his arm over her shoulder and shooting him an apologetic grin. 

“Agni, did you think you could face Ozai alone?” he wheezes and she laughs because he is alive, too, and he took lightning for her, and everyone she loves may have just made it out of this war. 

The group rushes forward, murmuring sympathies, arms reaching out to embrace Zuko, and they fall into another tangled hug, tears streaming down faces, Sokka complaining about his leg, Toph grumbling about sappiness even as she slings to Katara like she’ll never let go. Katara looks at Aang and his grey eyes are still alight with something that is all him, all Aang the airbender, and he smiles at her the way a child who has not been ravaged by war would. 

Questions and answers will come later, as will healing and scars and hard work and negotiations. In the light of the lanterns and the moon and the small spots of fire the servants have not yet put out though, Katara clings to her family and begins to realize that the war that killed her mother is over. The war that took her father, took Aang’s people and Zuko’s innocence, took Azula’s soul. It is over. 

She is alive, they all are, and they are breathing in a new life, a future. Together.

[elatedmarvel]

After All This Time, You and I (1/4)

Summary: Bucky has known you your entire life. Snapshots through the years.

Word Count:  1948

AN: Hello! Long time no see! This is for @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan​‘s Follower Celebration! Congrats to you Star, you deserve every single one!! My prompt was Best Friend’s Sibling. This was originally going to be a long oneshot, but I felt like the flow was better to separate it into a two-shot. Title is from Mary’s Song by Taylor Swift for obvious reasons. Thank you for hosting this awesome writing challenge Star! I had so much fun writing this!

Warnings: tiny mention of violence, swear words

“The building burning up Buck! You gotta get out of here!” Steve shouts staring down his best friend from across the bridge.

“No! Not without you!” comes Bucky’s fierce reply. His eyes scan over the wreck, trying to find something to save Stevie. 

Steve takes a deep breath and prays that the crumbling bridge will hold a little longer, and he charges across the chasm. He almost makes it to the other side when his foot gets caught on a pillow. Tumbling over, he avoids landing on Bucky, but knocks over the unsuspecting person on his right. 

You land with a thud on your hands and knees, and quickly scramble to look at your right knee. There’s a moment of silence, and the boys hold their breath waiting for the inevitable wail. 

“I’m sorry!” Steve cries before wrapping his arms around you in a clumsy hug. He really didn’t see you playing next to him, it was an accident! Your bottom lip sticks out and your eyes become more and more glassy. 

“Please don’t cry” he begs, partly because it breaks his heart, and partially because he doesn't want get in trouble. He knew what kind of hellfire Sarah Rogers could rain down.   

“We’re sorry, what can we do to make it up to you?” Bucky asks, scooting himself to face your tear stained face. He felt bad for making Steve run across the bridge, he never meant to hurt you. 

“I-I need a groom for my wedding.” you state without hesitation, wiping at your eyes. “And I can’t marry Steve cause he’s my brother, duh.” Your wet eyes turn to look intently at Bucky. 

“You can’t get married, you’re 6.” Bucky tries to argue.

“So? You’re 8! That’s only 2 years older! ‘Sides, it’s not real anyway.” you fires back, your bottom lip juts out again, ready to cry if that’s what it takes.

He’s taken a back for a moment at your reply, and blue eyes meet Steve’s pleading ones. He’d do anything for you, and of course Steve was the cherry on top. 

“Ok. Fine.”

On a rainy day in April, Steve walks you down the aisle. 

Clad in his nicest, unstained, khaki pants, Bucky’s heart skips a beat when he sees you. You’re wearing your Cinderella costume from Halloween, and some stolen red lipstick from your mom, smiling like you got an extra juice pop. Somehow, he already knows your the prettiest girl in the world.  

In front of your moms, stuffed animals and barbies, Bucky promises to always make you laugh and smile, and to protect you. You promise to always share her toys and food with him, and to make him feel better when he’s sad.

The ceremony ends after Steve pronounces you both husband and wife, and while your moms cheer and tear up slightly, Bucky leans in and gives you a quick peck on the cheek. It won’t be so bad being married to her, he thinks.

~~~

School sucked for Bucky today. Steve got into a fight with Zemo, which lead to Bucky getting in a fight with Zemo. That punk couldn’t even breathe right, it frustrated Bucky to no end that he couldn’t stop being stupid. Turns out, being punched in face hurts more than it looks in the movies. And of course, his parents weren’t thrilled and took away his TV privileges for the week, which meant he couldn’t find out what happened on his favorite show the Howling Commandos. Last week was even a cliffhanger! Captain America and the Winter Soldier were stuck on a plane with bombs on them and fast approaching Manhattan! 

Wallowing, both Steve and him were relegated to “use their imaginations” and playing in the backyard. Bored out of their minds, they played hide and seek, a babies game really if you asked Bucky. But, Steve was nice enough to let Bucky hide first, and Bucky couldn’t say no to that bruised face.

So here he was, climbing the ladder to the old tree house, hoping Steve wouldn’t look here right away. Sniffles drew his attention you, crying softly in the corner with your knees to your chest. You were blasting music from your walkman, Endless Love from what Bucky could hear. It was really bad then. His chest hurt seeing your red rimmed eyes, and crawled next to you. 

“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked lowly, taking her headphones off of your head and pausing the song. You didn’t look him in the eye, but leaned into him more when he put his arm around you. 

“Stupid boys.” you sniffle. Wiping your face, you finally meet Bucky’s worried eyes. “Jake dumped me for Sierra, cause she always has chocolate snack packs in her lunch.”

“That weasel! Want me to rough him up a little?”

“Thanks, but I think you and Stevie are in enough trouble as it is.” you chuckle, placing your head on his shoulder. He gently rubs his hand up and down your arm, wishing he could take away your pain. 

“I could pretend to be your boyfriend, make him jealous your going out with a 6th grader.” he offers.

“You can’t be my boyfriend, you’re already my husband!” you joke. His eyes go wide, remembering your lovely wedding ceremony and the massive amounts of cake you both ate at the “reception”. 

“Hey! That’s right! Technically you were cheating on me with him! I want a divorce.” he jokes, bumping your shoulder with his. 

You giggle and place a hand on his, “Please forgive me! It’s been so hard being separated from you now that you’re in middle school! He didn’t mean anything! Promise!”

You both erupt laughing so hard that Bucky falls over and brings you with him, which makes you both laugh even harder. Managing to calm down, he places a kiss on your forehead and hugs you closer to him. His heart does a funny dance in his chest, but he ignores it. You’re so warm against him, and your shampoo smelled so good, he could lay here with you forever. 

“I guess I’ll forgive you this once, but don’t let it happen again.” he says solemnly. 

You nod, hair tickling his face, “It won’t, you’re the only one for me Bucky Barnes.” 

~~~

 The room’s getting dark, but he couldn’t be bothered to get up and turn on the light. Not when Lional Richie was pouring his heart out. He couldn’t go down to dinner, his whole family had heard her breaking up with him. Did Dot really have to come over and break things off in the driveway? It would kill him to see the pity in his mom’s eyes, and sit through the uncomfortable talk with his dad about his feelings. He knew they were worried about him, and wanted to help, but he couldn’t stomach facing them.

They hadn’t been going out for long, but being dumped for the first time, he didn’t know how to handle his heartache. Honestly, he didn’t know if he was even heartbroken, or just wallowing in self-pity of being blindsided by the breakup. 

A knock on the door brought him out of his misery. Must be his mom, bringing food up to him like the saint that she was. He stands up slowly, acutely aware of how his muscles ache from being curled in a ball for most of the day, and stretches as he makes his way to the door. 

Your bright eyes stare back at him when he opens the door, and in his shock, he takes in the box of pizza you holdand the enormous bag of junk food. 

“What’re you doing here?” voice cracking from underuse. 

“Steve told me what happened with Dot. I brought pizza and your favorite snacks and movies. I can drop them off and leave though if you would rather be alone?” your voice hopeful that he won’t turn you away. Like he could, he’s never turned you away before and he won’t start now. 

A small smile makes its way onto his face, and he opens the door wider so you can come into the bedroom. Your grin soothes the ache in his chest. You put the pizza down on his nightstand and cue up Star Wars. Getting cozy on his bed and patting the spot next to you, it seems like you fit right in. He didn’t need to be asked twice. 

By 4 AM, he’s forgotten all about what’s-her-name, and his earlier self-pity and heartbreak. Not when Star Wars was playing in the background and your blinking sleepily at the TV, head on his shoulder. 

~~~

“Bucky, we have a situation.” Steve announces, flopping onto Bucky’s bed. Bucky looks up from the laptop in his lap with a confused stare, waiting from Mr. Dramatic to explain. He didn’t have time for his antics, his last college final of the semester was due next week.

“Y/N’s prom date bailed on her, and it’s tomorrow.” was all Steve said, and looked at Bucky, waiting for what he knew would happen now.

“That dick.” Bucky replied, mentally searching for his tux. “If I leave now, I can make it with enough time to shower and get ready.” And he hops off the bed, grabbing his duffle bag, he stuffs whatever he may need for the impromptu trip home. Steve just stares at him with a smile on his face like the little shit he is. 

A 5 hour drive home, shower, frantic search for his tux, and a quick power nap later, he knocks on your door. He wishes he could photograph the look of surprise on your face, your jaw literally drops when he see him in his tux.

“Bucky?!” And he swears he forgot how beautiful you were. Literally glowing, and he doesn't think it’s from the makeup, he can’t help himself as he takes in your dress. You’ll be the most beautiful one there, no contest. “Hey doll.” he smirks at you, still amused by your shocked state. He can tell when your brain catches up when your eyes soften as you look up at him.

“What are you doing here?” you ask in a soft voice. 

“Taking you to prom, what else would I be doing?” and he can see you calculating in your head. 

“Bucky, you must have driven all night!” you exclaim. Bucky loves when your eyes grow wide, it’s so cute.

“It’s fine, who needs sleep?” he says as he steps inside, past your frozen, and shocked state. Steve must have told your parents he was coming, he can see your parents waiting with the camera in the living room. 

“You told me you were going to work on your final all weekend.” you fire back, closing the door. 

“This is more important to me.” and he can tell you don’t quite believe him. You have a scowl on your face that reminds him of when you would catch him stealing a piece of candy as kids. He’s pretty sure you think it’s intimidating, but he finds it adorable. 

“I promise that I worked on it already, and I’ll be ok.” and he presses a kiss to your forehead. “You look beautiful.” your glad your foundation hides the sudden flush of your face. 

“You’re not too shabby yourself.” you tease back. But really, seeing him like this does inexplicable things to your heart. He’s so handsome, and he had driven all night to take you to prom. You could just kiss him. 

Taking your hands in his, you look into his eyes. “Thank you.” you say earnestly. 

And Bucky knew in that moment, he would drive days to get to you if needed.

Part 2 

[nuoyipeach]

Anger Management (jaeri OS)

13/5/2020

Yeri skipped around the kitchen, preparing Jaehyun's favourite food. She was excited that her husband would finally be back early for once since forever it seemed. His work load was increasing so much that he was home for only a few hours for sleep before leaving the next morning.

Today, according to his friend Johnny, who was also Yeri's best friend's brother, Jaehyun had less schedules as he apparently cancelled some. She was shocked to hear that knowing how he always had a good work ethic, but it didn't matter since she could finally have him longer.

Once she finished plating his dish and the sides, she waited in the living room. Time went by and she couldn't keep herself up much longer as she fell asleep on the couch, waking up an hour later to the door opening. Yeri looked at the clock, and realised he came back later than he was supposed to, and the food was probably cold by now. Upset, she got up and waited for him, and saw him come in a staggering manner.

"Jaehyun..." she called him softly, only to get a grunt as he threw his bag and coat on the couch. Yeri felt hurt, and wanted to know what happened. She went closer to him as he sat on the couch taking off his socks. "Jaehyun why are you late?"

"Work..." he mumbled. Yeri thought it through, and felt he was lying. She was hurting even more now knowing he was supposed to leave the office earlier as everyone saw him.

"Why... Why are you lying?"

Jaehyun scoffed as he stood up. "Why would you think I lied? Isn't it normal for me to come home late? I had work to do. Why do you think I'm so exhausted?"

Yeri's eyes quivered as she stared up at him. "But you left the office earlier today. Johnny told me."

"So?"

"You even cancelled your schedule..."

Jaehyun groaned rolling his eyes. "What? Did you think I cancelled work and left early for fun? To relax? I had an emergency meeting with my dad. There's no reason for me to cancel schedules just to come home early. I thought you'd know how much work I have to go through, and all the stress. But I guess I judged you too soon. You know nothing about how I feel."

Yeri was shocked. Jaehyun was always the sweetest since they started dating three years ago. The reason he married her a year and half ago was because he was scared he wouldn't be able to see her as much as before because of his work. He wanted to make sure she was always with him, it gave him a peace of mind that she was safe in his arms, or at least house. To hear such things from a man like him, Yeri was more than upset.

Because he had no idea how she felt.

"Jaehyun... All I wanted was to have one dinner with you. It's been three months since we last sat together, and even that was just for your company dinner. You said it yourself, you married me so we could be together more even when you're working. But everyday I wake up empty, and every night I sleep alone."

"So what do you want me to do?" Jaehyun scolded, causing her to flinch backwards. "Quit my job? Stay at home all day and cuddle? Life isn't that easy Kim Yerim. Not everything has to be like those stupid cartoons you watch. If I can't make time myself for a proper lunch, how do you expect me to come home early and eat? I'm not the one laying at home all day, I'm the one working for both of us to live a proper life! If you don't know how I feel, then don't speak!"

Yeri was close to tears. Scratch that, she was already tearing up in seconds. Jaehyun groaned and walked past her going to their bedroom to wind down, and hopefully calm himself.

I don't understand how you feel? Well you're not the only one with feelings...

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Next day was a Saturday, but that didn't mean Jaehyun was off work. Weekends were usually scheduled for him to have his online meetings with their international investors. As he slowly woke up, he turned and threw his hand over... A pillow?

Jaehyun shot up when he didn't feel his wife's body, and went blank for a few seconds before he remembered what happened the night before.

Yeri came into the room and packed her medium sized luggage. Just as she finished Jaehyun walked out of the shower and looked at her, scoffing again. Yeri refused to even look at him and simply walked out the door.

She'll be back... he thought as he went to sleep.

But she wasn't. Jaehyun became worried, but his ego wouldn't let him call her to check, and he still believed she'd come back later that night. He knew her long enough to know she wouldn't run away for that long.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Unless you counted a month as a short time. Jaehyun was devastated. He finally understood what he did wrong. He thought Yeri was being childish and selfish, but he finally understood how she felt.

Coming home from work tired late at night is nothing compared to sleeping alone and waking up empty despite knowing you have someone you're supposed to spend the rest of your life with. Jaehyun's work started piling and he couldn't care less about it. His father noticed, and pushed him to finally take a month off work. He didn't tell anyone what had happened, he couldn't. As much as he missed her, his ego wouldn't let him.

But tonight he put aside it all, and finally decided to call her and see what happens. He laid in bed and stared at how her number was at the bottom of his recent calls. And he realised this was before she even left, that's how much he had neglected her. Taking a deep breath he called, and waited as it rang through.

The call answered, and he immediately sat up. "Yeri!" he called out a little too excited.

"No." he got an answer so straight forward, he was startled. "I'm Herin, her friend. You know, Johnny's sister." Jaehyun was even more surprised by how the person talked to him, as if she didn't even want to.

What if she knows...

"Where's Yeri? I'm her husband, I ne-"

"You weren't so much her husband when you neglected her feelings and simply watched her leave."

Jaehyun couldn't speak as words got stuck in his mouth, not knowing what to answer. "Where is she? Just tell me. I need to speak to her."

"She won't speak to anyone right now. She's busy. I'm surprised you didn't even know she had a job all this time." she paused, and Jaehyun could tell she was either thinking of listening to someone else. "But, I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"Do you even love her?"

Jaehyun was taken aback by the question, and slightly offended. "Of course I do! I love her more than anything." he slightly yelled.

"When was the last time you said that to her!?!" she scolded back. And that got Jaehyun thinking.

He couldn't even remember.

"Can't remember? Well I do. You know why, because I was there. The Christmas party. How I know that was the last? Because after that, ever since you got that stupid higher position at that damn company, all I would hear Yeri say was he was angry. You don't even realise it do you. You don't even remember being mad at her every single time you get home. All that's in your mind is that stinking company, work work work. You didn't even realise I was there once when you came home and she tried to get you to eat with us and you yelled at her. And yet, with my own eyes I saw her helping to get you comfortable in bed, tuck you in, even kiss you good night. I don't know why she did that, when honestly I would've slapped you right there and then."

With that she cut the call, to tired to want to continue. Jaehyun couldn't move, speak, even his chest felt heavy. He suddenly realised what's been happening, how much of an issue he has. But why can't he remember all of it? He never realised this is what he's been doing, but other than Herin witnessing it and heir final fight, he couldn't remember a thing.

I need help...

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

An hour became two, and Jaehyun was more than upset by what came out in the results.

"Mr Jung, you have bad anger management issues. I suppose that's why you tend forget what you do, because you're so angry at the moment that you're brain doesn't capture it, hence why you don't remember what you do."

Jaehyun pursed his lips gripping the paper hard, tears brimming in his eyes. The psychiatrist could tell something must have happened for him to come speak about it.

"Did something happen sir? I know my patients, and you wouldn't have come here and now cry about your results if you didn't do anything."

Jaehyun looked away and wiped his eyes before coughing, then looked back at the doctor. "I didn't know. But I used to come home, yell at my wife everyday. I love her, I really do without a doubt. But... I didn't know. I didn't have control over this. All she wanted was one dinner together after months, but next day, she left. It's been more than a month, and she still hasn't called me. When I did, her friend scolded me, and that's when I found out I used to scold her, yell at her... And yet... Yet she used to take care of me when I slept..."

Jaehyun couldn't control himself, he cried louder and louder. The doctor simply passed him some tissues, and waited for him to calm down. She then looked at him, then at the results, and started typing out something.

"Yours is a little high, but it can be controlled."

Jaehyun stopped and sniffled before looking at her. "How? Please tell me, I'll really do anything..."

She then wrote something down in his file before closing it and giving it to him. "I've prescribed some calming pills for you. They're not that strong, so don't worry. But other than that, you need to practice controlling yourself, and try exercising out your anger. Maybe through boxing, or some sort of sport. Nothing is safer than that for anger issues."

Jaehyun took his file and thanked the doctor before he left to get the medicine immediately. After, he sat in his car, thinking about how he could find Yeri.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Thank you ma'am, please come again." Yeri smiled as she handed the lady her new bag. The lady smiled and left, and her phone buzzed. She checked to see a message from Johnny, furrowing her eyebrows since it was rare for them to text.

Johnny (Herin's bro) Heyy, where do u work???

Me Hi... Lotte mall. At the bag sections, same as Herin Why???

Johnny (Herin's bro) Just asking

She looked at it confused, but shrugged it off as she went back to work. After an hour or so of showcasing accessories, selling more items, and checking of stocks, she finally had her break time. Herin had just walked in and smiled as Yeri handed her the keys for her to keep during her shift before they both closed together.

Herin settled herself behind the counter while Yeri was hidden behind it packing away her heels, changing into sneakers for more comfort.

"Welco- Uhm..." she heard Herin cut off her words and wondered who entered the place for her to go quiet. She got up behind her, and froze in her place when her eyes met with the customer's.

Jaehyun felt the biggest weight lift off his chest seeing his wife after more than a month. He took long strides up to the counter and stopped in front of the cash register.

There was a long silence, broken by Herin. "What would you like today, sir?" she cocked her eyebrow. Yeri quickly looked away and went into the back.

"Yeri wait." his voice stopped her in her tracks, and she couldn't handle it. She quickly took her bag and walked out again, trying to walk past him fast, but obviously failing as he stood in front of her and blocked her way. "Yeri please, I need to tell you something."

Yeri looked up at him, and could tell he was being sincere. But she didn't feel comfortable yet, after everything that had happened, she felt like she didn't know him. She took steps back until she stood in front of the counter, Herin glaring at him from behind her friend.

Jaehyun sighed, knowing he has to come clean here instead of privately, but it's the only choice so he'll take it. "Yeri, I'm sorry. For everything I've done to you, I'm sorry."

Yeri nodded, trying hard not to look weak. "I- it's OK..."

"No it's not." he spoke up. "And I know I can't use this as an excuse, but... I need you to know. Here."

Yeri looked up finally to see him holding up a file. She took it, scared about what it could be, and could feel Herin peek at it over her shoulder. She read through the paper, until she realised what it was, but was too shocked to speak.

"Wait..." Herin spoke instead. "You actually have anger issues? And they cause you amnesia?" the two ladies stare at him until he looked down sadly, nodding his head. "So that's why you don't realise what you do to her, do you?"

Jaehyun shook his head as to reply, and noticed Yeri staring at him. He couldn't help it, and held her hand tight in his both, missing the feeling.

"Yeri, I know I probably look like I'm trying to find up an excuse for my behaviour, but I'm not. I just wanted you to know about this. And... I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say, but it's up to you now."

"What?" Yeri finally spoke after a long time. Jaehyun looked down at her hand, playing with her fingers.

"It's up to you, whether you still want to stay with me, or leave. Whatever it is, I'll understand because I know the pain I gave you can't be compensated anyhow."

Yeri looked back at the file, and saw a section saying medicine. She read through thoroughly, and looked back at him. "You're fighting it?" she asked vaguely. Jaehyun thought for a while, and nodded when he understood. She looked back at the file, then him a few times.

Finally she sighed closing the file and giving it to him. Jaehyun stared at her with apologetic eyes, waiting for an answer, when she suddenly held his hand. "We'll fight it together."

Jaehyun didn't waste a second before pulling her into a hug, and sobbing into her shoulder. "Thank you... Thank you for giving me a second chance Yeri... I- I don't deserve you. I love you so much."

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Yeri prepared their dinner, like she has been doing for the past three weeks now. Work was still stressful for Jaehyun, but after hearing what happened, his father cut down his shift so that he had time to go home and rest enough like other employees. And Jaehyun tried very hard to control himself, with Yeri's help it was easier knowing you had support.

Once she finished plating, she placed a small tube next to Jaehyun's food. His medication was in her hands to make sure he never even mistakenly forgets a single dosage.

Just as she sat back, she heard the door open and shoes being tossed aside. She got up immediately and went to the doorway to greet her husband. His head hung low, and she could tell something was wrong. So went closer and held his arm, her other hand pushing his face up.

"I..." he tried to speak. "I broke my lamp today."

Yeri's eyes dilated in shock, but she quickly turned back to normal so he didn't feel even worse. "Why?" she questioned softly, pulling him inside. He dropped onto the couch, and she sat on the arm next to him, pulling his face to her chest as she stroked his hair.

"I got mad because my secretary didn't do any of the work that was due today and I had to make my whole department do it last minute. She wasn't doing her job at all, she only tried to flirt with me and other guys. I got so mad... I just couldn't control myself. I yelled at her and threw her out, but I felt so angry still, I... I threw my lamp across the room..."

Yeri silently listened to him, kissing the top of his head as he finished speaking. "It's OK. I guess what she did was very unprofessional, anyone would've gotten this mad." she pulled his face up and kissed him. "Let's eat, and take your medicine. Tomorrow's Saturday, so you can relax."

Jaehyun smiled and hugged her tight around her torso, nuzzling into her chest. She pulled him up for dinner, and they ate as they spoke about their days. Jaehyun finished up with his medicine, and soon went to shower and change.

Yeri laid in bed texting Herin about taking tomorrow off so she could spend time with Jaehyun. He came out of the shower, and got in bed next to her, hugging her again, face in her chest. Yeri smiled and snaked an arm under his head and hugging around his neck, the other stroking his face.

She knew this was the real Jaehyun. The one who loved to cuddle up with her, the one she held like a baby. He was always an affection seeker especially from her, and she never held back from doing so. Throughout those few rough months, Jaehyun realised now that he felt stressed not only from work, but from not spending enough time with Yeri.

He finally relaxed in her embrace, sleep taking over as she felt his body going limp. She smiled and kissed his lips softly before falling asleep herself.

"You'll be OK Jae, I promise..."

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[buckleyirondad]

iv. human shield

Peter had been asleep for seven days, and he still hadn’t woken up. 

Morgan didn’t understand why. She asked him to wake up, but he wouldn’t. He was in the hospital wing at the Avengers Headquarters, surrounded by noisy machines. Morgan hadn’t liked them at first, but then she found out they were helping Peter get better, and now, she loved them. 

Morgan had seen Peter hurt before. He was Spider-Man, so he came home most days with something wrong. A broken arm or leg, a black eye or a cut on his cheek. Morgan never liked it when he got hurt but Peter would always make her laugh, and the injuries would be gone by the morning. 

This time, Peter couldn’t make her laugh because he was asleep. Well, he wasn’t really. She didn’t understand. She’d learned a big word that she hated. Coma. Her dad and mum had cried when they said it, so she knew it was a very scary word. 

Peter was in a coma. However, he hadn’t got hurt as Spider-Man, he got hurt as himself. Morgan hadn’t been there when it happened, but she’d heard the story a few times. A bad man wanted to hurt Tony but Peter had pushed him out of the way and got hurt instead.

Tony cried a lot. Every time Morgan saw him, he was crying. He was cross too, she’d heard him shout a few times, but he was angry at himself, not the bad guy, Morgan didn’t know why because it wasn’t his fault. 

They were all living at the Headquarters, waiting for Peter to wake up, so they could go home together. Morgan only got to visit him a few times a day, but she wished she could stay with him all the time. She wanted to be there when he woke up. The first time she saw him in his coma, she’d broken down, in a fit of sobs. She hadn’t meant to. She wanted to be brave, but it was very scary. As time went on, it got a little easier.

“Hey, Daddy.” Morgan skipped in and headed over to where Tony was sat next to Peter’s bed. She heard Happy shut the door behind her, but her mind was set on spending some time with her dad and brother. 

Tony welcomed her with a smile, “Hey, Morguna. What have you got there?” He motioned to the piece of paper she was holding.

“I drew Petey a picture.” She hurried over, stopping at the end of the bed, “Hey, Petey.” 

Everyone spoke to Peter, even though he couldn’t answer. Aunt May had told her that there was a chance Peter could hear everything they were saying, so all Morgan did was talk, she didn’t want her brother to be lonely.

“I drew you a picture today!” She held it up, Tony leaned over to catch a glimpse, “It’s you, as Spider-Man, saving Gerald because he got stuck in a tree.” Morgan chuckled as Tony snorted a laugh, “I don’t know how he got up there but he’s very silly.”

“That sounds about right.” 

Morgan lay the paper near Peter’s feet, “I’m gonna leave it here.” She held onto the end of the bed, as she bounced, back and forth, “Aunt May’s gone to get some dinner, so don’t worry, she’s not far away.” Whenever Morgan was sick, she hated it when her parents had to leave the room, and she didn’t want Peter to wake up and worry because May wasn’t nearby.

The bed was taller than Morgan, and she had to stand on her tiptoes to see Peter. “Um, Daddy?”

“Yes, honey?”

Morgan hummed hesitantly, “Can I hold Petey’s hand?”

Tony’s mouth twitched in the corner as he smiled, tears filled his eyes, “Of course, you can, or...” He rubbed his hands together, and jumped onto his feet, “Would you like to sit on the bed with him?”

Morgan’s eyes widened, she hadn’t been able to do that before. She missed cuddling up to Peter’s side and spending the nights whispering secrets to one another that no one else ever heard. She knew he was poorly, and she couldn’t do that yet, but she wanted to be as close as she possibly could be, “Yes, please.”

Tony looped his hands under her arms, and gently sat her down by Peter’s side, “Here you go, sweetie.” The bed was big enough for Morgan to sit next to Peter, without disturbing any wires. Tony moved back to the chair, watching over them. Morgan settled in the corner, and reached out, wrapping her hand around Peter's. She tightened her grasp, but Peter’s hand didn’t move.

Morgan hadn’t seen Peter this up close yet. He looked the same but his skin was a little whiter than usual, and there was a small tube under his nose. Something else was off though. Morgan often fell asleep in Peter’s bed, or vice versa. Peter moved a lot. Morgan would often wake up with an arm stretched over her face. Tony had often called him a ‘fidgeter.’  

Peter wasn’t moving now. He was completely still, and Morgan didn’t like that. It’s wasn’t right. She’d heard the word coma before, but she never knew what it meant until her parents explained it to her. Her best friend, Riri’s grandma didn’t wake up from her coma, and went up to the sky, forever. Morgan didn’t want Peter to go. For the first four years of her life, Peter was lost, and then they found him. She didn’t want him to disappear again.

Morgan brushed tears away with the back of her sleeve, her throat cracked, “Daddy…”

Tony looked up, his eyebrows raised in alarm, he charged over, “Hey, hey…” He threaded his fingers through her hair, “What’s wrong?”

“Is Petey gonna wake up?” She hiccuped, Tony’s face paled, “‘Cause Riri’s grandma was sleeping for a really long time, and she never woke up. She’s in the sky..and…I don’t want Petey to…”

“Peter is gonna wake up.” Tony told her, “I promise. He’s getting better.” He knelt on the floor, and cradled her spare hand in both of his, “Sometimes, people like Riri’s grandma don’t wake up because they’re really sick, but your brother was put into his coma, so his body could heal.” He blinked away tears, “He is very strong and really brave.”

“So he’s not gonna up...to..” She stuttered through a sob, “...The sky?”

“No.” Tony breathed softly, “He’s staying right here, with us. Look, some of the machines are gone now, did you notice?” Morgan looked around, she hadn’t noticed when she came it, but Tony was right, the majority of the machines were gone, “He doesn’t need help to breathe like he did a few days ago. He’s doing that all on his own now.”

Morgan sniffled, “He is?”

“Yeah.” 

Morgan squeezed Peter’s hand, “Well done, Petey.” 

Tony’s chin dipped to his chest, “Hey….” He looked back up, “Dr. Cho thinks he will wake up soon, maybe even tomorrow.”

Morgan’s face lit up, “Really?!”

“Yeah, honey.” He stood up, gently nudging her chin, “He’ll be back with us soon.” 

“I’ve missed him.”

Tony nodded as he looked over at Peter, “Me too.”

“Will we be able to play games?”

“Maybe after he’s rested a little.” Tony told her, “He’s gonna be a little confused when he first wakes up.” 

“Oh, okay.”

“But he’s not going anywhere.” Tony kissed the top of her head, “I promise.”

Morgan pointed to her brother, “You gotta kiss Petey too! Or it’s..fav..favour-”

Tony’s forehead creased, “Favouritism?”

“Yep!”

Tony tutted as he shook his head, “We’ve gotta stop letting Rhodey babysit.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss in Peter’s curls, “Should I call Harley now?” Tony joked as he sat back down, “So he isn’t missing out.” Morgan giggled.

She wondered if kissing had healing powers. Whenever she scraped her knee, one of her parents would kiss it, and she���d feel better. 

She didn’t have to wait long for an answer. 

Peter’s hand tightened around hers. 

Morgan’s laugh came to an abrupt end as she spun her head to look at their hands, “Petey?” He squeezed again, “Daddy! Petey’s squeezing my hand.”

Tony looked up, paralyzed, as he watched Peter’s hand move. He bolted over, skidding to a stop at the top of the bed, “Hey, kid?” He spoke gently, keeping his voice low, he brushed his hand against Peter’s cheek, “Pete, can you hear me?” A small grunt passed Peter’s lips, and he turned his head, leaning into Tony’s palm, “Kid?”

Morgan leaned closer, “Petey?”

Tony turned to her, as he stroked his fingers through Peter’s hair, “Hey, Morguna. I need you to be a really big girl and go and tell someone that Peter’s waking up.”

Morgan didn’t want to let go but she knew that Peter needed help, and he wasn’t alone, their dad was with him, “Okay.” She let her fingers slip out her brother’s and she jumped off the bed, beelining for the door. 

She charged down the corridor, looking for someone who could help. She spotted Happy, getting a coffee from the machine by the wall.

“Uncle Happy!” She called, quickening her pace.

Happy stopped what he was doing, and met her in the middle, “Hey, Morgan? What’s wrong?” He knelt, and caught her wrists, holding them as she slowly got her breath back, “What are you doing on your own?” 

“Petey…” She blurted, “Petey held my hand, and Daddy said he’s waking up.”

Relief etched over his face, and he nodded, “That’s good. Friday, has Dr. Cho been alerted?”

“Yes, she’s already with them.”

“Good.” Happy scooped Morgan up into his arms, “Come on, squirt, Let’s get something to eat.”

“What about Petey?” She asked as she tucked her head on his shoulder.

“Dr. Cho has to make sure he’s okay and then I’m sure we can go and see him.”

“Okay.” 

_______________

Morgan impatiently waited on the couch in the breakroom, she kept gazing out of the door, waiting for someone to come and get her, so she could see Peter.

It had been four hours since he woke up, but it felt like days. Happy kept trying to distract her with games, but it didn’t work for long. She just wanted to see her brother.

She jumped off the couch when she saw Tony heading down the corridor, “Daddy!” She charged over, throwing herself into him as he turned into the room.

He hoisted her up in his arms, “Hey, baby.”

“Is Peter okay?” Morgan blurted, “Is he awake? Can I see him now?”

Tony let out a soft chuckle, “Yes, yes, and yes.”

“Really!?”

Tony nodded as he turned on his heel, “Come on.” He headed back towards Peter’s room, “He’s been asking for you.”

Tony placed Morgan back on her feet as they turned into the room. Peter was sat up in his bed, smiling, as May and Pepper mothered him. 

“Petey!” Morgan charged over, faster than she’d ever run before.

Peter turned, his eyes lit up at the sight of her, “Morgan…” Pepper helped her get up onto the bed. Morgan then wasted no time, she quickly tucked herself under Peter’s arm and rested her head against his side, “Hey...”

“Ah look.” Tony clapped his hands together, “Just what the doctor ordered. A Morgan hug.”

“A remedy to cure all ills.” Pepper quipped as she stepped aside with May.

Peter looked down at Morgan, “Hey, munchkin.”

“You’re awake.” Morgan squeaked, excitedly.

“Yeah.”

Morgan melted into his side, “You’ve been sleeping forever!”

“Sorry.” He stroked his fingers through her hair, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay, but you scared Daddy too.” Morgan turned her head to look at Tony, who was stood to the side, arms crossed over his chest, “He said he was the one who was meant to get hurt by the bad guy.”

Tears welled in Peter’s eyes as he shook his head, “Tony…”

“Sorry, kid.” Tony shrugged, “Occupational hazard. But on the subject, don’t ever take a bullet for me, ever again.”

Peter nodded, “I’ll try.”

Tony glared at him, “Hey, you--”

“You should say 'Thank you,’ Daddy.” Morgan interrupted, “Because Petey saved you.”

The whole room collectively chuckled, Peter leaned his head against Morgan’s shoulder as he laughed.

“Okay, okay.” Tony held up his hands, “I won’t forget my manners.” Peter looked back up as Tony reached over and ruffled Peter’s hair, “Thanks, kid."

You can follow this month of scheduled Iron Dad Angst on AO3

Thank you @i-thought-you-and-i for helping me get past my writer’s block on this one! I was literally on like 200 words when I messaged you, and look now!

[angelic-holland]

Drive North // th x fem!reader

Summary: Dating a famous person can suck sometimes, this is one of those times. You may hate LA but you sure do love your boyfriend. 

Part of my Drive North series. Take a listen to the song Drive North as it inspired this fic.

Warnings: Insecurities, smut, nsfw, 18+ please

Word count: 3k

You never wanted this, the “fame” as Tom called it that came along with dating him. You actually really hated it, you hated that you two couldn’t go on normal dates without being swarmed by people, that you couldn’t go on Twitter or Instagram without people saying you looked fat in a dress you wore out with him or that they thought he would be better off with someone like him, someone famous. And you most certainly were not famous. You were studying to become a guidance counselor, nowhere near as glamorous as the life Tom led but it’s what you loved, what you’ve always wanted to do.

You and he were on a little vacation in California, the Far From Home premiere finished, you both wanted to relax a little, so you rented a car and drove as far away from LA as possible, towards the mountains of Northern California. He rented a small lake house which you said was totally unnecessary but he insisted upon it.

You flopped down on the large bed, Tom insisted you rest while he brought your bags in since you drove. You pulled out your phone, absentmindedly opening twitter. You were about to turn to your private account, the one only your friends followed, you had a different name, your profile picture wasn’t even a picture of your face just so people wouldn’t find you by accident. You cleared your notifications from your public account, seeing you and Tom tagged in a few pictures of the two of you from the premiere. You made the mistake of clicking on it, seeing the second picture is a close up of your face. Granted, your period just ended and you were dealing with the aftermath of your pimples and spots.

The caption is what got you, normally you ignored them but your hormones got the best of you.

Can you believe Y/N couldn’t even be bothered to cover up all the spots on her face? She’s on a red carpet not going to the grocery store.

You didn’t ever really wear makeup, your skin was sensitive and foundation made you break out and since you were already breaking out with your period, you had the makeup artist who put together you and Tom just put a very light layer of tinted moisturizer on. You figured you’d deal with the backlash from random people online easier than your face breaking out even worse. It was a lose, lose situation; they’d make fun of you for not wearing enough makeup then, but if you did wear enough makeup to cover your spots, they’d make fun of you later when your face broke out even more.

You didn’t even realize you were crying until you heard Tom drop your bags on the ground at the bedroom door, rushing to your side.

“Baby girl, what’s wrong?” He says as you put your phone on the bedside table.

“Nothing, just stupid,” you say, wiping a tear from your eye.

“Nothing’s stupid,” he says, crawling up onto the bed and laying down on his stomach next to you. You groan, your face pressed into your arms so he doesn’t see you cry.

“Just, someone said something stupid.”

“Well if it’s stupid why’re you letting it bother you?”

You knew he meant well by what he said if what they said was dumb if they wouldn’t understand the half of it, if they were strangers on the internet why let it bother you?

“Because, they’re kinda right,” you mumble, sniffling a little.

“What’re they right about love?” He asks, his hand rubbing your back as you take a few deep breaths.

“I should’ve worn more makeup, for the premiere, looked dumb next to everyone else with their perfect skin.”

“What? Nobody’s got perfect skin, you know that, I had some spots they covered up, only difference is I can use that hardcore makeup that could cover up a murder or something, my skin doesn’t react bad like yours. But we’re all different.”

“I know, just wish I didn’t see the tweet.”

“People suck,” he says, as you look up at him. His thumb wipes away a tear from your cheek as you nod.

“Don’t know how you and everyone else does it, fucking hate how people treat you and every other famous person.”

“It gets too much sometimes, just gotta realize that you’re better than people who are leaving strangers hate on the internet.”

“I know, just wish I dealt with it better.”

“Everyone deals with it differently, you’re allowed to deal with it like this, cause I’m always gonna be here for you darling.”

“Thank you Tommy,” you say as he kisses your temple, lips pressed against your skin.

“Always love,” he whispers, arm wrapping around your waist and pulling you snug against his side.

“Wanna watch a movie or something?” He asks after a few moments of comfortable silence, you nod, trying to rub the red from your eyes.

“Come on love, let’s watch your favorite, Ragnarok,” he laughs, getting up and grabbing his laptop from the backpack he left by the door.

“Gonna thank everyone for all the love from the premiere first,” he says, “Wanna set up the movie? I’ll be back.”

You nod, all the love, because you’re sure you got all the love too. His fans would praise his looks, how hot he was, how amazing he was that he did the Brothers trust event, talk about how good of a person he was, all while bullying you. Albeit, not all of his fans were like this, almost none were he assured you time and time again. But of course you were going to fixate on the bad ones, it’s the human condition isn’t it?

You open up his laptop, typing in his password, you’ve never hid passwords from each other, you never had anything to hide anyways. You opened up Netflix and typed in Ragnarok, by far your favorite MCU film, Tom loved to tease you about it, asking why your favorite wasn’t Spiderman. You’ve both debated the topic time and time again and neither of you would budge so he let you have Ragnarok as long as you indulged him by watching Homecoming every few months with him.

You paused the movie at the start, knowing he’d be back shortly, wanting to watch it with him. You grabbed your phone, checking your texts. Your sister had sent you about 100 messages and you rolled your eyes.

Queen, literal queen

Y/N I can’t believe you both looked so god damn GOOD

Legit how are you the hottest couple to exist

She sent you about then pictures and then screenshots of tweets praising your look, and Tom’s, how the two of you matched, how Tom looked so much better on this red carpet than his Homecoming one. The she sent a long message with just a plethora of heart emojis. You smiled a little, the tweets were all really nice, hyping you up like she was.

You: thanks sis, love you so much

You got a notification that Tom posted to his Instagram story and made a post, opening Instagram.

You smiled at the picture he posted, the two of you on the red carpet, he was smiling at you, you rolling your eyes, you’re pretty sure this was taken right after he called you his princess. He put a grayscale filter on the first photo, you swiped to the next which was the same but in color. You scrolled down to the caption and almost cried.

tomholland2013: you’ve made this seemingly dull world full of color, love you princess

You smiled as Tom came back into the room, laying down next to you again. You didn’t realize you were crying until his hands cupped your face, wiping away the tears.

“I hope these are happy tears,” he says, kissing your cheek, your forehead, and pressing his lips to yours. You smile into the kiss, nodding as he rolls on top of you.

“Love you,” Tom whispers against your lips as your hands push up his T-shirt. Your hand rests on his chest, feeling his beating heart as he kisses down your neck.

“Love you too,” you say, voice turning to a whimper as his hands glide up your stomach under your shirt, lightly gripping your breasts.

“Still wanna watch that movie?”

“Maybe later,” you say, tugging his shirt off. He pulls off your shirt as well, helping you sit up to get your bra off.

“So gorgeous,” He says, kissing down your neck, lips leaving soft marks behind. Your hands are lightly gripping his hair when you remember the laptop sitting precariously at the edge of the bed.

“Wait,” you say and his lips leave your body, sitting up.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong? We don’t haveta-,”

“No, no just the laptop, don’t want it to break,” you laugh and Tom reaches up in front of you and grabs it, shutting it and putting it on the bedside table.

He continues kissing down your stomach, taking your nipple in his mouth, his fingers pinching your other nipple. You softly whimper his name.

He’s about to continue lower when his phone rings and you both groan.

“Stuff’s gotta stop interrupting us,” he mutters, pulling his phone out to check who’s calling.

“Just Harry,” He says about to click it off.

“No answer him,” you say, sitting up.

“What?” Tom asks, a little pissed off that Harry was interrupting you.

“Oh thank fuck,” you hear Harry groan into the phone.

“What?”

“You uh, did you know you had your Instagram live on?”

“My what on? How was it on?”

“It was streaming for the past like eight minutes.”

“Oh fuck,” Tom says, face paling as he looks at you with wide eyes.

“Is it off now?” You ask, you’re shaking, did the entire fucking world just hear you and Tom about to fuck?

“Is it off Harry?” Tom asks, running his hand through his hair.

“Yeah, turned off when you answered my call.”

“Well thank god I did,” he says, “wait do people save those? Was it just, wait did you watch it what did you see?”

“Nothing just blackness since I’m guessing it was in your pants pocket, just heard, well heard everything.”

“Oh my god,” you groan, Tom laughing against you.

“Not funny Tom, people screen record that shit and keep it forever!”

“Okay, it’s not recording anymore so I’ll, uh, let you two work things out,” Harry says, hanging up.

“How could you even Instagram live anyways? Didn’t you just post a photo or something?”

“Made a story, here we can see it,” Tom says, opening Instagram and clicking on his profile. He played the story for you.

“Hey everyone! wanted to thank you all for the love for Far From Home, Y/N and I are going to take a little vacation for the next week, I’ll probably take a little break from instagram so again thank you all so so much, bye!” Tom waves in the video and fumbles with the camera before the video cuts off.

The live video Harry was talking about wasn’t up anymore but there were swarms of comments on his latest post that you two laughed about. You didn’t see any mean ones, mainly people joking about Tom not understanding technology which was true, he’s had plenty of Instagram mishaps before.

“You okay?” He asks, head resting on your bare shoulder.

“I mean, is that video like, of us, saved? Or do people have it saved or whatever? Cause I was being all whiny.”

“I mean, wait what’s screen recording again? You record what the screen shows? Does that include sound?”

You nod.

“Maybe? But I mean, I would hope they respect the both of us enough to not spread it around.”

“I guess,” you say, eyebrows furrowed.

“Hey, thank god you made me pick up the phone then or else they’d get a sex tape out of us.”

You groan, head resting on top of his own, “I could only imagine what they’d do with that.”

“Oh I don’t want to sweetheart,” he says, arm wrapping around your bare waist.

“What would you rather do?” You ask as his fingers run up and down your side.

“One second,” he says, taking his phone and yours and jogging out of the room. You giggle when he runs back in.

“Just in case,” he says tugging off his shirt.

You roll your eyes as he tugs his jeans down, you do the same with your shorts, wanting to move things along. He climbs back on top of you, kissing you sweetly as your arms wrap around his neck.

“Love you,” He says as his hips meet yours, you buck up at the feeling of his hard cock straining beneath his underwear, rubbing against your core.

“Love you too Tom, just please,” you beg, moving your hips against his.

“Please what princess?”

“Fuck me Tom,” you whimper as his hands play with the edges of your panties.

“No, no fucking tonight, we’re gonna make love tonight princess,” Tom says, smiling against your neck as he pulls your panties down your legs, tossing them to the side.

You whimper at his words as his fingers swipe through your juices, he’s never really said those words “make love” before. You’ve done it plenty, when you both wanted to move a little slower, when you wanted to take your time, worshipping you, telling you how much he loves you and your body.

He kisses down your neck, fingers slightly dipping into your entrance before slipping out again, making you whine.

He makes his way down your body, lifting your legs over his shoulders. You look down at him, sitting between your thighs, hands holding them up, he’s got a wide grin on his face before he kisses along your thighs, slowly making his way to where you wanted him the most.

He gently breathed against your core, making you squirm against him before kissing right above your clit.

“Tom, please,” you whine, hands tugging his hair.

“Got you princess,” he says before kissing your clit, pushing a finger into your dripping hole.

He slowly pumps his finger, crooking it to find your sweet spot almost right away, his tongue lapping at your clit. You whimper against him, hands gripping the sheet.

You moan his name as another finger slides in beside the first.

He continues his motions, fucking you with his fingers while he switches between lapping at your clit and lightly sucking on it.

“Gonna come for me princess?” He asks, looking up at you behind heavily lidded eyes. Despite being incredibly embarrassed just a short time ago, you still were on edge, wanted to come so fucking bad.

His teeth graze your clit and you were a goner, coming with a cry of his name.

He slows his movements as you come, clenching hard around his fingers as he kisses up and down your thighs.

His fingers slip out of you and you almost come again when he sucks them into his mouth, moaning around them as he moves back up your body, dropping your legs to the bed.

Your hands push down his underwear, he helps you pull them all the way off, legs straddling your own.

“Please,” you whisper against his lips, arms wrapping around his neck to play with the short curls there.

“Please what princess?”

“Please, make love to me Tommy,” you say before his lips press against yours, tongue meeting your own. He guides his cock to your hole, slowly sliding in as you kiss, his hand moving to grip your hip.

He pauses once he’s fully inside you, kissing down your neck as you whimper, legs locking behind his own, urging him to move. And he does. But slowly. He takes his time, making every thrust deliberate. He’s leaving marks down your skin, usually he made sure to leave them light enough so that they would fade within a day or two but he was going to town on your neck, determined to make the marks last.

One of his hands traveled between the two of you, thumb gently pressing against your clit, causing you to gasp and arch your back against him.

“Tommy,” you whine, feeling yourself get close.

“Love you,” he groans, his hips stuttering, cock twitching inside you. You knew he was close as well.

“Fuck, love you, love you too,” you stuttered as you came, arms right around his neck as your legs fell to the bed.

“Love you, love you, love you so fucking much, Y/N,” Tom groans as he comes, collapsing on top of you as your hands card through his hair, kissing him as his cock softens inside of you. You stay like that for you don’t know how long, enjoying the feeling of him inside you and the warmth of his body on top of you before he’s pulling out of you, gathering your body in his arms once he’s stood up.

“Come on, let’s go clean up,” he says, carrying you to the bathroom. You wrap your arm around his neck, holding on as he moves. He sets you down on the toilet before turning on the shower.

You pee and try to clean yourself as best as you can before washing your hands, Tom is testing the water and pulling out two fluffy towels from the small closet by the door.

“You know, if you hate LA so much, why do ya stand me?” Tom asks as you both step into the shower.

“Because Tommy, I love you.”

“Mean it?” “Hmmm, I mean it so much I can’t even describe how much I love you,” you say as his chest presses up against your back.

“That’s okay, I know how much ya love me.”

“Love you enough to tolerate all that,” you giggle as his hands rub your shoulders.

“Love you too, Y/N,’ he kisses your neck before helping you wash your hair.

“Think we should lock our phones up for the week though.”

“And I should learn how to use instagram.”

[justahockeylover]

all my friends part two - j.hughes

authors note // here it is! I finally finished, it, and not gonna lie, my head hurts from writing for so long. it’s also like 1 in the morning right now, so that might have something to do with it. 

word count: 2351

- 

They say that love is true  And I'll find somebody new  And everybody lookin' like a honeymoon  But all that I've been looking for is me and you

After what felt like forever sitting by yourself, which was really only a minute or two, Quinn came back out to the kitchen. You noticed that he changed into something comfier than his jeans, as you had tons of the boys’ stuff over at your house since they spent so much time there.

“Woah, Y/N/N, are you okay? What did he say?”

You just shook your head, sighing. Quinn was one of the few people close enough to you to see how in love you were with his brother. But he also saw that it wasn’t one-sided. He would never admit it, but he was rooting for you two since the day he saw how Jack looked at you.

“He said that I’m the only girl he wants by his side. That I’m all he can think about.”

He looked at you, noticing the tears escaping your eyes, how quickly you wiped them away. Soon enough, you felt his arms around you, leaning into his arms as you cried.

You would think a girl would be happy about this news, but you couldn’t bring yourself to be. You felt guilty knowing that you had, in fact, been the one to pull Jack away from Chelsea. Albeit you and her were never the best of friends, but you would never want to be the cause of their breakup.

“Quinny, I feel horrible,” you mumbled into his chest, hoping that he could still understand your words.

He continued rubbing your back soothingly. The two of you had moved to sit on the couch, since it was a much comfier place to cry than a barstool.

“Why? I mean, you did just basically find out that Jack has feelings for you, isn’t that what you want?”

In between sniffles you explained, “But at what cost? His and Chelsea’s relationship?”

Quinn looked at you sadly, sitting on the couch with you for a few minutes before sitting up and grabbing your hands.

“Hey, why don’t we go to the rink and skate? I heard Jack mention it, and I know you love skating, so don’t even try to say no.”

Quinn pulled at your arms as you rolled your eyes and laughed, dragging you out of your house and into his car. You sat quietly, thinking about Jack. Which seems to be all you can think about nowadays. Feeling the car stop, you get out and walk side by side with Quinn, as he carried a bag with your guys’ skates and sticks.

You weren’t born into a hockey family, but you learned to love the sport anyway. And even though you still weren’t the best at hockey or even skating without falling, the Hughes family was by your side while you learned from each of them. Quinn loved how eager you are to learn about the rules of the game, just so you could talk hockey with them without feeling left out of a conversation. Luke likes playing one on ones with you, since it gives him more practice, and he sees how determined you are to get better each time. Jim and Ellen taught you how to stay grounded, and even though you have to give your own parents a lot of credit, the two of them had a lot of influence on your character.

And Jack. Jack loved every single second of time you spent on the ice together. He loved the way you held onto his hands too tight, how you laughed when you fell, the way your nose would be red from the cold, and the little glint in your eyes you would get when learning something new.

“So, what do you want to do? I mean, we have the sticks, but we don’t have to play.”

You thought for a second before answering, “We can just skate around, I’m a little tired from studying all day.”

He nodded at this and the two of you walked into the rink, the lady at the front desk recognizing the two of you immediately.

“Ah, half of my favorite regulars! Where’s the other two?”

You and Quinn laughed, as he checked you two in while you answered, “Jack is in New Jersey right now for development camp, and Luke is over at a friend’s right now. Sorry, we know Jack’s your favorite.”

You checked your phone for any notifications, seeing yours and Jack’s smiling faces, the photo you set as your lockscreen making you smile as well.

“You know I can’t pick favorites out of you four,” she grinned, “but if I did, it would have to be you and Jack. Have you seen the way he smiles when he looks at you? You would think that kid’s just won the Stanley Cup.”

You and Quinn shared a look as you blushed, saying goodbye and walking to the ice.

“Here, I’ll tie your skates for you. I know you were probably gonna ask me to anyway.”

You slapped his shoulder and took your skates out of the bag, taking your shoes off while waiting for Quinn to finish tying his own skates.

He ties yours quickly, asking if they were okay, to which you nodded and walked towards the ice.

Quinn soon joined you and you two skated laps around the rink, trying to see if you guys could recreate some figure skating ricks. It was about thirty minutes before you finally decided to speak, “Quinn, has Jack ever talked about me before? It’s just, this seems so sudden.”

He scoffed, to which you raised your eyebrows at him.

“What?”

“Are you kidding? That kid never shuts up about you. At World Juniors this year, all he would talk about is what you were doing over here. I don’t think there was a day that went by that he didn’t talk about you. He’d give your whole life story to any guy on our team who would listen. Hold on, come with me, I want to show you something.”

He got off the ice, beckoning you to follow, and walking toward the U18 locker room.

“Calm down, Y/N, I can sense your nervousness from here. Even if Marissa saw us, she definitely wouldn’t care.”

He was right, she would probably let you guys stay here overnight if you asked nice enough. And that’s not to say the four of you, along with a couple of the other guys, haven’t already done that.

You two walked into the locker room, finding it empty. Except for a bag that you recognized as one of Jack’s, which he thought he had lost a few months ago. Quinn walked over to the bag while you sat in the stall that had previously been known as Jack’s. He dug through it, looking around until he had seemingly found the item he was searching for. To your surprise, he had pulled out a small journal.

“This is why Jack was freaking out when he couldn’t find his bag a couple of months ago. I guess he never figured that it was at the rink where we spend most of our time.”

He hands you the journal and gestures to look inside it. You open it as he sits next to you resting his head on your shoulder as you looked inside.

It was just tons of letters, each addressed to you, the first one dating back to the beginning of his freshman year. There was so many, the journal was almost entirely filled, and your heart began beating ten times fast reading through a few of the letters. You could tell Quinn was getting sleepy though, so you shook him a little and told him that you could drive him back to your house. He obliged, and the two of you cleaned up your stuff, took off your skates, and headed out to the car. You made sure to remember Jack’s bag, so he could stop worrying about where it disappeared to.

“Thanks for driving us back, Y/N/N. I’m sorry I’m so tired, training really took a lot out of me today, “ Quinn spoke with a tired smile on his face, glad that you were okay with driving the two of you back.

“It’s all good Quinny, thanks for trusting me with your car, I’m surprised you did.”

“I mean, me too. Did you read any of the letters?”

You nodded, focusing on the road ahead of you.

“Yeah, a few. He’s been writing those for four years?”

“Yep. And you know what that means right?”

You did. But you never considered the thought, and now that you had, you felt like your heart was going to burst.

“Y/N/N, he’s loved you since he first met you. You were never an afterthought to him. He just thought that you would never feel the same. I wanted to show you that so you don’t feel guilty about your feelings for him. Don’t feel like you and him can’t be together because of Chelsea, she’ll get over herself once she sees that you two are truly meant for each other.”

He had a small slur from exhaustion, and he had the smallest hint of a smile on his face while he spoke.

“Thank you Q, for everything.”

The two of you finally arrived at your house, excited to be able to sleep. He went straight to the guest bedroom, ready to go to bed. But he gave you a tight hug, wishing you good luck for when Jack would call you, because the two of you knew he would call.

Soon enough, you felt your phone buzz with a text message from Jack.

Back from dinner, wanna facetime?

You smiled, typing out your reply.

Of course, when don’t I?

Within seconds, he was facetiming you, and you answered with a smile on your face.

“Hey,” he spoke with a sleepy smile on his face, sitting in his hotel bed shirtless.

“Hey, how was dinner with the guys?”

“Good, you would’ve loved the restaurant we went to. It had really good pasta, you would’ve been in heaven.”

You smiled at him, “Oh, definitely.”

“How was skating? Learn anything new with Q?”

“Well, that Quinny and I could never be figure skaters,” you both laughed, “but yeah, we found your bag that you lost a couple months ago.”

His expression quickly turned into a worried one, “Did you uh… Did you look inside it?”

“Jack, I saw the journal.”

“Oh.”

“Why? Why did you write all of those letters, especially to me?”

He laughed before explaining, “Y/N, I’ve loved you for years. I haven’t just started loving you, I’ve always known you were the only girl I could love.”

You shake your head in disbelief, “But all your other girlfriends, why?”

“It sounds terrible, I know, but they were just distractions from you and how in love with you I was,” he looked at you hopefully, “But now I’m seeing how that might have been a mistake.”

“Jack, I’ve waited for you to come around for the past four years, and you’re telling me we could’ve been dating for four years?” He nodded his head hesitantly, “Jesus, I had to watch you and all of our friends fall in love and be happy together for four years. And you’re seriously telling me that we could’ve been together all this time?”

He nodded again, and you let out a large sigh.

“Jack, it’s times like these when I don’t even know why I love you.”

His eyes widened, shocked.

“Wait, you love me?”

“Yeah. I have for four years, maybe even longer. The only people who knew were Quinn and your mom,” you spoke softly, finally calming down.

“Y/N, I ended things with Chelsea earlier, and she agreed that things just weren’t working out. She also told me to tell you she says ‘hey’, and that you guys should go out for coffee sometime,” his smile suddenly turned into a serious stare, “I know I’m the dumbest person in the world, but would you want to be my girlfriend? .”

You smiled, knowing that Chelsea definitely knew why Jack was breaking up with her, and that she was okay with it. Above all, you didn’t want to ever hurt her feelings. You’re just not the type of girl who would usually be stealing another girl’s boyfriend.

“Well, I don’t know. Did your mascot fall through a window?”

You laughed at him, waiting to hear his answer.

“Hey! You can’t chirp the team to my face, that breaks girlfriend code,” he had the cutest pout on his lips, and you smiled at him.

“Oh yeah? And what are the other rules of girlfriend code?”

“You know, just the usual kiss or two wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Oh, and you definitely have to come visit me in Jersey sometime. That reminds me,” he went to pull something out of his bag, “I got this for you.”

He held up a Devils jersey with his number and last name on it. Your heart felt like it was going to burst.

“It’ll be a little big, but I know that that’s how you like your jerseys so I-”

You started tearing up, “Jack I love it, thank you so much.”

“Aw, babe don’t cry. I would’ve waited until I got home to give it to you if I knew you were gonna cry.”

Shaking your head you wiped your tears and responded, “No, they’re happy tears, I promise.”

The two of you stared at each other, almost falling asleep before Jack spoke.

“I should probably go to bed, more training tomorrow,” he gave you a sleepy smile, to which you returned with one that probably looked the same.

“Okay, I love you my wonderful boyfriend,” your words made him smile widely, it made your cheeks hurt just looking at him.

“And I love you, my beautiful girlfriend,” it was your turn to smile, blushing as well.

You ended your call and just lay on your back, sighing.

Oh, you could so get used to that. 

-

there it is! i hope y’all enjoyed :))

also, send in requests if you want to!! i love getting inspiration from prompts and stuff like that.

[docholligay]

Sparkling Lace in Snow

This is a fluffvember thing--someday I’ll finish the whole long wedding thing, but this is what I have for now, and I hope it’s enough to give you some enjoyment. About 1300 soppy words. All of my personal, set to my canon, my rules, Overwatch universe is here. 

“Every day, that I’m alive, the rest of me bloody life, I’ll find a way to make you laugh. Don’t shake your head, this is a solemn promise I’m making to you. Every single day.” 

Tracer’s wedding vows had gone on for awhile now. She had entirely eschewed the idea of writing it down, and so there seemed to always be just another thing that she had to promise Emily, to the best of her ability. 

“Also I promise to do a better job of putting up the washing, I ‘ave a tendency, I know, to--” 

“To ramble on without a bloody purpose?” 

The crowd laughed, and Tracer looked back to her cousin Parvati, standing next to Winston behind her. 

“Did I ask you?” 

“Fuck’s sake, Lena, make a promise to let Emily get a word in. Like to eat sometime today.” 

Tracer scowled a moment, but turned back to Emily and nodded. “Right. I love you, and I want to make you ‘appy. I want you to be ‘appy, most always. Emily, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, and I’m often lucky. But today, I’m the luckiest.” She giggled brightly. ‘Done now, that’s me last promise.” 

Emily looked at her, nervous. She didn’t have anything so spectacular, or so long. But it was hers, and so she continued. 

“When I began to go with ye, everyone warned me. That’s the way to break your heart, Emily, marrying an Overwatch agent and a pilot, that’s how you find someone to lose. But I dinna care, Lena. I’d rather be with you for five days, then someone else forever. You make feel beautiful, and smart, and--” 

“It’s a bit easier when you are all of those things, love.” 

“Lena,” she was stern, for half a second, before she broke into a smile, “let me finish.” 

“Right, right. The floor is yours.” 

“And so I’m not afraid of whatever happens. Or when. I’ll have had you, and I have you now, and that’s everything.” 

Emily glanced out into the crowd, all eyes fixed on her, save for Mercy, who was sniffling as quietly as she could  into Pharah’s shoulder. Pharah looked half-ready to chuckle at her sentimental doctor, but she kept her arm around Mercy and smiled as Emily's eyes met hers.

Emily could never have seen her life going this way. Her parents had moved her to a new city when she was a little girl, with the idea that no one would remember that they had previously been calling her a little boy, and for all the certain sort of kind Emily had imagined it was meant to be, her parents had made her feel a secret. And perhaps, if that had been it, Emily might have blazed through. She knew so many girls like her who walked proudly, and flirted easily, and found loves again and again. They captured hearts and rooms and conversations, floating lightly and beautifully. 

But as much as Emily was like them, she wasn’t, either, always awkward and shy and too tall. When she had told her parents she was gay, as well, they had loved her and accepted her, of course, they had said. But there was always that small part of them that seemed to suggest that this was only making things more difficult. Hadn’t they done enough to accept her? 

In her sadder moments, Emily wondered if it wasn’t that there was no hiding being with another girl. 

Her dating life in London had been grey and drab, and she had had no realized how little she expected from the women she dated until a very strange day in a careworn pub with sticky carpet where she sat waiting for another terrible date, who stood her up for even the fifteen minutes and four pounds of a beer. 

It was the best day of her life, though she did not yet know it. 

Tracer had popped into her life, the same way she bounced up everywhere, and for once in her life, Emily had gathered her courage, and dared, and called the phone number on the card. Maybe it was the way Tracer’s eyes had glittered even in the darkness of the pub, or the way her hair tossed about her head carelessly, or the way everyone in the pub clearly loved her, and had for years. Maybe it was only that she seemed so genuinely excited. 

“I love you, Lena.”

She meant it then, standing in front of everyone, and she had known it from the first night Tracer had shown up to her tiny apartment, bearing flowers and a bright smile, and, as promised, a collared shirt with her little blazer. Emily had never known how to express that Tracer made her feel special, made her feel romanced, and every time she tried she worried people would only feel bad for the nightmare that her dating life had been before, and not see the joy of having found Tracer, however long it had taken. 

It had all been worth it, she thought, even in those darker moments, when London was attacked by Null Sector and in rubble, when so many had been lost. When Tracer had gone missing in action. Emily had cried, thinking she had lost her, and still she could not bring herself to regret having loved her, and this was how she knew, whatever they said, that even if it was the way to break her own heart, loving Tracer was what she was born for. 

Tracer had made it back, born under a lucky star, and smiled as she comforted Emily. East End gets razed to the ground every hundred years or so, she giggled, always grows back. Nothing’s forever. 

Nothing’s forever, not even luck, but that didn’t matter to Emily. She loved Tracer. Tracer loved her. 

“I think it might be all I’ve ever wanted, to be in your family, and you mine.” 

Emily had always thought her family’s tartan was hideous, because it was, but Tracer had accepted the tie Emily gave her with vibrating joy and excitement, and declared whatever anyone else said, she intended to wear it for the wedding with her fine grey suit. There was no talking her out of it, she was proud to be Emily’s, and she wanted the world to know in whatever way she could, that Lena Oxton was quite off the market, for good. 

Tracer had puzzled a moment, and told her she was sorry she had nothing for her. The Oxton family crest, was, she thought, a lion maybe, but no one in her family had pretended at aristocracy since her third cousin had attempted to make his own version of My Fair Lady and move up the social ladder, which hadn’t worked out at all. 

Emily had only laughed and said Tracer was giving her a new last name, and Tracer grinned. Emily hadn’t said what she really thought, though. Tracer had given her a whole new family, here in London. The Oxtons, with their loud parties and bright hearts, of course, but her Overwatch family as well. Gentle Winston, someone Emily now regarded and loved as deeply as a brother. Bossy Pharah, whose responsibility and ferocity served in a banner of protectiveness over them all. Sassy Dva, who rolled her eyes and teased, all the while chatting home about her friends. And Mercy. Oh Mercy, who worked so hard to keep them together and healthy, and never counted the cost. She had done so much for Tracer. For Emily. 

“The day I met ye was the day everything changed. Your love makes me brave. And I’m never brave. All I want is to keep loving ye, for as long as I live. I know I will.” She blushed. “That’s--that’s the speech, I suppose.” 

“Em.” Tracer looked at her, eyes full of love and just a little bit of tears. 

They hadn’t been wrong. Loving Tracer was a way to get her heart broken, and she would, she knew that truly enough. But for now, Tracer’s hands were in hers, and her eyes were bright, and as Emily felt those eyes upon her, all of them seemed to call out love.