#both his moms kinda fill that role for him too... i just realized | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ghostflowerhotpotch · 1 year

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Has it ever occurred to you that since Gwen hasn’t had a mother figure for the majority of her life and from the beginning of ATSV its kinda shown she’s been craving that type of guidance or even affection when she sees Jess for the first time, do you think that once the dust is settled between her and Miles and she finally gets to properly introduce herself to his parents, do you think that Rio can not replace Gwen’s mother but atleast fill in that gap in some way where she’s able to get some of the guidance she’s been looking for. Idk I just feel like the dynamic between the two could be interesting once they both get along with each other, hopefully this makes sense to answer.

Ohh this is interesting.

Now, hope you don't mind, but Gwen and Jess situation is something I wanted to talk about for a while, so, I will use your comment to talk about this.

I will do the Rio part too, but knowing myself, there is a chance that would end in a second post because I talk too much.

Let's go!

Now, do I think is this a joke? Yes, but I also think Gwen means it.

And look, this is not to say that you necessarily need to have two parents to raise a kid, I personally believe that one parent, if they provide the necessary attention and care to the child or children, could be an amazing parent and not let their kids feel like they are missing anything.

However, as discussed on this post, I mentioned why while George isn't a bad dad, sadly he is not the best parent for Gwen.

And here I also discussed why Gwen's mental health is a bit of a mess.

But to not sent people to do homework, let's give the cliff-notes version.

George is trying to be a good father, however between his job and his refusal to understand nuance, he has accidentally pushed Gwen away; even if maybe this could have been resolved if she talked to him in a normal situation, the fact that he did what he did in the beginning shows she was scared for a reason.

So that means Gwen has a gaping hole in what a role model and parent should be, since she needs more support. Of couse her Spidey identity is important to her (in fact she leans too much into it,) and having no one to help her on that complicated path doesn't make the situation any easier.

Enters Jessica Drew.

You know I found extremely telling that when Gwen sees Miguel, she is cracking jokes and not really taking his professionalism crap seriously; yet when Jess comes kicking ass with her motorcycle and she looks at her like she has seen the light.

Perhaps it had to do with her realizing this failed artist is more problematic than she expected, or the fact that Miguel was quickly disposed of by something she saw from a mile away; while Jess came putting the bad guy on a grinder and maneuvering a bike like nobody's business. Needless to say, Gwen is DEFINITELY impressed.

Once again, this plays almost like this is a dream come true for Gwen.

She hides it well for most of the movie as well as the previous one, but the reality is that underneath that cool exterior, this is a teenage mess with so much angst she is giving my teen self a run for their money.

Just like she craves companionship in the form of Miles as well as other spiders, she probably wants someone who can tell her everything is going to be okay or what they should do. Again, we may forget sometimes, especially with superhero movies where protagonists need to be competent despite their age most of the time; but Gwen is 16, 17 at the most; and has been handling this stress and turmoil for at least 3 years. That's a lot.

Top it with her dad not being able to emotionally support her, and the fact that she wants a mom becomes less a possible commentary about not nuclear families, and more of a likely possibility because the first 20 minutes of the movie gave us LOTS of material to show how mess up this is.

I think is a testament to the situation that she doesn't default to Peter B or Noir in the first movie, nor Miguel; she only seems to be interested in learning from someone when she sees Jess.

Is funny, but is also very painful to hear for me, as if you ask me she said it completely straight, and this just shows how much help she needs.

Granted Gwen said that accidentally and probably wouldn't have said it if thought about it first, but the fact that it slipped says a lot.

She desperately wants someone like Jess in her life, and to top it off, she probably wants that person as a maternal figure; probably someone to ask about techniques for defeating baddies and also who could talk about feelings without this person defaulting to work as a copy mechanism.

Feel free to call me crazy for getting so work up about a joke, but if I am honest other interactions really make me sell this idea for me.

Now let's talk Jess.

Literally what other reaction she was going to have.

We really never hear a definitive answer to the question, but I also think Jess didn't think too hard about it for a reason.

I am planning to go through some scenes of Gwen and Jess to dig deeper into their mentor/not-mom situation, but let's start with this.

Do I think Jess should have adopted Gwen? No, not at all.

Look I am a sucker for found family and adoption tropes, and I would had love nothing more than for Jess to give one dirty look at Gwen's dad, tell her she would be there for her, and take her away to a good home. That is not what happened, and I don't blame her.

She is on her way to having her own kid, she needs to be spider-woman and to top it all off, she seems to be kind of a second in command in a really big operation, where your boss is your friend who is also way too into his job and she probably is still there partially to make sure Miguel doesn't completely lose it. She has a lot on her plate as it is, adopting a traumatized teenager is a lot of work that shouldn't really be her job.

Do I think that means she has no responsibilities to Gwen? No, not really.

And this is largely why.

Okay, I will try to not go over every moment with them, as this is more about explaining their situation than a deep dive of every instance of their relationship, but this is a good kicker for the situation.

Jess immediately takes an interest in Gwen for the organization, now while I can understand that she based this purely on her abilities, I think a part of it was the comment Gwen made earlier. I think she sees in her someone who needs a steady hand and some support.

As a mentor.

This is going a bit ahead on the post, but let's establish that 1) This exists, and 2) Jessica got that idea EXTREMELY quick all things considered.

Here is where the responsibility part actually kicks in.

No, Jess doesn't have any responsibility to Mother Gwen in any way, regardless if Gwen needs one or not (she does,) but the moment she not only started to argue for her to have a spot in the organization, to take her in when the things in her universe technically imploded (which they are marginally responsible considering they came to clean this means and they only did it thanks to Gwen,) She implicitly accepted to look after her.

Okay here is where we need to talk a bit about tropes.

When you have protagonists that are teens or kids with powers, is inevitable that they will need to deal with dangerous stuff that no sane adult would let a real kid do, but is fiction so you kind of have to suck it.

This is a trope that I found kind of lazy even when I was part of the age demographic; which is why stuff like The Owl House with Eda was refreshing.

She was also a Mentor who was also not very responsible as a guardian, but she ended up growing into one, and even if she failed to protect her apprentice, she did try her damnest to do it.

Jess is not Eda, and she doesn't need to be, except that this story has proven to be aware that they are still teens.

Jess clearly recognizes this isn't fair for Gwen. We also see something like this in the first movie, with Peter B worried about Miles can or can't handle, while still letting them do stuff you wouldn't catch me letting my little sister get away with; they know that there are somethings someone at that age shouldn't just be handling on their own.

And Jess isn't exactly ice-cold about Gwen.

Jess took interest in Gwen's potential quickly, she looked after her, and quickly went to try to calm her down and support her during a very high tense and stressful moment. Even here is Gwen the one who ultimately moves away, not Jess, proving she could had try to stay close to ensure she was okay.

And this is something that shows that it kind of sticks.

While considerably harsher here than in her introduction scene, Jess is showing that despite her annoyance with Gwen, she still likes her. She never thought her relationship with Miles shouldn't be a reason not to have her on the team; she trusted a mission in the universe despite that, and also calls Gwen her star pupil, which I don't was sarcasm.

She also gives her an hour to fix this, which even if not much, is more than she could have given her.

I am not saying that Jess didn't look after Gwen, or didn't care about her beyond what she could do for the organization, however, it wasn't what Gwen needed.

Let's circle back to responsibility,

Jess is aware of what happened with her dad, she knows what Gwen lost, and she can probably imagine that a kid that lost her identity and her world like that on just one night can't be doing okay; yet nothing shows me she ever did anything about it.

Here is the thing, Jess doesn't need to be Gwen's mom, but she can't just insist to have her and be her mentor, and don't think about checking on her in something other than her kicking-ass abilities. Even if she doesn't want to deal with it, she should have either seen how to make her father see reason, or lock her in the room with the spider-man psych.

Considering how things go in this movie, neither thing happens.

And it feels more painfully obvious when you see how much Gwen tries to appeal to her emotionally.

In a vaccum, none of these are a big deal, but the more I think about it the more heartbreaking this is for me to watch.

This is why I find these to be such a big deal: Gwen doesn't like to do emotional shit.

I know, I probably repeated that more times than I can count; but let that sink in contrast to what's going on.

After Peter died, she decided to not have any friends because she couldn't deal with the grief, with Miles only getting past that rule because they are both spiders plus chemistry. And even then, when you see Miles asking if she is going to talk to her dad, she decided to crack a joke and brush the idea as swiftly as possible.

When her dad tells her about the break in the spider-woman case, she tries to brush it off with false enthusiasm at first, and then when she gives a more honest response is more out of bubbling annoyance that truly her trusting him with something.

She isn't baring her heart open in these moments though, let's not have it twisted; however, she is trying to use emotion as a way to appeal to Jess, which is not her first move with most people in general. Even when she is not actively giving her an in-depth explanation, in each of those moments she is giving the emotional context as to why this is so hard.

"You never got too close to someone?" -> "This person is important to me and this is hard for me, wasn't it for you?"

"But my gut says-" -> "I know this looks bad, and I can't explain how, but this isn't right, trust me."

"Tell him he is wrong!" -> I don't really need to explain this one, do it?

She continuously looks up to Jess to hear her out, and to understand what she is going through; she sees her and expects someone who can connect with her on that level and care about it.

But that's not what Jess does, because she is not her mom, she is her mentor.

For the most part, when Gwen tries to appeal to Jess emotionally speaking, Jessica shuts that idea down fast.

Now, I am going to preface this by clarifying that in real life, a mentor would probably check emotionally on the kid they are mentoring if only for the fact that when you are in charge of a kid, you should look after them. Fiction however is another ballpark, and technically speaking, a mentor shouldn't need to be doing something that is the job of the family.

A good mentor would probably understand their apprentice position and listen, since regardless of your years of experience, you can't just underestimate people or you will inevitably be surpassed. However, Jess isn't trying to be anything like that; she wants to teach Gwen her way, and her way says that emotions are kind of on the way. So regardless if it isn't what Gwen needs, she will insist on that.

I think there can be a way to accept emotions but also don't let them cloud your decisions, yet again, Jess is not interested in that, and I Gwen actually have normal, supportive parents (or even just one,) I wouldn't be so hung up about this. But she doesn't and Jess knows this.

Superhero or not, Gwen is just a teen, and shouldn't need to be living this, especially because I freaking doubt this is a canon event or something; with the resources they have, and the people they have on board, I can't believe there isn't a way they could have talk to Captain Stacy and made him see reason.

But they didn't, because they are more worried about spider-man duties than whatever is going on to the person under the mask, and for them, this is just what comes with the territory so you have the suck it up. Even if this is perfectly avoidable once you think of it.

That's something that I had been thinking about a lot while doing my post on the organization as well as the one with Gwen falling in Mumbatthan. The spiders are stronger together, and in general working as a team gives them not only better chances at saving people, but also helping with the stress they have and being there for each other. That isn't the goal of the organization though.

Miguel's mission is to preserve the canon and to put people from other dimensions back into their respective ones, anything else is probably secondary to him. Sure, if someone asks for help from another Spider I don't think he would stand in the way; except if it is a canon event, which in that case, he will probably say to people to suck it up.

The pain they have, the trauma they are suffering, while being together helps it was never the end goal to help with that, and there is no regard in avoiding said pain. This is a job first and foremost, which is the attitude Jess has.

Gwen is not her kid, or even a young student, she is a coworker; one that she needs to guide a bit, but her subordinate at the end of the day.

Sometimes the waters get muddier, on both sides if I am honest.

I will touch a bit on other scenes, but I wanted to bring up this one in particular because there is something that feels a bit more mother-daughter than it probably has any right to show.

Now I will be the first to admit this may be a me thing, I can be very formal in real life and that goes double with people who are older than me and in a position of power over me, the only exception to that rule is my current boss because he is the mythical creature of being a manager who remembers employees are people too.

Gwen is not like that, she jokes and doesn't give too much of a shit regardless if you are Miguel or a bad guy. However there is something in the way Gwen acts that feels she wouldn't be phrasing stuff like this if it was Miguel on the other side; again, back to her using emotion as a first resource rather than as a lashing effect of her anger.

Jess, while being kind of no-nonsense overall, is also not the most formal, because this is the spider society and Miguel had the bad luck to be the only straight-laced one while everybody else tries to be a comedian for the most part. But there is a way that she talks to Gwen that for me feels kind of like her not fully keeping this professional either.

I can't fully put it into words, so feel free to not make seriously on this one, but there is something about the way Jess is commenting on the situation that reminds me more of a mom than any of my bosses.

Then we have scenes like this.

I am sorry but this part really first like is a discussion between mother and daughter, even with contexts the way the scene delivers gives that energy.

This isn't exactly wrong by itself, nor is it truly that surprising. The boss I mentioned before had also mentioned off-topic that me and my other coworker (who is a couple of years older than me,) are almost like his kids, and we share an age range. However he doesn't try to parent us really, and even if some of the comments are very much 'now listen to me kids' he quickly remembers we are adults and would drop topics or decisions we made that I know wouldn't be his reaction has been one of the kids that are actually kids.

It probably has more to do with the way they talk and see people younger than them that any parental feelings, and none of this is really inappropriate.

Nonetheless, the fact that Gwen craves that motherly bond makes these interactions hurt all the more for me.

Gwen may not be under the illusion that Jess is her mom, but she's subconsciously looking up to her, and the fact that Jess acts like this, even if by accident, just feels into that mentality. The mentality Gwen has that maybe Jess will listen this time, that she will take into account her feelings and her opinion in her decisions; but she continues to not do that.

For the most part.

Is a bit hard to see with the resolution I have, but when Gwen is kicking and screaming while been taken by the machine, Jess's gaze goes in another direction.

I am sorry if this is feeling repetitive, I know this post is a long one (which is funny how this post created another 2 just so those topics wouldn't be here.)

What I am trying to say with all of this, is despite Jess' insistence this is just work, that Gwen is just her pupil and she can only do so much; Jess continues to have a soft stop for Gwen that let's her get away with things. Is kind of ironic how Miguel said Gwen was a liability for her feelings for Miles, yet couldn't even consider how feelings in general would get in the way, considering Jess assigned this mission to Gwen (which then she fumbled the bag and led to the Spot becoming an actual menace,) give her a second chance, and then apparently let her go.

(It is possible she is looking for where Gwen is going to tell Miguel, but I doubt it.)

I fully believe that by the third film, Jess will probably end up either switching sides or just letting Gwen do what she wants, and even if is the first scenario I think it would be via Gwen that happens.

But to wrap things up, if Captain Stacy is not enough as a parent for Gwen because he can't do that role properly, Jess isn't good enough as a parent for Gwen because she doesn't want that role, regardless of if she sometimes kind of acts like it.

I think their relationship is fascinating, and I would love to explore more of this connection in some way; if only because the complicated nature of it makes it all the more interesting for me, but in a nutshell, is this:

Jess: I wanted an apprentice, you wanted a mom. Gwen: Well I guess we are both disappointed.

(Sorry I couldn't help myself, OOF I wish I could draw well enough for this.)

Now, with my thoughts on Rio, I could probably put them on this post because is not that long, but it will probably feel off with all this commentary I had been making, so it would be in another one.

If you got this far, congrats on your patience, and thank you for reading!

#atsv files #across the spiderverse #atsv #gwen stacy #jessica drew #spider-woman #analysis

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inkykeiji · 11 months

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does Rei see reader like her own daughter in your touya-nii series? reader’s dad seems pretty uninvolved both in reader and touya’s life but rei is an absolute sweetheart and i feel like she cares about reader at least to some degree

she definitely does! rei has a huge soft spot for reader, both because reader is such a sweet, genuinely lovely girl and because reader makes touya so fucking happy—unbelievably happy, happier than rei has ever seen her eldest in her (and his) entire life. as i’ve said before (and as is probably very obvious throughout the series HEHE) rei plays favourites with touya. she’s closest with touya, because in this AU, they’re the two that suffered the most abuse at the hands of enji; it’s kinda one of the reasons why rei takes touya with her and not any of her other children (but also, enji would’ve demanded a custody battle over any of the others). all of this is to say, they understand one another on a deep level that no one else can truly and fully ‘get’.

anyway, i’m getting off topic! but those are the main reasons why rei loves and cares for reader. against the discretion and disgust of fuyumi and shouto, rei will accept any dinner invitations touya and reader might send her way, because even though she knows it’s wrong, and gross, and something she should be condemning, she just can’t find it in herself to care, because her eldest baby is finally, authentically happy for once in his miserable life, and she will never, ever take that from him. once rei realizes that touya is actually in love and not just fucking around and being a total degenerate, she finds she can no longer condemn him for his actions. she loves being with them, and she loves basking in their love, no matter how immoral that may be (and, hey, touya doesn’t just get his depravity and his wickedness from his father’s side. there’s a LOT of his mom in him, too (this is all made SO much better by the fact that rei’s family canonically participated in incest to keep their bloodline pure like !!! could it be any more perfect!?)).

just as a side note: there are a few reasons why reader’s dad is such a piece of cardboard. one, he’s meant to be a stand-in for the actual reader’s father, if they want, so i gave him next to no traits so you guys could fill him in however you please or just disregard him completely; and two, because he holds little relevance to the plot and overall story as a whole. he kinda just exists to be the inciting incident and set everything in motion LMAO. rei is a little more important due to the role she plays within touya’s life + my snowman and me!

#just a lil side note under the cut #that isn't rly relevant to the answer hehe #but yeah! she totally does #daughter / daughter-in-law #which i guess is the same thing more or less hehe #loved this question so much anon!!! thank u for sending it in!!#have a fab sunday and pls stay safe!#touya nii universe #inky.bb #clari gets mail #tw:stepcest

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dogbearinggifts · 4 years

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What are your thoughts on tua S2? Did you feel like the characters grew? What did you like? What did you not? I’m interested in your perspective. Your analysis are super thoughtful and interesting!

Aw, thanks, Anon!

Overall, I really enjoyed S2 and thought it was a solid follow-up to S1. I do have my quibbles about it, so I think (for ease of reference and because my thoughts are a little scattered today) I’ll list some of my personal highlights (in no particular order) before getting into what I didn’t like as much.

Big spoilers ahead.

Allison. I thought they handled her storyline especially well. Of all the siblings, I think she had the most difficult obstacles placed in her way (not only is she a Black woman landing in 1961 Dallas, but she’s a Black woman landing in 1961 Dallas who can’t even speak in her own defense for a year) and they sugarcoated exactly none of it. The writers pulled no punches when showing what civil rights protesters went through, which just made their nonviolent response all the more breathtaking. Allison’s fear and anger during those scenes were palpable even as she kept them hidden. But along with that horror, we see the kindness and warmth of the Dallas Black community, the women who take her in simply because she needs their help, and her love for Ray, perhaps heretofore THE most thoughtful husband ever portrayed on screen. I loved him, and I loved him and Allison together. While I understand and respect his choice to stay in 1963, I wish they’d gotten more time together. They both deserved it.

Vanya. We got to see how much the baggage from her past affected her by glimpsing what she might be like if it were taken away. It’s an interesting philosophical question, and it was explored well, in my opinion. She finds it easier to love and be loved, and she stands up for herself more readily—but she also doesn’t hesitate to use powers she can’t quite control and threatens Five without fully realizing how dire her threat is (or how it might dredge up traumatic memories she doesn’t know exist). The moment where Ben finds her curled up, fully convinced she’s a monster, was heartbreaking. I loved watching her find happiness with Sissy, even if that was fleeting (and dear god, Sissy deserved her happy ending with Vanya, dammit, I don’t care if it would fuck up the timeline). Her patience and sweetness with Harlan were just beautiful. And the way she used the confidence she gained during her amnesia to fully come into her own not to exact revenge on her siblings, but to save them, was fucking phenomenal.

The humor. There was a lot more humor this season, and it was awesome. So many iconic scenes—Olga Foroga, Luther babysitting two homicidal Fives, Elliot awkwardly lecturing his guests on the history of Jello, “NEW TIMELINE NEW ME,” “Your vagina needs glasses,” AJ the fish gobbling up the cigarette bubbles, Five getting to say “fuck”….this season was a lot funnier than the previous one, and I think that was one of its strengths.

Klaus’ cult. It was played for laughs, which I both expected and thought was the best way to handle it. He didn’t want to start a new religion with himself at the center; he just wanted to not get thrown out of any more diners, but Destiny’s Children had other ideas. The “I too am a fraud!” scene was hilarious and tickled the question of whether or not a religion founded on false pretenses can still help those within it find meaning.

Luther. Getting him away from his dad, his siblings, and the Academy was exactly what he needed to become the pure of heart and dumb of ass genius we always knew he was, but his first major step in that direction was heartbreaking. We all knew he’d be rejected once he got to the Academy. We all knew Reginald would rip his heart out and stomp on it in his admittedly fashionable shoes. It gets Luther out on his own and forces him to become his own person apart from his dad, but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch. He got the positive character development he needed, but the catalyst was tragic.

Diego. We see, for the first time, exactly how Reginald kept him in line—not with meds or with PTSD-inducing torture, but with words. Even when he knows Diego as little more than a stranger, Reginald is able to rip off his skin and fling it in his face with a single diatribe; and even at 30, with years away from his dad, Diego is left unable to speak, feeling as if all of his accomplishments up to that point were the work of a dumb kid who thought he was smarter and more capable than he actually was.

Luther and Diego sharing a braincell. Luther has bad ideas. Diego has bad ideas. When they put their bad ideas together, they get terrible ideas. I loved watching them work together as a team, rather than being at each others’ throats for most of the season, even if I’m left hoping Olga Foroga had a pleasant and quiet day after that phone call.

Reginald. At first glance, it may look like the writers were trying to make him likable so they could parade him around as your average abusive-parent-with-a-soft-side. But it’s more nuanced than that. Abusive parents (and abusers in general) often fly under the radar because they fool outsiders into thinking they’re good people. They’re active in their communities. They give to charity. They have friends who attest to their virtue, significant others who think they’re the greatest. And that’s what we see with Reginald. We see him as the rest of the world did: an intelligent, eccentric man with a sharp sense of humor who cared deeply about scientific advancement. That’s how he evaded suspicion—because there were stories from years past of lively parties at his mansion, of what a gentleman he was to Grace and of how he did everything he could to save little Pogo. But those stories would all have come from people he considered his equals. When he’s with people he considers his inferiors—aka, the Umbrella kids—he’s openly condescending and demeaning. We get to see how he fooled the world, and it is chilling.

Elliot. He deserved better, and you can ship him with any one of the Hargreeves kids and get the cutest thing ever.

The Swedes. They said so much while speaking very little.

Ben. He got more personality and screen time, and it was glorious. His love of his family and resentment toward Klaus practically leapt off the screen. The way he says “I’ve missed you all…so much” once they’ve all left was one of those right-in-the-feels moments; and watching him get so much of what he’s wanted for years when he possesses Klaus was beautiful.

Now, as for things I took issue with….

Ben. I understand why they ended his arc the way they did. I get that they were probably afraid the Klaus/Ben dynamic would grow stale if they didn’t change it somehow and wanted to give him a larger role in S3. His death(???) was heartbreaking and extremely well-done. But it also wasn’t foreshadowed. We never got any sense of what ghosts in the TUA ‘verse are, so the fact they can be destroyed by a ton of sound-turned-energy or by going too far into someone’s psyche or whatever happened….it’s not that it doesn’t make sense so much as there’s not enough evidence to determine whether or not it makes sense. It feels like the writers just kinda made that up so they’d have a reason to change Ben’s relationship dynamics, but if that’s the case, couldn’t they have done it another way? Couldn’t they have made it so the immense energy or psychic woo-woo or whatever gave him a power-up instead of destroying him? Vanya transferred some of her energy into Harlan and brought him back to life. Couldn’t something similar have happened with Ben? And if it tied him to Vanya as well as to Klaus, great! More fodder for angst and humor! (”Vannyyyyyyyy, stop hogging Ben!” “You got him for 17 years, Klaus, you can part with him for 20 minutes.” “Guys, don’t I get a say in this?”) I’m glad they didn’t write him out of the series entirely, but I still wish they’d kept him and all the character development he’d gotten throughout S2.

Episode 10. It looks like they tried to cram half a season’s worth of developments into 45 minutes. Twenty minutes in, I’d already said “Wait what the fuck” half a dozen times. A lot of those moments were explained later on, and I was able to make enough inferences to fill in any lingering plot holes, but…still. Too much stuff, too little time. E9 was a perfectly satisfying ending to the season. Yes, it leaves the siblings stranded in 1963, but they could’ve tied up those loose ends in the S3 premiere.

Lila. She’s an incredibly fun character, but her arc is kind of a mess. Most of that is due to E10, and I do feel that more time to let her arc breathe would’ve worked wonders, but I’m left feeling like her turn from “Handler is the best mom ever and I lurve Diego too” to “KILL DIEGO AND HIS EVIL FAMILY” to “Handler is a bad mom and Diego is right” happened too quickly.

The Commission. Okay, so, the Handler announces the entire Board has been killed, and she’s stepping in as director even though everyone appears to know she’s been demoted (and demoted pretty severely—she went from having an office bigger than some apartments to being a case management drone). There’s suspicion and lots of it. But then, La Resistance is….ten or so people in a single room? And when she calls the temps agents to her side, thousands of them show up ready and willing to fight and die? I dunno. Just seems like there should’ve been more splintering going on there. Again, I think they needed more time to tie everything up.

Aside from those complaints, I loved the season. I set aside most of a day to binge it, and I do not regret that decision at all.

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farfromtommy · 4 years

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seb being a stepdad to chris' kids or vice versa!

not my gif

a/n: okay this is literally one of the best ideas ever and im so in love with this fic. i think this takes the cake for my favorite fic i’ve written!! this is mildly edited so pls be kind. im so proud of it and hope you guys love it <3

please reblog if you enjoyed reading and and feel free to leave any comments!!

warnings: drinking, mentions of sex, brief mention of medical procedure(s), there might be some language i dont remember

word count: 4,400

masterlist

social media au masterlist

taglist

~~~

Chris has been your best friend since elementary school and all through middle and high school. Everyone knew how close you were to him and how deeply you loved each other. It was never in a romantic sort of way, though. Nobody really understood the relationship you had with him, they just shrugged their shoulders and minded their business.

When Chris told you he wanted to move to New York to follow his dream of being an actor, he asked you to go with him. You shared his love for theatre and the arts and always wanted to see if you could make it as a big-time Hollywood actress. You packed all your things into your tiny car and made your way to New York with your best friend.

You spent your 28th birthday sitting on Chris’s couch with a bottle of tequila and a broken heart. Your boyfriend of 3 years broke up with you on the grounds of you being “such a drag” and “not someone he wants to settle down with any more”. You had planned a life with him. He talked about marrying you and having kids with you just weeks prior. And he had just thrown it all away.

Having gone through almost half of the bottle of tequila already, Chris took the bottle from you and just looked at you with sad eyes. He ran his hand through your hair as you buried your face in your pillow and just cried. You pulled yourself together after a while and willed yourself to sit up and look Chris in the eyes.

“I know I’m kinda drunk right now but Chris, listen to me. Can we make a pact? When we’re both 30 and if we’re both still single and loveless. Let’s have a baby. We don’t have to like… y’know… do it or anything. We can do it through insemination or in a petri dish or however they do it. I’m just- I want to settle down and have kids but I don’t think I’ll ever trust anyone else.” You rambled, gesturing wildly with your hands. Chris suppressed a laugh and looked at you like you were crazy. You just looked at him questioningly until he realized this was not the alcohol talking.

“Are you serious? Like, me and you? Having a baby? Seriously?” He pulled himself off the floor and sat on the coffee table in front of you.

“I’m so serious. You can say no, Chris. This is me asking you what you think. I always said that if I don’t have a husband or have been with someone long enough to have a child with them, that I would go to a sperm bank and do it like that. You know how badly I want kids, and I know you want them too.” You moved to the edge of the couch to move closer to him. He stood up and grabbed your hand to help you up. He dragged you towards the kitchen and sat you down at the table, telling you to wait there while he grabbed something. He came back a few moments later with a notebook and a pen.

“Alright, let’s figure this out. We’re going to ask each other questions about this and write down the answers. Any conditions we have we’ll write down, if we can’t agree on them we don’t do it. I know you’re not super sober right now so we can do this now and talk about it again tomorrow.” He wrote ‘Y/L/N - Evans Baby’ along the top. You smiled a bit to yourself and waited for him to talk.

“I don’t want to be just the sperm donor, I want to be involved in everything. From the ultrasound appointments to picking preschools. I also want to be in the room when you’re in labor.” He wrote it down as he was talking and looked up at you. You nodded with a big smile on your face.

“I would want you as involved as possible. We would be co-parenting this hypothetical child. My turn. To keep this from getting messy, we should do it through a clinic. Me in stirrups and your swimmers in a turkey baster. Sex can make things complicated and weird, I don’t want to risk something going wrong between us and then there be a child involved. Insemination isn’t as effective but we can always keep trying if it doesn’t work.” You pulled the notebook towards you and wrote down your condition.

That went on for the rest of the night. You and Chris take turns asking questions about your hypothetical baby. You had filled up pages and pages of notes about what you both want, from how you would decide to tell your families to living arrangements to if you’d circumcise or not if it was a boy.

A little more than 2 years later you and Chris found yourselves at the dining room table of his Boston home again. The notebook you had filled just a few years back right in front of you, along with 5 pregnancy tests. They were face down on the table as you anxiously waited for the timer to go off.

“Alright, Chris. This is it. It’s been 5 minutes, we can flip them over.” You released a shaky breath and stared at the tests right in front of you. Chris grabbed your hand and laced your fingers together. You looked at each other before reaching out to flip over the individual tests. Seeing all 5 of the tests with 2 solid pink lines knocked all the air out of your lungs.

“Oh my god. They’re all positive! Oh my god, Chris!! We’re going to have a baby!” You both jumped out of your seats and jumped around the kitchen before hugging each other and crying. He kept thanking you and kissing the top of your head while you sobbed into his chest, soaking his shirt. There were lots of tears over the next few weeks from you both after confirming your pregnancy with your midwife.

8 or so months later Penelope Elizabeth Evans-Y/L/N made her way into the world and the arms of her parents. The world seemed to stop when you heard the cries of your daughter for the first time. You could’ve sworn Chris stopped breathing the second he laid eyes on her when she was placed on your bare chest. He didn’t even care that she was covered in blood and other bodily fluids, he swore that she was the most beautiful human being to ever exist.

He took a lot of time off from filming and working to take care of you both. Once you found out you were pregnant, you stopped acting for the most part. You knew that you wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, at least until she was old enough to go to school, and maybe then you’d go back to smaller roles that kept you close to home.

Chris had a hard time leaving you and Penny once it was time to go back to work. He held her close to his chest and cried at the thought of leaving her when she’s still so little. Seeing the extreme separation anxiety he was already having, you offered to go with him to set and find an apartment or house to rent for the duration of the shoot. This ended up being the greatest thing you could have come up with. Every single project that took him away from Boston, you and Penny were right there next to him. You and Penny followed him to what seemed like every corner of the Earth.

The weeks leading up to shooting The Winter Soldier were the most exciting for Chris. He had been training for months to get into shape and was really excited to have you and Penny on set with him. He had also been talking nonstop about working with Sebastian and Anthony again.

One night Chris came home with Sebastian and Anthony trailing behind him. Penny had gone down for the night and you were nursing a glass of wine on the recliner, watching whatever you could find on TV.

“Hey, Y/N. I should've called ahead, I’m sorry. We’re just going to have some beers while we watch the game.” He walked in and gave you a quick kiss on the cheek. You moved the blankets off your lap and stood up to greet Anthony and Sebastian.

“I don’t think you ever got a chance to meet these guys before. Y/N this is Anthony and Sebastian, guys this is Y/N.” Chris introduced you and you moved forward to give them both hugs.

“Sorry for barging in on you unannounced, we would’ve made sure this idiot called you before to make sure it was all good,” Anthony said, taking the beer Chris handed him.

“Oh please, don’t worry about it. He used to do it all the time when we lived in New York. Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess. Didn’t get a chance to clean today, I’ve had my hands full, especially with this one” You gestured a thumb to Chris and he sent you a playful glare in return.

You offered to put together some snacks for the game, knowing very well Chris couldn’t handle his alcohol without some sort of food in his system. Anthony and Sebastian offered to help while Chris snuck off to go see Penny.

“How long have you and Chris been together?” Sebastian made some small talk while looking for serving bowls in your kitchen. Anthony leaned against the counter and continued to sip on his beer.

“Oh, we’re not together. We’ve been friends since we were kids and we actually are just uh...” You chuckled nervously, not knowing what to say to his friends. Chris walked into the kitchen with Penny in his arms at that moment. Her head tucked into his neck, hands gripping at the fabric of his shirt and his arms under her butt.

“We’re raising our daughter together. They go with me wherever I go so I don’t miss anything and so Y/N doesn’t raise Penelope by herself. We’re co-parenting in the same house.” He said, looking at the tired toddler in his arms. Sebastian and Anthony both sputtered on their beers at the same time, not believing what they were seeing.

There was no denying that she was a product of you and Chris. Even with her sleepy eyes, they could see the bright blue color that matched the man carrying her. They saw the swoop of your nose and the color of your hair. They stood there just taking it all in.

“I had a bit of a crisis when I turned 28 after my long term boyfriend dumped me out of nowhere. It was one of those ‘if we’re 30 and aren’t married’ sort of things. We turned 30 and were both still single, so we had a baby.” You shrugged, looking over at your girl.

“And it works, being parents without being together but still living together?” Anthony asked, gesturing towards the two of you.

“We had everything figured out before she got pregnant. We had conditions that we both had to agree on before we even got serious about it. We were both very adamant about not doing it the old fashioned way so things didn’t get messy. It took some time to figure out the… terms and conditions I guess.” Chris laughed a little bit. Anthony and Seb nodded in understanding and kept looking at Penny.

“I’m happy for you, man. Seems like you both are really happy. How old is she?” Anthony walked into her line of sight and waved his fingers a bit, trying to get her attention.

“She turned one a couple of months ago.” You said and watched Penny pick her head up and look at Seb and Anthony, inspecting them a bit. Her big blue eyes landed on Sebastian and she stared him down before he gave her a small smile and waved at her. She was a little shy around new people and would usually bury her face in the neck of whoever was holding her.

To your surprise, she leaned away from Chris and moved her hands out to Sebastian. Everyone’s eyes widened as she whined a little bit when he didn’t reach out to grab her. Chris moved closer and told him it was okay and let Penny make herself comfortable in his arms. She buried herself into his neck much like she does with you and Chris, her tiny fists clutching his shirt. Her eyes shut immediately and let herself fall asleep in his arms.

The next few months went on more pleasantly than expected. Chris often had late-night shoots and training, leaving you with Penny most of the day. Anytime he knew he would be home late, he’d send Seb over with dinner or just an extra set of hands to help you with Penny. She knew you were her mama and Chris was her dada, then one day she had her Seba. Anytime you opened the door to let him in with her on your hip, she immediately squealed and started to chant ‘Seba! Seba!’ and didn’t stop until he was holding her.

Sebastian had brought up the idea of taking you to dinner one night to Chris. Even though you were a single adult who could make decisions on your own, he didn’t want to disrespect Chris at all. Chris never saw you as anything more than his best friend, it had always been like that. He was ecstatic when Sebastian brought up the idea of asking you out.

“I’m so serious, Seb. I think it’s a great idea. She talks about you a lot and really loves being around you. She’s going to say yes, I promise. Y/N hasn’t dated since we had Penny, mostly because she’s scared of what someone would think about her living with her childhood best friend who happens to be the father of her child.” Chris told him honestly. You weren’t interested in dating at all since having Penny. Mostly because being a mom was your first and only priority.

Sebastian let out the breath he was holding and ran his fingers through his hair, all of a sudden nervous about asking you to dinner. Chris clapped a hand around his shoulder and gave him a quick pep talk before sending him on his way.

The 2 years between wrapping Winter Soldier and starting Civil War had been interesting, to say the least. Everything Chris did kept him in the states for the most part. You and Penny were still trailing along with him, always loving the things you got to experience as a family.

Sebastian had found his place right in your crazy life. You had been unofficially together after wrapping Winter Soldier. He went off to do his next project and you and Chris spent some time in Boston with your families. You texted him most of the day, and he called at night to talk for a few hours before you went to sleep. He always said goodnight to Penny and she blew her Seba kisses through the phone.

He flew to Boston a bunch of times to see you, even if it was only for a few hours. You flew to wherever he was for a few days at a time, most of the time with Penny. Chris somehow managed to get you on the plane by yourself a few times and promised he would FaceTime every single night and would have hourly pictures sent.

On one of your first weekend trips out to see him, he refused to let you leave without making it official with you. He had you in tears at the end of his ‘I can’t spend another second without calling you my girlfriend’ speech. When he proposed to you he had said that the only thing better than the girlfriend speech was the one he was about to give. His ‘I can’t spend another second without calling you my wife’ speech knocked that one out of the water.

Neither of you wanted to make a big fuss about a wedding. You weren’t interested in the big white dress and the stressful bridesmaids and the whole cliche wedding things. Sebastian suggested getting eloped somewhere quiet with a handful of the most important people in your life. Chris’s mom, Lisa, had offered to hold the ceremony in her backyard. Knowing very well how spacious and beautiful it was, you and Seb graciously accepted her offer.

You kept your dress simple yet elegant, a beautiful white lace dress that ended mid-thigh, and complimented your body so perfectly. Seb kept it classy with a dark blue suit and light blue button-up that brought out his eyes, no tie, because who needs one?

Right at the end of the ceremony right as the officiant was about to have you say ‘i do’, you heard whines coming from Penny, who was sitting right up front on her daddy’s lap. You looked over to see her squirming in his lap and whining out ‘mama’ and reaching out for you. Chris made eye contact with you and mouthed ‘i’m sorry’. You shook your head and let go of one of Sebastian’s hands to motion to let her go so she could walk over to you.

Everyone aww’d as she walked over to you as quickly as her legs could take her. You bent down and scooped her up, resting her on your hip and wrapping your arm around her waist to keep her up. Sebastian made faces at her to make her laugh and keep her happy for a few more minutes. Your photographer had taken advantage of the incredibly sweet moment and had made sure to get as many shots of Penny at the altar with you.

When the officiant pronounced you husband and wife, you were going to set Penny down but Sebastian was quick to pull you both close to him and go in for your first kiss as a married couple with your daughter right there. Everyone cheered and Penny was mimicking the claps of everyone around her. Before he pulled away from you two he pressed two sloppy kisses on Penny’s cheeks as she giggled, which pulled some tears out of you.

No more than 15 people were attending the ceremony. You wanted to keep it quiet with just family and a few close friends. The reception, however, was anyone and everyone you could fit into the ballroom you had rented at one of the best hotels in Boston. All your guests had filled the room before you and Seb arrived. You nervously held his hand as you heard the cheers from everyone inside after hearing the DJ announce “Ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary friends … let’s give it up for the couple of the hour, Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian Stan!!”

No one understood how you, Chris, and Seb managed to make your situation seem so easy and flawless. He knew that living in Boston was a must, so he bought the house that sits right behind the one you shared with Chris for so many years. He never wanted to get in the way of the system you and Chris had created over the years. Somehow, he managed to make things easier for everyone.

Penny’s first day of school was emotional for all 3 of you. You were all at your front door taking pictures of Penny in her school uniform that she looks so ridiculously cute in and the backpack that was way too big for her. She insisted on getting the Avengers backpack that “has my daddy on it!”

“Okay my love, it’s time for us to go to school! Are you ready?” Chris grabbed her tiny hand and led her to the car.

“Yeah daddy, I’m ready!” Penny said as he lifted her into the car and her car seat.

“Daddy? Mama and Sebbie coming too?” She asked him when he clicked the last buckle together. Right on cue Sebastian opened up the door to the free seat in the back and climbed in right next to her. She squealed in excitement at the sight of Sebastian buckling himself in the car.

Chris laughed at her genuine excitement and made sure all her fingers and toes were inside the car before shutting the door. He saw you lock the front door and make your way to the front seat. He noticed you put a few packs of tissues in your bag before setting it on the ground and buckling your seatbelt.

“Planning on crying today, Y/N?” Chris asked in a teasing tone. You swatted his arm lightly and scoffed at his question.

“Our baby is going to her first day of school, of course, I’m going to cry! I cried last night after I tucked her in, I cried in the shower this morning, I cried doing her hair.” You heard Seb talking enthusiastically to Penny, telling her about all the fun things she’ll get to do in kindergarten.

“It’s okay, I cried in the bathroom while she ate her waffles this morning.” You snorted at Chris’s confession and looked back at your baby girl, who was not a baby anymore. She was waving her hands around telling Seb about how excited she was to see her teacher again.

Chris and Sebastian watched from the car as you walked through the front doors of the school with Penny’s hand in yours. They had agreed that it might not have been a good idea to go in with her since they might get recognized and to avoid causing a ruckus. They both waved at her as she turned around and waved one more time before the door shut.

“Did you and Y/N ever think about having more kids together? If I hadn’t started dating her, do you think you would've had more?” Sebastian asked Chris.

“We never explicitly talked about it. She brought up wanting Penny to have lots of siblings not long after you started seeing each other. She felt guilty and thought that I was going to be upset about you and her maybe having kids one day, which meant I probably wouldn’t have anymore. I told her that this was honestly the best thing that could’ve happened because I don’t think I want any more of my own. Penny is all I ever wished and hoped for, and I got it. But since you’re together, she’ll get all the siblings she could ever want, and I won’t have to change a single diaper.” Chris nudged Seb’s shoulder with his. “You guys thinking about having one?”

“Yeah... Yeah, we are.” Sebastian lowered his head and smiled a bit. “With Penny in school and everything, it makes sense. She’s ready, I’m ready.” Seb sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He looked up and saw you walking back towards them with a tissue in your hand.

“I had the morning crying shift, it’s your turn.” Seb looked at Chris.

Just as Penny wrapped up her very first year in school, you and Sebastian welcomed Beverly Olivia Stan-Y/L/N into your family. Penelope had been so excited to hear that her mama finally had the baby she had been waiting so long for. You had gone into labor in the late afternoon and Beverly made her debut in the middle of the night.

Sebastian had called Chris an hour or so after to let him know that both you and the baby were doing phenomenally and that you were asking for Penny and wanted to see her as soon as you could. Chris chuckled at the demands you were making, knowing very well how the epidural and pain meds messed with you.

Early the next morning Penny had crawled into bed with Chris, crying for you and wanting to know when she was going to see you. It was still too early for them to go to the hospital, so he called Seb in hopes that he was already going to be awake.

A very exhausted Sebastian lit up the screen and Chris heard the soft cries of the new baby in the background. Penny’s cries turned into hiccups as soon as she saw Seb’s face because she knew she would be able to see her mama, too.

“Sebbie can I see mama, please?” Penny’s little voice spoke up. Sebastian immediately handed the phone to you and whispered that Penny was on the phone.

“Hi, baby.” You spoke softly to not disturb the baby.

“Mama when you come home? I miss you.” Penny wiped her eyes with her fists to get rid of the tears stuck in her eyelashes.

“It’s going to be a few days until I get to go home, baby. But you and daddy will be able to come to see me, Sebbie, and the new baby in a few hours. You need to go back to sleep and be a good girl for your daddy. I’m sure he’ll let you have some cuddles in his bed with him and Dodger until it’s time to wake up again.” Penny hiccuped and looked at Chris with eyes that mirrored his. He nodded his head and she buried herself closer to him.

“Okay, I go back to sleep with daddy and Dodger. I love you, mama. I love Sebbie, too.” She yawned out, her eyes blinking with sleep.

“Me and Sebbie love you so much, Penny. We’ll see you so soon, I promise” You blew a kiss to her through the screen and waited for her to throw one back. She giggled when you caught it through the camera and put it over your heart.

You, Sebastian, and Chris all watched with tears in your eyes as Penny held her baby sister for the first time. Penny had jumped right up in the bed next to you the second she walked into the room and told you about all the fun she had with Chris. Seeing your girls together melted your heart into a puddle. Chris couldn’t believe his little girl was so grown up and was a big sister. Seb thought about the night he first met you and Penny and would’ve never imagined that he’d be right here at this very moment.

Everything was so perfect and you never wanted to imagine your life being any different.

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jonsa101 · 3 years

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New Amsterdam Season 3x7: The Groundwork to Heal and Rebuild

Last night’s episode truly blew me away. It’s definitely one of the best episodes in the series. To be honest, I was incredibly anxious about how the show would handle systemic racism in the healthcare system but I think the writers did a beautiful job. I love how they have redirected Max’s story. It truly is a great character shift. Max has gone from the “how can I help” guy who tries to solve everything and usually always succeeds at it, to the guy who fails miserably and in frustration even throws in the towel. It’s so refreshing because the Max we had before this shift was unrealistic. This season is so good because this season feels real and authentic and Max though idealistic, is finally getting a big dose of reality in how he operates. I don’t think the show is ever going to give us season 1 or 2 Max again and that’s a good thing! That means our male lead is finally growing and evolving. It’s character development baby and we love to see it! I also love where the storyline is going for Helen. I have always had a head canon that Helen has some wild baby sister that would pop into her life to live with her and Helen would look out for her and take her under her wing. The story line with Meena is way better than my head canon and kinda falls in line with what I’ve always imagined. I’m so happy that Helen has a niece and that she’s moving in with her! This is literally the PERFECT ROLE for Helen. There’s nothing better than having a character who struggles with being vulnerable than literally having an unexpected character show up to shake things up and unroot the vulnerabilities/traumas said character has yet to deal with.

A lot of people couldn’t understand why Helen gave up her relationship with Cassian because of her niece but I completely understand where she’s coming from. Helen is completely out of her depth here. She wanted a baby and had know plans to take in her brother’s child let alone a teenager. This is completely new territory for her and the stress of having to juggle this new role, a new relationship and her already hectic job at New Amsterdam was probably overwhelming. Like most people who have a type A personality, she is doing what she feels like she has to do to get ready. Meena moving in with Helen is purposeful on so many levels and there are three things I’m expecting to see on screen because of it.

First, we are going to see so much more of Helen on a personal level. I fully expect to see Helen’s home life way more frequently as we see her step into this aunt/mother role and raise a teenager. This is not going to be a walk in the park. Helen is going to STRUGGLE. Meena will more than likely push Helen’s buttons to know end and and bring out all the vulnerabilities that she tries so hard to keep down. It will be probably be a bit ugly at first but as Helen and Meena start to bond and find common ground, Helen will FLOURISH. We will see her at her best as she thrives in this aunt/mother role. Second, Meena is absolutely going to peep the feelings that Max and Helen have for each other and she’s going to let her opinions be known. For the most part, teenagers know how to read the room and I’m pretty sure Meena will be know different. As Helen and Meena grow closer and as she possibly interacts with Max as well, I’m pretty confident Meena will say something and play a small part in pushing Max and Helen together. Of course this is just a prediction but usually a third character calls out the obvious “Unresolved Sexual Tension” between love interests and my money is on Meena! Third, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Helen stepped down from deputy medical director to step into this aunt/mother role as Max tries to be a single father to Luna while also trying to fill a mother void in Luna’s life. When we were heading into the season finale and going into season 2, I wrote a meta detailing my thoughts about how I felt about Helen deciding to be Max’s doctor again. I didn’t necessarily agree with the decision because I believed that Helen needed to remain true to the emotional and professional boundaries she was trying to set for herself. I also believed that because it was indicated Max and Helen had feelings for each other, her role needed to shift going forward in their relationship. It took two seasons but Helen’s role has finally shifted! 🙌🏾 She is no longer Max’s doctor or deputy medical director and for once Max no longer has the crutch/excuse of trying to navigate how he feels about her through that lense!!! THIS IS HUGE!!!

Max now has to truly sit there with his feelings and feel the absence of not going to Helen for everything because of the necessity of the roles she once had in his life. He will quickly come to terms with the fact that not only is he in love with her but he’s truly wants and needs her as his LIFE PARTNER! On top of that, Ryan has literally been teasing that Max is looking for not only a partner but a mother/mother role for Luna and he’s trying to figure that out fast (I will literally link the article). Max already knows Helen’s desire to be a mom but he will literally get the chance to see Helen step into that role with Meena! This isn’t by accident and it’s all purposeful. I’ve said this a hundred times and I’ll say it again, the showrunners are setting the groundwork for them to get together this season. Something has shifted. There’s a deep longing and desperation behind Max and I genuinely believe that he is consumed with his feelings for her. Through a bathroom door he was trying to convince Helen to be co-medical director to help battle systemic racism but while he’s trying to convince her, through subtext, he is essentially asking her to be his partner in life! I saw someone mention on Twitter that it was basically a proposal in a joking manner but honestly, that’s exactly what it was. It was a subtext laced proposal! His feelings are so all consuming that he can’t truly stay on the topic at hand!!! I think Max is on the verge of the floodgates bursting wide open and he is going to lay everything out on the table. Also, seeing Max’s behavior last night oddly reminds me a bit of Mr. Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice. Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Darcy and Max don’t have the same mannerisms but the depth of the feelings they have for their love interests and how it manifests feels the same. I’ll get into this more at the conclusion of this meta.

Anyway, when I look at the season in it’s entirety so far, I see the show setting up two people that both have to develop and heal in specific areas so that they can eventually come together by the end of the season. Helen is struggling with vulnerability, feeling like she’s running out of a time with the desires she truly wants in life and now in the most unexpected way is being thrust into aunt/motherhood. Max’s idealism has been completely rocked by the pandemic and now more than ever he’s forced to be more self aware of his actions and needs to evolve from the chronic hero syndrome. He’s also essentially stepping into fatherhood again as he tries to learn and navigate being a single dad and making Luna his first priority. I think for a time Max and Helen will need to face their issues head on by themselves but as they go through their own healing journeys, they’re going to need each other. Also, they’re DEEPLY IN LOVE so even though it seems like they’re drifting a part it’s only going to be temporarily. Eventually, they’ll start “burdening” each other again.

Another important point that I want to bring up is this. In the last meta that I wrote, I mentioned how I believed that Max needs to go above and beyond to try meet Helen’s needs and support her and I genuinely believe that we will see that throughout this season. In last night’s episode, after he poured his heart out and told her that he’s grateful that she’s there with him, Helen resigned as deputy medical director. The old Max would have put up a fight and put his needs before hers because he wants her there with him but despite it being painful, he accepted her resignation. That’s growth! Taking Helen out of the equation as his number two at the hospital is going to make him so much more aware of her needs in her personal life rather than the needs of the hospital. They’re relationship has always been so intertwined with their work at New Amsterdam that Max hasn’t learned to truly prioritize Helen outside of that but this season he’s definitely going to. The absence of Helen in his literal everyday work life with the combination of his overwhelming feelings will eventually lead to a wild pursuit. A pursuit to know her heart, her wants, her needs and most importantly a pursuit to be with her.

My last point is this! I’ve made some pretty bold predictions this season about where I see Max and Helen going. Again, I think something MASSIVE is on the horizon and I honestly still think that by the end of this season Max and Helen might very well be engaged!! I don’t know Fam they’re just giving me this vibe especially Max! Last night solidified to me that he is getting to a place where his feelings are beginning to overwhelm him. This brings me back to Mr. Darcy. I believe Mr. Darcy and Max are at the same emotional level when it comes to how they feel about their significant others. When it was to much to bare for Mr. Darcy not only did he declare his love for Elizabeth but he proposed. He literally went from 0-100. Though Elizabeth rejected his first proposal, he proposed again and the second time around they had both done the work that they needed to in order to understand each other better and realize that they loved each other. I can’t help but think of Darcy saying

“You have bewitched me body and soul and I love I love I love you. And wish from this day forth never to be parted from you.”

Is it just me or is Max acting a little bit like Helen has bewitched him body and soul? He’s all over the place when it comes to her lately and his body language has changed too! Did anyone else peep how closely Max and Helen were sitting next to each other? It was so intimate for a second I thought they were going to kiss or he was going to grab her hands. I don’t know it just screamed desire to me. Also, this ongoing theme were he tells her that he “can’t do this without her” or he’s grateful that “she’s here with him” to me is in the same light of Darcy telling Elizabeth that he never wants to be parted from her. From season two onwards Max has openly expressed wanting/needing Helen by his side. Now that we are in season 3, it seems like Max need for this has only gotten deeper. I make this comparison to say that the underlying vibe of how we are seeing Max and Helen unfold this season to me points to something incredibly tangible happening between them at season end.

The thing about Max and Helen is that yes, they are a slow burn but at the same time they’re also a 0-100 type of couple. I want to write another meta to explain this in detail but what I’ll say here is that if circumstances were different in season 1 and Max wasn’t married, Max and Helen would have probably been the type of couple who got married within a couple of months of knowing each other. Also, from my perspective, once Max and Helen finally let each other know how they really feel, it’s not going to be a thing where they’re just dating like with Cassian or Panthaki. It’s going to be like it’s a wrap, I’m all in, you are my person, this is it for me type thing. It’s going to be commitment! I feel like people forget but this show started in 2018. In September it will be four years since the show premiered. Granted COVID happened in 2020, but essentially Max and Helen have been doing this tango for awhile now. The expectation should be that we are finally going to see things come into fruition in a major way this season because that’s 1000% what I believe. Everything in my gut is telling me that the time is now and they are setting them up to do groundwork to heal so that they can rebuild together. A new chapter for them is on the horizon and I’m so excited about it!

#sharpwin #new amsterdam #max goodwin #helen sharpe #max x helen #sharpwin meta #new amsterdam meta

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leftonraed · 4 years

Text

The Night We Met - Episode 5

pairing : Taehyung x OC genre : bodyguard!au, singleparent!au, idol!au word count : 2.9k summary — You and Taehyung get closer which isn’t to his manager’s liking. Prologue | ep.1 | ep.2 | ep.3 | ep.4 | ep.5 | ep.6 | ep.7

You walk along the corridor, looking after Taehyung and Hina. You find them in the room assigned to her the duration of the small vacation.

You stop at the doorstep, bringing your arms to your chest as you cross them. They’re both seated around a small coffee table along three of her soft toys gathered to have tea.

“He’e, biscuits. Hey!” Hina chirps handing a plate with plastic cookies to him.

“Sorry, I was busy listening to miss Maggie’s hot tea.”

He offers a happy smile and effortlessly takes all of them in a handful which has her staring at him in a judgemental way. “Not all, siwy!”

You can’t help the smile etching on your face.

“Tuffy wants some too. He’re you go.” She continues putting one biscuits in front of her pale blue elephant.

“My bad Tuffy,” Taehyung is prompt to apologize looking at the soft toy while his niece proceeds to fill their cups for the second time. “I didn’t eat well earlier.”

She seats down and stretches her hand to hand him another cookie.

He shakes his hand, “don’t worry about me. You should eat yours as well Princess Hina.”

“No, mine’s he’e. It’s Snowball’s.”

“Are you sure he won’t mind?” He inquires, looking embarrassed at the tilted turtle next to her, seconds away from falling down his chair.

“Yes,” she assures, sipping from her cup. “He told me.”

He repositions the toy. “That’s very kind of you Snowball. I’ll make sure to remember it next time we have tea together.”

You surely took him for the type to play along children’s games but never would’ve imagined him doing his bit this seriously. When Hina complained about not having her doll’s tea set brought along and he promised to get her a new one, you figured he didn’t do it because he could afford it, getting her one meant opportunities to share even more moments together because he cherished her that much.

The sound of plastic dishes toppling snaps you out of your head. Hina has tripped over dress in her attempt to stand up, bringing half of the table content with her in her fall.

“Do you need help Princess?” Taehyung inquires, stifling a laugh, still clinging to his cup and cookie. He cocks his head to the side when he hears her let out a tiny whimper. “Hina?”

Worryness frowns his face a little and he nimbly gets her back on her feet, holding her to him massaging her leg she complains about.

You feel warmth spreading in your chest the longer you stare them, at him around her. They belong together.

You’re not aware of it but you must have made a sound because they’re both looking at you. It’s your face that is now heating.

You straighten your back. “I’m sorry to interrupt. I’ve come to inform you the car is ready my lady.”

You make eye contact with Taehyung and feel your body giving up on you and you’re positive he’s noticing your blush. He smiles.

**********************************************

“You should buy it if you like it.” You hear Taehyung say to you a few feet away from where you.

“Huh?” You jerk your body in surprise, not expecting him to see you browsing clothes. You watch him walk closer and take the dress you’re holding from you to give it a closer look.

“So this is how you’d dress...” He observes to himself.

You find yourself staring longer than needed at his mouth when he slowly drags his bottom lip between his teeth and you feel yourself rising in temperature. “I- I- I don’t-, I’m not-”

He looks down at you, smiling softly at your sudden stuttering. Why is she suddenly acting cute, he thinks. “Take it. Let me buy it as a gift.”

You breath, getting a grip on yourself and refusing to meet his eyes. “No.”

“It’s okay.”

“This is... not appropriate…” You trail in a small voice.

“Pff, what are you mumbling? Come on, I really want to. You’d look pretty in it.”

You gaze up at the compliment but he doesn’t seem embarrassed. Taehyung can’t help to find amusing the quick change in roles. He knows you’d look more than pretty but you seem flustered enough.

“I really don’t want it.”

“You’re lying…” He smiles. “I’ll take it off your pay if that’s what you want.”

“Hmm,” you pout, eyes drawn back to the dress as he takes it off the rod. “I’ll make sure you do.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sings walking away.

“Where is Hina anyway? I thought you were looking after her.” You scold, following and face still flaming.

***************************************

Taehyung has just finished cleaning up Hina’s mess from her eating dinner and turned on the stove to cook the one he’s made for you two when his phone is heard ringing. He takes it to identify the caller.

“I’ll shower her.” You quickly say before he gets to say anything, allowing him to get some respite.

“You sure?” He looks back and sees you already walking away with Hina in your arms smiling and waving at him.

He smiles to himself and sits down on the couch, only now realizing how much he’s needing it. He lets out a sigh and answers the call.

“Hey, mom.” —

“No, not this one,” Hina slurs, knuckling one eye as you pick out several pajamas.

You fold back the cloth after her rejection. “What about this one?”

You look down at her. She’s barely holding herself up as she squeezes her eyes and eventually nods her head. You chuckle to yourself and quickly dress her up before she catches a cold.

Hina lifts her arms out of habit and you straighten yourself up, gently swaying her as you softly hum your favorite lullaby to her.

You walk in the living-room at the same time Taehyung’s getting the fuming dish out. Plates, glasses and cutlery are already ready so you directly go take a seat in front of his while he places the meal between you.

You look up at him and immediately grasp something bothering him. You take in a big breath.

“This looks actually really good. I kinda expected not to eat anything tonight.” You trail in a sarcastic tone.

You manage to pull a half-hearted lopsided smile.

“Did everything go well with Hina?”

You hum an approval taking a first bite of the home-cooked meal. “Think I broke my record. Three minutes and I could've sworn hearing snore.” You’re sure it’s not entirely coming from your empty stomach and can’t help the short pleasant moan you let out as you start chewing.

You catch Taehyung giving you a relieved and thankful look.

“Not eating?”

He nods and moves his hand to hold his fork but you feel he may have lost his appetite.

You try not to stare too much and every time he’s not looking back. You’ve never seen him looking this down as far as you can recollect. He’s had his collected and isolated moments but you know this right now is not one of them. He’s changed mood so abruptly.

You’re so lost in your thoughts, his sudden speaking has you almost jumping in your seat. “I might actually believe you. This isn’t too bad.”

Taehyung finds it curious the way you're gazing back silently. He smiles shyly and looks back down at his plate. He hates it how he’s not able to enjoy this quiet and intimate moment with you.

You put down your fork to reach for your glass of water. “You’re not giving yourself enough credit.”

He lets out a breathy chuckle. “You seem to be the only one thinking that.”

“Not true.” You peak his interest. “I know a little snoring cutiekins that can vouch for it.”

His fork makes a sudden noise when it slips his grasp. He frowns a little.

“What happened Tae? Who called you?”

“My parents.” He pauses. “They’re still thinking I’m not fit to raise her.”

“Why?” You’re frowning too. “They didn’t seem convinced enough last time we visited. Your father was really supportive. I don’t understand.”

“I think the thing they’re reassessing is… not me but my job.”

You sit up and look away, “so I’m the one who didn’t convince them?”

He gazes up at you with confused eyes. “No, I don’t think you’re the problem. No, it’s- It’s just… I mean, you’re planning to look after us your whole life. I mean work for me.”

“Of course not.” You trail softly looking back. “But you’re going to better yourself. You’ve barely got acquainted with each other.”

“They say Hina starting preschool this year is bad timing.”

“I… I don’t mean to be rude but how would they know?”

“Well, they’ve already had an idea about how hectic my schedule can get.”

You cross your arms on your chest. “But you’re planning to adapt it, right?”

“Of course, I just... “

“Need to adopt her officially and make it public.” You continue for him. “How do you feel about you looking after her?”

“I feel good about it. I mean it feels right and I don’t want it another way.”

“So get yourself heard.” Taehyung looks down in surprise at your hand grabbing his. “You’re not a child taking care of one. You know what you want. Stop letting others think and speak for you. If you don’t fight for Hina you’ll come to regret it.”

You go silent and become aware of your gesture when he doesn’t say anything back. You slowly remove your hand and freeze when he suddenly grabs it hurriedly. You only then notice the tears in his thankful eyes.

*******************************************

It’s been a couple of months since Hina started her first preschool year and you and Taehyung have fondly been watching her blooming weeks after weeks in her new environment. There hasn’t been a day, she hasn’t had plenty of anecdotes to tell.

As much as you’re taking pleasure in witnessing her go through her learning, you feel as much contentment from seeing Taehyung discover that new side of rearing.

“Hello!” Hina bursts her way inside the penthouse as usual, excited to find Taehyung after a long day spent apart.

“Hey sugarplum,” he grins just as delighted.

You close the door behind you bringing Hina’s tiny backpack along with the couple of errands you ran for him. You don’t have to look at Taehyung to notice just how exhausted he must be. It’s been a week since his latest comeback and getting back to a busy schedule, which still has had some changes to it, isn’t as easy as he’d expected it.

You haven’t talked about the issue his parents raised ever since that night and didn’t want to seem intrusive but you just hoped he’d grin and bear it the time needed.

“_______ will also be there.”

You perk at the sound of your name looking at them from the kitchen where you’re storing things away.

You see Hina’s eyes brighten at the news you’re unaware of. “Weally?”

She joggs towards you and looks up with hopeful eyes as her tiny fists clutch your pants.

“Pwomise?”

“Promise what?” You frown confused as you look between Taehyung and her.

“Come see her end of year show,” he explains stretching an arm on the couch. “She’ll be singing songs.”

“Say yes.” She hops still clinging around your knees.

You feel your chest get overwhelmed with a familiar surge of warmth, binding you tightly from within and it makes your face all tingly. “If you invite, I’ll c-”

“Yes, yes, yes. I invite you.” She bounces happily.

You reach to pat her head, smiling at her shyly. “Yes, I’ll come.”

Taehyung grins effortlessly at the two of you and thinks that moments like this are worth all the effort in the world.

Hina joins him again and you hear them making sure she doesn’t reveal to you the song she’ll be performing and how she has to train seriously because he might assess her singing. You’re convinced he doesn’t need you or your words, he’ll be doing just fine.

********************************************

Taehyung involuntarily puts an end to your happy mood when he reveals he’s had you do the groceries because Hwiin is expected later tonight to share dinner. You don’t ask him but he tells you to stay in case you’d be thinking of leaving. The thought makes you smile but it doesn’t last when you think about the time you’ll have to go through in her company.

The doorbell rings unpleasantly and you let Taehyung welcome her while you remain in the kitchen finishing preparing everything you’ll be needing.

You shortly greet her when she comes in, waving at her with a knife in your hand and noticing the surprise on her face she sees you.

“We’re just getting started with dinner so you can wait here with Hina,” Taehyung explains as he helps her with her coat and bag.

“Alright.” She speaks in a high-pitched tone as she gets closer to Hina sitting on the carpet and playing with her toys. “Hello Hina.”

The little girl replies quietly.

Hwiin still struggles to find the right words or gestures when it comes to her but she comforts herself as she can acknowledging the fact she’s not making her cry anymore.

She tries not to be too invasive and settles for switching between her phone and watching T.V.

She’s surprised by Taehyung’s sudden appearance when he brings Hina some grapes.

“You want some too?” He smiles politely.

“No I’m good, thank you.” If you looked at her, you'd find her racking her brain to quickly find a way to start a conversation with him but he’s back giving you instruction on the use of ingredients.

She resigns herself a moment until something worth saying eventually comes to her mind but when she looks his way, she finds him bent down, your arms framing his neck and your faces close, very close.

Are they- Right in front of me? She tenses.

She freezes at the sight and doesn’t immediately see that you’re actually tying the front part of his hair to keep from falling in his eyes.

She promptly looks away as if it physically hurt her and stared in space. She hears his laugh and it tugs at his heart. She can’t overlook the bonds you’ve forged, they exist and helped make his house home-like.

Her eyes are dragged yet again where you are and she watches quietly as you manoeuvre Hina on your hip to give her a peek at what you’re cooking. She feels in the way and it hurts.

You’re in charge of feeding Hina while Taehyung focuses on finding conversation topics, sparing you the small talk. Although the little has all your attention, you notice Hwiin strange silence.

She’d usually take the opportunity to be all over him, monopolizing him to herself claiming her behavior was justified by professional reasons.

“Let me take care of it,” he interjects when she stands up to help clear up the table.

“Thank you,” she smiles half-heartedly. “I have to make a quick phone call, I’ll be right back.”

She grabs her phone from the couch where she’s left it and looks back as she heads for the bathroom down the corridor. She sees Hina grabbing onto you to lead you to the ice cream she’s struggling to open on her own.

She finally opts for Hina’s bedroom and leaves the door barely ajar after checking one more time the coast is clear.

She thumbs a number and waits for an answer.

“Hello? Mrs Hiroshi? I’m Hwiin, do you remember me?” She asks in a hushed voice. “I’m doing good thank you. Listen, I don’t have plenty of time.”

She turns away from the door and walks away a little.

“I called to tell you I’ve been thinking about the suggestion we’ve come up with a couple of weeks ago. Yes, the social worker one.” She nods to herself. “I think it could work out.”

Hwiin looks over her shoulder when she thinks she’s heard a noise. “Let me take care of it. I’ll contact them myself. Yes, don’t worry. I’ll keep you in touch.”

She can see a shadow right on the other side of the door and hurries to finish her call. “I have to hang up. We’ll talk again later.”

She walks to the door warily, directing a frowning gaze where the shadow remains still and stretches her arm. She yanks the door open violently and sees nothing behind it.

She holds back a scream when Hina runs in at full speed.

“Hina, you scared me.” She laughs uneasily watching her plop on her bed.

She looks up at her, her big eyes hidden behind her long fringe. “What you doing in my woom?”

“Me? Nothing,” Hwiin dismisses with her hands on her knees. This doesn’t feel natural at all, she thinks. “I just wanted to see it. You have such a beautiful room.”

Hina stares up at the smile Hwiin gives her. She decides to walk out first, followed closely by. Her heart is still thumping hard and loudly in her ears as she joins you and Taehyung in the living-room where you’re sitting nearby each other.

She grins at him, sitting on his other side just as closely and makes sure to avoid your eyes.

/////////////////!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Feedback is much appreciated Reblog if you wish to read more

#taehyung scenarios #bts scenarios #taehyung smut #bts smut #bts angst #taehyung angst #bts fluff #taehyung fluff #bts imagines #taehyung x reader #taehyung x oc #bts reactions

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angrylizardjacket · 3 years

Text

dirtbags // 3: Charlotte

Summary: High school AU, 1985, Winter. The year’s off to a strange start as Charlotte and her friends find out that not only does Lola work at the new diner that opened up in town, but her dad owns it! Charlotte humbles Nikki in a very un-Charlotte manor, and Vince’s parents decide to host an English exchange student in an attempt to give him a good role model; instead, they get Razzle.

A/N: 8466 words. Do I care too much about this AU? Yes. as always, for my dears @misscharlottelee and @newyeareva ft. a softer world quotes

the city sometimes feels like a movie set. maybe this is the big scene. maybe i can be an extra at least.

Charlotte’s only a few practice hours away from being able to get her provisional license, and she berates her past self for not getting it sooner, especially not when her Winter Break has been kind of a shit-show and she’d rather tear off her own arms than ride in Tommy’s shitbox of a car with Vince Neil.

Since his blowout house party, Vince had essentially been grounded for the rest of the school year, had his car privileges revoked, and the only people his parents apparently trusted him to hang around with outside of school, were Tommy, Charlotte, Eileen, and Peach. Tommy was delighted. The girls, unsurprisingly, were not. Vince himself was downright somber, and had sulked for the remainder of the semester, and well into the break.

He had been in a particularly sour mood since last night, New Year’s Eve, when his parents had announced they were going to be hosting an exchange student from England for six months. Vince is convinced it’s an attempt to give him some sort of role model his own age, and spent most of his parents’ New Year’s Eve party ranting to Tommy and the girls while they played cards in his basement.

Her saving grace is Eileen, of course, who’s father had bought her mother a shiny, new car for Christmas, and had given Eileen the keys to her mother’s old station wagon.

“It’s kinda dumb that we’re taking two cars,” Peach, Eileen’s little sister, pipes up from the back seat, hands fiddling in her lap. It’s New Year’s Day, and while their various parents were sleeping off their hangovers, they’d suggested the kids check out the new diner that was opening today. Vince jumped at the suggestion of freedom, and everyone was in agreement, but Eileen and Charlotte took Peach in Eileen’s car the moment Vince slid into Tommy’s front seat, holding the flyer he’d gotten at the mall that told them all about the diner’s opening day, “just saying, we could all fit in one.” But she’s met with silence, “are you going to be mad at him forever?” She finally sighs.

“Yes.” Both Charlotte and Eileen answer automatically. Peach sighs as dramatically as she’s able, and sinks as low into the seat as she can. Charlotte turns on the radio, and hums along to something familiar, but that she doesn’t quite recognize, staring out the front window at the back of Tommy’s car. Vince turns around in the front seat and flips them off.

“I’m gonna ram them,” Eileen says, with absolute sincerity and serenity, leveling an intense glare at where Vince was now waving.

“Don’t,” Charlotte advises, equally level.

“I don’t get why you’re still mad, I’m not even mad,” Peach huffed, pouting. Charlotte and Eileen share a look; at sixteen years old, Peach was top of almost all of her math and science classes, but she was still a teenage girl, and an absolute fool for a blonde boy who made her cry. Charlotte knew that feeling all too well, but thankfully she’d moved on from the ‘wondering why she wasn’t enough’ stage to the ‘realizing her ex is a cheating douchebag and it was never her fault’ stage. She really hopes Peach can move on to ‘realizing Vince made her cry and hasn’t even tried to change since then and deserved to get his car keyed’ stage quickly.

The diner was bustling when they arrived, a large decal on the inside of window, black, thick and flowing lettering, outlined in gold, reading Leo’s. Through the window, several booths were already filled, as were a host of the stools along the counter. It looked warm inside, inviting in golds, yellows, peaches and oranges, neon signs and rusted street signs, band and comic book memorabilia, and photos. Behind the counter -

Lola. Smiling.

“I’m freezing my butt off, can we go in?” Peach asks, hands shoved deep in the pockets of her parker, the only person who did not recognize the girl currently pouring coffee for an elderly gentleman at the counter.

Inside, the diner is warm, filled with the sounds pleasant chatter, and of the Beatles coming from a cherry wood jukebox in the corner.

“Lola!” Tommy can’t help himself, lighting up at the sight of her, and once Lola finishes pouring her customer coffee, she looks to their confused little group, and waves.

“Find yourselves a seat, I’ll be with you in a moment,” she calls back, smiling bright and wide, hair tied back with a bright, red bandana.

The teens do as they’re told, pulling off jackets and gloves and scarves, sliding into a booth by the window, looking around, wrapped up in the smell of warm food, and the confusion of Lola’s presence, and completely unfamiliar demeanor. There’s an uncertain kind of quiet among them, having just expected to spend lunch at a cool new diner, but this has shift everything, only Peach, blissfully unaware of who Lola even was, seemed at ease, rearranging the sugar packets in their little holder.

Lola comes by with menus, and cups, and a pitcher of water for the table, looking pristine and put together in a tight, black blouse, skirt, and scuffed black combat boots, little peach-coloured apron tied around her waist. She pulls a notebook and pen from the pocket of the apron, looking around at them all, as if finally taking a moment to assess the situation.

Charlotte picked up a menu.

“You work here?” Tommy asked, and Lola confirms brightly, but doesn’t give any further details. She does, however, thank them all for coming, and recommend a few of her favourites.

“I’m also partial to The Lola, for obvious reasons,” she gives an actual laugh at that, as if implying one of the burgers was named after her was giving away too much information, and Charlotte was quickly scouring the menu.

Beef patty, double bacon, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a home-made smokey maple-barbeque sauce, on a toasted bun.

“The menu’s kind of misleading,” Lola admits, moving to look down over Charlotte’s shoulder as she was reading, “all the patties are home made too, with Leo’s signature blend of herbs and spices.” That asked more questions than it answered. No-one’s quite sure what to say.

“Can I get a milkshake?” Peach pipes up, and Lola’s smile grew wide as she asked what flavour, “chocolate, please, and do you have curly fries or regular?”

“Hand cut,” Lola tells her proudly, but that means very little to Peach, who’s just glad to be having food, “still need time to think?” Lola asks the rest, and they all give her awkward, quiet smiles and nods.

Lola leaves, heading back to the counter, and the moment she’s gone, the whole table explodes with whispered confusion, leaning in, asking questions and not getting any answers.

“You guys are being super fucking weird,” Peach hisses loudly at them all, while Charlotte and Tommy argue about how the other should have known. Eileen, quietly delighted by the chaos, demands to know if anyone else thinks Lola might secretly have a twin, and Vince, who’s had the least contact with her aside from Peach, is babbling about how it’s weird to see Lola so chipper; their mutual confusion is enough to set aside Eileen and Charlotte’s hatred of him, at least for the moment.

When Peach demands they explain what they’re all whisper-shouting about, disturbing the booth behind her, they all quiet down, and Tommy and Eileen take it in turns explaining their full understanding of Lola. Charlotte takes the time to actually look around the diner now that she was inside.

There’s two other waitress, one behind the counter, the other always moving on about the various tables and booths on one side, making sure the customers are happy and food and drinks are delivered, both in the same outfit as Lola, though with varying footwear.

The view to the kitchen is unobstructed behind the counter, a half wall where meals ready to be delivered were sat, but a clear view to where three people in the kitchen, two by the grills and fryers, turned away; a broad-shouldered man towering over the grill with the longest hair Charlotte’s ever seen braided neatly down his back, and a comparatively shorter man, also with far shorter hair, though enough to be pulled up into a messy pony tail. The shorter man’s working the fryer, and putting together burgers as the taller man cooked up their various ingredients. There was also a strangely familiar kid with a mop of dark, curly hair washing dishes on the other side of the kitchen, barely visible.

Lola worked diligently, smiling and chatting away; she collected dishes, and ferried meals, and handed out slices of desert from the cute, multi-tiered desserts display on the counter. When she came back, milkshake in one hand, basket of fries in the other, Peach is fully caught up on each of her friend’s short but confusing histories with her, and blurts out -

“You’re Lola?” Injecting new meaning into the words, into the name, as if anyone else at their entire school had the same name. Lola’s smile goes a little tight as she places the fries and the milkshake before the redhead. Standing back up, she taps her nametag, which reads Lola, with little flowers drawn around it, and confirms, though it’s clear she’s more on edge than she was before.

“You guys ready to order?” She asks, still trying to keep up her chipper attitude, pulling out her notebook again. Everyone’s quieter this time, looking over the menu and finally deciding on food.

“My mom heard the owner was a chef, is that true?” Tommy asks, looking up from the menu to Lola again, and the tense set of her shoulders loosens considerably at the question.

“Leo is a chef,” Lola nodded, grinning broadly, “trained at the Culinary Institute of America back in the sixties, and worked his way up to being the head chef of Parker House in Boston, which I know probably doesn’t mean much to you guys, but it’s,” Lola laughs a little struggling to describe it, “it’s fine dining at it’s finest, but for the past twelve years, he’s been running Leo’s in Salem, and now he’s here, still using all that fine dining training for the anyone who wants a good meal at a good price.”

“Is that something they have you memorize in training?” Vince says, a little awed, and Lola gives a strange little smile.

“Leo’s my dad.”

Everything kind of fell into place after that, finally making sense, and the gang’s confusion quickly shifted to understanding, and the air around the table seemed to clear. It was easier after that, the teens in the booth ordering quickly, and the chatter picked up to a normal level as she moved away, shouting their order back to the kitchen once she was back at the counter.

She doesn’t spend much time at their table, still in charge of waitressing half of the tables and booths, but she always gives them a nod as she passes, and their meals are being delivered efficiently, so there’s no reason to complain.

The food itself, for diner food, is nothing short of spectacular, which kind of just raises more questions - why if Leo can cook food that tastes this good, and with all the experience he evidentially has, would he open a diner in suburban LA, and not a high-end restaurant? But it feels kind of intrusive to ask, so Charlotte simply enjoys her food, and her friends’ company.

Up until Vince starts complaining about the exchange student again.

“His name’s Nicholas, he shows up in a week, and mom’s making me clear out the basement so he can sleep there,” he’s despondently poking his milkshake with one of his fries, head propped up on one hand, “I’ve been asking for years if I could move into the basement, and this fucking Nicholas just gets it?” His whole expression scrunches up at the thought, and he angrily eats his fry.

“Wait, so the issue isn’t that you have to clean up the basement, it’s that he gets to use it as a bedroom and you don’t?” Charlotte frowned, lowering her own burger, “why would you even want to sleep in the basement?”

“Privacy!” Vince throws his hands in the air, eyes wide, “Tammi keeps complaining about getting cramps in the back of my car, but my bedroom walls are paper thin,” he huffs, “I need my own space.”

“Tammi?” Peach asks, her voice high and almost painfully chipper, “Tammi Frisk? She scored the winning goal in the softball final, right?” She’s not looking at Vince, when Charlotte looks over to her, she’s looking at her plate of fries, pushing the few left around without eating any, smiling in a way that’s clearly forced.

“You were at the softball final?” Tommy asked, frowning slightly. Peach did not look up.

“For the school paper,” she explained, voice still strange.

“You’re still with Tammi Frisk?” Eileen asks, making sure the disgust is clear in her voice as she draws the table’s attention away from the clearly uncomfortable Peach. Charlotte’s lip curled; she wanted to make sure her expression was as judgmental as possible when Vince turned back to her.

It’s not that she cared about who he was dating, she was mostly apathetic to Tammi, and knew little more about her than the fact that she was on the softball team, but Charlotte knew Vince had been dating Tammi when he’d decided to crush Peach’s heart publicly at the start of the last semester.

Neither Peach nor Eileen had told any of them exactly how, but apparently Eileen’s hatred was well warranted, both against Vince, and according to Eileen, Tammi too.

Vince, immediately sensing Eileen’s shift in tone, and seeing the look on her face, frowns.

“Kind of,” he responds flatly, and his gaze flicks to Peach, “not really,” he backtracks, and his indignation at the whole situation seems to fizzle out with a sigh, and he slouches, going back to paying attention to his burger, “she’s sort of hanging out with one of the second-string football guys, but they’re not... and we’re not really...” he trails off, despondent once more.

At least Vince seemed to be self-aware of the fact that he was an asshole to Peach, at least he had the decency to feel bad about it. Why he kept inviting Peach to hang out, despite the fact that he knew Eileen, who hated his guts, would come along too - invited or not - baffled Charlotte.

Tommy was his friend, and a guy, Charlotte was a cheerleader and technically popular, and so was usually begrudgingly invited too, but Peach, sweet Peach, recent Science Fair Winner, junior reporter for the school paper, treasurer for the AV Club, by all accounts ‘a nerd’ when judged by her interests, was still on the guest list of Vince Neil’s life, even if he wouldn’t admit that out loud.

It kind of made Charlotte want to punch him in the face.

But that’s not news.

“I hope the English exchange student is a decent influence on you,” Charlotte tells him. Vince scowls.

“You sound like my parents.”

you make me want to pretend to be a better man.

Now that school has started back up, Vince has thankfully had his car privileges returned, and Charlotte can return to not glowering in the back seat of Tommy’s car when he picks her up on the way to school, and drops her home on the days they both have practice.

But it’s Wednesday, first week back, and he’s uncharacteristically quiet. Usually he’s babbling about practice, or cheerleaders he thinks are pretty, or Lola, but today, he meets Charlotte in the carpark, leaning against the trunk of his car, hands in his pockets, quiet. It’s decidedly unnerving.

“What’s wrong, Tom?” Charlotte asks, yanking the passenger door open once he unlocks it, sliding into the seat and putting her bag by her feet.

“Nothing,” Tommy voice betrays the lie, the thoughts so clearly on his mind that he was trying to avoid talking about. Charlotte won’t push him, if he wanted to tell her, he would, and he usually does, “put on some music, will you?” And Charlotte obligingly opens the glove compartment in front of her to look through the collection of 8track tapes he keeps in there, several of which had been Christmas gifts from Charlotte herself.

Feet on the dashboard, Charlotte’s more than content listening to Bon Jovi, bopping her head to the beat, when Tommy finally finds the words for his thoughts.

“Lola and Nikki Sixx are friends.”

Up until now, Charlotte was under the impression that Tommy, like her, thought Nikki and Lola would be great as friends, Tommy’s current tone implies otherwise.

“Is that not good?” Charlotte’s careful about her words, still not sure where Tommy’s hesitation was coming from.

“No, they make sense,” he’s quick to try and backtrack, words spilling from him almost too fast, “they make sense as friends.” He deliberates, before asking, “Charlie, you’re not friends with Nikki Sixx are you?” And it sounds like he already knows the answer. Charlotte hesitates.

“He keeps bothering me during my free periods, I wouldn’t exactly call us friends -”

“He called you Charlie,” its deadpan and accusatory in equal measure, and Charlotte shrinks back into her seat as Tommy keeps talking, “he called me ‘Charlie’s cousin’. It was weird.”

“I thought you wanted to be his friend -” she tries, right as they pull up to a red light, and Tommy fixes her with an unamused look, the only expression that makes him seem older than his years.

“Did you tell him I was obsessed with him?”

“No!” Charlotte snaps, automatically defensive.

“Because I’m not -”

“I never said - I told him you were a fan! That’s all! Like Duff was!” Charlotte tries to clear up, and Tommy looks back at the road, though this time he thankfully looks more pensive than angry. Only Bon Jovi cuts through the tense air between them for the rest of the drive back to Charlotte’s house, and when Tommy pulls up outside, he doesn’t say anything to her when she gets out.

The next day, like clockwork, fifteen minutes into her free period, Nikki Sixx comes climbing over the school’s fence, into the garden Charlotte had been trying to force herself to study in. In all honesty, she’d been waiting for him, picking at her nail polish beneath the table and reading the same sentence in Moby Dick over and over again.

“Miss Lee,” Nikki nods to her, a little gruffer than usual, “you seem more tense than usual; I can help you with that if you want,” but he still manages to smirk his way through an unsubtle come-on, and Charlotte rolls her eyes, not in the mood for their usual banter.

“I’d rather sit on a cactus,” she tells him icily, without even a teasing edge. Nikki’s eyebrows shoot up at the hostility, and he puts the packet of cigarettes that he’d about to offer her on the table, knowing she’d turn them down anyway, “I thought people weren’t meant to know that we know each other.”

“What people do?” Nikki frowned, raising his lighter to the cigarette between his lips, “is this about yesterday? I talked to your cousin, big deal. Everyone knows you two are related, and everyone knows you,” he looks pointedly to the embroidered logo on her cheer uniform, “I wasn’t even looking for him -”

“Dude,” Charlotte felt as though she was about to tear her hair out, “you called me Charlie to him, people don’t just call me that!”

“Plenty of people call you that! That leggy redhead you’re always hanging around calls you Charlie -”

“My friends call me that -” Charlotte snaps, “and I know you know that’s Eileen Austen.” And Nikki’s wearing a dreamy look, like he’s thinking unholy thoughts about Eileen as Charlotte speaks, before snapping out of it as the first of her words register like a bucket of ice water to the face.

“I’ve called you Charlie before. To your face.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Charlotte tells him dryly, crossing her arms, “it’s less effort if I don’t correct you. We’re so not friends that I don’t even care about correcting you.” Back when this school year started, Charlotte wouldn’t have dreamed saying half the nasty shit she’s thrown at Nikki Sixx, and at some point she may have to confront the idea that being around him has made her meaner, “but did you tell my cousin that I told you he was obsessed with you? Because I never -”

“I said I was glad he was a fan!” Nikki scowled, sitting back and glowering at her across the table, “all I wanted was to ask Lola if she wanted to sit on the roof with the rest of the smokers, and your fuckin’ yappy, dumbass of a cousin -”

Punching someone in the face hurts a lot more than Charlotte had been anticipating, but it’s worth it to see Nikki toppling backwards off of the picnic bench and onto the cold grass. His cigarette lies some few feet away while he lays groaning, clutching his cheek, and Charlotte’s standing, leaning, thighs pressed against the picnic table for support as she’s staring down at him, breathing heavy through her nose while the adrenaline rushes through her system.

“What the fuck, Charlie?”

“Don’t talk shit about Tommy,” her heart’s thundering in her chest, she can feel the blood rushing in her ears, and when she looks at her hand, she sees the skin of one of her knuckles has split enough to draw blood, “he has done fucking nothing to you apart from support you, and think you’re really fucking cool, for whatever dumbass reason, so don’t you dare talk shit about him.”

“Jesus Christ,” Nikki groaned, eyes closed, trying to catch his breath after being winded so thoroughly, hand still cradling his cheek. That’s how Charlotte leaves him, slinging her bag onto her shoulder, and stalking towards the library to finish the rest of her free period in peace.

When Tommy drives Charlotte, Eileen, and Peach home after school that day, he’s quiet once again, but it somehow feels completely different to the oppressively accusatory air of the day before. The three girls were chattering away, trying to plan a trip to the mall for the upcoming weekend, and only when Peach and Eileen were waving goodbye in the rearview mirror did Tommy speak up.

“Did you punch Nikki Sixx in the face?” There’s a smile in her cousin’s voice, and Charlotte’s not quite sure how to react.

“I had good reason to,” she says, carefully guarded.

“He said you guys were friends, and then he thanked me for being coming to the gig a while back; told me he’d asked you to bring me specifically,” Tommy’s tone was oozing pride, and if Charlotte had been looking at him, and not frowning out the window, she would have seen how he was all but preening.

“He told you all that?” Charlotte’s anger at her memory’s of the morning’s altercation was fading fast.

“He hung out with me and Lola by the carpark for lunch,” Tommy paused, snorting a laugh, “didn’t want his buddies to find out a cheerleader gave him a black eye.”

“I - what? No I didn’t...” Charlotte’s eyes went wide, and finally she looked at her cousin’s beaming face.

“You definitely did; Lola laughed at him for a full ten minutes because of it.”

“Serves him right,” Charlotte said, with a begrudging little smile.

Nikki sits with Tommy and Lola on Friday too, which Tommy is delighted to inform Charlotte on Saturday while he’s driving them both to Vince’s, where his parents have invited them over to meet the exchange student. Nicholas.

He arrived on Wednesday, but Vince’s parents have given him the rest of the week to settle in, and had invited around the few friends Vince has that they deem to be a positive influence, if only so he knew a few faces around school.

Charlotte had been picturing some over-gelled boarding-school boy, used to itchy uniforms and strict rules, and about to get a good deal of culture shock hanging around Vince and the rest of their motley little pack, but when Charlotte brings this speculation up in the car, Tommy’s quick to dismiss it. Vince, from the little Tommy had spoken to him in the past two days, was over the moon, claimed that Nicholas - Vince had called him Razzle - was amazing. If Charlotte felt an quiet sense of foreboding at that sentiment, she felt it was justified.

The first thing either of them hear after being directed down to the basement by Vince’s mother, is Alice Cooper playing almost obnoxiously loud; Charlotte’s not sure why, but it eases something in her chest.

Nicholas’s - Razzle’s? - room, first and foremost, is possibly the coolest bedroom Charlotte’s ever been in. He’s decked it out with movie and band posters, though most of the band’s she’s never heard of. There’s string-lights above a desk, a bed crammed into one corner with a bright duvet, and even a sofa, and a few beanbags all crowded around a low, wooden table that had mostly been taken up with a record player, which is where they found their friends.

The name Razzle suited him, Charlotte considered, as she took in the newcomer’s appearance, all spiked up dark hair and ostentatious clothing, animatedly telling a story while Peach and Vince hung onto his every word. He looked almost wild, like collection of half-thought ideas all vying to become a reality through the texture of his clothes, the height of his hair, the hint of amusement that tailed his words, the passion shining in the blue of his eyes when they flicked to look at her and her cousin, standing on the stairs and watching him.

His words grow quiet as he takes them in, as if waiting for something to happen, for someone to introduce them.

“You must be Charlie and Tommy!” His accent, thick and bright, made her nickname sound so familiar on his lips.

“Charlotte,” Vince corrects, giving a surprisingly respectful nod to Charlotte, who tries to shrug nonchalantly.

“Charlie’s fine. You’re,” and Charlotte hesitates for a moment, ignoring Vince’s eyeroll, “Razzle, right?” Razzle’s smile is blinding at her immediate use of the nickname, and he waves them in.

Peach throws Tommy a cushion from the sofa when he asks, and he settles himself on the floor next to Vince, while Peach and Eileen squeeze over to make room for Charlotte on the sofa clearly only made for two people.

“I was just telling these guys ‘bout my band’s very first gig, ‘nd how I had to sneak out just to get there,” Razzle settled back into his own beanbag, hands out and ready to return to his story, eyes still shining with anticipation at the memory, or possibly just glad to have an audience.

Oh, Charlotte thought, looking at this boy she barely knew, already fighting off a smile in the face of his infectious enthusiasm, maybe Vince was becoming a better judge of character.

“You’re in a band?” Tommy’s eyes light up, and Charlotte gives her cousin a fond smile; Razzle has already won his seal of approval.

we need more good crazy. it'd be nice to watch the news, and think, 'that's fucking insane', but feel a little jealous instead of just alone.

Heather hasn’t been glowering as much at lunch, and the rumour is that it’s because she’s getting laid. Well, it’s less of a rumour to Charlotte, since Heather confirmed as much to the rest of the cheer squad when one of the girls asked her, but she’s being coy and secretive about who she’s with, which is the really weird part; Heather won’t say, and no-one’s coming forward, and lord knows that most guys at their school would jump at the opportunity to claim they’re banging the Vice Captain of the Cheerleading Squad.

But Charlotte knows not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and instead just smiles back when Heather gives her a sunny smile in the cafeteria.

Tommy is less than thrilled with the news when Charlotte brings it up in the car after school. Nikki’s still sitting with him and Lola during lunch, despite his bruising going down considerably over the weekend, and Tommy is equal parts delighted and uncomfortable, for reasons he can’t seem to put into words.

“At least Pam’s single,” he says it with as much of a dreamy sigh as he can manage, though it comes out more forlorn than anything else. Charlotte pets his shoulder, and reminds him that so is over half the squad; he perks up a little at that.

They pull into Mick’s gas station, and Charlotte waves to Mick and Lola, who are sitting on the step by the door sharing a cigarette. Lola waves back.

“Meant to give this to you,” Lola says to Charlotte, still sitting while Mick begrudgingly heads inside. Tommy follows him in, not needing to fill up the tank, but rather just looking to drown his sorrows regarding Heather in a jumbo slurpee. Outside, Charlotte waits with her hands in her pockets, giving Lola an amused smile, watching as the dark haired girl pulls a pin off of the jacket she practically lives in, and hands it over.

It’s a piece of black card stock cut into the shape of a star, barely an inch in diameter, taped to a safety pin. It say Punched Nikki Sixx in silver pen, one of the points of the star already a little bit crumpled.

“You’re a little bit punk, so you get a pin,” Lola tells her, smiling around her cigarette, looking quietly pleased, and perhaps even a little bit proud; whether of herself or of Charlotte, Charlotte can’t tell, but it still makes her flush.

“I thought Nikki didn’t want anyone knowing that a cheerleader gave him a black eye,” Charlotte mused, looking at the little pin, and Lola’s face scrunched up, expression falling.

“So? Who gives a shit?” She shrugs, looking away tone having shifted to almost forcibly neutral in an instant, “wear the pin or don’t, I don’t care.” Lola stands with a groan, without giving Charlotte a chance to respond, and calls to Mick that she’s heading to the diner. Mick waves, Tommy calls out a farewell, and Charlotte frowns, wondering what just happened.

“I hate that,” Nikki says flatly, the moment he spots the pin where Charlotte’s fixed it to the strap of her backpack. There’s no hard feelings between them after last week’s altercation, thankfully, though they don’t talk about it. If Charlotte’s glad that he still showed up, if she’s realised she may, in fact, enjoy his company, she keeps that information to herself.

“Lola made it for me,” Charlotte tells him. Nikki leans in, squinting at the handmade pin.

“Of course she did,” he sighs, leaning back. Surprisingly, there’s quiet between them for a few, long moments; maybe, Charlotte considers, this will be one of those mornings where Nikki uses their time together to catch up on sleep, and Charlotte can actually use her free period for it’s intended, study-related purpose, but then Nikki sighs like he wants her to ask what’s wrong.

So she does.

“I need a new band.”

“I can’t help you.”

“I know,” Nikki nods with resignation, “I was gonna ask this guy I work with, Slash, he plays guitar, but he’s already in one -”

“Wait, you don’t mean Duff’s friend Saul Hudson, do you?” Charlotte frowned, intrigued despite the stab of anger she felt at the mere mention of her ex. Nikki seemed taken aback by her question.

“You know Duff McKagan?”

“I dated him for a year and a half,” Charlotte finds herself suddenly very interested in drawing connecting triangles in the back of her notebook, not looking at Nikki, who’s quietly processing this information.

“He’s in a band now,” and neither of them seem to be quite sure why he offered that information, but they both let is hang between them for a moment.

“Makes sense,” Charlotte nods, tone flat, “with Saul - Slash?”

“Yeah,” is all Nikki has to say.

“Slash is a good kid, I always liked him,” Charlotte offered, and finally she looks up, “Tommy plays drums.”

“Marching band isn’t exactly -” Nikki begins, but Charlotte’s shaking her head.

“No, like, legit drums,” she enthuses, “his parents fixed up their whole garage to make it sound proof for him,” but she doesn’t want Nikki to think she’s pushing her cousin on him too hard, not after last week, so she sits back, and crosses her arms, trying to play it cool, “I mean, you can ask him yourself, see if he’s any good.” She shrugs, but Nikki looks like he’s already considering it.

“How many musicians do you know, Charlie?” He finally asks, giving her a faint, amused smile.

“Probably too many,” Charlotte responds with a longsuffering smile, before her mind turns to the things Tommy himself had told her, “I heard you and Lola are getting along; what’d I tell you?” She teased, and much to her surprise, what she could see of Nikki’s face, for his hair, was turning pink.

“She’s a bitch; you know she’s a bitch, right?” He asks, but he’s grinning, all sharp and dangerously amused.

“I knew you guys would get along,” Charlotte gives a pleased little sigh, as if she’d manufactured their whole friendship herself. Nikki rolls his eyes at her, and the bell goes.

Tommy, as it turns out, thinks they’re sleeping together, at least that’s what he tells Charlotte when they’re on their way to Leo’s after school to meet up with Vince, Razzle, Peach, and Eileen. The news of Nikki and Lola’s potential affair surprises Charlotte at first, but after a moment of consideration, she thinks she should have seen it coming.

Tommy’s reasoning is that they’ve become friends far quicker than he’d realised, and Nikki’s always giving Lola lifts after work, like they’re going in the same direction, even though he’d pretty sure Nikki doesn’t live near Leo’s. It also turns out that that was what had been bothering him about Nikki and Lola being friends; he still tries to insist he doesn’t have a crush on Lola, but he and Charlotte both know that’s mostly a lie.

So Charlotte can see how conflicted he is when he tells her that Nikki’s looking to start a new band, and that he asked about Tommy possibly playing drums. A beat of silence follows, and then, without looking away from the road, Tommy mutters a quiet thanks, knowing without asking that Charlotte had been the one to recommend him. Charlotte leans over and bumps her forehead against his shoulder in unspoken acknowledgment.

“Duff’s in a band,” Charlotte’s voice is soft and a little unreadable.

“Sorry,” Tommy mutters, tone somber like it’s the worst news in the world, “we could throw rotten tomatoes at him?” He suggested, at the mental picture alone was enough to make Charlotte laugh, “or is that just in the movies?”

“I think that’s just in the movies,” Charlotte says, amid giggles, “besides, the rest of his band doesn’t deserve that.”

In the week that Razzle’s been in LA, Vince and his family have taken him to several, sophisticated restaurants in the vicinity, and Razzle had apparently loved them all; Leo’s was no different. He was sitting across from Charlotte in the booth, at the end of the table, reading the menu intently as the others chattered away about their day, making noises of intrigue every time he spotted something new he wanted to try. His knee knocked hers under the table, but it barely seemed to register, so engrossed in the menu that he muttered the faintest apology.

“Afternoon, guys, welcome,” Lola at work never failed to startle Charlotte, despite the fact that she’d been here once already since the first time. At least her chipper introduction seemed to bring Razzle back to reality.

“Hi, yes - oh! I know you!” Razzle lit up at the sight of Lola, and the rest of the gathered teens watched with interest, trying not to give away how intrigued they were to see Lola’s reaction, “Miss Honky Cat, you work here?”

What?

“Alright, Razzle, you found me, did you wanna order something?” Lola says, with a good-natured eyeroll, and an easy grin, hip cocked to one side. Razzle asks her what she recommends, and orders that, and then the rest of them, who had been sitting in stunned silence, are quick to order for themselves.

When she leaves, it’s mere moments before Tommy asks what that was all about, and Razzle’s eyes go wide.

“That’s Lola, innit? From school? She’s in my music class, was playing Honky Cat on the piano in the second music room, the Elton song, you know, when we had some free this morning,” he explained, confused, “she called me Rocketman when I picked what she’d been playing, but I told her my name’s Razzle.”

“You’re an enigma,” ironically, it’s Eileen who says this, wearing a fond little smile, while Razzle just looked bemused.

“I think it’s the accent, chicks fuckin’ love it,” Vince pipes up, smirking, and Razzle tries to hide his own pleased little grin since he can’t very well deny it, “Pam was all over him in Phys Ed yesterday -”

“We were just having a conversation -” Razzle was quickly turning red, while Vince clutched at his arm, putting on a high voice, twirling his blonde hair around one finger as he pretended to be Pam.

“Oh Nicholas, tell me more about The Clash, please, I want to know more!” He ended with a fake moan, which had Eileen and Peach laughing, while Razzle grabbed Charlotte’s hand and exaggeratedly mouthed ‘help me’.

“Pam’s into Razzle?” Tommy groaned, breaking the moment, falling dejectedly against Vince, who was already leaning pretty heavily on Razzle, who was then ejected from his seat and onto the floor, while Vince was draped over where he was just sitting, and Tommy was draped over Vince, “I’m gonna die alone.”

Despite Tommy’s despair, the rest of the table was greatly amused.

Thankfully for Razzle, it wasn’t a far fall, and he’d held tight to Charlotte’s hand, so at least he hadn’t ended up flat on his back, and Charlotte gave him an apologetic grin as she helped him to his feet. He lets go to dust himself off, and it’s here Charlotte notices his maroon, velvet pants, and black and white leather shoes with their little heel.

“Fancy threads,” Charlotte points out, notes of approval in her voice. Razzle makes a move to straightening a jacket he’s not wearing, and clicks his heels together, drawing the attention of the rest of the table to his shoes, of which they all make various noises of approval, or at least interest.

“I dress to impress,” and judging by his tone, if he were as crass as Vince or Nikki, he would have winked, but Charlotte’s kind of glad he refrained. He then shoves Vince, and by extension Tommy, back up to a sitting position, retaking his seat across from Charlotte, this time purposefully knocking his knee against hers.

Charlotte’s glad that Lola’s back with their drinks, so she can look at something that’s not Razzle’s sunny smile, because she doesn’t want to think about how pretty it makes him look. Stupid, British, band boy and his stupid, blue eyes.

But then she’s looking at Lola, and all she can remember is Tommy’s dejected expression when he told her that Lola and Nikki were possibly sleeping together, and Nikki’s half-hidden, bashful grin when he calls a bitch with a kind of fondness that Charlotte had never heard from him before. The urge to protect her cousin, from harm, from heartbreak, is carved into her bones, but part of her knows it would him hurt more to let him keep falling for Lola when she’d never really end up catching him. Suddenly staring into the depths of her soda became the safest option.

i have loved since you. but when the new paint gets scratched, there you are underneath.

Heather, of all people, is holding a party, and she tries to limit the amount of people she tells - the squad and her friends were the first to be invited - but of course, the guest list spirals out of control, and it’s exactly one and a half days before Tommy’s mooning over the fact that he’s been invited to a party at an actual cheerleader’s house.

“Dude, you’re killing me here,” Charlotte tells him at lunch; she’s finally sitting with him, Lola, and Nikki, though Nikki’s late. Heather had coyly asked her to ask Vince to bring Razzle - the cute English guy, specifically - and Charlotte had picked up her bag and left. Something about Heather in a good mood was worse than when she was being catty.

“You don’t count, you’re my cousin,” Tommy waived her off, and Lola snorted a laugh from where she was laying in the grass, using her backpack as a pillow. “You going?” Tommy pokes Lola in the ribs and she smacks his hand away, but makes an affirmative noise, and throws her arm over her eyes to shield them from the sun.

Something about how that makes Tommy smile, almost pleased, has worry sinking heavy in Charlotte’s gut.

“Heather asked me to ask Vince to invite Razzle,” Charlotte’s not quite sure why she says it, or why it makes Lola bark a laugh of her own, but at least it get’s Tommy’s mind off of last time he and Lola were at a party.

“Of course -” Tommy sighs, but then, in the very same breath, he lights up like a lightbulb, “wait! If Heather’s preoccupied with Razzle, and Pam’s going, then I -” he turned sharply to Charlotte, eyes wide, “is Pam seeing anyone?” Charlotte gives him an amused, but longsuffering look, shaking her head.

“You gonna put the moves on her?” Lola’s smirking, and Tommy’s steadily turning red, but refusing to be embarrassed.

“It’s now or never, you know? She’s graduating in a few months, will go to college and date some meathead, college footballer, this is my chance,” he enthused, and Charlotte pet his shoulder in solidarity.

Nikki joins them halfway through lunch, right as Lola and Charlotte find themselves playing angel and devil on Tommy’s shoulders regarding how he should dress for the party. Charlotte’s firmly of the opinion that he should be be wearing bright, eye-catching things - “Come on, you know Pam likes those new-wave guys!” - while Lola was adamantly recommending to go all-out punk.

“Don’t ask Nikki’s opinion, you know who he’s going to side with,” Charlotte implored, and as if to prove a point, Nikki throws his bag to the side, and lays down with his head pillowed on Lola’s stomach.

“Because Nikki has taste,” Lola throws her arm above her head, into the grass, neck at an awkward angle as she looks, wide-eyed to Tommy.

“Thank you,” Nikki grumbles, and immediately closes his eyes, “what are we arguing about?” A pause, then, “and why is Charlie here?”

“Heather asked Charlie to bring Razz to the party next weekend,” Tommy says, the words sounding rote off his tongue, before he gets into the meat of the argument, laying himself back in the grass. Somehow it makes Charlotte feel left out, being the only one left marginally upright, and she slouches a little lower against the fence.

Tommy explains his conundrum, and much to everyone’s surprise, Nikki refrains from giving his opinion, sighting that he has no clue what Pam would like, and that he’s not taking the fall if Tommy looks like a dickhead and crashes and burns while talking to, arguably, the most popular girl in school.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, asshole,” Tommy groans, without really thinking, and as the realization and subsequent horror took over his expression, Lola barked a laugh, and even Nikki was grinning.

The moment was surprisingly light, Tommy’s face buried in his hands, though he’s now hiding a smile, and Charlotte is surprised at how easy it is to smile and laugh here, these people accepting her presence without another thought. The politics of the cafeteria make it all feel so foreign, but Tommy said ‘Charlie’s sitting here now’ and Nikki and Lola took it in stride.

And later, Eileen will ask her where she was at lunch, will go on to sigh and roll her eyes as she recounts barely sitting through five minutes of the cheerleaders buzzing like cheerful, little hornets, discussing who would be at the party, and how they would coordinate their outfits. She’d spent another five minutes with the swim team, who spent the entire time picking apart her backstroke technique since she ‘finally decided to join them’.

“This is why I don’t sit with them,” Eileen had frowned, sitting in the McDonalds carpark, absentmindedly violating her soda with it’s straw out of frustration, Charlotte, wide-eyed, quietly eats her terrible, oily fries, and lets Eileen vent, “if I have to listen to one more five-am-gym-going-wannabe-sports-scholarship tell me my form is off, I’m going to go full Carrie-At-The-Prom at our next meet,” Eileen warned, and reached over to snatch a fry. Very few people were ever privy to Eileen’s frustration, as the redhead seemed to do a rather good job of bottling it up, but Charlotte personally felt honored that her friend could be so honest around her.

“I was thinking of joining yearbook, maybe? Or the school paper with...” a strange moment of hesitation, “with Peach,” Eileen paused, taking a long moment to think, and take a sip of her drink, eyes glass as she stared out at the highway as cars passed before them, “auditions for the school play are on Friday,” she adds, like she’s seriously considering it, “it’s Singin’ In The Rain, Keanu actually suggested I should audition.” The idea that Keanu and Eileen have talked enough for him to suggest that she audition for a musical and for her to serious consider it is kind of baffling; Charlotte doesn’t process the meaning behind any of this now, however, just files it away in the back of her mind for later.

“Macy moved to Portland over the Summer,” Charlotte feigns seriousness with her suggestion instead, trying not to give away how amused she is, already anticipating Eileen’s response, “we’re holding cheer tryouts to replace her on Tuesday,” Eileen’s expression is already souring, almost comedically disgusted at Charlotte’s implied suggestion, though she lets the blonde finish, “you were the best bottom-right to the pyramid we’ve ever had,” she said, barely stifling giggles as Eileen turns to her.

“I’d rather die,” her lip curled, and Charlotte leaned over the center console of the minivan to press her forehead against Eileen’s shoulder, and Eileen reaches up with her free hand to scratch gently at Charlotte’s scalp, before bursting out with, “and my form’s not even bad! The coach loves me, Charlie, she loves me, they just think they’re better than me, bunch of clique-y, insular, webbed-toe bitches.”

The words hang in the air, a surprising outburst from the usually reserved and thoughtful girl.

“Do they really have webbed toes?” Charlotte asks, turning so her temple still pressed against the soft cashmere of Eileen’s sweater, but she was following the ginger’s gaze out to the highway ahead. Eileen gives a tired, little laugh, as if her outburst had left her exhausted.

“No.”

Charlotte wants more than anything to ask her what’s wrong, but knows better than anyone that Eileen only says exactly what she wants someone else to know. Instead, she offers her fries silently. Eileen takes one.

“Peach and I got into a fight today,” voice barely above a whisper, Eileen follows her words with a sigh, and suddenly her out of character frustration made complete, and utter sense. For all that she’s known both Peach and Eileen, Charlotte has never known their altercations to be quick or painless affairs, “Vince invited her to Heather’s party.”

“He invited her himself?” Charlotte’s not sure what the issue is beyond their general dislike of Vince, but if Vince himself is starting to possibly change, then it’s hard to see the issue.

“Yeah,” Eileen seems to know what Charlotte’s thinking, and pauses to find the right words, “I don’t trust him, and I don’t know how she can trust him either.” There’s a quality to her voice that Charlotte’s only heard rarely; uncertainty, “and I don’t want her going to Heather’s party, I barely want to go myself, and what if she drinks, and what if she does terrible things she regrets -?” Eileen cuts herself off, squeezing her eyes shut and leaning her head back against the headrest.

“I get it,” Charlotte says, so gentle, so understanding, but Eileen’s still quiet.

“She’s my little sister, Charlie,” Eileen sighed, “and it’s like our parents couldn’t care less, so I have to protect her, and I have to keep her from the guy she thinks is the love of her life, and I have to be the one to always remind her of all the shitty things he’s done and remind her that life isn’t a goddamn fairytale.” She sounds close to tears, soda cup between her knees and hands clutching, white knuckled, at the steering wheel, or else she may have been tearing her hair out.

There was a shake in her voice, tight and exhausted in equal measure, like the words had sat, unspoken, pressed against her teeth, for far longer than Charlotte had realized she’d been thinking them. Charlotte rests her hand on Eileen’s.

“She loves you more than anyone else in the world, you know that right? She’s just sixteen, you know all the drama and shit we went through last year -”

“I can’t watch her go through what you went through with Duff,” the words escaped Eileen in a rush, and she clamps her mouth shut, sitting forward in the driver’s seat, lips pressed into a thin line, as Charlotte’s heart sank in her chest, “I’m sorry.”

“No, I know what you mean,” Charlotte sat back in her own seat, nodding dejectedly, fiddling with her bracelet.

“You... Charlie, you know you’re my best friend, and I love you, and seeing you in pain with no way to help,” Eileen’s hands slid down the sides of the steering wheel as she forced herself to relax, though her words have Charlotte’s heart swelling with fondness, “it fucking killed me,” she admitted, leaning back, letting her shoulders sags with the weight of her words, like the weight of the world, and as she leaned back, she looked to Charlotte, so unguarded, so sincere, “I can’t let Vince break Peach’s heart like that.”

Eileen has always looked and seemed older than her seventeen years, but it’s strange to see her like this, to be reminded that she holds within her this unassuming duality. To protect is her first instinct, herself, her feelings, her friends, her family, but she’s still so young, just a kid; she still deserves to be protected too.

“I’m so tired,” Eileen murmurs, gaze dropping to her hands, now folded in her lap, and she huffs a humorless laugh, “I’m seventeen, Charlie, I’m fucking tired of feeling thirty.”

#nikki sixx #tommy lee #vince neil #nikki sixx imagine #tommy lee imagine #vince neil imagine #motley crue #the dirt #the dirt imagine #motley crue imagine #the angry lizard writes #charlotte & lola #lola&charlotte

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avengerscompound · 4 years

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The Surrogate - Chapter 12

The Surrogate: A Clintasha Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Clint Barton x Natasha Romanoff x F!Reader

Word Count: 1911

Rating: E

Warnings: Pregnancy, smut (MFF Bisexual threesome. Oral sex, tribbing, vaginal sex, pregnancy sex)

Synopsis: A freak end of the world incident leads to meeting your two best friends, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. While your friendship with the two Avengers is anything but conventional, they are your all-time favorite people. When you find out that Clint and Natasha want to start a family but have exhausted all their options, you realize your powerset might allow you to give them what they want. Having your best friends’ baby might seem like a good idea on paper, but when you are as close as you, Clint, and Natasha are, will doing something so intimate mean feelings get a little mixed up?

Chapter 12

Following Clint back down to his apartment was somehow the most terrifying and most exciting thing you’d ever done. You had a whole storm of conflicting emotions running through you that were all amplified and mixed thanks to the pregnancy. Clint kept his hand on your shoulder and it felt both comforting and a little like you were being led down to your imminent destruction.

You had finally admitted to Clint that you were falling in love with him and Natasha and rather than telling you that they had no room for anyone else outside of casual hookups, he’d told you they’d felt the same way. So as you walked down you weren’t worried about her rejecting you. Thanks to Clint, you knew that Natasha was going to take the news of your feelings well. What you were worried about was that with the baby on the way it was too much pressure. They were already an established couple. An established couple who were about to be parents. Adding a new girlfriend to that, even if it was their best friend and the person carrying the baby for them - it was a lot. There was a lot that could go wrong and in that ‘big horrible explosion with body parts flying everywhere’ way.

When you went into the apartment, Natasha glanced up from the couch with a look on her face that seemed to cover pity, concern, and expectancy. You weren’t even sure how she could manage to convey so many things in just one look, especially when she was usually so good at hiding those feelings. Then again, maybe you were just projecting.

“Hey,” she said. “He talked you down?”

“Yeah,” you admitted, taking a seat and grabbing a piece of pizza. “He did.”

“You gonna tell me what was wrong?” She asked.

You looked at Clint for help and he laughed and flopped down on the couch beside Natasha and slung his arm around her shoulder. “Oh, Nat,” he said playfully. “You’re gonna love this. Our buddy over there has been having some feelings. You know… of the romantic kind?”

Natasha's mouth dropped open and a huge smile crossed her features. “With us?”

“Yes with you,” you said. “Who do you think?”

Natasha pounced on you and her lips crashed into yours. You froze startled for a moment, your eyes wide and your arms held out awkwardly. When your brain caught up to what was happening, you wrapped your arms around her and melted into her. She kissed you deeply and lovingly but with a little bit of frantic excitement that you couldn’t quite keep up with. You broke the kiss with a gasp and started laughing. “Nat, you're crushing the baby.”

She pulled back laughing and leaned down and kissed your stomach. “Sorry, little one,” she whispered. “Mommy got a little excited.”

“So is that a yes then, Nat?” Clint asked. “You want a girlfriend officially?”

“Yes,” Natasha said. “Of course I do.”

You smiled and leaned in, nosing her neck. You wanted to just sit here and enjoy the fact that after all this time you were in an actual relationship with Clint and Natasha. It wasn’t as easy as that though. There was a child involved. Anything the three of you did would affect that baby too.

“How are we going to do this?” You asked. “I mean… should I move back out? Do we date? What about the baby?”

Natasha sat back and huffed, blowing a stray lock of hair off her face. “Well,” she said. “Clint and I didn’t date.”

“No?” You asked.

“Nah,” Clint said, shaking his head. “We just hung out all the time and then hooked up a lot and then we realized that we were each other’s favorite people.”

“Kinda like we have been,” you said.

“Exactly like we have been,” Clint said. “So I don’t know that anything needs to change except, we can get a really big bed and squish together in it.”

“And -?” you pointed at your stomach.

“Okay, that’s a big ‘and’,” Clint said.

“But the first question is, do you want to be a parent? Or even to do this,” Natasha said, gesturing between the three of you. “If we are parents?”

“I don’t know,” you said. “I think it was something I thought would happen but I’ve barely been seeing anyone. And since the surrogacy, no one, so it’s not been a pressing issue. I just… if we’re living together and it doesn’t work out, I’ll be attached to them and vice versa, and then if we don’t work out, then what?”

“Oh, dorogáya,” Natasha soothed. “All families run the risk of being broken up. I was adopted by a group that trained little girls to be assassins. Clint’s parents were killed in a car accident and he was raised in the circus. People get divorced. I think for now we need to just worry about us. When they join us, we can decide what role you’re comfortable with and work it out then. But chances are, if we are together you will be a mom.”

You nodded and chewed the inside of your cheek. “What if the breakup is messy and I am a mom?” You asked. “I already signed away all my rights to this baby.”

“Babe,” Clint said. “I promise we can sign anything you want after the baby comes if you’re worried we’d ever hurt you like that.”

“I don’t think you would,” you said, frowning. “But I know you never really thought that I’d try and keep them when I offered to be a surrogate and I still signed the paperwork.”

Natasha rubbed your thigh. “I love how worried you are about any of us getting hurt,” she said. “Clint and I, we could be friends with people. But when it came to romance, we just blew it up every time. With each other though? It’s just us. We didn’t try to force it. We knew our limitations. Yeah, we have our moments but we’re friends first. That’s how I feel about you too.”

You smiled and cuddled up next to her. “Okay. I guess we just… do it.”

“That’s what she said,” Clint teased.

“Then,” you continued, trying not to laugh. “When things look serious we work out the logistics of one kid with three parental figures.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Natasha said.

“Now,” Clint said, reaching around Natasha to play with your hair. “You walked off in a huff before because you were very, very horny. I’ve got good news for you. You now have both a boyfriend and a girlfriend who are here and willing to take on every little kink of yours.”

You leaned into his hand and closed your eyes. Just like that, your whole body felt like a live wire again. You hummed and bit your bottom lip. “Yes, please. Thank you.”

“So polite,” Natasha teased. “Why don’t you go get comfortable in bed and we’ll take good care of you.”

You got up and they quickly followed after you. Inside your mind, a veritable porn collection was playing with all the different possible ways Clint and Natasha could fuck you in your present state. You crawled up on the bed and they flanked you, Clint quickly pulling your shirt up over your head, while Natasha pulled down your maternity sweats. He started to kiss you hungrily as Natasha removed your panties and ducked her head down between your legs. As her tongue ran up your folds your whole body shivered and you moaned softly into Clint’s lips.

He broke the kiss and as you leaned back and arched your back, he kissed down your neck to your breasts. A low moan escaped your lips as Natasha lapped greedily at your cunt and Clint sucked on one of your breasts. With the pregnancy and the buzz of excitement from the start of something new, you were over sensitive and soaking wet. Natasha collected up the arousal as it dripped from you. It soaked your folds and ran down the inside of your thighs, smearing on your skin.

Clint sucked a patch of skin just at the base of your breast hard enough to bruise. You gasped and bucked your hips. Even as pleasure surged through you, making your body buzz and your muscles clench, your back began to ache due to the pressure on it.

“I need to move,” you half-moaned/half-panted.

They both pulled back, giving you room to change position. You rolled onto your side. Clint began to rub your cunt as Natasha quickly shed her clothes. When she was naked she lifted your legged and scissored her legs around you and began to grind her pussy against yours. The rub of her soaking cunt against yours maintained that slow buzz through you, keeping you right on edge without pushing you over. A sheen of sweat clung to your skin and you whimpered needily, squeezing and massaging your breasts in an attempt to add more to the sensation.

Clint watched you both as he slowly removed your clothes. When he was fully naked and you weren’t sure you could take any more of the frantic but drawn-out teasing, Natasha pulled away from you and Clint gave your ass swat. “Think you can do hands and knees?” He asked.

You nodded, still breathing heavily, and got onto your hands and knees. Clint moved up behind you and began to tease the head of his cock up and down your folds. Natasha moved in front of you, laying back with her legs spread, the thatch of red hair on her pussy glistening.

You dropped your head and sucked hungrily on her cunt and as the tart and musky flavor filled your mouth, Clint thrust hard into you from behind.

The sound of your moans was muffled by Natasha’s cunt, but even as Clint pounded into you as behind, you stayed focused on Natasha. You thrust two fingers inside her and curled them, stroking her internal walls and drawing out more of her wet. The pads of your fingers touched down on the spongy spot inside her and she cried out loudly and bucked up against your face. Behind you, Clint wrapped an arm around your waist and began to rub your clit as he fucked you. You moaned louder and doubled down on Natasha, digging your fingers into her g-spot and dragging them over it. As Natasha got louder and louder so did you and Clint, until the room was filled with the sounds of your moans and cries.

Natasha came first, her whole body curving of the mattress as she cried out and gushed on your face. You relaxed, collapsing down on Natasha’s stomach as the last of her orgasm ran through her. She ran her fingers through your hair and you gave yourself to Clint.

“Fuck! Yes!” You cried as your orgasm hit, and all your muscles clenched at once. Clint’s hips began to stutter but he kept fucking you through your orgasm as he held you in place. With a grunt, he held you in place and came inside you.

When he slipped out of you, you rolled onto your side and sighed happily, finally all your cravings having been sated. “That’s what I needed.”

Clint and Natasha spooned you from each side and kissed your neck. “Trust me, there’s plenty more where that came from,” Clint teased.

// NEXT

#clint barton #natasha romanoff #clint barton x reader #natasha romanoff x reader #clint barton x natasha romanoff #clint barton x natasha romanoff x reader #clintasha #clintasha x reader #hawkeye #hawkeye fanfic #black widow #black widow fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #smut #pregnancy #the surrogate

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moons-writings · 4 years

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Cinderella au - aftg

Ok ok, I know that I’m supposed to be working on my vixen!neil au (and I am! It’s just taking a bit because I apparently can’t write short fics to save my life), but I just watched the live action Cinderella and I have Thoughts.

Neil is Cinderella, because while Andrew is totally the one with the evil barely-related family, it wouldn’t make sense for Andrew to go to a ball. Also, when Neil’s mom dies, his situation becomes worse, like Cinderella.

Lola is the evil stepmother but Nathan never goes to jail or dies. There’s no stepsisters (there could be if you want the Moriyamas, but I don’t because that just adds a whole other layer that I don’t want to deal with, also we like things soft) but the rest of the inner circle fills that role of pushing Neil down

Nathan has some high rank and is affiliated with the army. He’s not a captain or general by any means but has a reputation of being lethal.

Mary was the one with the real power (maybe a countess or foreign duchess), so Nathan married up. When she died, Stuart wanted to take Neil under his wing, but Nathan didn’t want to lose hold of the one thing that tied him to power so he argued that Neil should stay with him because Lola could provide some “maternal love”.

Neil is forced to do household chores and clean up after his father and his circle’s kills. He’s also forced to learn how to use knives to help them in the future

Bee is the queen, she is sisters with Abby, who marries Wymack

Andrew and Aaron are Bee’s kids, Kevin and Dan are Abby and Wymack’s

Wymack is part of the army, maybe the general or something. He teaches Dan the people skills while Kevin cares more about being the best swordsman

Aaron follows his aunt and becomes a healer while Andrew becomes a skilled cavalier

They all play a sport *cough exy cough* that they made up when they were little kids (and that’s why the rules are so screwed up)

Aaron wants a ball because he fell in love with a foreign princess (Katelyn) but Andrew doesn’t like her so Aaron wants Bee’s approval to trump Andrew

When he were younger, Andrew was kidnapped by Drake and he saw some human trafficking and Drake almost got to him. Renee saved him and got him to the royal guard. Andrew became an advocate for cleaning up the kingdom and became close friends with Renee

Bee adopted Andrew and Aaron when Tilda first abandoned them. Tilda tried to take one back but Bee made her realize that guilt wasn’t going to make her a good mother so Tilda left them in Bee’s care

Nicky and the twins know each other and their relation. Nicky’s parents are influential so although Bee has tried to save him, she can’t really take him away without causing a scandal, which she doesn’t think will be good for him. Instead, she suggests that he study under an ambassador. Nicky gets to travel and meet Erik, the prince of some place more powerful than Bee’s, and thus Luther’s, kingdom. Nicky is happy and lovesick and takes over as ambassador to Erik’s kingdom

ANYWAY

Aaron wants a ball

Bee says yes

Andrew is upset because Bee says everyone has to go, so he spitefully says that EVERYONE includes commoners, so now the whole freaking kingdom is invited

Bee privately thinks this is funny and that maybe it will mean that Andrew will find a nice boy

Dan thinks its hilarious and while Kevin is upset that it’ll take time away from practicing, it’s making Andrew take out his anger during practice

Invitations go out, announcements are made

Nathan decides he wants to go in order to social climb

He doesn’t want Neil to go because having a kid will make him look less serious

Neil doesn’t care but Matt, who is one of the servants (stable boy), wants to go and wants Neil to go because he wants his friend to have fun

Lola sends Neil to Allison’s dressmaking shop to order a dress

Allison has Renee over when Neil goes. Renee takes one look at Neil and sees someone who’s been hurt and needs help. Allison sees a fighter with horrendous fashion taste. Allison tells Neil she’ll make the dress only if Neil agrees to let her make a suit for him and if he’ll save the money to get something decent to eat

Neil agrees because while the suit thing might be weird, he’s not about to give up free money

Renee goes and tells Andrew because she thinks he might want to know about the corruption in the nobility

Andrew decides he wants to see this for himself so he decides to lurk around when Lola goes in for a fitting

Neil accompanies Lola because she wants to flaunt her power over him

Andrew sees Neil and is like “ooh pretty boy”

Neil sees Andrew and is Suspicious and kinda recognizes him as one of the princes

Allison sees all this and makes Andrew measure Neil for Neil’s suit

Renee laughs at Andrew’s pain

The “yes or no”s start here, but with Neil flinching away from Andrew when Andrew goes to measure Neil’s torso

Andrew is suspicious and a bit angry at what this might mean, because he saw how the trafficked kids reacted to other people and he know how he reacted the weeks and months after getting kidnapped so he knows something is up

Allison drags out Lola’s fitting as much as she can to give Andrew and Neil time to talk, as well as to give Neil time away from Lola

Andrew tells Neil to meet him in the woods if he wants to get away from his father

Neil is still suspicious but figures it couldn’t hurt, and besides, he’s definitely faster and a better fighter than some prince, right?

Neil and Lola go home and Lola complains to Nathan about how long Allison took, Nathan lets her at Neil

They meet in the woods the next day

Andrew wants to grill Neil when he sees how hurt he is, but Neil doesn’t really want to talk, so they exchange truths

They meet a couple more times like this (the ball isn’t happening for another three weeks because it takes time for this stuff to be planned and organized)

By the second week, the rest of the royal family has noticed and elected Dan to follow Andrew because Aaron and Kevin are both annoyed at Andrew for various reasons

The day Dan follows Andrew is also the day Matt comes with Neil. Matt had followed Neil because he wants to meet this person who is making Neil happy when he isn’t with Matt

Andrew is annoyed and tells Dan to annoy someone else, so she goes and talks with Matt. Matt now wants to go the the ball too

Slowly the foxes come together, and by the week before the ball, the royal cousins have taught the others exy.

Also, as the ball has been approaching, Nathan has swung between ignoring Neil and causing immense amounts of harm

This causes the foxes to rally even more around Neil

The week leading up to the ball, Nathan was scarily calm because the royal guard has lightened up on patrols and so Nathan isn’t as worried about getting caught

Neil tells the Andrew this privately and Andrew makes a note to get Neil away from his father asap

The day of the ball, Nathan and the inner circle go. They make plans to leave at midnight.

Neil isn’t really planning on going still, but Matt shows him the suit Allison had made for him (Allison gave Matt the suit because she didn’t trust Neil not to ruin it before the ball) and Dan had sent them a carriage, so it would be a waste not to go.

They don’t their names called because only the women and distinguished guests get to be announced

Andrew abandons Aaron when he sees Neil

Bee has already given Katelyn her stamp of approval when Katelyn was the first to arrive and she saw how lovesick both Aaron and Katelyn were

When Andrew gets to Neil, Matt leaves him to find Dan

For a solid hour everyone is happily paired off, Renee watching fondly as Allison makes snide remarks on others’ outfits, Aaron and Katelyn dancing, Matt and Dan talking, Neil and Andrew in the gardens. Kevin is talking with the daughter and apprentice of a blacksmith (Thea) and Nicky is pissing his parents off with Erik.

Then, when Neil comes back inside with Andrew, he sees a) the time and b) Nathan

He’s not sure if Nathan’s seen him, but he tells Andrew that he’s got to go, so he runs like the speedy little fucker he is. In his haste, he leaves a shoe, because Renee and Matt annoyingly made him change into bad-for-running shoes because his shoes were too dirty

This makes Renee, Dan, and Allison the Fairy Godmother(s)

Andrew picks up his shoe and decides that when he finds Neil, he’s going to get him shoes that fit better

At home, Neil finds that the inner circle minus Lola is back. They start to beat him up, and when Nathan and Lola get home, they continue to do so. Nathan can’t cripple Neil permanently because everyone would notice, but he does break his leg and slash him up

He’s about to break the other leg when the Foxes break down the door. Kevin, Renee, Dan, and Andrew utterly ruin Nathan, and since they’re royals, they’re untouchable

Nathan and the inner circle go to jail

It turns out Aaron proposed to Katelyn at the ball, so Andrew proposes with the shoe Neil lost. Neil is confused, but elopes with Andrew.

Dan, Allison and Nicky laugh, Renee and Kevin shake their heads for different reasons and then Nicky freaks out because he wanted to throw elaborate weddings for his cousins, but now Andrew has ruined it

#aftg #andreil #andrew minyard #neil josten #aaron minyard #nicky hemmick #kevin day #matt boyd #dan wilds #renee walker #allison reynolds #coach wymack #abby winfield #bee dobson #nathan and the evil inner circle #my au #cinderella au

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unlikelyempathpruneauthor · 4 years

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It For Me Part 2 mob!Harry x mob!Reader

Summary: after getting kidnapped by an enemy of the hollands, a plan of yours has risen and gets into action.

A/N: here is part 2, school kinda changed for me so that's why I didn't post it the day after part 1 was posted but here you go! I tagged those who liked and reblogged and those who asked to be tagged.

<<<<Previous Part | Next Part>>>>>

TW: uhhh, abduction or kidnapping? idk but some sort of that. mafia stuff, seducing bad guy?

As you felt you were being tied up to a chair with a bag over your head which was taken off and you had no idea where you were. Just then a big light flashed and you had seen who was right in front of you. Bernard “Mad dog” gledati. One of the dirtiest and young mobsters ever to live. No one ever worked with him, he was dirty and stole money, you knew he was one of dominics enemies and you didn't think you would meet him ever.

“Ahh, Bernard, why am i tied up?” you said trying to reach your bump to see if anything was wrong but all he did was he scoff.

“Ah darling, you know why, your father works for me and he sent you to a holland? I'm quite surprised because the hollands are also a long time enemy and they even got you pregnant huh.” he said as you smirked as he got close to your face you could feel his breath. The guards behind him untied your hands and they went straight to your bump making sure you were okay, Bernie saw your worry and chuckled.

“Darling you know i'm not a baby killer, your baby is fine, i got the nurses to check up on you,” he said as your body sighed in relief.

“Why am i here bernie?” you said getting straight to the point not wanting to be here with him a second longer.

“Well since you asked so politely i need something from you since i helped you out here with your child.” he said as he got close but this time with his gun trailing over your body and onto your bump. You knew he wouldn't hurt you but you were starting to question it, you had to do whatever to keep your baby safe, but there was a limit to what you could do.

“Depends on what it is.” you said very seducing as he licked his lips.

“Well you're not gonna like it,” he said as you frowned and placed your hand over you belly and you looked at him with your “innocent” eyes, but you knew what was up next, but you had to make sure they wouldn't do anything to your baby, they weren't apart of this part of your world.

….

Once Tom and Harrison got their consciousness back they quickly got out of the car hoping you got out to call harry or someone about the accident, but you were nowhere to be seen. Harrison was pretty freaked out with what just happened and Tom called his father telling him exactly what happened.

“S-shit…” Haz said as he realized one of the security cameras from the house were there and he knew it would have caught everything. He also noticed there was a note near the camera. He picked it up and it said..

You know who I am and everyone else will know too.

“Tom, look at this.” he said, getting Tom's attention and he too had realized who it was.

They all quickly went back to the house and Harry had been waiting for you to come back and when he realised you weren't with them he swore he was about to punch one of them.

“Where is y/n? Paddy told me she was with you guys and to get ice cream, really? You let my wife go get ice cream in a store, where someone could have seen her?!” he said screaming at them, he had every right to and well he was gonna scream more for what they were about to say. Harry felt their feelings of regret, they both wished they sent someone else, but you were a tough, independent woman..

“Harry, you need to sit down, please.'' Tom said as Harry did as he said and was quite confused and angry that they weren't able to tell him an answer about you.

“What the hell happened?” Harry said, getting impatient.

When they told Harry about you, he didn't even break down, he was just upset with both of them not letting them explain what had happened.

“Tom she's pregnant, Pregnant! Those mobsters will literally do anything to her, you should have talked to me first god damnit,” he said as he left those two and was on the way to find you and get you back.

Harry knew if anything happened to you it would be all his fault, that day he didn't do his hourly check on you and he kicked himself for not doing so. He knew you were strong, but since you got pregnant you had gotten a little more sensitive, he knew how the mafia men acted and he just wanted to find you fast and get you and your baby home. He swore at himself even more about not telling you his feelings towards you, he knew as soon as he saw you he would tell you or well show you. As he calmed himself down so he was stable to find you and everyone was doing their part to look for you, Dominic knew who planned the ambush and he felt quite guilty for it, but he knew he could apologise when they found you. When everyone was ready to set a plan, something was sent to Tom's phone. A video file. He had shown his dad and they had started playing it on the big screen they had.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

You had appeared as a light had been turned on, you had no bruises on you, you looked fine, you had your hand over your belly as you looked up at Bernie as you also looked at the camera, you knew this would be sent to them so you know you could get your plan out to them, you knew harry would understand it.

“Look y/n, i just need a favor that's all because i know all this, the marriage the pregnancy was planned, your father is a huge idiot, but i know your not, so tell me, everything about them, so i can ruin them.” he said as you continued to laugh.

Knowing that you were not hurt got everyone in relief, but the way you would look at Bernie was just a way to keep you alive. Harry knew that none of the things you said here that were seductive to him were real feelings, your mother had taught you well.

You moved around the chair as you looked at the camera and at him.

“Bernie, I know nothing, they didn't even let me touch a damn cup and if a part of me wanted to be with you it would have,” you said smiling at him as he just walked around you and his hand trailed around your jaw.

“Really, well then let just ruin him and his family, we can do it together.” he said as you looked up at him in all seriousness. You looked back down at your belly and shook your head.

“Well I don't know if i could do that,” you said as his grip on your jaw got harder and he leaned in to give you a harsh kiss. You wish you could have wiped your face, but you had to play your part.

“Fine, i'll tell you, they have this thing, filled with everything you can think of, the buried bakersfield cash, jewels, you name it, even that good stuff you like to fill your nose with and a list, it's pretty important by the way..” you said as he was attracted to what you had said and leaned in closer.

“What is she talking about?” Tom looked over at Harry as he shrugged trying to remember if you had mentioned something like this..

“I don't know Tom, I d-don't know...” he said as Harrison chipped in.

“She might still have her gun Harry what if she's planning to attack them herself.” harrison said as they continued to watch.

“Really, and what is the list.” he asked as you looked up knowing this trick was working.

“Well I can't really tell you that until you know i'm safe.” you said as he grew mad and you knew that would happen so you just gave in.

“You're no fun...Fine i'll tell, it's a list of every manufacturer and business they have owned and will own you know its just a stupid list.” you said as he was loving every word you had said. The list was key to business and well money.

“I know what she's talking about.” Harry said as they all looked at him surprised he knew this conversation well he just didn't think he would be doing that plan now.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

You two were late night talking about plans about your arrangement basically, you assumed this is what real couples would talk about just mafia style. This was short after you two had announced your relationship and when you two were just starting out to be best friends. These plans were not concrete then, but your “relationship” got more serious these things needed to be talked about, but Harry’s main priority was you and he wanted to know if you had a plan or not because he would have helped you with that.

“Okay if something would happen to me, there is this plan, I have the bakersfield cash clean, and i have other cash that is pretty dirty. So whoever has me you give them the dirty money, there's also a list, which looks legit, but it's actually companies that have been closed down or owned by an enemy of ours, also fake jewels and you know things that mafia men love, but before hand i will tell them about first then they get it.” you said as Harry laughed, admiring your plan. He thought you were the smartest and he wished he could just say his feelings but even the biggest mafia men are the pussiest, if that's even a word.

“Well that is very well sorted, how did you even think of it?” he asked as you smiled.

“Well my mom was killed by the enemy and there was no plan, so i suggested this incase of me to my father, and well now you know and so will your brothers and your father soon.” you said as he nodded.

“Oh right...I'm sorry about your mum.” he said as you shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it, it was years ago, but she was the best mom ever and she was my role model of what a person should be.” you said as Harry nodded and gave you a half smile.

“What was she like?” he asked as you smiled and continued to talk about your mom.

Your mom was everything to you and Harry was able to see that. You honestly don't know where you would be without the small moments you had with your mother. You hoped one day you would be like her when you had kids.That night Harry had hoped this plan would never be set ever, he couldn't lose you that quick, you meant everything to him even if he didn't show it because he was scared to.

Who knew that it would happen today...

Taglist:

@chumhandle101 @frenchquackson @ohmy-moonlightx @chanteeeeeee @osterfieldshollandgirl @sleepybesson @itshimz @howdycharlie @carrrieanne @hushberry @amandameeeh @rainypersonmuffinnerd @sizzlingoafeggsegg @atomicstudentlover-stuff @lavenderhollandx @lonelyforeverself @imcalledjasmijn @robertpattinson-th @aquawomxn @euphorichxlland

#harry holland #harry holland x yn #harry holland x you #harry holland fic #harry holland x reader #harry holland imagine

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chucklegigglechortlesnort · 5 years

Note

Nekoma getting a manager hcs?

FUCK yeah baby let’s GO

Nekoma Manager Headcanons:

Yamamoto is so excited about this.

Like a whole ass cute manager that they* (*note: he) can brag about and bring to training camps and be protective over?? Hell yes.

Kuroo used to terrify the hell out of you - he’s a tall ass dude with spiky black hair and a villainous smirk. And he’s really hot. All these things chalk up to a very intimidating human being.

But you soon realize that he’s just a huge dork who’s very passionate about volleyball and his team - something you genuinely admire about him.

Tho it was really Inuoka, Lev, and Yaku who made you feel at ease. Inuoka, because he’s an absolute ray of pure golden sunshine. Lev, because he’s a dork and easy to laugh at. And Yaku, because he has hella parental energy and was the person who recommended you apply to be the manager in the first place.

It’s certainly quite the experience being Nekomas a manager.

When you went to your first training camp and we’re suddenly bombarded by Yamamoto part two and his partner in crime, you had absolutely no clue how to react. You just kinda stood there, embarrassed, until Yaku came to your rescue.

But when you met the rest of Karasuno you quickly had a understood why you were so abruptly acknowledged. Shimizu is drop dead gorgeous and Yachi is the most adorable person you’ve ever met. Apparently since Karasuno and Nekomas first match, Karasuno’s manager had been the one thing they had over Nekoma. And then they got another manager and, well, that only added insult to injury.

It took Kenma a while to warm up to you. You at one point thought he just flat out disliked you, but Kuroo crushed that fear almost as soon as it started to bubble up. He just told you to be patient and not to try to hard, and now you’re on pretty familiar terms with Kenma. (you guys bonded over animal crossing and stardew valley, it was later that you discovered his intense love for dead by daylight and super smash bro’s - he has every edition to ever exist on console)

You come to love these boys so much more than you could have imagined you could love a bunch of sweaty, stinky volleyball nerds.

Lev comes to you for flirting advice, to which you have little to no knowledge of, so it often turns into you just giving him wholesome advice on how to make a girl feel comfortable around him. He doesn’t know the difference.

You’re secretly trying to set him up with Akane and Yamamoto doesn’t approve

Yamamoto definitely plays up the over protective Senpai role and will ward off any fuck boys admirers that try to make a move on you. You have a whole team of boys occupying your attention already, the last thing you need is another one getting in the way of your priorities.

Inuoka hangs out with you outside of school the most, which is always entertaining. The both of you have a boba place/cat cafe that you frequent. There’s an old grumpy cat there that for some reason loves Inuoka and won’t let anyone else give him affection.

Kuroo will never admit it to you, mostly because he enjoys teasing you too much, but he admires you just as much as you admire him. Your support has brought up the team’s morale more times than he can remember and he can’t imagine what the team would be like with out you. You two have a very unique bond of shared, unspoken appreciation.

You and Yaku are the team parents. No, Kuroo is not the team dad. You are. Yaku is still the mom.

The team definitely throws you a surprise birthday party. It’s nothing special. Maybe a poorly decorated and barely edible cake followed by a gift card or two. But it’s the thou ght that counts. Just the fact that they decided to spend time out of their day to celebrate your birth with you is enough.

You love going out for ice cream after practice with them, it’s so wholesome and fun to be around them and see them joke around, just guys being doods, doods being bros, ya know? also free ice cream bc senpais pay

Oh did I mention that you really really love them? Because heads up, the seniors are leaving for college- oh wait they’re already gone. And now you’re crying.

Ok but seriously, watching them go was one of the most bittersweet things you had to do?? like ouch, oof, heart brOKe.

You’re the only one crying, but you don’t care. Yaku dragged you into this and now he’s leaving and it isn’t FAIR.

You guys have a little going away get together in the gym where the seniors thank the coach and advisor and all that stuff, but the last thing you were expecting was to get a formal thank you yourself.

They must really wanna see you cry, damn.

You completely lose it though, when Kuroo gives you a separate thanks with a pat on the head and finally tells you how much he appreciates your hard work. It’s a whole waterfall of emotions and you’re honestly not sure why you’re crying anymore but you can’t seem to stop and now you feel awkward

Kuroo is just kinda shocked by this and is gut reaction is to just... hug you??

Kinda unsure but does it anyways

It’s tense at first but soon it starts to feel pretty natural and now he’s just waiting for you to stop crying. Or to pull away. Or both.

You end up keeping in touch with them while they’re in UNI and they come to visit practices now and then.

Kuroo takes too much joy in scaring the baby first years who just joined the team.

Yaku still yells at Lev

Kenma and Lev get along a lot better now than they did the previous year, but Lev still manages to get on Kenma’s nerves pretty often.

If they’re visiting during a practice match Kuroo will give one of his famous speeches to get the team pumped up

They’ve always sounded rediculous to you but you find yourself smiling anyways.

Good? Bad? Yes? No? It’s two am when i’m finishing this so I’m sorry for any spelling mistakes or gramatical errors, but i don’t feel like waiting to post this so i’m posting it now

Requests are still open - two out of ten spots filled :)

- tre

#haikyū!!#haikyuu #haikyu #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #nekoma #kuroo tetsurou #lev haiba #yaku morisuke #kozume kenma #inuoka sou #haikyuu manager headcanons #reader insert #fanfic #haikyuu headcanon

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uwuwriting · 4 years

Text

Oikawa soulmate au shared pain

Request: 🌷 with oikawa please? - anonymous

Haikyuu is such a beautiful fandom to write for and the whole show makes me feel nostalgic of my own volleyball days *sniff* *sniff*. I hope you like it. Love yaa.💖💖💖

P.S. GOD THIS IS LONG! I got carried away and stretched it out more than intended. Sorryyyyyyy.

warnings: some angst, eventual fluff

It has always been the three of you. Iwaizumi, Oikawa and you. You went to the same middle school and later on high school, you and Oikawa lived in the same neighborhood and you even went on vacation together. You were inseparable. Attached to the hip. Being so close with someone has its benefits. You always have someone to rant to, a shoulder to cry on and they are always there to make you laugh. But this situation doesn’t lack its disadvantages. You get used to them, almost dependent of their presence and more often than not, even though they know you better than anyone, they tend to miss some signs.

That’s what had happened to you and those two. You had become dependent of one another. It was bound to happen at some point if you were being honest, you were expecting it. To say that you were in love with Tooru is an understatement. You two always had a special connection that you couldn’t place and he always confined in you and you in him. So developing feelings wasn’t a surprise. You have been stuck in this loop of pretend for about three years now, constantly wearing the mask of the caring best friend and not of the love struck fool that wanted the best for him.

And then the pain started. Iwa was the first to notice how you would sometimes limp after one of their matches and being the good friend that he is he pointed it out to you. You would just brush it off because you had a whining Tooru being overly dramatic for his knee pain and you were the only one who could get him to walk out of the gym. There were times when you had to convince Iwa to carry him because he ‘fainted’ and wouldn’t get up.

Iwa is an observant individual. He has seen how every time Tooru gets hurt you are in pain as well. It doesn’t take long to put two and two together. He rushed to you to share his discovery and of course you were ecstatic. Oikawa was your soulmate? The boy you were in love with already, is in reality your soulmate? The news had you in cloud 9. You were floating and you couldn’t wait to tell Tooru. To share this with him and start a new journey. Together but in a different sense this time.

You planned to tell him the very next day, you couldn’t wait. The day dragged on and on with, making it hard for you to hold the big news in until the end of the school day. You had been kinda avoiding him as much as you could because you knew that you wouldn’t be able to control yourself and blurt it out. At last the final bell rung and you sprinted out of the class, hastily making your way to the gym. You heard Tooru’s voice behind the building and went to greet him, only to be met by the image of him kissing someone else.

She was one of his fangirls, always present during his practices and matches and she even had went as far as to declare her ‘dips’ on Tooru a while back. Said you were in her way and that a lowly nobody wouldn’t get in the way of her dream boy. Looks like she succeeded after all. You could feel your heart break in your chest, a pain so sharp and intense you struggled to breath. That’s when you saw Tooru wince, grasping his shirt right over his heart a gasp leaving his lips as the pain became more and more unbearable. If he looked up he would see you. You knew that it would be awkward, you would be ruining the mood, but you wanted him to see you for some reason. A small revenge for the pain he was causing you right now.

“Oikawa-channnn!!! Practice is starti- Oh...” And the Oscar goes to Y/N L/N for the role of smiling through the pain, you thought as soon as the words left your lips. He looked at you wide eyed, his mouth falling open and then snapping shut as he tried to find the words. You gave him an awkward smile, hoping to mask the tears that were forming in your eyes and backed away, turning around and leaving.

Stupid stupid stupid! As if you were the girl he would fall for, that little voice screamed at you. Your chest was tightening again, knocking the breath out of your lungs a sob escaping your mouth as you clutched your heart trying to ease the pain. But you knew it wouldn’t work. Nothing could heal a heartbreak. Arriving home you went straight and took a shower, letting your tears run freely down your cheeks as severe sobs erupted through your chest. Walking to your room, you looked at your phone seeing some messages.

[Iwaizumzum]

How did it go? Am I third wheeling you two now?

[Me]

You don’t have to worry about that. I didn’t tell him

[Iwaizumzum]

What!? Why?! Is it bc you realized he’s dumb? I swear he’s gonna treat you like a queen and if he doesn’t I can always hit some sense into him!!!!

[Me]

He was ...busy with someone else when I found him

Iwa thank you for the concern but I don’t feel like talking about it so can we plz forget about it?!

[Iwaizumzum]

HE WHAT!?!? SHITTYKAWA GONNA CATCH THESE HANDS WHEN I SEE HIM!

[Me]

IWA I SAID NO!

And what do you mean when you see him? Don’t you have practice?

[Iwaizumzum]

Yeah we do... but he wasn’t feeling well and left

Go to sleep it might help

And call me if you need anything

I’m down for a 3 am snack run if you need it

[Me]

Thank you Iwa ttyl

Turning off your phone you lay back down on your bed, fresh tears forming in the corners of your eyes. Grabbing your fluffy blanket - a gift from your boys on Christmas- you made yourself into a burrito and the crying session began again. You couldn’t see to stop, the pain in your chest coming back to hit you like a truck while your sobs were filling the room. Why did it have to hurt so much? Why did you have to fall in love with him? Why did you have to walk in on him? Why why why won’t this pain leave you alone?

Lost in thought you didn’t hear the front door flying open or the pounding footsteps coming closer and closer to your room. Then your door opened and the person rushed to your bed, trying to untangle you from the blanket.

“I’m not in the mood. Leave me alone.” You didn’t know who it was. Maybe your mom or your sibling. God forbid it was your father; Tooru will be as good as dead if it was your dad. They were persistent, whoever it was, wrestiling for the blanket and trying to find your head. Sitting up with a start you yanked the blanket off you head. “I said I’m not in the moo- oh...Hi Tooru.”

He was in front of you, eyes frantic searching your face and cheeks a rosy red from the way here. Brown locks fell in his eyes and you had to hold yourself back from moving them out of the way. He had someone now, your actions had to be limited.

“The same applies to you too. I’m not in the mood so if you please le-”

“Please stop crying. I’m- I’m sorry it’s my fault, please don’t cry.” his voice cracked at the words tears of his own were starting to form in the corners of his eyes. He lunged at you, wrapping his arms around you frame bringing you flush against him, your slight trembles vibrating into his body. “I was stupid and scared. I should have waited a little longer. I should have been more patient. Please please don’t cry I hate it when you cry! A-and I hate myself for being the reason.” His arms tightened around you not letting you pull away as you had tried when he started talking.

You couldn’t hold your tears at this point and they were running freely down your cheeks, wetting his shirt. You couldn’t bring yourself to speak, the pain intensifying fueled by both your own pain and Oikawa’s. His arms steadied you and you hated to admit that you like it. It felt so right. Two puzzle pieces falling into place. But he wasn’t yours. With all the strength you had you pushed him off.

“I-I’m not g-going to b-break you t-two up.” he started shaking his head, opening his mouth to speak but you cut him off. “You chose her and you can’t just throw her to the side because I’m crying! I had my chance all this time and I blew it! E-end of story.”

“It was nothing! I’m not with her she was just a- a distraction! Y/N please I want my soulmate by my side not some random girl!” he reached for you again this time grabbing your hands bringing your palms flat on his heart. “I want the girl I fell in love with.”

With that you broke down again but this time you were the one to latch on to him wrapping both arms and legs around him, locking him in place. Your crying didn’t stop but this time it was different. This time there was no excruciating pain in your chest. You felt lighter.

“I love you, I love you, I love you.” he repeated over and over again, holding you as tight as possible afraid that if he didn’t you would disappear and he would be back in that dark corner of his mind.

He spent the night at your place, never fully taking his hands away from you. He called Iwa to apologize for missing practice and then he gave his undying attention to you, repeating those three words every chance he got. You were happy his was here. Happy that you finally have him. Happy the pain stopped. Happy that he’s the reason it stopped.

I love you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TAG TEAM AY: @brattyquirks @the-arcana-fan-fic @angelwritings

#oikawa x reader #oikawa angst #oikawa scenarios #oikawa #oikawa fluff #oikawa imagine #oikawa x you #oikawa x y/n #soulmate au #haikyuu!!#haikyu x reader #haikyuu #haikyu

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flashbackharry · 4 years

Text

You need sleep

Prompt 21

21.“You need sleep”

sorry couldnt sleep and ended up yearning.

Masterlist:

You can request a prompt from this list.

It was game night. There was never really a true schedule to game night. Usually it was whenever everyone had one too many drinks in their system and were down to play some games for too long before someone got particularly heated and then everyone would go to bed. Tonight the living room was filled with snacks and possibly every kind of alcohol you could name. You were at Harry's house, all his band mates were in attendance, and few other people you've met a couple times as well as some new faces.

The game you were all currently playing was charades musical edition. It was your turn and the artist you got out of the hat was Bob Marley, you tried miming smoking a joint and instantly everyone screamed a billion names at you, it was hard when you yourself were a little tipsy having about 13 people who were also drunk yelling incoherent things at you. You were about to give up when you felt your phone vibrating in your pocket.

“No showing us pictures on your phone” Someone yelled from the audience.

You ignored them because your sister was calling you. She never called for no reason. You picked up as you were walking out of the living room to go someplace quieter, paying no mind to the boos that followed.

You took a deep breath and answered.

“Hello?”

“Moms in the hospital agai- are you at a party right now?” Your sister said, her voice going from grave to vaguely annoyed. That was her alright, ever the queen of passive aggressiveness.

“Yeah, believe it or not my life continues on without you guys, and is she okay?” You said, your heartbeat quickening.

She let out a huff of air before speaking again.

“She escaped the facility she was in and they found her 4 miles away in some run down part of the city, trying to check into a hotel under the name of Audrey Hepburn.” Your stomach clenched a little at the sound of the news.

“They gave her some sedatives but doctors are thinking it's only going to get worse from here. They didn't say that exactly because they're doctors, they kinda have to be optimistic but I could tell from their facial expressions.”

You didn't respond to her. Partly because you didn't know what to say. You took your mom in when things started getting bad 4 years ago, but once she tried setting your apartment on fire in the middle of the night, you realized you couldn't help her to the best of your ability anymore. So you checked her into a mental health facility and made your sister her health care proxy. She's resented you for it ever since, but you couldn't bear making life changing decisions on behalf of your mom, you just couldn't stomach it.

“Hello? Did you even hear a word I just said? God y/n, I don't have to call and keep updating you on her, I can just leave you in the dark but I'm sure you'd actually prefer that.” She said, her tone growing more and more impatient with every second that passed.

“Don’t say that, of course I care, what do you want me to say? I’m sorry?” You pleaded, tears threatened to spill from your eyes now.

“Forget it y/n, go back to your party.” And with that, she hung up.

You felt your insides tighten and suddenly it felt like you couldn’t breathe. You were full on having a breakdown in Harry's back patio. You sat down on the stoop and pulled your knees close to your chest. Trying to remember the breathing exercises you learned in therapy but when that failed you resorted to slowly counting the number of times you exhaled.

You heard the sliding door open and Harry walked over to you and sat down, worry laced his facial features but you could tell he was trying to mask it. He was your best friend after all, whenever either one of you were hurting, it was like a visceral reaction in the other.

“Missed you out there, they got the karaoke machine out.” He said softly. You closed your eyes and he was right, you heard the music playing in the distance, followed by a random off key voice.

“Is it your mum again?”

Harry was well versed in your family drama. He knew you when you took your mom in, knew the physical and mental toll the role of being her caregiver was. You never got enough sleep when caring for her, always afraid she would do something while you were sleeping, until one night she did. It was Harry who encouraged you to check her in somewhere, pleading with you to do so, he was so worried she would end up being the cause of your death.

After the incident with your apartment happened, Harry took you in. He never formally asked you to move in, it was just understood between the two of you that that was what was happening. He helped you find a therapist, to help with anxiety attacks and insomnia you had. You didn't feel guilty for doing what you had to do, but God did your sister make you feel like the worst person alive.

You filled Harry in on the phone conversation you just had. He listened intently, never interrupting and holding your hand whenever you got to a particularly difficult part to talk about outloud. You didn't know whether it was the alcohol or the exhaustion that usually followed from having an anxiety attack but you wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and forget this all happened.

As if reading your mind, Harry stood up, grabbing your hand and murmured against your ear,

“You need sleep, let's get you into bed.”

Harry walked behind you and led you up the stairs, past the group of people still lingering in the living room.

“Were gonna call it a night but you guys have fun, keep it down a bit though.” Harry said to them. His friends began to woo after him, assuming you were going up stairs to fuck. It was hard to explain to them that you guys weren't a couple, you just had a connection so strong and went beyond the basic labels of “boyfriend” and “girlfriend''. Simply put, you were never gonna love any one more than Harry and the same went for him.

When you got upstairs, you walked into Harry's room instead of yours. He helped you get out of your clothes for the day and into something more comfortable. He dug into his drawers and after some rummaging he found an old band tee for you to wear. You took your jeans off, your bottom half in nothing but your underwear.

He turned around towards you and tugged at the shirt you were wearing and you put your arms up as he lifted it off your shoulders, frizzing your hair in the process. Goosebumps raised on your skin as the room got colder and Harry pulled the oversized long sleeve tee over you quickly, when your head emerged from the hole you both paused as you looked at each other for a moment. A small smile appeared from his lips and you returned it. He wrapped his arms around you, a tight hug, the kind you could feel deep in your bones. He walked you back towards the bed, never breaking the hug until you were both under the covers.

He pressed a kiss into your temple, his arms still wrapped around you. You couldn’t sleep most nights, and when you did, it was never for more than a few hours at a time. But when you slept in the same bed as Harry, you slept through the whole night. Rarely any intrusive thoughts, when you did happen to get them, Harry always reassured you you were safe and softly, he would soothe you back to sleep. You felt the way he cared about you in every crevice of your body, and you were so glad to love and be loved by him.

#Harry Styles #harry styles one shot #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #harry styles au #writing #one direction

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bunnys-beetlejuice-blog · 3 years

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Part two of my AU! You should start with But What If, Instead, or you may be a little confused. Or just dive in, that's cool too. Be a sexy rebel. It's what BJ would want.

He’s sixteen when green starts to grow on his face. He’s been dealing with the hair for years, now, and it’s mostly stable. Sure, he gets overwhelmed, and sure, it can still change quickly, but it’s not like when he was twelve and threw fits all the time that resulted in fire engine red. He wouldn’t say he’s the best at handling anger, for sure, for sure, for sure. That award will probably always go to his mother, Emily. But he’s gotten better at treating everything like a joke, which totally helps. Can’t get mad at what you don’t take seriously, right? It’s a philosophy that seems to frustrate his dad, who, in Betelgeuse’s opinion, takes everything way too seriously. Chuckster is lucky he’s got Emily to balance him out, or that case of stick in ass might have become terminal. So, yeah, alright, the green. He’s been growing facial hair lately, a thin pathetic little pencil mustache that nine year old Lydia calls his “creepo-stache,” and he’d be the first to admit, it’s pretty John Waters-esque, but it’s what he’s got, for now. That hair, of course, grows in green, and mixed with the corpse purple untertones he still hasn’t quite learned to glamour away convincingly, the effect is that he perpetually looks like he’s ready to put on a zombie remake of a 70’s porno. Metaphors sure are fun. At least the upper lip is starting to fill out, and the chin scruff has been on the rise, too, though he’s a far cry away from Charles’ majestic beard. He’s staring in his bathroom mirror after a shower, admiring his chubby, totally sexy self, when he notices a splotch of green on the left side of his nose. He smooshes his nose down a little with one hand, leans in closer, and squints. Must be somethin’ he ate? On his nose? For some reason? But then he notices there’s the same slight green color at his temples, too. He settles on scrubbing his face until his skin hurts a little, and when he’s done, he’s so flushed he can’t see the color, and assumes the matter is settled. And then a few days later, it’s darker. He’s sitting at dinner with the whole family, chewing with his mouth open to annoy Lydia, who gives him a swift kick to the shin under the table. “Now, if you ever hit me, and I find out about it,” he starts to tease, until he feels his mom flick his ear, and he turns to her. “You got some schmutz on your face, Bug. Come here.” Emily blots her napkin to her tongue, and then wipes at his nose, much to his chagrin. “Ew, seriously? Maaaaa,” he whines, but everyone at that table knows he’s soaking up the attention like a sponge. “I for sure feel so much cleaner with your spit smeared around my face, thank you so much, Emily Deetz.” Emily shooshes him and continues rubbing, but her napkin comes away clean. “Huh,” she glances down at it, and then back to the spot on the side of his nose, and squints. Lydia and Charles are leaning in too, now, and his sister grins. “There’s some on his forehead, mama, get him there,” and she’s successful in weaponizing their mother against him, because he hardly has time for a “Damn you-” before Emily is rubbing at the green stains on his temples, near his hairline. “What the heck is this, ink?” “I dunnoooo!” he winges, wiggling just enough to let her know he’s unhappy but not enough to flail and hurt her. When she finally relents and lets him go, a third hand sprouts from his back to pull the “hood” part of his black and white striped hoodie over his head, and he tightens the draw strings. “No more smearing spit on BJ, now, that part of dinner is done,” he says defensively, and Emily has the sense to look a little sheepish. “Sorry, Bug,” she pats his head, and he hisses in response, but no one, not even him, takes that seriously anymore. It’s a few more days until there’s a break in the case. He’s standing upside down on his bedroom ceiling, concentrating on a certain riff on his ukelele, and Lydia is flopped on his bed, passively watching Coraline on the beat up vintage TV he and Charles spent last summer fixing up. “I can’t get this to sound right,” he complains to her, and in response,

she turns the movie up louder. “Oh, haha, my sister, the fuckin’ comedianne, she’ll be here all week, everybody,” and he flops on the mattress next to her, which makes her bounce a bit before they both settle. He’s laying on his back, ukulele on his chest, mumbling and strumming, and she’s on her stomach, watching that kinda horny scene where the nude old lady with the huge honkers unzips her fuckin’ skin, when she glances over at him. “Your face spots are fuzzy, now,” she comments. “It’s called a beard, short stack. Dad’s had one since you were five, you’d think-” “Shut up, dummy, I meant the schmaltz.” “You mean the schmutz. Different words mean different things.” “Whatever. Your nose is growing hair, like grandpa. It’s barforiffic.” He frowns, and sets the ukulele down besides his bed, and conjures himself a little hand mirror from his pocket dimension. Lydia’s breath hitches, because no matter how many years it’s been, she still loves that trick, the way it’s like he’s pulling something out of nothing. He stares at the splotches in his hand mirror, beholding his face in mock horror like that episode of the Twilight Zone, the one with the pig faced people. All other details aside, she’s right, the splotches are growing hair, sort of. It doesn’t feel exactly like hair, when he reaches an experimental finger to poke at it, it’s sort of.. He can’t describe it. Grassy? Not really hair, more like a short, fuzzy… “It’s moss,” he realizes, positioning the mirror to check his forehead, where the vegetation is growing softly there, too. “Gross. How often do you shower, you neanderthal?” Lydia scrunches up her nose at him. “Careful, or you’re getting a face full of demon pits when you’re tryna sleep tonight,” he bites back at her. “I shower a normal amount. Maybe..” sharp teeth worry his bottom lip as he thinks. “I’m showering too much?” “That can’t possibly be your take away from this.” “Well I don’t know, Ly-dee-uhh,” he drags out her name. “It’s not like I’ve got a handy dandy guide to being an undead demon thing tucked away that explains all the rules that come with bein’ me, okay? I’m just thinkin’, I could count as dead cause, ya know. No heartbeat. Dead people probably.. I mean plants might grow on em, right? Like if one was left murdered and unburied in th’ world, like in a damp forest, and surrounded by nature, maybe somethin’ would grow on their putrid, rotting corpse flesh?” Lydia sits up, and leans over him, pushing the hand mirror out of the way. “I’m picking this off of you so I don’t have to hear about it anymore,” she says, simply, and then uses her surprisingly strong kid strength to dig into the runny splotch on his left temple. She runs a nail up his skin, scraping at him, and he purrs in response, tongue flicking out of his mouth, snake like. “Big scary demon dead guy, and all it takes to tame him is a little bit of attention,” she teases, and he gives another half hearted hiss. “You’re like a cat, BJ.” When she’s finished, she cleans under her nails and looks pleased. “I think I got it,” she nods, and he checks in his hand mirror. They both watch in silence as the moss seems to instantly grow back. “Moooooom!” he whines, sitting up and tossing the hand mirror over his shoulder, where it disappears into nothing without touching the ground, tucked back safe in his pocket dimension. Emily pokes her head in a moment later. “Yeah, what’s up, Beej?” She’s got her long blonde hair all done in a neat bun, and there’s the slight tone of exasperation to her voice. “You kids aren’t fighting, right?” she asks, stepping into the room. “I am literally just sitting here,” Lydia motions to the tv, still displaying the stop motion exploits of her current idol and role model. “The green crap on my face, it’s moss!” Betelgeuse whines to her, outright ignoring her question to begin with. “I’m growing moss on my face, and Lyds scraped it off but it instantly grew back!” “It was kinda cool,” Lydia admits, not giving her older brother the satisfaction of looking at him when she says it. Emily,

meanwhile, puts a finger on her chin, and scrunches up her nose in thought. “Maybe.. Some weed killer might get rid of it?” she suggests, clearly unsure. “So you want me to drink POISON,” Betelgeuse instantly flops back on the bed, left hand thrown over his forehead, all dramatic. “Lured me into the family just to try and murder me years later, huh? You fooled me! With love!” He opens his eyes in time to see both Emily and Lydia rolling theirs. “You can’t just magic it away?” Lydia pokes the moss on his nose. “The way you did your last report card?” “Judas,” he hisses, dropping the glamour enough to glare at her with his snake slit amber eyes. “You did what?” ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````` He’s back at school on Monday with a bandaid fix, which is literally a couple band aids across the spots, one plastered on his nose, the other one a large patch bandage on the spot on his temples where the green was growing in the most clearly. The bandages noticeably don’t blend in with his skin tone, despite touting themselves as flesh colored, because he’s got skin like a guy who never left his basement, and also is freshly fuckin’ dead. For extra cover, he’s wearing his “Guide” hat, a ratty gray policeman’s cap with a metal plate spelling out the word. Charles had bought for him from a Goodwill his first year up top. It does enough to hide the streaks of green, as long as he pulls it down a bit, and he’s not exactly known at school for being a style icon, so nobody thinks twice to see him wearing it, as he slips from the front seat of Charles’ car that morning. “Have a good day, son. Call me if.. If you need me,” Charles reminds him, and Lydia pipes up from the backseat. “Later, Bug beverage. Good luck.” She’s still feeling a bit guilty about snitching, apparently, because she blows him a kiss, which is super uncool and she clearly wants to take it back the second she’s done it, but he grins and pretends to catch it. “Later, family,” he closes the car door, and turns to face his day. School, he had learned a few years ago, is a uniquely breather torture experience thought up by the old to make the young loose out on their precious youths, there by getting back at them for being young and fun. That was his working theory all through his miserable first year of middle school, and high school is not disproving that theory in the least. He’s vaguely aware of the cliques that the breathers his age form, and there’s probably gossip about him, but for the most part, he’s just too weird for most of the humans his age to engage with him. He’s kind of got an aura, an indefinable something he can’t switch off, and it’s getting stronger the older he gets. Breathers are naturally more wary of him than they used to be. So yeah, he is the weird chubby kid in the striped hoodie and matching tripp pants, and under normal circumstances, he has to believe that would lead to bullying, but whatever ancient animal instinct these kids have, it tells them to steer clear of him. So school is, to put it frankly, lonely. It’s probably better to be mostly ignored than hated, he supposes, but that doesn’t make eating lunch in the quad by himself every day any less pathetic. He’s zoning out in first period, relaxing in his slacker seat in the back of the class, when things actually get interesting. Their teacher is a sort of slim, nervous looking man who teaches history, but right at that moment he’s announcing a new student. And it’s someone Betelgeuse recognizes, though he can’t place from where. The new boy, Kevin something Loh, apparently, is directed to take the only empty seat in the class, the seat right in front of Betelgeuse. As Kevin is walking down the aisle towards him, Betelgeuse is wracking his brain, trying to recall. Kevin is Asian, with high cheekbones and short black hair, carefully and deliberately styled. He’s also staring right at Betelgeuse. “You?” he whispers, sounding horrified. “Me,” Betelgeuse responds, propping his history book up on his desk and slumping down behind it, deciding he’s

fully content with napping this period away, and leaving this mystery unsolved. But Kevin is apparently worse at reading social cues than BJ is, because he’s still standing there, looming over Betelgeuse. “What are you doing here?” he hisses, sounding angry now, and Betelgeuse peaks up at him, amber eyes shining a faint amount from under the brim of his cap. “I am literally just sitting here.” “Mr. Loh, is there a problem?” their teacher askes, and the new kid whips around. “I refuse to sit next to this thing.” He points at Betelgeuse, who straightens up, a scowl playing across his features. “You wanna rephrase that?” the demon askes, gravely voice particularly dangerous sounding, because he’s NOT a thing. The humans all take note of the changing vibes in the room, growing uncomfortable. “Does someone want to switch with Mr. Loh, and sit in front of Mr. Deetz instead?” their teacher tries. The answer is silence. No one is giving up their seat next to friends to sit in front of the loner who smells like freshly dug grave dirt. “Well, then. Sit down, Mr. Loh. Mr. Deetz does not bite.” “But-” “Yeah, sit down, Kev, you’re interrupting my mid morning nap,” Betelgeuse scowls, fingers on his right hand twitching, and Kevin falls into his seat with a less than macho sounding yelp. From the glare he gets in return, he’s got a feeling Kevin’s not gonna be his new bff. When lunch rolls around, Betelgeuse finds his usual place in the quad, under the shade of a tree, and he’s about to summon forth his lunch from his little pocket dimension, when he hears a breather approaching from behind him. He’s sitting on the side that faces away from the main area, and all the happy friend groups enjoying their lunches and gossip, and towards the track field, cause if he’s gonna be sitting alone, at least he’s gonna get to watch boys and girls his age work up a sexy sweat. From a quick smell test he can tell the person approaching is Kevin. The guy reeks of some overly applied body spray mess, and it nearly puts him off his lunch. “What,” he groans, annoyed, not even looking back to address the other boy, and Kevin seems to freeze. He’d apparently thought he was being pretty sneaky. “Why are you following me?” is the first thing out of the new kid’s mouth, and that does actually cause Betelgeuse to turn and look at him, staring like Kev’s just proposed the earth is only round because Atlus keeps reinflating it to use like a blow up doll. “I,” Betelgeuse gestures very dramatically to himself. “Don’t knoooow,” he continues slowly. “Who you are.” Kevin, for some reason, seems to wilt a bit. “You really don’t remember me?” “I really don’t. Should I? You do somethin’ interestin’? Besides, single handedly keep Axe body spray in business?” “It’s not Axe!” Kevin stomps over to stand in front of him, offended. “Then axe it, my man, cause that scent is not workin’ for you,” Betelgeuse replies easily, leaning back against the tree to resume his track practice spying. “You juggled your head!” Kevin accuses him. Betelgeuse cocks an eyebrow, and his eyes flit back to Kevin. So he’s someone who had seen him use his powers, at some point? Yeesh. “You brought a field of pumpkins to life and nearly murdered me!” Ohhhh. “Yeah, well, you pushed me down,” Betelgeuse says, suddenly remembering. “So I guess we both suffered that day, didn’t we, Kev?” “So you admit it!” Kevin says tenselely, before sitting in the grass across from him. Betelgeuse watches him quietly. The breather seems confused. “Why are you here?” he asks, and Betelgeuse nods over at the bouncing, glistening track team. “The view.” Kevin glances in that direction and rolls his eyes. “Jackass, I meant at school,” he dead pans. Betelgeuse grins. “Well, th’ way my dad explained it, I have to be in government mandated kid jail, or else he goes to adult jail.” “So you’re a monster who has to go to school?” “Demon, but. Yeah.” Kevin’s eyes widen, and he whispers the word. “Demon.” There’s a beat as he ponders over that. “Those people, who were with you at the store.. Are they demons

too?” “What? Th’ Deetzs? Nah. They’re human as they come.” “And you live with them?” “Yup,” he pops the “p,” quickly growing annoyed with this line of questioning. “And they-” “Listen, man,” Betelgeuse apparates his lunch from nothing, which causes Kevin to flinch, before realizing it's just food. “Can we skip all this? It’s a life changing revelation for you, I’m sure, but forget bored stiff, this is giving me rigor mortis. Yes, I’m a demon. I go to school here cause I’m th’ Deetz’s son, and no, there’s nothing wrong with them.” He grimaces. “Just me. I’m not following you around to torment you, you’re not that special. And yes,” he holds up the sandwich from his lunch. “This is a turkey club on a croissant. My human dad packed it for me, because he loves me.” There’s a small moment of silence. Kevin opens his mouth, and Betelgeuse, own mouth now full of food, groans. “Why do you have bandages all over your face?” “Because I murdered a pedophile four years ago and his vengeful, freak ass ghost won’t let it go.” “Really?” “No. That’s not even how ghosts work. God, breathers are so gullible.” “You’re such a dick,” Kevin replies, but there’s a faint hint of a smile, there. Betelgeuse feels it tugging at his own lips, too. “I’m growing moss on my face,” he admits after a moment. “Wasn’t sure how else to keep it hidden, so. Bandages. Not that I really care what people think-” “I can tell from the tripp pants, yeah,” Kev interjects, and Betelgeuse flips him off before continuing. “I’m not trying to get a bunch of attention for being weird.” “Didn’t seem to bother you before,” Kevin comments, picking lazily at the grass around him, and Betelgeuse shrugs. “I was twelve. I’ve gotten a bit smarter, even if I was dragged kickin’ an’ screamin’ th’ whole damn way,” and this time, Kevin actually does smile. He mimics the other boy. He offers Kevin half his sandwich, and for the first time ever, he doesn’t eat lunch alone. They wait after school together, watching as their peers are picked up or loaded onto buses. “I used to have nightmares about you,” Kevin tells him, and Betelgeuse smiles flirtatiously. “So you’ve been dreamin’ of me. That’s hot.” He receives a punch in the arm for that. When his mom pulls up, with Lydia in tow in the backseat, he throws open the front passenger side door of the car. “Hey, ma, hey Lyds,” but Emily is looking past him. “BJ, is that a friend of yours?” She sounds thrilled. He turns and looks at Kevin, then back to her, and shrugs, but he’s smiling. “I dunno. He’s new, so we hung out at lunch, an’ talked. Maybe. I dunno.” “You should invite him over!” Emily grins, eyes shining. “Now?” “Now! We’re having take out for dinner, we could order more for him, easy! And he’s new, he probably doesn’t have any plans, and-” “Alright, alright, hold on,” he gripes, then waives Kevin over. The breather approaches the car, cautious. “Hey, so my mom, she says you can come over for dinner, if you want,” and God/Satan, he’s never felt more like an awkward, pimply faced teen than he does at that exact moment. If he sounds like a total loser, at least Kevin doesn’t seem to mind, cause he perks up. “Let me call my dad!” he whips out his cell phone so fast, Betelgeuse feels flattered. He actually wants to come over. He wants to spend some time together. Emily’s smile widens until she looks like a slasher on happy pills, and he climbs into the car front seat and nudges her. “Play it cool, ma,” he all but begs, and she looks to him. “I’m super cool, BJ. I’m a cool mom. Right, Lyds?” Lydia gives her best noncommittal shrug, the one Betelgeuse taught her, actually. “He said yes!” Kevin comes jogging back over to the car a minute later. “If that’s really okay, Mrs. Deetz?” “For sure! The more, the merrier!” They moved out of the apartment a little over a year ago. The new place had been a nightmare when they’d moved in, a Tudor style house with a lot of character, a lot of leftover trash, and a lot of bugs. He’d set about fixing that instantly, hunting down the tasty snacks, and Emily had stood in the middle of

the mess, chewing her bottom lip, and thinking. “I know, I know, it’s rough,” Charles had stood there, suddenly looking older than his age in a way Betelgeuse did not like. “But it’s a beautiful old house, with good bones, and room to grow, and.. It’s going to be a lot of work.” Lydia, precocious and eight, shuffled between her parents, and wrinkled her nose. “It’s a dump,” she declared, and both the adults looked down at her. “It’s not a dump,” Emily said. “It’s The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” “Em!” Seemingly ignoring her husband, she turned and went back to the car, and didn’t return until she had her record player and a sample of her collection of vinyl with her. “BJ! Come give this a shock, please? The power’s not on yet.” Betelgeuse apparated at her side, a new trick he’d been practicing, and Emily, ever Emily, didn’t even flinch. She just patted his head, as he grabbed the cord and gave it a shock of green static. She placed a record in the player, and adjusted the needle. The familiar sounds of Calypso began to fill the house. “Let’s clean up,” Emily smiled, and, singing along and dancing and laughing, the family had begun their first of many clean ups. It’s a nice memory, one he looks back on often. They’re pulling up to the house, Kevin in tow, and despite the unease he feels at having a new person in his space, at least their house, full of love, is a comforting energy to be wrapped in.

They lead Kevin in, and he follows Betelgeuse up to his bedroom.

“So, we got your common bedroom items,” he gestures grandly as they enter his space. “Dead rat, TV, dresser, mirror for inter dimensional travel, severed head for juggling,” he acknowledges that moment in their shared history. “Old trunk full of demon secrets,” he gives the antique steamer trunk by the foot of his bed a kick. It pops open to reveal very normal looking magazines. “All that good stuff.” The wall paper he chose for his room is a black and white pinstripe that dad had called “busy,” and mom had called “him,” and Kevin blinks a bit in surprise. “You, uh, really are dedicated to the stripes, huh? I prefer a simple black myself.. Black is always a statement.” Betelgeuse snorts. “It’s my pattern,” he says, and Kevin sort of nods, clearly not getting it. He tries again. “It’s, you know, important?” Kevin glances at him, and nods again, but seemingly more hesitant. “It’s a demon thing,” Betelgeuse says finally, tired of even his own clunky attempts at subtly. “My animal is a snake,” he explains. “And my colors are black and white.” Kevin looks mystified. “So, what does that… mean?”

“Means it’s my aspect. It’s important.. Demon stuff.”

The teens look at each other. Kevin squints. “You don’t know what it means.” “I got no fuckin’ clue,” Betelgeuse admits, flopping on his back in the air and hanging there, reclining on nothing. “It’s somethin’, somethin’, dominion over th’ beasts that crawl on their bellies, foul an’ tainted, I think was th’ phrase. But I don’t usually get many chances to be around snakes, so it’s not a talent I get to practice much.” Kevin looks insanely jealous of the way he’s floating there, weightless, which was exactly the point Betelgeuse had in mind when he struck the floating pose to begin with. “Point bein’, I’m drawn to black an’ white.”

“Same way you’re drawn to sweaty track stars?” Kevin smirks, and sits on the edge of the bed.

“Fuckin’ exactly,” Betelgeuse grins at him, a smile Kevin matches. He might be out of his mind, but he feels something here. Kevin’s a good looking guy, and Betelgeuse isn’t exactly “picky.” He’s known for a long time his exact type is “someone who will give Betelgeuse attention and affection,” without worrying what exactly that means in the long run. “Gross,” rings a female voice, and the prolonged eye contact between the teens is broken by his nine year old sister, leaning against the door frame. She takes in the scene before her, him floating there, and Kevin.. Kevin seemingly looking a little flustered on the bed. He’s not sure if she gets what that’s about, hell, he hardly does, though he likes it. But she’s a bit young to pick up on romantic vibes, he thinks. Hopefully. “You’re not even trying to hide the whole, being a demon thing, are you?” she scowls. “Whatever, he already knew. He recognized me from the pumpkin patch. You probably don’t remember, you were five, but-” “I remember.” She squints, and then looks at Kevin, who gives a little waive. “What exactly are your intentions with my demon brother?” she asks, crossing her arms. Kevin actually blushes, a reaction Betelgeuse can both see and smell. Smells like blood and hormones, and it’s cute… he’s cute. “He’s just… weird. I’m, you know.. I just wanna know more. About him, and demons, and this otherworldly, supernatural business.” Ah. A little disappointing. He tries not to look let down, but he knows Lydia catches the look on his face. God/Satan, she’s a clever kid. “BJ isn’t your personal encyclopedia of paranormal bullshit. Besides, he hardly knows anything.” “Fuckin’ rude.” “Well!” she throws her hands up, a gesture he recognizes that she’s picked up from Emily. “I’m just saying, you don’t know enough to be that interesting.” He drops to his feet and puts a hand out, and she glares at him as an invisible force gently pushes her towards the door. “That’s enough, I think you’ve fulfilled your annoying little sibling requirements for today,” he grates at her, and she’s about out the door when Charles’ voice booms from downstairs. “Dinner!” Dinner is from Charles’ favorite Thai place, and the amount of food ordered seems to throw Kevin off guard. There’s a tall stack of delicious smelling styrofoam boxes, all of which are systematically set on the kitchen counter in a line, and the Deetz family goes through with plates, and helps themselves. It becomes clear pretty quickly that the amount ordered has more to do with who is eating, and not what they’re eating. Betelgeuse simply picks up two or three boxes instead of a plate, and settles at the table. His excuse for being a glutton has always been that his powers require a lot of energy for upkeep, but he’s not actually sure if that’s true. Also, it’s an excuse he’s never actually had to use, at least not in this house, because despite being somewhat akin to a garbage disposal in terms of food, his parents never give him any crap for eating. When he’d shown up, a skinny feral bitey little fuck, they’d been very encouraging of him stuffing his face. Now he’s older, obviously, and maybe he’s a bit chubby for his age, but it seems the entire family figures it’s better than looking starved, like he did before. He doesn’t think he’ll die if he doesn’t eat, but it feels good to have a full stomach, and he likes the way food tastes, so yes, he eats a lot. The way he sees it, it just means more B-Man to go around. Kevin, meanwhile, takes a polite amount and sits down next to him. “So, Kevin! Today was your first day?” Emily smiles brightly to the teen, who nods. “Yeah, I’m living with my dad now, so... new school,” he explains. Betelgeuse has the urge to pick up one of his boxes of food and take a cartoonish bite, like it’s a sandwich, but he doesn’t think that gag will play, right at this moment. “BJ has never brought a friend over before,” Charles says, unhelpfully. “Have too!” Betelgeuse protests, because he’s not trying to look like a total freak ass loser in front of the one person who seems

interested in talking to him.

Charles furrows his brow. “Who..? Oh, well…” he pauses. “I don’t know if.. If Sam counts…” “Sam was cool,” Lydia interjects, staring at Kevin, the unfinished half of her sentence being, “unlike you.” He’s got no clue why she’s gunning for Kev the way she is, but it’s kinda funny to watch a nine year old intimidate a teen. “He came over, didn’t he? Sure, it was uninvited, through a mirror, but I’m counting it anyways.” “BJ,” Charles starts, but Betelgeuse just shrugs. “It’s fine, dad. He knows. He was at the pumpkin patch.” It takes Charles and Emily a moment, but they both suddenly look nervous. “BJ is a good kid!” Emily blurts immediately, sounding defensive and looking at Kev, who sort of gives a nod. “It’s cool, I… threw tantrums when I was little, too. I mean, mine weren’t like. Cool vegetation apocalypses, but, you know.” He gives an easy shrug, before looking at Betelgeuse. “Who is Sam? Another demon?” “A better demon,” Lydia mutters, and at this point, he’s a second away from teleporting her into the neighbor’s pool. “He’s like Santa for Halloween, if Santa enforced Christmas time cheer with extreme violence.” “He’s Halloween Krampus,” Emily supplies helpfully, and he nods. “He’s the spirit of Halloween, and he’s cool. He’s only around one night, and he’s usually busy workin’, but when he gets a moment he pops in and we hang out. You’d probably-” like him isn’t exactly the right words. Humans don’t tend to feel easy in Sam’s presence. “- get along?” he finishes, but that also doesn’t seem likely. Sam isn’t outright cruel… usually. But his aura is clearly threatening, and he doesn’t play nice. The only reason Betelgeuse isn’t worried about his humans is because Sam has very clear, very structured rules. Rules that Emily had already been following, regardless of demonic threat. Also, last Halloween, Lydia had gone as Sam, orange jumpsuit, burlap sack and button eyes and everything, and Sam, ever a being of few words, had said, Flattered. He figures that probably earned the Deetz family at least one get out of murder free card. “This is all so cool,” Kevin twirls his fork around his pad phak. “It’s like, something from a movie. I can’t believe demons are.. Real. And I know about them.” There is, for a moment, a shine in his eyes that makes Betelgeuse uncomfortable, but it passes so quickly, he starts to assume he imagined it. He gives in, picks up a styrofoam box full of spicy chicken, and takes a bite out of the whole thing. His dad groans. After they’re done eating, they play video games, and whatever that moment was at dinner, he forces himself to forget it. Kevin is cute, and Kevin wants to talk to him, and that’s about as much as he cares to think about, right now. When Mr. Loh comes to pick him up, Kevin gives Betelgeuse’s hand a squeeze. It’s just the two of them, on the front porch, under the stars only he can see, because light pollution makes them invisible to the human eyes. Still, the setting feels intimate, and that hand holding cements it, at least at that moment. He’s not imagining it. “See you tomorrow?” Kevin smiles, and Betelgeuse knows his face flushes a little more purple at that. “Uh, yeah, for sure,” he says, and Kevin steps off the front porch and hurries to his dad’s car, their moment broken, but he stands there a while anyways, even after the car disappears down the street. He takes his own hand in hand, and gives it a squeeze, trying to imitate what Kevin had done flawlessly. He wanders inside after a while, but just stands with his back to the front door, replaying that simple moment over and over, until Charles, passing him on his way up to bed, pauses. “BJ? Your hair is… pink.”

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice musical #beetlejuice fanfiction #lydia deetz #emily deetz #otho beetlejuice

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xsugarysweetsx · 4 years

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I was wondering if you could do a Toya/Dabi x reader.Like the reader is childhood friends with Toya and is good friends with the Todo kids in general. So when their mom goes to the hospital, the reader kinda steps in and sorta kinda fills the role of mom. Reader is really close to Shoto.(Toya and reader are in a quirk marriage)But then stuff happens.Toya becomes Dabi.Reader became a teacher @UA and goes to the training camp.Then Dabi accidentally almost kills the reader by putting her in a coma.

You’re really good with plot Anon! Also I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE! But thank you for your patience❤️ please enjoy ❤️❤️ I added in something extra hopefully you like it!

Children never see the bad in the world. They’re innocent and want to always see the goo in people and the world. As a little girl you always thought going to the Todoroki’s house meant a play date. You would spend time with all of them and even Shoto.

For whatever reason it was your father always wanted you to spend time with Toya. He was the eldest and was usually quiet and kept to himself.

One day you had come and Shoto was hurt, with a patch over his eye. Rei wasn’t home either, they told you she had gone away. She was away and wouldn’t be back for a while. Being around the same age as Toya you felt the need to fill in the role for the younger ones.

You would help them with homework, and cleaning up after themselves. Almost like an elder sister or a mother. You were all close and created your own bond together. Almost like your own little family

As time passed you were both in your teens attending school together. At the time you were both best friends, knowing each other inside and out. One day when you were at his house doing homework, your father and Enji walked in.

His father always scared you in all honesty. Not only was his size intimidating but his aura just wasn’t pleasant. Toya always knew how you felt. He had the habit of holding your hand whenever he'd come into the room comfort you.

“What is it old man?“ Toya resented him after finding out what he had done his mother.

“Well“ you father spoke up “We’ve talked i over and believe that it would be best if you both-”

“You’re both getting married and that’s final“ Enji cut him off “You both have exceptionally powerful quirks and will make better children“

“What?!“ you both reacted

That’s right they were forcing you both into a quirk marriage, without any explanation to you both. If anything your father basically sold you, he was known for getting into debt despite having his own business. The Todorokies had money and everyone knew.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to marry you. Truth was, he had feelings for you for very long time but you didn't want to ruin your relationship. on top of all that he didn't want to bring you into his method of family and possibly make your life impossible. You were too good for him, for filling the role he never knew he needed or his siblings included.

At the time you were both 16 and were to marry at 19. But that day never came, Toya had gone missing. Nothing was left about his whereabouts. When your wedding day came, it marked 3 years of him being missing. They had decided to mark him under dead, since there was no trace of him.

Even to this day you still think about him. You didn’t want to forget his face or his voice, or anything.

============================

You stop visiting the the house hold, you called every now and then to check in. Sometimes you would visit Rei at the hospital and it gave you some tranquility.

You grew up to be a teacher at UA high school, helping students to become heroes. You heard even Shoto got into UA a well, and went to visit him. You always told him how proud you were of him, turns out even he grew as much resentment towards his father as Toya did.

This weekend you were at the training camp with the students. Everything was going well, they were training, learning and even cooking. You look out your window and see that Bakugou was extremely good at cooking, which confused you a bit. But everyone to their own.

You were giving extra help to thos when fisoed the test with Mr.Aizawa. Everyone would always tease about how you thin had a secret thing going on. In all honesty you both acted the same towards it and brushed it off as a joke but soon it became true.

You both had a thing for each other. You didn’t believe you would have feelings like this again. The last time you did, he had disappeared from your life, like he never existed. But with Shouta it felt differnt, he made you feel like he wouldn’t leave.

Sure he never seemed to be the type to but he would hold you close and tell you as many times as you needed to what it

“I would never abandon you, ever” it was something small but it made your heart flutter. You never forget about Toya, but he would want you to be happy right?

As you walk down the hall to the class you oda by a window. From the corner of your eye you saw a tall dark figure at the window and instantly turned. You were alert and ready to defend yourself. You look around the hall and too the window. You didn’t even realize you were holding your breath as you approached the window and looked outside.

Looking form side to side there was nothing and the student were outside as usual. Maybe you were seeing things. A hand landed on your shoulder which made you jump and shriek

“Hey It’s okay, it’s just me” it was shouta “are you alright you seem a little jumpy” he said in his tired husky voice

“Y-yeah im down, I just...never mind let’s get to the class” even when you walk with him you still felt uneasy, it wouldn’t leave you.

About only half hour into the lesson crashes and yelling was heard. Looking out the window your eyes widen to see blue flames swollowing the trees around you.

Blue flame....but you haven’t seen blue flames since....

“I’m going to check what’s going on. Y/N Stay here with the students” Shouta said as he ran out of the class

“Me.L/N, whats happening? Shouldn’t we go an help?”

“No, lets all stay here it’s best if we don’t split up.” All the students gathering around you. You did a headcount to make sure you age everyone. Aizawa ran back into the room on high alert

“Everyone we need to love to the next room over-“

The wall came crashing down to reveal a member of the League Of Villans. Instances kick in you step forward to protect your students. You were trying hard to concentrate but something about this man, was so familiar.

“Step aside princess, before you get hurt”

“I’m not a princess and you’re going to have to go through me first” you took your defensive stance. He hurled his blue flames at you but you block using you quirk. With all the strength you could muster you were able to push him back far enough that it was only the two of you.

Whatever it was something had stopped you from making your next move.

“What’s wring princess? Too tired to fight back?”

You didn’t answer and went for an attack, the hit would have been direct and affective but you stop.

You realize now why you know him

“Toya....” you whisper to yourself. But why was he attacking? Didn’t he recognize you? You turn to him

“Toya is me y-“ you were hurdled back into a tree by his flame. The aching throb making it hard for you to focus, crimson ran down to your chin. He came closer and kneeled in front of you.

He braved yourself for the worst to come but all you heard was a gasp

“Y-y/n....?” He said in the softest smallest voice he could. “I-is....”

“Took you long e-enough.:.” You forced a smile as your world started to spin. Not only did the impact do damage but you were loosing blood. He was hesitant to touch you, he’s down so much damage already

First leaving you so abruptly, and now this? He saw your eyes finally fall and you fall limp

“Y/N? Y/N?!” He gathered you in his arms and started to run, he didn’t know where but he was running. He eventually found Twice

“Hey bud whatcha go there” he said in his quirky attitude

“That’s doesn’t matter she’s bleeding out I need you to help me” he laid you by a bush and ripped a part of his shirt and wrapped it ape under your head.

“I need you to take her some where no one else will harm her, but make sure it’s some where one of these punk hero’s can find her” he said putting you into the arms of Twice.

He nodded and ran off, Dabi furiously wiped tears that ran down his face. He can only hope you were found and tended to. He may be who he is now but, you didn’t deserve to suffer for his decision.

————

After drawing back and leaving, Dabi stuck around for a while to make sure you were found. Aizawa was the one who found you and cradled you in his arms. Like he did at one point, he watched as you were whisked away to an ambulance. You were rushed to a near by hospital.

He would hang out by your window some night, sometimes he would break in and just sit in the chair.

He had managed to put you into a coma. At least he didn’t kill you in all but still.....it was the same you. The same one from all those years ago. The one who truest knew him. Who even recognizes him after so long.

You’ve become so beautiful over the years. He didn’t dare touch you, afraid to cause more damage. He would think...think about who thinks could have been differnt. What if he stayed and married you? Who would he be if he never left?

One night you started to stir and your monitor had started to speed up. You were waking up! He wanted to stay and hold you and apologize for everything...but he couldn’t. He heard footsteps running down the hall. He stroked your cheek one final time and ran for the window.

You skin was so soft and warm, he wanted to savor it longer. But if he did stay he would have no chance to even glance your way again.

As he was about to jump out he looked back once more to see your E/C staring at him.

“T..oya...” you said weakly. He shit his eyes and made his way back into the cruel world. Tears pores out of your eyes as you watched him leave, once again.

Maybe, just maybe you’ll meet again......

I kinda like it :). But I hope this is what you were looking for! And I’m sorry this was so late!

#dabi my hero academia #dabi x reader #bnha dabi #bnha x reader #my hero academia x reader #my hero academia #boko no hero academia #fanfiction #anime #anime x reader #dabi #toya todoroki

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