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[navysealt4t]

i don’t know if i should go to the thai asian place or the cafe with gf sandwiches….

[official-wayward-keener]

Pride Month Bingo: Harry Osborn and Childhood Friendship

Never Too Young to Find Forever

Harry watched Harley and Peter find their forever but when they lose that and are too scared to go back then Harry has to intervene.

Ao3 Link here

Part 1: Childhood

Harry knew Peter wouldn’t leave him out on purpose. So when Peter and Harley said he couldn’t play with them he didn’t understand why. He watched them play and was jealous as Gene told him it would be okay. Peter and Harley giggled before running over to him. 

“Harry pretends to be our kid,” Peter said. Harry was shocked but he nodded as Harley argued about how they weren’t even married.

“So what?” Peter asked. “My parents weren’t married when I was born.”

“Why do you think that?” Harry asked. He was pretty sure the Parkers had been married forever. 

“Dad married Mom in January of 2002. I was born in August of 2001,” Peter said. 

“So is your dad even your dad?” Gene asked.

“Of course he is,” Peter said, annoyed by the accusation. Harley defended him saying they would get married then have a kid. Just like Peter’s parents. Harry smiled lovingly that he was included.

“I saw you were lonely and we were playing boyfriends and I didn’t want you to feel bad cause you couldn’t play with us,” Peter said.

“He really didn’t want to lose his best friend,” Harley said.

“Hey there is a new kid,” Gene said. They all turned to watch the new kid as Harley grabbed Peter’s hand. Peter giggled as he watched the new kid act nervous. 

“Must be from the other class,” Harry said.

“I think he looks lonely,” Peter told them.

“We could ask him to play family with us!” Harry suggested.

“Yay!” Peter said. Harley seemed unsure as did Gene even though Gene technically hadn’t been included into their chaos just yet. The new kid, Ned, got along with the four of them and they started playing. Harley would kiss Peter’s cheek occasionally claiming it was what boyfriends did.

“I thought they kissed on the lips,” Gene said.

“Well they do but Peter and I are at the beginning of our relationship,” Harley explained. “We are in what my mom calls the cute stage where you are just cute with each other.”

“He is such a gentleman,” Peter informed them. The others nodded as the teachers called them in from the playground. 

“Play again tomorrow?” Harley asked them.

“Yep,” Peter said. The others nodded as they went their separate ways with Harley still holding on to Peter’s hand until they got in line.

~

Harry was excited for another day of first grade and playing on the playground with Peter and Harley. When the two arrived, Ned was already with them. Gene was absent but Harry knew he would be back tomorrow. Gene had told him he had to go to the doctor’s during lunch today. 

“That is why you can’t separate us,” Harley said, smiling at Peter. Peter nodded. “Mom and Mrs. Parker tried once but it never lasted long. It’s like taking Peter and Harry away from each other. Ms. Lyman and Harry live next door to the Parkers and they have always lived there forever. Just like how Peter and I have always been neighbors since we were little.

“Harley moved into the apartments when I was one and Harry moved in when I was two. I don’t think I would be okay if we lost each other,” Peter admitted. Harry was glad to hear that though he knew he would always be third wheel to whatever friendship the other two had. Peter smiled at him as Harry smiled back. His mother had said once that if Peter or Harley were a girl that they would be married after high school with the way they acted. Though according to rumors, Ms. Keener acted like they would get married no matter what. 

“Sometimes I think fate has a funny way of showing itself especially around those two boy,” Ms. Keener said. 

“Mom says we are spending time at Dad’s family home over break in Rose Hill. Meaning two months without you both,” Harley told the two when Harry was in front of them.

“Two months is a long time,” Peter whined. Harry knew two months would be long but Harley would come back like he always did. He would be back and they would still be in this toss and turn of Peter and Harley having their friendship and leaving Harry in the background. Harry just wished he could be included.

“I got to go to my aunt’s and uncle’s for a few weeks this summer. Mom and Dad are going to California to talk with old business associates of Mom’s about some project Dad is working on,” Peter said. “Well that’s what they are telling me and my aunt and uncle. I think they have other reasons for going out there.”

“I thought money was tight right now,” Harry said. He knew his mom kept saying that about everything. Harry didn’t ask for art stuff knowing his mom was struggling. He knew they needed money to pay for stuff and art stuff was expensive according to his mom.

“I guess it’s an important trip,” Peter told them as he sat on the swing. Harley pushed him as the two seemed to pout about the missed time planned for this summer. Yet Harry knew that they would appreciate the return from those goodbye trips. 

“I wish I lived closer to you three so I could hang with Harry while you both were gone,” Ned informed them. The boys seemed thankful that Ned would do anything for his new friends. The group decided to continue their game with Gene’s character out on a trip. It was fun while it lasted and sometimes childhood friends were the best.

~ Harry watched the boxes leave the Keeners and Parker residence at different times. He watched his mother tell him that they moved away. He saw Peter at school but Peter seemed different. He was more quiet and to himself. Harry didn’t understand. When Harry was eight, he found out that Peter’s parents passed. His mom slipped up and said something about it. Harry always tried to make sure Peter had gifts. When his mom passed away when he was ten, Harry saw Peter for the last time at the funeral before his father swept him off to boarding school in France. He never wanted anything from Norman. Even now he wanted to leave away from Norman but he was stuck in this life with a father he hated and lost friends that he missed. 

Part two will post tomorrow and be added to this post!

[fredweesleyismyslut]

Forever be yours - Draco Malfoy x Curvy!muggle!reader

A/N: Hey guys!!!!!  I was looking through my list of things that I should write.  It’s literally just a stupid list of ideas that I randomly get before bed because someone(me) apparently can’t sleep at night and sits around lying in bed for an hour before finally passing out.  Anyways, I wrote this whenever I wasn’t busy so I hope you guys like it!!!  Bye, and enjoy!!

You were sitting at lunch with your friends eating lunch, talking about random things.  Your best friend who was sitting closest to you says, “Hey, you’ve been awfully quiet today.”  Looking up you responded, “I’m just tired, I think I stayed up too late.  It’s just...Pansy said-”  Your friend immediately cuts you off, “Do I have to stab a bitch?  Or...I mean I’m ready for anything I just need you to tell me before so I can prepare-”  “No no...oh my god...well, now I know who to go to if I want to hide a body.”  She smiles, nudging you slightly, “For you?  Anything...especially if it comes to Pansy I can’t stand her ugh it’s like she created her whole personality off of Mr.Scrooge.”  Snorting softly, you nudge her back before breaking out into soft laughter, “So, what’s the problem with her that’s got you so worried.”  “Well, she told me that….that Draco asked her to go to his family Christmas dinner.”  Rolling her eyes she grabs your hand, “I can already see her smug smile.  Well, did you ask Draco?”  Shaking your head you looked down at your hands, “I-I didn’t get the chance to.  I mean his parents don’t even know we’re dating and I’m y’know-”  Cutting you off yet again, “You’re what?  Amazing?  Gorgeous?  Wonderful? A Goddess?  Basically everything better than Pansy?”  Corners of your lips curving softly you look her in the eyes, “Thank you...but I’m just worried we all know how his parents are and me not being the…” whispering the last part, “y’know a muggle and not meeting the...beauty standard.”  “Okay, you know what?  You are valid in feeling that way but I want you to know y/n that you are absolutely gorgeous I would kill for your body and if they don’t like you then it’s Draco who has to either step up for you or you kick him to the curb because I won’t let you accept any less.  Got it?”  She stared intensely into your eyes till you finally nodded, “Yes, mother, I got it.  Thanks for the pep talk.”  Putting her arm around your shoulders she smiled, “Anytime because I am not letting my best friend talk shit about herself.”  Then, she shook your shoulder softly, “There he is.  Go talk to him now.”  

You looked up, seeing the crown of golden hair that you’ve grown to love so much.  Draco practically glowed in the soft glow of the lights, laughing at something his friends said.  Nudging you up slightly, your friend asks, “Want me to come with?”  Shaking your head softly, you declined, “I need to talk to him and I’m pretty sure if I bring you you’ll just glare at him intensely like a lion waiting to pounce.”  Chuckling softly she replied, “Well if you need help just yknow shout and I’m ready.”  She mimed punching someone then as if feeling your nerves, she softly gripped your hand, “It’ll be fine.  Seriously, I can tell how much he’s changed since he’s been with you.  When he looks at you he looks like he is staring into the face of God, like he’s head over heels for you.”  Nodding you gripped her hand back for comfort before letting go to talk to Draco.  His head lifted up as soon as he saw you, a smile forming on his lips immediately at the sight of you, eyes widening like a puppy seeing his owner come home all he needed was a tail.  A girl at the table said something, immediately causing Draco to give an intense glare that if looks could kill you know her head would’ve toppled off and flown twenty feet into next Tuesday.  He stood up walking up to you and grasping your hand in his, “Hey, darling.  I didn’t get to see you yesterday.”  His blue eyes seemed to glow and change colors under the lights as you were drawn towards the comfort of his arms.  “I’m sorry I was kind of tired.”  He nodded as you continued, “Ummmm...are you busy?  We need to talk.”  His face seemed to contort between being worried and trying to keep a smile on.  Looking over his shoulder, he said, “Hey, be right back!”  before turning again to give a final soft glare.  

He took your hand in his leading you out into the hallway before finding a staircase.  “Is something wrong?”  he asked before worry creased his eyebrows even more, “Did I do something, love?”  Breathing to keep your voice from cracking you burst out quickly, “Are you embarrassed of me?” His face turned into utter confusion as he looks to your face, “Embarrassed?  What do you mean, darling?  Why would I be embarrassed?”  Hands trembling you hold his gaze, biting back tears, “I-I just” taking another deep breath you continued, “Pansy told me that you invited her to your family Christmas dinner.  But not me?  Did you not want your parents to see me?”  Draco’s mouth turns into a tight line, confirming your suspicions slightly before he places a hand on your cheek and sighed audibly, “That Pansy...I’m going to-” sighing and ruffling his perfectly gelled hair he continued, “I would never be embarrassed of you, you’re amazing...there’s no better words to describe you besides that you are the love of my life. I didn’t invite her I was asking her how I should invite you because...because we’ve been dating and of course I want you to meet my parents.”  His eyes meet yours briefly before skirting away to look at your hands, “I was afraid it would make you nervous to meet them since they’re not...they’re not the-”  His shoulders slump as he hears a soft sniffle from you, “I suggested she come with one of your friends to ease the dinner process and...and then you could stay the night…”  His hands were picking at each other as if he was having a very intense thumb war with himself, “I understand if you don’t want to come over or even spend the night it might be rushing-”  Cutting him off with a chaste kiss to the lips you smile grabbing his hands in yours, “You’re going to have bloody fingers doing that...Draco, my love, I would love to come over for dinner and...and spend the night.”  A smile spreads across his cheeks quickly as you continue, “We’ve been together for two years I definitely don’t think we’re rushing things and you’ve already met my parents it’s about time I meet yours...even if they don’t like me.”  He places a kiss on your forehead, pushing hair from your face as you opened your mouth to continue, “I do have one condition though.”  He raised his eyebrows in response, prompting you to continue, “Hermione gets to be my plus one.”  Draco’s mouth stutter softly, “Granger?  Why not any of your other friends?”  You smile softly, “Number one because if I brought any of my other friends we might have a full-on war at your house and you know that, especially knowing your father, my friend might bite his head off. Also, I love Hermione and I want her to come if she wants to.”  Draco nodded his head, knowing that your first point was very true, once when one his friends made a side comment about your appearance because you had decided to wear more fitting clothes and before Draco could respond your best friend immediately sent a fist flying his way and he learned from a broken nose not to mess with you.  From then on it was as if they had a silent agreement that they both loved you and would let no one harm you.  You kissed his cheek, rubbing your nose against his slightly before pulling away, “Alright, it’s decided then.  I’m spending Christmas with you and then we’re going back to my house the next day to bake cookies?  My mother misses you she thinks you’re an angel.”  Rolling your eyes softly as Draco chuckled you followed with, “I swear on Godric’s balls that she loves you more than me.  I’m pretty sure she wants us to get married just so you can be her son.”  Draco’s eyebrows perked up slightly as you realized what you’d said as he smiled softly with a glint in his eyes, “So, you talk about marrying me at home?”  Punching his shoulder you snorted, “Noooo…..”  As he laughed, “Speaking of marriage I think I’d like to have a daughter-”  Punching his arm slightly you kissed his lips, “Don’t get ahead of yourself pretty boy we’ve got a long ways to go before we think of kids, but if we did I think two is a good number.”  Draco’s eyes lit as he smiled softly at you, light reflecting off his hair making him look ethereal.  His forehead touched yours as he whispered, “I love you, y/n and I promise I’ll forever be yours.”  Eyes tearing up softly you smiled, “I love you too, Draco...ugh you’re making me cry.”

  Safe to say dinner went as well as could during Christmas with Hermione being as polite as possible and as soon as Draco’s father made a comment you and Hermione immediately went to town on putting him in his place.  This must’ve impressed him as he bit back any comments he said for the rest of dinner and made peace with you.  

The next day, your mother immediately went to Draco as she gave him a big hug, “Mom, just in case you forgot I’m your daughter.”  Draco laughed as your mother waved you off affectionately and he kissed your mom’s hand, “Honey, just wait I got dinner prepared for you.  I’m sure you’re hungry from traveling.”  Your dad came around to get your bags as he gave you a side hug, “He’s a good one, that boy.  In case the day comes, I want you to know I’m okay with you marrying him.  Don’t let him know though I want him to work for it.”  Laughing you linked arms with your dad, “He is a good one.  I love him, dad, like I really do.”  He patted your  shoulder watching as Draco was walking into your house arm linked with your mom as he turned and smiled at you, “I know sweetheart, and if I know anything about love I can tell that he’d do anything for you.”  Your mom peeked her head out the door, “Hurry up, y/n!  You’re letting the food get cold!”  “Okay, okay mom!”  Baking cookies with Draco was amazing as he helped...well if you call rubbing flour over your face helping.  Nonetheless, the cookies tasted amazingly perfect as your mother pulled you to the side before everyone was heading to bed.  “You know, honey...can I tell you something?”  Nodding you let her continue, “That boy...that boy is in love with you.  He stares at you like you’re his sunshine, I mean he could not take his eyes off you all night”  She sighed contentedly as she hummed softly walking off to bed, “Goodnight honey, and tell my future son-in-law good night too.”  Draco came around the corner as he said, “Good night, mom.”  If your mother cried any harder it would’ve been the most embarrassing night of your life second to when you threw up on your best friend after having one too many desserts at the Yule Ball.

[amethystroselilith]

Intertwined Fates (Chilumi/Zhonglumi) - Chapter 3

Uni is still hell ngl .-.

Can be read in ao3 here 

SUMMARY: Lumine feels like everything's falling right back into place as she looks forward to hers and Ajax's new chapter of their lives.The past stays in the past, right?

WARNING: Please be informed about the change of rating! This chapter includes ChiLumi smut, er, I'm not used to writing smut so I hope this one turned out fine... I'm more of a fluff writer but I wanna write new things :)

“Wow, sis, getting married twice while your older brother had never even popped the question to anyone.” Aether whistled after Lumine told him about her engagement, “A really beautiful ring too.” he was holding Lumine’s hand, observing the jewellery.

Lumine had already told her twin all about what happened on the very same day she got engaged, however, they didn’t really talk too long cause 1) Aether was out shopping with Keqing and 2) Ajax wanted to pull Lumine back into their little bubble again.

They are currently preparing for the day, Aether prepping the fresh fruits for their baked goods’ filling and toppings, while Lumine take notes of the special orders due for the day.

Lumine smiled warmly as she looked at the ring, “It was crafted by Ajax’s parents. I mean, it’s still annoying what Mom did, but at the same time… It just… I mean… It’s like…”

Aether smiled softly at how giddy his sister is acting, he never seen her this excited ever since… she started dating Zhongli. He never doubted his sister’s love for Ajax, but he could see the slight anxiousness in her eyes behind her smile when she announced they’re dating. Aether was worried he gave her bad advice about following her heart, but seeing the glow her sister is emitting, he can rest easy.

“Everything’s going to be alright again?” Aether finished for her.

“Yeah.” her face turned soft, “I love him so much,” she whispered as she held her hand to her chest, softly caressing the ring.

“Looks like I have to wait until I can propose to Keqing.” Aether chuckled, putting fresh fruits on a bowl for later use.

Lumine tensed at the realisation, “Oh my god… Were you…? Aeth, I’m so sorry…” she squeaked a bunch of apologies before Aether stopped her.

“Nah… Not really, I was just thinking about it though,” Aether said before sighing, “But then Keqing announced about a big business project and you know how she is, she’s going to be so busy for months.”

Lumine hummed, knowing full well of her brother’s workaholic girlfriend, “Well, it can be a nice little surprise after.” she suggested as she started lining up cupcakes for their displays later.

“I suppose so,” Aether thought about it, “but I guess I’ll start worrying about that when the time comes.” he shrugged.

“Knock, knock!” a cheery voice arrived.

“Xiangling, hey.” the twins greeted with a smile.

“Was there something wrong with the desserts we delivered?” Lumine asked.

Xiangling’s restaurant was just beside them, which gave Xiangling the great idea of working together, the twins share their desserts with her, she makes café meals for them. Xiangling, however, is usually very busy during work hours, only coming to visit when something is urgent.

“Oh, no, they’re amazing as usual!” Xiangling walked to Lumine, Guoba hanging on her back, before giving her a big hug, “Just want to say congrats to your engagement!” 

Lumine’s eyes widened, “A-ah, how did you know?” 

Xiangling looked at her with a confused expression, “Your mom posted a picture of her and Qiqi playing with a caption, ‘Spending time with my beautiful grandbaby to give her mother and my future son-in-law a break’. The last part is kinda weird if you ask me, but the comments are full of congratulations to the newly engaged couple so I assumed…” 

The twins sighed, of course, their mother wouldn’t respect their privacy. Lumine wondered what would’ve happened if they didn’t actually become engaged, but Lumine knows this is probably her mother’s doing of pushing her into it. She's glad she made the choice for herself.

“I was hoping to ask everyone to dinner at your restaurant so Ajax and I can announce it ourselves but it looks like mother beat us to it.” Lumine sighed but smile after, “But thanks, Xiangling! I appreciate you coming here just for me.” she said after giving her a hug, giving Guoba pats when he whined for it.

“Well, also wanted you to know that we hold wedding receptions too. I hope we’re fancy enough for your mother.” Xiangling teased.

“With your face and restaurant all over the news, I’m sure mother will be kissing your ass when she sees you.” Aether snickered.

“Well, she may do that, but if she ever did something out of the line to you guys, I won’t hesitate to fight her,” Xiangling said with a serious expression, Guoba growling to add effect.

“Thank you, guys.” Lumine chuckled.

“Much appreciated.” Aether smiled, “Here, have some Pie Mon, on the house.” 

Xiangling’s eyes sparkled, Guoba drooling behind her, “Oh my god, you know I can never resist this. I’ll be sending something extra special for your lunch!” she grinned before taking the dessert, “Well, I should head back to prep work, can’t leave Dad alone in the kitchen because he always ends up terrorizing the whole staff.” 

“Of course, of course.” Lumine chuckled, “Thanks, Xiang!” 

They all said their goodbyes before Xiangling left.

“Speaking of staff, do you think it’s time to promote…” Aether began talking about their staff members as they work.

The door once again opened, and Lumine can’t help freeze when she was met with cold eyes.

“I guess you’re finally replacing my brother,” Xiao stated coldly before taking his eyes off her and starting on doing his share of prep work.

It received a glare from Aether and a frown from Lumine.

While Xiao has always been quiet and reserved, he and Lumine had become close when she started dating Zhongli. Xiao had always been protective of Zhongli but after seeing how much she affected her brother, how much happier and brighter she made him, Xiao can’t help but love and respect her as well. They became close, and Xiao treasured that bond.

When his brother died, Xiao tried his best to be Lumine’s rock, it’s what his brother would like, but Xiao was grieving as well, it wasn’t an easy task to stay strong for himself and his sister-in-law, so he was glad Ajax was keeping them both afloat. Ajax was someone Xiao respects as well, he was there for him and his brother, helping them every way he can. Xiao thinks his brother is blessed with Ajax and Lumine.

That was until Xiao started seeing some things changing.

How their touches aren’t platonic anymore.

How Ajax’s kisses aren’t playful anymore.

How Lumine’s heart isn’t with Zhongli anymore.

Xiao felt sick when they announced their relationship, while their friends congratulated them, he excused himself, left them and went to Zhongli’s tomb. He felt so angry, he ranted how Ajax betrayed him, how Lumine replaced him, how unfair it is for everyone to just forget about him. And then he started sobbing, crying about how he felt so alone ever since Zhongli left him.

It was different ever since that day, while he tried to stay civil, even tried acting friendly as they interact with work, Xiao just can’t help but feel bitter and angry every time Ajax would visit Lumine. He knows they talked about it, knows Lumine asked Ajax to tone down the affection when he’s around. That’s just how Lumine is, putting others before herself.

‘Shame it didn’t apply to Zhongli.’ he thought bitterly.

“Xiao, Zhongli would want Lumine to be happy,” Aether stated, receiving a pleading look from Lumine to let it go.

“I’m sure he’ll be way happier knowing he wasn’t replaced.” Xiao simply stated, not looking at anything but what he was doing.

Aether was about to defend Lumine, but his twin stopped him.

Lumine sighed, “Xiao, I know you don’t agree with Ajax’s and mine’s relationship, but please never say I replaced Zhongli.”

Xiao glared at her with a hiss, “But you did-”

“Zhongli has a place in my heart, and he always will.” Lumine looked at him straight in the eye, “I love your brother so much, and I will forever.” she said, “It’s just there are some things we can’t help.” she sighed, “I have to admit, I was unsure of being with Ajax before, but as I come to terms of accepting my feelings, it made things so much better. He helped me get back on my feet again, take care of Qiqi, make me feel happy again. There are just some things we can’t control, but that doesn’t mean we’re replacing Zhongli.” 

Deep inside, Xiao knows that, he’s just having a hard time accepting it.

Xiao broke the eye contact, sadness replacing the anger.

Lumine put down her utensils, before walking to Xiao. He flinched away when she tried to touch him.

“Xiao, you may hate us for that, but please remember that Zhongli will always have a place in our hearts. Also please remember that you have a place in our home as well,” she said softly, making Xiao look at her.

Lumine smiled, “We’re family, and we always will be. Just because Zhongli is gone, it severed our bond, you know? You’re still a brother to me, and I’m sure Ajax feels the same way.” 

Xiao stayed quiet, but he didn’t move when Lumine tried to pull him to a hug.

“I miss him,” Xiao said quietly.

~~~

“Will he be alright?” Ajax asked in worry, an arm folded behind his head while the other wrapped around his fiancée.

“I didn’t receive any cold treatment after, though he is a bit hesitant when approaching me. I guess we should still tone it down whenever he’s around, Aether also suggested an outing for us, make sure Xiao remembers that he’s still part of our family even without Zhongli. For now, Chongyun said he and Xingqui will cheer him up.” Lumine said fingers playing with Ajax’s shirt.

This had always been part of their routine, after putting Qiqi to sleep, the two of them will just cuddle on their bed, talking about their day or anything really.

“Hm, I feel a bit guilty for not contacting him often. He seemed to despise me ever since we came out, but I guess it’s also time for us to have a talk about it.” Ajax sighed as he remembered the angry glare he managed to catch from Xiao before he left. 

“We can’t really blame him. Zhongli was the one who raised and cared for him, so it’s just natural he’s very loyal to him and can’t stand the thought of his brother being replaced. I already talked to him about it, but I think it’s going to take a bit of time for  him to understand that.” 

The atmosphere suddenly felt so heavy, as usual, whenever Zhongli becomes the subject of whatever they’re talking about. Despite their assurance that they’re not replacing Zhongli, there’s still the lingering guilt deep within them that resurfaces when it comes to Zhongli and their relationships.

Sensing this, Ajax stirred the conversation to a much lighter topic, “Xingqiu’s all over the news today.” he said talking about Xiao’s roommate who’s a rising author, “Looks like he finally has his breakthrough.” he chuckled.

“Oh yeah, our customers were also talking about it. I should purchase one soon actually.” Lumine hummed, “Speaking of which, by the way, we need to help them look for another apartment.” she added with a sigh, “Razor said it was the 8th time Bennett almost burned down the whole building and the tenants just can’t take it anymore.” 

“...Didn’t they just move in there a month ago?” 

“...Yep…” 

Ajax chuckled, “To be honest, at this point, I think it’s more practical to just buy or rent a house lot more than a condominium building.” 

“That’s what I told them, I’m pretty sure they’ll look into it considering it’s the fifth time they’ve been evicted this year… and we haven’t even reached half of the year yet.” 

They stayed quiet for a while, just enjoying each other’s presence.

Ajax’s soft breathing was lulling Lumine to sleep, that was until she felt the hand on her waist start playing with the waistband of her shorts, a finger playfully circling around the skin under it.

“So... I made sure I locked the door this time.”

Lumine can’t help but laugh at that. 

Last time, they were in the middle of an intimate moment. Both so close to their peak and desperate to reach it, Ajax can’t help but feel lost in the pleasure as he listened and watched Lumine, that was until the sound of a doorknob turning joined the sounds of skin slapping skin.

Both are thankful for Ajax’s fast reflex, quickly grabbing the covers to hide him and Lumine, just in time a sleepy Qiqi reveals herself, having been woken up by a nightmare. The blonde had quickly grabbed her robe that was hanging from their bed’s headboard, grabbing whichever undergarment she could find, which happened to be Ajax’s boxers, before taking care of their daughter.

Lumine ended up sleeping in Qiqi’s bedroom and Ajax had to spend the night with his right hand. 

Not a great experience if Ajax is being honest.

“Really now?” Lumine teased, but not stopping Ajax from laying her on her back as he towers over her.

“I mean, why not?” Ajax hummed, gently attacking the spot on Lumine’s neck that makes her weak.

“Wasn’t complaining,” Lumine murmured gasping when he starts nibbling on the spot.

Ajax hummed approvingly, “In that case, allow me.” he whispered in her ear before she felt his hands tugging her shirt off. 

He pulled away for a bit, releasing another pleased hum as he admired his future bride. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Ajax said softly, hand gently caressing her cheek before kissing her lips, deepening the kiss to further express how he feels about her. 

Lumine’s arms found their way around Ajax’s neck, a hand going to his hair while the other tracing shapes on his back.

“Off.” Lumine breathed out as soon as they pulled away, a hand impatiently tugging on his shirt. 

“Whatever my lady wants.” Ajax chuckled before pulling his shirt off.

Smaller hands began exploring his abs, tugging him back for a kiss. 

Ajax began trailing kisses to the spot on her neck, sucking and biting just enough to leave a mark before heading to her collarbone, giving it the same marking treatment. 

Lumine shivered at the sensation, much more so when she felt a hand rubbing her side, “Ajax…” she moaned when the hand explored further up, gently cupping a breast. 

“Ajax!” she squeaked, back arching when he suddenly gave her nipple a pinch, feeling her core heat up as the shot of pain turned into pleasure. 

After leaving another mark, Ajax made his way to her other breast, kissing around the nipple before paying attention to the stiff bud. Lumine arched her back at Ajax’s touches, mewling softly as she buried her hands in his hair, tugging softly when she felt him grazing his teeth on the sensitive flesh. 

Ajax could never be tired of the sweet noises Lumine makes, especially when she uses his name. 

Wanting to hear more from his beloved, he began trailing kisses down to her stomach, his thumbs hooked on the waistband of her short, sliding them off her smooth legs with her underwear. 

He sat up, his eyes turning a darker shade of blue, tongue slipping out to lick his lips as he admired the blonde goddess once again.

She was breathing harshly, face and body flushed as she stared back at him, her own eyes matching the lust with his’. 

“Lumine…” he moaned, before diving in for a kiss, moving his hands to cup a breast each. 

Lumine groaned as he tugged on her nipples, her head and back arching a bit, giving Ajax a perfect opening to assault the other side of her neck. 

Ajax decided to mark more of her skin as his lips began exploring her chests, leaving a mark once in a while. He stopped at the area just below her breasts, his hands sliding down to her legs as he sat up to admire his work. 

Just when he thought his lover couldn’t look any more perfect…

His dick throbbed painfully at how enticing Lumine looks full of his marks. Possessiveness flowing through him and urging him to mark his territory more. 

He was about to, but Lumine gave out a needy whine with an arch of her hips, feeling hot and bothered when his hands were grabbing her waist, thumb circling her hip bones when it could be working on another part of her. 

“Getting impatient, aren’t we?” Ajax teased as if his hardness isn’t begging to be buried in her. 

“Just need you.” she whined at the ache of her core lacking attention, “Please.”

And that was all Ajax needed to hear before he moved a hand between her legs, gently tracing her wet slit before he began rubbing her clit with two of his fingers. 

Lumine gave out a sigh of relief before moaning softly, tugging Ajax back to her to crash their lips together. He swallowed her moans when his fingers slid down to enter her, slowly pumping them in and out, making her roll her head back on her pillow as she bucked her hips, urging her lover to go faster. 

Ajax did not disappoint, curling his fingers at the spot he knew so well that would drive Lumine crazy. His mouth began marking all over her neck and chest again as he picked up the pace of his fingers, groaning softly when he felt her clenching around him, imagining how great it would feel around his cock. 

“A-Ajax… I-I’m gonna…” she panted out, hips grinding back against his fingers as she chases her climax. 

His thumb reached for her clit, intensifying her pleasure as she released more of the noises Ajax loves so much. 

He left her chest to look up at her, watch her come undone on his touch, “Go on, love. Come for me.”

And with the last curl of his fingers against that spot, Lumine’s eyes widened, hips spasming as she released the pleasure that they built up. 

Lumine’s pleasured expression and the way her cunt tightened around his fingers almost had him coming. He pulled his fingers out of her, removing the last of his clothing and wrapping the hand that was inside Lumine around his erection, coating it with her juices as he stroked himself for some relief. 

Once Lumine had recovered from her orgasm, she gently pulled Ajax, making him lay beside her. She grabbed him for another deep kiss, her hand on his shoulder moving down to his chest, abs, then to his hard on, replacing his hand with her own much to Ajax’s appreciation.

It was her turn to swallow his moans as she began to stroke him at a good pace. Ajax pulled away from a kiss, groaning appreciatively when Lumine tugged him in that particular way. Instead of chasing his lips back to hers, Lumine decided to explore the expanse of his chest, giving him some marks of her own, his skin isn’t easily bruised as hers so she couldn’t match the number of marks he left on her neck and chest. 

She’ll just have to make it up by marking up his back later with her nails.

“Lumine…” Ajax hummed in anticipation as he watched Lumine made her way down to his cock, eyes locked on each other’s when she hovered over his tip.

Ajax swallowed, biting his lip as he adjusted his position, he always loved watching her take him. His hand reached up to caress her cheek, feeling her lean into his touch before moving his hand to her hair, nudging her closer to his aching prick as an encouragement.

She didn’t disappoint as her tongue slid along the slit, making him thrust in her warm wet mouth. He released a sigh of relief as she immediately went right up to work, bobbing her head up and down, tongue swirling around the tip when she reached it. 

Ajax is a gentleman. He really is. 

But as he watches and feels Lumine hungrily sucking his cock, not to mention the way her eyes seemed to be waiting and begging despite the unshed tears that are beginning to build up whenever she takes him down her throat, Ajax just can’t help but grab her hair and push her down as he thrusts his hips up.

“Fuck!” he hissed as he felt her swallow and tightened around him, moaning loudly when he felt the vibrations from the pleased moan she’s making. 

Turned on, Lumine could feel her core aching again, making her sneak a hand between her thighs, teasing her clit a little bit before dipping two fingers between her folds, trying to match Ajax’s pace as she imagines and anticipates for his cock to be buried in her later.

The sensation and visual is just enough for Ajax to desperately fuck into her mouth, the wet choking noises egging him on to his release. 

“I’m… I’m gonna…” he panted as tried to stop himself from being rougher than he already is. 

Lumine hummed, looking at him with pleading eyes to give it to her.

And who is Ajax to deprive her of that?

With one final deep thrust, he spilt in her throat.

After making sure to swallow every drop of him, Lumine pulled away, wiping the excess with the back of her hand and a satisfied smile. Ajax released a groan before pulling her on top of him, grabbing her hand that was still buried inside of her. They gave her wet fingers a brief look before looking at each other’s eyes and with a smirk from Ajax, he took her fingers in his mouth, moaning at her taste as his tongue greedily swirls around the digits, “Delicious.” he licked his lips after releasing her fingers with a pop.

“Ajax…” she whined when she felt him harden again, his tip teasing sliding against her slit at their current position, “Please…” she gasped out when he reached down to continue rubbing himself between her folds. 

Ajax flipped them over so he was on top, kissing Lumine again as he slowly entered her. They pulled away with a groan, Lumine from the pressure and Ajax from the tightness. As a petite woman, Ajax tries to be patient as he waits for her to adjust to his rather sizable length. It usually takes Lumine a while to get used to being full of him, even if they made love a couple of times already. 

Ajax kissed the tears from her face, “You’re doing great, baby… such a good girl…” he showered her with praises, groaning quietly as her nails scratch on his back. 

Once he felt her hold on him loosened, he slowly pulled back, only retrieving a small inch of himself before pushing in again at the same pace, hoping the shallow thrusts could help her adjust quicker as his resolve to just not ram himself inside her slowly wither away.

Luckily for them, Lumine doesn’t mind a bit of pain in her pleasure as she daringly thrusts up to meet him, making them both moan.

Ajax cursed under his breath before taking it as a signal to pull farther back before sharply thrusting in.

Lumine gasped, clawing her lover’s back as she tried to keep up with him, it didn’t take long for her to fall behind though, letting Ajax take control as she took it like a good girl.

As Ajax began to feel confident he wouldn’t hurt her, his thrusts became stronger, pulling almost all the way out before slamming back inside, losing control of himself as he listened to Lumine’s cries of pleasure.

He hissed when Lumine started biting his shoulder, whether to mark him or quiet her cries, he doesn’t care, he loves being marked as Lumine as much as he loves marking her.

“Lumine… feels so good inside you…” he panted between his thrusts, getting lost in the pleasure of her cunt gripping him as if greedily trying to suck him back in whenever he pulls back.

Lumine just mewled in pleasure, failing to form coherent words when Ajax is hitting her spot dead on, causing her to tighten, and at one particularly sharp thrust against that spot, she screamed his name, nails digging through his back as she came, her hips and cunt spasming around him. 

“Fuck, Lumine… I’m coming…” he moaned in her ear, being careful not to spill inside her.

Lumine seemed to have other plans though, once she felt Ajax readying himself to pull out and spill himself between her legs like he always does, she locked him in place with her legs.

“Baby, I don’t think I can last much longer,” Ajax warned as he gave her a look.

Lumine pulled him closer so her mouth was against his ear, “It’s okay… Don’t you think it’s about time Qiqi gets a playmate anyway?”

Ajax gasped, his eyes widening at Lumine’s words. 

The thought of Lumine pregnant with his child was just enough for him to give one final thrust, burying himself as deep as he can before releasing his seed.

Lumine gasped, whining out his name as she felt him fill her up. It was enough to send her over the edge again. 

Ajax can’t remember if he ever came this hard before, or felt something as amazing as now. He had always pulled out before, respecting Lumine’s wishes to avoid getting pregnant. While this obviously won’t get Lumine knocked up immediately, Ajax can’t help but feel elated that Lumine wants to expand their little family.

Once he’s done, he slowly pulls out, laying beside Lumine before wrapping his arms around her waist, “I love you so much.” he declared before kissing her forehead, “But… are you… are you really…? That wasn’t just something to get me off, right?” 

Lumine chuckled as she turned to her side to look at him, “Nah, I just miss feeling pregnant.” she teased.

“Mm, I can definitely help you with that.” Ajax grinned, the thought already filling him with excitement. He may or may not be growing hard again as he pictures Lumine and her belly swollen with his children.

Lumine laughed before moving closer, “In all seriousness though, yeah, I think it would be nice to give Qiqi some siblings, no? I’ve always wanted 4 kids.”

“Hm, I kinda want more… Wanna compensate and bump that up to 10?” Ajax grinned.

“Ajax!” Lumine gasped with wide eyes.

“What? I originally wanted 20.” he laughed at her horrified look, “I’m kidding, I think 4 is a great number. Though, I know you won’t be able to resist me- ow!” he flinched when she pinched her but still laughed after.

“You’re such a dick.”

“You love my dick.”

“Okay, that’s it, I’m sleeping in the guest room.” 

“Can you walk though?”

“...Fuck you…”

“Sure, let’s get to work on those babies.”

“Ajax!” 

Ajax burst out laughing, “Okay, I’m sorry, you’re just so adorable to tease.” he said before pulling her close to kiss her pout away.

Lumine just huffed but smiled, she just loves this man so much. Tiredness came to her soon, with a yawn, she made herself comfortable on his chest, “Hm, you’re lucky I love you so much.” hummed before tiredness took over her.

Ajax smiled softly, placing a soft kiss on her hair, 

“I definitely am.” 

~~~

He stumbled as he runs.

How could he not? He felt like he’d been running for eternity non-stop. 

But how could he not? The mysterious woman is growing closer and closer as he forced himself to run as fast as he can. She doesn’t seem to feel unreachable anymore, she just stays there as if waiting for him.

And as her face became clearer and clearer, how could he not want to run into her inviting open arms and that warm smile on her lips?

“You’re almost there.” 

His golden eyes widened at the sound of the voice, and for reasons he couldn’t understand, he grew desperate, ignoring his own harsh breathing as his lungs struggle to keep up with him, ignoring the tears falling from his eyes as he starts to feel the chains that had been weighing him slowly disappear every time she grew closer.

“You can do it.” she encourages, “You’re almost home.”

Home.

Closer and closer she grew.

“Welcome home, my love.” 

He jumped into her arms.

Everything all went white.

.

.

.

“...Doc… Doc, he’s finally waking up!”

[hurricanery]

If You Went Away - pt. 1

A/N: This story is going to be multiple parts. Inspired by this prompt, this prompt & a couple other prompts requesting Amelink fighting & Scout kind of wrapped up in the middle of it. I’m getting a lot of requests for angst and I’m down with writing angst soooo here we go- I put my own twist on it for the purpose of making it multiple chapters and it kinda ended up more depressing than I intended yikesssss. But also, I promise it gets better/more positive. I made Scout a little older in this story (age 5).

_______

Listen here, listen close

You’re the one I love the most

And if you went away

I don’t know what I’d do

_______

(one year ago)

“You should go,” Amelia mumbles, as she lays in bed, facing Link.

Link raises his eyebrows, frowning slightly. “I don’t understand,” he speaks slowly. “What changed?”

Amelia furrows her brows, perplexed. “Well nothing changed, technically, I-”

“When I was first offered this job….before Scout was even born,” Link interrupts. “We decided, together, that there were more important things in our lives.”

“Yeah….” Amelia draws out her response. “And I agreed with you then, I guess. But,” she pauses, reaching over to give Link’s bicep a squeeze. “They offered it again. I….just feel like when an opportunity presents itself more than once….there’s more to consider. It has to mean something, right?”

Link just looks at her blankly. There’s a brief silence before Amelia speaks again.

“It’s the Seattle Mariners,” she smiles encouragingly, “It’s your dream job.”

Link nods in agreement. And Amelia tries to ignore what that does to her. Because, even though she’s being encouraging, she knows what underlying feelings are truly there. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, it’s her own guilt that’s causing her to feign encouragement right now. Her own guilt and fear that she’s trapped him here, in this relationship. In this city. In this job. That when she got pregnant in the first place, she’d rushed them into things and forced a relationship. Forced a lifestyle.

She quickly tries to shake her thoughts. Thinking of anything that will make her feel better about this. Anything that will feel like compromise. “It’s only temporary,” she decides. “It’s not like you’ll be gone forever.”

“Right,” Link agrees, reaching forward to tuck a stray piece of hair behind Amelia’s ear. “Temporary.”

_______

(6 months ago)

‘It’s not like you’ll be gone forever’

Amelia chuckles bitterly at the memory as she walks from her ER consult. It had been 6 months and Link was still away from them, completely consumed by his travel schedule as the Mariners’ team surgeon. He’d come home about once a month, on a weekend, and spend as much time with Amelia and Scout as he could. But, it never felt like enough. Both parents couldn’t ignore the way Scout’s face would fall each Sunday night. When the weekend would close in on them and the knowledge of Link’s early flight out the next day would settle in.

The weekends become less and less. Link’s time allotted to return home becomes more scarce as unforeseen injuries happen on the team. They both know the effect it’s having on Scout.

“Hey, Amelia!” Maggie’s voice interrupts her thoughts as she walks into the attending’s lounge. “I was just going to grab lunch, wanna join me?”

“I’m supposed to FaceTime with Link in a minute, actually…” She trails off as a text message comes in from Link, confirming the call they are about to have.

“Isn’t he coming home this weekend? For Scout’s birthday?”

“Yeah,” Amelia breathes, but she can’t help the worried feeling creeping into her chest. Something about Link’s text seems off. “Yeah, he’s supposed to be.”

Maggie frowns, clearly recognizing Amelia’s distress.

And Amelia forces a smile, sighing deeply. “Well, I’m going to go call him.”

_______

Her intuition was right.

She tries to suppress the anger and resent that threatens to take over as she stares at her phone screen, listening to the words coming out of Link’s mouth. She feels like she’s only gathering certain pieces.

Something about ‘emergency surgery’

And ‘missing his flight’

And ‘I’ll make it up to him I promise’

“We can’t keep doing this to him,” She interrupts Link in the middle of his detailed explanation.

“I know,” he sighs back, through the phone.

“It’s his birthday,” Amelia’s voice almost breaks on the word. “He’s been talking about you all week. What am I supposed to tell him?”

“That I’m sorry,” Link quickly responds. “And I love you guys. And I’ll be home as soon as I can.” He regrets his words the moment he sees Amelia’s face fall in disbelief. Clearly not the response she had wanted.

“Amelia,” He continues. “I did get some good news today.”

“What’s that?”

“I got the approval from my boss. To have Scout with me this summer. When school gets out he can come to all the away games….like we’d planned. What do you think?”

Amelia nods numbly. This was always a part of the plan. They’d promised Scout a summer full of away games when his school break came around. It was something for him to look forward to.

“And you too, obviously,” Link adds. “Whenever your work schedule allows, of course. Think about it! The three of us out here travelling, it’ll be perfect! Everything we’ve wanted!”

Silence falls between them and Amelia zones out momentarily, subconsciously picking at the loose fabric of the couch she’s sitting on in the attending’s lounge.

She doesn’t realize she’s said anything out loud until she feels the shakiness of her own voice.

“I think we should take a break.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I think we should….separate. For a while.”

“Amelia…” Link frowns, trying to understand. “We are basically separate right now, we….we never see each other. Aren’t we already kind of-”

“Exactly,” she interrupts.

“I still don’t understand.”

“I think what you just said sums it up perfectly. We basically already are.”

“Yeah, but. This is temporary...I’m coming back. I’m-”

“I mean something a little more permanent.”

Link doesn’t say a word.

“I mean I don’t think I’ll be joining you guys this summer.”

_______

(summer - present day)

The door hesitates open and she’s glass before him. Hard, stoic, refusing to meet his eyes. She’s staring at his feet. Or maybe at the doormat, which ironically reads ‘welcome’ in all capital letters.

Link almost wants to laugh as he reads the word, glancing down at the ‘welcome’ mat, feeling anything but welcome. He almost wants to laugh, but he doesn’t.  And she’s clearly not in the mood to laugh either.

He can tell by the way that she’s not yet made eye contact that Amelia’s putting up a front. She’s glass. Detached and oh, so stoic.

She sniffs. And clears her throat. And Link reminds himself that glass is shatterable somewhere down the line.

“Hi Amelia,” he speaks. “It’s good to see you. How’ve you been?”

"Just fine. You?” Her voice sounds raspy as she answers him, like she hasn’t spoken properly in a while. Or maybe it’s been so long since he’s heard her voice, that Link doesn’t recognize it accurately. He quickly refutes that idea. Impossible.  

"Good.”

The eye contact they manage to hold is scarce, and Amelia darts her eyes away once again, clamping down on her bottom lip with a row of white teeth.

“So I, uh, I’ve packed up all of his things…” her sentence dwindles as she waits for a nod, or something, from Link.

“It’s all in the living room. There’s not much to do…..should be a quick exchange.” She mumbles, shuffling behind the door a little, an effort to let Link inside.

He takes a deep breath before he steps over the threshold.

Amelia clears her throat as she leads the way into the house. She nods toward the pile of Scout’s luggage in the corner. “Everything’s there,” she states plainly. She then turns the corner briefly, yelling up the stairs. “Scout! Come downstairs, your Dad’s here!”

Link watches curiously as he follows Amelia through to the kitchen. She reaches out for a jar of peanut butter and a spoon that’s already been sitting out, like she’d been snacking on it just before Link arrived.

“Really, Amelia?” Link chuckles, offering a small smile. “Peanut butter out of the jar? Is that your dinner?”

“I haven’t grocery shopped in while,” she mutters, mouth full. And Link picks up on a hint of a smile.

Silence fills the space between them as Link starts to gather up some of Scout’s belongings.

“I would’ve stopped and gotten pizza or something for you guys,” he offers, finally.

Amelia just frowns, shrugging off the idea.

“He’s going to get hungry during the car ride Ames-” he stutters on the nickname, then immediately corrects himself. “Amelia.”

He ignores whatever emotion waves across her features as a result of the nickname use. He thinks it might be shock. But then she’s speaking at him, her tone somewhere between disbelief and defensiveness.

“Why are you accusing me of….” She trails off briefly, frustrated at the direction of her thoughts. “Scout ate dinner an hour ago...you thought I just...wasn’t going to feed him? Or-”

“Can we not do this? Right now? Please?” Link cuts her off.

“Do what? I’m just saying-” She stops talking abruptly by the look on Link’s face. Clearly not in the mood to spend his time arguing.

“I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything,” he mutters calmly, hands raised in defense.

“Just pack up the car,” she whispers, suddenly entranced by the ingredients on the peanut butter packaging.

And Link does.

And Amelia busies herself with dishes as Link moves in and out of the house, loading luggage into his car.

_______

Link’s down to the last few items, heading to the front door, when Scout finally comes running down the stairs.

“Dad!” The 5-year-old yells excitedly.

He turns around just in time to witness his little man, having just jumped over the last few steps of the stairs, collapse against him, hugging himself to Link’s legs.

Link chuckles, setting down the stuff he was carrying. “Hey bud! I am so happy to see you! Look at you, you’re so big!”

Scout steps back, looking up at his Dad. “Mom said we get to go to baseball games all summer!”

“That’s true,” he ruffles Scout’s hair. “And…” He pauses for dramatic effect. “You get to meet the baseball players, too.”

Scout opens his mouth wide in excitement. There’s practically a sparkle in the kid’s eye and Link loves the sight of it. He has his mother’s eyes, and Link loves the sight of that, too.

“Want to help me finish loading up the car, bud?”

Scout nods enthusiastically, following his Dad outside.

The house is quiet now, and Amelia listens from the kitchen to the distant sounds of her son babbling excitedly outside. An aching feeling rises in her chest and she tries her best to suppress it. She pulls herself together and makes her way toward the front hallway.  Link re-enters the house with Scout trailing behind him moments later.

“You all packed up?” Amelia tries to sound excited as she asks Scout, but her voice just sounds thin and strained.

“Yep!” Scout replies, his energy radiating in such a way that he can barely stand still in his position on the front porch.

“Okay, then. Guess it’s time to go,” Amelia mutters.

And with that Scout takes off, sprinting towards the car eagerly and yelling back at his Dad. “Dad, come on! Come on let’s go!”

“Wait Scout, get back here!” Link yells after him. “Come say goodbye to your Mom first.”

But Scout is already inside the car, climbing into the backseat and mumbling enthusiastically to himself.

“Scout did you hear me?!” Link is starting to sound a little exasperated.  

Still no compliance from the young boy.

“Scout!”

“He heard you, he heard you!” Amelia interrupts, forcing a tight smile. Link looks back at her. “It’s fine, really. We already said goodbye.”

Link frowns. “Okay, but still-”

“Dad!” Scout suddenly yells from the car, interrupting them. “Can we get pizza on the way?!”

Amelia sucks in a breath. But then immediately tries to hide her pain, because this whole interaction just stings.

“Uhhhh,” Link draws out his reaction. “I’ll think about it, buddy. I know you already ate. So we’ll see-”

“Can you just go, please?” Amelia interrupts harshly, her head hanging low, in an attempt to hide her face.

Link frowns, taking in Amelia’s demeanor. Her neck is flushed and she’s clearly upset. And clearly trying to hide it.

“Amelia, I’m sorry,” he mumbles, reaching for her wrist.

He doesn't know why he does it. Muscle memory maybe. An attempt to comfort the woman that looks so breakable before him.

She recoils from his touch, snatching her wrist out of his grasp faster than he’d expect from someone seemingly so apathetic.

She finally looks at Link, and it practically kills him. The way her face twists when she’s trying not to cry.

“Please,” she rasps. “Please just go.”

And Link complies. Amelia wraps her trembling fingers around the door knob as Link goes to leave.

He steps out onto the porch, turning to face Amelia. He wants to say something. And by the look in Amelia’s stinging eyes, he needs to say something. He goes to open his mouth, not sure what’s going to come out, when Amelia swiftly shuts the door.

He stands there, frozen.

Long enough to hear the broken sob from the other side of the door.

Long enough to feel his heart sink, and for an ache to develop in the back of his throat.

But he turns around. He forces a smile on his face and walks toward the car, locking eyes with his bright-eyed son in the back seat. He walks away from Amelia.

_______

[girl-with-cat-eyes]

Sweeter Than Ice Cream

Summary: Virgil is feeling good about his body for once. Leave it to assholes to come along and ruin the feeling. Luckily his boyfriend is there to cheer him up.

Contains Thvi, mentioned Demus, mentioned Logicality, mentioned Rosleepmile, chubby trans Virgil, and mentions of bullying.

A/N: Alright the birthday fic is going up a bit late but who cares cause it's adorable. Really I just wanted something ridiculously sweet and comforting so here we are. And if people like it I can totally write more for this verse cause I already have tons of ideas.

~

"Hello handsome."

Virgil was getting his text books out of his locker when he felt a familiar pair of arms slide around his waist, a hand stopping to squeeze his round bottom before continuing on it's way. He smiled and turned around to greet their owner, giving his boyfriend a smile before he spoke. 

"Good morning to you too, beautiful." He wrapped his arms around Thomas' neck and him a kiss. "Glad you're here today, I was worried about you yesterday." 

Thomas gave an apologetic smile and pecked his nose before speaking. "I'm sorry Virge. I tried to text you, but I had a dentist's appointment yesterday." He flashed his freshly cleaned teeth in an exaggerated grin. "How are you today?" 

"Well let's see:", Virgil began to list off.", today is a friday, dad offered to make my lunch today which meant I got an extra half hour of sleep, I have leftover mac and cheese for lunch, today is a Friday, I'm having a sleepover with my amazing boyfriend tonight, and said boyfriend is holding me right now. So I'd say it's about as good as it gets. Not to mention I'm feeling more body confident than I have in months. How about you?"

Thomas smiled. "As perfect as possible. Especially now that I have you in my arms." He squeezed Virgil's sides gently. "And I'm glad you're feeling confident right now. You deserve to.", Thomas smiled at his boyfriend and took note of his clothing choice for today., "And you look great in what you're wearing, sweetheart. I mean you always look great, but you look adorable right now. I don't think I've seen you in something pastel since you got this."

Virgil blushed at the mention of his unusual outfit choice. While normally he wore baggy and dark clothes, not only to match his emo personality but to help deal with his insecurities about his weight and dysphoria, but today he'd felt confident and comfortable in his body and went with a different choice. He wore light purple overall shorts and a cute black top underneath along with knee high socks and purple chuck taylors. He'd finished off the look with a black heart choker and his usual makeup. He'd been excited to see Thomas' and his friends' reactions to him something so different from his usual style. 

"I liked how it looked on me and I wanted to wear it. Besides I thought it would be the perfect outfit for our sleepover tonight."  Virgil reluctantly pulled away from the hug to finish grabbing his textbooks, "I'm glad you like it. I was hoping you would." 

He felt arms wrap around him again and warm breath tickle his neck as Thomas leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "Well I like you in anything. Or nothing. Especially in nothing at all." He pressed a kiss behind Virgil's ear. 

Virgil held back a groan before shutting his locker and turning around. "You can't just say that when we have 10 minutes til class." 

"Fine. I'll tell you tonight while your parents are out. For now I'll ask you about the homework from yesterday." The pair made their way down the hallway to their first class. 

~

If Thomas had to pick a favorite part of school days it would have to be lunch. Not only because it served as a break between classes or because it was when he could finally eat, but because he shared a lunch period with his boyfriend. He got a solid half hour everyday to just sit with Virgil and spend time together. It was nice. 

Of course it would be nice if he hadn't drank an entire water bottle during his last period and was now rushing to the bathroom. He'd gotten lucky that the one closest to the cafeteria was empty and he didn't have to search for one. 

At least, he thought it was empty. Until he heard a sob coming from one of the stalls behind while he washed his hands. Thomad froze at the sound. He really should be meeting Virgil for lunch. But what if someone was hurt? What if they needed help? Fuck it, he thought, it couldn't hurt to ask if they're ok. 

"Hey?" He called. "Are you ok? Do you need me to get the nurse or something? It's my lunch period so I have the time." 

He heard a gasp and some movement before a familiar voice spoke. "Thomas?" 

Virgil. Shit. What could have happened in the time that they had been apart? Thomas rushed over to the stall and opened it to see his boyfriend curled up in a corner looking at him. His hurt beat painfully when he saw his black eye and bloody nose that Virgil was pressing toilet paper to. He felt a hot rush of anger when he saw that half of his face appeared to be covered in what looked like cake. 

Thomas grimaced and got up to wet some paper towels before setting to work with cleaning Virgil's face. Afterwards he pressed some more toilet paper to his bloody nose and sighed. "What happened?" 

Virgil kept his eyes down. "The usual shit. I went to use the bathroom and was ambushed. They said that they felt uncomfortable with me using the same bathrooms as them. That I'd probably try to force them to be gay. That freaks like me shouldn't be allowed in the school period. After that they beat the shit out of me." Virgil gestured to his bruised face. "And then they…. They brought a piece of cake with them. Said a whale like me would probably love it. And they shoved it in my face."

Thomas felt molten hot anger wash through him but pushed it aside for now. Virgil needed him. He stood up and pulled his boyfriend up with him. "Come on, Stormcloud.

"Where are we going?"

"Well first we're going to stop by Holy Cow's and get sundaes because you deserve something as sweet as you are. Then we're going to go to your place and call your dads to tell them what happened. And then we can cuddle and begin our sleepover early." 

Virgil raised an eyebrow at him. "And what about class? You've already missed yesterday." 

Thomas shrugged and held Virgil's hand as they left the bathroom. "I'll tell your uncle what happened and ask him to get our homework for us." Thomas knew that Virgil's uncle, the school drama teacher, Roman would be fine with it. He'd probably claim that what happened to his nephew was a huge offense and demand to know who did it. 

They signed themselves out for the day and got into Thomas' car. He made sure to send a text to Roman explaining what happened and asking him to get their homework for them. He received an almost immediate response saying of course and that he would be by after school with it and then they could tell him who it was. 

First stop was ice cream. Virgil ended up dozing in the car and Thomas didn't have the heart to wake him so he just went in by himself. Besides it wasn't like he didn't know Virgil's favorite sundae. His boyfriend was a chocolate lover from way back.

He smiled as he entered the shop. Some of his favorite memories were here. Coming here as a kid when he got a good grade, his dads taking him here on his birthday. He even went here with Virgil on their first date. He still remembered how nervous Virgil had been to eat anything around him at the time. It had taken forever to assure V that his weight was fine. It could still be a struggle, with Virgil's confidence fluctuating. But Thomas would never stop showing him how amazing and beautiful he was. 

Thomas shook off those thoughts and gave a wave to Remy, the shop's owner. Thomas looked at the menu vaguely even though him and Virgil always got the same thing. 

"Girl, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?" 

Thomas shrugged and gestured out to his car. "Virgil got beat up by some assholes so I'm taking him to get ice cream as a treat." 

 Remy crossed his arms and smirked, "Mmmhmmm. So where is my favorite customer?" 

Thomas gave a pretend shocked gasp, "I've been coming here as long as Virgil has." 

"Like I said he's my favorite customer.", Remy grabbed two styrofoam bowls, "The usual for both of you?" 

Thomas snorted and nodded, "Yep. He fell asleep in the car and I didn't want to wake him. So just me today.", Remy nodded and began making Thomas' birthday cake sundae and Virgil's chocolate brownie s'more sundae. 

"Well because this is comfort ice cream I'm giving you each an extra scoop. And it's on the house." Thomas went to object but Remy cut him off, "Hun, last time you were here you tipped twenty bucks. And the time before that you tipped ten. You've got some free ice cream points saved up. Enjoy it." 

Thomas sighed and put his wallet away before smiling, "Thank you. I figured this would be a good way to cheer him up. Worst part was he was feeling confident today too. I was so excited for him." 

Remy grimaced and went to roast two marshmallows for the ice cream in question, "That's how life is sometimes. You're feeling great and it kicks you where it hurts. But you just gotta be there for him now and hope his confidence stays up. And if not, be a confidence booster.", He finished off the sundaes with some hot fudge and caramel on Virgil's and rainbow sprinkles and cake crumbles on Thomas', topping both with whipped cream. 

Thomas nodded and took the ice cream gratefully, "Thank you. I'm sure Roman will tell you and Emile all the details later tonight.", With that he went back to the car and drove to Virgil's house. 

~ 

Virgil awoke to Thomas kissing his cheek and saying that they had to get out of the car. He blinked groggily before wincing at the feeling of his bruised eye and got up slowly., "Did you message my parents?", He asked through a yawn. 

Thomas nodded and picked up the ice cream containers before answering, "Yep. Remus is working late tonight at the hospital but Janus should be home at 5 and he said he'd get take out. And he wanted to talk about what happened." 

Virgil nodded and got out his key before letting them both in. He went to go to the kitchen but was stopped by Thomas who guided him to the living room. 

"What are you doing?" 

Virgil gestured to his eye., "I'm going to get some ice and painkillers." 

Thomas nodded and got up. "I'll do that. You sit and relax.", He was handed a cold styrofoam bowl. "Here's your sundae. I got your usual." Virgil smiled and Thomas headed into the kitchen. 

Virgil stared at the sundae on his lap hesitantly. Sure, it sounded great after the day he had, but did he really need it? He was fat enough as is without it. He could still hear those asshole's jeers in the restroom, calling him a whale and laughing when he fell. 

Before he could do anything though, Thomas came back and was handing him a water bottle and some painkillers and pressing some ice to his eye. Virgil gladly took several large drinks of water and went back to looking at the ice cream nervously. 

"Hey." Virgil looked at Thomas to see him giving him a concerned look.  "Whatever those assholes said about you… None of it is true. You're amazing and beautiful and your weight is fine. You deserve some ice cream after the day you've had."

Virgil winced internally. Dammit. He hadn't meant for Thomas to know how he was feeling. But that's just how Thomas was sometimes. He could take one look at Virgil and was able to figure out exactly what was bothering him and made it his mission to make him feel better. "It's just… Sometimes I think I would get so much of the bullying if I was thinner, y'know. And maybe I deserve it, cause I could probably do more to try to lose the weight. Like I could go on another diet-" 

"Like when you ended up passing out in gym class because you were malnourished?" Thomas interrupted him. Before Virgil could say anything else Thomas was pulling him onto his lap. He tried to do his best to not put any weight on him but Thomas wasn't having it. Virgil found himself tucked snugly in his boyfriends arms. "Babe you eat healthy and are decently active. And your doctor has said you're healthy even with your weight. I know firsthand that it can be hard to love yourself, but please… Never listen to those assholes. And if you're feeling insecure come to me. I'll always be willing to reassure you." 

Virgil was blushing and Thomas kissed each of his full, red cheeks. "Now I think we have some well earned ice cream and feel good movies waiting for us." Virgil nodded and snorted as Thomas put on Hairspray. 

He leaned up to kiss his boyfriend and took a bite of ice cream, moaning at the taste. "I love you." 

Thomas laughed and kissed Virgil back before grabbing his sundae as well.  "I can't tell if you're talking to me of the ice cream but I love you too." 

Virgil smiled and hummed along to the opening number and took another bite before speaking. "Both. I love ice cream because it's delicious and I love you because you're easily one of the best things to ever happen to me."

Thomas smiled and took a bite of ice cream and kissing him. Virgil could taste frosting and bits of vanilla cupcake on his lips. By the time they pulled away they were both breathing heavily. Virgil pressed several quick kisses on Thomas' face. And smiled. "I love you. So much." 

Thomas only responded by kissing him again with just as much intensity as before. Virgil smiled when Thomas finally pulled away and whispered. "I love you. I… I was going to give this you tonight, I figured that it would be the perfect time. And it still is of course I wanted you to be happier when I did it but… Will you go steady with me?" He held out a silver ring with a purple heart shaped gem. 

Virgil looked at him with a mixture of shock and happiness. "Really?" 

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck and gave an anxious smile. "Yeah. I know it's old fashioned but I thought it would be cute. I was talking to my grandpa about it and he said that going steady was supposed to be a promise that you wanted to spend forever together even if you weren't married yet. Of course back then people got married right out of high school. But I thought that that meaning was perfect for us. I want to spend forever with you, and obviously neither of us are ready for marriage." 

Virgil smiled and nodded rapidly at his boyfriend. "Of course. I'd love to go steady with you." Thomas put the ring on his finger and kissed his hand. "It's beautiful."

Thomas smiled. "I got it down at my cousin's shop. I thought it was perfect for you. And now that I'm seeing it I'm happy to report that I was right." 

Virgil smiled and made a mental note to go see Toby this weekend and pick out an equally beautiful ring for Thomas. For now however, he had a boyfriend to snuggle and movies to watch. He pulled Thomas closer and pressed several kisses before burrowing his face in his neck. 

By the time Janus, Roman, and Remus all burst in at once, the pair were asleep, the credits to the movie rolling unnoticed.

~

Tagging:

@forever-forgotten-angel, @anxiety-ismy-name

[rosieshipper]

Unconditional love

Summary: It’s the week leading up to the anniversary of Rose losing the love of her life. She desperately wants comfort from her parents but they’re too busy with a moody three year old Morgan

It was coming up on that time of year once more. The time of year that Rose dreaded the most. It was coming up on the anniversary of her girlfriend, Wanda’s dusting. Rose always kept track because the date of the day had forever burned itself into Rose’s mind. It’s a date that she’ll never forget. Even on the days leading up to the dreaded day, Rose was an irritable and emotional wreck and there was nothing she wanted more than to be comforted by her parents, Tony and Pepper. But unfortunately, that didn’t happen

Apparently she wasn’t the only one in the house that was incredibly irritable that week. Rose’s little sister, Morgan, was going through that awful phase that every toddler goes through. The phase where they throw tantrums over every little thing imaginable. So Tony and Pepper had their hands full trying to comfort and please her. For a short while in the beginning, Rose didn’t try to bother them since she knew that Morgan was a handful. She was grown up after all, she didn’t need to go running to mommy and daddy whenever she got sad. But as the days progressed and the date grew closer, it was becoming harder and harder

Waking up a few days before the date, Rose already felt sluggish and tired. She didn’t really sleep the night before, too afraid of having the same old nightmare she would always have this time of year. The one that would just replay that awful day in her mind over and over again. It also didn’t help that Morgan would wake up in off hours of the night, crying and demanding that she sleep in Tony and Pepper’s bed. Rose never felt any anger or resentment towards Morgan during the time. She knew she was only a toddler and didn’t know better. But her non stop crying and screaming was becoming too much on Rose’s already sensitive ears

“Rosie! Breakfast!” Rose heard her mother’s call from downstairs. At first, she didn’t want to get out of bed. She just wanted to curl up her blankets and put in her earbuds, block out the rest of the world. But she knew that she couldn’t. So she begrudgingly climbed out of bed and shuffled out the door and downstairs. As she walked into the kitchen, she saw Tony standing in front of Morgan in her high chair, trying to feed her some bananas and yogurt. But of course, she was throwing yet another tantrum, crying about how she wanted to eat chocolate pancakes for breakfast instead. Rose only huffed under her breath and put her earbuds in to try and block out the incessant noise

“Hey hunny. How did you sleep?” Pepper asked when she noticed her eldest daughter walking into the room, looking away from the stove. “Good.” Rose said simply, crossing her arms over her chest to try and warm herself up. She wished she was back under her blankets. “Well, we’re having eggs and bacon today. Would you mind grabbing the milk out of the fridge?” Pepper asked as she turned back to the stove to flip the bacon. Rose nodded slowly and walked over to the fridge to open it

When she reached inside and grabbed the jug of milk however, Morgan let out a particularly loud scream which caused Rose to flinch and drop the milk, causing it to burst open and spill everywhere. She stared down at the spilt milk on the floor, her breath hitching as she began to feel her eyes begin to sting with tears. “Shit..” She muttered under her breath as she went to get some paper towels to clean it up. As she got down on the floor to clean it up, her thoughts were racing a mile a minute. “God, how could I be so incompetent? I’m such a hot mess right now. Why am I getting so worked up over this? Stop crying already!”

Rose’s thoughts were then suddenly cut off when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw her mother standing over her. “Rosie, are you ok?” She asked gently as Rose paused her cleaning up. She didn’t know what to say. She wanted to dump everything that she had been feeling the past few days onto her. She would listen to her, right? But just as she was gonna say something, Tony called out to Pepper. “Peps, the eggs are burning!” He called when he smelled the subtle scent of burning. Pepper quickly stood up in response and returned to the oven to flip the now crispy eggs

Rose frowned to herself before turning back to clean up the rest of her mess. Shortly after she finished cleaning up, she joined Tony and Pepper at the table for breakfast. She didn’t say much and merely picked at her food, not really having much of an appetite. But, Tony and Pepper never picked up on her behavior. They just talked to each other and occasionally made sure that Morgan was eating her breakfast as well. “They don’t care about you.” Rose's thoughts told her, but she tried to shake them away. She knew they cared, they were just busy with Morgan that’s all

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Rose spent most of the day in her room. She was rather emotional throughout the day and didn’t want to cry in front of her parents. There were however a few points during the day where she tried to see if she could get to spend some time with her parents, hoping that maybe it would lift her spirits. But every opportunity would fail when Morgan would come in saying that she wanted to play with mom or dad. All of these wasted attempts to try and get at least a little attention from her parents made Rose feel even more lonely, upset, and especially irritated

The next few days were around the same thing. Each day, Rose would wake up feeling more exhausted from lack of sleep. Dark circles were beginning to form under her eyes and some mornings, she didn’t even get out of bed until around noon. She would just lay under the covers and cry quietly to herself. Throughout the day it was the same thing as well. Tony and Pepper giving Morgan all of their attention without even batting an eye in Rose’s direction. At that point, Rose was beginning to believe that they really didn’t care about her. She even snapped at Pepper while helping her make dinner all while Morgan screamed in the background about not wanting to eat her vegetables. It was just so noisy and irritating to the point where Rose was getting bad headaches. She thought it couldn’t get any worse until the fateful day finally came

It was an incredibly cloudy day, just right enough to match Rose’s mood. She didn’t want to get out of bed that day. Her emotions were just too out of control and she was at her ropes end. When Pepper called her down for breakfast, she gave the excuse that she wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to eat. She did the same thing for lunch. It wasn’t until around four o’clock in the afternoon was when Rose finally emerged from her room. It was pouring down rain outside followed sparsely by cracks of thunder. She wanted to get a glass of water from the kitchen but when she walked down the stairs, she saw Tony sitting alone in the living room watching tv. No Morgan in sight. This could be Rose’s chance to finally get the comfort she was so desperately craving

“Dad?” She called as she walked into the living room. Tony looked over when he heard her call, a smile spreading across his lips. “Hey kiddo, are you feeling better?” He asked as he patted the spot on the couch next to him for her to sit down. Rose smiled a little herself as she moved over and sat down next to him. This was a good start. “A little bit, just wanted to see if I can spend some time with you.” She said softly as she leaned back against the couch. “Of course you can, Rosie. You can always spend time with me.” Tony told her with a nod as he rested his arm across the back of the couch. Rose began to feel herself getting a little more comfortable, maybe this could be her chance to finally tell her dad everything

Rose sat in silence with Tony, the two of them watching a show about ghost hunters. After a few minutes, she had managed to finally work up the courage to finally talk to her dad. “Hey Dad? Can I talk to you about something?” She asked quietly as she looked over at her father. “Of course, Rose. What is it?” Tony said as he looked over at her. She was just about to open her mouth and tell Tony everything when suddenly Morgan came walking into the room, wearing a flashy princess dress. “Daddy, can you play princesses with me?” She asked as she stood in front of Tony and Rose. “I can’t at the moment honey, your sister wants to talk to me for a bit.” He told her softly, trying to get her to understand. But Morgan didn’t like that

“But I want to play princesses with you now!” She exclaimed with a deep frown. The shrill loudness of the toddler’s voice made Rose flinch, her headache starting to rear its ugly head again. Tony tried to talk some sense into Morgan but she wouldn’t listen. Eventually he gave in and agreed to play princesses with her. “Sorry, Rose. Can we talk another time?” He asked as he looked over at his eldest daughter. In that moment, Rose just scoffed and rolled her eyes, standing up from the couch. “Whatever, it wasn’t important anyway. Go play stupid princesses with Morgan. It’s not like you care enough to see when something’s wrong with me.” Rose snapped as she headed for the stairs to go back to her room. She wasn’t talking like she normally would, her emotions were taking control and making her nasty

“Hey, don’t go anywhere. What’s with the sudden attitude?” Tony called with a frown as he stood up from the couch himself. Rose stopped herself and looked back, glaring at her father. “What’s with my attitude? Oh now you suddenly care. It’s not like I’ve been on the edge of completely breaking down everyday for the past week. It’s not like I’ve barely eaten or gotten any sleep because of Morgan’s constant whining and screaming. You and mom always give her attention and you’ve barely noticed when your other daughter is clearly not ok!” She spat at him, causing Morgan to start to cry at her sudden yelling. Tony noticed her crying and frowned, glaring back at Rose

“Rose, apologize to your sister for upsetting her, now.” He told her firmly, Rose just scoffed, looking away from them. “Of course you immediately pick up when Morgan’s upset. Do I just don’t matter to you? Do you not know what fucking day it is?!” She exclaimed, feeling her clenched hands beginning to shake as her knuckles turned white. Tony looked at her in confusion, confirming her question. “Of course you wouldn’t. Wanda died today, you know how I am around this time of year. Every year you always remembered but now, it’s like you don’t care.” Rose whispered, tears beginning to fill in her eyes

The moment Tony heard Rose tell him what the day was, a wave of guilt rushed over him. He knew that there was something familiar about the day but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. And now he fully remembered. “Oh Rosie..I-I’m sorry, I completely forgot.” He said softly as he tried to reach out to her, but Rose only backed away. “Don’t say that. It’s not important anyways. Just go play with Morgan and I’ll handle this day myself.” Rose told him as she quickly turned and rushed out the front door, running off into the woods. “Rose! Wait!” Tony called out to her as he rushed to the door. But by the time he got to the door, Rose was long gone, she had taken off deep into the woods

Tony decided to let her have some time to herself. If he had gone after her, she wouldn’t be happy to see him. So he let her be on her own for a while. When Pepper came downstairs after hearing all the yelling, Tony explained everything that happened with Rose and almost immediately she felt her own guilt creep up on her. She always was there for Rose on the anniversary of Wanda’s death but she had completely forgotten the day too. She decided that she would make it up to Rose by making her her favorite dinner when she got back. Tony stood close to the window throughout the evening, watching and waiting for Rose to come back. But as the minutes turned into hours, that was when Tony had truly begun to worry

It was getting darker outside and the rain wasn’t letting up. Rose was somewhere out there, freezing in the rain without a coat to keep her dry. It got to the point where Tony couldn’t wait any longer. He wasn’t gonna stand there while his daughter was somewhere out in the woods freezing. Grabbing a raincoat and a flashlight, he took off into the woods in search of Rose. Thankfully, he could track her phone that she had with her using F.R.I.D.A.Y. Looking down at the map on his watch, he saw a circle about a mile into the woods, that was Rose’s location. So he headed in that direction in hopes of finding her

The walk was long and hard, the heavy rain and harsh winds not making it easy. But once Tony had gotten close to the area that Rose was supposedly in, he began calling out for her. “Rose! Rosie are you here? If you can hear me, say something!” He called out, hoping to hear a response from her. But when he went quiet, he heard something. It sounded like quiet quick breathing. Looking around, Tony shined his flashlight before soon spotting something underneath a nearby tree. It was Rose. She was leaned against the trunk of the tree, and she had her wings out and wrapped around herself to try and warm her shaking body

Tony let out a quiet sigh of relief as he moved closer to Rose, kneeling down in front of her. “Munchkin, there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He whispered softly as he looked over at her. Rose looked up at him, her teeth chattering from the cold. “P-Papa?” Rose chattered out, her voice quiet and broken like a child’s. Tony felt his heart break a little at just how broken Rose sounded. “Yes baby, it’s me. Come here.” He told her softly, opening his arms to her. Rose wasted no time moving into his arms, making her wings disappear in the process. Tony held her close and tightly, frowning at just how much she was shivering

“Papa..” Rose muttered, tears spilling from her eyes as she clung to him tightly. “I got you honey, I got you. I’m so sorry about earlier, munchkin. It’ll never happen again, I promise.” Tony told her before pressing a kiss to her cheek. Rose didn’t say anything, she just held onto him tightly, not ever wanting to let him go. “Let’s get you home. We’ll get you changed into some nice warm clothes and get some food in you.” Tony said softly as he slowly stood up, carrying her in his arms. Rose nodded before burying her face into the crook of his neck, taking in the familiar comforting smell of his cologne

It was a bit of a walk but soon enough, they made it back to the house where Pepper was waiting for them on the front porch. “Oh thank god.” She murmured to herself when she saw her husband and daughter walking up to the house. With an umbrella in hand, she rushed out to Tony. “How is she?” Pepper asked as she rested a hand on Rose’s back. “She’s freezing, she needs new warm clothes and a towel quickly.” Tony told her as he headed inside with Rose in his arms. Pepper quickly rushed to get the things that Rose needed before coming back, handing them to her husband

“Ok munchkin, I need you to go into the bathroom and get changed and dry off.” Tony told her softly as he moved to set her down. Rose clung to him for a moment however, not wanting to be away from him. “I’ll be right out here, baby. I’m not going anywhere, ok?” He told her softly, running his hand up and down her back gently. Eventually Rose let go and took the clothes and towel from him, heading to the bathroom to change. After a few minutes, Rose walked out, shuffling slowly into the living room where Tony was sitting on the couch. He looked over when he noticed her walking into the room and patted the empty spot on the couch next to him

Without saying a word, Rose moved over and sat down next to him. The next thing he did was rather unexpected. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close so that she was resting her head on his chest. “I’m so sorry for what happened today munchkin. I shouldn’t have made you feel so left out, especially on today of all days. It’ll never happen again.” Tony told her softly before pressing a kiss to her temple. Rose felt her heart flutter a little bit at the childish nickname, he hadn’t called her that in so long. She let out a shaky sigh and cuddled closer to her dad. “I should be the one apologizing, I didn’t say anything. And I snapped at you, Mom, and poor Morgan.”she muttered with a frown

“Nope, we’re not doing that. You have nothing to blame yourself for. You had every right to be upset. You’ve been holding it in for god knows how long so you were bound to burst any second.” Tony told her, running his fingers through her hair to try and soothe her. “From now on, I’ll set a hundred reminders so that I’ll never forget this day and how much you need us. Because you’re our munchkin, and we’ll never stop caring about you.” He added softly, hugging her a little tighter. At that point, Rose had finally given into her emotions and allowed herself to finally break down. Her body began to be wracked by heavy sobs as she finally let go of her bottled up emotions

Tony noticed her sobs and gently pulled her onto his lap, hugging her close and rubbing her back, all the while whispering soft words to try and soothe her. “I-I just miss her s-so much.” Rose choked out through her tears. “I know you do, honey. Just let it out, I’m right here.” Tony told her softly, taking one of her hands and rubbing the back of her palm with his thumb. After a few more minutes, Rose eventually calmed down, her heavy sobs dying down to quiet whimpers. “There we go. You feel better?” Tony asked as he looked down at her. She nodded slowly, cuddling closer to her father. “Can I just stay here with you?” She asked quietly

“Of course you can, munchkin. You can stay here as long as you want.” Tony told her softly with a smile, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before cuddling her close. They sat together for a few minutes, watching some ghost show on tv before Pepper suddenly came walking into the room, Morgan in her arms. Rose looked over at them and when she saw Morgan, she felt tears welling up in her eyes again. “Oh Morgan. I’m so sorry for yelling at you. I didn’t mean to.” She said softly as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. “Well, Morgan has something she wants to give you.” Pepper told her before setting Morgan down on the couch

Rose watched as Morgan crawled over to her and handed her a small piece of paper. She reached out and took the paper from her little sister. On the paper was a drawing of her and Morgan holding hands, and above the drawing were the words, “Rosie is the best sister ever” written in bright colors. Tears spilled down Rose’s cheeks as she looked at Morgan with a smile. “It’s beautiful, Morgan. Thank you so much.” She whispered, opening her arms as Morgan moved over and hugged her. “Love you, sissy.” Morgan said with a smile as she hugged her older sister as hard as she could with her little arms. “I love you too morgs.” Rose whispered back before letting her go

“Alright now that everyone is made up with each other, I’m now calling for a mandatory family group hug. Starting now!” Tony exclaimed before tackling Rose with a tight hug, catching her off guard. Rose let out a laugh as she was practically dog piled by her family. But it was nice to feel so loved and cared for by them. “We all love you munchkin, and we’re gonna make sure that you never feel excluded ever again.” Tony told her before kissing her cheek. “It’s true, sweetie, if there’s anything ever on your mind, you can always come talk to us, no matter what.” Pepper added before kissing Rose’s forehead. “Sissy the best!” Morgan exclaimed before kissing Rose’s nose

Rose was so overwhelmed by the love and support she was getting from her family, they really did care about her. “I love you guys, so much.” She whispered before hugging her family back, tears of happiness spilling down her cheeks. “And we love you too, munchkin. No matter what.” Tony told her softly, his tone full of fatherly love. And his words rang true, from then on, Rose never felt ashamed of her feelings because the love her family had for her was pure and true

Tags: @astralshipper @aricka-and-her-fictional-others @recordplayershipping @magicalbunbun @journalofdeath

[hateswifi]

Everything is Nothing without Her

So imma lose power soon and I wanted to post something before that so that where this came from. May or may not do a second, depends on demand. Hope you enjoy.

The Master: Master List

----------------------------

He had it all. Everything he’d ever been promised and wanted. He ruled the world, his mother helping him and keeping him on track, his grandfather was actually proud of him. He had it all, but he lost everything. He had become everything his mother had promised. He was, as his grandfather said, the perfect vessel.

That didn’t mean he doesn’t break.

Every night he falls asleep, tears threatening to be shed. Every night he wished he could hold her. 

He wished he could wake up to his annoying brothers and Alfred’s calming presence, back before he was taken back. 

Now, he’s always alone besides when he was making decisions about the fate over those around him. There is another thing he does alone, but that’s because he doesn’t want them to know, he sends out his best men to find her. He may have the world but he doesn’t have his world.

One day two years after he started his rule, he was informed that they had found her. They were under strict instruction not to intercept. He immediately made plans, packed his bag, and left it all behind. When he got to her town, he dropped his stuff off at his hotel and found her apartment. She answered the door with a smile and a child on her hip, the smile fell when she saw it was him.

“You have some nerve,” Marinette said, poking his chest. He stood, stunned she looked as beautiful as the day she walked out, her-- their child-- was beautiful. Her hair long, her face glowing, looking as strong as ever. “You made your choice! That choice didn’t include me.” She finished, turning her back on him. 

“I wanted the best life for us!”

“No, you were caught in the past, you were going down I path I couldn’t follow,” Marinette said, sniffling. He hugged her from behind, he got elbowed.

“Please Marinette, at least tell me about him, is he our child?”

“Does it matter if he is? Will that change anything?”

“I’ve wanted to change everything.”

“Well, actions speak louder than words,” Marinette said, rubbing the baby boy’s back. “I have to put him down for a nap,” Marinette said, walking down the hall. “Please, for me, leave before I’m back.”

“I want to talk! Please Marinette, Angel!” Damian pleads, following her.

“I’m doing what’s best for me and my child,” Marinette said, closing the nursery door in his face. He sighed, went back to the kitchen, he wrote a note.

Dear Angel,

I know I have no right to call you that, but damn it hurts so much to know that I can’t call you that. I want to prove myself to you and him, I don’t care if he’s not, just let me be part of his life. Marinette, I want you to know, I know how it feels to have the world, but I don’t want the world. You are my world and that’s all I need.

I never stopped loving you,

Damian.

P.S. check the news.

She still loved him, no matter how much it had hurt to be alone and to lose him, she couldn’t stop herself. That’s why she ran away, she hid, and why she sent him away. His path was one that she couldn’t bear to follow, especially with her son. She knew if he was around she may not be able to stop herself from making a rash decision, but she did let one stray tear fall as she read his letter. She did as he said and turned on the news.

“Today in international news, Damian Al Ghul stepped down as ruler. He exploded the capital, his grandfather, Ra Al Ghul, and his mother, Talia Al Ghul, found dead on the scene. He left with a preset audio message to post.” The anchor says, shuffling papers. “And now for his message.”

“People of Earth, I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused. I was misled by Talia and Ra, but I do not put the blame fully on them because I had support when this all started. She was my world, and I wasn’t able to see that she was enough. I’m stepping down as of now and forever, I apologize for the terror I’ve caused the last two years.”

“And there you have it folks, as romantic as this is. If you see the former leader call the authorities but for today, celebrate our new found freedom and the road,” The news anchor said before switching topics. 

Marinette sat in silence, until an hour later when she heard her son, Oliver, crying. She scrambled to grab him. “Hi, sweetie, Mama is here baby boy,” Marinette said, picking him up. She held him to her chest and sways back and forth.

It wasn’t until a week later she saw him again. She was in the park with her son when she noticed him entering. She tore her eyes away from his direction, hoping that he wouldn’t approach her or even notice her. But luck wasn’t with her.

Ten minutes after he entered, Oliver was getting fussy so she decided to take him home for lunch. He saw her as she walked by and stood up, putting his sketchbook away.

“I’m making spaghetti for lunch if you want to join us,” Marinette called over her shoulder, Damian stood, shocked.

“Umm I would love to,” Damian said, catching up with her. They walked in a tense silence Oliver’s babbling filled the silence.

As soon as she entered the apartment she filled a pot with water and put it on the stove.

“You haven’t told me his name or if he’s mine,” Damian says, sitting on a stool at the island.

“Nope, you have to answer my questions first,” Marinette said, walking into the living room which is an open connection to the kitchen. She grabbed a couple of toys out for Oliver. “Was any of it real?” “What do you mean?”

“What we had, was that even real or was it because I was Ladybug?” Marinette questioned, he still sat at the island, she stood on the other side, the stove behind her, and a sight still on Oliver.

“How could you even ask that?” Damian said, looking up at her, hurt visibly in his eyes.

“Because Ra put a bounty on my head, not too long after you left,” Marinette deadpanned.

“My original intent of approaching you wasn’t good, but a weel after knowing you, I couldn’t go through with the plan,” Damian said, running a hand through his hair. 

“Why’d you even do this? How’d it happen?” Marinette asked, turning her back to him to put the spaghetti boiling water.

“I was sent to live my father for a couple of months when I was younger, but during one of Talia’s attacks, I was taken back. Not too long after that, I died but was resurrected in the Lazarus pit which brought me pit madness. I was sent to Paris a couple of months later, totally forgetting about everything that had happened with my father. I was sent to Paris, and we all know how that went. When I didn’t deliver on schedule grandfather, I tried to explain to you what was happening, but as soon as you heard his plan you left.”

“Ok, you approached me, telling me that you loved me but you had to leave because of your grandfather’s crazy plan to take over the world,” Marinette pointed out. “Honestly I thought I slept with a crazy guy until you came up on the news. I kind of freaked out and left, besides you know, the only other person who knows where I am is Adrien, and maybe those men you sent to find me.” She finished before cursing under her breath. “Baby boy, come here time for numma numms.” Oliver perked up and ran over, she picked him up gave him a kiss and put him in his seat.

“Can I ask you questions now?” Damian asked, looking at the raven-haired boy, his green eye sparkling beautifully looking at his plate of food. 

“Sure shoot,” She says, placing food in front of him.

“What his name?”

“Sweetie, can you tell your dad your name?” 

“Ollie!” he said, picking up a handful of spaghetti, 

“I’m his father?” Damian said, now really looking at the boy. 

“Damian I might have been a bit pissed at you, it didn’t mean I stopped loving you,” Marinette said. “But you have to prove yourself to us before you even consider being in our lives,” she finished sternly. “You also have to get through Adrien.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ever since he found out I was pregnant he’s been there helping me through everything. He took over guardian for me so I could focus on Oliver,” Marinette explained. “He thinks of Adrien as an Uncle and I won’t hesitate to choose him over you because he’s apart of Oliver’s life and because of how much helps he’s been to me. We have family dinner every Sunday, either in Paris or here depending on Oliver.”

“Marinette, I would do anything to be part of your and Oliver’s lives. Heck, I gave up the world domination,” Damian pointed out.

“Well then, tomorrow, you can join us for family dinner,” Marinette said, standing before taking the plates. 

“I would love to,” he responds as Marinette picks Oliver up. “May I hold him?”

“Sure… ummm I have to go get a washcloth and shirt for him anyways. Just watch out or you’ll have sauce everywhere by the time I get back,” Marinette said, handing him Oliver before disappearing down the hall. 

“Hi Ollie, I’m your dad,” Damian, believe it or not, cooed. Oliver put his sauce-covered hands all over Damian’s face.

“Told you so,” Marinette reappeared, holding a wet washcloth and a clean shirt. “Come here, baby boy.” She said holding out her arms. 

She stood him up on the island as she cleaned his shirt. “Arms up!” she said, him doing as she said. She blew a raspberry on his stomach, making Oliver laugh. His laugh was adorably beautiful. He loved seeing Marinette and Oliver interact with each other, it was just so pure and beautiful. She finished pulling off the dirty shirt and put on the new one. “All set Ollie, you can play for a bit.” Marinette said, placing him on the ground before turning to look back at Damian. “You have a bit of sauce here.” She said, pointing at her cheek.

“Here?” he responded, wiping his face.

“No, let me,” Marinette said, picking back up the washcloth. She approached him and wiped the sauce (and totally not cliche) it felt like time slowed down for a minute it was just the two of them looking into each other’s eyes. Marinette goes up onto her tiptoes he leans down and as they were about to kiss. They were interrupted.

“Mama! Play cars?” Oliver asked, snapping them back to reality, oblivious to what was happening.

“Oh.. umm.. Of course, let’s go Ollie,” Marinette stuttered, a blush present on her cheeks.

“I should be going,” Damian said quickly, still flustered. “Just let me know what time dinner will be.”

“Um ok. Bye Damian!” Marinette said, looking at the, now closed, door. “Damn there I go, falling all over again.”

“Damn,” Oliver mimics.

“Heck.”

-------------------------

my sister was roleplaying in roblox earlier with a friend and she kept saying “just pretend” “Imma do this but you don’t know that” “imma be sitting on top of the pizzeria”. Idk, but quarantine is getting to me.

Permanent Tag:

@ash-amg @bee-wrecker @damianette-is-life @mjisntme

[justjessame]

Sins of the Father: Chapter 5

The next time I woke up it was to voices that were doing a tremendous job of mimicking the worst case of stage whispering I’d ever had the misfortune of overhearing.  Groaning, and rolling over from where I’d had my face pressed into my pillow, clearly having tried to blind out the brightness of the sunlight - I once more found myself trying to blink open my heavy lidded eyes.  

“If the two of you are trying to NOT wake me,” I muttered, feeling slightly vindicated when the sounds ceased.  “You’re failing miserably.”  I managed to fight past the lead lining that my eyelids had grown overnight and the brilliance of the sunlight glowing through my curtains.  A couple more moments fighting against my bed linens and my own limbs and I’d managed to get myself sitting up against my headboard.  

Dad and Danny were watching me with rapt amusement, silent as they waited for me to situate myself.  “I came looking for you little brother,” Dad finally spoke, deeming me ready for information now that I had both eyes more or less open.  “And I was trying to convince him to go down and get breakfast -”

“But YOU promised that we’d spend the day together, Esme,” Danny butted in with the Roper spirit stubbornness.  I bit my lip when my gaze met Dad’s over his towhead.  “And that should include breakfast.”  He crossed his arms over his chest and I was struck by how like our father he was growing.  

Clearing my throat free of the cobwebs of sleep, I shook off a sigh.  “If you’ll give me time to dress and do something with what I can only imagine is a birds’ nest of curls, I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast and then we’ll start our day.” I countered, and Danny started to agree, but of course Dad had to remind me of my newest family chore.

“Esmeralda, I think you might have forgotten our guest -” His eyes narrowed and I knew he wanted me to take care of my duties alone, but honestly this hero of Danny’s hadn’t shown any likelihood of saying or asking anything untoward while we were alone.  Why would having the object that caused his convalescence in the room while I took care of him be problematic?  

“I haven’t,” I argued, my eyebrow arching to remind him that Danny was still very present.  “Danny can come along so I can show him how easy it is to change the bandages, in case I’m indisposed.”  Danny’s nose crinkled in distaste which shocked me, given how he felt about this man.

“You want me to come with you while you rip off his bloody stuff?”  I nodded and he shook his head.  “No thanks.  Couldn’t Jed do it?”  

“No, Jed can’t do it.” Dad told him.  “Who changes YOUR bandages when you rush headlong into madness?  Or Corky’s or Frisky’s or -”  Danny sighed.  “Esme knows what she’s doing, and so she’ll do it.  If you insist on spending the day with your sister, then -”

“Fine,” Danny’s excitement was draining at the idea of a full day of being with me now.  “Does it take long?”  

I chuckled.  “Not too long, but I will take him lunch as well.  And I make sure he eats it.”  Another long suffering sigh.  “Maybe for lunch you could do something else?”  

“What?”  He stared at me in a clear challenge.  I thought about it for a bit and then smiled.

“Pick a movie for us to go to tonight.”  His eyes widened.  “Just you and me.  And we’ll have dinner out as well.  How does that sound?”  

“Well the two of you and -”  I rolled my eyes and Danny laughed.  Dad would never allow us to go completely alone, but it didn’t matter.  I’d made my little brother happy again.  And that was all that mattered.  

Breakfast was followed by a day that most people wouldn’t think was all that special, but what Danny missed.  We spent part of it watching some of the shows he wanted to show me, and he promised me, while he watched me preparing the bandage portion of the tray for our guest, that he’d be looking for the BEST movie for our night out.  

“I know you will,” smiling down at him, I went back to adding the things I’d looked up online that would give some comfort to Mr. Quince’s ribs - at least that’s what the websites I’d found had assured me.  

“Will you dress up?”  I glanced up to see Danny studying me and waited to see where he was going with this new tangent.  “We never got to celebrate your graduation -” My stomach flipped at the thought of their celebration without me and what it had led to, but his mind wasn’t on that, it was on happier things - our night out.  “So you’ll dress up, won’t you?”  

Swallowing past the lump that had formed at the thought of what COULD have happened if Mr. Quince hadn’t stepped up and saved him from disaster, I hoped he wouldn’t notice my hands shaking as I kept adding my supplies to the tray.  “Of course I’ll dress up if you want me to.”  Anything he wanted me to do, I’d do.  He could celebrate my return, and I’d celebrate the fact that he wasn’t - no, I wouldn’t do that, focus on the here and now, Esme, I reminded myself.  You’re a Roper.  

Lunch wasn’t soup today.  And Mr. Quince didn’t try to argue against my aid in getting him sitting up, nor when I insisted on helping him with his meal.  We put off changing the bandages until after, since I’d done it just the day earlier and I couldn’t see any blood peaking out.  Taking my spot beside him on the bed, I started cutting up his food and he chuckled under his breath.

“Is there something you’d like to say?”  Not looking up, my lips were twitching at the corners as I fought against a grin.  

“I dare not,” he murmured, as I picked up the first bite and moved it toward his mouth.  “Lest you attempt the airplane in the hangar.”  My smile grew as his own flashed, before he took the food I offered him.  

Once his lunch was finished, I asked him if he’d rather I start with his face or his ribs and he looked startled.  

“I did some research and found that we had some salve on hand that might give you some relief along with a bit of wrapping, if you’d like?”  He gave a small nod and started to pull at his shirt, but I stopped him.  “Give me a moment to get everything ready, then I’ll help you again.”  Fussing a bit with the tray, I moved what I needed to where it would be within easier reach and then with his help, we got his shirt over his head and out of the way.  Pressing gently, I watched his face for signs of distress.  “You have to tell me which parts are the most tender -” he sighed and so did I.  “If you don’t, then the salve won’t be of much use.”  

Giving in wasn’t something he did willingly or simply, but he weighed the wisdom of what I was saying and finally pointed out the places that hurt the worst.  Picking up the pot of gooey medicine, I opened it and warned him that it wasn’t very pleasant smelling before sitting beside him again so I could reach him.  Coating my fingertips with the sticky substance, I leaned closer, and applied the cream in gentle circular motion over the darkened skin that even battered I could tell was corded with muscle.  

He tried to stay still and silent, but there were hisses and rippling across his abdomen that he couldn’t hide.  The warmth of his skin working with the salve, I hoped, to soothe the pain and discomfort he’d earned when he saved Danny.  Once I felt confident I’d gotten him covered, I put the container back on the tray and picked up the elastic wrap bandage and helped him lean forward again so I could wrap him up. 

“I read that this will help -” I told him what I’d learned during my online search and he listened while I wrapped my arms around him and worked, our bodies close enough so I could feel his breath flutter my hair.  “There,” I pulled back and smiled up at him, since we were still very close.  “Isn’t that better?”  

“It’s different,” he sounded conflicted, unsure.  Which was strange since we’d only known one another for a few hours and in such an odd context anyway.  “I - I should put my shirt back on.”  

“Right,” I blinked, confused about how I’d gotten off track for those few beats.  “Let me -” But we both reached for the white cotton at the same time and our hands linked, different from when he’d stopped me during my last visit, this felt intimate and - I pulled away as if I’d been burned.  “Sorry.  I - Do you need me to help?”

“I think I can manage,” we were still close, his breath fanning my face now and I had to swallow to try to fight a dryness that wasn’t there before.  “Does my other bandage need to be changed as well?”  

A glance down, which I’m sure made me look slightly cross-eyed, told me no - it could wait.  I shook my head.  “I think it’s fine for now.”  My eyes flickered back to his and found him waiting for me.  “I should go.”  

“I’m sure you have,” his gaze flickered down, was he looking at my lips?  “A great deal of plans now that you’re home.”  

Plans?  Did I?  Danny.  Right.  That pulled me free from the bed, the gaze, his warmth.  “Yes.  I do.”  He flinched, as if I’d slapped him.  How odd.  He pulled his shirt on as I stood up and started gathering the tray together.  “Danny and I are going to the movies tonight.”  When his head broke free of the fabric of his shirt, his gaze met mine and I bit my lip.  “Hot date with my little brother.”  

“That sounds fun,” he offered, less strained and more natural - but how would I know what was natural for this stranger?  “You seem close?”  

Ah, there it is, the questions.  “We are,” I agreed.  Anyone would tell him as much.  “I made him a promise when I went away to university.”  He waited, listening as if I were about to tell him a wondrous secret.  “If he didn’t throw tantrums or give Dad and everyone too much trouble while I was away, and during my breaks when I’d have to go back, then when I finished I’d come home forever.”  

“Forever’s a long time.”  My smile grew.  “He’s a good kid.”  

“Danny’s -” I sighed.  “Danny and I know each other better than anyone else in the world.  And that’s all that matters to me.”  

“He’s a lucky boy.”  

“I’m the lucky one.”  I gathered up the tray and bid him a good day.  And I could have swore that he said something about hoping that I really was the lucky one. 

[btschooseafic]

Hey you, what’s your dream?

Pairing: platonic!oc x ot7

Details: manager!oc, predebut/idolverse, partial BTS World!verse

Summary: Aviva and Jungkook go to Los Angeles for a month.

Warnings: This is a fictional story based on real events. The characters presented here are not the same as their real life counterparts.

[Masterlist]

Interlude 4: Love in LA

summer - keshi

“Feel like summer and I don't wanna miss you

If we don’t touch lips, not an issue”

July-August 2012

When it was decided Jungkook and his choreographer teacher would go to Los Angeles to train from July to August, Aviva was asked if she wanted to go along as a translator. All she needed to do was pass the international driving test and she was good to go.

Not having been home, or seen her family in some time, Aviva took the opportunity to take a few days off to meet them in San Francisco.

Aviva and Namjoon spent plenty of time with Jungkook going over easier common English phrases that he might need to use during the trip.

Aviva and Jungkook had plenty of time to practice English over the 13 hour flight, although they also watched several movies, napped, ate snacks, drew, and compared plane travel playlists.

Jungkook, Son Sungdeuk, and Aviva were staying in a dorm room provided by Movement Lifestyle, the dance company they were learning with. It seemed like the booking agent hadn’t been aware that the room was for two guys and a girl. There was one bedroom with a bunk bed, and a small common living space with a pullout couch. Aviva took the couch, and though she felt a little uncomfortable at first, she quickly adjusted. There was only so much of doing a person’s laundry twice a week before you got over any awkwardness, and besides, they were all too busy to feel awkward. While Jungkook and Sungdeuk focused on dance, Aviva was essentially acting as a full time translator, along with managing meals, travel, and business opportunities.

Jungkook was also feeling stressed out, having double the language barrier with both English and a lot of complex dance terminology. Aviva studied hard so that she could help him better.

They would wake up early in the morning to research terms at a nearby Korean restaurant, where Jungkook said he felt less homesick.

On the weekends they had free time, and ran around by the ocean. Sometimes Sungdeuk would treat them for a meal, sometimes they’d go off by themselves.

On the second Sunday both Aviva and Sungdeuk had business meetings. Jungkook asked Aviva if she could drop him off at the beach still. She was worried about him wondering around alone, but when she picked him up he excitedly told her about meeting a restaurant owner who was Korean, and gave him a free lemonade.

Two weeks before the trip ended, Aviva and Jungkook were coming out of the dance studio for a lunch break when someone suddenly ran at her.

Aviva caught her in a hug, the girl’s legs wrapping around her waist as she laughed.

“Oh my God! I haven’t seen you in person in forever! Your hair got so long! Are you surprised?”

“Ah… noona, are you okay?” Jungkook asked nervously in Korean.

“Jen…” Aviva hugged her back, rubbing her back for a moment before letting go. “Yeah, you did surprise me, can I put you down now? You’re scaring Jungkook.”

“Who?” Jenny wondered.

“My co-worker. My friend. He’s standing behind you, confused.”

“Oh…” Jenny slid off of her, looking sheepishly at Jungkook. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there…” She blushed.

Jungkook continued looking confusedly at Aviva.

“This is my little sister,” Aviva told him in Korean. “She’s your age.”

“Oh!” Jungkook bowed slightly. “Um… nice to meet you!” He held out his hand. Jenny shook it, chewing at the inside of her cheek.

For the next week Aviva spent any free moments with her sister. Jenny was staying at her friend’s house nearby. She joined Aviva and Jungkook for breakfast, Jungkook shyly pointing out his favorite dishes on the menu, Jenny impressing him with her high spice tolerance. Jenny met them during their lunch break as well, picking up food and eating with them quickly on the studio’s front stoop. Aviva would leave with her for an hour or so, to the beach, or window shopping, while Jungkook went back inside for practice.

At night the sisters stayed up late chatting in Jenny’s friend’s living room, eating cartoons of ice cream and giggling about nothing.

On Saturday, Jenny joined Aviva and Jungkook on this week’s excursion. At first Jenny and Jungkook awkwardly followed Aviva through museum, not quite looking at each other or speaking. Then they both got excited by an empty staircase and wanted Aviva to take pictures of them on it. From that moment on, the two found they had a lot in common, from singing, to photography, even to skateboarding! When Jenny mentioned she had wanted to take up skateboarding recently, Jungkook said he’d always wanted to try. On Sunday the two of them went and bought skateboards and practiced together.

Aviva was surprised when Jenny texted her that she’d fallen, and Jungkook was overreacting. She rushed downstairs to find Jungkook carrying Jenny on his back towards the dorm as Jenny complained, her face bright red.

“How do you say idiot in Korean?” Jenny huffed. “I just skinned my knees, he doesn’t need to fucking carry me!”

Aviva laughed. “Your face!”

“Shut up!” Jenny said.

“…Pabo,” Aviva said. Jungkook blinked. “Both of you are idiots… come inside, I’ve got a first aid kit.”

Jungkook finally put Jenny down when Aviva insisted she would be fine. Jenny sat on the toilet in the dorm’s bathroom. Jungkook hovered in the doorway until Aviva shut the door on him.

“I don’t get it,” Jenny muttered. “He was so shy at first, now all of a sudden he’s picking me up and practically running us back here…”

“He’s a passionate kid,” Aviva said, cleaning off Jenny’s knees. “He gets protective over people he cares about.”

“Okay, sure,” Jenny said. “But we’ve only known each other for a week…”

Aviva shrugged. “I’ve always told you you’re a very lovable person.”

“Shut up,” Jenny said again, shoving her. Aviva just smiled.

The last week of the trip, Aviva had been planning to meet her family in San Francisco. However, seeing how well Jungkook and Jenny got along, she talked to her parents, and they came to visit in LA instead.

Jungkook joined them for dinner one night.

“Are you sure I don’t need to dress up or anything?” Jungkook asked, pulling at his t-shirt.

Aviva shook her head. “It’s a casual restaurant. Just chill,” she said. Jungkook swallowed. Aviva sighed and gave him a quick hug. “What are you scared of?”

He shrugged. “It just feels… weird. Can’t explain it. Sorry.”

“Don’t have to be sorry,” Aviva told him. “Remember to breath. They won’t bite.”

By the time dinner ended, Aviva’s mother had given Jungkook resources for learning English, and Aviva’s father had suggested some old comics for him to read.

“…I think dad was more excited to talk to you than to me,” Jenny said as she walked Jungkook and Aviva back to the dorm. “And I haven’t seen him in a while…”

Jungkook looked confusedly at Aviva, who translated. He shook his head. “I’m sure that’s not true!” He said in Korean. Aviva sighed and translated again.

Jenny looked at Jungkook, her face scrunched up in what Aviva recognized as a look of determination.

“Avi—do you mind if me and JK go to that ice cream place down the block by ourselves? We’ll bring you back something if you want, I just… want to talk to him a bit by myself.”

Aviva titled her head. “How will you say whatever you want to say?” She wondered.

“…We’ll do our best with Google Translate and charades,” Jenny decided. Aviva nodded.

“Okay, text me.”

Aviva waited up for Jungkook in the living room. She could already hear Sungdeuk snoring in the other room by the time he came back.

“Your parents picked her up at the ice cream place,” Jungkook told her when he saw her sitting up looking at her laptop.

“I know, she texted me.” Aviva held up her phone. She looked at him expectantly.

He sighed. “Do we have to talk about it?”

Aviva shook her head. “I trust you guys.”

Jungkook smiled.

“Okay. Thank you. I’m going to sleep now.”

By the time the trip was over, Jenny looked almost sadder to see Jungkook go than Aviva.

“That’s not true!” Jenny said when Aviva accused her of this at the airport. “I’ll miss you both, really!” Aviva started to translate but Jungkook waved his hand, blushing.

“I understand,” he said to her in Korean, before turning to Jen, his smile bittersweet as he told her in English, “I miss you.” Both his comprehension and pronunciation had improved a lot over the course of a month.

Jenny took his hand in hers, smiling back at him.

Aviva squinted at them. “Do I have to give you both the, ‘if you hurt them I’ll hurt you’ speech, or can we skip that, cause it’s kind of awkward for me?”

“I vote skipping,” Jenny said, raising her hand without missing a beat. Aviva repeated her question in Korean, looking at Jungkook.

He waved his hands emphatically. “Yeah, no, let’s not do that, I agree.”

Aviva was pleasantly surprised to find Jin, Namjoon, and Soonyoung waiting for them at the airport when they touched down in Seoul.

“Your hair!” Soonyoung squealed at such a high pitch that Namjoon winced, and Jin’s eyes went wide.

“Ah, is that what you use all your vocal training for, Soonyoung-ssi?” Namjoon grumbled, rubbing his ear. Her eyes narrowed at him.

“Yeah, bet I could make even you hit that note with a good swift kick between the—”

“Okay, okay,” Jin said nervously. He looked around. “Eh, what happened to Sungdeuk-seonsaengnim?”

“Bathroom,” Jungkook said.

“Anyway,” Soonyoung continued. “How can you not be excited by how cute Avi’s hair is!” She squealed again, a little less loudly this time, touching the short ends of Avi’s new shoulder length hair. “You haven’t cut it in years—what happened?”

Jungkook flushed. “Ah, that’s sort of my fault.”

Aviva shrugged. “It was an accident, Kookie, don’t worry about it,” she said, patting him on the arm. Namjoon looked at them questioningly. “Jungkook-ah got gum in my hair, Jenny—that’s my sister, cut it out, and it was kind of high up, so she went to even it out and… snip… snip.” Aviva motioned her fingers like scissors. Jungkook winced. “She did pretty good though, I think.”

Jungkook smiled a little dreamily. “Yeah…”

Soonyoung raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay… Anyway, girl, let’s get home. You must be tired. And if you’re hungry, Jin-oppa gave us some leftover stir-fry, for some reason, so you can eat that in the car, if you want.”

“Oh. Thanks, oppa,” Aviva said to him.

He smiled.

“No problem. For some reason, I keep making too much recently, so…”

Namjoon shook his head, smiling slightly. “It’s Jungkookie. He eats the most. Now that he’s back, we’ll never have any leftovers again.”

“Yah!” Jungkook protested. Aviva shrugged.

“He’s a growing boy. Gonna be taller than you someday, Joon-ah.”

“Yeah? He’s welcome to it. He’ll hit his head on the doorframe,” Namjoon thought.

“We should get going,” Soonyoung said again, linking her arm with Aviva’s.

“Ah, right, we’ll wait for seonsaengnim, then,” Jin said. “Give him a ride back, to be polite.”

“I’ll just walk you two to the exit,” Namjoon offered, taking Aviva’s bag.

“You don’t have to—” She started, but he was already walking.

“I’ll just run and get the car,” Soonyoung said as they stepped outside. “Joonie, wait with her.” Namjoon made a face at her way of addressing him, but nodded.

They stood in the muffled quiet of small groups of people getting into cars, moving along with their suitcases. “It does look good,” Namjoon said, pushing her hair back from her face. She stiffened and he stopped, drawing back.

“Thanks,” she said quietly.

“You’re not… sad to cut your hair?” He wondered. “Since it was so long…”

She shrugged. “It was a pain to take care of, actually. I was just leaving it longer because shorter hair would make me stand out more, and… well, I was feeling nervous about going to a hairdresser.”

“What makes you nervous about it?” Namjoon wondered. Aviva looked at him. His expression was completely non-judgmental, just curious.

“Well, I don’t like strangers touching me, but I can’t move, because I’m paying for a service, and then there’s the small talk…” She sighed.

“If you ever want to go, I can go with you,” Namjoon offered. She frowned. “If that would help…”

“Well, it might, but… Wouldn’t you get bored?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t remember ever feeling bored when I’m with you.”

“Namjoon…” Aviva looked at him, not sure what she was going to say, and saved the effort of figuring it out by a car pulling up in front of them, the window rolling down to reveal Soonyoung buckled into the driver’s seat. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” he repeated. “I’ll see you around.”

Back at home, Soonyoung noted that the trip had done both Aviva and Jungkook well.

“You both seem to have gained a little confidence,” Soonyoung thought as they lay on Aviva bed together, Soonyoung chewing her old favorite American brand of gum and flipping through a nostalgic magazine Aviva brought back for her. “Although, that boy is still such a baby—are you sure him and Jen were interested in each other?”

“They exchanged emails, and phone numbers,” Aviva told her. “She’s shown him some lyrics she’s written, and he’s shown her a cover of a pop song he was too embarrassed to show the boys—it’s cute.”

“I can’t believe it,” Soonyoung popped her gum.

“Ew, stop, you know I hate it when you do that,” Aviva said, pushing her. Soonyoung did it again, looking her full in the eye. Aviva glared.

While she was gone, it seemed like the Bangtan lineup had finally settled. With all seven of the boys finally promised their debut, Aviva was extra happy to help Youngjin book them some side gigs for exposure, such as background dancing and writing on other artist’s songs. Aviva was nervous when the head of every managing department, as well as Bang got together to review her work.

After looking it over, Kim Byunho, Head of the Artist Management team, nodded. “My vote is yes.”

“I’m the same,” Bang Si Hyuk said.

“…Alright,” Youngjin said uncertainly.

“I would say so,” Jungsook agreed. “What do you think, Aviva-ssi, are you ready?”

“Ready?” Aviva repeated. “For what, sunbae?”

[prettyboy-parker]

starker abo: homecoming

warnings: emotional and physical abuse (nothing explicit!), smut at the end, implied thorki, mentioned sambucky

words: 3.7k

“Jesus, he’s such a fuckin’ crybaby. I feel bad for Quentin.”

Everyone turns to look at the table across the cafeteria. Peter Parker, the world’s snootiest omega, is perched on top of the navy lunch table and bawling his eyes out. Loki, a lithe snarky omega, is patting under Peter’s eyes with tissues. His usual posse huddles around him, cooing at and petting him.

“I don’t. His performance in bed probably outweighs his attitude, if you catch my drift.” Sam snickers and Bucky punches him in the arm. The alpha lets out a whine and rubs at his shoulder. “Hey! What was that for?” He snaps at his boyfriend. Bucky just narrows his eyes. Tony finds himself looking at Peter again. He seems to have calmed down a little. His friends usher him out of the cafeteria, no doubt to help him fix his makeup. Tony could gag at how fucking prissy the omega is.

“You okay, Tony? You look a little pale.” Steve says, and Tony can’t believe he’s actually concerned.

“Jeez, Steve, I’m fine. Your motherly instincts take over?”

The table howls with laughter.

“Good one, Stark!” Thor booms and Steve rolls his eyes. Tony sends a wink at Steve, a group of girls heading towards their table emerging in the corner of his eye.

“Steven,” Peggy, the beta exchange student from England, pipes up. A few of her friends giggle behind her. “Would you come with me? I have to talk to you.”

Steve nods wordlessly, trailing behind her like a lost puppy.

“He’s smitten, I tell ya’.” Bucky slurs, tossing a crumpled napkin at Sam.

“Idiot. I’ve got to piss, see you in Calc.”

Sam groans and Rhodey shouts “TMI!” Tony passes a table of girls on his way out, and they all call his name. He shoots them a wink, opening the double doors to the hallway. It’s actually quiet in the hallway, aside from his combat boots thunking on the linoleum floors. He fishes through his leather jacket’s pocket, looking for his cigs, when-

“Watch where you’re fucking going!”

Tony stumbles back as he knocks into, well, none other than Peter Parker. He looks like he’s going to cry again as Loki lifts him off of the floor. The tan-skinned beta flips him a bird as they walk away.

Great.

✨👑✨

He can’t believe Quent would ever say that to him. For one, he’s not a slut. He’d never cheat on Quentin, he knows that, so why did he say it? Two, Quentin’s lucky no one was around to see Peter’s tears.

What he can’t get over is how Quentin touched him like that.

He’s heard of alphas hitting their omegas, but it’s always been an old wive’s tale, or whatever. He guesses that Quentin’s just stressed. He didn’t do so hot on his Pre-Calc test, so maybe he has some pent up anger.

Peter needs to send him some flowers.

By the time he gets back to his apartment, he’s already tried calling Quentin three times to apologize, but the alpha never picked up. He drops his Vera Bradley book bag on the floor with a heavy sigh.

“Hey, Peter! How was school?” Uncle Ben asks from where he’s seated at the kitchen island.

Peter breaks down into tears.

Uncle Ben takes him in his arms, holding him close. That’s the thing about his uncle, whenever he’s upset he just lets Peter cry it out, never asking for an explanation. Peter appreciates when his aunt gives him advice, he really does, but sometimes it’s nicer just to be held.

“I’ve got Halotop ice cream that’s calling your name.”

Peter giggles softly as Uncle Ben ruffles his hair.

Soon enough he’s cuddled under his silk sheets, a carton of peanut butter cup ice cream in his hands. In the midst of watching Cady and Janis mix together foot cream, his phone rings.  “Quentin 💕💕” lights up on the screen over a very flattering picture of his boyfriend.

“Hi,” Peter answers quietly.

“Hi honey, I just-um-wanted to say I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean any of it.”

“It’s okay Quent, I was a bitch too. I’m sorry.” Peter responds quietly, stabbing his ice cream with his spoon.

“You kind of were. I’ll catch you tomorrow, okay?”

“Bye, love you.”

“Bye.”

Peter hangs up the phone, feeling emptier than before.

✨👑✨

“Anthony, you are not wearing that.”

Tony smirks and adjusts the collar of his leather jacket.

“Don’t worry, dad. I know Peter. It’s all good.” He replies, running a hand through his hand. Howard clenches his jaw.

“Come on, boys. We don’t want to be late.” His mother calls, ushering the two to the car. Howard still looks pissed as he climbs into the driver's seat, Tony scrolling through Instagram as they drive to the Parker’s. A picture of Peter appears, the omega posing on the hood of a cherry red ‘65 Thunderbird. His long, milky legs are displayed by his tiny red running shorts. A sliver of his toned stomach is exposed by his cream Coca Cola crop top. His almond hair looks like it’s blowing in the wind. Red heart-shaped glasses frame his face perfectly. The caption reads “Taste the Feeling! ♥️♥️”.

A small part of Tony wants to taste him.

He ignores that part.

“Now you behave, Anthony. This deal is important, we’re paying Benjamin a lot of money for his program.” Howard reminds him.

“Yeah yeah,” Tony replies, rolling his eyes and itching for a smoke. They pull up to one of the apartment complexes in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Tony begrudgingly follows his parents, the elevator operator nervously pressing the buttons.  The elevator brings them directly to Peter’s penthouse because of course, the Parkers have a penthouse.

“Oh, hello!” A voice exclaims from the kitchen. He stands awkwardly until Mrs. Parker emerges from the other room. “Welcome, all of you!” She exclaims, giving his mom a hug.

“Oh, Anthony, I remember when you were just a baby. Your mother came to me for a dress for a gala, and she brought you along. You’ve grown into such a handsome alpha.”

Tony flushes, embarrassed. His mom laughs loudly and pinches his cheeks.

“Peter should be down soon, he always takes forever to get ready.” Mrs. Parker complains, pushing her glasses farther up her nose. “Benjamin is picking some whiskey from the cellar. Why don’t you come sit down?”

Mrs. Parker leads them to the living room, where the couches are covered with blankets and the fireplace roars. Tony sinks into the knitted blanket, sighing heavily.

“Oh, goodness, I’m sorry I’m late!”

Peter Parker is at the top of the steps, in a tight, glittery maroon dress, looking like an absolute vision.

“Come down, Pete.” His aunt calls with a smile. The omega’s heels click on the hardwood staircase as he comes downstairs. He’s prettier up close, a silver glittery barrette holding his curls out of his face. Gold glitter is swept over his cheeks and eyelids.

“Anthony,” He says, scrunching up his button nose. Tony winks at him. The only empty seat is next to the alpha, so Peter daintily sits down on the couch. He smells divine, like expensive floral perfume mixed with the sweet scent of omega.

“You can call me Tony, you know.” The alpha purrs under the voices of his parents and Mrs. Parker. Peter rolls his eyes.

“Dully noted.” He snaps back, but Tony just laughs.

Dinner goes on slowly and Tony keeps his mouth shut. Peter’s definitely checking him out (or maybe that’s just Tony’s ego.) During the meal of lamb and beef, Tony notices a bruise blooming under the hem of his dress.

The omega gives him a glare and adjusts his collar.

✨👑✨

“Did you hear? We’re being assigned partners this time.”

“Ugh, gag,” Peter grumbles, tapping his pink pen on his pink notebook.

“I know,” Loki responds, eyes glancing to the back of the room. “I hope I get paired up with Thor, though.”

Peter smiles and picks at his cuticle.

“He better ask you to homecoming. I’m blackmailing him if he doesn’t by Friday.” He says nonchalantly, eyeing the burly blonde in the back of the room. He’s laughing about something with Anthony.

“Peter. I’ll beat you to it, you know that.” Loki jokes. Peter nudges him in the shoulder of his dark green sweater. The class quiets down when Ms. Hill steps into the room.

“Good afternoon, everyone. As you may have heard from the other classes, we’re starting our quarter project.” She announces. “I’ll be assigning you into partners, and you’ll be researching the impact and achievements of a Chinese dynasty.”  

The glass groans, a few pairs of eyes flicking around nervously.

“Calm down. It’s senior year, you should all know each other by now. I’ve already have your partners, so listen up...”

Peter studies his French manicure as Ms. Hill calls out their names. He gives Loki a wink when the teacher pairs Thor with him for the Tang Dynasty. It’s getting to the end of the list, and Peter’s worried that Ms. Hill might have forgotten him, then-

“Tony and Peter. Song Dynasty.”

The omega dies a little inside.

“Alright, get to work! Rubrics are on my desk, get brainstorming!”

The class disperses into a flurry of noise and movement. Tony slowly stalks over to him like the douchebag he is.

“How about you get the rubric?” Peter suggests, but it’s more of an order than anything. Tony smirks and places his pencil on the desk next to Peter.

“Anything for you, princess.” He teases, causing the omega to flush a bright red. Peter doodles in his notebook until Tony gets back with two rubrics.

“Song Dynasty. I’m fuckin’ pumped.”

This actually makes Peter giggle a little bit.

“Calm down, Anthony.” He quips back, a small smile on his face.

It turns out the two work together pretty well.

Tony’s definitely not a slacker, and had avid ideas that Peter wrote down. They settled on a comedy-style presentation. (Which Peter would neverdo, but who can say no to Tony’s puppy dog eyes?)

When the bell rings, Tony walks him to his next class, like a...gentleman.

Who knew?

✨👑✨

“Good morning Midtown! I’m Peter Parker, your SGA President.”

Tony turns his attention to the T.V in the hallway. Peter sits at the newscaster desk, in a navy and white tennis polo, a matching headband pushing back his curls, and two big pearls adorning his ears. Tony could purr, but he pinches himself. There’s no way he can be falling for Peter Parker.

No way.

The entire hallway goes silent, in awe of their queen on the screen.

“A quick reminder-next week is spirit week! The days are posted on our Instagram and around the school. Don’t forget to buy your homecoming tickets. They’re being sold all week in the cafeteria. Thanks, and have a wonderful day!”

Everyone resumes their conversation.

Tony slams his locker shut.

✨👑✨

“Oh god, you are not making me ride that.”

Tony laughs loudly and tucks his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

Peter stands with his arms crossed over his baby blue Chanel sweater. His pink lips are turned down into a frown, button nose scrunched like it always is.

“I am. Unless you want to walk?” Tony coos, handing his helmet to the omega. His honey eyes glance down at the black helmet, then back up to Tony.

“You’ll keep me safe?” Peter asks quietly, his bitchy facade dropping. Tony’s eyes widen.

“Oh, of course, Pete. I’d never let anything happen to you.” The alpha responds, genuine care in his voice.

“Well, then let’s go, slowpoke.” Peter huffs, placing the ill-fitting helmet on top of his curls. Tony chuckles and straddles the bike, waiting as Peter slowly wraps his arms around his torso, resting his cheek on his back.

“Hold on!” Tony calls as he starts the bike, causing the tiny omega to yelp. They leave school, weaving through the cars and students. Peter shouts directions to his house in Tony’s ear, the alpha smiling as the wind whips behind him. They eventually arrive at Peter’s apartment complex, parking his motorcycle in the garage for the occupants.

“That sucked,” Peter grumbles, but-Tony sniffs the air.

Peter’s turned on.

He’s about to crack a joke, but stops himself. Peter looks at the ground, embarrassed.

“Sorry. Didn’t bring my car.”

Peter tries to hide his smile.

The omega brings him up to his penthouse, heading to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

“Do you want anything, Tony? I’ve got...quite a lot.” Peter asks, grabbing some wheat crackers and spread from the fridge. Tony shucks off his leather jacket, placing it over the back of the chair. He runs his hand over the cool marble counter.

“I’m good, but thank you.” He responds, pulling his notebook out of his bag. Peter shrugs, grabbing his book bag.

“Suit yourself. Let’s go upstairs, my aunt will be home soon.” He tells Tony, not sparing him a second glance before heading to the staircase. The alpha rushes behind him, narrowly avoiding an expensive looking vase. They turn right down the hallway, pictures of Peter at all stages of his life on the walls. One catches Tony’s eyes, a little baby Peter with a big blue bow on his head, smiling as he plays in a pile of leaves.

“Please don’t touch anything, Anthony.” Peter sniffs when they reach his room, pink exploding in Tony’s vision. His room is huge, perfectly cleaned and organized. There are pictures everywhere, Peter smiling with his friends. A king-sized canopy bed sits in the middle of the room, expensive silk pillows arranged with care. Peter plops himself on the ground, spreading out his papers.

”Your room is...nice.” Tony comments, sitting on the ground next to Peter. He's still overwhelmed by the omegan aroma filling the room.

”Thank you.” Peter says softly, clearly pleased.

”Should we get started? I had some ideas about how we should present the civil service exam.”

They get a big chunk of their work done but end up talking about everything butthe Song Dynasty. Peter’s actually really fucking smart, wanting to study biological engineering in college. He's down to earth and an absolute sweetheart when he's not surrounded by the student body.

And he's really fucking pretty.

”I know! Fury is such a hardass!” Peter exclaims through giggles, tears coming out of his big doe eyes. His curls are a mess, splayed underneath his head.

Tony isn’t thinking when he reaches over and thumbs away Peter’s happy tears.

The omega blinks in surprise, but-

sucks Tony’s thumb into his mouth.

Tony growls loudly, removing his thumb from Peter’s mouth with a pop, leaning down, and pressing his lips to the other’s. The omega is everything Tony thought he would be. Sweet like sugar, with the remnants of the crackers on his tongue. He hums happily as Tony picks him up, pulling the smaller into his lap.

“Tony-“

“I fucking like you, Parker.”

“Tony,” Peter whispers as the alpha lightly drags his fingers over his bare thighs. “Tony, I have a boyfriend.”

“He doesn’t deserve to be your boyfriend, Peter.” Tony says, almost frantically. “He-He fucking hurts you.”

Peter flinches at his word choice.

“He doesn’t. It’s none of your business.” The omega breathes, avoiding Tony’s gaze.

“Peter, please tell someone. Or break up with him, I don’t care.” The alpha pleads, taking Peter’s hands in his. The omega rips them away.

“He loves me. Please drop it.”

Tony bites his tongue.

✨👑✨

“Loki, your bow is crooked.”

Loki rolls his eyes and spins around.

“Then fix it, Peter.”

Peter laughs and straightens the blue bow that holds his black, silky hair out of his face. It’s Class Colors Friday, the seniors getting their rightful color of blue. Harley takes a bite of his sandwich, looking over Peter’s shoulder.

“Uh, Pete? Quentin’s coming over here, and he looks mad.”

Peter turns around, seeing his boyfriend heading towards him with a scowl on his face. Peter pretends to light up, giving him a small wave. Before he can greet the alpha, he’s grabbing Peter by his cheerleading jacket.

“You fucking slut,” He growls, blue eyes narrowed. “You sleeping around with Stark now?”

Peter whimpers as his breathing picks up.

“Quent, you’re making a scene.” He whispers, tugging at the alpha’s sleeve gently. Quentin grins menacingly.

“Am I, now?” He chuckles, pressing a kiss to Peter’s cheek. “That’s high praise coming from a drama queen like yourself. Have fun finding another homecoming date.”

With that, Quentin pushes him back, and storms out of the cafeteria. Peter follows him, ignoring the shouts from his friends.

“Quentin, baby, wait!” The omega calls out once they get into the hallway, causing the alpha to spin around.

“Is it true? You made out with Stark?”

Peter’s bottom lip quivers as he stays silent. Quentin sighs exasperatedly, clenching his fists tightly.

“You deserve everything I did to you, Peter. And I hope you fucking know it.”

Peter doesn’t see his, well, ex-boyfriend, leave through his tears. He shuffles off to the omega restroom, trying to keep his mascara from running. He sifts through his purse for his little packet of tissues, dabbing at his eyes frantically. The door swings open, and Peter expects Loki and Harley, but the smell of smoke and musky alpha fills the room.

“Shit, Peter, I’m so fucking sorry,” Tony says quickly. Peter just whimpers and cuddles into the alpha’s torso.

“You were right,” He cries, breathing in deep breaths of Tony’s scent. The other boy strokes his curls, shushing him. “And now I don’t have a homecoming date, and all my friends do, and senior year is just going to suck.”

Tony sighs deeply from above him.

“I can go with you, if you want.”

Peter looks up into Tony’s deep brown eyes.

“Are you asking me out, Anthony?” He teases, poking the alpha’s cheek. His eyes widen in surprised.

“No! Not at all. I’m just saying, if you wanted to, I’d be willing to go with you.”

Peter laughs and kisses him.

✨👑✨

Tony’s so fucking nervous.

His hands shake as he grips the stupid plastic corsage box in one, ringing the doorbell with the other.

Mrs. Parker opens the door.

“Tony. Come on in. Peter will be down in a second.” She says with a glint in her eyes. Tony follows her into the apartment, perfectly clean, like always.

“Let me see,” Mrs. Parker smiles, leaning over to look at the corsage in the box. “He’ll love it.”

Speaking of him-

Peter Parker appears at the top of the steps.

Tony’s mouth parts subconsciously. Peter looks-Peter looks stunning. His dress is a cherry red that matches his lipstick, all lace and off the shoulder. He walks down slowly, smoothing the skirt of his dress.

“Peter, oh my god, you look beautiful.” Tony sputters as Peter gives him a peck on the cheek.

“And you look handsome,” The omega responds, thin fingers adjusting Tony’s tie. “You bought a corsage!”

Tony laughs, opening the box and picking up the white rose. He adjusts it on Peter’s wrist as the other boy pins a white boutonniere to Tony’s lapel.

“Perfect,” He coos, pressing another kiss to Tony’s jaw.

Mrs. Parker gives him a quick, threatening talk as Peter uses the bathroom. Peter fake swoons when Tony opens the passenger door to his Audi.

They’re the perfect pair.

They take pictures and dance and kiss and it’s everything Tony could ever dream of. Peter wins homecoming queen, as he should. He looks divine on stage, sparkling tiara on his curls and smiling wide.

“Alpha,” Peter whines, 30 minutes before the dance ends, making Tony’s heart skip a beat.

“Yeah, baby?” Tony responds, grinding his hips forward against Peter’s ass, a quiet ‘oof’ falling from his lips.

“Can-Can we go back to your place? If your parents aren’t home-“

“Fuck yes.”

The car is thick with the scent of arousal, the mixing of their pheromones making Tony crazy. They’re on top of each other once they make it inside.

“Tony, where’s your room?” Peter moans as Tony nibbles on his neck. The alpha doesn’t respond, instead lifts the smaller into his arms. Tony rushes upstairs, making sure he doesn’t drop Peter. They collapse onto the bed, Tony pressing his lips to Peter’s. He tastes delicious, as always, and Tony can’t help but moan. He pulls off of Peter, shucking off his suit jacket as Peter stands up.

“Alpha, can you help undo my dress?”

That phrase sends a jolt of arousal to Tony’s dick.

He obeys, thick fingers tugging the silver zipper down. Peter steps out of the dress, his freckled back on full display, as well as his delectable ass that’s barely covered by white panties. In awe, Tony runs his fingers over the pale stretch marks littering his flesh.

“Is that- are they too gross? Quentin always said t-they were ugly.”

Tony’s speechless.

“No, no, baby,” He coos, spinning Peter around so he can see his face. His doe eyes shine with oncoming tears. “You’re fucking beautiful, you know that? You’re the sexiest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen.”

Peter giggles shyly, flushed.

“Fuck Quentin. He’s a pussy, not a real alpha. He never deserved you. You’re perfect, my little omega.”

They make love.

There’s nothing else to call it-not fucking, not sex. Peter rides him for everything he’s worth, tiny cock leaking against his stomach as his thick thighs straddle Tony’s. The tiara stays on, his curls becoming damp with sweat. Tony doesn’t last long, he pops his knot too early, but he doesn’t mind, since Peter is right behind him.

“Tony?” The omega whispers after Tony slipped out of him and cleaned them up.

“Yeah?” The alpha responds, breath hitting the back of Peter’s neck.

“I fucking like you, Stark.”

Tony laughs, pulls Peter closer under the covers, and kisses him.

[all-things-skam]

Jens’ season | Chapter six

Saturday, February 8th

‘’Where’s your other half?’’ Jens teased, seeing no Sander trailing behind his best friend.

Robbe shook his head and hid his smile. ‘’He’s having lunch with his mom.’’

‘’Oh, so that’s why you came here? Because loverboy had to leave your side?’’

‘’That’s not-’’

‘’I’m kidding,’’ Jens said, grinning. He grabbed a controller from the desk and nodded at the television. ‘’Wanna game?’’

Robbe nodded and grabbed the second controller while Jens set up the console.

Jens knew there was a reason behind Robbe’s impromptu Saturday visit, but Robbe didn't seem to know how to bring up the subject.

After sitting in silence, for what felt like forever, with nothing but the beeps from the game, Robbe finally spoke. ‘’Sorry about last night, again,’’ he apologized, blush covering his cheeks and ears. ‘’I...didn’t mean to-’’

Jens shook his head. ‘’It’s okay, Robbe.’’

‘’Wanna talk about it?’’

‘’What is there to talk about?’’

‘’Why didn’t you tell me? About Lucas.’’

‘’Why do I have to tell? It’s not anyone’s business.’’

‘’Coming out of the closet is a part of the journey, Jens.’’

‘’I’m not in a closet. I-I’m not ashamed of who I am.’’

Robbe recoiled just a bit at the comment and Jens instantly regretted it. Shit. He didn’t mean to dig at Robbe. It was the last thing he wanted, knowing how difficult Robbe’s self acceptance had been.

He just meant that his situation wasn’t the same as Robbe’s - they couldn't compare. Everyone's experience is different, not everyone reacts to their sexual awakening the same. For some, realizing that their sexuality might differ from the society's common basket was hard to accept.

Jens paused, trying to find his next words carefully.

How to explain his situation to his best friend without diminishing his own experience?

‘’To me, it doesn’t matter who I’m attracted to. If it’s a girl that catches my eyes, then it’s a girl and, until recently, if it’s a boy, it’s a boy. Simple as that.’’

Robbe frowned. ‘’So...you still like girls?’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’You’re bisexual, then?’’

Jens thought for a minute. Labels were tacky and invasive - he didn't like them. One's sexual preferences was nobody's business but theirs. But, if he really had to chose one, bisexual would be the most accurate.

‘’Yeah. I guess that’s what I am.’’

“How long have you known? That you also liked guys, I mean.”

“Ever since you told me that you liked Sander and not me.”

The controller hit the floor and Robbes mouth dropped open. Jens burst out laughing.

“Dude, I’m joking. It’s really been since I saw Lucas on the first day of school after break. I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight, but he was certainly easy on the eyes.”

The memory of Lucas walking in the courtyard came rushing back, hands in his pockets, curly fringe shadowing over his forehead, golden from the sun shining on them. His sharp jawbone and bright eyes had caught Jens' attention immediately.

“So, have you guys been together long?”

Jens glared at Robbe with a slight annoyance. “What is this? 20 questions?”

“You did the same to me once you found out about Sander, so this is just payback,” the brunet defended. ‘’And, can’t I be interested in my best friend's love life? I don’t want you to leave me in the unknown like I did.’’

Jens let out a sigh, admitting his past doing. Maybe he could answer some of Robbe’s question - just to satisfy his curiosity.

“It’s only been since Amber’s birthday party.”

“Jens, that was like almost a month ago.”

The raven haired boy shrugged. He didn't mean to let Robbe in the dark about Lucas. At least, not forever. But, sometimes, it's nice to keep your little happinesses to yourself.

‘’So,’’ Robbe started, a mischievous smile curling on his lips. ‘’Is Lucas your boyfriend?’’

Jens shrugged, honestly. He hadn’t thought about that yet. ‘’I don’t know… We haven’t talked about it yet.’’

“Well you might want to have that conversation soon since Valentine's Day is Friday, and you will need to know if you and your boyfriend are doing anything special,” Robbe teased.

With everything else going on, Jens had completely forgotten about Valentine's Day. It hadn’t been a problem in the past. Jana always made sure to remind him that it was coming, but now that he was single, Valentine’s Day wasn’t something Jens had to think about.

Groaning, Jens fell back on his bed. “Shit, what am I going to do now?”

Robbe shrugged. ‘’I don’t know, but, next time, lock the door.’’

Jens laughed. ‘’Will do.’’

.

Sunday, February 9th

The rain pouring outside had caused the cancellation of all the parties, obligating the teenagers to stay home and find other activities to occupy their Saturday night. Robbe and Aaron quickly made plans with their respective lovers, leaving Moyo and Jens to play Fortnite from each other’s room.

Despite being Saturday night, Jens had planned to go to bed soon. His beauty sleep had taken a toll lately because of his parents’ late night fights and he could feel himself falling asleep during the game.

He was about to tell Moyo he was off to bed when he heard commotion from downstairs, followed by slurred grumblings.

Oh no...

Jens sighed and checked the time on his phone: 1am. His dad must’ve come back from wherever he was and, guessing by the noises downstairs, it must’ve been the bar - or anywhere he could get alcohol.

Lucky for him, Lotte and Fenna weren’t home to see this. Jens’ mom had been clear about no more coming home drunk. Jens could cover for his dad, put him to bed and act like nothing happened in the morning, but he didn’t want to. Not tonight.

Jens: I know it’s late...but can I crash at your place? My dad came home drunk and I don’t want to deal with it tonight

Minutes passed and there was no response from Lucas. Jens was getting worried he’d have to stay here and that Lucas was asleep, but it was the weekend. No one goes to bed early on Saturday night, right? Well, Sunday, now.

Lucas: Always ❤

After getting Lucas’ response, Jens put on his shoes and rain jacket and slipped out of the house, walking to where he remembered Lucas’ house was.

He felt shitty for letting his mom deal with the casualties in the morning when she’d get back from her night shift, but Jens needed a break. And a good night of sleep without any interruptions. If he stayed home, he’d have to take care of his drunk father and he wouldn’t be able to catch up on sleep.

The lights were all off on Lucas’s street, everyone most likely asleep at this hour. Jens knocked on the door and waited for the Dutch boy to answer and open.

A sleepy Lucas opened the door, hair matted from sleeping on one side. He was wearing a white sleeping shirt, thin and worn out, bringing out the blue of his eyes.

''Sorry for coming here this late,'' Jens apologized, seeing Lucas's sleepy face. He glanced down, chewing on his bottom lip. ''I didn’t mean to wake you-’’

‘’It’s okay.’’ Lucas shrugged. '’I fell asleep on the couch watching TV, it’s nothing.’’ The brunet stepped back, making room for Jens to get inside. ‘’Come in.’’

The house was smaller than Jens’ and had a lot less furniture. Most of which had probably been left in Utrecht, at Lucas’ mom’s house. They passed by the living room and Lucas turned off the television, the cartoons still playing turning black. He led Jens to his room and closed the door.

A small lamp on Lucas’ nightstand lit the place dimly, enough for Jens to make out the unpacked boxes still on the floor, left there for when Lucas will feel like putting them away - which wasn’t anytime soon. There was a couple pictures taped on the wall by Lucas’ bed, some Jens recognized from the brunet’s Instagram. Lucas’ backpack was laying on the floor, textbooks spilling out right next to his desk.

‘’Do you need anything to sleep in?’’ Lucas asked, pulling Jens from his visual exploring.

He shook his head, twisting on his heels to face Lucas, and chuckled. ‘’I don’t think anything will fit me anyway.’’

‘’Right,’’ he agreed, feeling like an idiot for asking.

Jens wasn’t bigger, but he was more built more squared than the Dutch boy - who was on the leaner side. Lucas’ tee shirts could fit him, but it would be tight around the shoulders and that wasn’t comfortable.

Standing in the middle of his own bedroom, Lucas didn’t know what to say after the personal bomb Jens had dropped on him over texts. It was the first time Jens had opened up to him, and he wanted to be supportive but he didn’t want to push him to talk either.

‘’Do you want to talk about it? Your dad.’’

Jens shook his head. ‘’Not tonight. I just want to sleep. Can we do that?’’

‘’Yeah.’’ Lucas nodded and went to the bed and sat.

He tidied the pillows and blankets, making room for the pretty boy who will spend the night with him, catching himself watching- staring as Jens peeled off his hoodie and jeans, leaving him in a tee shirt and underwear. There wasn’t anything creepy nor sexual, he just really liked looking at Jens’ body.

Jens sat on the bed beside Lucas, their legs brushing at how close they were, feeling the warmth of Lucas’ skin through his grey joggers. “Thanks for letting me come over,’’ he apologized. ‘’Again, I’m sorry if I woke you up-”

“Jens,’’ Lucas interrupted. He sighed, shaking his head. ‘’It’s okay. I told you if you needed to talk I’d be there. It’s nice to know you wanted to come here, to come to me,’’ he said, feeling like he was admitting more than what the words were saying.

“I know, it’s just... I don��t know. I’ve got a lot on my mind lately.” Jens sighed, hiding his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees.

Hesitantly, Lucas put his head on his shoulder, kissing Jens through his tee shirt.

‘’You don’t have to keep everything to yourself, you know?’’

Jens stared off into the distance of the semi-dark room. He wanted to open up to Lucas and tell him everything that was on his mind, but he didn’t want to dump all of his problems on him and taint his only source of happiness. Jens wanted to preserve his time with Lucas, happy and appeasing as possible, a stark contrast from every other aspect of his life he didn't have control over. By dumping all his home life problems on Lucas, Jens didn’t want to risk this feeling and was afraid he wouldn’t have anywhere else to get this happiness from.

They also only met about a month ago and it wouldn’t be fair to unload everything on him. Jens had never been one to rant about his problems. He’d share situations with his friends, light troubles, but would never lay out his dirty laundry to them - not that he had anything worth telling before.

‘’Shall we get some sleep now?’’ Lucas suggested, smoothing a hand down Jens’ back, sensing he wouldn’t get any words out of him tonight. It was okay, though. He’ll talk in his own time, when he’s ready.

Jens nodded. Sleep will be good. He needed a good sleep.

Lucas slid away from Jens and turned off the lamp, crawling back and taking the spot near the wall, trying to leave room for the raven haired boy. ‘’Little warning, my bed is a bit smaller than yours.’’

Shrugging, Jens joined Lucas higher on the bed, laying his head on the grey pillowcase. ‘’I’ll just hold you tighter,’’ he responded.

Content with Jens’ response, Lucas moved closer and rubbed his cold feet against Jens’ bare calves, tangling their legs together under the comforter. Jens lifted his arm in order to make room for Lucas to snuggle in close. He breathed in the sweet scent of Lucas' shampoo, soft curls tickling his chin.

Lucas talked quietly, telling Jens about that time he slept over at Kes' for the first time and had to call him mom in the middle of the night - okay, it was 9pm - because he couldn't sleep in another bed than his own. Jens laughed at the childhood anecdote. How could he not?

He listened as Lucas continued his story, allowing himself to finally relax. Lucas' voice was soothing and calm in the dark room.

Half way through the second story, Jens felt Lucas’ body become heavy with deep sleep. He glanced down, making out Lucas' delicate features in the darkness, and smiled.

He could easily get used to this.

.

Waking up next to Lucas was...warm. It’s been a moment since Jens last shared a bed and he had forgotten how hot you get through the night. Getting sweaty during the night from cuddling and being so close to another body was the only downside to sharing a bed. Other than that, it’s just perks.

Jens' eyebrow twitched, fighting away whatever had brushed it. He felt it again, the same feather light touch, descending on his face, tracing the bridge of his nose and then his lips. He scrunched his nose and heard a soft giggle very close to him.

His lips curved into a smile, remembering where he was. In Lucas' bed. With Lucas.

Jens' eyes started to flutter and he began to shift, for once pleased to wake up.

''Morning,'' Lucas said, his breath tickling Jens' neck as he spoke.

He had been waiting for Jens to wake up, trying to pull him from his deep sleep without waking him.

Jens hummed, eyes still closed. ‘’Slept like a baby.’’

‘’Clearly. It’s almost noon,’’ Lucas pointed, kissing Jens’ shoulder.

Jens laughed, this time opening his eyes, grateful that Lucas had thick blinds over his window. The sun was so bright at this time of the day.

‘’You hungry?’’ Lucas asked, propping himself up on his elbow, staring down at the boy in his bed, tangled in his sheets. ‘’I’m not the best cook, but I make amazing toast.’’

‘’You’re offering me breakfast?’’ Jens asked, a bit surprised. ‘’I thought you’d hold me hostage in your room and sneak me out some time later.’’

Lucas pulled his eyebrows, shaking his head. ‘’Why would I do that?’’

It’s what Jana did when we were together.

‘’I’d like some toast.’’

It took them a few more minutes - and a growling warning from Jens’ stomach - before they pulled themselves out of bed and decided to leave Lucas’ bedroom. They went to the kitchen and Lucas began to raid the fridge of anything edible to go along with the toast that he had promised.

“So, where is your dad today?” Jens asked, suddenly reminded that he was only wearing his underwear and a tee shirt in the Van Der Heijdens’ kitchen.

How awkward would it be if Lucas’ dad had been here?

‘’He’s at a congress for his work. Or something.’’ He put slices of bread in the toaster and pushed down the button. ‘’Won’t be back until late afternoon.’’

Nodding, Jens jumped onto the counter and grabbed an apple from the nearby basket and began tossing it in the air, passing time.

A silence filled the kitchen as they waited for the toaster to pop. Jens had an idea of how to fill it, but, truth be told, he was a bit nervous. Yeah, Jens Stoffels was nervous. Shocker, huh? Lucas had this effect on him. He made Jens feel nervous, and excited and warm and out of control - everything at the same time.

‘’Robbe came over yesterday. He...he asked if you were my boyfriend.’’

Lucas stilled, surprised, and took a few seconds before speaking. ‘’Am I?’’

‘’Do you want to be?’’ Jens asked back, setting the apple down and hopping off the counter, eyes set on the back of Lucas’ head where wild curls were sticking up and the moles on the uncovered part of his back.

‘’Do you want me to?’’ Lucas asked, shielding himself as he bit his bottom lip anxiously, hoping Jens will give him the answer he wanted.

‘’I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to.''

Jens came up behind Lucas and touched his shoulder, making Lucas turn around. The brunet’s face was tipped down, trying to hide his smile and pink cheeks from Jens, but the latter tilted Lucas’ chin up to get a better view of his face.

‘’So, what do you say? Will you officially be my boyfriend?”

Lucas' smile widened and he cupped Jens face, placing a kiss on his lips, as if to make their status official. He had the intention to stop there, going just for a quick kiss, but Jens’ hand slid into Lucas’ hair, fingers buried in the curls, time forgotten as they kissed, slow and lazy.

Grey smoke started coming from the toaster, a burnt smell filling the air, but both went unnoticed by the new couple, too busy in their own bubble. It wasn’t until the smoke detector’s alarm went off, the chirp blaring through the kitchen that Lucas broke from the kiss, eyes wide.

''Shit, the toasts!'' He sped to the toaster and turned it off, making the toasts jump up, completely burnt and past the edible stage of burnt.

Jens followed him behind, snickering. ''I thought you made 'amazing toasts'.'' He picked one up, immediately dropping it on the counter as it burned his fingers. ''This is carbonized.''

Lucas glared. “If you hadn't distracted me…’’

‘’You initiated the kiss!’’ Jens pointed out.

“Only because you got all serious and asked me to be your boyfriend. What was I supposed to do? Stand there?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and exposing his pretty blue eyes.

Jens smiled, watching with amusement as Lucas got mildly irritated over small nothings. He thought it was really cute that their first ‘argument’ was about burnt toast and officially being together.

Extending his arms, Jens reached out for Lucas- his boyfriend and drew him to him, circling his arms around his smaller frame. Lucas exhaled a sigh, hugging Jens' middle and pushing his face into his neck.

''As much as I am liking this, you're gonna have to let me go. Those toasts aren't going to put themselves in the toaster,'' Lucas pointed out, yet not letting go of the other boy.

Jens snorted. ''No shit?''

Lucas pulled back, frowning. ''I thought you were hungry...''

''Yeah, but you can make me breakfast later.’’ Jens loosened his hold and descended his hands down, getting a full grasp of Lucas’ ass, making the latter’s cheeks flush. ‘’This is what I want now. And this.'' He started kissing along Lucas’s jaw, trailing his lips down the side of his neck. ''What time does your dad gets home, again?''

Humming, Lucas tilted his neck, giving Jens more room to kiss, as he tried to remember what his dad had texted him yesterday. ‘’Around 4pm? I think.’’

‘’That’s fine by me.’’

Without taking his lips off Lucas, Jens walked them back in the direction of Lucas’s bedroom, impatient to pull off some layers and get their hands on each other. Lucas giggled as Jens guided him into the hallway table, almost knocking down whatever was on it.

.

Monday, February 10th

The veggies were still a bit crunchy as Jens chewed them, needing a supplementary minute or two of cooking, but Jens didn’t comment on it. The carrots were fine. His mom did the best she could in ten minutes.

‘’Ines is having a sleepover on Saturday,’’ Lotte announced after she was served her dinner, stabbing a carrot with her fork. ‘’Can I go?’’

Fenna pulled her eyebrows. ‘’Didn’t you two have a sleepover this past weekend?’’ With her crazy schedule, she was losing track of time sometimes.

‘’Yeah, but it wasn’t for her birthday. Can I go? Please Mama, she’s my best friend,’’ she begged, pouting and all.

Fenna sighed. Birthdays meant presents and, with their current financial situation, they didn’t have spare money for an impromptu birthday present for Ines. The money Jens had given her had helped, but they still had the eviction notice to worry about and pay before it was too late.

It crushed Fenna’s heart to tell her daughter ‘no’, but maybe it was time she learned the value of money and that she can’t always go to birthday parties.

‘’Lotte, I don’t think-’’

‘’Friday is Valentine’s Day, Lotte.” Jens piped in. “I think Mom and Dad already have plans for the weekend plus, I thought we could do something special together.”

Lotte looked at him, eyebrows pulled together, as if trying to figure out if he was serious. “You’re only asking me because you have nobody else to spend it with.”

Jens couldn’t deny that she was right - half right. Technically, he didn't have someone to spend Valentine's Day with. This weekend fell on Lucas' mom's weekend and he'll be in Utrecht, leaving Jens by himself on Lovers' Day.

All Jens wanted to do was spend this day - of all days - with his new boyfriend, but now was not the time to come out to his family and tell them about Lucas. Plus, it was too early in their relationship to be introduced to each other's parents.

“I’m asking you because you are my favorite girl, next to Mom of course, and I want to do something special with you.”

Fenna tried to hide her laugh at Jens remark.

“Like what?” Lotte asked, still skeptical.

“Well, I was thinking we could bake Valentine's Day cupcakes together and decorate them with pink and red frosting, candies and everything. Maybe we could watch movies too? What about the live-action Aladdin? Or Beauty and the Beast?''

Lotte thought about it for a minute, but before she could give Jens an answer, they heard the front door open and close. Jens glanced at his mom across the table, knowing that it was his dad and Fenna tensed, worried her husband was intoxicated.

Much to their surprise, Mohamed had an unusual smile when he walked into the kitchen. Her seat facing the kitchen entrance, Lotte saw him first and let out a squeal, happy to see her father.

‘’Dad! Dad! I got an 8 on my Math test,’’ Lotte announced proudly. She jumped down from her chair and went to get her test from her backpack.

‘’Careful. Don’t get sauce all over your test, Lotte.’’

Mohamed took the paper, smiling at his daughter, proud of her progress. ‘’Really? That’s amazing, Sweetie. I knew you could do it.’’

‘’Jens helped me a lot. He taught me how to multiplicate because I couldn’t understand what the teacher was doing.’’

He sat at the table and gave a thankful smile to his son.

‘’You hungry? I didn’t know if you were going to be there for dinner so I didn’t make you a plate.’’

‘’I’ll fetch myself a plate, but, first, I have good news.’’ He glanced at his family, the three of them sitting at the dinner table, and smiled. ‘’I...I found a job.’’

‘’You did? Where? How? ’’ Fenna asked, trying to contain her excitement.

‘’A friend of mine told me they needed a new guy at his workplace. I applied and he gave them a good reference about me and...I got the job,’’ he explained simply, crossing the kitchen to stand by his wife. ‘’Things are going to get better now,’’ Mohamed whispered to Fenna, careful so Lotte wouldn’t hear, camouflaging his secret with a kiss on her cheek.

Jens looked at his dad with disbelief and skepticism. He wanted to believe that his dad wasn’t lying, but there was something, something he just couldn’t put his finger on, that made him question this sudden new job. Like, how could he get a job so fast? How come that after weeks - months, even - of searching for a new job that an offer was presented to him so quickly.

.

Tuesday, February 11th

After seeing Lucas coming out of the boys' gym locker room, there was no way Jens was going home without him. Fresh faced, his hair was still damp from the shower he just took, perfect curls resting over his forehead, and he smelled of sweet vanilla soap - and a touch of woodsy Jens didn't recognize.

Without thinking twice, Jens pulled him back into the locker room, not caring if there were still people left, and kissed him hard. Lucas followed willingly, tugging Jens closer by the side of his sweatshirt and smiling into the kiss.

Once they started, they couldn't stop. They could've, but they didn't want to.

Jens felt Lucas’ smile fade as the kiss deepened, becoming more serious somehow, tongues sliding together, becoming a bit too explicit for school.

Conveniently, Jens' phone buzzed in his pocket, a message from his mom saying she was going grocery shopping with Lotte after school.

The timing couldn't have been better.

Jens' hand slid under Lucas' shirt, grazing his stomach, making the hair rise on his skin as they kissed. Their motions were calm and relaxed, kissing languidly, bathing in each other's embrace.

It was a change from their usual horny teenager rhythm, laying there, so close to each other, with no intentions of taking it further than soft kisses and wandering hands.

Lucas pulled Jens closer, rolling them so Jens was on top. He liked this. Feeling Jens' weight, heavy and warm on top of him. His hand was hot against Jens' thigh, the warmth of his palm cutting through the denim.

‘’Do you have weed, by chance?’’ Lucas asked, his voice a soft mumble.

Jens hummed. ‘’Yeah. It’s in the first drawer over there.’’

Lucas smiled and removed himself from under Jens, making the latter whine in protest and grasp at the back of Lucas’ tee shirt, trying to pull him back to him. Lucas laughed. ‘’I forgot mine at my mom’s when I last visited. I had something else on my mind,’’ he explained, glancing at Jens with a knowing smile, flashing back to two weeks ago at the train station.

‘You’re gonna have to roll though, I don't have any pre-rolled joint. There’s a grinder and papers in the back.’’

Jens watched as Lucas crossed the room, hair messy from Jens relentlessly running his hands through it and his tee shirt wrinkled from rolling in the sheets for the past half hour. He smiled smugly, letting himself sink deeper into his pillows, asking himself how he got so lucky.

‘’Did you find it?’’ Jens asked from his spot on the bed, seeing Lucas standing still in front of the open drawer. ‘’Luc?’’

Turning on his heels, the brunet held up a baggie of colorful pills, fingers clutching the plastic tight. ‘’What’s this?’’

Lucas wasn’t an idiot. He knew what those were, but a part of him was hoping that he was wrong. That his boyfriend didn’t have drugs hidden in his drawer.

Fuck.

Jens sat up, panic flashing through his eyes. Shit, shit, shit. ‘’I’m not taking them,’’ he defended immediately.

‘’Then, why is it in your drawers?’’ Lucas demanded, eyes on Jens, expecting further explanations. ‘’This shit is addicting and dangerous. Have you not seen enough deaths caused by Xanax or even Fentanyl?’’

‘’I’m not doing drugs, Luc. I promise.’’

‘’But why do you have them?’’

‘’Because I sell them!’’ Jens felt himself being weighed down at the confession, taking a few steps back and sitting back on his bed. ‘’I sell them…’’ he repeated with a calmer tone, shoulders slumping. ‘’I’m doing this for my family.’’

Stunned and confused, Lucas’ eyebrows furrowed.

‘’About 3 months ago my dad lost his job with no severance pay, so my mom has had to pick up a lot of double shifts at the hospital. She has been stretching herself thin and I couldn't keep watching her-’’

Jens' voice interrupted and Lucas sighed, walking over to sit on the bed, no longer feeling like lecturing his boyfriend about the seriousness of taking drugs. Cert, selling drugs didn't take away the danger, but a lecture wasn't what Jens needed right now, it was support.

Exhaling a breath, Jens casted his eyes down on his lap, trying to gather his thoughts. He wanted to be honest with Lucas, but he wasn’t the only one involved and Jens doubted his parents would want their financial struggles to be spreading around to strangers.

‘’Money started becoming a bigger problem over the past weeks and I didn’t know what else to do. I just knew that I wanted to help. I'm helping a lot at home with my sister, graduation is so close too; it was impossible for me to get a job. So, I took the easy way and started selling drugs.'' Jens paused, scoffing a humorless laugh and shaking his head. ''My mom thinks I sold stuff - that's what I told her. I hate lying to her, but I can't exactly tell her where it came from because I know she won't take the money even though she needs it.''

Family was important for Jens. Especially his mom and sister. He loved his family and would do anything for them, to help them.

''At first, it was just weed, but Michiel convinced me to do more, to expand my sales to pills. He said that it would pay more too, so I accepted.’’

Jens knew Lucas wasn't proud of him, that he didn't approve of his way, but it brought money home, it helped his parents. Even if it was dirty money.

Lucas took Jens’ hands in his, supportive and understanding. ‘’I know you want to help your family, Jens, but this drugs shit isn’t the solution,’’ he said, worry in his tone.

‘’For now it is,’’ Jens pressed. ‘’It's not permanent, okay. I promise. Just until things get easier at home.’’

The world of drugs was anything but safe, but Lucas knew there was nothing he could say that would make Jens backtrack.

He sighed. ‘’Be careful. Please. These guys aren’t fucking around.’’

.

Thursday, February 13th

Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day and Jens still hadn’t found an answer to his question: should he get something for Lucas? They had been official for only four days, but it was Valentine’s Day. Couples get something for their partners regardless how long they’ve been together.

He laid on his back, staring at his ceiling in hope to find his answer. He didn't want to go for the cheesy rose or chocolate - even though Lucas and his sweet tooth would’ve loved chocolate. He couldn't draw like Sander or write cute poems like girls often do.

Jens sighed. And he thought buying a Christmas present for a secret santa was difficult/tricky/complicated; this was far worse.

A soft vibration shook his mattress and Jens reached for his phone.

Aaron: Anyone has a red shirt to lend me for tomorrow?

Jens: Shit. The Valentine’s Day theme…

Tomorrow, in honor of Valentine’s Day, their school’s had a themed dress code where the students had to wear something pink or red. It sounded a bit childish, something Lotte’s school would’ve done, but Jens had no choice but to participate. It wasn’t really a problem for him though, having a lot of red shirts in his closet.

Moyo: Are you wearing pink tomorrow, Robbe?

Robbe: Not all gays wears pink, you know 😑

Moyo: 😘

Moyo: Are we going to the bar again this year? There’s always hot chicks looking to hook up on Valentine’s Day

Robbe: Can’t. Sander made plans, but he didn’t tell me. I asked for something chill. Staying in is fine with me. As long as we’re together, I don’t care what we’re doing

Aaron: Sap 🤮

Robbe: 🖕🏻

Robbe: And you, with Amber?’’

Aaron: We’re going to the movies. They have a special screening of The Notebook and Valentine’s Day. I’m also going to get flowers for her

Jens: Wow, I would’ve never thought you were the romantic type

Aaron: Amber told me exactly what she wanted to do

Moyo: Of course she did

Aaron: You’re just jealous because you’re the only single person this year

Moyo: Fuck you all 🖕🏻

Moyo: And you, Jens, any plans with the mystery girl?

Jens: Yeah. Her name’s Lotte

Moyo: As in your sister?

Moyo: Dude you have to babysit? That fucking blows!!

Jens: I would rather spend time with her all evening than watch your ass get rejected by girls all evening and then come crying to me about it

Robbe: 😂

Aaron: 😂👏

Moyo: 🖕🏻

Jens: You can join us though. We’re going to make cupcakes

Moyo: Can we put weed in it?

Jens: Wtf? She’s 8 bro...

.

Friday, February 14th

‘’I left a rose in Amber’s locker this morning,’’ Aaron told the boys at lunch, bragging about his superior romanticism.

Robbe shook his head. ‘’And I’m the sap?’’

‘’It’s romantic! The girls will go all ‘aw’ when she’ll show them. I think they’re jealous.’’

‘’So you’re doing this to impress Amber’s friends?’’ Jens recapitulated, messing with his friend.

Aaron opened his mouth to defend himself, stopping mid-way when he realized Jens had tricked him and didn't know how to respond to that. ‘’No! I did it for Amber. She likes romantic gestures.’’

Moyo and Robbe laughed, pulling out their lunches from their bag while Aaron was already almost done with his. How can he be finished so fast? They just got here. Jens was about to do the same when his pocket began to vibrate.

Lucas: Meet me in the library 💋📚

Jens didn’t take a second to think, taking his bag from the chair next to him and stood. ‘’Gotta go. I’ll catch you guys later.’’

‘’Where are you going? We just sat down like ten minutes ago,’’ Robbe asked.

Jens bit down his lip, trying to think fast of a quick lie, but Moyo beat him to it and spoke first.

‘’I bet you’re meeting up with that Tuesday chick to make out,’’ he guessed, raising his eyebrows and making kissy noises.

‘’I knew there was a mystery girl!’’ Aaron added, a bit too cheerful.

Jens snorted, shaking his head. ‘’You wish.’’

Jens walked in the library and smiled politely at the librarian at the front desk. He didn’t go there...ever so she was probably confused to see a new face. He walked along the aisle, trying to look for Lucas’ table among the sea of pink and red students.

The library wasn't too crowded - not that Jens knew how many people came here daily. He recognized a few people he had classes in common with but kept going. His heart began to race, a tightening feeling in his stomach, when he saw the head of curls in the pink sweatshirt. Jens smiled, sneaking up on him.

‘’Aren’t you supposed to be studying?’’ Jens seductively whispered in his ear.

A shiver ran down Lucas’ spine and the brunet looked up, blue eyes staring at Jens, pencil between his teeth. He had a pile of books and papers strategically placed according to all his exams up for re-do because of his mid-year move.

Lucas put his pencil down and grinned, happy to see his boyfriend. ‘’Yeah, but I figured I could use a break,’’ he said, raising an eyebrow.

Reading through his thoughts, Jens smirked and Lucas stood, beckoning Jens to follow him to the back shelves of the library. It was cliché and risky, knowing they’ll both get kicked out if they get caught kissing between stacks, but they didn’t care.

Lucas backed up until he touched the wall behind him, reaching for Jens and tugging him down for a kiss, hands bunching up the material of his hoodie.

‘’Cute.’’

Lucas cocked an eyebrow. ‘’Me?’’

Jens rolled his eyes. ‘’That too.’’ He set his hands on Lucas’ waist, slipping under his sweatshirt and pulling him closer. ‘’I meant your sweatshirt. You look good in pink.’’ Jens dipped his head and kissed under his ear, making Lucas tilt his head back to make more room.

‘’That’s why I wore it today. I know you like it on me.’’

‘’It’s the one you wore at the skatepark. After our first kiss.’’

How could Jens not remember that moment? Lucas in a pink oversized sweatshirt, sunlight shining on him on top of the half-pipe. The sleeves were covering his hands a bit, fingers peeking out, looking cute as hell.

‘’I did?’’ Lucas asked, not remembering well.

Jens hummed, pressing his forehead against Lucas’, feeling the Lucas’ hands slide into his hair.

‘’Sucks that my first Valentine’s Day as a non-single person I have to be away from my boyfriend,’’ Lucas lamented with a sad sigh.

Jens was sad too, but he didn’t show it, not wanting to make Lucas feel more upset about spending Valentine's Day miles away from each other. Instead, he captured Lucas’ lips with his, cupping his jaw and deepening the kiss, making the brunet forget about tonight. Pressing himself closer to Jens, Lucas let out a small sound that was a bit too loud and inappropriate for a secret library make out session.

As Jens’ hands were starting to travel south towards Lucas’ backside, a large crash came from the otherside of the library, making Jens and Lucas jump apart from each other. Lucas went to the end of the row to see what was going on.

“Someone knocked over a book cart.”

Looking at the time on his phone, Jens groaned. “The bell is about to ring. Will I see you before you leave?”

“I’m catching an early train so I’ll be leaving before my last class.”

Jens sighed, not to pleased that he wasn’t going to give Lucas a proper send off. ‘’See you Sunday, then?’’

Lucas nodded, pressing one last kiss to Jens’ lips. ‘’Sunday.’’

.

Lotte ditched him. His little sister ditched him for her best friend whose birthday party she couldn’t attend on Saturday. After telling Ines the tearable news, the little girl decided to invite Lotte over and have a Valentine’s Day girls night to make up for her non attendance.

That left Jens by himself on Friday night - on Valentine’s Day night.

His mom was at work - and hopefully his dad too. It was weird to see him get ready in the morning and go to work, having a routine again. He’d drop Lotte off every morning, her school being on his way, and come back around dinner time or later depending on the day.

Sitting on his couch with a bag of chips, Jens flipped through the channels, trying to find something to watch. He rolled his eyes when seeing only bad cheesy movies like Valentine’s Day and The Notebook. And the news.

With a sigh, Jens sent a message to Moyo.

Jens: Wanna come over? My plans got cancelled

Moyo: Can’t bro. There’s so many hot chicks here. Tonight is a good night for me, I can feel it!!

Moyo: Come to the bar!

Jens scrunched his face. He didn’t feel like going to a bar tonight. He didn’t have money for drinks and didn’t feel like dancing and grinding himself against girls - or anyone else other than his boyfriend. If Robbe and Aaron would’ve been there, maybe Jens would’ve reconsidered. But, they weren’t.

He didn’t bother texting Moyo back, sinking into the couch’s back pillows and checking his social media, trying to cure his boredom. Sander had posted a cute selfie of him and Robbe on their date, making Jens smile. He liked the post and scrolled down to the next picture. Aaron had posted on his Instagram too, a picture of a popcorn and movie theater seats, telling everyone how in love he was with Amber.

Seeing his friends on dates with their respective lovers reminded Jens how he was the only one of the gang to not spend his night with his significant other. It hadn’t even been 8 hours since Lucas had left Antwerp and, already, he was missing his beautiful face.

Jens stood, dusting off the crumbs on his shirt and headed to his room, taking advantage of his parents’ absence to smoke a joint. It’s not like he had anything better to do.

Opening his drawer, Jens saw that he was all out of weed and groaned. He must’ve forgot to keep some for himself and sold everything. He scratched for the back of the drawer, hoping a couple grams had fallen there, but there was none. Fuck.

Mom: Can you pick up Lotte in the morning? I have to do a double and won't be home in time

Jens: Can’t Dad do it?

Mom: He has work

Jens: On the weekend?

Mom: Yes, on the weekend

Mom: Will you pick her up? Please

Jens sighed, missing the old days.

Can’t he just be a teenager for once? He missed the days where he could hangout at Robbe's or Moyo's and do nothing but drink and smoke, partying all weekend. When he got wasted enough, he would just sleep it off and not have to worry about babysitting his sister or his secret side job to help his parents. It was so simple and easy back then...

He almost grabbed his phone and called Moyo for backup, knowing he’ll have some at home, but the latter was at the bar, most likely drunk. And, Jens would have to explain why he was out of weed and why he needed it now. It’s not that he was ashamed of his anxieties, everyone has anxieties, but it wasn't something he wanted to scream on rooftops, never being one to be overly emotional.

Jens was a chill person. Always so calm and collected, easygoing; not much can ruffle his feathers. But, lately, his stress levels have been getting higher and he wasn’t used to so much stress in his life.

With his father's job loss, a lot of other things started to tumble down like an avalanche. Their finances had slowed down, but the bills were piling up, adding to the already tumbling snow. His father's lack of responsibility and empty promises were catching up to them and his mom was exhausted, trying to make up for his mistakes. Jens was trying to hold it back, to help where he could, but there was only so much he could do to prevent the avalanche from swallowing his family.

With time, Jens began to feel the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Despite his best attempts at adulting, teenagers usually don’t have the skills or the brain development necessary to really care for themselves or a full family. Because their brain is still in development - and will only be fully developed around their mid-twenties -, they are more vulnerable to anxiety and stress. There are many moments where they don’t know what they were doing. Frustration mixed with a lack of ability when it comes to 'adulting’ raises teenage anxiety levels.

Keeping everything straight in his mind was difficult. He had to help his parents keep everything from Lotte and take care of her here and there, maintaining good grades, figuring out all these new inclinations regarding his sexuality and falling in love with Lucas.

All of this was overwhelming sometimes.

Without realizing, Jens had found himself self medicating to relieve his stress. Weed, which used to be recreational, was now used to significantly reduce stress and was no longer just for fun.

Even Lucas had become a stress relief without meaning to. With his gorgeous smile and bright eyes, Jens couldn’t help but smile whenever he was in his presence.

Usually, he would lit a blunt and smoke a bit of weed, but when he was all out.

As a last resort, Jens glanced at the baggie of Xanax. He stared at the rectangular white pill, hesitating. He had never taken it before, but he knew it was medically used to ease the mind and calm anxiety, a stress reliever. Just like weed. Taking one pill wouldn’t hurt, right?

He grabbed one from the baggie and popped it into his mouth, swallowing dry.

[cherryrogers]

Falling For You.

— Chapter 10

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

(Modern High School AU)

Warnings: Alcohol, swearing, fluff!!

Synopsis: Unlike most teenagers, you had your life completely mapped out. You’d graduate high school, go off to the university of your dreams, and live the life that your parents always wanted you to. That was always the plan.

Falling for Bucky Barnes, however, was never part of that plan.

Being ‘just friends’ isn’t enough. Becoming anything more is too much. But suppressed feelings can’t stay ignored forever, and you were about to learn that a lot sooner than you thought

Inspired by the song, ‘Fallingforyou’ - The 1975

Series Masterlist

_______________________________________________

Wiping an aching hand across his forehead, Bucky stood from where he’d been crouching next to the tyre of the large truck and set down the tool in his other hand. He eyed the exterior of the vehicle, taking a mental note of the work on it that he still had to finish with a tired exhale.

It was only him in the garage, the rest of the guys were holed up in the break room eating lunch, one of which being his father. His dad suggested that he took a lunch break too, but Bucky hadn’t felt like eating - he hadn’t felt like doing a lot since the beginning Winter break, since the last time he saw you.

Bucky had spent most of the cold days working in the auto-shop, hands slick with grease and a tool of some sort in his hand. He’d barely touched his phone, leaving countless unopened messages and unreturned missed calls from his concerned friends clogging up his notifications. None of them were from you, though, which he wasn’t really surprised about.

You hadn’t left things on bad terms with Bucky back at Carter’s, but you’d made it clear that you needed your own space for a while, and the boy wanted to respect that, even if it was a lot more difficult than he’d anticipated. He hadn’t realised how much time he actually spent with you until it’d been a week without doing so. It only made his more anxious, knowing that the feeling of missing you might become a regular thing if you decided that you didn’t want him. He tried not to think about it too much, delving into whatever work had to be done at the shop to take his mind off you.

Christmas had came and gone quickly; a casual day spent with his parents at home, the thought of you passing his mind one too many times. He wondered what you you were doing that day. Your parents had came home for the holidays last Christmas, but considering your mother had practically disowned you that last time the two of you spoke, he wasn’t so sure that they’d make an appearance this time. Bucky would’ve been more than happy to let you spend the day with him and his family, but the last thing you needed for the time being was to be around him, so he only hoped that you’d enjoyed the day in your own way.

His friends had tried to get in touch with him a lot after that day, wanting to get the group together again before Val’s party on New Year’s Eve. None of them knew what happened at the Winter Formal - apart from Natasha, but he didn’t know that - and none of them knew about the conversation you’d had the day after. Bucky just couldn’t bring himself to tell them about it. He didn’t want to talk; he only wanted to hear from you. To know what was going to become of you and him, but he had to be patient. And until then, he felt like the only person he wanted to be around was himself.

However, his friends weren’t going to let him isolate himself for the rest of the break, that was for sure.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

Bucky’s head snapped up to the doorway of the garage, seeing no other than Natasha Romanoff leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest. He didn’t respond, not knowing what to say as he grabbed the towel from the stool next to him and began to wipe himself down.

It reminded him of when you’d shown up at the shop to get an explanation as to why he was still friends with his ex. That was a simpler time, a much simpler time.

The click of the girl’s boots echoed through the garage as she neared where Bucky was stood. “You’d always come here after we had an argument. I remember, it became such a routine for me to come here to try and work things out...” Nat chuckled softly, recounting the memories of a time long ago. “...that your dad would see me step one foot through the door and direct me to whichever part of the shop you were holed up in.”

Bucky didn’t think about his relationship with Natasha a lot, not as much as he used to, anyway. Sure, they could look back at it now and laugh because they were friends, but the two knew that their relationship was never healthy. It was argument after argument with a few nice moments in between, and the people around him weren’t oblivious to that.

The boy glanced up at his friend, manoeuvring himself around the truck to examine the rest of the damage. “I know, ‘cause after you’d leave, he’d try to question me about what our third fight of the week was about.”

A sympathetic smile set on the redhead’s lips. “I think he always knew that I was bad for you.”

“He knew that we were bad for each other.” Bucky caught her gaze, standing still for a moment before shaking his head and focusing back on the truck. “What’re you doin’ here, Nat?”

Natasha’s gentle expression turned serious at his question. “I told you I was coming to see you; you’d know that if you checked your phone.”

Sparing a glance at his phone on the counter across the room, Bucky let out a sigh. “I haven’t been on my phone much lately.”

That wasn’t necessarily a lie, but he’d seen all texts and Snapchats and whatever else his friends had tried to contact him on. He just wasn’t sure that he could deal with talking to them yet.

“Something’s up with you, Buck.” Nat pressed, deciding to just get straight to give point. The girl was never one for beating around the bush; it was only a waste of time. “Have you talked to (Y/N)?”

Hearing your name caused Bucky’s stomach to turn. “What?”

“(Y/N), have you talked to her since the dance?” The girl repeated. Truthfully, she’d been surprised that she’d remembered the conversation you’d shared while she’d been drinking, but she was glad that she did. If Bucky wasn’t going to talk to her about it himself, then she was going to confront him about it.

The boy’s brows furrowed confusedly. “How do you... how you even know what happened?”

“She told me.” The redhead shrugged. “Well, I kinda coaxed it out of her when I was tipsy, but... it definitely sounded like something you needed to talk about with her.”

Bucky bit down on the inside of his cheek, hesitant to talk about the situation that he’d been trying to take his mind off for the past week. There was a short silence before he nodded slowly. “Yeah, I talked to her.”

Natasha raised her brow. “And...?”

“And... she needs time to think things through.” Bucky dragged the nearest stool in the garage over next to the truck, sitting himself down with his elbows digging into his thighs. “She wanted to kiss me, and I think a part of her wants more than just a friendship. But... she’s still scared, Nat. She’s convinced that the both of us are just gonna end up getting hurt, and I don’t know how to show her that she doesn’t have to be afraid.”

The girl pursed her lips, eyes glued to the ground as she considered Bucky’s words. She was careful with her response, cautiously looking back up at Bucky and letting out a quiet sigh. “She’s afraid because you’re opening her up, Buck. Being open with you makes her problems yours, and that means if things get complicated in her life, they’re gonna affect you just as much. She doesn’t want that for you, just... just like I didn’t.”

Blue eyes darted over the redhead’s softened features. The only time they ever referred back to their relationship was in a joking manor, but Natasha didn’t have a hint of humour in her expression. The girl could tell that Bucky was unsure of how to respond, so she carried on speaking.

“I have a lot of regrets, Bucky. One of them is how I acted when we were together. I shut you out without an explanation and got mad when you only wanted to help. There was stuff going on in my life that I didn’t want anyone but me to have to deal with, so if it meant that my issues didn’t become yours as well, then I wasn’t ever going to open up to you.”

For a short while, Bucky was speechless. He’d had no idea that Natasha was dealing with her own problems during their relationship; if she was hurting, she’d never let it show in the slightest.

“Fuck, Nat.” The boy ran a hand over his face, standing from his stool. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know-”

“That was the point, Buck. I didn’t want you to know.” The corner of Nat’s lips upturned. “I wasn’t ready for a relationship, but I think (Y/N) is. I didn’t want to open up to you, but she does. I could see it when I talked to her at the dance; she really wants things to work out between the two of you.”

Bucky smiled at that. The redhead was smart, and she didn’t say things if they weren’t true. It sparked hope in his heart, hearing that she was sure you wanted him. “So, what do I do?”

Placing her hands on her hips, Natasha smiled softly up at him. “You show her that letting you in is okay. That you wanting to help her isn’t going to end up hurting you, and she doesn’t have to deal with whatever she’s afraid of alone.”

A laugh escaped Bucky’s lips, not because he thought what Nat said was funny, but because he was amazed at her words. While the two didn’t get on and boyfriend and girlfriend, Bucky truly couldn’t ask for a better friend than Natasha. The boys were great too, of course, but they definitely couldn’t have came out with anything that the girl just did.

“You’re pretty smart, you know that?” Bucky grinned for what felt like the first time since the dance.

“I know.” Natasha sent him a wink, beginning to take a few steps backwards from the boy. “The guys and I are grabbing dinner later, you should join us.”

Bucky didn’t waste any time thinking about his answer. “I’ll be there.”

“Awesome.” She nodded, heading for the exit of the garage.

“Nat?” The boy called out, prompting the girl to turn around with a quirked brow. “Thank you, for everything.”

“Don’t sweat it, Barnes. I just want you to be happy.”

There was a certain warmth in his chest as Bucky watched Natasha leave the shop. It was similar to what he felt when he first saw you across the room at the Winter Formal, when he was ready finally make a move on you. While that plan didn’t necessarily pan out correctly, he had a feeling that the next time he saw you would be different. Good different.

As long as you still wanted him, Bucky was going to show you that you didn’t have to be afraid anymore.

* * *

After walking for fifteen minutes in what you’d hoped was the right direction, you finally began to tell that you were nearing Val’s place, the sound of blaring music getting louder with each street corner you turned.

Somehow, you couldn’t really believe that it was New Year’s Eve. The majority of what had occurred in the past year had happened within the final month. Falling out with your parents, falling even more for Bucky... the year hadn’t quite ended how you’d thought it would.

And now you were off to a New Year’s party that you didn’t really want to go to, to apologise to a friend for not reciprocating the feelings he had towards you, while hoping to avoid the friend that you actually did reciprocate feelings with. What a year it’d been.

Wanda had told you to just meet her at the party, since Pietro had offered to take her and Vis, and you couldn’t even imagine the sheer awkwardness that car ride would ensure if you tagged along. At least the long walk allowed you to rehearse your actions going into the party.

Find Pietro, apologise, leave.

It was a very simple plan, but if you lingered at the party long enough for Val to find you, the girl wouldn’t let you leave before midnight, and your limited social battery definitely wouldn’t last for that long.

Soon enough, you’d arrived at Val’s house, hesitantly making your way up the stone steps to the open front door. You immediately recognised a bunch of familiar faces, and assumed that Val had literally invited the whole of senior year, which wasn’t so helpful when you were specifically there for one person.

Everyone was pretty dressed up for the night, as opposed to you who had pulled on a pair of jeans and swiped a layer of mascara over your lashes to not look utterly out of place. You weren’t staying for long, and when you got home, you were hitting the hay as soon as possible.

As if luck was on your side, you saw a flash of messy silver hair a few feet away from where you were stood at the front of the house, seemingly heading into the backyard along with Clint. Bingo.

However, as you did your best to swerve in and out between the number of bodies blocking the way to the sliding door leading outside, you suddenly stopped in your tracks, hearing a familiar loud laugh from the room on your right.

Your eyes widened as you whipped your head to the side, eyes landing on the one and only Bucky Barnes with a bright smile on his face, amused at something that Sam looked to have said. Even though you knew that Bucky wasn’t one to miss a party, it still didn’t make seeing him at Val’s any easier. It’d been a week since you’d talked to him, and even just hearing his laugh pained you a little.

You knew what you wanted; you wanted him. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, you’d had the displeasure of learning that in your time away from Bucky. It made you wonder if being more than friends with the boy perhaps wouldn’t be such a bad thing. If it meant you could spend your free time with him, be close to him, just let yourself care for him openly without having to push your romantic feelings away... didn’t that sound perfect to you? Almost like it was too good to be true.

Except it wasn’t too good to be true. Bucky wanted you too, he’d made that clear. If being with him was really what you wanted, it was your call to make if it was going to happen.

The silver hair came back into view momentarily, snapping you from your thoughts and encouraging you to make your way outisde. It was pretty dark apart from the array of LED lights decorating the rim of the roof, but you still managed to locate Pietro on the far side of the yard, thankfully stood alone with a beer bottle in his hand as Clint left his side to talk to some other people.

The rate of your heart was speeding up as you paced over to the boy, and as you approached him, you fiddled with your hands nervously.

“Pietro?”

His eyes flicked up to meet yours, a lopsided smile on his lips. “(Y/N), hey.”

The words left his lips in a slurred manner, and by the way his body was swaying as he stood in one place, it was safe to assume that Pietro was drunk. Great.

You sighed, unsure of how what to do next. This conversation couldn’t be had while he was drunk, right? “Uh, I came here to apologise to you, Pietro. We need to talk, but I don’t think you’re in the best state of mind to-”

“No, no; we can talk.” The boy interrupted you. “Let me s-save us some time. Y-you wanted Bucky to be your date to t-the dance, but you said yes to m-me because you felt bad for me...”

“That’s not-” You tried to intervene, but having a productive conversation with a drunk person just wasn’t possible.

“And then, you ran away from me at the dance to go and m-make out with him! You could’ve just told me you liked him and not me, (Y/N). Man, I’m such a moron for even thinking you’d choose me over h-him.”

You shook your head at the boy, guilt building in your stomach. Even if you didn’t have feelings for him, you still cared about Pietro, and you didn’t think you could stand having him not wanting to be your friend again. “I went as your date to the dance because you’re my friend, Pietro. I did want to go with you, but... I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to go with Bucky too. Look, I don’t think we should talk about this-”

“I n-never had a chance, did I?” He let out a strained laugh, hand gripping his empty beer bottle tightly. “It’s always been him, hasn’t it?”

Your eyes moved to ground, Pietro’s words cutting deep. For being drunk, he couldn’t have said anything that was more right.

It had always been Bucky.

There was no point in trying to deny it, to Pietro or to yourself.

You thought you’d move on eventually, that your stupid crush on your best friend would fizzle away as the end of senior year got closer. But it wasn’t just a stupid crush, it was much more than that and it definitely wasn’t something you could just move on from. No one would ever be Bucky; no matter how kind, or funny, or loyal, nobody would ever make you feel the way that Bucky did. You didn’t have to be a fortune teller to know that, you could feel it.

Biting down on your bottom lip, you gave the boy a weak nod, finding the courage to look him in the eye. Hurt was evident in the gaze he had on you; that was all he needed to hear.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Pietro murmured, shaking his head as he walked away, leaving you with a heavy feeling in your chest.

While the boy wasn’t sober, you could tell that his pain was genuine. You didn’t want to hurt him, you hadn’t wanted to hurt Bucky either, yet you ended up doing both of those things, all while hurting yourself in the process.

“God fucking dammit.” You mumbled under your breath, regretting ever stepping foot out of your house.

After being left alone for a couple of moments, you almost flinched when you felt a gentle hand on your forearm.

“(Y/N)?”

Concerned eyes pierced into yours when you looked up, and you couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief being in Bucky’s presence.

“I didn’t think you’d come tonight.” He stated softly, mutually relieved to see you too.

You offered him a sad smile. “Honestly, I kind of wish I hadn’t.

By the way he nodded understandingly, you assumed that Bucky had heard the conversation with Pietro, which also meant he heard you admit to only having feelings for him. Well, that was just amazing. You needed to get home; you needed to get home and forget that you even thought about going to the party.

“I should go.” You said hurriedly, stealing your eyes away from his before his baby blues alone could change your mind. The only reason you’d came was to make amends with Pietro, and you’d only made things worse.

“Don’t go.” Bucky suddenly spoke, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Please, just stay for a little while.”

“Bucky...”

“We can go upstairs, outta the way of everyone. Just you and me.”

The way he was looking at you, his ocean eyes pleading you to stay, there was no way you could say no to him. It’d been too long since you’d seen each other, and you missed him. You missed him a lot.

You glanced to his hand that was still resting on your arm, your lips curling into a faint smile at his touch. “You’re insufferable.”

A grin crept onto his lips as his hand slowly trailed down your arm to your hand, enveloping it in his own, and your mind for once wasn’t screaming at you to pull away. “Can’t be that bad if you’re agreein’ to come with me.”

You could only roll your eyes before Bucky began tugging you through the cramped hallway, up the stairs and into what looked to be Val’s bedroom; it was obvious by the bottles of alcohol lined neatly on her dresser as if they were ornaments. Did that girl ever stop drinking?

Bucky gently closed the door behind him, the loud music and chattering voices muffled through the wall separating you and Bucky from everyone else. The quieter setting allowed the conversation with Pietro to replay in your mind again, and the boy in front of you noticed the way your eyebrows dipped and a frown formed on your lips.

“Can I ask what happened?” He asked quietly, pressing his back against the door.

He’d heard the majority of the conversation, so you weren’t exactly sure why he was asking. Though, you did need to get the matter off your chest. “I wanted to apologise to Pietro about what happened at the dance, but then I realised he was drunk when I started talking to him. He has feelings for me, well, he did. I’m not so sure now since he... thinks that I’ve chosen you over him.”

A sigh fell from your mouth as you took a seat on the edge of the bed, actively avoiding Bucky’s stare on you. There was a battle going on in your head; to tell Bucky that you had feelings for him, or to just let go. It wasn’t fair to let him wait any longer for an answer that would change everything no matter what it was. You needed to tell him soon, now.

“He’ll come around, (Y/N).” Bucky reassured, walking over to the bed and taking a seat next to you, your hands merely inches apart. “It’ll take some time, but he will.”

“Were you...” You started, a little hesitant about asking the question. “Annoyed when I didn’t like you back?”

The boy shook his head, smiling shyly. “No, not annoyed. Kinda bummed, I guess, but I couldn’t get mad at you for somethin’ you couldn’t control.”

With every word that left his lips, Bucky was making you fall more and more for him. You knew a fair share of guys would likely throw a hissy fit if they got rejected by the a girl they’d pursued for months, but Bucky wasn’t like that. He cared about you, truly. He’d remained only your friend for over a year in spite of his feelings for you just because he still wanted to be in your life, romantically or platonically. The universe was definitely on your side when it decided to bring Bucky Barnes into your life, and the fact that he was still your best friend proved that it still was.

“I don’t deserve you, Bucky.” You exhaled after a moment, playing with your hands in your lap. “I lied; I did have feelings for you then, and I have ever since. You didn’t know that, yet you never tried to push me into liking you, or tried to make any sort of move on me no matter how much you wanted to be more than friends. And even now that you know that I like you, I just... I don’t think I can be the person that you want me to be, the person that you want to be with.”

Peeling your eyes up from the floor, you looked at Bucky directly, who had his brows crinkled while he bit the inside of his cheek in thought. His hand moved slowly to cover yours, a feeling of comfort running through you when you felt it thumb stroking your hand. “I just want you to be you, sweets. I want you to be whoever you want to be.”

“But what if I don’t know who that is anymore?” After your solid plan for the future had crumbled due to the argument with your mother and how you’d fallen hard for your best friend, you didn’t have a clue what the future now held for you.

Refusing to let yourself get upset, you swallowed the lump in your throat. You’d never felt so vulnerable before, your heart so out in the open for Bucky to see. It was odd, scary even. But it felt okay. Everything felt okay with Bucky.

“Then I’ll help you figure it all out.” He spoke quietly. You weren’t sure when his face got so close to yours, but it was a lot closer than it was, your noses barely brushing together. “It’s always gonna be you and me.”

Inhaling sharply, your eyes flickered between his bright eyes and pink lips, your heart pounding against your rib cage. “You know, if we, um... if we kiss right now, we can’t ever go back to just being friends.”

Bucky chuckled deeply, a sweet grin pulling at his lips. “That’s okay, sweets, cause I don’t wanna be your friend. Now, will you let me kiss you?”

You had barely started to nod when the boy’s hand came to your cheek, cupping it gently as he pulled your lips to meet his.

Fireworks. There were fireworks erupting in your stomach, flaming sparks coursing through your veins as you leaned into him, feeling more at home with his lips pressed against yours than you ever had in the house you’d lived in for eighteen years. All that time you spent pushing him away, telling yourself that Bucky Barnes was your friend and nothing more - if it all added up to this exact moment, then every second of it was worth it.

It was a long kiss, one that was around a year overdue, and neither one of you wanted to be the first to pull away. It was Bucky who did it, though, worry momentarily flashing in his eyes in case you were immediately regretting kissing him back. It was soon replaced by relief, however, when he saw how you were gazing at him. It was like you’d just awoken from a beautiful dream, a soft smile sitting on your lips.

“I don’t wanna be your friend either, Buck.” You whispered against his lips, causing the corners of his mouth to upturn.

The boy picked up your hand that was still enclasped in his, pressing a kiss to it before standing up, a sudden new glow to his presence. “C’mon, sweets. Let’s get outta here.”

“And go where, exactly?”

“Shakes at Carter’s?”

You quirked a brow, gradually rising to your feet. “Bucky, it’s like, eight o’clock.”

“Closes at nine.” He winked boyishly, wasting no time in interlacing your fingers together and tugging you out of the bedroom.

Like magic, anything that had stopped you from kissing Bucky the first time had disappeared from your mind. Once you entered back into the swarm of drunken teenagers, you didn’t focus on the strong scent of alcohol lingering in the air or the bodies that were accidentally bumping into you in the crowded space; you could only focus on him. Bucky, and the kiss, and the way you felt in that moment with him.

It was always going to be Bucky, you could feel it in your soul. Your were sure you’d always known it, but it’d taken you a hell of a long time to finally admit it to yourself. The problems in your life certainly hadn’t gone away just yet, but you weren’t going to handle them by yourself anymore. It wasn’t going to be easy, letting someone in after so long of building walls around yourself, but you were willing to try for Bucky.

As far as New Year’s go, this one was definitely one to remember, and it’d be the first one where you were able to have a stupid New Year’s kiss that you’d always secretly wanted.

And that kiss was just as mesmerising as the first; the sweet taste of strawberry milkshake still on your lips, his fingers gripping gently at your waist. Bucky had insisted on kissing you at midnight, so he walked you home from the diner and you let him hang around until the clock struck twelve, talking about anything and everything and laughing like children to pass the time. Even after staying for so long, once you’d had your second kiss of the night, the boy eventually returned home, not wanting his mother to lose sleep over him not being home on New Year’s Eve.

That night, you had maybe the first good night of sleep you’d had in a long time, the warmth from your night with Bucky never fading even as your eyes fluttered shut.

Things were still going to be hard, you knew that, and you and Bucky weren’t necessarily ‘girlfriend and boyfriend’ yet. You’d agreed to take things slow, and that meant not rushing into a full-blown relationship that you weren’t yet ready for. But it was different now; you trusted Bucky wholeheartedly, and you were okay with being vulnerable in front of him.

If your past self could see you now, falling for a boy so easily and pushing aside your college plans - well, for now - you probably wouldn’t have been able to believe it.

Yet, it was real, all of it, and you couldn’t be more simultaneously scared and excited for what was to come next.

* * *

Taglist:

@americas-ass-assins @stevieboyharrington @itz-kira @broco8 @bxrnsfeyson @lovvliies

[dakotacrisis]

Deal’s End (9)

Two steps forward and one step back cause Marinette and Felix are disasters.

(Read on AO3)

---

More and more days went by and each day Marinette found another excuse not to ask Felix what she wanted to. More and more Adrien came closer to Marinette’s side. More and more Marinette and Felix spent laughing together, dancing around what they knew needed said. More and more Marinette could see the end in sight.

One day at school Adrien invited Marinette and Felix out to lunch to make up for the one that Felix missed before. Felix lied about having prior plans and told Marinette and Adrien to go on without him. Marinette knew what he was doing but it didn’t stop her from wishing he would actually join them for lunch.

They headed out together and spent the afternoon in pleasant conversation. “I can’t wait for summer vacation.” Adrien said. “I’ve been working with Nathalie to rework my schedule so I can actually have some time off.”

“It will be nice to have a break from school.” Marinette sighed dreamily thinking of all the time she could spend on other projects or with her friends during the break.

“All I’m hoping for is to spend time with my friends.” Adrien gave her a soft look, “Especially with you. I feel like we’ve gotten to be a lot closer as friends recently and it makes me really happy.”

“It makes me happy too.” Marinette said, “Before I was always so nervous around you that I could barely string a sentence together.” “I had noticed.” Adrien chuckled, “Why was that? We’ve known each other for two years now and I never understood why you always ducked away when I tried talking to you.”

“Well...that is…” Marinette poked her food around her plate. “I don’t wanna say.”

“Why not? Is it embarrassing?” Adrien asked.

“Kinda. I mean not really I suppose but I don’t know how you’d react and that’s primarily the reason why I’m hesitant to admit it.”

“If you’re not comfortable telling me that’s okay.” Adrien assured her. He laid a hand overtop of hers. “I hope one day you can and we can look back at this and laugh. I don’t want you to ever feel like I’d judge you or want to stop hanging out with you. No matter what your reasons are.”

“Thanks, Adrien, you don’t understand how much I needed to hear that.” One day down the line she’d tell him but for now she was content to sit and enjoy the rest of their lunch. They started the walk back to class hand in hand. Not that she thought much of it and she doubted Adrien read more into either. She held hands with her friends all the time.

“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you.” Adrien said, “Father picked out the photos that are going to go up for advertising. He really liked the whole sky and sun theme that Giuseppe did with the three of us.”

“I can’t believe I let you two talk me into that.” Marinette rolled her eyes, “And your dad was okay with me being in them? I mean I know I am rather pretty but I also know I’m not a professional model like you are.”

“You give yourself too little credit. I looked at the shots he picked and you look great!” Adrien blushed, “I also saw some of the shots that you and Felix took after I left. There’s one where he picked you up that father was really impressed with.” Adrien pulled out his phone and showed her a copy of the photo he was talking about.

Marinette knew what the moment was. It was when she called Felix her friend and he got excited and lifted her in the air. Even in a photo she could see the joy radiating off his face as he gazed up at her. Marinette’s own eyes were closed and she was holding tightly to Felix as she spun. It was a pocket of pure happiness captured on camera.

“You and Felix have also become really good friends.” Adrien put his phone away. “I have to admit, it kinda looked like you didn’t like him when he first came to school.”

“Oh yeah,” Marinette shrugged, “He rubbed me the wrong way at first but we hung out more and while he can still annoy me to bits I’ve gotten used to him. He’s sort of an acquired taste you can say.”

“Well, I hope during the summer we can all hang out together. He seems cool.”

“He’s alright.” Marinette smiled.

Felix didn’t ask for details on how the lunch went beyond if it went well. Had he not been spying on them? Most of the time he loved nothing more than to silently watch from the sidelines. On more than one occasion he would insert himself invisibly to Adrien and try to distract her. This was the first time she could remember going out with Adrien and not seeing or hearing from Felix at all.

The rest of class Marinette kept catching Adrien glancing back at her. Alya nudged her when she noticed. “Adrien keeps looking at you.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Marinette scoffed. “We had a nice lunch. That’s it. I don’t know why he’s being weird.”

“Oh my god, girl, how can you be so smart yet so dense?” Alya groaned. “He’s not being weird, he’s checking you out, albeit in a shy schoolboy kinda way.”

“No he’s not...is he?”

“Next time he looks wink at him.” Almost on cue Adrien glanced back at her again. Marinette swallowed her nerves and winked at him. His face immediately flushed crimson and he almost stumbled out of his chair turning around again.

“Girl,” Alya whispered excitedly, “Did you see his reaction? I think your little crush may have a crush on you.”

“Noooo…” Marinette fought the coy smile that crept on her face, “You think?”

“Watch this.” Alya looked as devious as Felix did when he was plotting. “Also, I am sorry in advance.”

“For what?”

“For this.” Alya raised her voice, “Yeah, Marinette, I can help you go bikini shopping!”

BANG!

“Ow!” Adrien cradled his knee. “Sorry, ignore me. Hit the table.” Adrien hid his face behind his textbook.

“Alya!” Marinette stressed through clenched teeth. “What is wrong with you?”

“He definitely likes you. He may not be entirely aware of it right now but I can guarantee he is picturing you in a teeny weeny bikini right now and it is making it very hard for him to pay attention to the lesson.” Alya leaned closer, “Bet you money that’s not the only thing that’s hard for him right now.”

“Oh my god you’re worse than Felix.” Marinette laid her head down on the table. Classes finally ended and Marinette started packing up her materials.

“Um, Marinette?” Adrien approached her. He wasn’t looking directly at her and she had noticed that his blush from earlier had yet to fully clear. “I wanted to say sorry if I was distracting you during class. I don’t know what was going on with me.”

Marinette glanced over at Alya who gave her an encouraging wave before scampering out the door. It was just the two of them in the classroom now. “It’s okay. How’s your knee?”

“My knee?” His face flamed up again. “Oh right, yeah, it um--it’s fine! Totally fine!” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know what you’re doing tomorrow but I was hoping we could hang out. Is that okay?”

“Sure. That sounds like fun.” Adrien was asking her out! Not anyone else! Just her!

“Cool. Uh...I can’t be out too long but I thought maybe we could go to the park, take a walk. Is that lame?”

“No. I love walking.” I. Love. Walking. Why was she likes this?

“Great. It’s a date.” Adrien smacked himself, “I mean, not a date. Not like a romantic date. A date between friends. A friend date.”

“Alright.” Marinette was trying not to laugh, “See you tomorrow for our friend date then.” Marinette started to leave. She was at the door when she decided to do something either incredibly brave or insanely dumb.

“Adrien?” She looked back at him. “You know that thing I mentioned at lunch? What I was too embarrassed to say?”

“Yeah?”

“I was super nervous before because I had a crush on you.” She told him. He opened his mouth as if to say something but nothing came out. “Hope that’s not weird.”

She left him gaping like a fish in the classroom and skipped out into the hall. Felix was waiting outside the door for her. “Oh hi,” Marinette pulled him along with a giddy smile. “I told Adrien about my crush on him! I can’t believe I did that!”

“Certainly surprised me.” Felix smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Congratulations, love, soon enough you won’t even need me.”

“Please, I would have never been able to say any of that without you encouraging me and boosting my confidence while talking to him.” Marinette couldn’t contain her excitement. “Also, I think Alya might be right. Maybe Adrien does have a crush on me.”

“Crush or not you’re stuck with me until you upgrade to girlfriend.” Felix messed her hair. “Now bring me my wingman payment of eclairs!”

“Five years of my life and eclairs. You demons are so greedy.” Marinette laughed. They went in through the bakery and grabbed their snacks that her parents had already prepared special. They had grown quite used to Felix popping in with Marinette all the time. Felix had even taken Marinette’s advice to come up to the door in the mornings so he could eat breakfast with them instead of Marinette sneaking him food after.

After work and dinner Marinette was tearing apart her closet to construct a perfect outfit for her outing with Adrien tomorrow. “Felix, what do you think?” Marinette held up two different looks, “The blue skirt with the white blouse or the overalls with the crop top?”

“Overalls and crop top.” Felix pointed. “But you should go with the black top instead of the pink. Has more allure.”

“Good call.” Marinette hung the outfit up near her changing screen and put the other away. Her phone beeped with an alert. “Pass it.”

Felix tossed her the phone.

“OOH!” Marinette set her phone down and scrambled for the trap door to her balcony. “I almost forgot!”

“Love?” Felix followed after her, “What are we doing out here?”

“There’s supposed to be a meteor shower tonight.” She told him, “I set a reminder on my phone about it forever ago.”

“Um, I don’t know how to break this to you but I doubt you’re gonna see any shooting stars out here.” Felix pointed to the sky. “Light pollution doesn’t help with that.”

“Oh…” Marinette stared at the sky in disappointment. “Right. I should have known that. That’s a bummer.” She started heading back down to her room when the lights died out. Did they blow a fuse?

“Love, come back up here.” Felix called. Marinette went back to the balcony. She gazed out over the city and noticed that all the lights had gone out.

“Is it a blackout?”

“Kinda.” Felix shrugged, “Electronics still work but all the lights are out.”

“Did...did you do this?” Marinette asked. She couldn’t believe that his powers could work like this. To stretch so far as to douse every light in the city.

“You wanted to watch the shower, didn’t you?” He tilted her head up towards the sky and she gasped.

Without all the lights the pollution was gone. She could see the stars! She could see the Milky Way with how clear it was! She was transfixed as she stared at the sky. A beam of light went streaking past. It was short but it had been there. Another followed not long after it.

“Thank you.” Marinette turned to Felix and was surprised to see him watching her. “I’m gonna go make us tea. I’ll be right back.” Marinette raced down to the kitchen with flashlight in hand to make them a pot of tea. She brought it back up and set it down on her spool table. She poured them both a cup and joined Felix at the railing to watch the shower.

It was getting to be late but Marinette couldn’t leave now. Not when the sky was alive and stars shot past every couple of seconds. It was such a beautiful night.

“Felix,” She said after they had been watching for a while. “You never finished that story you were telling me before. The one you started when I had that nightmare.”

“You fell asleep.” He laughed quietly, “Did you want to hear the end?”

“Yes, please.”

“Okay.” Felix cleared his throat. “You remember the poor man that loved the beautiful woman and how the woman was now engaged to a brute of a man to everyone’s sorrow.”

“I remember. That’s when you showed up, wasn’t it?”

“It was indeed.” Felix continued. “The man was in so much anguish about his love that his misery seeped down into Hell. I was the first to sense it and went to meet him sensing he may be easy pickings for a deal. Rules back in the old days were drastically different then they are now. Anyways, I found the man and approached him. I told him that I could feel his sorrow and pain and that I could make it better.”

“I told him that he could have whatever he wanted. He could wish for it to be him that the woman married instead. He could be rich and be married to the woman he loved. He could live a long life in comfort and all he had to do was ask.” Felix’s gaze became unfocused as he stared out over the city. His expression left a feeling of painful memories lurking below. “But the man said no. That was not what he wanted.”

“What did he want then?” Marinette asked.

“He looked me dead in the eyes and told me that all he wanted was for his love to be happy. That was all he had ever wanted. And so he asked me to make it so that the brute of a man she was to marry was instead a kind man. That he would make her happy and never hurt her. That the fiance would treat his bride with only kindness and gentility and love for all their days. At the time I did not understand. I couldn’t understand why he would choose that as his wish when I had the power to give him anything in the world. Why when he could have had everything, he chose to stay a poor man watching the woman he loved from a distance.” Felix gripped the railing tighter, “I asked him as much and he said that it was never about what was best for him. He only wanted to see her happy and to see her smile. That seeing that she was living in love and kindness was the only gift he wanted or needed out of life. And if he could ensure that she was well cared for and content then he would give anything in exchange.”

“What did it cost?” Marinette whispered, “His soul?”

Felix shook his head. “Nothing. What the man had said was true. His wish was selfless and his deepest desire. It was the one time I had ever made a deal without a price.”

Marinette yawned and leaned her head on his shoulder. “What happened then?”

“Overnight the brute the beautiful woman was to marry became a perfect gentleman that loved her dearly. She in turn fell in love with him and they lived many years together and raised a loving family.”

“And what of the poor man? What became of him?”

“It was not long after I had made the deal with the poor man that I went back to see him. He was on his death bed. An illness he contracted sleeping through the cold and not having enough to eat. He would not make it through the night.” Felix rested his head against the top of hers. “By this time the beautiful woman was now married to the former brute and had given birth to a child. I knelt next to the poor man as he lay dying and asked him if it had been worth it. Here he was lying in the dirt, slowly dying, all by himself. His love had no idea he existed and was living a wonderful life in luxury while he suffered here. Had it been worth it to waste his wish on making her husband kind when I could have given him everything?”

“This poor man. This man who would die without anyone else knowing or caring had the gall to look at me with pity in his eyes. He smiled at me and told me that because of his wish he got to see her smile every day. He smiled and said that though he was dying he would die knowing that she would live many more years and be happy. He smiled and said that yes, it had been worth it.”

“That’s really sad.” Marinette murmured, “Did the woman never find out about what he did for her?”

“There was never a reason to tell her.” Felix muttered, “Why would she believe it anyway?”

“I feel sorry for that man.” She said, “But his tale is also inspiring in a way. To imagine that someone could have that much love for someone else. It’s pure. It’s pure love.”

“It is. Isn’t it?” Felix sighed. His one hand left the railing and came to rest gently on Marinette’s back. “It’s late. You should go to bed, get your beauty sleep. Got a hot date tomorrow after all.”

Marinette let out another big yawn. “I guess so. Are you gonna turn the lights back on?”

“Yeah.” Felix waved his hand and all across the city the lights blinked back on. The change was so quick and drastic Marinette winced away from it. “Let there be light!”

“You are such a dork.” Marinette laughed. She set her cup on the table. She’d clean up their leftover tea in the morning. Felix was still at the railing looking out over the newly lit city. “Felix,” She tapped his shoulder.

“Yes?” he turned around.

“Thank you.” She stood on her toes and left a kiss on his cheek. “Good night.”

“Good night…” His voice was a hushed exhale. His eyes were blown wide as he stared down at her.

She bit back her smile and dropped down onto her bed. Her heart was racing and she couldn’t stop smiling to herself. She bundled under the blankets and clasped her pillow tight to her chest. “Well…” Marinette muttered to herself with a hysterical giggle. “I am so screwed.”

---

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (10)

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(tagged)

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[missnxthingg]

Do Me A Favour | T.H.

A/N: So I was listening to Arctic Monkeys during a road trip a couple of weeks ago and I got much inspiration out of their songs, and since I got back I started to work a little bit on this. It’s one of my favourite songs in the whole world and I just wanted to post something with it. And unfortunately my vacations are over and I have to write in classes (I really hate chem, so I hide myself in the back and write a little bit). Also, I’m posting this now to get our minds off the fact that Spiderman is being removed from MCU, and I’m so heartbroken because Spidey has been my favourite hero since I was a little girl and Tobey used to play him. 

Song: Do Me A Favour - Arctic Monkeys

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Summary (Important to know a bit more of what will be written below): Tom is always traveling, which means he’s never home to be with his girlfriend, and she held for a very long time to go to Paris and study gastronomy, which has always been her dream. Until one day she decided to go and it was too hard to let her go.

Warnings: Angst and a lot of crying. Also swearing.

Words: 2,1K

MASTERLIST

Well the mourning was complete

When there was tears on the steering wheel dripping on the seat

Several hours or several weeks

I’d have the cheek to say they’re equally as bleak

He just sat there in front of his steering wheel, car parked in the middle of an almost empty parking lot, not being able to start the car or even to see what was in front of him. Blurry vision caused by his tears, blinding the way. It was like he had no strength to start the car and get home to seek for something to comfort him. The thing that would help him was also the reason why he is crying. The rain outside wasn’t helping his mood, making it ten times worse than it was supposed to be. His heart was broken and he doesn’t think it can easily be fixed, or even fixed at all. The love of his life was now gone to another country, to pursue her dreams for once. Since the two of you met, she used to talk about how much she wanted to study gastronomy in Paris, just like her grandmother. It was her dream, but for many years she postponed the opportunity to stay in London, just to be with Tom, her long time best friend and boyfriend. He always had the dream to become a famous actor, and well, he did it, which means he was always away, for too long if she got to say. And after a couple of years waiting for him to come back home and spend some more time with her, she gave up and decided that if he got the chance to pursue his dream, damn she can do it too. And she did it, which led them to a huge discussion.

“What am I supposed to do without you here, (Y/N)?” Tom asked angrily.

“I don’t know, maybe wait, like I always do to you.”

“Is this about me?”

“No Thomas, not everything is about you! I have my own life, you know. I wanna have something for myself for once.” He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “But I don’t have to go, if you really want me to stay.”

“No, you need to go.” He said, more calm. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down a bit more. “It’s your dream (Y/N), and you should go after it.”

It’s the beginning of the end

The car went up the hill and disappeared around the bend

Ask anyone, they’ll tell you that it’s these times that it tends

To start to break in half, to start to fall apart

Hold on to your heart

That discussion kept coming back to his mind. If he hadn’t been so selfish maybe it wouldn’t have hurt her so much to leave, but he knew that he fucked up in that moment. And the image of her leaving kept replaying in his head, like the worst nightmare that came true. He has been there for almost an hour, crying loudly and alone. And so when he saw he couldn’t calm himself down at that moment, he started the car and began driving. Slowly he controlled his breath and that made him calm down. Soon, the train station couldn’t be seen in plain sight anymore and he knew he was driving away from his feeling somehow. His heart was breaking for leaving her behind, for not going after her. He couldn’t, she had to do it alone. He knew the day was coming, the day she would leave, and he tried to prepare himself, but the wasn’t able to do it, and he never will.

And me a favour and break my nose

Or do me a favour and tell me to go away

Do me a favour and stop asking questions

He made her really upset these past few days, and she made him too, but he got the feeling that he was the only and exclusive one guilty about all of this. The truth is that he wasn’t happy to see her go, even though he told everyone he was. Tom was proud, of course he was, his baby girl got an amazing opportunity, but he could never say he was happy, because it broke every single piece of him. The poor boy felt so guilty about it, and all he wanted was to shout, or maybe for her to scream at him. He figured once she went away, it you become easier, because he couldn’t stand fighting about it anymore.

“Of course I want you to go. It’s your dream, and you should do it.”

“I always got the feeling that you don’t want me to leave. But guess what Tom, it fucking hurts to see you leave too. Everytime you go to another country to shoot something, I spend almost a full week feeling empty and sad, curled up in my bed.” He sat down in her bed, head between his hands. She got down and held both of his wrists.

“I keep breaking your heart.” He said, letting the first drop roll by. “If you want to break up with me, I’ll understand it.”

“I don’t wanna break up Tommy, I want to be with you. But I don’t like you lying to be. If you don’t want me to leave, you should tell me. I can see how miserable you are in your eyes. You can’t keep lying to me, and I know for a fact you are.”

“Please, stop saying this to me. I don’t wanna talk about it anymore!” He tried to get away but you held him into a hug.

“It’s okay to not want me gone, I understand it. Just tell me, please.” She ran her fingers through his hair, trying to calm him down.

“I’m sorry, for being such a bad boyfriend.”

“You’re the best boyfriend in the world.” She got down to him and left a small peck on his lips. “We’re gonna be okay.”

She walked away while her shoes were untied

And the eyes were all red, you could see that we’d cried

And I watched and I waited ‘til she was inside

Forcing a smile and waving goodbye

So the day came, and Tom woke one last time next to (Y/N). He had calmed her down to sleep last night since she wasn’t able to stop crying. His chest was still wet when he woke up by the touch of her fingertips on his hair. He helped her close her bags and had lunch with her family and also his family. The day went by so fast and soon it was almost the end of the afternoon. She said goodbye to her mom and dad, her sister and cats. She also said goodbye to the three younger Holland brothers and Nikki and Dom. Tom felt the urgency of having to cry so fucking bad, but the held it as much as he could, she didn’t deserve to see him so sad with her leaving. He really wanted to support her and be the best boyfriend, but he just couldn’t do it. His brother Harry slipped a hand into his shoulder, trying to give him some kind of comfort, because he knew his brother was going through a rough time. After so many goodbyes, he drove her to the train station, and his hands didn’t leave her tights not even for a bit, while her hands landed softly over his, caressing it with her thumb. He carried her bags silently, just like he was slowly walking to give her away to death, helped her with her ticket and everything else, she being attached to his arm all the time. He let the luggage rest on the floor and she hugged him, burying her face on the crook of his neck, starting to cry loudly.

“Please forgive me for doing this Tommy.”

“There’s nothing to forgive, but me being the not so supportive boyfriend. I’m sorry, for everything.” He kissed the top of her head, hands running up and down her back. “This is a good fucking thing, okay? You’re going to college in Paris, it’s been your dream since a little girl.”

“I’m gonna break your heart.”

“I’ve broken yours for so many times baby girl." He held her tighter and stroked her hair slowly. "Every time I leave, every time I'm not there to support you."

"I love you, so much.”

“I love you too.” And so they shared their last kiss. It was probably the most painful thing both of them had ever done. The feeling that it would be their last one for a long time would go away, and they tried to take advantage of it for a long time, salty tears mixing between the bitter taste on their mouths. He pulled away from her, holding her face between his hands. He whipped some tears away from her face. “Don’t cry my love, you’re gonna be the greatest baker born in this world.”

“I don’t wanna lose you.” He kissed her forehead and met her gaze.

“You’re not going to. I’ve left so many times and you didn’t lose me.”

“This is different. You’d always come home, back to me. This time, I’m leaving for real.”

“Paris is so close, I can visit you all the time.” He hugged her again. “Also, I know somehow we will always come back to each other.”

“I know.” She said, so low it was almost a whisper.

“You have to go baby.” She looked right into his eyes again, giving one last kiss on his lips, one that will echo forever and somehow it would never end. 

“I love you, so much Tom.”

“I love you too, don’t ever forget that, not even for a second.”

She slowly walked to the train and glanced back at him. He was forcing a smile, trying to seem happy for her, so seem strong and supportive, and she could tell it was the hardest thing he had ever done. She loved Tom and he loved her. Being away from each other is going to be the hardest thing in the world. She squinted her eyes and wiped away her tears. She was following her dream, but leaving her other one behind, crying for her.

When she walked into the train, Tom couldn’t hold it anymore, crumbling completely and bursting into tears and heart aching. Once he saw her in the window, he waved goodbye, watching the train depart and soon not being able to see it anymore, getting back to his car.

Curiosity becomes a heavy load

Too heavy to hold

Will force you to be cold

Now he was back in the car, driving home, seeking for comfort, but he knew that the comfort he was looking for was on her way to Paris. He couldn’t explain what he was feeling, but it was the worst feeling in the world. It was hard to drive home, with all of those tears blinding his way, but once he parked home, Sam ran out of the house and Tom crumbled in his brothers arms, not being able to stand up anymore. Sam tried to hold him while he was desperately crying.

“I lost her Sam, she’s gone.”

“I know mate, I’m sorry.” He didn’t have the guts to say otherwise, giving Tom false hopes would be worse. “She left you something, it’s upstairs in your room.”

Tom nodded and tried to start walking, but got some help from his brother. His bedroom was a mess, but still he managed to find a small photo over his bed, a single polaroid of both of them. It was from her 20th birthday, some years ago, at the beginning of their relationship. She was wearing a floral tight dress, the one Tom really used to love seeing her wearing, sitting on his lap, with him kissing her temple. He flipped it over to find a small text.

Do me a favour and ask if you need some help

She said “Do me a favour and stop flattering yourself!”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself baby. This is for everytime you miss me. If you need help, please ask. I love you and you own my heart, forever.”

“Oh (Y/N), you’re the most special girl in this whole fucking world.” Sam hugged him, comforting him, or at least trying to. “I’m gonna need some help mate, or I’m gonna fall into the deepest depression.”

“I’m here for you, we all are. You’re not alone.”

And to tear apart the times that blind

Perhaps fuck off might be too kind

....................

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[a-jynx]

Summer Full of Secrets; | Chapter One; Summer of ‘85 |

Description: During S3, the Harrington siblings find themselves running from another fight with the Upside Down, and running from their deeper feelings…

Pairing(s): Robin Buckley x Harrington!reader (a slow burn), Steve Harrington x Billy Hargrove,

Warning(s): Cursing, underage drinking/smoking, slow burns, homophobia, homophobic mentions, fluffy, angsty, a bit of smut in later chapters, blood, gore mentions, Flayed! Billy, drugged! Steve, death, death threats mentioned,

Taglist is now opened! 💕 | If you’d like to be added, or removed, please let me know! | @memes-saved-me​, @nat-blossom​, @oldwanderingsoul​, @imreddietogo​, @wcscc2020, @z-l-s, @dancersarepeopletoo​, @bleeding-heart-romantic​, @mysecondcarisa67chevyimpala​, @babypink224221​, @mcnuggettenpack​, @electrckiss​,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“I’m taking my break, Jennie!” I called over my shoulder, snatching my bag along the way. “Better not take forever this time, Harrington! I’m not paying you to shop,” she grumbled as I sighed, pushing open the shops’ door and glanced around. The new Star Court Mall was buzzing with life - how could it not? A town like Hawkins is… Rarely exciting. 

Marching through the crowds, I moved towards the food court deciding to see if Steven was on break yet. I grinned as I noticed a few classmates, waving at them with a few ‘hi’s’ thrown between us before we ventured into our desired direction. I shivered as I pushed open Scoop’s Ahoy doors, frowning at the little business that was inside. 

“Ahoy, there! What flavor can I help you voyage-” the cheery voice suddenly stopped as I blinked, my smile seemed to vanish.  

“Y/N.” 

“Robin... Where’s my brother? Thought he ran the ship?” I smirked as she scoffed, leaning her elbows against the counter, her glare faltering as her skin stuck some to the surface. “Hey, dingus! Your second-spawn is here,” she called, narrowing her eyes as I rolled my own, turning my attention away as Steve came bursting through the double doors. 

“Y/N! Thank, God! I thought I would die here-” 

“Cool it, drama king. I’ve only got twenty minutes today, and Jennie’s been busting my ass,” 

“Awe, the princess not used to breaking a nail daily?” Robin quipped as I shot her a glare, rolling my lips together before shrugging. 

“I don’t know, how’re your nails, Robin?” I grinned as she blinked, turning her head away as her freckled cheeks flushed a rosy pink. I turned back to Steve, grinning. “I came to ask if you wanted to get lunch, I know you didn’t pack anything,” 

“Oh, uh… About that-” 

“Dingus and I are going to get lunch together.” Robin grinned as I blinked, gritting my teeth before rolling my eyes. “Perfect… So, what about dinner tonight?” I shifted my weight onto my other leg as Steve opened his mouth to speak, only for the same shrill voice followed. 

“We have plans.” 

“Are you guys dating or something? Steven, what the hell!? You promised we’d finally do something, mom and dad are gonna be gone all summer, can’t you hang out at a different time? Please?” I scoff as he stared at me with this look of a kicked puppy… Pitiful. 

“Awe, come on, Harrington 2.0! Suck it up for another night, you’ll survive, right?” She grinned, a devilish glimmer in her eye as I snorted. 

“You have no fucking idea what I can survive, Buckley.” I spat her name with venom, turning on my heel and quickly leaving the ice cream shop, my stone-cold facade faltering as I shook my head and quickly hurried towards the rest of the food court, deciding to grab a quick bite before returning to Jennie. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I sighed while watching Y/N hightail it out of Scoops. Robin snorted to herself from the other side of the counter, making me turn towards her with an unimpressed glare. 

“What?” 

“Seriously? Can’t you two act civilized for two goddamn minutes! I mean, come on, Rob.” I groan, rounding the space whilst scrubbing at my face. She merely huffed, leaning away from the display case and onto the counter behind us, crossing her ankles one over the other while crossing her arms over her chest, shrugging with pouting lips. 

“She started it-” 

“No, she didn’t,” I snapped, side-eyeing her. “I know how you get around her, so, I kind of don’t believe that she started it.” 

“You’re just saying that ‘cause you’re siblings!”

“More like ‘cause I know I’m right-” I started when the bell chimed, making us turn our attention, I instantly frowned. Low and behold, the sun-kissed, broad-shouldered, permed blondie Billy Hargrove came strolling in. 

“And that’d be my cue to leave,” Robin pushed away from the counter, causing me to gawk at her as she stepped around me and towards the breakroom. “Have fun, dingus.” She waved with a grin, disappearing behind the doors as I sighed, already wanting to ram my head through the display case. 

“Pretty boy, didn’t know you worked today,” he grinned, baring his pearly whites as I scoffed, leaning against the case, propping my chin upon my palm with an almost unamused look. “You know I work every day from 9 to 5, Billy boy… Nice try though.” I smirked, baring my own pearly whites as he narrowed his eyes, studying me before shifting his weight, forcing back the plastered grin. 

“Alright, ya caught me. Now, how about you get to rowing me through this ocean of flavor you always go on about?” His lips turned into a wolfish grin as I swallowed thickly, blinking slowly. My own smile faltered as I rolled my shoulders, nodding slowly. 

“Uh, yeah… Sure thing, Tiger,” 

“Tiger? That’s a new one… Bambi.” 

I squeezed my eyes shut, inhaling deeply before huffing out a sigh. “Yeah, I should’ve seen that coming,” I grumbled while scooping out two scoops of vanilla bean, plopping them into a waffle cone. My eyes twitched up when I didn’t get a remark, feeling the blush creep up my neck. He just stood there, his eyes almost… Soft. The usual hard, cocky grin now a delicate smile. 

“You feelin’ okay, Hargrove? You look a little… Ill.” I mumbled, handing over the cone, trying to not flinch when our fingers scrapped, the little electricity running underneath my skin. 

“Feelin’ fine, Harrington… Just taking a minute to admire a sailor,” he shot with a quirked grin, flashing me a wink. Leaning slightly over the display, his hot breathe fanned close to my cheek as he grinned. “Y’know, I’m a sucker for men in uniform,” he winked once more, backing away before throwing a crumpled bill onto the counter, turning and disappearing into the crowds outside. 

I stood there, my mouth agape and my grasp on my scooper slipping as I stared at the doorway, my jaw lose as I blinked. I flinched as the pannels flew open, causing me to snap my attention around, mouth still ajar. 

“Close your mouth, dingus,” Robin leaned against the window, smirking. “You’re gonna catch flies.” She chuckled as the annoying squeal from the stupid dry-erase marker dragged down, most likely in the column marked ‘You Suck.’ 

“Thanks for the help, Robin! Really, you were so, so helpful,” I scoffed, reaching up and snagging the money before glancing down, my eyes practically bugging out of my head. A twenty? A fucking twenty?! 

“Woahohohohohooo,” Robin grinned, reaching towards me. “Someone gave a nice tip.” I batted away her hands with a snort. “There’s no way in hell he meant to give this to me! Not for a damn cone that cost a dollar and some change.” Pressing into the register, I replaced the large bill and snatched up some bills to help make up for the lost one. 

“I mean, he did practically slam that money down, with a lot of confidence behind it.” She quipped, rinsing out the dirty scoops as I turned and huffed, stuffing the change into my pocket. “I’m just saying, dingus, maybe there’s more behind it than you think. I mean… Let’s be honest, you two have been dancing around each other recently.” 

“Shut it, I don’t need you getting on my ass about ‘dancing around’ when you and Y/N-” 

“Steve, seriously!? There’s nothing for Y/N and me, she proved that last year, remember?” She spat, crossing her arms over her puffed out chest. I sighed, rubbing at the back of my neck, opening my mouth to speak when the overhead bell chimed, causing us both to grumble. 

“Y’know,” I paused, slinging a rag over my shoulder as I walked past her, stopping just before entering the back room. “She asks about you a lot.” Robin blinked before shaking her head, moving to help our next customer. 

~~~~~

“Thank you, please, visit us again!” I grinned after the last rush-hour customer nodded, heading out as I dropped my shoulders and smile. Rolling my aching shoulder, I sighed and moved around the small counter, glancing around the stores’ floor. Pieces of clothing scattered the carpet, hangers clung to different articles, and a mannequin’s hand was missing… Great. I flinched when the overhead bell rang. 

“Hello, welcome to Jennie’s, if you need any assistance-” 

“I need some assistance,” a thick voice chimed as I spun around, my face splitting into an ear-to-ear grin as Billy came around the small display. 

“Billybug!” I grinned, rushing towards him before jumping up and wrapping my arms around his thick neck. My grin only grew as he wrapped his free arm around my waist, squeezing as he gently spun us with a few chuckles echoing from us. 

“Hey, honeybee, how’ve ya been?” He sat me down as I snatched the cone from his hand, practically biting into the vanilla bean treat before shrugging, glancing over my shoulder. 

“Cleaning up after some kids, what about you? I thought you weren’t taking your break until four or so?” 

“Took it early,” he shrugged, yet I didn’t miss the small smile. “Thought you could use the company, too,” I smirked while rolling my eyes, taking another lick at the treat before handing it back over. 

“Only if you buy something, Jennie’s been on my ass lately and it’s not helping with everything-” 

“Everything? What’s been going on in the hive?” I snorted, shrugging before wiping my slightly sticky hands onto my jean shorts before moving back to cleaning the display. 

“I’m gonna bite, what’s the hell going on with you and all the nature stuff? You turn nature-lover on me?” I grinned as he scoffed, taking a few licks of the frozen treat as it slowly began to melt before shrugging. 

“Shut it, but seriously, what’s been goin’ on?” 

“I’m… It’s really nothing I can’t handle, I just been ya know… Dodging the hive.” I folded a few shirts, fluffing up the stack before moving to fold a few pairs of jeans as well. I rolled my shoulders as I felt Billy’s eyes dig into the back of my skull. “What about you? How’s Max? Or working at the pool?” I hum, folding some more as I turned halfway towards him as he snorted. 

“Shitbird? She’s fine, I think… We haven’t fought if that’s what you’re asking,” 

“Billybug, come on, y’ know I worry about both of you.” I sighed, turning fully towards him while sitting the last pair of jeans down with a small frown tugging at my lips. 

“And the pool? Eh, I basically run the place… The brats listen, mom’s drool when I start my shift, and the guys that stalk Heather are jealous - just like senior year.” He snickered as I rolled my eyes, snorting as I crossed my arms over my chest. 

“Yeah, I almost forgot how you beat the living shit out of my brother at the Byer’s house.” I began to walk away, waving my hand behind me as I snatched a few hangers and began to detangle them. Billy’s heavy steps came closer as I shifted throughout the entire hanger set. “In all honesty, I already apologized for that…” He grumbled as I turned my head towards him, a brow raised already. 

“Yeah, yeah, Billybug. Anyway, what’re your plans for tonight?” 

“Uh, some guy is having a party on the outskirts of town, and some hot date - why? Need to get some time to get a little buzzy?” He chuckled whilst I groaned. 

“You’re becoming as bad as Mr. Wheeler with those horrid jokes,” 

“Aye, don’t compare me to that fuckin’ creep,” he gagged as I laughed. 

“Says the guy who wants to fuck the wife.” 

He scoffed, eating the rest of the ice cream before handing the cone over to me, making me grin, yet it faltered for a moment as I glanced at the small cartoonish anchor napkins wrapped around it, they seemed to almost be mocking me. 

“So, you went and saw Steve?” I muttered, biting the cone around the edges, barely nibbling. 

“Yeah… We didn’t fight, Honeybee. Your brother’s face is still intact.” He huffed out a laugh. I cocked a brow, taking a step closer while offering him a bite of the cone, which he smiled before finishing the last bit off. 

“Maybe his face is fine, but what about your heart?” I sheepishly grinned as he frowned, huffing while folding the napkin and slipping it into his swim trunks pocket. He turned away, causing me to stumble back when his elbow collided with my shoulder, making me snicker. “Oh, come on, Billybug! I warned you about my light teasing,” 

“Yeah, and I’ve held back wanting to kill you, so you’re gonna get it later,” he scoffed, attempting to act annoyed, however, the faint pink hue on his freckle-dusted cheks says otherwise. 

“Yeah,” I snorted. “Okay, Billy. Now, get gone so I can get work done. I’ll see you later.” 

“Listen, I can skip out on the date, y’ know? She wasn’t that much of a catch.” He muttered, standing closer as I smiled gently, crossing my arms over my chest. 

“Plenty of bitches in the sea?” He nodded a few times, grinning that stupidly happy grin. 

“Plenty of bitches in the sea,” I smirked, nodding once. 

“Alright, well, apparently Steve’s not gonna be at the house, so we can go there or go drive, whatever you’re up for after clocking out.” I shrug, flicking off a few of the clothes and glanced around for the mannequin’s hand, yet nothing… 

“How about we hit up that party? Been a while since the unstoppable duo made an appearance.” He smirked, making me pinch my lips as I wrung the swimsuit top in my hands, twisting and pulling it, shrugging. 

“Fuck it, when and where?” 

“That’s my girl! I’ll pick you up on the way,” he jumped forward, squeezing both of my shoulders while pressing a chaste kiss to my temple as I batted him away. “Pick you up at say… Seven?” 

“I’ll see you at seven, Billybug.” 

“Seven, honeybee, it’s a date.” 

“It’s a party, dumbass,” I snorted, smacking him with the top as he caught it, throwing it back at me as I scoffed. We started towards the front and Billy couldn’t stop grinning as I shook my head, swiping my bangs to the side. It’s good to see him smiling more… 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll snatch ya up later, cute ass.” He winked, chuckling as I fake-gagged, only to quickly flash him a shit-eating grin. He escaped through the front, the chiming from the bell echoed as I watched him disappear into the rushing crowds. 

“Y/N! The new shipments came in! Go in the back and unpack them!” Jennie’s voice rang from the further back of the store, making me cringe as I sighed, slinging the swimsuit top onto the counter and sauntered towards the back. Pushing open the double doors, I gasped and fought back a shocked scream from my throat as a large rat scurried from behind the boxes, making me gag as I clenched my jaw. 

“Hey, Jennie! We’re gonna need that rodent control… Again!” I called over my shoulder, eyeing the floor as I hoisted up the package with a grunt before turning away and allowing the double doors to fall closed. “Jennie?! Did you hear me?” My voice rang out as I rolled my eyes, sitting the box down and looking around the small store. It seemed… Eery. Too quiet. Too… Tranquil. Setting my jaw, I slowly gazed around the shop, the hair on the back of my neck standing on edge as a cool breeze blasted through; colder than what I remembered setting the AC… 

“What the hell-” 

“Harrington!” I jumped, snapping my head towards the front, seeing Jennie standing over a pile of the swimsuits on the floor. The same swimsuits I had fixed while talking to Billy… 

“You know better than this! Swimsuits are meant to stay in the summer section! Are you trying to tell people we would actually allow them to wear this shade of red in the winter?! Are you insane-” her voice slowly drowned out. My mind racing as I realized I could almost hear my blood rushing, my heart working double-time as I inhaled sharply. 

“Harrington? Y/N! Are you even listening to me?!” Jennie growled, her hands fitted to her hips as I swallowed thickly,  shaking my head and blinking slowly. 

“Ye… Yeah, uh-” I stammered, clearing my throat before reaching down and grabbing the box once again. “Yes, ma’am.” I sighed, moving towards the stacked summer clothes. The back of my mind racing as I began to fold the newly sent clothes, my hands slightly shaking as I sighed. 

“Oh, Jennie, I don’t know if you heard me earlier but… I guess we have another rat infestation.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed! I’m still incredibly rusty and I’m so sorry, but I still hope you enjoy it!