#every other comment is like what if i just type one of henrys inside jokes in capital letters then im funny too

[idontkniwanythgin]

god the lpotl reddit is so fucking cringe

[radiant-reid]

The Cutest You

Summary: Adorable drunk Spencer being in love with his girlfriend (a/n: this is what I’d like for christmas) 

A fic where Spencer is drunk and constantly tells reader how much he loves her and other sweet little things and she's like 😃😃😃okay buddy we need to go home😃😃😃 and he is so silly and in love. 

A fic where reader tells Spencer something like "I know we're dating but I have a really big crush on you"

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader (Flufff)

Content Warning: spoilers for 11x11 | sexual reference | Alcohol consumption by reader and other characters

Word Count: 2.7k

Masterlist

There were hundreds of different versions of Spencer Reid.

So many it kept Y/n on her toes. Each slightly different variation was the perfect mix of uncharted territory and unwavering adorableness.

The absolute best versions were the rare ones that remained hidden to most people. The Spencer Y/n saw when it was just the two of them like a hidden gemstone everyone else could only dream of glimpsing.

Drunk Spencer was in an entirely different ballpark.

It was special because it was a side only the team got to see, but it was extra special because it was an infrequent occurrence.

The occasion was the Dirty Dozen hitman group finally being taken down, all that stress of saving Penelope's life being lifted. She was safe, Spencer was no longer dining with a hitwoman, an entire block of people weren't at risk of being blown up, three of the hitmen were dead, and the other two hitwomen were in jail. There were more than enough reasons to be celebrating.

The bomb threat had given them more energy than the amount of caffeine in 10 cups of coffee could give them. Rossi was quick to invite everyone back to his place and, the team was even faster to agree.

They'd been at Rossi's for two hours by the time drunk Spencer was emerging. A soft light came from the string of fairy lights wrapped around the white wooden gazebo, and a faint glow from the lights turned on inside the house. The music was loud enough to have kept the neighbors awake if Rossi had any. His jazz records were being switched out for Morgan's playlist early on. After one too many niche rap songs, JJ got the supreme rule. Her well-used playlist had the perfect mix of old and new songs, all sing-screamable.

Rossi's had an abnormal amount of snack food, probably due to his mammoth pantry. There were chips, dips, hummus, fruits, carrot sticks, different types of cookies, nuts, and candy, and all in abundance. His liquor collection was extensive, from top-of-the-line scotch to the cheaper alcohol the 'kids' enjoyed and every mixer imaginable.

It only took one nursed scotch and two gin and tonics to have Spencer drunk. Two quickly thrown back shots of tequila- Penelope's idea- and Spencer was almost on the floor.

Y/n found nothing else funnier.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone get that drunk so easily," Tara commented, glancing at Y/n before looking at Spencer.

They, Tara, Y/n, and Savannah, were sat around the outdoor firepit. Next to the makeshift dance floor, Spencer attempted to show Henry a magic trick. It was a poor endeavor, his coordination was abysmal, and he could barely stand up.

Y/n laughed when he dropped the entire deck of cards for the second time. "He's a cheap date." She joked with a silly smile. Mainly due to her adoration for him, but a little because of the alcohol in her system.

"That's a look of love if ever I've seen one," Savannah commented on the fondness written all over Y/n's face. She couldn't argue with that.

Spencer must have noticed the girls watching him because once he failed on his third attempt, he was walking over to the firepit in a very unstraight line.

Y/n smiled up at him when he reached them, patting the space next to her to get him to sit down. Once he turned and looked at the dance floor, he knew there was something else he wanted.

"Come dance." He requested, making grabby hands at her and pouting more than was necessary.

Tipsy enough, Y/n agreed, standing up and excusing herself from the conversation with the girls.

Spencer wasn't a good dance at the best of times. Sober, he could pull it together well enough that no one noticed, but when he was drunk, everyone could tell. He tripped over Y/n's feet more times than he tripped over his own.

"Ooo, spin me!" Spencer squealed, noticing Hotch holding out an arm to spin Jack around.

How the kids weren't already asleep, Y/n didn't know, but her focus was on her adorable boyfriend. She obliged, holding out their connected hands while Spencer struggled to twirl under it.

"Hun, you're going to break your ankle if you try that again." She declared, pulling her arm back down before he could try again. To steady him, she placed her hands on his shoulders, leaving him to hold her waist.

Spencer didn't let her warning stop him from dancing, terribly out of time to the music. "187 per 100,000 people break their ankle." He informed her before bursting out in giggles, finally offering her an explanation. "187, just like me."

Y/n chuckled, only at how cute he was. His giggles, she was convinced, were the most precious, valuable thing on the planet. Pure delight if they could be bottled. "You are the most adorable person ever." She told him, lightly tapping his nose,

"Nuh-uh. You." Spencer shook his head, moving a shaky finger to mimick her gesture. "Love you." He commented, eyes moving from his nose to her face and crossing.

"You'll give yourself a headache." She cautioned, causing him to fix his eyes back on her face. His slowed blinking was a sign of how drunk he was.

Spencer leaned in closer, pouting his bottom lip out with his eyebrows drawing together. "You didn't say you loved me back." He whined like he really meant it.

His softness melted her heart without fail every time. "I love you," Y/n replied, noticing how his perplexed look dissolved into a giant, dopey smile.

Their moment was broken up when the song changed, and the team subconsciously moved to all dancing together. From there, it went to a partner swap, and the couple broke apart to dance with their fellow team members.

Y/n was in the middle of dancing with Hotch when she saw Spencer sneaking off to the kitchen with Penelope, no doubt to get more to drink. "I have to go and stop my boyfriend before he has far too much to drink." She told the unit chief.

"He's going to have a terrible hangover tomorrow," Hotch noted with a laugh, thinking back to the 21-year-old Spencer who would have been far too embarrassed to drink in front of the team. Even as his nerves lessened, 26-year-old Spencer got carded.

Entering the house, Y/n heard the loud giggles coming from the kitchen. It was clear the geniuses of the BAU were getting up to trouble.

"Hi there." She announced her entrance to the room, leaning against the wall as she tried to figure out what they were doing.

"Y/n!!" Spencer cheered, struggling to walk over to her. In his alcohol-induced elated state, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

When he went to pick her up, Y/n stopped him. "You're a little too drunk to be doing that, baby."

Spencer adamantly shook his head. "I am so strong, actually."

"I know." Y/n agreed, holding his face delicately, stroking over the sharp cheekbones he was blessed with.

"You two are so cute that I'm going to be sick," Penelope complained, fake gagging to prove her point as she poured herself another drink. "Actually, I think I'm going to be properly sick." She stated, walking out of the kitchen and towards one of the many bathrooms.

Spencer pulled away from Y/n and walked back to the bowl of alcoholic punch, fumbling with the spoon as he tried to pour some in his cup.

Y/n stopped him once he'd taken a sip, taking the cup out of his hand. "I'm cutting you off." She explained.

"What!? Why?" He demanded, crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child.

Tipping his drink out, Y/n poured him a glass of water. "Because you're already quite drunk." She informed him, knowing he probably couldn't see it.

Spencer sat down at a barstool around the kitchen island, and Y/n handed him the glass of water, which he didn't fight her on drinking. "'M not drunk." He claimed, the slurring of his words only further showing his intoxication.

"Oh really?" Y/n asked, throwing him a look over her shoulder while she tried to find him something carby to eat.

"Really," Spencer assured her confidently.

Y/n hummed over how to make him prove it, deciding that a math question was the best way. "What's the square root of 91?"

"9.5 and something," Spencer answered with a nod.

Y/n giggled at him, passing him some pretzels she'd found. "Drink your water and eat your food." She instructed, watching him as he did so.

When she first met him, she figured there had to be a few situations when he didn't look pretty, but as their relationship continued, she was yet to see him not looking stunning. Even under the harsh kitchen light, he looked effortlessly gorgeous.

"Oh! I have something to tell you." Spencer announced like it was the most urgent thing in the world. To him, it was.

Y/n had discovered one of the best things about drunk Spencer was his lack of filter. At any other point, his words were so well formulated they sounded like they were being quoted from a book, but with enough alcohol, he was incredibly loose-lipped.

"Yeah?" Y/n asked, softly smiling when she saw his wide grin.

Spencer nodded before answering. "I am so in love with you." He declared, only making her smile more, walking around to sit next to him. "And I want to marry you." He blurted out quickly. "Wait, should I ask you right now?"

"Maybe not, hun." Y/n decided, even though the thought excited her. One of them had to be the sensible one. "You won't remember any of this tomorrow."

Spencer frowned at her reply. "Can't forget anything." He declared, tapping his temple and trying to remind her of his eidetic memory. A fact she already knew.

"Alcohol impairs that," Y/n informed him, pushing back his soft curls so he could see better. The grin he was giving her never failed to warm her heart. She moved her hand down to his cheek just to make sure he was real.

Spencer nuzzled into her palm, letting his eyes flutter closed. "You're so pretty." He complimented, seeing her features etched into his brain.

"Do you want to know something?" Y/n asked him. Spencer opened his eyes, glassy brown pupils meeting hers as he frantically nodded. In a hushed whisper, she revealed the secret. "I have a really big crush on you."

Spencer's giggle bounced off the walls, loud and careless. "You are just, like, my favorite person ever. And that's crazy because there are like 7.7-something billion people."

"I think we should go home." Y/n decided, standing up and putting Spencer's glass in the dishwasher. Spencer pouted at the idea, standing up and trying to fake sobriety. "Come on, we'll go say goodbye to everyone." She held out her hand for Spencer to hold while she walked him outside.

Savannah caught them just as they walked outside. "Are two on your way out?" She asked, receiving a nod from Y/n as an answer. "Come with us. I haven't had anything to drink, so I'll drop you home."

Y/n agreed to her offer, letting go of Spencer's hand so he could drunkenly make his way around to hug everyone. She followed suit, much more gracefully and without tripping over.

Once she dragged Spencer away from professing his love for the team incredibly loudly, she had to wrap an arm around his waist to steady him.

Spencer struggled to get his coat on in the foyer, unable to pull the sleeve onto his other arm. Y/n shook her head with a giggle before helping him out.

"Mommy coming to the rescue, pretty boy?" Morgan chuckled, ruffling Spencer's hair. Despite having had far more alcohol than the doctor, it was difficult to tell he was much more than tipsy.

Spencer frowned at him, pouting out his pink bottom lip. He huffed instead of replying, trying to demonstrate his point without words. In his defense, Savannah elbowed Morgan in the side.

Instinctively and before Savannah had even pulled out of Rossi's driveway, Spencer dropped his head onto Y/n's shoulder, even though, due to their height difference, it strained his neck.

When his head quickly shot up, Y/n was alarmed. "What's wrong?" She asked, trying to figure out whether or not he was going to throw up.

Far louder than was necessary, Spencer replied. "If we weren't drunk, we could have been going home to have really amazing sex." Morgan could not contain his giggles, and Y/n blushed at his lack of filter. The only thing that slightly relieved her embarrassment was the fact Spencer would have to relive the story at work.

"Pretty boy refuses to talk about anything remotely related to your sex life. If all I needed to do was get him drunk, I would have done it far sooner." Morgan announced between the chuckles, looking into the backseat at the couple. "So, loose lips, what's it like?"

Before Spencer could answer, Y/n clamped a hand over his mouth, not letting him reveal any secrets. Savannah slapped her boyfriend on the chest, shaking her head at him.

Morgan held his hands up in defense. "Babe, I'm drunk." He defended. Savannah gave him a knowing look, not believing it.

Risking it, Y/n took her hand off Spencer's mouth, allowing him to talk. For the whole rest of the drive, he took every opportunity to gush about her, and she didn't mind one bit.

He was far too adorable that she didn't even mind the struggle it was to get him up the stairs to their apartment. Flicking the light on, Y/n dragged him inside. Spencer went right to their bedroom, laying down on the bed with his shoes on.

"Hon, take your shoes off," Y/n commanded. Spencer shook his head, closing his eyes like he was ready to go to sleep. She walked over to untie them for him. "You're the biggest baby ever, you know?"

Spencer grinned up at the ceiling, clicking his shoes off. "I'm your baby." He rebutted. It was a statement that would have been sappy had he not been so drunk.

Y/n walked closer to him, placing a light kiss on his cheek before squeezing both of them. "I'm going to get changed for bed. Do you need anything?" She offered.

"No, thanks," Spencer replied. "Just tired."

She knew that much was true. It was something that always happened when he drank. When she came back, Spencer was still staring at the ceiling. Still fully dressed and unintentionally showing off his perfect bone structure.

He looked back at her when she pulled back her side of the covers, getting under them. "Do you feel the world spinning?" He asked her, moving backward, so he was laying his head on the pillow and looking over at her.

"I feel like you need sleep," Y/n replied with a smirk. "Come on." She begged. "We can cuddle."

As quickly as he could, Spencer got up, still dizzy as he tried to rid himself of as much clothing as he could. Only in his underwear, he got under the covers next to her.

Y/n opened her arms, wrapping them around Spencer's shoulders as his banded around her waist. He placed his head on her chest, brushing his nose against her cheek.

"I had so much fun tonight." He mentioned, smiling at the memories that were becoming increasingly blurry.

"Tell me that in the morning." Y/n joked, knowing he was in for a killer hangover. Nothing could dampen his elated state of mind.

Spencer unwrapped one hand, looking at the watch on his wrist longer than it should have taken for him to tell the time. "It is the morning." He refuted with a giggle.

"Then you should be asleep," Y/n informed him.

Spencer nodded, resting closer to her and shuffling slightly so he was comfortable. "Oh, one last thing." He realized, eyes opening again. Y/n looked at him with a half-frown, half-smile, guessing where the conversation was going. "I love you."

"I love you too," Y/n replied, finally allowing him to sleep.

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[storiesforallfandoms]

you deserve better ~ henry cavill

word count: 1686

request?: yes!

“hii. i’m going through a breakup right now and i was wondering if you could write a fluffy imagine of henry cavill taking care of the reader after her breakup but having feelings for her too? thank you!! 💕”

description: after a devastating heartbreak, he decides to tell her exactly what type of guy she deserves

pairing: henry cavill x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist

(y/e/n = your ex’s name)

(Y/N) didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself after her breakup. Of course, she was absolutely devastated when her nearly four year relationship ended abruptly, but she wasn’t the type of person who wanted a lot of attention in that moment. She just wanted to be alone to work through her heartbreak.

But that desire to not have attention on her stopped her from telling anyone they had broken up, so she was not prepared for someone to knock on her door just a day after the break up happened.

(Y/N) scrambled to wipe the tears from her eyes as she went to answer the door. To her surprise, her best friend stood there with a wide smile on his face. It fell as he looked over her tear stained face.

“(Y/N), what happened?”

“Henry, when did you get back?” she asked, quickly trying to hide her face the best she could.

“Don’t change the subject,” Henry said, taking (Y/N)’s face in his hands to inspect her. “What happened? Why are you crying?”

Tears started welling in her eyes again as she leaned into Henry’s embrace and began to cry on his shoulder. Henry hugged her tightly, guiding her into her house and closing the door behind him.

They stood there for some time. (Y/N) cried into Henry’s shirt, leaving a wet stain that she knew she’d feel bad for when she snapped out of her sadness, but for now she was just happy to have her best friend’s shoulder to cry on, literally.

Henry ran his hands through her hair, something he knew would always soothe her, as her small body shook in his arms. There were very few times he had ever seen (Y/N) truly upset like this, but every time he did see it, it absolutely broke his heart. He hated seeing his best friend so upset.

After a while, he managed to coax her further into the apartment so they could both sit on her couch. (Y/N) wiped the tears from her eyes then and sighed heavily.

“I’m sorry about your shirt,” she told him.

Henry chuckled. “You don’t have to be sorry, but do you want to talk about what happened? We don’t have to, but you know I’m always here to listen.”

(Y/N) nodded. “I know you are, and I really appreciate it. I just...I didn’t want to be the center of everyone’s attention so I didn’t tell anyone but...(Y/E/N) broke up with me last night.”

Henry’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

She looked down at her lap, unable to look Henry in the eyes. “We were supposed to have a date night last night and he called me and asked me to come over instead of meeting up like we planned. I thought we were gonna go out together so I got all dressed up and did my make up and went over to his place. He looked so upset when he saw me, and that’s when I knew something bad was about to happen.”

Henry watched as (Y/N)’s shoulders shook from her silent sobbing. She tried to hide it from him, but it was no use. He had already seen how upset she was, and he understood that she would continue to be upset for a very long time.

“Did he say why?” he asked. “Or did he just...end things without a reason?”

“He said he hasn’t been happy in this relationship for a while,” (Y/N) explained. “He said at some point things just changed between us and we’re not how we used to be. I don’t even know what he’s talking about! I thought everything was fine!”

She could still hear his voice telling her he didn’t love her anymore. She could see that face that she loved so much, that smile that warmed her heart, turned down into a frown as he spoke to her. She could still feel his hand on hers as he told her it wasn’t her fault, that he just thought they had grown apart.

“How can you not love someone after four years?” (Y/N) asked, mainly to herself. Her voice was so low, just barley a whisper, but Henry could still hear her.

“Things change,” he responded. “People change, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

“Is this how you felt with Ellen?” she asked him. “Did things hurt this bad when you two ended your engagement?”

Henry shrugged. “Honestly...no. It hurt, of course it hurt. We had the wedding all planned out and even had a date set. I was more upset about having to let my mum down by telling her that the wedding was off. We both knew we had grown apart and we needed to go our own ways. It was a mutual thing, not a one sided thing.”

“I wish this was mutual,” (Y/N) muttered.

Henry watched as she leaned back against the couch, letting her head lull back on the head rest to look up at the ceiling. It hurt him to see her this upset over someone that Henry never even thought deserved (Y/N).

Of course, that could’ve been the jealousy talking, but Henry had never liked (Y/E/N). He didn’t seem like the best fit for (Y/N). They were two completely different people and, although it wasn’t something Henry would admit to (Y/N) in that moment, but he had watched them growing apart for nearly a year.

They were fighting more, but (Y/N) would quickly get over the fights as to not stay mad at (Y/E/N), or for him not to stay mad at her. He had stopped going out with (Y/N), especially when going out with friends, and they barley went out at all anymore. Whenever Henry asked what she was doing, she’d always say they were at her ex’s place, he’d be playing video games and she’d be watching him. Henry knew that wasn’t what (Y/N) liked, she liked to go out and spend time with the person she was dating. She liked to do that with everyone, but even more so with her significant other.

Henry had watched countless guys come in and out of (Y/N)’s life, he had come to learn what she looked for in a romantic partner. Which made it hurt all the more to know that she would never have the same romantic feelings for him that he had for her.

“You deserve so much better than him,” he blurted before he could stop himself.

(Y/N) lifted her head to look at him. “What?”

“You deserve better than (Y/E/N),” he repeated, trying to keep the confidence to say what he wanted to say. “You deserve someone who is going to tell you early on when he thinks things aren’t working, not let them go on for too long before breaking your heart. Someone who’s going to tell you straight out that he wants to talk to you before you get all dressed up and excited for a real date night. And you deserve someone who is even going to take you out, not have you stay at his place all the time playing video games and watching movies you’ve already seen a hundred times.”

(Y/N) was silent for a moment. Henry was afraid he had went too far with what he said.

“You’re right,” she said. Henry breathed a sigh of relief. “He never took me out on dates. Last night would’ve been our first date night in months, our first real one anyways. And God, he hated my friends, especially you. Whenever I wanted to do something with you, he’d always make an excuse not to go. He kept saying he felt inferior to you because you’re jacked and you’re this big time actor, as if that’s all I’m looking for in a man.”

Henry chuckled, but inside he felt a sense of pride that he had made (Y/N)’s ex jealous. (Y/E/N) would never be half the man that Henry was, at least he’d always have that.

(Y/N) extended her arms to Henry. He looked at her in confusion. “Hold me?”

He didn’t need to be asked twice. He took (Y/N) into his arms and held her tightly.

“I needed this,” she said, her words muffled by his shirt. “I need someone who’s just going to hold me when I’m sad.”

“I thought that was always me,” Henry said, half joking.

(Y/N) chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right. You’ve always been there for me, Henry. I feel like I don’t tell you how much I appreciate you enough.”

Henry shook his head. “You don’t have to tell me. Actions speak louder than words. I’ve always felt appreciated by you.”

Henry eased the two of them so that they were laying down on the couch. He took the blanket that (Y/N) had been curled up in and threw it over the both of them. (Y/N) cuddled into Henry’s chest. Despite still being upset over the breakup, she couldn’t help but think about the fact that she could stay that way with Henry for a long time.

“I need a guy like you in my life,” she mumbled against his chest as her eyes started to grow heavy from all the crying. “Or maybe I just need you.”

Henry felt his heart racing and his cheeks heat up at this comment. He was glad (Y/N) couldn’t see him in that moment. “You already have me in your life.”

“As more than just a friend, though.”

Henry awkwardly chuckled, trying his best not to get too excited by the comment. “Yeah, what are the chances of that happening?”

“Greater than you’d expect.”

Before he could ask what she meant, (Y/N) drifted off to sleep. Henry figured it was better to leave her be, and soon enough found himself drifting off as well, her words echoing through his head as he did.

[luke-patterson-owns-my-soul]

The Interview: Part One

Title: The Interview - A Luke x Reader One Shot

Words: 3,177

Summary: Y/N gets to interview Sunset Curve when they finally go on tour near where she lives.

TW: None

Author’s notes: Ok… the interview part is kind of inspired by a glorious evening when myself and a friend got to interview our favourite band just before a gig. I was much clumsier that Y/N and made a complete fool of myself on more than one occasion, but it seemed to have worked because they loved the interview – or so they told us.

I hope you like it. I’m not 100% with it, but didn’t want to drag it out for the hell of it. This is set in the UK, so spellings may be a little different.

(credit @nikascott​)

The first time you heard Now or Never, you knew there was something special about Sunset Curve. Their lyrics and the beats of their pop rock tracks made you feel amazing and you couldn’t help but dance every time you heard them.

You spent all your time online anyway, so you decided to set up a Sunset Curve fan account. You didn’t expect much to come out of it due to bein in the UK while they were based in the US. But you religiously shared photos of the guys, wrote funny articles about them after speaking to people who’d been to their shows. Shared credited photos from gigs which soon got you respect from the fans and you began to build up a following.

You managed to fit running the account single handed, fitting it in between being at university studying for your degree in media and working part time. You’re not in it for the recognition, you just want to show your appreciation for a band you love.

Your best friend, Carrie, doesn’t get it. She doesn’t understand how you can spend so much time expelling energy on four guys you’re never going to meet, but she indulges you because you also run one for her band, Dirty Candi. Your friend and the rest of her group are insanely talented, and even though they’re not a genre you tend to listen to, you support them because that’s what friends do.

It’s been a year since you’d first heard Now or Never and since you set up the account. You’ve amassed over ten thousand followers, most of whom are also in the UK, when you get your first band member follow. Bobby Wilson, the rhythm guitarist likes a post you shared about him and promptly follows you. You get constant likes from him and sometimes the odd comment. Your followers go insane but you manage to keep calm, ish.

The second follow is Alex, the drummer. This time you do go a bit crazy, because he’s adorable and you can’t help be a little in love with him.

It takes less than a day after Alex’s follow before the bassist, Reggie to follow you and send your notifications into overdrive by commenting on a ton of posts. You scream into a pillow on your bed because it’s 2 a.m. and you don’t want to wake Carrie up.

The one follow you’re waiting for doesn’t come. Luke Patterson, the lead singer and your favourite member hasn’t joined his bandmates, and while you never expected it, you’re more than a little upset by the fact.

“Honey, he’s like a Rockstar. He’s got more important things to do than follow fan accounts online.” Carrie was right, but it still stung a bit.

“I know, but…”

“Y/N, sweetie. I adore you, but you need to let it go. I don’t want you working yourself up over this, please. Why don’t we have a girlie night, just the two of us? We’ll watch cheesy films, eat junk food, and sing bad karaoke. No phones.”

“I love you, do you know that?” I told her.

“How could you not?” She flicked her pastel pink hair over her shoulder with a laugh before going to prepare snacks while I got the lounge ready for an evening of lazing around.

:: ::

Halfway through The Greatest Showman, Carrie falls asleep, so after you cover her over with a blanket, you pull your phone out of the box she hid it in and scroll through social media.

         |Hey, @SunsetCurveFansUK did you see this??

Included in the message is a link to the official Sunset Curve account. You click on it and there’s a note from the band. Announcing a UK tour. You begin to hyperventilate as you try and prevent yourself from screaming out loud, but it doesn’t work and you let out a loud squeak, waking Carrie up.

“What’s wrong? Y/N, are you okay?” She sounds worried, so you shove your phone at her, unable to speak. “Oh, wow. This is cool. Start saving because I know you’re gonna want to go to every show.”

“Yes, yes I will.” Getting to your feet, you do a crazy dance around the small lounge of your apartment, making Carrie laugh. You only realise at the last minute that she’s recording you. “Don’t you dare post that online.” You warn her.

“Too late, sweetie. It’s already on my story and I tagged the band.”

“I hate you. Worst friend ever, I think I’ll advertise for a new one.” You grumble, making her laugh as you settle down on the couch to catch up on everything you’ve missed online.

:: ::

When tickets go on sale, you’re disappointed they guys are only doing four dates in the UK, but you buy yourself a ticket to all of them. Sadly, they don’t offer up any VIP tickets because they’re running contests for fans to win them for each show. Their tour manager, Trevor – who also happens to Bobby’s dad – has messaged your account asking if you’d like the opportunity to interview the band as a thank you for all the work you’d put into promoting them.

“Oh my God, Y/N. You’re gonna meet the band, your favourite band.” Carrie is grinning, happy for you as you stare at the message on your phone screen in disbelief. “Are you going to reply?”

“I… er… what is going on?” You stare over at your best friend who’s grinning widely at you. “This is a joke, right? Someone’s pulling the ultimate prank on me, aren’t they?”

“Y/N, look. For over a year, you’ve been pimping out those guys like crazy. You’ve increased their fan base here, which has made them want to tour here, and now they’re offering you this amazing opportunity. Take it and run with it, You deserve it.”

At her words, you reopen the message and reply to Trevor, saying you’d be honoured to do the interview. Then you freak out.

:: ::

The night of the first show and you’re hovering outside the venue waiting for Trevor to come and meet you once the guys finish their sound check. You can faintly hear the strains of Now or Never, and you get goosebumps. Thankful you’re nowhere near where the queue to get in is growing longer and longer, you start to pace outside the door. It suddenly opens outwards, making you jump, and Trevor’s head appears before behind it.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah, hi.” You hold out a hand for him to shake, surprising him and yourself with how composed your voice sounds. He shakes your hand and then motions for you to enter the venue.

“Great to meet you. The guys all love your account.”

“That’s amazing to hear.” You make conversation as you follow Trevor through a maze of narrow corridors.

“Are you ready?” He asks as you approach a closed door. You can’t help but hesitate, making him look back at you in worry. “Hey, are you gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, it’s all just a bit… overwhelming.”

“Look, they’re great guys, as normal as they come. There’s no need to feel nervous around them.” He smiles at you and pushes open the door, gesturing for you to enter. “Guys, this is Y/N from the UK fan account. Go easy on her, okay?” Once you’re fully inside the room, Trevor leaves and closes the door behind you.

“Hey,” Reggie speaks first as they all stand up. You shake hands and instantly feel at ease. “We all love your account, it’s very honest.” He’s clearly referring to your review of their last album where you openly said you weren’t a huge fan of a couple of the songs. It was an integrity you were determined to have on the account. You didn’t want to be seen as the type to blow smoke up their asses just because you were a fan.

“Thanks. I love running it. It keeps me busy and out of trouble, apparently.” You laugh as you pull a fold-up tripod out of your bag and set it up to record the guys for your account. “Do you mind if I film the interview?”

“Go ahead.” Alex waves his hand for you to continue. Once you’re set up, you pull out your journal with your questions written in.

“Hey, Luke. That looks like your journal.” Bobby comments, making the lead singer smile. So far, he hasn’t said much and it’s putting you on edge. Especially as he’s the only band member who hasn’t followed your account. Maybe he hates what you’ve done online. Trying to ignore the doubt, you press record on the video and start to ask the questions.

“My final two questions were submitted as part of a contest I put out to my followers. First up from Ellie is ‘if you could give the others a tattoo, what would it be and where?” As you’d hoped, the response to this question is all four of them bursting into laughter as Reggie’s face lights up.

“I pick Luke and would definitely get my face across his back.” You laugh at his enthusiasm. “Maybe if I get him drunk enough, I could at least get my name somewhere.

“Dude, there is no way I will ever have your name, any of your names, tattooed on me.” Luke grinned at them. “I’d probably get Bobby a dick, on his forehead. Just because it would be hilarious.”

You know Bobby is known as a bit of a womaniser and you’ve heard rumblings in the fandom that he’s slept with fans after shows, but you keep quiet as the guys laugh. Bobby picks a rainbow for Alex and Alex picks a cowboy hat for Reggie.

“Okay, the final question is from Sarah and her son Henry. ‘If the zombie apocalypse hit, who would be the first to die.”

“Reggie.” Three out of the four spoke in unison making the bassist pout and you laugh.

“But, we’d try our best to save him.” Alex pipes up, smiling at his friend. “We’d at least try to stick together, but if it’s a choice between me and them, I’m picking me every time.”

“That’s me finished,” you stop the recording. “Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to sit with me. I really appreciate it.”

All four guys reassure you it’s been their pleasure and that they enjoyed the interview which pleases you as it took you almost six weeks to think of questions that they hadn’t been asked hundreds of times before.

“I’ll leave you guys to get ready for the show. I need a drink.” You stand after packing everything away and move toward the door to leave.

“Hey, Y/N.” Reggie’s voice calling your name makes you turn back to face them. “We put together a little goodie bag of merch for you as a thank you for all the work you’ve done in helping promote us here in the UK.”

“Oh, you didn’t need to do that.” You’re blown away and speechless. “I do it because I enjoy it.”

“And it keeps you out of trouble?” Bobby winks at you. Unsure how to react, you smile a little, positive it looks more like a grimace. You take the overflowing bag and clutch it in your hand.

“Hey, we need a selfie.” Alex says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. You suddenly find yourself between him and Luke, Alex’s arm slung over your shoulder and Luke’s hand resting on your waist. All you can feel is the head from his hand as you look at the camera Alex is holding out in front of you. Once he’s done, you take a deep breath, inhaling the aroma of Luke before stepping away.

Another round of thank yous and you leave the room and close the door behind you. Then realise you have no idea which way to go.

“Hey, you okay?” Luke’s voice makes you jump.

“Yeah, I just can’t remember the way out.” You’re embarrassed to admit, but you have to meet up with Carrie in the queue. She’d finally agreed to come to at least one of the shows with you, but only one.

“It’s a bit of a maze, here’ I’ll show you the way.” Luke falls into step beside you, his shoulder brushing yours in the narrow space.

“Thanks, you don’t need to do that.”

“It’s no problem, I’m on a drink run for the guys anyway, and the bar’s this way.” He shrugged, his shoulder once again brushing against yours.

“Well, thanks again. And for doing the interview, I hope it wasn’t too much of a chore.”

“Nah, it was fun. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure what it was gonna be like at first, but you had some great questions.”

Silence fell and you start to feel awkward walking through the venue with a guy you’d crushed on from afar for well over a year. Eventually, the maze of corridors opened out into an area you recognised.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later, at the show I mean.” You feel like a complete idiot.

“Yeah, it should be a great show.” You give Luke a small wave and make your way towards the door where a member of the security gets ready to let you out.

“Y/N?” Luke calls out. You turn to look at him. “Do you want a drink?”

Stunned, you kind of freeze to the spot you’re standing in. After a moment, Luke mumbles something and turns to walk away.

“That would be great.” You call out, knowing Carrie would kill you if you said no. You return to Luke’s side and follow him into the space that would soon be filled with fans. The stage was set up with their instruments and you can’t help the shiver of excitement that goes through you.

“Are you cold?” Luke asks.

“No, I just had a chill.” Before you finish speaking, he’s pulled off the flannel shirt he’s wearing and handing it to you. “Honestly, there’s no need. I’ll be fine.”

“Y/N, take the damn shirt. It’s cold in here and you’re in a tank top.” He insists with a laugh.

“God, you’re pushy.” You snap at him playfully as you take the shirt and slide it on. It’s still warm from him wearing it and you resist the urge to bury your nose in it.

“What do you want to drink?”

“Just a beer is fine.” You pull some money out of your purse, but he waves it away as he hands over a card to the bartender.

As you take a sip of cold beer, your phone chirps with Carrie’s ringtone.

“Sorry, I have to take this.” You pull your phone out as Luke asks the bar tender to take three of the bottles to the rest of the band. “Hello?”

“Where are you? The doors are opening soon.” Carrie’s voice is almost drown out by the noise around her.

“I’m just finishing up, I’ll be out soon.”

“Was Luke as dreamy as-”

“I’ll be out as soon as I can. Bye.” You cut her off, worried Luke will hear her question and shove your phone away again. “Sorry, my friend’s in the queue. I really should get out there.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” You go to put your almost full bottle of beer on the bar. “Take that with you. You can’t waste good beer.” You laugh and slide the bottle into the sleeve of Luke’s shirt to hide it from the security staff as the two of you walk over to the door. “Hey, it was nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too.” The two of you lock eyes for a few minutes before you remember Carrie. “I… I better go. Break a leg tonight.”

Before he can answer, you’re outside with the door slamming closed behind you. You take a deep breath to try and calm your racing heart as you walk around the building to find Carrie.

:: ::

“Where did that come from?” She asks, pointing to the shirt, as soon as you join her. You look around to make sure no one’s listening. You don’t want to be overheard.

“It’s Luke’s.” You whisper, laughing as her eyes widen in shock. Even more when you pull the bottle of beer out from the sleeve and take a long drink from it.

“When we get inside, you are telling me everything. But especially how you came out of an interview with the lead singer’s clothes on.”

Before you can answer, a cheer goes up near the front of the queue as the doors open and security begin letting the fans in.

Slowly, as tickets are checked, the queue moves forward and you’re finally at the front. The security guy recognises you and gives you a smile as he lets you and Carrie inside.

The first stop is the cloakroom so you can check in your bag and the goodie bag the guys gave you after the interview. Then Carrie drags you to the bar and starts pumping you for answers.

“How did the interview go? What took so long? Why did you come out wearing Luke’s shirt and carrying a beer?”

“Woah, slow down.” You order a couple of shots for the two of you from the bartender who served Luke earlier. He waves away your money, explaining you’ve been added to the bar tab the guys have running to your surprise and Carrie’s giggles. “The interview went really well. The guys responded so well to my questions and I took a selfie with them. Oh, shit. The photo’s on Alex’s phone.”

“Oh, really?” Carrie raises an eyebrow at you.

“Do you want me to tell you or not?” You move away from the bar so no one can overhear you. When you’re certain you have some privacy, you fill her in on what happened after the interview ended.

“Holy shit, Y/N/ I think you’re in with a chance there.”

“Carrie, no. He’s a bonafide Rockstar, who lives like thousands of miles away. I’m a student from London. Don’t get carried away. He was just being friendly.”

“Oh, sure. Because all rockstars offer their shirts to fans and buy them a beer.” She looks at you, a weird look in her eye as she orders another round of drinks. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Trevor the tour manager walking toward you.

“Hey, Y/N. I was asked to give you this.” He hands you a slip of paper before melting away through the crowd toward the stage.

“What is it?” Carrie askes as you unfold it. Written in the hardest writing you’ve ever had to decipher is,

Meet me backstage after the show? Luke.

You don’t know what to think, but Carrie crows like a damn rooster, attracting attention from other fans around you.

“Just being friendly, huh?” She hip bumps you, “I’m coming with you to the other shows, I need to see this unfold with my very own eyes.

Read Part Two here

[keanureevesisbae]

The alluring charm of Henry Cavill - Chapter 9

Summary: Adelaide is back home again, preparing herself for her newest movie with David Castañeda.

Henry Cavill x Adelaide Park (ofc)

Wordcount: 1.9k

Warnings: None

A/N: I wanted to add this to yesterday’s part, but I decided to give it a part of its own, since in my head, the chapter would be too choppy. After this only three more chapters 😭😭

Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

◎ ◎ ◎

When I earned my first million dollars, I bought a mansion for my parents, with elevators so my mom could be mobile and be everywhere in the house whenever she wanted.

The cab stops at the tiny roundabout I had built in front of the mansion and the driver helps me with my suitcases. ‘Thank you,’ I say with a quick smile, giving him a fifty dollar tip.

‘Are you sure, miss?’ he asks me.

‘Absolutely,’ I tell him. ‘Have a nice day.’

The front door opens and while the cab drives off, my dad rushes towards me. I’m nailed to the gravel, but tears still escape my eyes and roll over my cheeks.

I missed him so much.

‘Come here,’ he says, as he pulls me in his arms, engulfing me in one of the safest hugs in the world. No matter what happened, a hug from my dad always helps. When I scraped my knee when I was younger, when I didn’t get a part I really wanted and now.

A hug from my appa is sometimes the only thing that makes me feel a little bit better under shitty circumstances like this.

‘Appa, I’m so sorry,’ I whisper against his shoulder.

‘Don’t,’ he tells me. ‘You are here. I am here. Eomma and I love you very much, no matter what.’

He can’t be this sweet, not after what happened. ‘I screwed up.’

‘You did not.’ My dad holds my upper arms and forces me to look at him. He actually seems a bit pissed when he says: ‘He screwed up, not you. Never.’

I wipe my tears away, but the tap is open now, so they are replaced by others in a split second. He holds my hand tightly in his and pulls me inside, as we both carry a suitcase.

‘I’m happy you’re home,’ he tells me. ‘I missed you.’

‘I missed you too.’ And that isn’t a lie. I missed him dearly and holding his hand, brings me back tons of years ago, when I would hold his hand as he was wandering around the house, trying to ease his mind and not let his worries get to him. I barely took walks with him, so pacing around our tiny house, was the only time I could pretend we were like every other father-daughter pair: he would hold my hand as he guided me through life, my obstacles how significant or insignificant they seemed.

When I walk inside, I see my mom already waiting for me. I run towards her and hug her tightly. She presses a kiss on my cheek and says: ‘Where is this Henry? I have to see him, so I can run him over with wheelchair.’

I can’t stop my chuckle, but that chuckle turns into a soft cry. ‘I’m sorry,’ I whisper. ‘I let you two down.’

‘You didn’t let us down,’ she says. ‘Henry Cavill did. I thought he was nice. Good for you. He is an idiot.’

‘Don’t,’ I start, but when I see the death glare my mom sends me, I quickly shut up. Besides, who do I think I am? Sticking up for Henry when a) he can’t even hear me and b) he hurt me badly and lied to me?

What on earth possesses me?

The entire flight I thought about it. About Henry and me. I can’t believe I was this blind, I totally fell for it and just believed him. This is obviously partially my fault of course. Hadn’t I done this, hadn’t I been this blind, I would’ve just become friends with him and then my heart wouldn’t have been severely broken like it is now.

My parents and I go to the kitchen and we prepare some tea. I talk to them about the show and how they enjoyed most parts of it. ‘It was good to see you like that,’ my father says. ‘You don’t have to be so private and serious all the time.’

I simply nod, not knowing exactly how to respond to it.

‘We love you,’ mom says, ‘and we always will, dasom.’

‘I love you too.’ My phone starts to vibrate on the counter and I look at the screen.

David?

‘I have to take this,’ I say and while I walk out of the kitchen, I pick up the phone. ‘Hi.’

David Castañeda sounds cheerful when he asks: ‘Hi, Adelaide, how are you?’

‘You honestly have to ask that?’ I mumble, before I go to the conservatory and plop on a couch. I look over at the backyard, where the sprinklers are on.

‘Stupid question,’ he says. ‘I’m terribly sorry. Thought Henry Cavill was a real nice dude, but this was pretty shitty. You want to be distracted? I have pretty exciting news.’

‘Please, tell me something fun. I could really need it..’

‘I got the part.’

It takes me a few seconds before I understand it. ‘You got it?’ I ask, a smile creeping up on my face. A new project means distraction and distraction means not thinking about Henry. ‘Oh my, are you serious? This is amazing.’

‘I know right, so just when I cut my hair short again, they told me to start growing it out,’ he chuckles.

I start to laugh, as I envision him as I close my eyes. ‘I can’t wait to see you again,’ I say in all honesty, because it’s true. I can’t wait to see him again. I know David and I know what an honest and lovely guy he is. I could open up to Henry, but he didn’t deserve it. David does deserve my honesty and I know the he will never betray me like that.

‘I can’t wait to see you,’ he tells me. ‘Production starts in two months, but I sure hope you and I can meet up before that? I mean, if that’s okay with you?’

‘That’s more than okay, David. I really want to catch up. I don’t have much to do, so I can  meet up and start binging season two of the Umbrella Academy.’

‘You still haven’t done that?’ He scoffs. ‘Deeply insulted, Adelaide Park.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I say, ‘but I have been pretty occupied these weeks.’

David sighs deeply, knowing instantly what I’m referring to. ‘I’m so sorry that this happened during a live stream. Are you okay, though?’

‘I’m fine,’ I lie, but I’m not even convinced by that myself, so I quickly add: ‘Well, I’m not, but I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘Understandably so,’ he tells me. ‘I do have to go now, but I just had to tell you this. We’ll catch up soon, Adelaide.’

◎ ◎ ◎

Angela Bassett: Darling, I’m so sorry this happened to you. I spoke to Henry and while I understand you don’t want to talk to him, he really wants you to know he’s sorry.

Adelaide: You’ve been talking to him?

Angela Bassett: I have, yes.

Adelaide: Could you maybe tell him something from me?

Angela Bassett: Absolutely

Adelaide: That I don’t want to see him ever again, nor talk to him.

◎ ◎ ◎

◎ ◎ ◎

It has been two weeks since the terrible livestream. However, I do realize how insanely lucky I am with my fans. The once prior and after the Celebrity Project. I read so many comments about how I didn’t deserve this and that I’m better off without him anyways.

I just had my first event after The Celebrity Project and the responses to it were so overwhelmingly positive, my heart simply swelled when I was reading them. Sure, people were tagging Henry in it and that made me pretty furious, but I feel like I can actually overcome this.

I walk through the park, staring at my phone screen. David and I are supposed to meet up and he shared his location with me, however I can’t seem to find him. According to the app, he should be on my right, but I don’t see him when I look up. When I stare back at the phone, the bubble indicating where he is has moved and is now somewhere else. I growl out of frustration.

Does it really have to be this difficult?

‘There she is,’ I hear a voice saying me behind me and when I turn around, I see it’s David. A smile breaks out on my face and I run towards him. When I wrap my arms around his shoulders, he pulls me close to his body. ‘I missed you, Adelaide.’

‘I missed you too,’ I smile and I let him go to take him in. ‘Oh my, look at you. Are you excessively working out again?’

‘Diego Hargreeves is supposed to have a very low body fat percentage,’ he tells me with a cocked eyebrow. ‘But, I have been doing absolutely nothing these past few weeks, as preparation for our movie.’ He holds out a cardboard holder with two paper cups in them. ‘I brought you an iced cappuccino with vanilla syrup, just the way you like it.’

He remembered… ‘You are amazing, David, thank you.’ We take a seat on a park bench and I look to the side. ‘What?’ I ask him, when he looks at me.

‘You look good.’

‘Don’t even start,’ I say, before taking a sip.

He must sense I don’t want to talk about the whole Henry thing. ‘Tell me something else then: are you excited for the movie?’

‘Of course,’ I say with a smile. ‘And they are going to bleach my hair soon.’

‘Ah really? I love this color.’

‘I do too, but the director has a very specific type of journalist in mind for this movie. Besides, I think a refreshing blonde is a nice contrast when it comes to your brooding character.’

‘Brooding is what I do best.’ David takes a sip of his drink and closes his eyes, as he soaks up the sun. ‘Is there anything you want to do in Switzerland?’

‘I heard there was a special class to learn to do the waltz. Maybe you and I can do that.’

‘Dancing with the Adelaide Park? Sign me the fuck up.’

I nudge him in the side. ‘You’re an idiot.’ Before he can be even slightly offended, even if it were fake, I smile. ‘Joking.’

He smiles. ‘I know you don’t want to talk about the Celebrity Project, but I do have to say something.’

‘Better make it quick then and I have to warn you: I don’t want to hear his name.’

He nods. ‘I just wanted to say that it was good seeing you like this. I have always wondered what you were like. I mean, I knew you were nice, but you were so serious from time to time, so private, even after filming for so long and doing interviews together. I get that it can be hard to open up, but knowing these things about you now, after watching the show, made me realize you have been putting on a brave face for way too long.’

I take another sip. ‘Well, I’ll try and do better.’

‘Don’t try and do better,’ he says. ‘Try and be yourself, because being yourself is better.’

‘Oh, how wise,’ I chuckle, rolling my eyes.

‘Should I write this down and post this with an inspirational picture on Instagram?’

‘To delete it twenty minutes afterwards?’ I slap his arm. ‘Hopeless, David, very hopeless.’

He smiles. ‘Just pinky promise me you can try to be honest with me. Practice being open and yourself around me, okay? I won’t judge.’ He holds out his pinky and I chuckle, when I hook my pinky through his and say: ‘Pinky promise.’

◎ ◎ ◎

[cherrybloomn]

Delicate - Chapter 4

Alright guys, so here it comes.  I am not really sure if anyone is reading this story, but for me it’s a great joy of writing it. I’m not much of a writer, but it’s a nice thing to give it a go. If there is anyone that would like to be tagged, let me know and I will. As for now there’s no tag list as I’m not really sure anyone reads this, lol

Once again, HUGE thank you for my most wonderful beta and supporters @musings-sans-muse​ and @shellbilee​ <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 

Warnings: strong language, (it’s a slow burn so.. no more warnings as for now), a bit of a breakdown. 

Music inspiration: ( as I really love to discover all the music inspirations here on Tumblr, I’ve decided to put all the songs/music that have inspired me to write) -

1) Jacob Banks & Louis the Child - Diddy Bop -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxcsoynCkPk

2) Olafur Arnolds - Poland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIq55s61KAE

3) Ruelle, Fleurie - Carry you -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i39fan8ow-o

Storyline: Naomi Poesy is a TV host of the show about acting and contemporary cinema. She is living life to the fullest, but for some reason she promised herself, she will never do any relationships. Much to her surprise she befriends one of her guests. Will she keep her promise?

30th of July, 2020

Naomi was driving her car home from her pure barre classes, when her phone rang. She quickly switched the Bluetooth on and pressed the dial button.

“Hello, boy. How are you doing? It’s your last Friday of freedom! Are you still in London or have you already got to the countryside?”

Henry chuckled. “Thank you I’m actually doing very fine. I can’t wait to get back to work. Finally. I’m in the countryside already. I’m throwing a small party tonight. Just closest friends. Shisha included. Hope you’re on board. Colin said he could pick you up.”

It took Naomi a minute to answer that question, as she was distracted by other drivers’ weird actions on the road.

“What the fuck is he doing!” She looked to her right and gave the driver sitting in the other car the scary look. “Oh, sorry. The party. Yes. Well, no. I’m sorry, I can’t make it. I’d love to though, really. I know we won’t be able to meet for a couple of weeks now, but BBN has a new CEO. Tonight there’s this introductory dinner. I have to be there. To be honest I don’t really know how I feel about it. This guy is so… disturbing. He visited us two days ago and said that he would announce who is going to end their journey with BBN, and I quote,“Some of you have nothing to add to the company”.

“Naomi, come on! You don’t really think you are one of these people! You are nominated to the TV Rising Star Award! Come on!  But when itcomes to your presence at the party, well, I won’t deny I’m a little bit disappointed. I hoped we’d see each other tonight. But I do understand of course. Please let me know tomorrow how the dinner went. Oh, and I am keeping my fingers crossed on Monday. I sincerely think you do deserve to win the award.”

“Thanks. Alright, so, have a great time in the evening and don’t get stoned!”

“Thanks…” There was a short silence between them, Naomi felt like he wanted to add something more, but he didn’t, so she finally broke the silence:

“Ok. Oh, and Hen… I will sincerely miss you. I know how tight your schedule is” she stopped for a brief moment to rethink if she should ask for that, but decided to do so, and continued with soft voice “but just call me from time to time.”

“If I didn’t know you, I would have thought you fell in love with me, or something.” He joked.

Naomi smiled “Hm. I’m just curious. What makes you feel like you know me?” She asked playfully and grinned like a Cheshire cat at her question.

“Should I read between lines??” Naomi could only imagine him raising his eyebrow with the cheeky smile on his face.

“I don’t know. It’s you who said you knew me.” She giggled. “Ok, that’s enough. I’m almost at home, so I need to end this wonderful conversation. Keep in touch.”

“Absolutely. Now that you’ve admitted to falling for me, touching is inevitable.”

Naomi rolled her eyes and exclaimed quickly “Oh dear god, you did not just say that!” And also added with laughter: “Bye!”. She ended the conversation.

To fall in love with. Whatever being in love means. Naomi thought about it for a while. She didn’t really remember what that meant, how it felt. Was she in love with anyone right now? She knew she wasn’t in love with her fuck friend – James. Henry – on the other hand – was important to her. She thought about him every evening beforeshe went to sleep, she thought about him every morning. His messages made her smile, and the thought of their meeting made her feel warm inside. She knew that with every meeting, she wanted more – longer conversations, just one more movie to watch, another joke to share, another (un)accidental touch. She shivered at each thought of his touch. It has always been so casual and innocent, yet so powerful and soothing. Oh, fuck. Enough of this. He’s so not my type. Her own thoughts terrified her, so she tried to push them away.

***

The evening came very fast. Enveloped in a black, knee-length, silky dress by Dior and Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel, Naomi found herself in a cab on the way to the dinner. Her hair was styled in soft waves and her lips painted red. She was very stressed about losing her job, but tried to do as much as possible to make herself presentable and appealing. What a pathetic circus– she thought.

Just before leaving the cab Naomi fixed her makeup. She entered the Ritz, and quickly headed to the hostess, who waited to lead the guests to the tables. The young girl welcomed her with a glass of champagne, which Naomi politely accepted. She took a small sip. Let the shit show begin. Both women headed to the small room just behind the main chamber of the restaurant. Much to Naomi’s surprise the CEO was already sitting at the small table prepared for two. His posture was relaxed, his jacket hung over the backrest of the chair. He must have been waiting here for some time. He was a handsome man in his fifties, but his mischievous smirk was very disturbing. He didn’t bother to stand up to welcome Naomi.

“There you are! Our shining little star. Our nominee. Come closer, darling. Let me finally take a proper look at you.” He beckoned her. Naomi approached him and extended her hand for a professional handshake.

“Mr McKenzie, very nice to meet you.” She faked her sweetest smile and looked around. “Where’s everybody? I was sure I'd heard it was a meeting with all of the presenters.”

“Surprise, surprise!” He exclaimed and took a sip of his whiskey. “Darling I want to talk with you and only you. YOU are our future. I want to transfer you to the news section and make you the main news presenter. Excited?” He looked her up and down. “Turn around”.

“Excuse me..?” She looked at him with her eyes wide open. That request caught her off guard. She quickly looked around. All of the tables were occupied, and Naomi felt like everyone’s eyes were settled on them.

“Darling I said just turn around for me. I want to see you.”

The shit-show indeed. Naomi slowly sat down in front of her boss, never ceasing to look him in the eyes. “No, Mr McKenzie. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” She gave him a sly smile.

“Disobedient. I don’t like disobedience.” He slowly poured whiskey to the empty glass standing on Naomi’s side, and after filling it with the liquid he handed it to her. “Here’s to our new news star.” He took his glass of whiskey and clicked her glass. With his other hand he grabbed her chin and turned her head to her right side and then back to the centre, forcing her to look at him. “You’re so perfect. I will make a star of you. Just be good and obedient.” He let go of her chin and sat comfortably in his chair.

Naomi, usually so outspoken and forward, didn’t know what to say. At the very moment she felt exposed. Vulnerable. Fragile. Lonely.

“Mr McKenzie, I’m sorry but I don’t really see our cooperation like this. I am very grateful for the given opportunity, but I really love my show, and I have put so much effort to make it work. People like it, the guests like it. It’s not just another talk show, it touches important issues in theatre and film industry, it gives information about acting methods. I think it’s very refreshing and I have only got positive feedback from our viewers. We also have the social media account and the show has the biggest number of active followers. People like it and they associate the show with me. I wouldn’t like to give it to anyone else. I feel like it’s my child.”

“Naomi. I don’t really give a fuck about the number of viewers or comments made by spoiled, cocaine addict celebrities. This show is running to its end and you either become the face of the evening news on my terms, or you can consider yourself jobless.”

“Well, if so… I guess you will have the one and only chance to look at my ass, just as you wanted to. I’m sorry, but I can’t take this offer.” She half whispered all these words. She worked very hard on her composure, but inside she felt like bursting out. She quickly stood up, held her bag and left the restaurant. Just when she caught the taxi and sat inside, the tears started running down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe she was deprived of her beloved child, just because someone decided to destroy it.

She gave the taxi driver her home address but after just a minute she changed her destination. Henry.

An hour later, she was standing at the door of Henry’s rented countryside house. She could hear laughter and screams from the inside. She slowly wiped her tears away, trying not to destroy the remains of her makeup. It must have been destroyed, as she felt her cheeks burning from crying. She took a deep sigh and knocked a couple of times. After what it felt like eternity, Henry opened the door.

“Naomi! You made it!” He looked her up and down “You look absolutely amazing! What a sexy dress. It’s more of a sweatpants party, but no worries. You will fit just perfectly.” Henry was in a very good mood, which made her smile a little. When he asked her in, he noticed her puffy eyes. Suddenly he got all serious and frowned at her. “Hey, come here.” He wrapped his big arms around her. He started to gently stroke her back with his left hand, and with the right one, he moved her hair to the side and placed the palm of his hand on the nape of her neck, pushing her even closer towards himself. When he felt that she started sobbing into his chest, he rested his chin on her head. “Do you want to talk?’ He asked gently.

“Not now.” was all she was able to say.

“Henners it’s your turn! What the fuck are you doing with the pizza deliv…” One of Henry’s friends ran into the hall, to check what was going on. “Ouch.. it doesn’t look like pizza delivery.. Sorry, sorry. Take your time guys. I’ve seen nothing.” He quickly got back to the living room. “Hey guys it’s not pizza delivery, it’s a lady!”

The comment kind of lifted Naomi’s spirit. She cry-laughed, and stepped backwards, breaking the embrace. “I’m sorry. Thank you.” She extended her hand and touched his arm. “Thank you. I feel much better now. We’ll talk later, ok? I need to relax. And I should change. I feel so overdressed.”

“Of course. I have my ex’s leggings and t- shirts here, if you want you can wear them. How about me preparing a good drink for you and you in the meantime taking a hot shower and changing?”

“Sounds perfect.” She said with a weak voice and gave him a faint smile. She looked defeated. She felt defeated. After a minute Henry brought her a pair of leggings and white tank top. Naomi took her time in the shower, she then fixed her makeup, dressed up and headed to the living room.

“Hello everyone. To those of you I don’t know yet, I’m Naomi” She smiled and waved her hand. She knew some of Henry’s friends, as they have all met a couple of times at the parties.

When the time passed, this small gathering made Naomi feel much better. Some got burnt down with shisha and weed. One of Henry’s mates was taking the piss at Henry being referred to as “daddy” on the Internet. Another one of his friends, excited with this news, went on the literotica website, picked up some spicy story and both guys started to read it aloud pretending it was about Henry. Naomi found it extremally stupid, but couldn’t stop laughing. Henry was just rolling his eyes and smiling, he was obviously embarrassed.

“Alright, enough!” He shouted after a minute and everyone got silent.

“Oh my god, Henry. That was so dominant” Naomi purred in a seductive voice and everyone started to laugh dramatically. Naomi just couldn’t breathe. “I’m so sorry, oh god. This is too good.” She covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry…but I have just found out about that kink I had no idea about!”

At around 2 am, when everyone left, Naomi sat with Henry in the kitchen. She told him about her evening. He didn’t talk much, but was very supportive. He was listening to her carefully. He furrowed his brows and grabbed her hand. “I’m really sorry.” He whispered. They talked about it for another hour, and Naomi finally said: “Alright. I’ve got to go. Not that I need to prepare to work or anything, but still.” She laughed bitterly. In the meantime she ordered the Uber.

“You can stay, you know that.” He was still holding her hand gently brushing the inside of her palm with his thumb. Once she realized that, Naomi quickly withdrew her hand and stood up.

“No, you need to get rest before the big day.” Naomi grabbed her dress and high heels and headed to the main hall. Henry followed her.

Once Naomi went out, Henry stopped her by holding her wrist and said “Girl, don’t worry. You are strong. You’ll survive”. He kissed her on the cheek. “Let me know when you arrive home.”

These two sentences crushed Naomi’s heart. She’s heard it before and she’d never forget it. You are strong. You will survive.

As a child, Naomi’s biggest dream was to become the Principal of the Royal Ballet. At the age of three, she started her first ballet classes. She was a natural, and not long after she was accepted to the national ballet school. She was very talented. This is why she started to work in the Royal Opera House at the age of 12.

One summer Naomi had an accident. She fell down from a tree and crushed her ribs and knee. She also suffered a spinal injury. She had to have an operation. She had to spend two months in the hospital.

In the last week of Naomi’s hospital stay, her beloved teacher – Mrs Selena Kurylenko visited her. When Naomi’s mentor entered the room, she quickly exclaimed: “I just cannot wait to get back to school and on stage!”.

Selena Kurylenko sat on the small chair next to the bed. “Naomi. What are you talking about, my silly girl? You are not going back to school, child. After this accident, you will never dance again as a ballet dancer. I only came to bring your stuff and say goodbye.” She said with her thick, Russian accent. Mrs Kurylenko put a small bag on the counter next to the bed. “Your pointe shoes. Keep it as a souvenir.”

Even as a grownup Naomi still perfectly remembered the chills running down her spine on that very moment.  The chills that felt like needles. She still remembered Mrs Kurylenko’s last words: “It’s a shame your mother didn’t tell you that you won’t go back to school. She is a weak woman. Unlike you, Naomi. You are strong. You always have been, and you always will be. You will survive”.

You will survive. Naomi just nodded, said goodbye to Henry and quickly sat inside the car, which had arrived.  The driver asked for the place of destination, but she did not hear him. She hid her face in her palms, and couldn’t help crying. She was so fed up with everyone expecting her to be the strong one.

Suddenly she heard someone knocking on the window, which was followed by opening the car door. She quickly wiped her tears and looked at Henry leaning his shoulder on the opened door.

“I’m sorry, I just needed a moment for myself.” She said to both Henry and the driver.

“Naomi, get your ass out of the car.” Henry turned to the driver “I am very sorry for that situation. Here’s for the drive.” He gave the driver some money. “My friend is a little burned down and it’s better she stayed here. Thank you very much for your service.” Henry extended his hand to help Naomi out of the car. “Come on, get out.”

Reluctantly she went out of the car. The driver was a bit puzzled, but quickly disappeared, probably thinking that the party must have been pretty rough.

Henry raised his eyebrow at her and wrapped his arm around her “Come”.

“Noo.. I’m going home.” Naomi said with a small smile and tried to get out of his embrace. It was more of a tease than a real need to break the embrace of course.

He didn’t let her go and tightened his embrace. He also leaned forward and whispered into her hair: “Don’t push your limit baby girl, daddy will be pissed.” He gave her the strict gaze, but after a split second both of them burst out with laughter.

“This is sooo wrong Henry! So wrong!” She said, shaking her head. She finally got out of his embrace and went inside the house.

They’d been watching the most ridiculous horror movie, and at some point Naomi dozed off on the armchair she was sitting at. She woke up at around 4 am, and with sleepy eyes she looked at Henry, who was lying on his side on the sofa. He must have fallen asleep too. She slowly and silently knelt on the floor in front him and studied his face for a moment. He wasn’t her type, but sure thing he was an extremely attractive man. Naomi smiled at the sight of his curls getting into his eyes. She gently moved a strand of his hair to the side. “Are you sleeping..?” She half whispered. He didn’t react. “Hm.. maybe that’s true what you’ve said in the morning. Maybe I am falling for you after all. Too bad it would never work out though.�� She stood up, and covered him with the blanket hanging on the sideboard of the sofa. Afterwards, she called the Uber, and once it arrived, she went home.

[bxoken-heartss]

Put a Little Love On Me: C.V Part 2

(Y/N): Your name

(Y/E/C): Your Eye Color

(Y/L/N): Your Last Name

' ' ': Switch of scenes

~ ~ ~ : Line by Line Lyrics scenario ending.

// //: Lyrics

Warnings: Mentions of self harm, drinking mentions etc etc

Pairings: Christopher Velez x Reader

Words: 5600 +

Part 1: HERE.

A/N: I know it’s been LIKE 7 years approximately since i typed down the first part. But, I’ve had online classes and crappy assignments..But! HERE IT IS! And once again...I’m SORRY! But I hope you ENJOY! :)

Honorable Mentions: @wwecncowhydontwetrash @calypsocnco​ @cnco-hoenesty​ @papichriscnco​ @richardscurls​ @h-bea92​ @zabdielmuch​

//We wrote and we wrote till there were no more words

We laughed and we cried until we saw our worsts//

Chris sat down in front of his desk in his room, his heart heavy and burdened, yet a weird sort of  emptiness filling his heart. He spoke nothing as he heard his heart slowly beating..each beat filled with an aura of pain at an in-rhythmically ugly pace.

He felt horrible...He just wanted to escape from this ugly unwanted reality..Writing music was his way of temporary escape from reality..a temporary refuge when things went downhill..

After a heavy workout and a hot relaxing shower, he sat down to write something onto his journal..

He carelessly opened the journal, flipping through the pages slowly as he reached a fresh new page, a fountain pen in his hand as he sat and thought about what he could write about to relieve or rather ease the stress and anxiety building up in him..

He wanted to write something..he really wanted to..but a wave of hopelessness washed over him as he had written a few "Love" related lyrics..

They sounded fake...forced..ingenuity lacing its lyrics..He tried again..but he just couldn't...for she was the only thing that bounced back into his mind..

She was the melody...the inspiration behind all his lyrics..but she wasn't his anymore..

The thought of her in between someone's arms..her new man kissing her..holding her close to him..

The thought of her being happier with someone else who wasn't him hurted him more than he could admit..but a part of him also happy now at least someone would treat her the way she deserved to be treated..

Christopher tried to clear his head..No! He didn't need her! He could obviously move on the way she did..She moved on..rather too quickly..at least that's what the media and all the tabloids said...

He began to write again but there were just no more words to write.. Just mere emptiness and silence fills the air..

The page was empty and dull just like his heart..

                                              ~ ~ ~

Y/N couldn't pinpoint on a single moment where she was the happiest with Chris..Every single moment gave her weird yet such long lasting memories.

"GUYS I'M BORED!" Y/N yells as she walks into the boys' studio

"Hi bored...I'm Erick! Nice to meet you! How are you doing today?" Erick asks beaming at her

"Ha ha ha! Very funny pretty eyes..." Y/N replies as she rolls her eyes and claps her hands sarcastically

"Oh come on! That was a good one! Right guys??" Erick asks as he hopefully looks at the boys

"I'm not going to respond to that." Richard comments as he lazily lays on the couch

"Are you done with recording for today?" Joel asks as he sits next to her slinging an arm around her missing the look of jealousy that had stayed hidden inside Christopher's brown orbs

"Yeah...Had a quick meet and greet and did a bit of recording! I'm done for the day! What about you guys?"

"Recording is still left...and we'll probably have a quick Twitter session or something..probably" Joel comments as he looks at her

"So none of you are free??" Y/N asks

"Shawty...as much as I'd love to spend the day I've still got parts to record!" Richard says

"I'm done for the day!" Zabdiel says as he suppresses a yawn

"Zab...Come with me we can go and have fun!!" Y/N pleaded

"Nope mi amor... I'm going to sleep." Zabdiel says as he lays down on the couch

"Chris! Ah! My favorite boy! My darling!" Y/N says as her eyes brighten up

"Hola Hermosa..." Chris comments as he sits next to her

"Chris honey...come on let's have a day out together!" She says

"Couldn't resist me even for a day huh nena?" Chris asks, obviously flirting

"Of course..I couldn't resist your face.. You are so insanely good looking..how could I?" Y/N replies, flirting back ignoring the way how quick her heart thumped against her chest

Y/N began talking to him about the most random things and every time she did Chris interrupted her...He knew it always made her pissed..It was something he always did...but he couldn't resist! She was absolutely ADORABLE when she got mad..

"And then I --" Y/N begins as Chris cracks another uncalled joke in Spanish as Erick laughs to it as he engages in a conversation with Joel.

"CHRISTOPHER BRYANT VÈLEZ I SWEAR TO GOD THAT I WILL CHOKE YOU UNTIL YOU DIE IN MY HANDS!" Y/N yells

"I'd rather be choking you Mami.." Chris replies as he smirks at her as her face flushes into a dark shade of pink

"Gawd..Can't y'all just date already? There's so much sexual tension between you two...Like get laid already and date!" Richard comments rolling his eyes, Erick furiously nodding

"Well..Err..." Chris begins as he nervously laughs

"YASHEL shut up before I kill you!" Y/N warns

"He's got a point...I mean you guys flirt so often that we'd feel weird if you both didn't date.." Joel says

"No! Joel not you too!! Zab...Your friends are being mean to me!!" Y/N complains

"Too late.. he's already asleep.." Joel says as she looks at a sleeping Zabdiel

"You guys are just being dumb.." Y/N comments

"We're being honest..you label it as dumb.." Erick counters earning a eyeroll from Y/N

"Whatever guys...Chris! Are you free? Please tell me you are!" Y/N asks

"Well...My recording for the day is done so I guess?" Chris answers

"Please...let's just go somewhere! I'm so tired of merely sitting around in my studio for hours...a small break would be good right?!" Y/N asks him hopefully

"Yeah I guess.." Chris replies as he rubs his neck awkwardly

"Are you sure you wanna go? You seem dis- interested..." She asks him

"No no... Absolutely not Hermosa.. I'm absolutely ready..Just let me get a hoodie and some shades and inform Ali about it then I'll be all good to go!" Chris comments as he walks away

"So did you finally manage to get him go on a date with you?" Joel asks as he  looks at before heading towards the recording room

"Joel we are just hanging out cause he was free...nothing more nothing less." She replies rolling her eyes

"Okay I was just inquiring.." he says exiting the situation

"Oh...you mean one out of your many dates!" Erick says as his eyes gleam with adoration

"Could you just shut up for once Erick?! I told you we're - -" She begins

"Yeah, just friends...I get it..When are you going to realize that you just perfect for each other and just- -" Erick begins as Chris enters the room

"I'm ready Hermosa...Can we leave?" Chris asks interrupting Erick

"Okay sure..If my best friend wakes up by any chance and ever questions about my existence, just inform him that I had gone out with Chris.." Y/N tells Erick as she walks over to Chris

"Will do! Now go already and enjoy the day!" Erick replies as he pushes her onto Chris' arms

They exited the studio as paparazzis surrounded them, their security quickly making way for them as they quickly slid into her car.

"Where do you want to go Miss. (Y/L/N) ?" Y/N's driver, Henry asks (change his name if you don't like the name)

"Well to that less crowded carnival round the corner...And ask the others to stay away..We are heavily disguised so it won't be much of a problem." Y/N comments

"Are you sure Ma'am..I've been given strict - -" he begins

"I'll take the blame in case anything goes wrong trust me!" Y/N reassures as she put on a heavy coat to cover her disguise as Chris helped her with it.

"Thanks Chris..." Y/N says as she shoots him a grateful smile

"Of course Mi Amol..." Chris comments as he returns the gesture.

                                                 ' ' '

"Aren't you excited CHRIS?!?" Y/N asks as she looks at Chris whose eyes beam with happiness

"OF COURSE!!!" Chris yells excited as he looks at her excitedly

"Then let's g- -" She says but interrupted halfway as Chris grabs her arm and pulls her into the crowd

                                                 ' ' '

Time had gone so quick that Y/N almost thought her eyes were playing tricks with her when she saw the sun setting.

They had almost finished off all the attractions in the carnival..All the while Chris was just busy taking numerous pictures and videos of her, her giggling and laughing all the while.

"Hermosa...Look at that! I want that!!" He says as he points at a huge teddy bear in a stall.

"Aren't all these enough?" Y/N as she points at the bag of goodies and all those little toys Chris had gotten

"Nope...just one more...besides who doesn't like teddy bears?" He asks

"True but are you sure you want- " Y/N begins

"Hello? Yes...Yeah three soft balls? Cool enough!" Chris speaks as the person on the stall hands him over three soft balls

All he had to do was aim and get the soft ball into the basket that was next to teddy bear.

"Now watch me Hermosa..How I get that teddy in one throw!" Chris flaunts as he begins to aim for it. "But wait..Before that, I think you should kiss my knuckles.." He says finishing off

"And why's that necessary Chris?" Y/N asks her tone filled with sass

"Err..You know...for good luck! You technically just make people around you happy...so I figured that you would have some sort of good luck within you..So I thou- -" He begins

"I understand Chris...You don't need to explain..I was just messing with ya!" Y/N interrupts him as she holds his knuckles and presses a kiss onto his knuckles eliciting a soft blush from Christopher.

She quickly ignored the way her cheeks heated up as she gives him a shy smile, Chris slowly returning her the gesture.

"Go on Chris...try again..Let's hope it works!" Y/N comments as she looks at him

"Yeah okay!" Chris says, the soft ball falling inside a basket that stood next to a stuffed elephant.

"LOOK CHRIS! Elephants are cool too!" Y/N beams at him

"So boy do you want this or do you want to try again?" The stall keeper asks him

"Another try please.." Chris answers disappointed

"Chris you don't need to win the teddy bear specifically..it's  -" She begins

"Just wait Hermosa...This time I'll get it in!" Chris says as he held the last soft ball.

Y/N holds Chris' knuckles as she pressed a soft kiss onto them, Chris' knuckles still laying lovingly in her palms. Chris smiles to himself softly not wanting to retreat his knuckles from her touch

"Err..Chris?" She says, gaining his attention.

"Yeah sorry! I was- -" Chris begins

"Come on Velèz! I know you can do this!! I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!" Y/N cheered

Chris nodded his eyes gleaming with determination...He took a few breathes and threw the ball again and bam! It went inside the basket next to the teddy bear he had wanted.

"YESSS!! YOU GOT THAT IN!! CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS!!" Y/N cheers as she hugs him, as he wrapped his arms around her and enjoyed her embrace.

The stall keeper handed the teddy bear to Chris who instantly took it after thanking him.

"I wouldn't have won it without your good luck.." Chris comments

"Nonsense! Your aim was perfect! That's why you got it!" Y/N replies smiling at him

Chris took a hold of the other things in Y/N's hands as he handed her the teddy bear.

"It's yours now.." He says as he looks at her

"But you won it...and you wanted it!" Y/N replies

"No..I knew how much you loved teddy bears and considering the fact that you were my good luck charm..I think you deserve this" Chris says

Y/N blushed softly..He paid attention to every little thing accidentally slipped out of her mouth.

How she wished you had the guts to tell him how she really felt. She stood on her toes as she pressed a kiss on his cheeks.

"Thank you.." She whispers as Chris looks away blushing as he nodded slowly

                                           ~ ~ ~

Every little moment with Christopher was filled laughter and joy..Barely was there were moments she had seen Christopher wasn't happy...That night was probably the first time she had seen him..sad and broken..

It had happened on unfortunate midnight...Y/N had a sleepover with Zabdiel and the rest of the boys at their place after a very tiresome movie night..Everyone retired to their rooms at midnight as it had started off from 10 in the morning that previous day...

Y/N had obviously chose to share a bed with Zabdiel because the guest room was too messy and she was downright exhausted to clean it up...And Zabdiel had always loved cuddling onto her tiny petite figure ever since they had sleepovers from back when they were friends..

She had woken up the 2:00 a.m or so as she felt thirsty. She sat up, carefully removing Zabdiel's arms off her as she practically forced her drowsy self off her bed as she sleepily walked outside the room and towards the kitchen. She grabbed a glass of water and drowned it down her throat quickly quenching her thirst...

She walked upstairs and was about to enter Zabdiel's room when she saw dim lights flashing inside Christopher's room, beams of light radiating from the half closed door. She raised her eyebrows and walked towards his room.

'Was he that exhausted that he didn't have that much of the energy to switch off his bedroom light?' She thought as she slowly enters his room without causing any noises.

She looked around the room but Christopher wasn't on his bed...His bed was neatly folded and didn't seem crumbled at all...Hadn't he slept at all? She looked around and was about to call out his name when she hears muffled yet heavy sobs.

She looked around the room again as worry cascaded her face..She heard the sobs again as she walked towards the source...The sobs growing comparatively louder each time she took a step closer in a quiet pace.

She slowly opened the bathroom door as her eyes widens in shock as a teary eyed Christopher stood in front of the mirror..Her eyes scanned him as she noticed a blade in his hand, her eyes widening in shock as he reflects the same and tries to hide the blade.

She angrily storms upto him as she looks at him with pure hate..She picks up the blade and throws it out the window from the window located inside the tiny bathroom..She then walks upto him as she grabs both his arms, inspecting it. A soft scar was imprinted on his arm.

"I'm- -" Christopher begins

"JUST WHY? WHY CHRIS??" She asks, her tone filled with hate and pain at the same time as she quickly patched up the scar

"It's nothing.." He trails off as he looks away

"Well it has to be something CONSIDERING the fact that you were try to kill yourself!!" Y/N yells

"Please...JUST..Just leave! I don't want you to see- -" Chris says trailing off

"Why...Just why would you do this Chris?" Y/N asks, her eyes brimming with tears

"Why would you care?"  He asks her as he looks at her, his chocolate brown orbs instantly losing all the warmth it had ever possessed.

"CHRIS! Why wouldn't I- - I obviously do! Chris- -why would you ever - -" She begins

"I can't take this anymore...It's hard and sad..being HATED by millions..Feeling unwanted... talent-less..undeserving.." Chris interrupts her halfway as he looks down

"Says who Chris?" Y/N questions

"Who doesn't? Everyone hates me..I- -I can't do anything right..No one's there when I honestly need them..I don't blame them too considering how much I mean to them. So I just thought if no one liked me for who I was..why live?  It won't make a huge difference whether I lived or no- -" Chris begins as a harsh slap interrupts him

Christopher's eyes widen in shock as he lifts his hand covering his cheek as it stung in harshness and pain.

She looked at him, her cheeks flushed with sad and angry tears as she glared at Christopher

"How- -How could you?!? Do you even REALIZE what would have happened if you..." She begins but gets interrupted by her tears and her shortened breaths

"I'd never forgive myself Chris! I love you too much! How could you even think about this?!?"She finishes off

Christopher's eyes widened as those words processed in his head but cut short when she pulls him into a hug. His tears fell softly as he shivered slightly

"I'm scared...Please..help me..Just don't leave.." Chris stutters

Y/N said nothing but held his cheeks with her hands and pressed a passionate kiss on his forehead and the cheek where she had slapped him.

A simple gesture...which meant something to both of them deep down inside...yet they thought the other didn't feel the same and pushed it into the back of their heads.

"I'm right here Chris...I'm not going anywhere..I'll always be there for you.." She says as he listens to her beating heart.

                                                   ~ ~ ~

//Is it wrong that I still wonder where you are?

Is it wrong that I still don't know my heart//

"C- - CCa- -a- -n I h- -have ano- -ther o- -on - one lad?" Y/N asks, her eyes glossy as she slurs off

"Miss...you've already had an unhealthy dosage of - -" The bartender begins

"I'M A LEGAL ADULT! I'M PAYING YOU FOR THE DRINKS! WHAT'S YOUR FXCKING PROBLEM?!?"  She screams at him as she interrupts him

"But Miss..." He begins

"I SAID GET ME ANOTHER ONE!" She shouts over the blaring music

The bartender reluctantly poured out another drink onto her now empty glass...

Y/N looked around as the place blasted off with various songs she could barely recognize. She glared at everyone and everything as she smoothly half emptied the glass of drink.

She gazed around the room to find couples dancing..couple talking..couples kissing.. and making out in their drunk state, but they had one thing in common..They were all happily in love..

She cringed at the word love..she was absolutely disgusted with the feeling.. She absolutely hated it...But deep down inside...she knew she was lying..somewhere down there..

But a part of her sad..and selfish..Why couldn't she have a happy life? Why was it always her that suffered? What had she done to deserve something like this? Why did it have to be her?

She laid her head down in the wooden table in front of her..She softly wiped away the mindless tears that had managed to slip through her eyes, her sobs as soft as mere whispers..

What sort of a therapy was this? Drinking away so as to ease the pain? She knew how unhealthy this was..but yet here she was..doing the same..

Everyone likes things that aren't good for them..or wish for things they could have..

Finding a coping mechanism trying to escape the painfully true reality...Her thoughts wandered around freely and yet again..it all returned to that one person...Christopher...

Was it wrong that somewhere in her heart she still secretly yearned for his presence next to her??

He must have probably moved on...Enjoying his life with those one night stands and hookups..or maybe even better..a steady girlfriend capable of making him feel loved and deserved...just the way like she used to make him feel once upon a time..

She felt her heart beating..Was it even alive after the amount of unspoken pain she was going through? Was it even hers in the first place? The beats were soulless and un-melodious.. What was happening to her heart? Where was the beauty and happiness in it?

Was it wrong she didn't want to move on and put aside her never seeming to disappear feelings apart and grow up?

                                                ~ ~ ~

//Are you all dressed up but with nowhere to go

Are your tears falling down when the lights are low?

Another Friday night tryna put on a show

Do you hate the weekend cause nobody's calling?//

She found herself heading towards her closet as she threw on a fancy t-shirt and a pair of denim jeans as she stopped herself midway..

Weekend nights were always date nights with him...Despite however busy they turned out...they'd manage to spend quality time together..at weird yet wonderful places..

'Y/N get a bloody grip of yourself!'  She mentally warned herself.

She changed back into her pajamas as she sat on her bed, her frame leaning towards the headboard of the bedroom.

Her work for the day was done...She had informed her manager, Charles that she was absolutely exhausted and couldn't manage working any longer that day..

She was tired...absolutely tired mentally..Bottling up her feelings were hard..

Zabdiel had come over to her place every single day and texted her every single hour of the day he could to help her...Just so she could talk it out..

But she just didn't talk anything..She talked about daily routines and anything and everything apart from Chris.

Usually after any break up she had, she would talk things out and cry it out to Zabdiel and he'd console her. But this time...she just couldn't and didn't want to be consoled..as if she wanted to keep cry and keep hurting herself..because deep down inside she still wants him beside her.

But what was she supposed to talk about when she herself didn't know how she felt? How could she explain him a feeling she herself couldn't understand?

She hates crying..Hated crying around anyone..So when the day changes into night and when the world or the city was asleep...she used it as an opportunity to let down her guard down and let the tears fall down freely...

She cried and cried till her heart ached with the familiar hidden pain striking hard with every real tear that slipped down her cheeks.

Weekends were always associated with beautiful memories ever since Chris had been a part of her life..now all that filled her weekends were just tiresome, painful tears and put down her daily facade.

                                           ~ ~ ~

//I've still got so much love hidden beneath this skin//

Oh how she hates feeling like this.. But the heart want what it wants.. and that was the feeling of being whole again..and no one was capable of doing so apart from..him...no matter how much ever she tried to deny it..

//Will someone put a little love on me

Put a little love on me//

She felt miserable...Absolutely annoyed, frustrated, stressed and all the negative emotions she had ever experienced in her lifetime washes all over her..all it once..the pain intensifying as every little wasted, endless, lifeless tear washes down her cheeks for the millionth time in the same minute..as she aggressively wipes them off, her cheeks burning and her arms sore from wiping away the still falling tears

Her sobs suppressed yet her heart screamed and ached in pain which mere words could never explain..

//When the lights come up and there's no shadows dancing

I look around as my heart is collapsing

'Cause you're the only one I need

To put a little love on me//

Drinking so as to forget..more like to ease the pain..wasn't a solution. Y/N came home drunk at irregular times mostly drunk at the dawn of every morning. An extremely unhealthy coping mechanism but that was her escape from the real world...

She needed to get back to get back to work..so she tried to relax and calm herself down...she couldn't crawl into a corner and mop about someone who never loved her in the first place..

Taking early morning walks, calm and relaxing music blasting in both her ears as she jogged around a very less crowded park with some shades and a hoodie to mask her identity seemed like a temporary refuge..

She sat down on the bench after 5-6 rounds of her quick walks.

She wiped off her sweat with a towel she had carried in her mini bag as she quickly emptied a bottle of water down her throat.

She leaned behind as she lazily stared at the people who walked by... And all she could see was couples..Old age married happy couples...Middle aged couples with their children.. Just couples in general!

Was it Valentine's Day already? or was she seeing what her heart truly yearned for as she had pictured Chris and her holding hands and walking together...whilst they were dating.

The times they spent together were too good and precious to be forgotten.

Her heart felt like she couldn't take it any longer..she felt her heart shattering slowly but heavily..She bit her lip softly suppressing her pain for the millionth time in the past two months.

The insecurity and longing for him hitting her harder every single time.

                                                ~ ~ ~

//Last night I lay awake

Stuck on the things we say

And when I close my eyes the first

thing I hear you say is

Put a little love on me

Put a little love//

Falling asleep was almost impossible.. He was already a soft sleeper so he most definitely wouldn't be able to sleep with a heavy head and an empty heart.

Christopher changed into some comfortable outfit as he came out the bathroom freshened up...

He turned off the lights..all apart from the lamp that stood on the night stand. Christopher laid down as he draped the blanket around himself, as he forcefully shut his eyes to gain some well deserved sleep.

But how could he when he was in so much pain he himself couldn't understand the reason for?

His eyes snapped open as he laid down in his bed..he stared at the blank ceiling..

He felt so deprived...Deprived in all ways..physically, mentally and emotionally..He was always frustrated, annoyed and always snappy.

He never intended to damage or yell at everyone but...he was just confused and didn't understand what in the bloody world was he feeling?!?

His heart and mind still was stuck on her...and everything she said...And in a flash he remembers all the beautiful memories she and him had shared together...

"Nena smile!" Chris screams as he clicks another Polaroid as she lets out a surprised yell

"Chris..I wasn't ready!" She pouts sadly

"But mi Amol...You always look beautiful..." Chris says as he wraps his arms around her waist

"Chris you are so cheesy!!" She giggles as he picks her up kissing her nose

"But you love me right?" Chris asks laughing

"Of course you dork!" She says as he kisses her

                                         ~ ~ ~

//When the lights come up we're the

only ones dancing//

Y/N absolutely loved dancing.. She'd use any opportunity she could get, she'd drag one of the boys and dance along with them.

Any random song would play and she'd start dancing slowly..urging one of the boys to join...

Richard would volunteer to but Christopher would instantly rush upto her and awkwardly dance next to her.

Her face would instantly brighten up and they'd dance until their feets would give in...They even had an adorable "couple-ish" dance they had devised together.

After they began dating they had begun this sort of unspoken tradition i.e whenever one of them felt sad and didn't want to talk about it..the other would play soft, calm and a sad melody and slowly walk up to the other person and softly begin dancing with them...

"You ready to talk now honey?" Y/N asks as he comfortably rests his head on the crook of her neck as they moved together in sync

"No..not yet..I..I..I jus- -" He begins

"I understand..." She replies interrupting him as his arms wrap securely around her waist "I'm here for you.." She breathes out, Chris's heart clenching at her reassurance as they slowly danced in the silence

Even whether the days were the best or the worst...whether they were the last two people in the world..whether the world hated them..at the end of the day what only mattered was that nothing or no one could change the fact that they were immensely in love with each other, completed each other, accepted and understood each others' flaws and loving them even more...

                                               ~ ~ ~

//I look around and you're standing there asking...//

Chris has had enough! Enough of this endless denial. Enough of being in this confused traumatic state he was undergoing right now.

He just couldn't do this anymore..He just likes her so damn much. Her absence was almost driving him insane. As if, he can't live without her.

He misses sleeping and cuddling along with her..his strong arms wrapping around her petite figure as their breathing synced...

The stolen kisses before any stage performances, random make outs in the middle of nowhere, passionate kisses and just soft pecks..Christopher cherished and wished for all of it back again..all only from her..and her alone...no one else apart from her!

He just wants her beside him..right now..tomorrow and just..forever. He was tired..tired of wasting tears and the unexplained heaviness and yet ironically empty feeling in his heart.

For the first time...He admits. He admits that it was him who was wrong in this relationship.

Admits it was his fault he didn't make her stay. Admits that he was just scared to lose her because she was too precious, amazing and only deserved the best..and he just felt..he wasn't good enough for her.

What if he was good enough for her all the while long? What if he was oblivious to the fact that maybe somewhere after all...Maybe all this while all she wanted was him?

He lied. He lied that he didn't care and it didn't tear him apart to see or rather just merely imagine her in someone's arms...Someone who wasn't him..

Nobody...no one else could compare to how he felt around her..He could never feel whole again without her by his side...his Y/N...She was his all the time..it sounded cheesy and haywire cringy but he didn't care cause that was all he needed was her...

Because at the end of the day he LOVED her...His eyes almost widened at his own shocking confession.

He never thought he'd ever be capable of feeling..not a romanticized sort of feeling...He never thought he could love someone like this..

His eyes swelled up with tears..yet again..for the first time today..honest and non stop tears.

Christopher choked on his own tears as they carelessly fell down as if endless..the ache in his heart worsening with every harsh sob..only this time..they weren't suppressed. He let it out...all of it out..he couldn't bottle up his pain any second longer!

She wasn't coming back...She just wasn't...and there was nothing he could do about it...no tears could bring her back...she was just gone.

"Chris..." he heard a voice barely above a whisper

God...he was going insane...second by second...He was hallucinating. He could almost hear her melodious voice..the way his name slipped out of her tongue..But why couldn't he believe it? Maybe because it wasn't practical enough..something so artificial yet felt real at the same time.

His vision was blurry as he let out painful tears as his breath shorten with every harsh sob...

And all of a sudden, he feels something physical...rather someone hugging him...

"Erick...not now...please leave.." He says, his tone desperate.

"It's not Erick..Wonder Boy..it's me.." the presence replies

Christopher's eyes widened. No one ever called him that except..

He instantly opens his eyes..Brown orbs met (y/e/c). The same orbs he had fallen in love with.. rather the same ones he was still in love with..

"Y/N- -?" Chris asks stuttering in disbelief

Y/N looks at him as her lips curl into a sad grin which was a mixture of all the sadness within her, Her face bearing a heavy, sad emotion...so vulnerable and broken yet she tries to stay strong

"Yes...I know you don't- -" Y/N begins but interrupted as Chris crushed her into a bone breaking hug

"I'm- -I'm sorry babygirl..I really am... It's all my fault...I can afford to live with the fact that I'd never ever sleep with you like that...or not being able to kiss you whenever I need you..but I just need you in my life..as a friend at least...I need you in my life somehow!"  Chris stutters as tears fall down

"Chris... I'm sorry too.. It's- -" She begins as Christopher silences her clinging onto her

They didn't need words...nor any sort of explanation or apologies..They sob quietly in each others arms.. but this time the tears are happy. Just each others' mere presence was all they needed.

"J- -just don't- -Just don't leave me..please...Y/N..." He sobbed as he held her close afraid that if he let her go once more.. she'd disappear forever from his life..

He still had so much love hidden beneath him...and he wanted to shower all of it onto her..and her only.

After a while of mere sobs filling the air she pulls away slowly from the hug as she gazed into his eyes, him mirroring her actions. His eyes held so much love within it...and it was all for her..

"You're the only one I need.." Chris says, never looking away from her beautiful orbs

"Put a little love on me"  She replies

"You're the only one I need.." Chris says again, his tone certain yet shattered

"So put your love on..me" She breathes out as she places her lips on his with nothing but her undying love and passion she forever held for him.

[imma-sucker-for-a-beard]

>WHAT IS IT ABOUT BEARDS<

I finished the post and posted it on my blog, and sat there drinking my water, smiling to myself. I found my phone and found Chris’ number and texted him. ~Hi Daddy. Long time no see. I miss talking to you… and so much more. *Winking at you*~ I sent the text and a couple minutes later my phone started ringing and the caller ID said ‘Daddy Evans’ I smirked thinking to myself. It is going to be a long night and a loving sensitive beard burn in the morning. Taking the phone and spoke in a low lustful voice. “Hi daddy. I’ve missed you”. Character Paring:  Chris Evans x Female Reader

Word Count: 2388

Warnings: Few swear words, slight smut, beard kink.

Requested by: @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ - I would love a story where the reader appreciates the beard. Can be soft or smutty. Both, it’s up to you. And for one of the actors on your board. – I hope it lives up to what you were looking for. Love you always. <3

A/N: I wanted to try something different and write it sort of like an article or blog, mix with personal (Female Reader’s POV) experiences. So let’s see how it goes. Before starting this story I did a little research to see what the real picture is when it comes to the view on beards. For the article Read here, actually an interesting read. J Constructive feedback is always welcomed. To @ajs-playroom-you-may-enter​, thank you for your quick read through. Love you always. <3

NOTE: This story will be written as a Blog post with flashbacks, there will be switched between them. It will be clearly shown: Blog will be written in block quote, and Flashback with the title “Flashback”. ~Text message~. Mentions of: Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Jamie Dornan.

Summary:  your two friends are named Tris and Jess. Tris is a single, 33 years old that works as a gallery. Jess is a married, 35 years old woman that works part time as a hairdresser.  Then there’s you. Single, your own age, a freelance blogger and your own personal real life job, if you have one. You, the female reader start thinking about what a beard means to society in general and to women. You think about your own experience and you start looking at some of your favorite men.

What is it about Beards???

Hi Lovelies, sorry for my absence. Life happened – you all know how it is. Anywho… I hope you all have been enjoy life and are in good health.

I want to share something with you all and hope you will leave your comments below, because I’m really curious about what you think. Now that all the formalities are done let’s start.

I was sitting with a couple of my girlfriends, (for the sake of their privacy I will give them other names), Tris she’s single like me, and Jess is married. We had started talking about men and beards and what it was about them that made them so damn sexy.  Tris loves a good beard and Jess finds them gross and wouldn’t want her man to ever grow one. Personally I don’t understand why, but that’s her and her husband’s business. This got me thinking.

>>>WHAT IS IT ABOUT BEARDS<<<

When you think about it beards are a weird thing. It’s hair growing out of a man’s face. Then you look at it like that is can be kind of disgusting. Hair around a man’s mouth just the thought of it sound highly unhygienic. If a Woman finds a hair on her face that is out of place, she pulls it immediately, eye-brows aren’t supposed to be too thin or too wide, heaven forbid there’s hair between your brows at the risk of a uni-brow. The slightest hint of too long hair around a woman’s mouth and its gone, women almost franticly study their faces in the mirror every day to find and remove unwanted hair – But men – That’s a whole different story. A study shows that out of 2500 women over 60% of them prefer men with beards. That’s a high number. I have to be honest with you I’m among those 60% because COME ON – Beards are fucking sexy.. Pardon my French.

Sitting here writing an entry for my blog, I start thinking about what experiences I’ve had with men with beards vs. those without. There was a world of difference.

Flashback: It was back in late summer 2007, I was at a festival north of Boston with a couple of friends, Jess being one of them.. We had decided that everything was possible that week, since we were leaving after that week. The second evening we had been drinking heavily. Jess had seen a handful of guys standing to one side and nudged me. “Y/N, LOOK!” I had looked at the men. “Yeah? What about them?” I had asked until one of the men moved and I saw him. “Holy Fuck!! That’s Harvard Hottie!” Jess had nudged me several more times, first stopping when I nudged back harder. “HEY! WATCH IT!” she had exclaimed saving her drink. She had said it just loud enough for the men to look our way. I was looking straight into the eyes of Chris fucking Evans I thought I was going to faint. Quickly making my escape I went to get a drink. Waiting for the drink and when the bartender had pushed the drink to me and said what I had to pay, I watched a $20 bill slip over the counter. “I got this one.. I’ll have a beer as well, thanks” I didn’t need to see who it was. I knew that voice anywhere. “Hi. I’m Chris.” I had looked at him with the straw in my mouth and smiled accidently drooling when I spoke wetting my tank top. “I kno… Shit!!!” jumping back only spilling more of my drink over me. I had quickly put the drink down and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, and pulled my tank out and away from my body turning beet red. Chris chuckled lightly but was quick on his hands and had pulled a lot of paper towels and acted on instinct and stuffed them down my top. “I hate when that happens” he had joked and we both laughed. Stepping away from me he had ordered a new drink. I had not been wearing any bra under my top and of very conscious of the fact that my breasts were visible through the fabric. “Here, let me help you” Chris had offered and we walked behind the trailer bar. He had shrugged his flannel of in his half drunken state. “You need something dry to wear” I had looked at him like I had seen a ghost. “You’re letting my wear your flannel!” “Yeah! We can’t have you getting sick.” I had just been standing there. “But… You’re Chris Evans!” He had laughed. “I know and you’re Y/N, or so I was told. Turn around.” I had done as he asked and had felt him move up behind me as he moved his hands to your waist grabbing the hem to pull my top off. His beard was tickling my skin and he made me giggle when he had sniffed my neck. “Mmm. Pineapple smells good on you.!” He had said pulling my top over my head. Dropping it to the ground and taken his flannel and wrapped it around me and buttoned it while resting his chin close to my neck. “I’m wondering if you taste like pineapple as well.” I had been just drunk enough to look at him on my shoulder. “Only one way to find out!” and he had taken the bait. I had turned around and stepped closer to him and cupped his face when he had wrapped his arms around my waist. Our lips found each other and we kissed softly at first, the kiss became deeper and more urgent. His beard scratching my lips and chin, our tongues meeting and we gave in to the pleasure of the moment.

I traced my lips remember the buzzing feeling that kiss had giving me.

Then we look at the different types of beards, there’s a wide range. The mustache with a whole range of look, then the Goatee with a few different looks as will. The five o’clock shadow aka THE SCRUFF now we’re getting somewhere. To run one’s hands, cheek or even lips over the scruff. The sensation of the scruff or a beard over one’s skin is to me one of the best feelings in the world. That was one of the things I talked with Tris and Jess about. Tris agreed completely whereas Jess made a face of disgust. Personally I think she doesn’t know what she’s missing. – But that’s just my personal opinion. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

Flashback: After Chris and I shared that moment behind the bar trailer. Chris has picked up my tank and we went back together to the others and the moment Jess saw that I was wearing his flannel. She hooked her arm in mine and pulled me a little to the side. “Y/N what’s up with this picture?” I had chuckled and explained to the best of my drunken abilities, what had happened and she had laughed so hard that Chris and one of his friends looked over as us and Chris had given me a questioned looks, if everything was okay and I had given him a smile and a nod making him relax. Jess and I came back to the guys. One of the guys had moved up behind Jess and wrapped his arms around her waist and she had let him. (This was now her husband).

That night Jess had gone with the guy and that was the beginning of their long relationship. I had been standing alone watching one of the performers when Chris had come up to me and rested his head on my shoulder and I had rested my head against his. “Are you okay?” I had asked him and he had lifted his head again and sighed. “I’ve lost my sleeping arrangement!” I had looked at him completely lost. “Huh?” He gave his well-known chuckle. “Yes! I lost it…. To your friend! And since she took my spot it’s only fair that I take her spot.” Winking awkwardly at me and I giggled. “You’re cute. Who am I to deny you a place to sleep? Besides you’ll need your flannel back in the morning!” He flashed a smiled. “Nah you can keep it. But I’ll still need a place to sleep!” We had made our way to the tent, and when we had passed the tent where Chris was supposed to be sleeping it was clear by the sound of it that Jess was having the time of her life. Chris and I laughed as we made our way to my tent.

Inside the tent we got comfortable and talked for a while before Chris took a chance and leaned in kissing me softly at first, and slowly the kiss became deeper and more urgent. I pulled him down with me, Chris laying half on top of me. Chris ran his hands over my body and under my shirt and I gasped feeling his warm hand against my skin. I ran my hand over his body and caught the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and he helped getting it off. And my shirt followed suit soon we were both laying naked and Chris was kissing down me body his beard adding to the sensation. The moment he reached my mount I yelped and he giggled adding a teasing lick. I was about to sit up when he pushed me back down and positioned himself between my legs kissing up me inner thigh again his beard added to the pleasure. He had looked up at me from under his lashes as he had placed a kiss on my vulva before parting my labia in a long slow lick making me moan aloud. “Aaaaarh”. My moaning only coaxing him more. He had wrapped my legs over his shoulders as he had hungrily started to eat me out with licks, nibbles, sucking and biting, until I had begun trying to push him away but ended up with me grabbing a hold of the covers, screaming out my release, shaking uncontrollably as he prolonged my climax, topping it off with another climax.

Just remembering the sensation that I had that night, the beard burn had affected me for days made my squeeze my thighs together. And Chris had kept it burning deliciously, the burning also being added to my lips, neck, breasts, inner thighs. God I missed that.

I read that a man’s facial hair signals masculinity. And I couldn’t agree more…  I also read that there’s somewhat of a hidden message in the length of a man’s beard. Stubs/Scruffs are for flings and a beard means relationship meaning the man is ready for commitment. I never thought of it having so much meaning, simply the length of it. That’s in my opinion pretty damn awesome. But I’m still and bit sceptic about it. Because some men prefer to have it at a max length and some men looks better with a specific length. Or is that just me? Let me know your thoughts.

Another I read is that women become even more turned on by beards what we are ovulating. Our biological urges lusts for the masculine man. Our primal cave woman has urges and hungers for the primal masculine hair cave man to claim us and breed us. Uuuh I get shivers just thinking about it. LOL... Am I the only one?  Oh, and I personally love a man that has a perfect hairy chest..

Another thing is that apparently bearded men are supposedly better fathers as well, because they are better at sticking around to protect and invest time in their offspring. *points to what I wrote about stubs and beards* I’m not sure what I personally think about this, because there’s so many aspect that’s a part of this. Social environment, Family background and so much more not just the length of beards!

I’ve found a few handsome men that are in the public eye.  Tom Hardy a.k.a James Delaney or Venom and Mr. Bad boy with a heart of gold, Chris Evans a.k.a Captain America, Ransom and My forever crush and Boo <3, Jason Momoa a.k.a Aquaman or Conan or Liquid God. lol , Henry Cavill a.k.a Superman or Geralt of Rivia and buns of steel. LMAO. Jamie Dornan a.k.a Christian Grey or The Huntsman or Mr. twitchy palm. ;)

When we look at these men, they all look handsome, no matter what but they have a preferred look. Tom, Jamie and Chris prefer to have a beard and preferably the length as in the pictures and personally I won’t object. Jason told in an interview that his wife told him that if his ever shaved his beard again (bottom picture), then she would divorce him, he did it for charity but he also said that he felt naked. He truly looks the best with his trimmed caveman beard. Now Mr. Cavill. Looks amazing with a trimmed beard or a scruff. But he himself prefer to be clean shaven, not because he has a problem with his beard he just prefers it easy. Then he makes up for it with a nice hairy chest. But we’ll reserve that for another time. LOL

I personally love a man with a well-trimmed full beard and that beard burn you can get from it… Whoa YES PLEASE!!! I’d like to know what you think of a beard so please feel free to leave your thought in the comments.

Till next time. Remember, Be your beautiful selves, be kind – even when no one’s watching. And be brave. Take care lovelies. Much love. XOXO Y/N.

I finished the post and posted it on my blog, and sat there drinking my water, smiling to myself. I found my phone and found Chris’ number and texted him. ~Hi Daddy. Long time no see. I miss talking to you… and so much more. *Winking at you*~ I sent the text and a couple minutes later my phone started ringing and the caller ID said ‘Daddy Evans’ I smirked thinking to myself. It is going to be a long night and a loving sensitive beard burn in the morning. Taking the phone and spoke in a low lustful voice. “Hi daddy. I’ve missed you”.

[rumours-spiral]

for five more minutes

part 3- can barely stand on my feet

note: again, feedback is welcomed! i struggled with the pacing on this one (as i’m sure is obvious) but im still pretty new with writing so i tried my best. im pretty excited to write part 4, so expect it in a couple days. and please know that im not super happy with writing about lucy and toby like this, but there shouldnt be to much of them from now on <3

word count: around 1,700

 warnings: none (there is a very tiny hint to a panic attack however)

Apparently, coming back to life (although having been technically asleep for five-hundred years prior) tired one out. It was something that Toby and Lucy had relearned, having somehow forgotten it from the nightmare that was taking care of the ladies-in-waiting.

 Most of the time they were in the flat was spent with them in the rooms that their respective queens slept in (Katherine, Lucy, and Parr, Toby). They were always there when their queen woke up, ready to give food and water and to answer questions they deemed the queen was prepared enough to hear the answers to. They seemed to be having opposite problems in the question regard, actually- Catherine spent every waking moment asking frightening queries, and Katherine hardly spoke.

Lucy was alright with Howard not speaking. She and Toby had both done plenty of research on the wives anyway, and had done even more when it turned out that they would be caring for them. So she understood why Howard wasn’t leaping at the chance to speak, and, rather, why she didn’t particularly want any answers. She would talk softly to Katherine- only for a few moments a day, not wanting to overwhelm but not wanting her to feel lonely. Other than that, their time would be spent reading their respective media, Lucy pretending that she didn’t see the frightening band of scar tissue around the bed-ridden girl’s throat and Katherine pretending she didn’t wish she had never woken back up.

In fact, Katherine had perhaps uttered four sentences in all to Lucy. A question regarding the bathroom, a stuttered request for a book, and (most recently) a mumbled “thank you” for nothing in particular. Lucy knew what it meant, and she had replied with only a smile.

The fourth wasn’t really a sentence so much as it was an excited gasp when Lucy played music (ironically, Greensleeves) for her through her phone. It was the first and only time she had seen her smile. Katherine didn’t recognise the song and- if she did- didn’t comment on it, too excited to hear music again and to see how easily it could be listened to now.

And Toby found himself answering Catherine Parr’s question of “where is my daughter?” three days after it was first asked. He saw her growing more frustrated and upset with him for constantly dodging it as her fever subsided. He deemed her fully recovered on the day he gave her the answer.

He would never forget the way her face had contorted when he told her that Mary hadn’t been brought back to life. How her head slumped when he said they knew nothing of her daughter’s life, how they only knew the family who had looked after her. Shaking hands had covered her tears as she breathed a request for him to leave the room, and tears had welled in his own eyes at the sobs he could hear over the living room’s television.

It had been a week in all since the day their eyes had opened. Lucy and Toby had been keeping in close contact with the ladies in waiting. The woman’s head was bowed to read a message from Maria when Toby spoke from the other side of the couch.

“I think that they should meet each other.”

Lucy looked up, raising an eyebrow at him. He said nothing and raised his own eyebrow mockingly, making Lucy snort and return her eyes back to her phone. She typed out a quick reply to Maria and returned to Toby’s statement with a pensive look.

“Actually… yeah, I think they should,”

Both of his brows lifted halfway to his hairline, this time not a joke, as he checked his friend’s face for sincerity. He had expected some resistance.

“I’m not joking. Maria’s taking Aragon back to her flat; she said she’s ready to meet a few of them. Two other ladies say their queens are ready. Might as well introduce these two to each other, too.” She waved her phone at the mention of Maria.

Toby chewed on that for a minute.

“Is Howard able to walk?”

“Yeah. Her pain is pretty much gone, now. It’s just a matter of convincing her to leave the room.”

They ultimately decided on discussing this meeting with the two queens, texting each other the verdict and (if everyone agreed) bringing them to the kitchen table. They parted for their rooms.

Admittedly, Lucy felt nervous at speaking with Howard about this. She had mentioned briefly that Parr lived under the same roof, but Katherine never showed any particular emotion in response to this except for surprise. Not happiness, not relief- just surprise. She reflected on this as she approached the door, knocking before entering. She peeked her head inside to check Katherine was okay. She had walked in on the girl crying and shaking many times, and learned that it was best to just leave her alone.

But she was instead sitting up, a book in her lap with its place kept by a hand, reading forgone in favour of looking at Lucy. She entered the room and pulled an office chair to a few feet away from Katherine’s bed before sitting in it. Katherine didn’t flinch away when she sat this close anymore, and Lucy allowed herself a private smile at the progress.

Katherine looked at her, intrigued, clearly sensing the woman’s nerves.

“You know that Catherine Parr is in this flat as well as you, yes?”

A nod.

“Toby and I thought that you two should meet today. Would you be alright with that?”

A pause.

Katherine’s brow furrowed as she considered this. Parr had done her no harm. She had only met her on the few occasions she had visited her and Henry’s court, and seemed kind enough. She had had nothing to do with her downfall. Perhaps it would be nice to meet her again.

Katherine nodded, and Lucy let out a relieved breath.

“Good. Would you be alright with walking with me to the kitchen?”

Katherine’s eyes widened at the prospect of leaving the room. She had to remind herself that this wasn’t a palace or a manor house- the kitchens would be a very short distance from the sleeping apartments. Fear flared in her chest anyway, at something she couldn’t place, but she nodded, not wanting to displease Lucy. She was awarded with a big smile as the woman pulled out her phone.

Toby received Lucy’s text of confirmation just as he watched Catherine finish the last of the water he’d brought her.

“Are you up for meeting Katherine Howard?”

Parr choked on her drink at the bluntness of it, but got over her tiny coughing fit quickly. She gave Toby a sceptical look as she thought over everything she knew of Katherine, and when they had met. They probably spent a total of five minutes directly interacting (most of it just pleasantries), but they got along well enough. She shrugged, asking,

“When?”

“Now,” he said, looking back at the text. “Katherine’s okay with it. We were gonna take you two to the kitchen table and let you talk.”

Well- it wasn’t like she had anything else to do. Parr nodded, agreeing to all of it, and watched Toby type on his phone for a moment. She would have to ask to use one of them one day.

He helped her to stand as he talked, her muscles stiff and achy from little use.

“Don’t be loud, or try to touch her,” he recalled Lucy’s telling of how Katherine had trembled when their hands accidentally touched with a wince. Catherine gave an acknowledging hum.

“Don’t talk about Henry, or anything to do with her death. In fact, don’t talk about men.” Catherine gave another hum, this time sounding the tiniest bit amused.

“I understand that one.” She muttered as they walked out of the door, her hand holding onto Toby’s offered arm for support. She had been in the kitchen a couple times before. After learning of what became of her daughter, Toby had brought her to watch (and even help) make dinner and other meals as a distraction. Apparently, Katherine hadn’t, as she looked about the small room in awe.

Toby cleared his throat softly to signal their arrival and the light in Katherine’s face disappeared immediately as her head snapped to look at them. He pulled out a chair for Catherine and helped her sit, careful to stay away from Howard as he walked across the room. He and Lucy left, the latter giving Katherine a quiet goodbye. The door shut.

The two queens sat in silence for quite a while, just looking at each other. Parr wasn’t sure why she was so surprised to see how different the woman across from her looked- she knew they all came back in different bodies.

She supposed she was missing most the energy the queen used to exude. She had always been so happy at the balls, laughing and conversing with the guests easily. They never met outside of those lavish parties. Katherine was analysing her similarly, although she couldn’t decipher a single thought or emotion from the woman.

What also shocked her was the scar Katherine had. It made her chest ache for her, more than anything- she had been so young. It wrapped all the way around her neck, and looked fresh, a dark pink-purple that shined inappropriately under the kitchen lights. Parr found it strange that they had returned with remnants of their deaths (Katherine with her scar, Parr with her fever) despite their returns being in different bodies. That observation felt inappropriate, also.

“This is odd,” Parr said flatly. Katherine had flinched slightly at the sudden voice, but gave her her attention once she recovered. A questioning tilt of her head was her only response, so Parr continued, quick to clarify she wasn’t speaking of their deaths.

“To- to see you, like this, I mean. Without the jewels or dresses.”

“Odd, but comforting.” Katherine said softly. They both understood what she meant- after a week of confusion and newness, it was nice to talk to someone somewhat familiar. And it was especially nice to be without the weight of those jewels and dresses. Parr gave her an even softer smile, and that light flickered in Katherine’s eyes again.

“Yes,” she mused. “Odd, but comforting.”

[metalchick19-blog]

The Bowers Gang: How the Guys Would Behave in a Class with Their Best Friend (Male vs. Female) (Anonymous Request)

* Any and all credit for this idea goes to the requestor.

Belch

With a male best friend:

If he were to have a male best friend in class with him, Belch would tell a lot of stupid jokes - a lot. He wouldn’t feel the need to limit himself around someone he had known for so long, and would unleash his arsenal of badly thought-out puns at every given moment... and the worst part is, any best friend of Belch’s would fire even stupider jokes right back. Because of that, when it comes to the degree of trouble the two would get into, Belch and his buddy wouldn’t get punished for anything serious, but they would definitely have to be separated a couple of times for going into laughing fits during class. After a while (meaning after it happened more than 3 times), it’s likely their teachers would stop seating them next to each other altogether... which would just lead to even more laughter as they mouthed things to each other across the room, and made faces to screw each other up whenever one of them got called on for something.

With a female best friend:

Belch would be much the same with a female best friend in class with him as he would be with a male best friend. They’d still mainly only get into trouble for making each other laugh, but would get caught slightly less often than if his bestie were a boy. This is partly because girls are just low-key like that (there’s a reason it’s mostly guys that get called out for pulling crap), but mainly because they’d have an arsenal of semi-quiet “games” to help them get through class alive; chief among these being hangman, tic-tac-toe, and the occasional tickle fight (first to laugh out loud loses). Really, the only noticeable difference between how Belch would behave with a girl best friend in class vs. a boy best friend is that he would pass a lot more notes to a girl bestie than to a boy one - he would rely on them for communication with his girl-bud whenever they got separated, rather than trying to talk to her across the room (again, because girls just live smarter).

Henry

With a male best friend:

If Henry had a male best friend in class with him, they probably wouldn’t even show up more often than not; they’d just skip school entirely and hit up some of Derry’s local hotspots (the arcade, the library, etc.), or go to Henry’s place to screw around while his Dad wasn’t home (making sure to snag some beers in the process). Really, it’s likely that most of their in-class antics would just consist of doing things that got them kicked out of class - they’d never stay for long, because they would always be asked to leave within the first 5 minutes. This could be for doing anything from flirting very obnoxiously (and unsuccessfully) with the girls in front of them, to graffitiing up their desks, to bursting into laughter at random intervals - in general, the two would just be disruptive in every way possible.

With a female best friend:

With a female best friend in class, Henry would still be a delinquent, but he’d be significantly less unruly about it - although he still wouldn’t do any work (he’s allergic to priorities), Henry would at least bother to show up to class, and would only talk to his female bestie in the typical hushed way most kids talk in during lectures; no outbursts or classroom kick-outs whatsoever. The two would whisper sarcastic, judgy comments to each other throughout the class period (whether about the teacher, or the people around them), and would generally just give off the “I’m a cool kid, and I’m not to be fucked with” vibe (i.e. they’d sit at the back of the class and look disinterested together 24/7). They would always partner with one another for activities though, and would pride themselves on never doing anything having to do with what they were supposed to be doing - they’d just use the time to fuck around with whatever materials had been given to them (they make marker wands literally every time their teacher whips out the Crayola products). However, even though he and his female friend would never really do anything, Henry and his girl-buddy would still end up with a good grade in the class... mainly because they’d intimidate their way into groups of smart kids for all the big projects, and the smart kids would do all the work without question because fear.

Patrick

With a male best friend:

If Patrick were to share a class with a male best friend, it would be all-out hell for everyone involved. Two versions of Hockstetter can cause significantly more damage than just one, and the guys would thrive off of each other to no end. Patrick and a male best friend would show up to class religiously (although even their teacher would want them to skip) because they would always be certain to make sure everything was a non-stop shit-show... meaning it would always be entertaining. Although they would never do anything they could actually be “called out” for (if their teacher could find a reason to kick them out, she would), they would mess with their classmates in a lot of annoying ways that were easy to miss: this would include sticking gum in the hair of the two girls sitting in front of them (sometimes using one piece to stick in both girls’ hair, so that when they stood up, they’d be attached to each other), writing sexually charged (and semi-serious) notes to every other student sitting around them, and straight-up being arsonists in the back of the room. They’d even go so far as to coordinate where they sat sometimes to cause extra mayhem on certain days (they once sat on opposite sides of the room just so they could made sex noises at random intervals during the lecture - their teacher couldn’t pinpoint where the noise was coming from). Overall, Patrick and his male best friend would be one of the main reasons teachers are seen as underpaid - no one should have to deal with the kind of crap they would dish out for less than $18 an hour.

With a female best friend:

If Patrick were to have a female best friend in class with him, the majority of their in-class activities would be limited to one thing - having sex/feeling each other up in the back of the room. Any girl best friend of Patrick’s would have to be open to a “friends with benefits” relationship, as he just isn’t the type to be able to keep his hands off a member of the opposite sex after a certain amount of time - even if their friendship started innocently, Patrick would eventually want a chance to get at them. Although the two wouldn’t full-on do it during class (though not for lack of trying on Hockstetter’s part), there would definitely be a lot of making out, hickie-giving, and undercover handsy stuff (you moan, you lose); in a lot of ways, they’d just use the class for foreplay before going back to Patrick’s place for more. Outside of that, Patrick and his girl bestie would just be known for lots of hysterical laughing, and constant (pretty loud) shit-talking.

Victor 

With a male best friend:

If Victor were to have a male best friend in class with him... it would honestly be one of the most wholesome experiences Derry High School had ever seen.The two would talk to each other sometimes during lectures, but, for the most part, would just keep their heads down and do what they were supposed to do - no creepiness or unnecessary trouble-making whatsoever. They’d partner together for projects, spot answers to each other during tests, and, in general, would just act like normal, well-adjusted teenage boys. They’d also probably be the crushes of the majority of the girls in the classroom, just because of their easy-going natures and level 99 charm. Really, Victor and a guy best friend would just be kind, smart guys, and that, coupled with their good looks, would make them nothing short of princely to the people around them. 

With a female best friend:

With a female best friend in class with him, Victor would be very similar to the way he was with a guy best friend. They’d talk a bit more (and would probably even pass notes during movies and class discussions), but, for the most part, would simply do their work together and try to enjoy themselves while doing it. With a girl best friend though, Victor would do a lot more “cutesy” type things to pass the time - this would include going a few rounds with her cootie catcher whenever she made one (i.e. once every few weeks), doodling things (mostly jokes about the teacher) and passing them back and forth with her during lectures, and whispering inside jokes during ultra-quiet moments to try to make her laugh. Overall though, Victor would be adorable with a best friend in class no matter what. I mean, come on - Victor is Victor.

[likesomekindofcheese]

The Songbird of Jamestown Ch.1 (Samuel Castell x fem! Reader)

4A/N: Here it is!!! I’m so excited and my inner history nerd is quaking! I was so inspired by reading @bluesfortheredj​ “A Beautiful Mistake” I began typing some hc’s and the HC's led to this...whoops! Here are a couple things before we delve in:

One, there are two versions. One with the reader and the other with an OC, so pick what you like! Shout out to dear @ramibaby for helping me with the crisis of which one!

And two, I took some liberties from the world of the show as a part of my research since I came across one article on women in Jamestown and was shook, to say the least. Sometimes history really is stranger than fiction! It also benefitted the story. I did my best to balance historical reality with what worked in this piece of fiction.

Three, full disclosure: I have not seen that much of Jamestown since access to that show is limited where I’m from. I’ve read a lot, read summaries about the episodes and characters. I’m not walking in blind. So if there is an inaccuracy in the characters or events or location, that is why.

Please Enjoy and any feedback is appreciated!

Word Count: 5,000+

“You’re the worst liar I’ve ever known, Y/N!”

“Am not, Alice!”

Alice burst into laughter as you playfully smacked her arm. It was an afternoon and you had been on the ship for a week. Though you entered that boat as strangers, there is a power in women to bond and join in such situations for people who open themselves up.

Alice was one of such people.

“It’s true! You can make no such face to hide what you feel and whenever you lie, you do all sorts of things!” she teased. 

You were both sitting on your own mattress, conversing with each other. Your legs were tucked beneath you and you shoved your bag to the side to make room.

Verity walked by, it was the afternoon and she had just awoken while most had been up for at least two hours. Her red hair was loose and tossed from sleep and her eyes still blinked with sand.

“Tis true, no resisting! You’re a terrible liar Y/N! You told me you were playing that story game with the others and you lost because everyone knew when it was a lie!” she spat.

You sighed with a slight shrug, brushing it off. 

“Well, I guess it is true, I cannot tell a lie since I’m not good at it” you confess.

Verity smirked a little and studied you both.

“It will do well for you to learn how to lie, it may save your skin!” she says with a wink. The thousands of life-saving lies she told in her life seemed to glint in her face as she walked away.

 Alice looked down, meekly.

“Well, I cannot lie with you…I’ve been thinking…about my betrothed today…” she confessed. “I was praying he would be a good man…” she added with a sheepish grin “ a pleasant looking one.”

“Me too!” a passerby commented, leaning forward to join.

Other heads of women popped around like the white heads of rabbits eyeing an unlocked vegetable garden. Some came here already engaged. Others did not and entered single. They were all chattering with nerves and sometimes optimism.

A new home was slowly approaching us.

It would just be a matter of arrival for our fates to be determined. And in a town overpopulated by men, marriage was almost certainly guaranteed. That as well as some land of one’s own and a place to stay. Almost unheard of in England.

In the little bed next to yours, there was a slight groaning and turning of a curly, yellow head of hair. Jocelyn got up, blinking sand from her eyes. She squinted and looked over the situation. Seeing it was light gossip, she turned away and began to stretch her arms and awaken.

“What about you, Y/N?” one woman with a pretty, round face and big brown eyes asked. She bit her lip a little mischievously. “Are you betrothed? I swear, unless you’re with Alice or Verity, you barely speak three words together!”

You feel your hands shake a bit, having to recall why you came. 

Fear squelched your insides. Images returned you tried to block. Your mother’s teary eyes. Her voice trying to reason with... the woman, your anger wiping her name from your memory. Mother was failing. Your father’s face would be as it always was- blank and far away at home. Unable to protect you from her. The woman’s voice was still bleeding inside you. It rang so loud across her manor that birds flocked away in a panicked caw in the distance.

“So, help me- you will be married! It is either Jamestown or my brother or forget my purse altogether! So make your choice!”

“What are you thinking, Y/N? We only wanted to know…I’m so sorry, I...” your asker trailed off while backing away slowly.

“I…I’d rather not talk about why. But…I’m not engaged. just hope I meet someone…I just hope you have a good man! Every one of you! You are all lucky to be engaged at all! I shall likely end up a spinster who sits at balls and just sings and plays pianoforte for entertainment!” you answer, crossing your arms.

“I’m not engaged!” said one voice, with a few echoing behind.

“Oh, Y/N, one man is bound to propose to you!” Alice added cheerfully. She leaned over and gave you a smile.

Another woman, heavy-set and with bits of black curls on her head, offered you a short embrace. They all knew you had pain inside you. On the first day of departure, you cried many tears. Your appetite was gone. You kept always to yourself, and they noticed. Until Alice and Verity began to talk to you. Then a shell inside you broke.

 A few more came to join in the embrace and encouragement.

“You at least can choose who to marry” the first woman comforted.

“Better a spinster than a miserable wife!” Verity quipped as she returned, checking her fingernails for dirt.

Jocelyn had finished dressing and passed by, ignoring everyone. She looked a little green and desperate for air.

“Jocelyn! Join us!” Alice invited cheerfully.

“I will in a minute,” she said, barely turning her head.

“We’re discussing our betrothals! You’re betrothed too, Jocelyn, aren’t you?” Alice asked.

“Yes. I even met him. Samuel Castell is his name.” she answered. She brushed a bit of dirt off of her skirt in disgust.

“You’re so lucky to know him!” you added.

Jocelyn only gave a small nod as confirmation of her luck and pranced upstairs. There was only so much you could do to befriend her.

Finding you were going to sleep next to each other the first day, Jocelyn looked over the simple cotton dress and the muddy shoes you wore and pursed her lips. Jocelyn never wanted to even make small talk about the weather. She even less rushed to your side when the melancholy of the start of your journey began either.

Other women flooded around, sharing stories and giggling or mourning about their upcoming marriages. Some swapped stories of their known intended, what crops they would grow on their promised bit of land, and others shook their heads with the uncertainty. Other subjects until it seemed there were at least eight conversations going on at once. They had forgotten their semi-empty bellies. The darkness. That they were all crowded together with barely a wink of privacy and had probably seen more of one member then they would have wished.

You only nodded and sat down, enjoying the entertainment of the chatter and the slow sway of the boat on the water.

Perhaps this new life would be better.

That night, you woke from your sleep slowly. It was still night and pitch black but a familiar sound caught you. It was crying. A voice crying in her bunk across from you.

You crawled up, taking wide steps to accommodate the rock of the ship and grateful for space. With your shift on, you seemed almost ghostly. You turned to the lump on the bed crying and tapped her shoulder.

“What is it?” you ask softly.

She turned around to face you. Almost too young to join the passage. She had large dark eyes, black hair, a soft, round nose, and a tiny mouth. She was tossing and turning and clenching her small fists.

“Are you alright?” you asked again

She began to cry a little. “I can’t sleep, I’m so worried. I miss my father…and I don’t know if I want to marry Henry. Most of all, I don’t want to go there, I’ll die!” She sniffled; her face was burying itself in the pillow.

“I feel the same as you sometimes” you confirm. You crawl on her mattress and sit on your knees as she gushes out the fears keeping her awake.

You mostly listened for a while, about her fears for the colony. About the lack of food, the harsh winters, rampant diseases, and the wild rumors of the Indian natives. You tried my best to talk and reason with her out of it. But it was real. The land was infertile. At some point, only 38 men were left. Bugs buzzed everywhere on that land carrying fevers.

This was all she knew about Jamestown. Some of these you knew already.

“But…we will make a home. Somehow. We will survive. We will find happiness in anything: a sunrise, a new baby, a kind word…anything. At least, that’s what I think when I worry about when that anchor drops” you assure.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. She raised her head and wiped a lock from her sniffling face.

You nodded. “Is there anything else I can do to help you?”

“Help me fall asleep? I haven’t slept since England.” She said. Observing the darkness under her eyes it was no exaggeration.

“How can I help you fall asleep?” you asked.

“I was just…remembering you saying you knew about music, I mean, I know you were joking but…you said you knew how to sing and… and…my mam would always sing me lullabies when I was little and…I was just missing her, so, could you sing one? Please?”

“I know a couple, yes,” you confirmed. 

You crawled off so she could lie back down on the bed and be tucked in. You gently held her hand and sang a lullaby as quiet as the waters and skies outside.

It was as if she was just a child again, with the promise of infinity and no worry other than being caught in some innocent mischief

You wandered back into bed quickly, afraid of a half-awake “shut up!” upon the hearing of your little cradlesong.

But they heard anyway.

And the reaction was quite the opposite.

“I think I heard you singing last night- do you know this one? I can’t remember the name though; I know the tune…” one tall woman suggested as soon as the sun was up.

You obliged, easily identifying it as an old drinking song.

Then came another asking for a song.

And another.

And another.

Soon some of the quieter duller hours on board were filled with that of women of every voice-high, low, in tune, out of tune, quiet, loud, knowing all the lyrics, knowing some, knowing none, all singing songs led sometimes by you.

Verity smiled as she listened to a rendition of Summer is a Comin’ in while leaning on the steps and peeling off a peel of an orange.

“She’s a little nightingale, that one!” she said with a point at you. “You should charge a few pence a song and soon you’ll be wealthy enough to buy England itself!”

You smiled shyly at the compliment.

But weeks later, the nerves and fears had won once again. The night was darker. Lightning sometimes flashed through the holes on the ship. It rocked violently. No one could stand without falling. Rain poured down on the deck, dripping generously on our heads. The lanterns we set up to see around your part of the deck in the evening were shaking. Some nervous hands and arms fled up to hold them still as not to risk a fire. Thunder and panicked voices surrounded your eardrums. No matter how hard you tried, sleep refused to come.

The women were crying and groaning with their fear. Alice calmly got up and reasoned with each one. Your own throat felt exhausted from all the singing you had done today. If someone asked you for a soothing ballad or ironic shanty, you knew you had to say no. You hoped no one would ask you, even if it would help.

Oh Alice, you dear saint, how I wish I was more like you.

You investigated your bag near your side and got out an old copy of your dear Dante’s Inferno.  If you hid under the blankets, you couldn’t be bothered out of your book.

Now you were alone with the warm blanket and your old poetry. Anything to waste away the long hours and plant a little bit of England in Virginia. Even the few books you snuck in your bag felt like warriors by your constant defense on this journey.

Perhaps later, in the morning, I can sneak on the dock and read it with the sunrise- it’ll be pretty. And no one will interrupt me. Maybe I’ll even find some dried fruit and sneak some bites.

As you reached the section of the seventh circle and the reveal of the punishment of the murderers in hell, you heard Alice whispering to everyone. Her voice was getting closer. Alice’s footsteps reached Jocelyn’s bunk.

You barely listened to what they said, but then a confession caught your ears that you couldn’t ignore, not even with Dante’s adventures.

Jocelyn told Alice she murdered someone.

You began to cover your hand with your mouth to keep yourself from being given away.

She explained it all. It felt like a dream. You kept pinching myself to be sure you were hearing this.

It was a man. He had promised her marriage. She had given herself over to him. But he was promised to someone else. So, he died over a cup of poisoned wine and Jocelyn’s triumphant face.

You almost believed it was a story, but Jocelyn seemed so earnest. So, despite her station and situation, she could be convicted. And that was why she was here.

You knew on thing as Alice walked away. Such information had to remain private.

After all, you felt pity for Jocelyn. She was just an innocent. Seduced. Betrayed. The image of her crying in a cold jail cell won over any bitterness you had felt by her snobbery. Even if she wasn’t pregnant now, she was a woman ruined. Unwanted. Stained forever for one mistake.

As you turned over, nearly drifting to sleep, your mind kept asking you once I was on the edge of dreaming…

Would I do the same if I was in her position?

You dreamt of minotaurs and rivers of blood. Waking up, you were half in the dream. You thought you saw a minotaur chasing you, ready to tear you to bits and drag you to hell...or was it, Jocelyn, chasing you? You didn’t know

You rushed out, clutching your book to the upper deck…and the sun was rising. It was as beautiful as Paradise as you had imagined. You almost sobbed from relief, waking slowly to light and water.

Early mornings were heaven for solitude. 

It became a secret ritual to awake early and crawl up there. Barely anyone was on deck. No more crowding. No more forced conversation or deep smells of bodies compacted together. You kept doing it until your body was naturally used to waking up when the sky was still in its pink-orange glow. Peace came at a small cost.

You crawled up there to read and breathe silently for weeks. It was too delicious.

The advantage of a ship like this was that everyone was left to their own schedule and no one was forced to get up before they wanted.

This morning it seemed as if all of the lower deck was snoring like old dogs. You crept out of bed, donned your petticoat, skirt, and stays folded by the corner of the bed as usual. You took your hair and crumpled it to your head to tie it under your cap. Barefoot, you crept over the wooden floors and quietly up the stairs. You opened the door a sliver so you could wiggle through with as little light revealed as possible.

This morning, the wind felt especially cold and sweet. The night had felt so stuffy you realized how refreshing it was. There seemed to be much less crew on board than usual. Even when men wandered around to their chores, they ignored you or gave you a curious glance before hurrying away.

You smiled and nearly went dizzy again from the blissful eternity of that pink sky.

The wind blew more. Kissing your face and making your skirt fly up like wings. Impulsively, you untied your cap and released your hair to the wind. You breathed in the air and listened to the waves of the sea as if for the first time. You felt the wind rustle against every bit of me, as if I was among the sky, flying.

There was no crying. There was no illness. There was no end. There was certainly no Jamestown. Only life, freedom, and beauty everywhere.

You felt your hair whipping around in the wind. Without a cap, it felt bigger and longer then it really was. It was always up, proper, and hidden. And now it was free. It changed direction with the wind.

The sea whooshed calmly. You walked over and truly smelt the salt, cleansing the palate of everything inside. Everything was perfect for just a second.  

A rough voice rang out from high above.

“Land ho! Land hoooooooooo!”

You shot my head up to see a short, large sailor yelling and pointing to the west with fervor.

Had I heard it right?

You dashed up to his side and felt your stomach drop

Yes, he was right. A green patch of land was pulling up, slowly, but surely. Following above it a blanket of grey clouds. The wind was pushing it closer and closer.

The journey was done.

The words of land ho echoed everywhere. It seemed as if it was like church bells on Easter until it was the only words yelling in everyone’s ears.

Women charged from below to see the first patch of land in ages. You darted back as they gasped, cheered, shrieked and repeated the news, everyone stretched their necks and stood on their toes just to see that green. Jocelyn rushed to you and looked ahead as well, squinting in the distance, albeit, with less outward enthusiasm than the others.

Then she looked at you with your free hair.

“Are you a lady or not?” she oozed.

“Why, yes, any woman with dignity can be a lady, no matter where they’re from” you answered. You felt your stomach cave in with regret at the last dart at her.

“Well, Ladies keep their hair up. You’ll want to put your hair up! You might meet your husband in a matter of minutes, do you want the men to think something lewder of you? Especially without stockings” she spat. She turned her face to the land with barely a twitch.

You blinked away a couple tears. It was no use crying. Or fighting. At least you could fantasize a little about pushing her down to the sharks.

You retreated down to put it up again and don stockings and shoes. The clouds were already covering half the sky by the time you went back up. Windiness made them rush.

Maybe she was right, after all. Being among the number of women not engaged, maybe a few bachelors would arrive to preview what was still available. You kept checking your dress to make sure you seemed a little presentable.

The hours of preparing and getting ready for the landing flew by, almost dizzyingly. Alice was brushing her hair for the two hundredth stroke when you realized how pale she seemed despite her lovely, pink smile.

“I can’t believe it! In a few days, I’ll be married! But what if…what if…oh, I’m so nervous!” she whimpered.

You walked over and took the brush from her. You offered a few gentle strokes and barely touched her outer coat.

“It’s normal for one to fret so much, Alice! If it brings you peace, you may always look for me if you don’t like him! We’ll be bitties who complain together!” you promised.

She turned around and nodded her head, giggling a little at “bitties” and offered a thank you a hundred times.

The ship had reached the dock and we went up to the upper deck. The women about to be engaged had put on what second-best they could bring- the best of their clothes had to be for the wedding. Each one was fussing about hats, what had or hadn’t been spoiled or crumpled, which color looked the best, and “Charity you best return that socking at once or I swear!”

Save Verity among the future brides of course. She never truly cared, and she said her husband would have to put up with what he saw.

You ran up to the upper deck and gathered in lines, the ships tallness blocking our view of the people below. Many began to grumble with disappointment at the first peek of the new land (and the new people more so). The captain explained how it would go while stroking his beard in amusement at the tension. You would be announced as you walked out of the ship so that any future husbands could see his bride and escort her to the colony.

You put yourself quite close, as to be with Alice. She was still smiling yet her hands were shaking, and you realized so were yours. You clutched hands with her for comfort. And she for yours.

You waited and listened to each name, still holding tightly. Only when she edged forward in front of you, almost to that precipice, did she release her palms.

Alice’s name was yelped up. She walked up the board and down into the land. You tried to poke your head around for a glimpse at this mystery fiancée, but the boat’s tall sides blocked the view yet again, even with a different angle.

You pulled out, on instinct, the old copy of Ovid that was poking out of your bag. Maybe you shouldn’t have packed so much. It felt like it was Alice’s hand to squeeze onto.

The man called out your name and you slowly started the walk.

Your shaky legs were not assisted with the height of the board. The first sight was disappointing at first- the sky was grey dampening any thrilling brightness Virginia could offer and there was only the stony shore itself and the crowd staring. The air was warm and humid here. You could still smell and hear the sea. Fear overwhelmed you at first and you put your eyes down to your black shoes poking out of your blue skirt. It was embarrassing to have one’s first few steps analyzed so.

“Get on, girl! We have more waiting behind you!” the man hissed.

As you walked closer to the end, you decided you would look at the strangers back. The crowd was plenty. Two people caught your eye-There was one very tall man and a very small man. You saw the tall man pointing at you and whispering. The small man looked back with wide eyes.

As you reached land, your feet nearly tripped. It was the first still land you saw in months. You felt a little sick and boldly looked into the eyes of the small man.

Was it a man?

If so, he was dressed in a red dress, cape, apron, and bonnet.

What kind of town is this?

But as you walked more on the scratchy land, belly settling, you saw closer the eyes and soft features, the constant whispers from the smaller person signaled a high-pitched voice, and what shape it had showed hints of feminine curves.

It was a woman. And no one you recognized on the boat. Perhaps it was a couple looking for their servant on board. Several women mentioned being bought as maids for cooking and cleaning.

There was already one woman here!

She caught you staring and glanced down a little. Both of you were the color of a cherry.

Shyly walking up to her, you gave her a rushed apology “I’m so sorry mistress! I was just so surprised to see another woman here already, forgive my rudeness!”

“You hear that, Master Castell! She called me Mistress!” she squeaked excitedly.

Master?

But looking at her closely again, you noticed the difference in her clothes with that of the man. He had fine yellow cloths adorning his body, a warm cloak, a clean face, and shining shoes. The girl (for indeed she seemed several years younger than you) had a simple red cotton dress and a slightly faded white bonnet.

The man looked down on you and felt a sudden urge to run back on the boat and cover your head in the pillow with embarrassment. He had eyes the color of the ocean, a brown hair and beard, high cheekbones and the kindest of faces.

“Mercy here is my servant. She is not used to such words, so she is very flattered. No need to fret yourself.” he explained softly.

He offered a gallant bow and you gave a slight curtsy in return.

“I am Samuel Castell, company recorder. Welcome to Jamestown, your new home” he welcomed. 

He almost seemed to beam looking at you. None of the strangers here gave you as much as a glance once you were on land with another behind you.

You replied with your name.

“Miss, you must forgive my rudeness. I noticed the book in your arms, and I was excited- there aren’t too many readers in the colony. Not too many are able to and even less have the leisure” he said, eyeing down in small looks as to not seem obscene nor uninterested.

You glanced down to see the way you had clenched the book to your chest.

“Why, yes! I had to bring a few books along. It was a long journey and a home is not a home without a few books for me.” You explained.

You handed the book to him and he took it, examining it with Mercy peeping over his arm. Despite her dark brown bangs nearly covering her round face, her eyes were the size of saucers looking at it too.

You felt suddenly afraid and warm. Every move you made and every word you spoke would make an impression but…why am I suddenly so afraid in the presence of this man? He’s perfectly courteous.

Being stunningly handsome doesn’t hurt either.

“Is that…. the Metamorphoses by Ovid!” he exclaimed while turning to the first page.

“It is, Master Castell” you answered, the name feeling fresh on your mouth, and a little too bold.

His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as it poured over the contents and flipped more through the brown pages.

“Master Castell’s home is full of books! He reads all day in what free time he has!” Mercy added.

She blushed a little and curtsied. “Oh! I’m sorry, you must forgive me this time! I…I get excited too easily and won’t hold my tongue and even sometimes...”

I shook your head and held up your hands soothingly. “It’s alright. You committed no crime, sweet Mercy.”

Samuel kept glancing between you and the pages. He then handed it to Mercy to look and then back to himself.

“I love the classics but, I never had the chance to read Ovid’s work before!” he said with the most glowing grin. He touched the lettering delicately, scanning the pages for hints of future adventures with nymphs, gods, kings, and heroes.

Samuel Castell, what a good man. Yet… I thought…why on Earth does his name sound familiar? I know I must have heard it, and recently. But…where?

“It’s very good, if not a little disturbing in some parts- It’s the only…” you trailed off with the loud announcement of the next name.

“Miss Jocelyn Woodbyrg!”

Mercy had pulled her master’s cape a little to alert him of something. He jerked up from the book and gently returned it to you with a small “pardon”.

“It’s her! My mistress!” Mercy cooed.

Oh.

You walked away from the crowd a little to make room for them hurrying forward. Jocelyn strutted over like an actress making a grandiose entrance. In her golden clothes, she seemed to outshine the grey air surrounding everyone. Her hat made her look tall and majestic and her dark cape swished as if she could choose to soar above any moment. Her skirt was adorned, and her hair was up in a bun, yet still loose to prove she had golden curls that framed her ivory, unblemished face and pristine features. Her golden dress was adorned almost indulgently and stayed tight enough to show her slim frame.

Samuel’s eyes gleamed and his smile reached its peak, never stopping after their introductions, bows, and even the sweetest kiss bestowed on her hand. The sickness hit your insides again.

They walked away arm in arm, Jocelyn’s chin high in the air. Her hand wrapped around his slowly clenching on like that of a Venus flytraps mouth closing around a fly. You almost felt the bag in your left arm drop to the ground had you not gripped it tightly.

Mercy stopped shortly by, giddy with excitement.

“Do see me sometime, Miss. It’s fun to be called Mistress! How kind you are! Oh! And! And my new mistress-I’ve never had a mistress! I’m so excited!” she cried almost in one breath.

“Mercy, you may get lost! But thank you!” you threw in, pointing to where they were walking.

She added “I swear! She’s the most beautiful woman here!” before jogging up to meet the stride of her master and his fiancée.

There were plenty of people left, but many had walked off to see the colony looming in the distance like a brown castle beyond.

But Mercy’s voice still rang in your ears.

“She’s the most beautiful woman here!”

You wandered up to the sea, lying to yourself I’m going to splash my face with water.

You crouched on the stones, the tiny waves barely touching your toes and looked down at your face. You got back up to study the rest of your body.

There were plenty of other men, it was almost completely men here. Your time will come soon. Besides, you fool, you just met him! You’re lucky to not marry a man you just met!

He’s the most wonderful man I ever met, though.

Tears were your first act on the new land, plopping silently to the sea. This time, they were seen by no one.

You’re nothing next to her. No wonder Samuel’s so happy to marry her.

(Edited, bc y’all jumped on) Taglist: @isitstraightvodka @itsametaphorgwil @itscale @coincidence-ithinknots-blog @rhapsodyrecs @stardust-killer-queen @grigorlee @queenlover05

[niall-official]

Happy 28th! I’ve read some great fics this month, old and new. These are in alphabetical order and, as always, please give kudos and comments on fics you’ve enjoyed! I’m still over at @verylarryfics reblogging more fic posts each day!

📚 Asleep and Dreaming by MrsStylinson (Harry/Louis, 20k) Harry still gets breathless just looking at him but after being best friends for two years you kind of just learn to laugh. Even when all you really want to do is stick your tongue down your best friend’s throat. Or perhaps that’s just Harry?

Or the one where Harry pines for a boy who completely turned his world upside down, not to mention his flat. As for Louis, he’s just a lot better at playing dead than he looks. Featuring night-time confessions, penis cakes and the inconvenience of falling in love.

📚 Big, Bright World by RealName (Harry/Louis, 35k) It really was just a little crush in the beginning, nothing to be worried about. Louis had never really liked anyone he'd worked with in the past, but he was sure he could control himself. Little did he know that over time his 'little crush' would develop into a blazing inferno of Hell-fire proportions. Every day, Louis' feelings became more intense, more immediate, each little smile and gesture and silly flirtation mounting up into something palpable, with a life of its own. Louis felt it every moment they were together.

The only problem? Harry was engaged to someone else and had been from the moment Louis started working at Visionary.

📚 Failure to Launch by Rearviewdreamer / @all-these-larrythings​ (Harry/Louis, 29k)  Desperate times call for desperate measures when Louis’ mother realizes her adult son may never leave the comfort of home, so she hires Harry, a highly-recommended professional interventionist who’s skilled enough to help push her darling son out of the bloody nest.

📚 i gotta get better! by reveries_passions / @dystopianharry​ (Harry/Louis, 4k) harry’s sex life has been pretty nonexistent since he broke up with his last non-soulmate boyfriend. after a chance encounter with someone online, he decides to enlist them to help him out. no strings attached, obviously.

or soulmates can feel each others’ pain and harry has some kinks he wants to explore.

📚 I'm Not Scared Of Love by EscapeFromReality777 (Liam/Zayn, 3k) "Show me Liam... teach me." Z murmurs, and Liam almost gives in, hearing his breathy voice. "...you must have practice... no one can resist you.. teach me your ways." Zayn continues in the same low voice, coming closer, beginning to corner Liam against the head-board, reminding Liam very much of a predator stalking it's prey.

"Not even you?" Liam jokes... well, tries to joke. And if his voice almost gives out in between... and if he thinks he briefly sees Zayn's eyes light up, well, no one has to know that.."

Or.. the Ziam one shot in which Zayn is pining, Liam is oblivious, jealous and pining, and with a wee bit of sexual tension, "forever" ensues. (Inspired by the very much canon 'Come on then, come on' ziam incident)

📚 I’ve Been Hoping You’d Be Somewhere Better Than This by runaway_train / @runaway-train-works​ (Harry/Louis, 39k) “Does she know who it is then, from the New York office?” Louis enquires.

“Yeah, some guy Henry? Henry Styles I think she said?"

“Harry.”

“What?"

“Harry. His name is Harry Styles.” His heart sank. Louis hadn’t met him, they had only shared a couple of emails back and forth, but he knew exactly who he was. And Harry hadn’t just been killing it in the Big Apple, he’s been ripping the place to absolute shreds, nailing some of the most lucrative accounts in the business.Louis is so fucked.

Or

The one where Louis is up for a promotion, he just has one tiny, little problem standing in his way.

📚 In All Its Imperfections by BriaMaria / @briannamarguerite​ (Harry/Louis, 15k) From: Louis Tomlinson To: Undisclosed Recipients

Hello!

I’ve asked the front desk and you lovely folks are the ones who are on the same level as me in the car park. I found a to-do list today that looked somewhat important because it has lines of poetry scribbled at the bottom that seemed like they might be for a card project. The stationary has a moose in a canoe at the top of it (and he is quite adorable). Let me know if it’s yours!

Cheers!

“Oh. My. Fucking. God,” Harry whispered, his eyes darting over the sentences again willing them not to make sense. They did, they did make sense. “Oh. My. Bloody. Fucking. God.”

The next thing he knew he was on the floor, staring at the ceiling, with a very concerned Liam hovering over his head.

"What happened, mate?" Liam asked.

Harry just pointed to his computer.

Liam bent over Harry’s desk to read the email. “What? This isn’t bad. Is that your to-do list? Did you finally come up with the inside text for those cards?”

“Leeyum" he groaned. “It’s what’s on the list.”

“Oh,” Liam paused for a beat. “Is it dirty stuff?”

Harry nodded.

There was more silence. And then, “Dirty stuff with Louis?”

📚 In Which Calvin Klein Inadvertently Causes A Gay Panic by allsassnoclass (Niall/Shawn, 2k) The thing is, Niall has always considered himself the token straight member of One Direction, but he feels like he really shouldn't be looking at his best friend's thighs like that. 

📚 Just Go With It by rainbowslovehl / @rainbowsandlovehl (Harry/Louis, 6k) “Brett, there’s something I need to tell you,” he started, inwardly cringing at his choice of words before taking in a deep breath. Brett seemed curious, raising her eyebrows expectantly. “The reason I haven’t been texting you back is that...” “Harry, they were all out of organic guacamole,” a raspy, unfamiliar male voice interrupted, startling him into silence. “So I got us the normal one. Hope that’s alright?”

Harry has no idea how to escape awkward situation but luckily for him, Louis swoops in to help.

📚 Leave Your Mark On Me by FullOnLarrie / @fullonlarrie (Harry/Louis, 32k) When Chef Harry Styles’ unbonded Omega designation threatens to derail his career, he does the only thing he can, and goes in search of a black market bond.

📚 Love Will Tear Us Apart by lovelarry10 / @chloehl10 (Harry/Louis, 103k) “You ruined my fucking life, Harry. You stopped me living my dream because you’re a selfish bastard who couldn’t keep himself clean for five fucking minutes. You took away my independence, my freedom, my choices, Harry. And I hate you for that, I hate you!”

As he spat out the final words, Louis felt all of the fight go out of him. He slumped back into the chair, his heart racing his chest, his head beginning to swim. It was a familiar feeling, and one Louis didn't like. He looked up, finally meeting Harry’s gaze for the first time in a while.

“Out of everyone in my life, Harry, I never thought you’d be the one to hurt me. Not like this.”

A story of two halves.

Louis and Harry had it all - a career, friendship, and some of the best sex either of them had ever had.

But Harry ruins it all with one life-changing mistake ... and Louis is left to pay the price.

📚 make you never wanna leave by anonymous (Harry/Louis, 9k) “But that's fine?” Now Louis just looks confused. “There are so many ways you can have fun sex. Wetness is helpful but not a requirement.”

Harry can feel his face heating up. The way Louis said fun sex, like it's that easy, like he has all the experience. He might be a year older than Harry, but Harry's not quite sure if age is the only factor at play here. He doesn't know why the thought of Louis having sex makes his heart start to race again and he especially doesn't know why the next thing he blurts out is, “You could show me.”

or, Harry is an omega teen who has trouble getting wet even when he's turned on, Louis is his omega best friend who helps him experiment. In a completely platonic way, of course.

📚 Never Mind the Furthermore Anonymous (Harry/Louis, 7k) Louis and Harry have regular phone sex. But they're just friends, okay?

📚 O! Yes! by homosociallyyours / @homosociallyyours (Harry/Louis, 2k) Louis is a somewhat sexually awkward omega into other omegas. When an omega-centric sex shop opens near his favorite coffee shop, he definitely doesn't plan to check it out.

One friendly ambush later, he's standing inside and talking with a too pretty omega about things that definitely make him blush. He's not the only one blushing, though. Harry, the cute and enthusiastic toy store employee is too.

📚 Oh, We're In Love, Aren't We? by Rearviewdreamer / @all-these-larrythings (Harry/Louis, 30k) After sixteen wonderful years of friendship, it's hard to imagine any grand (and usually dumb) plans they haven't had or some type of mischief they haven't gotten into together. But, when Harry suddenly finds himself without a fiance and Louis just wants to help him feel okay again, they realize falling in love is one thing they haven't done, and that's about to change.

📚 Only One at the Finish Line by Anonymous (Harry/Louis, 9k) “What don’t I know?!” Louis shouts, and then Harry is rounding on him, close enough that he can feel the heat of his body, the rage and the glory and the pain of it so close that it blinds him.

“I want to be another alpha’s omega,” is what he says, and it comes out like something reckless, something wild. Like he doesn't care anymore if Louis hates him or not, if Louis understands, he just needs to speak his truth aloud to darkness, to the slender pines that surround them like a jury panel.

📚 signs and wonders by scrunchyharry (Harry/Louis, 29k) On the surface, it looks like Louis Tomlinson has the perfect life; after all, he has the whole package: a white picket fence house (well, his doesn’t technically have a white picket fence, but work with him), a wife, a daughter and a dog. He has it all and he’s not even 30, yet.

On the surface, he could be the happiest man in the world.

The thing is, he never wanted this life. There was this boy, see, this Harry Styles, whose arrival made Louis question everything he thought he knew about himself. Before Louis could pursue it, though, before he could be brave and ask the boy out, one moment of bad luck on prom night, one single lapse of judgment, shaped his life in a way he never would have chosen. Between doing the right thing or turning into his own absent father, he knew what he had to do, even if it meant burying his dreams under the weight of a premature adulthood.

That is, until he receives an invitation for his school’s ten year reunion and sees that Harry will attend.

Could it be his second chance at happiness? At what cost?

📚 Soju (소주) by gettingaphdinlarry / @gettingaphdinmomo (Niall/Shawn, 2k) After a spectacular breakup he'd like to forget about, English language teacher Niall Horan finds himself in starting anew in Seoul, South Korea. He's perfectly content being single, but when his friends try to set him up with Shawn Mendes, well... Maybe it's time to give love another shot.

📚 Sweet Like Honey by moonygirl76 (Niall/Shawn, 7k) In a non au world where Shawn and Niall work to continue what they've built together, they find that, maybe, it's time to figure out exactly what it is they are building, and what they mean to one another.

📚 Tell me when you're ready (I'm waitin') by insufferablelovebirds / @therosiestofdaggers (Harry/Louis, 17k) When Harry's love letters to his old crushes get sent accidentally, one of his old crushes, Louis offers to help him fake a relationship but it gets complicated when feelings get involved.

Or an au loosely based off to all the boys I've loved before.

📚 The Bet by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom (Harry/Louis, 2k) Louis Tomlinson never reneges on a bet. Ever.

He may be many things - a joker, a sometimes-wayward student, a loyal friend, a Tony Award winner in the making, and a card-carrying member of the Chad Michael Murray fan club - but never, ever, a welcher. Louis makes good on his promises and does it with flare.

OR The one where Louis misjudges Harry's ability to do TLC's Waterfall rap and finds himself having to put on a one-man show for his viewing pleasure. If Louis decides to go all-in and dress the part, then that's just a bonus for his (very appreciative) one-man audience.

📚 The Lonely Planet Guide to Second Chances by 1Diamondinthesun (Harry/Louis, 102k) When Harry and Louis broke up, the last thing on Harry's mind was the non-refundable surprise trip he had booked for them across Europe. Harry was supposed to be moving on, not sightseeing with his ex. In hindsight, touring the continent with Louis was probably a bad idea. So naturally, that's exactly what Harry did.

Or, the breakup travel fic featuring romantic sunsets, awkward bed sharing, and second chances against a backdrop of some of Europe's most iconic cities.

📚 the way that you're thrilling me by Anonymous (Harry/Louis, 12k) Sometimes he wondered if everyone was pretending. Alphas were smelly and cocky and mostly arseholes, in Harry’s experience. Or at least they were at school. He didn’t understand how his friends—lovely, soft-skinned, sweet-smelling omegas—could actually want to touch them, or be touched by them.

Maybe he was just immature. That’s what his friends said, anyway. He’d want it eventually.

(Or, the one where Harry and Louis don’t enjoy sex - until they do.)

📚 this love will keep us through blinding of the eyes by Anonymous (Harry/Louis, 9k) As his other friends head into the strip club, he steps towards the bouncer, fumbling through his wallet to find his ID. He’s so distracted by his search that he hasn’t gotten a proper look at the bouncer until he’s standing right in front of him, shoving his ID into the alpha's ridiculously long, painted fingers.

Louis will blame it on the alcohol if anyone asks, but he can’t help staring intensely at the alpha in front of him, soaking up every detail of the guy. His breath catches in his throat as he watches the alpha, unable to look away from the strikingly green eyes.

It’s weird. So weird. Maybe Louis is more drunk than he thought, but he was feeling just barely tipsy only moments ago so that seems slightly unlikely. Between the long curls, the jawline so sharp it could cut glass, muscles rippling under his shirt, and endlessly long legs, this alpha is objectively the most attractive person Louis has ever seen.

But that can’t be right, because Louis’ an alpha, too.

When Louis' friends bring him to a strip club for his 18th birthday, the last thing he would have expected is leaving with a crush, let alone a crush on another alpha.

[mysamcedesmadness]

So, Are We Gonna Discuss This, Or…?

Charlotte and her pros and cons! She wished that she could be more impulsive, but that never hurt her before… Well… maybe. She was quite frigid in many ways and it meant a lot to her that her closest friends didn't care. But she and Henry were getting pretty close and serious. They were going into their last year of high school. They might not see much of each other beyond that and the girls around him were getting bolder and fresher all the time. Charlotte estimated that it was probably time for "the talk."

And how does one, Charlotte Page, go about having the talk? Well, she certainly wasn't going to just say "We need to talk about this." She could have and maybe should have, but that seemed to her to leave too much room for confusion. How could she possibly talk about something that she was only vaguely familiar with?

Charlotte prepared a Lincoln Douglas Debate to decide), researched STDs & STIs, sexual health risks vs benefits of sex, and high school relationship sustainability and success before and after sex before she even breached the subject with Henry. By the time she finished, she knew what she wanted to do. She was ready, but Henry had to be ready to. She had to be confident that he knew what she knew and they had to talk about it.

Breaching the subject sounded a lot like nervous energy in human form. "I've prepared a debate for you to feast your eyes upon.." she said, then awkwardly thought about how that was the nerdiest presentation she had ever made.

"No thanks," Henry said and handed the paper printout with various sticky notes and edits back to her. She flipped it to the front page, which was a bright yellow cover with bold black letters that read “SEX”, and much smaller subprint, “So, Are We Gonna Discuss This, Or…?” But, Henry only saw the largest word on the paper, and he snatched it from her and shoved it into his shirt. "What're you doing? Someone could've seen that!" He looked around the man cave for their friends, but Ray and Schwoz were in the middle of something and Jasper was down in the store.

“Someone needs to see it. You.” She handed him green sticky notes and finished with, “Any notes or questions you have, use these. I don’t want the version in our shared documents to get cluttered and you miss out on information, like you’ve been known to do.”

He scoffed a few times as he placed the notes in his pocket and she went to the control panel. Where on Earth would he keep this thing, in the meantime? He rolled it up, put it in his back pocket, and checked on it with extreme paranoia the entire time he was there. Later on, whenever he was at home, the first thing that he did was make the time to read it. He lit some candles scented to help with concentration, made sure the lighting in the room was efficient, washed up, got into comfortable clothes and made himself comfortable - suggestions that Charlotte had given him for when he had to read a lot (because he honestly hated reading, most of the time) - and he settled with the document, the sticky notes and his pencil.

There were a lot of facts in this thing and there was a lot of science. There were risks that he didn’t consider. There was social pressure that he had not thought about (regarding her). There was… A lot to stop and think about. By the time he finished, he knew what he wanted to do. He was not ready. They had to wait. There was going to be some deep thoughts about all of this fresh information.

He was no longer as sure as his body usually was when they were alone together. Reading her research, eloquently presented as an argument for and against it, he just wasn’t sure if he measured up enough to put her in that position and to take on that type of responsibility.

Charlotte was sad to hear that, but respected his wishes and was relieved that these weren’t issues that he thought about after making that decision. They could wait. It wasn’t like she was frothing or anything. But honestly, if not Henry, what kind of person might she wind up with? Her research came across some horror stories of people who went to college, relationships fell apart and they wound up losing their virginity in some regrettable act of deviance and independence. She wanted it to be safe and comfortable with somebody that she loved and trusted. And she was Charlotte Page for crying out loud. Let’s be real… It could take another lifetime for “somebody that she loved and trusted” to come along. Maybe, he just needed a little bit of time… to realize that she was most likely the greatest good that he was gonna get.  She chuckled to herself as she had this thought.

The three of them had a sleepover at Henry’s the weekend of Jasper’s birthday. Jasper noticed that they were behaving oddly. For one thing, Henry wasn’t uncontrollably and reflexively touching Charlotte every single chance that he got and hardly whispering inside jokes into her ear. Charlotte… Well, she seemed the same as always. So, Jasper had to presume that whatever the issue was, it was something with Henry. When it was semi-late, Charlotte announced, “I’m going to go to sleep.” She got up, gathered her sleeping bag and headed upstairs.

“Goodnight, Charlotte!” Jasper said. She nodded her head and pointed at him, then glanced sadly at Henry and went upstairs. “Soooo… Did you two break up?”

“What? No. We just… Haven’t really been intimate lately.”

“Why not? I thought you two were really serious. What happened?”

Henry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We talked about… You know… Doing the dance…"

"Which one? Like an Internet challenge?"

Henry groaned and whispered it into Jasper's ear. "YOU DID???"

"We only talked about it!" Henry shrugged his shoulders and had to admit, "I didn't know the first thing about doing, well, any of it. I ran over all the information she gave me, and I guess I just felt inadequate. I feel like not only do I not know enough, but if something were to happen… I would mess it all up. I never really thought about it before. I only knew that I wanted it and wanted her. But, if I'm just gonna be unskilled and unknowledgeable, what's the point? She'll judge me, and we both know it."

"How can she judge you when she only knows stuff about it in theory, herself?" Henry shrugged his shoulders. "What did she say to you?"

"That I'm her best friend, she loves me and whatever the emotional risks are, she's brave enough to face, because it's a journey with me."

"That sounds like somebody who wouldn't judge you."

"I don't want her to have to face emotional risks. Like what happens when she's away at college and I'm Kid Danger full time? Or when we've been together for so long that we never realized that we were never meant to be this, it was just convenient?"

"So… You're scared of the emotional risks."

"No! I'm not scared…" he bit his lip and sighed, "I'm terrified. What if I love her more and she gets me out of her system? I mean… I have to believe that a huge portion of her interest is physical attraction and curiosity."

"I don't feel like you're giving Charlotte much credit and that's not fair. She said herself that she loves you. As just her friend you should believe her. And the fact that Charlotte doesn't talk like that, you really should feel honored. Besides, if you don't do it, someone else will as soon as they get permission. So, you'll regret it forever if you don't take the opportunity. When she's gone off to college and comes back with some kinda sexy scientist, you'll kick yourself, and you'll probably try to kick him too. But, she's giving you first dibs and you turn her down? I don't understand that at all."

"I don't want first dibs I want only dibs."

"For now, you've got "only dibs," but I can't imagine she'd wait forever for you."

So, Henry had more to think about. At some point, in the middle of the night, he left Jasper alone on the couch to go cuddle up with Charlotte again. He'd been avoiding too much contact with her since their discussion and now he not only missed her like crazy, but Jasper's advice frightened him into thinking he might lose her if he didn't get it together and grow up.

Charlotte was fast asleep, in her sleeping bag, near the window. Probably thought Henry would want his bed to himself… "Hey, Char?"

"Hmmm?"

"Hey, let's get in bed, okay, Babe?"

She sat up and looked at him, slightly angry for waking her up, but he picked her up and laid her in the bed. She rolled over, muttering but was back to sleep before he could even wrap himself around her body.

.

Jasper's basement birthday party was very much so an upgrade from the last time he'd done it. Full of soon to be seniors and a few graduates that he knew, plus Ray and Schwoz. Ray couldn't believe that he had willingly come here, but he heard that there would be fiesta sized churros and he felt like he deserved that.

Several minutes into his fourth chunk o' churro, he looked over at "the kids," because he heard Charlotte laugh kinda loud, and…

Well, she was sitting on top of a bench, Henry was leaning against it, but he was rested right in between her legs… facing her.

Ray was going to comment on it but, Henry turn to face Jasper and talk so he let it go. But, Henry was right there, for most of the day. Eventually, he moved to go to the bathroom. Charlotte got up for ice cream and churro. Whenever he returned, she sat in his lap, with his arms around her as she finished dessert, then when she was done, she was seated between his legs. They were just carrying on a conversation like that!! He had to find Schwoz!

"Charlotte is publicly allowing Henry to be rested between her legs and vice versa!" Schwoz looked like he had no idea what that was supposed to mean. "Intimate Cuddling IN FRONT OF ONLOOKERS??? Charlotte, Schwoz. This is Charlotte!"

Schwoz rolled his eyes and walked away saying, "Call me when you've got something juicy."

Ray realized that they must have done the deed and tried to get a confession out of Henry. Henry was annoyed by all of the questions such as, "Are you and Charlotte closer than ever before? Might one day that the two of you have become one?" This went on for a while before Charlotte announced that she had to go and Henry, as though that was some kind of dog whistle, cut off Ray mid sentence to rush to her so that they could leave together.

"Before you go, I'll need you to take another oath."

"What, here? At this party?"

"You need to immediately promise me that Kid Danger comes first, no matter what's in your mind, your eyesight, and…" he whispered, "your pants."

"Alright, I'm not saying any of that. See you later. Gotta go. Char's parents are gone and we're gonna have a Flick & Chill night."

"You'd better be chilling fully clothed!"

Henry's face told that was not in his plans, but he gave Ray a thumbs up anyway. "At least be safe," Ray said quietly.

"Dude..  I'm with Charlotte. I'm the safest man in Swellview."

Even though he knew that Henry meant because Charlotte was always efficient and thorough, Ray wanted to crack a joke about it being because nobody else in Swellview had ever, or ever would, get that close to Charlotte; but as the two of them took off up the stairs, hand in hand, he had nothing. Henry probably would be livid if he had said anything like that. The Kid was clearly all in with her now, no pun intended.

[justice-for-shayla]

The Shadow and the Soul

A/N: This has been finished for hours but I couldn’t post it without a title. The prompt I received (Many days ago) was Historical AU and Secret Relationship, only one of which is a focus for this part. I have a second part planned but it may need a third to wrap things up. 

Word Count: 4000 

A note on Historical Accuracy: The inaccuracy here is intentional. I will break all rules of history in order to steal the aesthetics of a time period, (in this case the Antebellum South, without all the nastiness. I’m not going to write characters I like as former or current slave owners, that’s fucking gross.) Don’t send me messages or write comments about how this isn’t true or wouldn’t work. I don’t care.  

Warnings: Historical Inaccuracy, Civil War Mentions, Death Mentions, Melodramatic Period Piece Tropes, Smut in Later Chapters (18+ Only) 

The locals called them leeches and parasites, the Northerners who’d descended on New Orleans in the wake of the war, but Aurelie never flinched at their hurled insults. She never flinched at all, in fact.

Long ago, she had learned that it was better to be seen as sweet. Sweet girls who never got into any trouble could get away with anything, because no one could imagine a “Sweet girl like her” getting up to any trouble.

Four years of war time had toughened even the sweetest girls, and Aurelie was no exception. Her once round cheeks had grown sharp and narrow when rationing had started, and her soft fingers had become calloused with all the times she’d pricked her fingers sewing up uniforms or burned herself on the water they boiled to bring to the hospitals.

Losing all three of her brothers had toughened her too. By the time they’d lost Henry, Aurelie didn’t even cry, only stood near her mother, somber and steady while her mother sobbed and fell to her knees. Henry had been the oldest, and the one she’d thought most likely to live, but even he had fallen, shot dead on a battlefield far from home. 

Lucas had been first, the first time her youngest brother had ever been the first to do anything, and Jean-Paul had been right in the middle, as always. It had destroyed her mother, the loss of all her boys, and in an effort to help her regain her health, the family had decided to move down to New Orleans to stay with relatives.

Though she had said she was looking forward to living with her sister, Aurelie’s mother never seemed particularly excited about the idea, even as she stepped off of the train into the sweltering air. 

Aurelie was neither excited nor perturbed. Her life up North had been boring until the war and difficult during it, leaving her feeling restless and purposeless now that it was over. Though being sweet had always been a lie for her, now act was heavy against her skin, itching like wool underclothes and cloying like a too-tight corset.

The only thing worth looking forward to had been the presence of her cousin, Eugene, the only young male in the family to make it out of the war. Aurelie sought him out now and found him lounging against a large tree in the garden.

“Is my mama looking for me?” He asked her, politely setting his pipe aside, though she wouldn’t have minded if he’d kept smoking.

“No, just me,” She said, taking a seat beside him and carefully arranging her skirt around her.

“You alright?” She had remembered him as an awkward and sickly boy, but he had come back a sad-eyed man, stronger than he had been before, but wounded in a different way. Aurelie never asked him about it, but she sensed that he was pretending to be well in the same way that she pretended to be sweet.

“You met Sidney yet?” He asked.

Aurelie groaned. “I’ve done nothing but meet Mr. Phillips. There are too many mothers trying to match us; it’ll be the death of me.”

“They just want something happy, I think. He’s not a bad one, you could do worse.”

She just shrugged. “I don’t care either way about him, and that’s just the problem.”

“Well, every surviving young man with any kind of money in New Orleans will be at your welcome party tonight, so if you’re ready to announce an engagement, now’s the time.”

Groaning, Aurelie gave up trying to keep her dress nice and flopped all the way onto the grass. “God, I’d love to make them happy but I can’t get engaged just to see my mama smile, Gene. I just can’t do it.”

“I don’t think you should, even if he’s my friend. You oughta wait.”

“Wait for what? For all the surviving men who fought in blue but live in New Orleans to get married to the other girls everyone’s shipping from up North?”

“Then at least you won’t have to be one of them.” Eugene shrugged.

“And what about you, Mr. Sledge, are you hoping to make your mama smile tonight?”

He rolled his eyes. “She smiles plenty because I came home. She only had one son and I came back. Your mama sent three and didn’t get any, I think she might hate me for it.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” Aurelie protested, “But you look like Henry, if she squints and turns her head right. I think you make her sad, but I’m sure she’d like to see you wed and naming babies after her boys.”

Eugene shuddered. “Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

Aurelie accepted this without question. If she’d had other options, she would have said Not Yet about marriage and babies too, but her choices were limited. “I oughta go inside and start dressing.” She shifted but didn’t stand, not wanting to leave her quiet moment with Gene.

“Can I ask you a favor, Rellie?” He asked, using the nickname he’d given her when they were children, before he’d mastered the pronunciation of her name.

“Of course.”

“I invited a friend of mine, Merriell Shelton. This isn’t really his type of party, so it might be nice if someone… helped him. I know he’d like you.”

“Why’s that?” For all the time she’d known him, Gene had only had one friend-- Sidney-- so the idea of him having someone else, someone who didn’t quite fit with the rest of their circle was intriguing enough on its own, but Aurelie fished for information anyway. She was hoping it might reveal something about this mysterious friend.

“You’re pretty, but you’re not soft. You’ll look him in the eye and not let him give you shit, which he will try to do.”

Aurelie smiled, picturing a bold sort of man who wouldn’t be afraid to make jokes around her, and wouldn’t flinch if she accidentally used some of the swears she’d learned from hanging around the nurses during the war.

“Sure, Gene, but only if you try to have some fun.”

Gene sighed and looked away from her, a shadow passing over his face, which he’d tried to arrange into a smile for her. “I’m doing my best, Rellie.”

She nodded and turned away, hating that sadness that clung to him like mud, but unable to do anything about it.  

“Rell?” He called, just before she was out of earshot, “He says he’s got a way with women; watch out.”

Laughing, Aurelie tossed her words over her shoulder. “All men say that, Gene; I’m immune.”

Submitting herself to the terrifying ordeal of getting ready for a party was distracting, but did little to lift her spirits as she was pinched and pulled and powdered until she looked like a perfect little doll nestled on top of a skirt wider than most door frames. Her mother had picked the dress and her maid had picked the hairstyle, she could barely recognize herself underneath all of it.

“Miss? It’s time; folks are waiting.”

She nodded, stealing one last glance at her reflection and defiantly tugging one red curl out of its place and letting it hang next to her eye. It was a small flaw, but with no time to fix it, she would be allowed to keep it, and with it some semblance of herself.

The Sledge’s ballroom was packed with people, though the festive atmosphere felt forced and oddly turbulent, like someone holding a match next to a powder keg. It was obvious that not all the people in this room had fought on the right side of the war, and tension ran high as everyone wondered who would start the first fight.

Aurelie hoped it wouldn’t come until later. She hoped it might not come at all. She wished the boys in gray could all just go home and lick their wounded pride in private, rather than frothing about it at every society party people felt obligated to invite them to.

Though she’d only met a few of the assembled guests-- Eugene’s oldest friend, Mr. Phillips, among them-- Aurelie felt like she knew them all. They were rich and polite and would spend many hours making small talk and pretending that less than a year ago they’d all been trying to slaughter each other. Aurelie hated to pretend, but she plastered a honey-sweet smile onto her face as she swept down the staircase and into the ballroom.  

Her eyes found the person who didn’t fit in almost immediately, and she knew that she’d spotted the friend Eugene had told her about. His suit almost fit perfectly, but even if it had been properly tailored, she would have seen his discomfort in it. This was not a man who spent his time at parties making small talk.

He had spotted her, caught her staring at him.  

His gaze was intense as she stepped lightly through the crowd, greeting people and smiling shyly, always gently dancing away before someone could pull her into a conversational circle. She was an expert at this type of weaving, and she made it across the room in record time, only stopping when she was standing in front of the stranger.

She held out her hand, as much a challenge as an introduction. “You must be Mr. Shelton. Eugene told me about you.”

He took her gloved hand, holding it gently. “Nice to meet you Miss…”

“Aurelie,” She said, flinching slightly when he kept his grip.

“Aurelie…” His voice lilted over her name, reducing it to something smooth and melodic, completely new to her. “Nice to meet you.”

His wasn’t an accent that one found in most society ballrooms, but Aurelie loved it immediately. For a long moment they stood like that, with her fingers still gripped in his hand. She glanced around, sure that someone had noticed this odd interlude, but no one was looking at them.

“Have you been staying with the Sledges long?” Aurelie asked, trying to find a normal conversation with a man who was very, very far from her normal.

“Not staying with them; I’ve got a place in the city. Sledge invited me and I’m not one to say no to a party like this.”

She nodded and then impulsively said, “I might have said no if I could have.”

“Why couldn’t you?” No one in her circle would have asked that. No one in her circle would have had to.

The question made her stumble and answer honestly. “Because this is my job.”

“Your job?” He tilted his head, studying her.

This time, it was his intense stare that caused her uncharacteristic ineloquence. “It’s what I do; it’s what I’ve been trained to do since I could walk and talk. I smile and dance and make conversation with the right people.”

She sounded like a doll, or some sort of teachable puppet, and she inwardly cursed her idiocy.

He looked around, apparently unbothered, though new tension hardened his face when his eyes fell on a coupe of men across the room from them. “I don’t think I’m the right people, but I’m better than those two.”

He pointed to two classically handsome men, similar enough to be brothers. “They fought with the rebels and show up here claiming they were just doing what they were told. Cowards.” He spit the word, glaring at the two, who had noticed his stare and were looking back.

Flushing when she made eye contact with one of them, Aurelie turned away, hoping they wouldn’t comment on her impropriety in front of her parents. She felt that men like them had no business on the Sledge’s property, but her parents weren’t as discerning. If they had money, a decent name, and no wives, she would be introduced to them with the same hope her parents expressed whenever she spoke to any man.

“They’re staring at you,” Merriell said conversationally, watching them over her shoulder.

“Don’t stare back, maybe they’ll go away.”

“They’re coming over here.”

“Damn.” The word was barely out of her mouth when the men approached. Up close, Aurelie could see that one of them was slightly taller, and the other had a very square face, but both had a bitterness in their eyes and stance that made her immediately wary of them.

“Miss Aurelie; it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. We’ve heard so much about you.” The taller one said with a smile that looked like it had been carved into his face and a drawl like thick syrup, poured too heavily over his words and rendering them sarcastic.

“Charmed,” Aurelie said in a tone that indicated she wasn’t. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced, Mr…”

“Simmons. And this is my cousin Frederick Pierce.”

She nodded, allowing the conversation to stall in the hope that they might leave.

It didn’t deter them. “Is this man bothering you?” They studied Merriell with barely disguised scorn that made Aurelie bristle, though she didn’t let it show.

“Not at all!” She plastered on her best smile. “In fact he saved my favorite cousin’s life in the war, so I feel I owe him quite a debt.” She took Merriell’s arm in a slightly bold act that would send a clear message. *****I am not one of you.*****

This made those marble smiles falter on their faces, and Aurelie tried not to outwardly cheer for her victory.

“Most ladies don’t pay their debts with their company,” The shorter one-- Mr. Pierce-- said, nodding in a mockery of politeness before he and his cousin walked away.

Aurelie was fuming. “Those bastard sons of whores,” She muttered, glaring at their backs.

Merriell was laughing at her and a sudden flush crawled up her neck and into her cheeks; she’d sworn in front of him. She’d sworn in front of a gentleman! If her mother found out she would die on the spot. “I’m terribly sorry you had to hear that--”

“I’m not.”

“--I just got so angry at what they implied. The audacity of coming into my family’s home and suggesting that--” She paused, realizing that he was watching her pleasantly and seemed utterly unphased by the entire situation. “You’re not?”

“Not sorry I heard that. I kinda liked it.”

The flush burned even hotter, probably leaving her pale skin blotchy and scarlet under her freckles. “I…” She couldn’t think of anything to say.

He held out one improperly ungloved hand. “Dance with me?”

Any polite conversation she might have tried to make died in her throat. “I… Yes, thank you.”

Aurelie didn’t expect him to be good at dancing, and she was correct. Her massive skirt mostly hid his errors, and she was good enough to guide him through the rest without too much trouble, though she caught Gene’s eye and saw his sympathetic smile as he stood off to the side.

“Is he alright?” She asked Merriell as she eased herself carefully into a turn, subtly pushing hm in the right direction. “Gene, is he… happy?”

He looked at her like she was insane, bringing yet another hot flush into her cheeks. “No.”

“Of course, it was an idiotic question, I just… we’re worried about him. He used to smile so much, and he was much… brighter, I suppose. I don’t want to lose him too.” The last words slipped out without thought; they were inappropriately honest, but Merriell didn’t seem to notice or care.

“He’s right there.”

“He’s changed--”

“That shit changes you.” Abruptly, he dropped her hand, stepping away from the dance and leaving her where she stood. It was an awkward rush to go after him before someone noticed that he’d left. Leaving a girl on the dancefloor was an insult, and though she knew she had offended him first, it was hard not to feel the sting of it.

“Please, wait,” Reaching out, she caught his arm, once again surprising herself with her boldness. Though she had thought about it many times, she couldn’t remember ever having grabbed a man like this before. “I didn’t mean it like that. Everyone’s changed after the war, I know. I just… we all lost so much, I can’t bear the thought that he might not get better.”

“Better doesn’t mean same as before,” Merriell said.

“Of course it doesn’t. I’m sorry.” Ducking her head, Aurelie thought about moving away, returning to the comfortably familiar crowd with their predictably polite conversations. Whatever this was with Merriell, she preferred it to the artiface that surrounded them.

“Seems like you’re the same as you were before.” Perhaps he didn’t mean it as a challenge, but she couldn’t help but take it as one.

“You didn’t know me before,” She said coolly, “And you don’t know me now, so you’re hardly in a position to judge that.” She wanted to believe that he was somehow clever enough to see past the carefully constructed mask of words and behavior, rules and etiquette, that she wore constantly.

She met his gaze boldly, waiting for his apology or his next move, swallowing the pain that his words caused. &&&Just because you can’t see that I care doesn’t mean that I don’t care.&&&&

When he didn’t say anything, she turned and walked away from him, avoiding looking at where she was sure Eugene was standing and watching them, unable to hide the guilt she felt at breaking her promise to him.

She spent the next couple hours dancing with various men who were paraded in front of her by her mother or theirs, having the same conversation over and over as they did the same steps to the same dances, with few exceptions made for different songs. The men were, to her, utterly interchangeable, and her eyes drifted back to the only unique face in the crowd, before they would snap right back to her partner’s face, forcing herself to pay attention to whatever droll observation he was making about the weather.

When it all became unbearable, she stepped out into the garden, breathing the thick, warm night air deeply. Underneath the smell of heat and mud that permeated the garden, she caught a faint whiff of cigarette smoke, and considered investigating before its source stepped out of the shadows.

“Miss Aurelie,” He said, his accent once again smoothing out her name until it sounded more like a collection of notes than a word.

“Mr. Shelton.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” He said rather stiffly, after a too-long pause.

“You didn’t,” She lied instinctively.

He watched her, clearly spotting the lie.

“I have changed,” She said, daring to be honest in the dim garden, surrounded by night air that felt as heavy as a wool coat. “I never liked all this, but after the war I could see how pointless it all is. Now I’m… I’m so angry it takes my breath away sometimes. It scares me.”

“Makes sense to be angry.” He paused as if considering his next words. “You don’t look angry.”

“Ah, well, you know ‘Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it’,” She quoted, smiling at him.

He nodded, glancing away but not before she saw the confusion on his face.

“It’s Shakespeare,” She explained. “It… It’s a man’s wife telling him how to commit a murder.”

That made him laugh, and she stared, transfixed, at his smile until it had faded off his face. “You planning on killing anyone, Flower?”

The nickname brought back her blush, which she hated. “No, of course not! Though I wouldn’t be sad if Johnny and Jimmy Reb over there happened to not make it through the night.” It was by far the boldest joke she’d ever made in front of a gentleman, and she felt a rush singe through her veins when he laughed.

“See, before I never would have said that; I would have been too polite.” She told him, laughing with him and savoring it.

He nodded. “I’m glad you said it. Been thinking the same thing all night. I didn’t like what they said to you.”

A group of people passed the window nearest you, their voices carrying out into the night, and Aurelie stepped closer to him, into the shadows where she wouldn’t be seen.

She hadn’t been paying enough attention, and she ended up directly in front of him, only a breath away from being pressed against his chest. He looked down at her, his strangely reflective eyes studying her face in the darkness.

The polite, proper thing to do would have been to step away, to apologize and then to take his arm and allow him to lead her back into the ballroom, away from this compromising position. She didn’t do that, though the thought occurred to her, just like it always did. Just because she knew what she should do didn’t mean her mind was made up about what she was going to do.

Even though she was certain she knew what she wanted to do. “I’m different than I used to be,” She said, not sure if she was talking to herself or to him.

“I believe you.” His head bent lower as he breathed the words, so quietly she had to lean even closer to hear them.

At that point, she was too close not to do anything, so she lifted her lips the final inches they needed until they were pressed against Merriell’s. His hands started on her waist, brushing against the satin of her dress before one slipped up to cup the back of her neck, drawing her even closer as his tongue slipped between her parted lips.

She had been kissed before. She had done more than that before, with a soldier the night before he left, his blue uniform in an untidy heap in the corner of her bedroom. All of those kisses had been tinged with the desperation of a man who knew he was going to die, and needed one last thing before he could go.

Merriell had none of that desperation as he kissed her. He was slow, exploratory, and thorough, leaving her breathless when he finally moved away from her, taking a full step back.

“I can’t do this,” He said.

Aurelie stared at him, flushed, wide-eyed, and mortified. “What?”

“You’re Sledge’s cousin, practically his little sister--”

“He’s barely older than me!” She stepped closer, her blush now brought on more by anger than embarrassment.

“--He’d never let…”

“Eugene doesn’t let me do anything,” She insisted. “And he likes you! He wanted me to talk to you, to keep you company tonight--”

He shook his head sharply. “Don’t say that.”

“Say what?”

His hands found her hips again, pulling her close. “Don’t say you’re keeping me company tonight.”

The alternative meaning of her words struck her when he said them like that, with his warm breath against her ear and his hands strong on her waist. “Oh.”

Her lips fell open again, and he hesitated for the briefest of seconds before kissing her again. It was another perfect kiss, possibly even better than their first, but once again Merriell pulled away.

“People like you and people like me… They won’t allow it; you know that.”

Aurelie did know that, but she refused to admit it. “They don’t have to know.”

“You’re my best friend’s cousin.”

“You’re my cousin’s best friend,” She retorted, unphased.

“If he found out--”

Cutting him off, she kissed him again, savoring the feel of his lips as they moved over hers. “I have secrets already,” She told him when they parted. “What difference does one more make?”

Merriell still didn’t reply as he looked down at her, his face a mix of emotions she couldn’t decipher.

“Please, think about it,” She said, dipping into a slight curtsey before she left him in the shadows and reentered the ballroom. She felt warm and strange and powerful and scared, all things she had to tuck away into the back of her mind so she could pretend to be the girl they all expected.

Beneath her placid smile, she let herself relive every moment outside with Merriell, where she’d been allowed to act on impulse, to yearn and pursue and feel in a way that she never had before.

Immediately, her mother appeared to force her back into Mr. Phillips’ waiting arms for the final waltz of the evening. While she spun across the smooth wood floor with him, she felt a pair of eyes, burning into her back, and hoped that Merriell had made up his mind. She wanted her moment of freedom back, she wanted to be allowed to be the girl she’d been with him again.

Before he left for the night, he thanked her briefly, bowing rather clumsily over her hand. When he stepped away, she could feel a scrap of paper in her hand, barely noticeable through her silk gloves. 

In the privacy of her room, she unfolded the note and read his bold, messy scrawl. Our secret. 

[theonceoverthinker]

A Modern Man’s Guide to Piracy

Summary: Killian gets a lesson about modern culture that is very much up his alley.

AO3       Fanfiction.net

Dynamics Featured: Captain Cobra Swan, Swan Believer, Captain Cobra, Captain Swan

Inspired by @distant-rose. It’s actually been so long since I first touched this that I don’t remember exactly how you inspired it (Maybe on Discord some time ago?), but past!me left that note and I wanted to honor it all the same! So thank you for this fun idea, I think!

Timeline wise...it’s kind of all over the place, as you’ll see by the last scene. BUT it was a fun opportunity for some good jokes (Are they good? You tell me!) and I couldn’t resist. That said, it’s during the gap between Rumple and Belle’s departure from Storybrooke and Henry’s departure in the Season 7 opening.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“Mom!” Emma could hear Henry calling. “It’s not on Netflix!”

With a bowl of popcorn now sagging in her arms, Emma sighed as she took off for the living room.

Damn. It was Groundhog’s Day and she really wanted to watch the Bill Murray movie. She had made a point of watching it every year and this was the first one where she had both Killian and Henry around to watch it with her.

Emma sighed. “Netflix must’ve taken it off.”

“They always do this right before the holiday,” Henry complained.

“That’s how Hollywood makes its money back and it sucks.”

Looking over at her husband and the confused expression on his face, Emma couldn’t help but laugh. No one could say that Killian wasn’t adapting to modern life like a champ, but those little moments where he stumbled were still pretty funny.

“Sorry, Killian,” Emma said. “The system of Hollywood and how it works with streaming services is a weird and complicated thing.”

But then Killian surprised her.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “I mean, I don’t get all of it, but I think I understand the broad strokes of the matter. It’s like when I buy salmon at the grocery store. The grocery store gets money, but so do the fishers who bring it in.”

Emma nodded, impressed.

“Looks like some old timer’s getting a handle on our modern traditions.”

“Another age quip, Emma?” Killian teased. “Will you ever stop?”

“What can I say? They never grow old!”

Killian couldn’t seem to stop his laughter from getting the better of him and Henry and Emma happily joined in.

“And here I thought I was the one to make the puns,” Killian commented. “But as for our movie dilemma, what of the library? From what I remember, they started stocking movies there.”

Henry took a minute and checked his phone, looking displeased when he at last locked his screen again. “It’s closed.”

“It feels like it always is. Belle really should’ve thought twice before hiring Sleepy to run the library when she and Gold left,” Emma lamented. From beside her, Killian frowned.

“So I take it that movie night has been ruined?” he surmised. “Unless you want to watch that ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie again.”

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Emma. She turned to Henry, who must have had a similar revelation, and the two exchanged a look, one filled to the brim with the promise of mischief.

Luckily for her, a sheriff couldn’t exactly arrest herself.

“Not exactly,” Henry said.

“How so?” Killian asked.

“You’ll see.”

Killian smirked. “Is this to be another one of your operations?”

Henry seemed to muse on that for a moment before nodding. “Operation Pirate.”

That seemed to catch Killian off guard. “I’m confused. What can I do? While I’ve learned much, I’m nowhere near as familiar with this realm’s movie services as you two are.”

“No,” Emma clarified. “It’s not about you.”

“It’s a...more modern type of piracy,” Henry went on to say, smiling as the words settled.

Killian clearly didn’t know how to respond to that, but Emma could tell he was interested all the same in what that ‘modern type of piracy’ entailed.

“Well, let’s not waste any time then.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“So what do you think?” Emma asked.

“Well,” Killian said. “It’s not as strenuous as captaining a ship, but the spoils seem to be rather abundant for this age.”

“Gotta love modern piracy.”

“It definitely smells better. So how did you do it?”

Henry went on to explain the concept of online piracy as best as he could. And while Emma loved her kid and knew Killian was pretty smart, she could see him struggling to keep up with what he was saying.

“So wait: Does that red horseshoe drag the movie from the pirate’s computer to ours?”

“No. First, that’s a magnet and second, we all share the movie.”

“Share? Sharing not what pirate are oft to do. Our ways are a bit more cutthroat than that.”

“Well, you’re not sharing,” Henry attempted to clarify. “It’s kind of like a cake with infinite pieces.”

However, that just seemed to make things worse.

“How does cake factor into all of this?”

Henry sighed and to his credit, was about to take another stab at explaining it again when Emma came to put him out of his misery.

“I think Killian’s had enough of our modern education for today,” she said, patting her husband on the shoulder.

While Killian seemed a bit sad to give up, Emma could tell that he felt even more overwhelmed by the extent of his lesson. She couldn’t really blame him -- even most of the people born in this realm couldn’t do it. It might have been a bit much to expect him to figure it out, especially in a single night.

“I’m sorry lad, I don’t quite understand. I think I’ll leave this type of piracy to you and your mother for now.”

Still, even as he said it and Henry relented, there was a lingering determination that Emma could tell was still there, but she brushed that off. Killian was always determined and she positively loved him for it.

But at the end of the day, maybe there were just some things that likely couldn’t be taught to a two hundred year old pirate.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

How the fuck could the freakin’ Savior not get tickets to ‘The Avengers: Endgame?’

It didn’t seem possible.

Emma normally didn’t care for her title of princess, but if there was ever a time where she would’ve bothered to pull rank, this would be it!

She even went as far as to try, but while many were still impressed by her royal status, the man at the ticket counter wasn’t among them.

So nope -- not even her royal status could grant her even one spot to see Iron Man, Captain America, and The Hulk take on Thanos. It was the movie of the year -- no, the century -- and she couldn’t see it.

And it sucked because Emma knew her job -- it wouldn’t take much for her to be spoiled. Her schedule had jammed her weekend, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, there was allegedly some kid running around Storybrooke calling everyone and spoiling the movie. It wouldn’t take long before it reached her, especially because her job necessitated she pick up every call she got.

This was her only chance until Monday to go see it, but alas, the Infinity Gauntlet was just outside of her grasp.

She could only imagine one person who was more miserable about the news than her.

And while driving home, she just happened to encounter him.

While Emma knew for a fact that her son was as healthy as a horse, he currently looked like he’d just been punched in the gut. His steps slugged and his his shoulders were sagging so much that they threatened to dislocate his backpack from his body. And facially speaking, he looked like a zombie. His eyes were heavy and his frown was dulled, as if his sadness was so deep that it circled to resignation.

Emma slowed her bug as she pulled up to him.

“Need a lift?” she said, smiling sadly.

Henry nodded and got in.

“Any luck on your end getting tickets?”

“Nope,” Henry answered, his tone more morose than Eeyore’s when he lost his tail. ”

...And when he found his tail…

“You?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Even with the power pull?”

“Looks like the only thing that can defeat the royal family is the Storybrooke Multiplex.”

Henry sighed. “I even offered to do Jeffrey Frog’s homework for a month and he still wouldn’t give me his ticket! I can’t believe this! Everyone at my school is seeing this movie tonight!” Henry suddenly grinned as he turned to Emma. “Any chance I can skip school tomorrow and see it then?”

Emma shot Henry a teasing pointed look.

“Do you like having two moms? Because I promise, if I let you do that, Regina would see to it that you’d only have one.”

“She wouldn’t have to kno-o-w,” Henry pointed out. Emma almost had to snort at his sing-songy fashion of begging.

“You know we live in Storybrooke, right? She’ll know the moment you step into that theater. Sorry, kid.”

Henry rolled back his head and pressed it against the seat head. “Damnit.”

“Language!” A beat passed and the two started laughing at the spot-on nature of the reference, however unintentional it was.

For the record though, it was completely intentional.

As they pulled up to the house, Emma and Henry slunk into their seats.

“Want to watch Infinity Wars tonight?”

“I think it’ll hurt too much,” Henry dismissed.

Emma groaned. “You’re right,” she admitted. “Should we just wallow in silence?”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Henry replied, his tone just as miserable as Emma felt.

Finally, they got out of the car and went inside their house.

Immediately, the smell of microwave popcorn filled the air.

Henry and Emma looked at each other.

“Killian?” Emma called out.

“Emma!” Killian replied, coming out from the kitchen with a big bowl of popcorn. “And Henry! You’re both just in time for the show!”

Henry, clearly just as baffled as Emma was, looked to him. “Didn’t mom tell you Endgame was gonna be in theatres?”

Killian grinned a suspicious grin.

“Aye,” he said. “That she did, but she also told me that you weren’t able to procure tickets to the film.”

“So you were trying to make us feel better with an at-home movie?” Emma said, filling in the gaps. Killian nodded.

While still bummed out about the movie, she really had to hand it to Killian for his efforts to cheer them up.

For a pirate, he sure was sweet.

“Which one are we watching?” Henry asked.

Immediately, Killian’s grin grew to an outright smirk.

“Why ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ of course, my boy.”

Emma’s jaw slackened as Killian continued smirking at them.

“How?” Henry asked. “The movie just came out!”

“Why, I used that pirating technology of yours,” Killian said, gesturing towards the computer in the living room, which Henry wasted no time examining.

“But I thought you couldn’t figure out how to do it?”

“I couldn’t -- not when you first showed me, but I knew this film meant a lot to you so I did some digging. It took a few pages of this world’s government telling me NOT to pirate things, but when do I even listen to monarchs?”

“You listen to me,” Emma pointed out.

“Because I love you. Besides, you hardly ever use that title of yours.” Emma shrugged. “But anyway, eventually, I found some pages that laid out the process more thoroughly.”

“Well,” Emma said, watching Henry look at the file on the computer with an increasingly growing smile on his face, “it looks like you succeeded.”

Killian’s grin grew impossibly wider. “Yes, no matter the realm, you can always count on a pirate to secure the goods. And thankfully in this land, they’ve the decency to share their findings. Just be warned, the recording was from the premiere and quality isn't too great, especially compared to those Blu-Rays of yours.”

“It’s perfect!” Henry cried out! “It’s the right length, the Marvel logo looks new, the quality is low enough to be real! Killian, you are the best!” Having said that, Henry pulled Killian into a tight hug.

Killian rested his hook on Henry’s shoulder as he gently pulled him closer. “I’d say you own that title, lad, given how you’re far faster at this than I am, but you’re welcome all the same. Now why don’t you go get the other bowl of popcorn that has those accursed Milk Duds melted in for your mother and we’ll get this started?”

Henry, clearly not needing to be told twice, raced to the kitchen as Emma pulled her husband close.

“Looks like you can take the man out of the pirate, but you can’t take the pirate out of the man.”

“That bother you, my love?” Killian’s smirk returned, gazing at Emma as if he already knew the answer.

And dammit, he definitely did.

Emma answered his question with a kiss. She felt her foot pop as she settled cozily into his arms.

“I had a feeling,” Killian said, clearly not even bothering to keep the smug off his face.

“But that comment about my ‘accursed’ Milk Duds definitely crossed a line.”

“Give me credit, Swan. I may not be above breaking the law for my family, but I must have some honesty to my character.”

As she came in for another kiss, she made a point to lightly jab Killian in his smug little chest.

“Guys! Come on! It’s time for the romance to turn off and the action to turn on!”

Emma turned to Henry. “You wouldn’t be saying that if we were Pepper and Tony!”

“When you have a metal suit and can shoot energy blasts out of your hands, then you can makeout in front of me all you want.”

“Remind me to get some of Dad’s armor the next time I use my magic,” Emma told Killian.

Henry rolled his eyes, but gestured towards the TV before walking into the living room. “Anyway, Avengers, Assemble!”

Killian grinned, following him. “Excelsior!”

As Emma joined in alongside her boys, she marveled at how her pirate did indeed have many more tricks up his sleeve than even she expected.

And more than anything, even experiencing ‘The Avengers: Endgame’ spoiler-free, discovering all of them was to be the ultimate adventure.

[lilacmoon83]

Dreaming Out Loud

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 125: An Untold Story

As they entered the tavern, they looked around and saw many different types of people. There were what looked like Vikings at the dart board, a pair in a booth in clothing that suggested they might have been from Agrabah, and even a few people dressed in clothing generally found in the Land Without Magic.

Behind the bar was an olive skinned man, who eyed them knowingly and tossed the towel he was wiping the bar with away.

"Well...this is something. It's not everyday that the Supreme Goddess visits my humble little Tavern," Aesop said.

"It's been a long time, Aesop," Persephone greeted.

"Your Majesties," he said, bowing to all of them, except Van Helsing.

"You've been scarce lately, Van Helsing," he mentioned.

"Yes, well Transylvania is a shit hole. The bloodsuckers keep me busy," he said, as he sat down at the bar.

"I'll take some of that special brew you make though," he said, as Aesop poured him a very big glass of ale.

"We're not here to drink," Persephone chided, as Van Helsing began to down the large mug.

"She's right...we're here to pay a visit to Dr. Jekyll. One I doubt he'll enjoy," Hades added.

"I feel that we can do both," Van Helsing replied, as he continued to drink and Hades rolled his eyes.

"You are useless," he argued.

"Oh that's rich coming from you, blue hair," he quipped.

"Speak of the Devil," Aesop commented, as a bespectacled gentleman came into the tavern. Hades gave him a look for that comment.

"Sorry...bad joke," he offered, as they turned to observe the man.

"So that's him? Dr. Jekyll?" Emma asked.

"Don't let his appearance fool you...he's barking mad," Van Helsing said, as he concealed himself so as to not spook the doctor right away.

"Dr. Jekyll…" Persephone called, as the doctor approached curiously.

"Yes...to whom am I speaking?" he questioned.

"Persephone," she said.

"And Hades," he added. The doctor looked quite intrigued by that.

"It's not often the Gods of Olympus bother with this land...especially since they like to pretend that it doesn't exist," he commented.

"To what do we owe such a privilege?" he questioned.

"We have much to discuss, doctor and we are here to give you a firm cease and desist warning," she said.

"Cease and desist? I'm not sure what you mean?" he asked, playing dumb.

"Cut the mild mannered, well meaning act, doctor. We are well acquainted with your work and that you and Hyde have been making visits to the Land Without Magic," Hades replied. The doctor's well meaning smile changed instantly to a more devious smirk.

"The authorities in New York are generally overwhelmed with work. They'll hardly notice a few missing homeless people and prostitutes. In a way, you could even argue that I'm helping to clean up their streets," he said, causing Snow to gasp in alarm.

"Who are you friends?" Jekyll inquired.

"Never mind them...they are none of your concern," Persephone warned.

"Forget they exist if you know what's good for you," Hades added.

"Interesting...that must mean family," he said, as he looked between Snow and Persephone.

"Oh yes...the resemblance is quite striking. It is easy to see where your daughter gets her incredible, fair beauty," he mused.

"A Demi-Goddess…" he said, as he looked at Snow and then Emma.

"Two Demi-Goddesses, I assume," he stated, as David put his arms around Snow and made a point to put himself in front of his wife and daughter.

"Demi-Goddess blood...now that would be fascinating to experiment with," he commented, nearly causing David to launch himself at the doctor, but he was stalled when Van Helsing made his presence known. But the doctor seemed unfazed.

"You really should be more discreet, monster hunter. I've known you were here since the moment you entered this realm," he said. David turned to Aesop.

"Did you tell him?" he questioned.

"A little accusatory, Prince Charming…" Aesop retorted.

"I didn't tell you who I was," David countered, but the other man only smirked.

"I was the author at one time. I'm still familiar with all the realms of story, especially yours and your lovely Snow White's. It is one of the most prominent, though many other mainstream authors have gotten your story quite wrong," he mentioned.

"But as they have since their family stole the authorship from me, the Grimms got the honor of recording the real story of Snow White and Prince Charming; the tale of a legendary true love above all others," he added.

"Wow...bitter much?" Emma taunted and he smirked.

"And then there is the Savior. Another epic I was deprived of writing. The product of this true and legendary love that would break the Evil Queen's dark curse and save an entire population of damned people," he regaled.

"But I started it all. I paved the way for those authors...for entire Grimm family, only for them to toss me aside and bar me from ever picking up a pen again," he added.

"Yep...that's a lot of bitter," Emma commented.

"History even doubts my existence and all because the Grimm brothers wanted the glory," he added.

"We're sorry that happened to you, but this man is killing people and might be endangering everyone in our Kingdom and many others," Snow interjected.

"Not my problem, Princess," Aesop retorted.

"It will be if you help this monster again," Van Helsing said, as he prodded Jekyll forward.

"Come along doctor...time to release all the poor people trapped in your asylum," he said, as they followed him. But they missed the smirk on Jekyll's face, as he led them there.

~*~

The agents looked around the diner, seemingly confused by how normal it seemed. Neal stood up, motioning his son to stay with his great grandfather.

"Can I help you?" he asked, showing his badge on his hip.

"Law enforcement?" the woman asked.

"Deputy Cassidy," he introduced himself.

"Deputy...is there a Sheriff around?" she asked.

"Out of town," he replied.

"Then I guess you'll have to do," she said, as she flashed her badge.

"Supervising Special Agent Julia Isaac with the Federal Bureau of Investigation," she said.

"These are agents Mason, Cade, O'Bryan, and Quinn," she added.

"What can I do for you?" Neal asked, playing it cool.

"You can give us access to your criminal files. We're here to reopen the murder investigation into Kurt Flynn," she replied.

"Kurt Flynn...doesn't ring a bell," Neal replied.

"That's not surprising, given that it's a thirty-year-old cold case. But you do have Kurt Flynn's son in your custody and another man that broke this case wide open. We need to interview them too," she said, as she produced a warrant.

"This is a warrant for the seizure of your entire database," she said.

"I can take you to the station...just need to make a call really quick," Neal replied. She smirked.

"So you can have someone get rid of the files we want? I don't think so. You're going to lead us to the police station and you can do it in cuffs if you'd like," she threatened.

"Go…" Eli urged, as Henry ran out of the diner.

"Stop that boy!" she called, as two of her agents chased after him, while Eli and Neal were cuffed.

"So that's it...you just walk into town and take over? Is that warrant even real? Neal questioned.

"We're looking at castles and we saw a flying unicorn on the way here. Does it really matter if it's real?" she countered. Neal scoffed.

"That wasn't a unicorn. They have horns. Only a Pegasus flies. Get your facts straight," Neal joked.

"Cute...but will you be so smug when my agents catch up to your son?" she asked.

"He's a kid, but underestimating my son would be pretty stupid," Neal answered, as they were marched to the station.

"So you're Neal Cassidy, which is definitely an alias. So who are you?" agent Quinn asked. Eli smirked.

"I am Your Majesty King Elijah," he answered.

"Another comedian...that's fine. You'll be singing another song soon when you see what you're facing," Quinn stated.

"And exactly what is my crime? And I wasn't joking about the King thing. My castle is the one farthest north of here," he retorted.

"This is all insane," O'Bryan commented.

"Yeah...you have no idea how in over your heads you really are," Neal warned, as they approached the station. He could only hope that Henry found Regina before those other two agents caught up to him.

~*~

They followed a captive Jekyll onto the grounds of the Asylum, which was a dreary building surrounded by an attractive garden.

"How many people do you have locked up here?" Snow questioned.

"Most of my cells are full. But many are transients or mentally ill patients. To those that society has forgotten...I have given purpose," Jekyll claimed.

"Purpose? They're people you have locked up! You're killing them!" Snow shouted.

"I should have known that your daughter would be the bleeding heart type, Your Majesty," Jekyll commented.

"Take care how you speak of our daughter," Hades warned.

"Our daughter...isn't she the child that your wife conceived with a mortal prince?" The doctor questioned.

"Papa Hades is as much my father as my biological father is," Snow interjected, making him chuckle.

"Papa Hades...now that is amusing," Jekyll said.

"Yeah...keep laughing at my wife and you'll have done your last experiment," David warned.

"The great monster hunter, Van Helsing, hasn't been able to kill me yet. Do you really think you can, Prince Charming, is it?" He retorted.

"Do you really want to find out?" David growled in return.

"Charming...is that really your name? A little narcissistic to call yourself that, isn't it?" He goaded.

"If you must know, I gave him that name and he most certainly lives up to it in every way," Snow insisted, as they went inside the facility.

"Okay...let's start by releasing all these people and then you'll take us to the place you keep meeting the Dragon," Persephone said.

"Oh, I think not," Jekyll responded, as a high-pitched sonic wave blared from the intercom. He seemed impervious to it, but the rest of them covered their ears in pain and promptly lost consciousness. Jekyll removed some specialized, tiny pads from his ears, as Mr. Poole approached.

"Thank you Mr. Poole. Please put Persephone, her husband, and the monster hunter in a magic dampening cell," Jekyll ordered.

"And the other three?" He asked. He smirked.

"Oh, they are quite interesting. Bring them to my lab," he replied.

~*~

Henry ran as fast as he could through the woods, weaving around trees and cried out, as he tripped over a branch that was sticking out of the ground. He fell down, but then scrambled to his feet, intending to keep running. But the two agents caught up to him and cornered him.

"Easy kid...we just want to talk," agent Mason said.

"Yeah right...you just arrested my dad and he didn't do anything!" Henry cried.

"Actually, I put your dad's name into the database and he's a wanted man. His name popped up in Phoenix and Portland for grand larceny. Looks like he's been dodging the authorities for years," Agent Cade said. Henry looked fearful at that. Not only were they here to take one of his moms, but possibly his dad too.

"Come on kid, let's get you to the station too. You can at least say goodbye to him," agent Mason said, but a growling halted him in his tracks, as a giant wolf blocked his path to Henry.

"Oh my God...shoot it!" agent Cade cried. The wolf snarled and Henry hopped on Red's back, as she took off with him, even as the agents fired their bullets uselessly.

"I've never seen a wolf that big before," Cade mentioned.

"Let's get to the station," Mason said.

"Agent Isaac won't be happy that we lost the kid," Cade replied. He snorted.

"Yeah, well we're both lucky we didn't just get mauled by that wolf," he answered.

~*~

Snow mewled gently, as she opened her bleary eyes. She looked around and quickly noticed that her arms and legs were being held in place with restraints.

"Ah...you're awake," Jekyll said, as he approached.

"Let us go!" Snow cried, as she saw that her husband and her daughter were both in the same type of position she was.

"Oh, I'm afraid not, Princess Snow," he said.

"Queen Snow," she corrected.

"The last few hours of research and exams have been quite enthralling," he said, as she then noticed the machine that was in front of her husband, showing an x-ray of his chest and it was quite clear to see that he only had half a heart.

"Half a heart in his chest and half a heart in yours," Jekyll said, as she noticed the same type of device in front of her.

"Even in fairy tales, I never imagined something so fantastical could be possible," Jekyll mentioned.

"Well it is, but it is nothing scientific for you to study. It's true love," she refuted.

"True love...true love that produced this young woman," Jekyll said, as he referred to Emma.

"The resemblance between her and the both of you is quite obvious, but I wasn't sure it could possibly be so since she looks the same age. But the blood tests confirmed it. She is yours," Jekyll said.

"You didn't need a blood test for that, four eyes. You could have just asked," Emma grumbled, as she woke up.

"Emma…" Snow called, as her daughter tried to get her bearings.

"What the hell…" David growled, as he came to as well and found himself restrained.

"Charming…" Snow whimpered, as he looked at her.

"Snow…" he said, as he looked at the doctor.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded.

"What do you want?" he demanded to know.

"Relax, Your Highness...I am almost finished with my examinations," Jekyll replied.

"The blood samples I took were quite fascinating," he continued.

"I expected the samples to be extraordinary, because of the Demi-Goddess blood, but I found his quite fascinating as well. There is an extraordinary quality to it as well, something I've never quite seen," he mentioned.

"And it's in your daughter's too," he added.

"Because of that...I have determined that she is the perfect candidate to test my serum on," Jekyll stated.

"Like hell…" David growled, as he pulled at the restraints with all his might.

"Your serum?" Snow asked with trepidation.

"Yes...so far, my serum has failed to complete the separation between a person's good side and their dark side. But I believe your daughter, due to her lineage and this strange anomaly in her blood, that she may be strong enough to survive it," Jekyll replied.

"Survive? You have tested others and they didn't survive?!" Snow exclaimed, as she started to panic.

"I'm afraid so...but you have nothing to worry about. I'm sure if anyone can survive, it would be the Savior," he said.

"You sick psychopath! We're not letting you test your insane serum on our daughter!" Charming cried, as he pulled on the restraints with all his might.

"Oh, I'm afraid that I'm going to do just that and there is nary a thing you can do about it, Charming," Jekyll responded, as he readied a syringe.

"Mom...dad…" Emma said, as she looked at them and a tear slipped down her cheek.

"I love you…" she said, clearly scared beyond belief at what was facing her. Snow began to sob and fruitlessly tried to get free.

"Emma…" she cried.

"Please don't do this! She's our baby...please!" she pleaded to the cold, unfeeling monster of a doctor, but her begging was paid no mind. David struggled desperately with the restraints and Snow's cries pierced his heart.

"Please! Please no!" she cried for their daughter, as the doctor approached her. Charming felt the fire coursing through his veins and as much as he had been leery of it up until now, he gave himself over to it and his arms glowed red, as he literally burned his way through the restraints.

"How did you…" Jekyll started to say, but he was cut off, as David punched him in the face, breaking his nose on contact. He cried out in pain and fell to the floor.

"Curse you…" Jekyll seethed, as the syringe lay broken on the floor and he glared up at the prince. David ignored him and undid Emma's restraints, as she hugged him tightly, before they both scrambled to undo Snow's.

"Mr. Poole!" Jekyll called, as the large man entered the lab and stood menacingly in the doorway. David cut him off, as he barreled toward them and ducked his large fist, before landing one of his own in the other man's gut. They traded blows and David ducked another jab to the face, taking the opportunity to punch him in the jaw. Mr. Poole hissed in pain and touched his chin, feeling that there was burned skin left by the prince's fist. He looked at him questioningly, before charging again. David was ready though and threw him over his shoulder. Mr. Poole went crashing into the doctor's lab table and equipment, including the large beaker that held all of the existing serum.

"NOOO!" Jekyll cried in horror, as he glared murderously at the prince.

"Do you know what you've just done?!" he screamed.

"That was years of work, you foolish brute!" he cried.

"That was all the serum I had in existence!" he ranted.

"Good...then maybe it will stop you from hurting anymore innocent people!" David shouted back, as the Doctor tried desperately to scoop some of the existing serum up into an empty vial, but it was a futile effort.

"You're going to pay for this, Prince Charming!" he screamed, as they noticed that a small fire had started, thanks to the Bunsen burner being upturned and making contact with the various liquids that now stained the floor.

"We need to find your parents and Van Helsing and get out of here," David said, as he ushered them toward the exit of the lab.

"Stop them Mr. Poole!" he cried. Unfortunately for them, they did not see that the fire had spread to the medical equipment present and the oxygen tank ignited, sending a plume of fire through the room. David pushed the three of them through the door and they escaped the flames. But Jekyll and his cohort were not so lucky and they both cried out, as they were caught in the inferno that was now the lab. Snow gasped and turned away from the sight. Mr. Poole was completely engulfed and the poor man's cries slowly dissipated, as he perished. Jekyll growled and tried to crawl toward them. He had suffered burns on his face and body, but was still very much alive at the moment.

"This isn't over…" he growled, as he cried out and started to convulse. They watched in horror, as he changed into someone else, who they could only assume was Mr. Hyde.

"Run...we need to get everyone out of here, before this whole place goes up!" David cried, as he ushered his wife and daughter forward. They hurried through the corridors, as an insane and badly burned Hyde chased them.

"Snow!" Persephone called, as they rounded the corner and entered the cell block.

"Mom!" she called, as Emma tried to use magic on the lock.

"This is a magic dampening cell," Hades said, as they realized it wouldn't work.

"Maybe we can melt our way through, like you did with the restraints," Emma said to her father, as they both put their hands on the bars and began to do so. Van Helsing smirked.

"You're both learning fast...that's good," he said, as he looked up to see a deranged Hyde coming at them.

"Whoa...what the hell happened to him?" he asked.

"An oxygen tank exploded on him," Emma replied, as they melted enough of the metal away for the three of them to slip through. The rest of the cells were not dampened by magic, so Persephone and Hades used their magic to snap the locks on all the cells.

"Everyone out! This whole place is about to go up!" Hades called, as they started filing people toward the exit.

"Get them out of here...I'll get the rest with magic," Hades told his son-in-law. David nodded, as grabbed Snow and Emma's hands, before leading them out.

Within a matter of minutes, the entire asylum was completely engulfed, but luckily they had gotten everyone out, with the exception of Hyde.

"Oh Snow…" Persephone gushed, as she hugged her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.

"Do you think he survived?" Snow asked with trepidation.

"It's hard to say. Even Jekyll and Hyde have their limits, but since he was Hyde, I wouldn't count him out just yet," Van Helsing replied.

"He was going to test his serum on Emma," she said fearfully, but then put her arms around her husband.

"But then Dad saved me. He burned his way right through the restraints," Emma said, with pride and Snow kissed him passionately.

"We need to relocate these people and then find where this Order that the Dragon is working with so we can shut them down," Hades said.

"Uh...most of these people are from the Land Without Magic," Emma whispered.

"And Jekyll said most of them are homeless," Snow added. Persephone nodded.

"Can any of you show us where you were taken from when we get to New York?" she asked.

"I...I think I can," one young woman said.

"But who are you people?" she asked.

"That's a very complicated story, but just know that we're going to return to New York and you'll all have beds to sleep in tonight," Persephone answered.

"What about all this stuff we've seen? Who the hell is going to believe any of this?" a man asked.

"No one and trust us, it's best that way," Hades replied, as his wife used a key to open a portal to the Land Without Magic.

After they left, a badly burned and injured Hyde crawled from the burning building. He yelled out a blood curdling scream of rage and agony, promising that he was not done and he would seek revenge...