#fic a day july 2021

[jimmyeatsbread]

Goodbyes are the strangest part, is this the end of just the start? Is this the end or just the start?

☀️

[onlyhereforangst]

Ellick and covered in blood please? 🙈🥺

His eyes couldn’t escape it, couldn’t focus on a single other inch of space. It was the entirety of his fears, in one place, confronting him, all at once. Every ignored nightmare. Every unspoken worry. Every intrusive thought. Right there. On the cold, pitch black pavement.

read more here

[japannkenn]

my boy luca passed out💀

[eddiediaaz]

hellooooo! i read a lot of buck/eddie fics, literally everyday, and earlier this december i thought "why not share some of my favorites that i have read this month?" so here we are! i couldn't include everything i've read and enjoyed, the list would be really long. but i've picked a few fanfics that i've read (for the first time) in december that were really huge favorites and stayed with me for a little while these past days/weeks. i will try to make these on a monthly basis, because fanfic authors deserve all of the recognition! oh, and happy new year!

both blades and branch by @cal-daisies-and-briars 62k | mature | canon divergence | completed: december 2023

The chances of being struck by lightning twice are incredibly minute, but Buck still manages to pull it off. During a double date with Marisol and Natalia, nonetheless. Eddie manages to resuscitate him, but as Buck recovers from yet another trauma, Eddie can’t help but notice there’s something very different about him. He’s not quite sure what version of Buck he got back.

this fic is absolutely incredible. i couldn't put it down once i started. it's extremely well written and brilliantly planned out. the angst is heavy but so is the reward: this is an amazing story. easily an all-time favorite!

my blood on your skin (my rose on your snow) by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels 80k | explicit | alternate universe | posted: october 2023

When Eddie needs cash and fast to take care of Christopher, his LAFD Academy buddy suggests a job as a bouncer at Elysium - an exclusive sex club in downtown Los Angeles. Eddie doesn't care what goes on there, so long as he's paid, but he finds he cares a lot bout the club's enigmatic owner, Evan Buckley, and it's not long before the two of them are violating every boss-employee rule in the book. But there's something different about Buck and the club, something not quite... human. If Eddie wants to keep Buck, he's going to have to delve into the world of immortals, and all the risks that implies.

another exquisite fic from this author. they never miss!! this one explores a dynamic i don't read that often (sub eddie) but it works SO well here. extremely well done, as usual. i also absolutely love this buck here.

burn a bridge, learn how to swim [series] by watermelonshorts 34k | mature/explicit | canon verse | completed: july 2021

In which there is some unexpected making out, some pining, one third of an existential crisis and a lot of unhelpful advice. Not necessarily in that order.

they are GIANT disasters in here! really loved the humoristic tone of this whole thing. i just wanna shake them and yell learn how to communicate properly damn it!

dead reckoning by euadnes 28k | mature | canon verse | posted: december 2022

In which a tragedy on the edge of a firestorm leaves part of the 118 stranded and struggling to survive in the wilderness. Left entirely to their own devices, the survivors fight to come home, alive.

buck, eddie, and ravi survive a plane crash, and it's amazing. incredibly well written, i was hooked from the very start and couldn't put it down until i was done.

here comes the jackpot question in advance by @lamardeuse 4k | teen+ | canon verse | posted: december 2023

Buck is determined to start the new year right.

this is very very very cute!!! i always love a cute holiday themed get together story. as always, this author nailed the characterization!

being eddie by @cal-daisies-and-briars 79k | teen+ | canon divergence | completed: august 2023

When Eddie starts seeing a new therapist, he’s presented with the opportunity to revisit several days from his past and right regrets that still bother him. OR: Eddie goes through the time travel therapy process of the 2009 Canadian TV show Being Erica

incredible concept!!! all the moments chosen for eddie to revisit are perfect and make so much sense for his character. this was such a great read and an absolutely amazing character exploration fic.

a blaze in the dark by @woodchoc-magnum 117k | explicit | canon verse | published: december 2023

Set post-Season 6, where Buck has inadvertently sacrificed his friendship with Eddie in order to focus on his new relationship with Natalia, and is shocked when Eddie comes out to the team and subsequently reveals that he is dating a guy.

okay so i literally read this in one sitting and went to bed at 7am to finish it. i couldn't put it down. the angst is SO good and frustrating and delicious and painful. but the payoff is so worth it!! this is really really really good. i loved all the dynamics, especially eddie and karen's friendship.

[whatdoeseverybodywant]

You're the Only Girl for Me - Chapter 18

I do NOT give permission for my work to be translated or reposted on here or any other site, even if you give me credit. DO NOT REPOST MY FICS

Reblogs, comments, likes, and feedback ALWAYS appreciated ❤

All OC Characters belong to me

Series Masterlist

July 30th 2021

Airielle numbly walked around the arena before the show started. She didn’t have a destination, she was just walking, trying to distract herself from thinking about Josh. Because, it wasn’t the fact that she didn’t want to be with him, she did. She was in love with him and if he never asked her to move in with him, they would still be together. 

It wasn’t his fault though, he didn’t know the full story of what went down with Christopher. The thought of living with another man terrified her. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, she felt herself shut down. She remembers stuttering out an excuse to leave his apartment, she remembers the look of confusion on his face as she all but ran out of the door and she remembers the pain in his voice as she told him she didn’t want to be with him anymore. 

Airielle let out a sigh as she looked at her watch. It was 15 minutes to showtime so she decided to get her makeup touched up.As she sat down she noticed Yara, a new backstage announcer and Zelina Vega were sitting in front of her. She was about to speak and say hello but something Zenlina said made her freeze. 

“You’ve been smiling at your phone all day. Is it Josh again?” Airielle’s world stopped. Of course he would move on. She was the one who ended things with him. She zoned out for the rest of their conversation as she was pretty sure she had just lost the best thing that had happened to her. 

“Hey Airielle. Can I sit here?” Airielle blinked as she was brought out of  her thoughts. She didn’t even remember walking to catering. “Airielle?” She looked up at Raymond and nodded her head. “You alright” he asked her as he sat down.  She blinked again and forced a small smile on her face. 

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She said, 

“”You sure, you look zoned out or something.” 

Airielle was about to be sick. Yara and Josh walked into catering with Josh having an arm thrown around Yara’s shoulders. They were both laughing and Airielle wanted to know what the fuck was so funny.  

She needed to get out of there fast. She abruptly stood from her seat and without saying another word to Raymond she walked out of catering. After making a stop at Hunter’s office, telling him she was too sick to work tonight. She made her way to the locker rooms to find Trin. 

 “Hey baby girl you okay?” Trinity asked as she opened the door to The Bloodline’s locker room. Airielle felt her bottom lip tremble and of course, Trinity noticed. “Airielle what’s wrong.” Trinity asked getting the attention of Jon and Joe and they immediately came to the door to see what was wrong. 

Fuck. Airielle thought as she felt the first tear slide down her face. Jon immediately jumped into big brother mode. “Who the fuck did it!” 

“Guys, I'm fine.” She said but her voice cracked and more tears started falling. “I’m gonna head back to the hotel and probably find an early flight home. I just wanted to tell you so y’all weren’t waiting for me.” 

She turned to walk away but was stopped by Josh standing right behind her. Should have just sent her a text. 

Josh noticed her tears and cupped her face, making her look at him. “What happened.” 

“Why don’t you ask Yara.” She said, glaring at him while she pushed him away from here. 

“Oop.” Trinity said, pulling Jon and Joe back into the locker room and closing the door.  

“Wait.” Josh chuckled. “You mad at me? For hanging out with Yara?” He scoffed. “I mean i’m single right?” Airielle wiped her tears and nodded her head. 

“You’re absolutely right, you are single. So if you’ll excuse me.” She said shouldering her way past Josh. 

July 31st 2021

Paul had granted Airielle her two week vacation early and she was beyond grateful. It couldn't have come at a better time. She had just walked out of the gym when her phone pinged with a notification. 

Raymond : Hey, i’m in Pensacola visiting my grandma. You wanna chill or somethin?” 

Airielle bit her lip as she contemplated  his offer. 

To Raymond: sure. Give me a time and place & ill be there. 

Raymond had decided to take her to a local lounge/bar that she had visited with Jon and Trin multiple times and was very grateful that they were not there tonight. 

“How many times am I gonna let you hustle me?” Airielle laughed as she placed the fifty dollar bill he just handed her into her bag. 

“Lets just call it payback for looking at my ass every time I bent over to hit the ball.” Raymond looked shocked then shrugged with a smile on his face causing Airielle to shove him lightly. “ Thank you for inviting me out tonight. I really needed this.” Raymond shrugged and wrapped his arm around Airielle’s shoulder and started leading her to her car.

“It’s not a  problem Airielle, really. I like hanging out with you.” Airielle smiled and pulled her keys out of her purse. 

“I like hanging out with you too.” Airielle’s eyes widened as Raymond started lowering his head towards her. She was about to push him away but… If Josh was moving on, so could she. 

Raymond let out a groan as their lips met. Airielle wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her and deepening the kiss. 

“You know.” A voice called out, startling the two of them. “Here I was feeling bad because you seen me hanging out with Yara.”  It was almost comical how wide Airielle’s eyes were as she turned to face Josh.  

“Josh,” She started. Taking a step towards him but he took a step back and started shaking his head. 

“I’m done Airielle. Whatever games you playin.” He shook his head. “I don’t wanna play anymore. You got it.” Josh sighed as he pushed past Airielle and Raymond and started walking towards the bar. 

“Fuck.” Airielle muttered, before getting in her car and driving away, without saying goodbye to Raymond. 

Airielle... smh..

Reblogs, comments, likes, and feedback ALWAYS appreciated ❤

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@xmonetsworld @kill-the-artiste

[late-to-the-party-81]

Answer the questions and tag five fanfiction authors you know!

Thank you @metalbvcky. NPT for @mrs-illyrian-baby @doasyoudesireandlive @km-ffluv @labella420

🍓 How did you get into writing fanfiction?

As a teen I was a voracious reader and tried to write my own stuff based on other books I'd read. I also loved ST:TNG and wanted dearly to be in an episode and had lots of the books. I wrote my own ST stories with OC's (gratuitous self inserts), but they never went anywhere. In my late teens I read some Xena fanfic on the internet. But that was it for a great number of years.

At the beginning of 2021 I sat and watched the entirety of the MCU films in chronological order (I'd seen most of them before and was mainly a Thor gal.) I fell down the Stucky rabbithole. Deep. I decided to look up fanfic. AO3 was now a thing! I wrote (a very poor) Stucky fic and here we are, almost 3 years later

🍇How many fandoms have you written in?

As my ST stuff never made it further than my parent's old PC in the days of dial-up, I won't count it.

I've written for MCU, various Chris Evans and Seb Stan Characters and one fic for RWRB. I've been toying with writing a one-off Criminal Minds fic as a gift for a friend.

🍈How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

Three in July since I first published anything on AO3.

🍎Do you read or write more fanfiction?

I try to balance it out. If I have a period of hyperfocus writing I try to then go through a period of reading. I read on both Tumblr and AO3, so try to keep that even as well.

🍌What is one way you've improved as a writer?

Getting betas to pick me up on tense changes, overuse of words and rogue commas. Reading more. Practising. Writing outlines for longer stories so I don't go off-piste.

🍑Do you have any bad habits as a writer?

Getting bored half-way through a long fic, especially if the first few parts haven't had a lot of interaction. Which is why I try to write the whole thing before I start posting.

🍍 What's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Engineering courses at MIT and, for a separate fic, Violet wands, including the ways to use them and the differnt types of accessories you can use with them. I even watched a Youtube video.

🍉What's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

Any comment! Anything that gives me the validation I need!

🍐What's the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

I wrote a transformation into Tsum-tsum fic that was both cracky and smutty. That's pretty niche.

🥭What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

Action scenes. I loathe them. I'm constantly wondering if they are long enough, and make sense.

🍏What is the easiest type?

Short things that are either PWP or fluffy slices of life.

🍑Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

Mainly on my elderly laptop on G-Docs, and in every moment I can - normally afterwork before dinner and on Mondays when I don't have work.

🍋What is something you've been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

There are a few characters and ships I haven't written that I'd like to. And I suppose I'd like to write a proper long, over 100k fic at some point.

🍇 what made you choose your username?

When I made my AO3 account I felt as though that at 40, and only really starting in Fandom in this way, I was late to the party, so that is who I became.

[0oolookitsme]

Falling in Love

Type- One-Shoty Blurb

Verse- Singer!Harry x Ceo!Y/n

Word Count- 1.3k

Warnings- Just sweet, sweet fluff and a very light description of the anxiety that comes with falling in love.

A/N- This one, y'all, is a special one.

This fic celebrates more than one occasion. I published my first ever fic on this site on July 20, 2021. And this is also a goodbye to The Love On Tour which ends today, July 22. I chose (Singer!Harry x Ceo!Y/n) for this, because it is the first universe I ever created, and Harry is a singer in this au, so that kind of fit as well. Also, you people never failed to show your favouritism when it came to any fic I posted in this 'verse -- I love you, and thank you so much for that. I'll be honest, this isn't the original the fic I wanted to post today, but I had to because somehow, I wasn't able to finish it in time. Maybe by the next weekend I'll have it finished, don't mark my words on that though.

So, I really hope you enjoy this fic, which depicts a scene from (Singer!Harry x Ceo!Y/n)'s early stages of relationship, when they'd just started falling in love.

I love you and thank you, a LOT ;) -A.

A little out of breadth Y/n climbed in her car, immediately turning on the AC on full. It was a melting hot day in New York, and she couldn't be more frustrated.

Sitting in the car, she switched on her mobile data for her playlist to start singing. But just as she hit play, a text from Harry popped up on her screen, a smile stretching out on her mouth just in time. She scrolled down her notification bar to see what it was, and it made her sad, the fact that she couldn't smile any wider.

Obviously, he was trying to make her insides churn -- why else would he ask her: 'would you like some croissant, mon chouchou?' Her nose scrunched up as she let her head hit the headrest of the seat, trying to swallow down her screech of giddiness.

With fists clenched tight because there was no other way she could express her ecstasy right now, she allowed herself to open her hand and loosen-up her jaw. 'I'd very much love some! Where are you right now?' She texted back, hoping she could pick him up.

Driving out and straight onto the main lane, she stopped about mid-way through, the street packed with cars and bikes.

Y/n looked up once again, to make sure the traffic light really was red, and right as she was about to look back down, they turned green -- and this is the first time she's been mad about that. Tossing her phone on the passenger seat as she turned her car on the left, she hoped that Harry would reply before she reached the U-Cut.

And while her full attention was on the road, she couldn't help but look at her phone screen from the corner of her eyes. Should she just call him? She slowed down her speed, waiting and waiting and immediately stopping on the side of the lane when he finally texted back: 'Cornelia Street, why?'

Her whole face scrunched up in confusion, as she quickly typed: 'what the hell?' She hit send too quickly, but still kept on typing. 'it's like an hour away! how are you gonna make it? the metro-station will shut down soon!' She texted him again, starting her car again to start driving.

The quicker she reached him, the better. She just hoped that she wouldn't have to stop at a red light again.

'I dunno... maybe get an Uber?' Her screen lit up with his text. 'Anyways, which one do you want?' He texted again, this time attaching 2 photos.

Y/n lightly shook her head, not able to believe that she's going to be driving for an hour to pick up this weird man she seems to have developed a huge crush on, when all she wanted to do leaving the office was to pass out on the lovely forest green sofa in her living room. And she only gets more confused when she sees her phone light up from the corner of her eyes again.

'Pick up whichever one you're eating, H' she sent him a voice message, not careless enough to text him that while driving at this speed. But just as she turns on the next road, a groan rumbles from the back of her throat when she sees another traffic-jam. It sure isn't as hideous as the previous one, but it's making her late, nevertheless.

Rien Que Toi et Moi started playing on low volume in the car as she picked her phone again, going straight to the text Harry had sent her.

'okay, you're clearly too busy to type 'gruyere croissant'. So, I will buy it for you even though I'm taking a chocolate one' was the first text, and the next one made her grin quite wide in slight embarassment. It said, 'Cause someone needs to be sweet to keep your salty ass sane'

'Don't get all grumpy with me now, we both know you can't live for even a day without salt' she texted back, chuckling already. 'And don't book any taxi, I'm on my way to pick you up!' She wrote again, now suddenly embarrassed.

This time, she threw her phone on the seat for once and for all, determined to stop only when she's on Cornelia Steet.

And as she drove, her mind was still on Harry. It hadn't escaped her, the fact that he remembered her favourite croissant, and knew she wanted that one only, even when she didn't say so. She knows that he too knows he'll be eating half of hers and then offer her a half of his'. Staying with her, he'd grown to like a lot of her favourites.

But what he's surely got to notice, is that a lot of his favourites, are now Y/n's as well. It's more than often that she's caught doing things that he loves to do, learning about things that he always talks to her about. And she remembered something flashing in his eyes when she told him that she's only doing it so that she can chat a little more about it with him.

Driving with her window rolled down, Y/n slowly and slowly felt herself calming down and little by little, falling for Harry -- with his little quirks and habits that make him who he is. But still there was a slight tightness in the midst of her chest that frightened her, a little alarm that always went off blaring every time her eyes landed on Harry, screaming at her to turn around, that she still had time, and her heartrate would go impossibly high.

But she knew, she had nothing to lose. The most that could happen was that he'd break her heart and people will stop murmuring about how she's got some colour in her face and a small smile on her mouth every time she walked by. And the gossips about her being cold-hearted would return. She didn't have anything more to lose and for some weird reason whenever she saw Harry, something inside her, maybe her heart, pointed at him and whispered without a pause in her ears, 'that's the one, that's the one.'

It's when she passes the board-sign with 'Cornelia Street' written across it that she parks on the side of the lane again. Picking up her phone, she texts Harry 'I'm in front of the 'Books and Lattes' cafe. Where are you?'

And it was like Harry was already on his phone because he responded right away. 'Should be visible on the first zebra-crossing you stop at!' his text said, and all of a sudden, a hint of giddiness bubbled inside her at the realization that finally she'll be seeing him.

And Y/n did see him, just as she slowed down as she neared the crossing. She looked to her left fist, out the passenger side window and in a split second her eyes found the pair of forest-green eyes that she longed to take a walk in all the damn time.

His Cheshire-cat grin so charming, it felt as though he had aimed it straight at heart, as he walked towards her. And just to poke fun at him, she didn't unlock the door -- rolling down the window instead. He waved at her with a dimpled smile, just a few steps away and as he went to open the door, "hey there, beau" she teased.

Harry rested his elbows on the sill, looking at her with a mockingly intense gaze. "Lose your croissant or unlock the door," he said quickly and laughed at her groan as he went to sit beside her. "I'm hurt that you'd choose a croissant over me!"

"I'm surprised that you're surprised," Y/n said, while backing up just a bit to turn into the other lane.

She heard him sigh and then saw him dramatically rub his forehead. "Disappointed, but not surprised," he said.

"Oh, c'mon darling-"

"I'm not your darling when 'm pissed at you!"

Letting out an amused laugh, she intertwined their hands in the heat of the moment, and that same old alarm went off blaring. "Now look who's being salty," she stated as a matter of fact, shaking her head when Harry muttered, 'you're never going to let that go, are you?'

And somewhere on the inside, a little voice in her head mumbled, "uh oh, I'm falling in love."

Tagging: @reveriehs <3 MASTERLIST :)

[fiapartridge]

different | kent johnson

"maybe this time it'll be different..."

kent johnson x hughes!sister

summary: when kent arrives to the lake house two years after breaking up with y/n hughes, he has so much more planned than wakeboarding with the boys-- he's going to get her back.

warning(s): cursing

a/n: i remembered someone requesting a kj fic so here we are!! it's my first one! so! try not to hate it too much! LOL

Kent hadn’t anticipated coming to the lake house like this: sopping wet from the rain that only seemed to pour when Kent arrived since all the days leading up to this were sunny skies with a chance of nothing– absolutely zero rain, except for the day he showed up. Great.

And to make matters even worse, he hadn’t even been invited to the lake house, turning up unannounced. Luke and the rest of the Hughes’ cut contact with Kent after his and Y/N’s breakup. I mean, he didn’t expect them to take his side or feel some sort of sympathy for him, but he also didn’t know he was gonna lose everyone because of it. 

Luke Hughes had invited Kent to the lake house every summer since meeting him, claiming him as the “cool older brother he never had.” (Jack and Quinn had of course taken offense from that, but he was right. Kent was cool.) But when Kent broke up with Y/N after the 2021 draft, making up the excuse of not wanting to “drag her along” while he was busy in the NHL, Luke couldn’t help but be there for his sister. At first, he hadn’t taken sides. Luke wasn’t a part of the relationship, so obviously their friendship would be fine— but once he heard how hurt and worthless she felt, he couldn’t be friends with him. He would never be friends with a person that could make his sister feel that bad about herself. 

For months, she wondered what she could’ve possibly done to make him walk out like that, especially on a day that was supposed to be so special. Maybe… maybe she was just a thing to pass the time with until his life really began. She wasn’t meant to be in his life, not the life he planned at least, she was just something that happened— and apparently he wasn’t one for spontaneity.

Until now. As he stands at the door of the Hughes family’s summer home, the memories of spending warm July nights huddled around the small table that sat on the front porch, littered with beer bottles and red solo cups, flooding back to him. Y/N sitting comfortably on his lap, her brothers making gagging noises every time they kissed, his UMich teammates picking her up and running through the house to the backyard, throwing Y/N into the pool and pushing Kent in with her. 

They don’t even text him anymore. And he thought that losing them would’ve been the worst part, but they weren’t the people that he told everything to; what he was feeling; how anxious he felt about the future; how excited he was after scoring his first goal at Yost. his frustration over his terrible gameplay the month before the draft, fearing that none of the teams would draft him if they saw how he was playing then. That was all Y/N— and he blew it.

He wasn’t even thinking, he didn’t know what to say, his actions spoke before him as he knocked on the door, hearing the loud chatter on the other side come to a halt. And before he knew it, he was face-to-face with his old teammate, Luke.

Stepping onto the porch and closing the door behind him, Luke’s face couldn’t be mistaken for anything but anger. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Luke spat.

Kent wasn’t expecting a warm welcome, but he also wasn’t expecting a full on war the minute he knocked on the door. He really should’ve thought out his words on the way here.

“I know that everyone in that house hates me,” Luke scoffed, muttering something under his breath as Kent cautiously continued. “But I need to talk to Y/N. I fucked up, I know, and it’s too late, but please. I just need to see her.”

“Even if I told her you were here, I don’t think she’d even want to talk to you.”

Ouch.

“I know you’ll never forgive me for what I did to your sister, and I have no excuse for that, but just— give me one last chance with her. I just want to talk.”

Luke stood there, processing it all. He hated Kent for what he had done. None of the other boys were there to hold Y/N when she would fall asleep with tears in her eyes, they weren’t there when she would stumble into his bed late at night because she didn’t trust herself to be alone in her room, they weren’t there to hear her beat up herself for what had happened, thinking that this whole thing was her fault, that she could’ve prevented this from happening if she was just… better.

But he also remembered how happy Kent made her feel when they were together. 

So he gave him a chance. One singular chance.

“Y/N,” Kent froze upon seeing her. She looked so different, yet so the same. She wore her hair down now instead of in messy buns or high ponies, she was taller, and her baby face was gone, her cheeks growing a bit slimmer. She still had that rosy pink complexion that she always carried around with her and she still wore the silver charm bracelet she had when they were together. She was still so beautiful, if not more than when he last saw her.

Her arms were crossed over her chest, closing herself off to him. She looked hesitant, apprehensive. She had spent the first year after their breakup hoping that he would come back and tell her that it was all a big mistake, that he didn’t mean to break up with her, that he was just overwhelmed, that he wanted her back. The second year, she accepted it; that he wasn’t coming back. So why was she feeling like nothing had changed, that all her progress meant nothing, that she would crumble and go back to the way it was that first year, hoping he’d make his way back to her, in her arms, on her lips, in her heart.

For him, she was a mess. That she never grew out of— as much as she wished she would.

“Why are you here, Kent?”

Hearing his full name come out of her mouth was like a dagger to his chest. But he did that. He ruined everything. Did he really have the right to feel bad for himself?

He licked his lips, trying to find his words. Any words, really. “I still care about you, Y/N/N. I never stopped.”

“So why did you throw it all away?” she asked, poking her finger at his chest. “And don’t give me the bullshit excuse of ‘dragging me along’ because you were three fucking hours away! That wouldn’t have changed anything!”

“I was stupid, okay!” he shouted back, his voice cracking. “I was overwhelmed, and I was lost, and I knew I wouldn’t be enough for you, that I couldn’t be there, and be the person that you deserved.”

She scoffed, shaking her head. This is not how she thought seeing him again would go. “Did you think you couldn’t have told me? That I wouldn’t understand? We could’ve worked through it! We could’ve been together through it all! We could’ve seen if it really was gonna work or not! But you didn’t even want to give us a chance.”

Backing away, her hand fell from his chest, slipping to the door knob behind her. It’s like he was losing her all over again. He couldn’t let that happen, not again.

Holding onto her wrist, he felt her stop in her tracks. Maybe she was just waiting for the right words, and while he didn’t know what the right words were, he decided to jump off the deep end nonetheless. 

“My biggest regret was walking away from you, Y/N. And I know this means nothing, that I put you through so much that you didn’t deserve, and you can hate me all you want, tell me to leave and I’ll go, but please— please just hear me out.”

Her forehead rested against the door. “Five minutes,” she mumbled before spinning around. “You have five minutes to talk.”

Kent didn’t waste a single second. “I’m still in love with you. I’ve been trying to convince myself that I’m not, but you mean the world to me, Y/N, and I shouldn’t have let that go, let us go, let you go. And if you give me another chance,” she pulled her wrist away from him, his chest speeding up. Please don’t go. “I won’t make the same mistake again. And I know that you’re scared, that we might end up doing this whole shit storm all over again, and I can’t promise that we won’t, but if you just give me a chance, just one chance, maybe this time it’ll be different.”

Kent’s words hung in the air as Y/N stood there, listening to his earnest plea. The rush of memories and emotions hit her like a tidal wave. The wounds of their breakup were still there, scars etched into her skin, a reminder of him every time she went to Yost and he wasn’t there, or when she would stalk his Instagram, swearing to her friends that she would block him this time, yet she always failed. 

She had spent so much time convincing herself that she was better off without him, that she could thrive on her own, but as he stood there, telling her the one thing she wished she heard from him years ago, that he still loved her, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Her brows narrowed, her bottom lip stuck between her teeth. “Why should I believe you?”

“You can’t. But, Y/N, I have spent the past two years regretting everything, and wishing you were beside me. After my first game, I looked into the stands and when you weren’t there, I… I knew I fucked up, that you were the best thing that’s ever happened to me, that I’ve never been as happy as I was with you. And you can choose to not believe me when I say that I won’t walk out on us again, but please just think about it. Please.”

Y/N’s head was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. She was torn between the fear of getting hurt again and the desire to give him another chance. Kent’s sincerity was real and honest, but could she really trust him not to run away when things got tough?

“No more running away. No more not talking about things. If we want this to work, I need to trust you again.”

“I’m not leaving. It’s you, you’re all I need,” he said, laying his forehead against hers. “I’ll do my best to show you I’ve changed, just make me yours again.”

In that moment, with their hearts racing and their emotions raw, Y/N’s gaze locked onto Kent’s nervous eyes. There was a certain vulnerability in his expression that echoed her own, and her mind battled between caution and the undeniable pull she still felt towards him. She’d felt that pull the second she saw him on the porch. It wasn’t something that could just go away, and in that moment, she was grateful for that.

As Kent’s fingers gently brushed against her cheek, Y/N felt a shiver run down her spine. His touch was gentle, hesitant, as if he feared shattering the fragile bridge they were building between them.

Y/N’s breath caught as Kent’s lips descended upon hers, a soft press that held a world of unspoken promises. It was a tentative kiss, a meeting of lips that carried the weight of the aching past, the hope that they could fix what was broken, and the need for his lips since the moment they broke up.

The kiss deepened, a slow progression that was both hesitant and passionate. Kent’s arms encircled Y/N, pulling her closer as her fingers curled around the fabric of his shirt, her heart racing as she surrendered to the kiss, allowing herself to be enveloped by the flood of emotions that came with it.

Their lips moved against each other with a tender intensity, as if they were trying to convey all the unspoken words and emotions that had accumulated during their time apart. In that moment, the world around them seemed to fade, the rain stopped, the muffled voices on the other side of the door were gone— it was just them. 

  When they finally pulled away, their breaths were mingled, their foreheads resting against each other. Y/N’s eyes met Kent’s once again, and she could see the genuine regret and love he still had for her. She knew he hadn’t seen anyone for the past two years, Blanks liked to remind her of that everytime he tried to get them back together.

“I’m not leaving,” Kent whispered, his voice laced with sincerity. “I meant what I said, Y/N. You’re all I need, and I’m here to prove it. This time, it’ll be different.”

[miracleonice87]

something in the way she moves

with Jack Hughes

for the summer fic exchange 2k23

a/n: I’ve been in my Taylor Swift and Jack Hughes era all summer, so what better way to write my exchange fic for @wyattjohnston than to combine those two subjects into one project for her? this one was originally inspired by “Question…?” and ended up tying together several Taylor songs all at once – check out the companion playlist for all of those and more songs that inspired the fic! also, shoutout to Brady and Emma’s wedding for providing the perfect backdrop for this story after I stalled out with ideas for the perfect present-day setting. lots of special guests appear in this one! finally, some people might hate the flashback format with all the jumping around, but I’ve been watching a lot of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” so you can thank the show for that! hope everyone enjoys… but especially @wyattjohnston. this one’s for you, my friend! endless thanks to you for putting on this wonderful exchange for us all, and for inviting me to be part of it. (and thanks to the lovely @laurenairay for the assist!)

tropes: whirlwind romance, exes to lovers, fluff, angst

warnings: swearing, alcohol, mention of breakup, arguing / conflict, sexual references but nothing graphic or detailed, quinn and luke and brady and matthew being pests, miles wood being a drunken hooligan lolol 

word count: ~8,500+ (hey who knew I still knew how to write long fic)

_____

July 21, 2023 – present day – Brady and Emma Tkachuk’s wedding  –  Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey…

“Can I ask you a question?” 

Jack tucked his chin to his chest, busying himself with studying the pattern of the brick patio beneath his smart white sneakers. Whatever question Francesca had in mind, he was absolutely sure he was unprepared for it. But he nodded anyway.

Fran stared at his profile as he shuffled his feet beneath him, but as he lifted his head to look at her, she looked away, unable to meet his eyes as she forged ahead. Her gaze settled across the horizon instead, the moonlight casting a glow across the rolling green hills of Natirar. 

She sighed, then bit the bullet. “Does it feel like everything’s just like… second best now?” she inquired listlessly. 

Jack chuckled sadly, fiddling nervously with the neck of his amber beer bottle. Anybody who knew Jack knew he was never nervous. Except for where Fran was involved. She was the only person who had ever been able to do anything remotely resembling rattling him. 

“What, after that meteor strike?” he asked sarcastically. 

That’s what it felt like, at least – that night two years ago, when his team was out celebrating the end of their abysmal season before separating for the summer, the very same night her roommates had dragged her kicking and screaming from Fordham’s campus, across the Hudson, to see some indie band for one last hurrah before they went their own respective ways until fall semester, and Jack and Fran found themselves in the same crowded Hoboken bar. It felt like a meteor had crashed directly in his path that May night and blown up his entire life as he had known it. 

He nodded wearily before answering his now ex-girlfriend’s, as well as his own rhetorical, question. 

“Yeah, Fran. Yeah… it definitely does.”

Because second best was all that anything could have ever been, following the sensational rise and the staggering fall of Jack Hughes and Francesca DeLuca. 

He’d never forget the very moment he first laid eyes on her…

___

May 1, 2021 – two years earlier…

From Jack’s perch at the bar next to Nico, nursing a Moscow mule, the girl in the pale yellow halter dress was impossible to miss. 

He’d never believed in love at first sight, but as he surveyed the way that dress hugged her curves as she danced with her girlfriends, belting out the lyrics to “Peaches” to Justin Bieber, he thought for the first time that he might be completely wrong about that notion. He watched her hips sway enticingly, her olive-toned skin glowing beneath the bright multicolored lights, dark curls bouncing along with her every step. 

Before he knew it, his feet were taking steps of their own, ditching Nico mid-sentence as the young captain stood dumbfounded, arms flung out to his sides in annoyance as Jack sauntered away. As he watched Jack approach a circle of dancing young women, he zeroed in on the one in the yellow dress right away, knowing immediately that she was the reason for the abrupt end to his conversation with his teammate. As he saw Jack approach her, Nico could only smile and roll his eyes as he wandered off to find the rest of the Devils crew, assuming they’d lost #86 to the girl in the yellow dress for the rest of the evening. 

Meanwhile, for once, Jack didn’t have a plan, no course of action – didn’t have a pick-up line prepared, didn’t have anything clever in mind to say when he reached the girl in the yellow dress. When he finally did, she had her back to him, and it was only thanks to her perceptive friend, who pressed her lips into a straight line and tapped the woman on the shoulder, pointing to where he stood, that she even turned around and noticed Jack over her shoulder. 

And when she finally did lay eyes on him… well, she was as sunk as he was. 

Nothing was said between the two for a few moments, only bashful smiles exchanged. The girl took a few steps toward him, and he eventually found the wherewithal to open his mouth, praying that whatever was about to tumble from his lips wouldn’t make him look like a complete idiot. 

“Hi… I like your dress.”

Okay, could’ve been better, could’ve been worse. 

The girl’s lips spread into a grin, one that made Jack’s stomach flip over itself. 

“Thanks,” she said, glancing down to what she was wearing as if she herself had forgotten. Then her eyes scanned his outfit. “I, uh, I like yours, too.” 

A giggle escaped Jack before he could stop it, and instead of making things awkward, it seemed to endear the girl to him further. 

“Thanks,” he muttered. And then no other words came to mind. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid, he berated himself. Say something else, you jackass.

Thankfully, the girl saved them both from complete and total disaster and rescued Jack from himself. 

“I’m Francesca,” she said, raising her voice above the thumping music which seemed to get louder with every passing moment. “But everyone calls me Fran.”

Jack extended a hand for a gentlemanly shake, making Fran smile as she grasped it in hers. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Fran,” he said, ducking his head close to her ear so that he, too, could be heard above the music… and maybe because it provided the perfect opportunity to be closer to her. “I’m Jack. And everyone calls me Jack.” 

That earned a full-on chuckle from Fran which warmed Jack from the inside out. He watched her, grinning from ear to ear, amused by her amusement and encouraged by the fact that him introducing himself hadn’t seemed to spark any instances of the often inescapable “don’t I know you from somewhere?” or “you look so familiar” or, worse, “you play hockey, right?” He could be jinxing it, or she could just have a really impressive poker face, but it seemed that Fran truly had no earthly idea what he did for a living… and that delighted him to no end. 

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Jack,” she replied, still allowing her hand to be enveloped by his. “Are you from around here?” 

Jackpot. 

He fidgeted with the cocktail glass in his hand, making the melting ice cubes clink against the side. “Ah, kind of a long story,” he admitted truthfully with a smirk. 

She glanced at her wrist as if checking her watch, though there was no timepiece to be seen. 

“Well, I’ve got time,” she retorted playfully. “Can I buy you a drink?” 

Jack shook his head emphatically. “Absolutely not, but I’ll buy you one and tell you all about it,” he said, nodding in the direction of the bar. “After you.” 

Fran eagerly took the lead, heading straight for the bar as he followed close behind. Once they reached the counter, she rested her elbows on its edge and waited patiently for the bartender to take the orders of the other patrons who had been waiting far longer than the two of them. 

But as Jack sidled up to her, resting one arm dangerously, though comfortably, close to hers against the cool aluminum bartop, his chest pressed just close enough to her back to be noteworthy but not overbearing, she noticed that the bartender’s eyes flickered toward him immediately, an immediate smile crossing the woman’s face. Francesca was even more confused, and admittedly disheartened, when the bartender ditched the entire far side of the bar in favor of beelining it toward Jack.

“What can I get you, sweet cheeks?” the bartender said in a syrupy cadence, leaning over the counter as if to make sure Jack noticed her sizable chest on display in her black sports bra. 

Blegh, Fran thought. Maybe this guy isn’t such a good idea… 

Unfazed, he asked, “Hey, can I please get another vodka cran and then…” Jack motioned to Fran. 

“Uh, Bud Light, please?” she ordered, repeating the same go-to drink she’d already had half a dozen of. 

Jack pursed his lips to attempt to avoid a full-blown grin. He couldn’t help but love a girl who loved her beer. 

The bartender nodded, knocking on the counter and turning toward the taps. 

Fran tried to put the awkward encounter with the bartender to the back of her mind for the moment and turned 90 degrees so that she could face Jack more easily. 

“So, you are or you aren’t from around here?” she asked, returning to the question that had led the two of them here originally.

Jack smiled, weighing his options. This question was always a complicated one to answer… but something about explaining it to Fran put him oddly at ease.

“So we, uh, we moved around a bit because my dad was a hockey player before he had kids, and then a coach for years while I was growing up,” he began. 

“Oh, nice! I don’t know much about hockey,” she told him, shaking her head. “Big on playing sports but never big on watching them.”

Oh, my god, he thought to himself as he nodded, trying to seem casual. It’s like this girl was built in a lab just for me. 

However, he didn’t know whether this next part would seem better or worse to a girl who wasn’t a sports fan. But it was his reality, so he decided to lay it bare.

“Gotcha, um… so, I… also play hockey.”

Francesca’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Wow… really?” 

Jack nodded again, then cleared his throat. 

“Yeah, uh, that’s actually why I’m here tonight,” he explained. “All my teammates are here. Our season just ended and everybody’s about to separate for the summer, so we came out for one last night together for a while.” 

It was Fran’s turn to nod as the bartender approached, and Jack thanked her and pushed a large bill across the counter. Fran busied herself with running her finger along the rim of her glass, pretending like she didn’t notice the generous denomination. Jack leaned an elbow against the counter to face her, in hopes of continuing the conversation.

“So… wait, you play for, what, the Rangers? Islanders?” she asked, pulling the names of the teams she vaguely recalled from the cobwebbed recesses of her brain. 

Jack smacked a hand to his chest dramatically as if he’d just been shot. 

“God, Fran,” he hissed, “you really know how to wound me.” 

“What?!” she asked, sputtering with laughter. “I dunno! Are those the wrong team names?!” 

Jack shook his head, entertained. “No, no,” he assured. “You were right – those are NHL teams, but I play for the Devils. They play just over in Newark.”

“Oh… right,” Fran said softly, biting her lip and tucking her chin to her chest, praying she somehow didn’t look as stupid as she felt. 

Jack lowered his head to try and meet her eyes, squeezing her elbow gently. The simple touch alone sent a bolt of electricity through her being.

“Hey, don’t be embarrassed,” he said with an easy chuckle. “Trust me, it’s way better having to explain all this to you than having you come up and recite it all to me like some creepy walking encyclopedia.” 

Francesca forced a tight smile, but still stared at her shoes. In a gutsy move, he reached his thumb and forefinger to grasp her chin and gently tilt her head upward. 

“C’mon, lemme see that pretty face,” he said in a gravelly tone, one that made her spine shiver. 

Just as she found herself leaning into his touch, she saw a tall, dark-haired, broad-shouldered man approaching Jack from behind, unsteady on his feet. She assumed that this was one of his teammates, as the taller man went to sling a noodly arm around Jack’s shoulders.

“Uh, look out-” Fran warned… but it was too late. 

The man’s hand flung Jack’s glass clean out of his grip, sending its red liquid contents splashing all over Fran’s chest and stomach before hitting the floor, thankfully hitting a sopping wet rug beneath the bar, which was the only thing that kept it from shattering into a million pieces.

They both gasped in the process, and Jack instinctively grabbed her by the forearm. 

“Oh, my god! Omigod, fuck, Fran, I-I’m so sorry,” he lamented. “Woody! Fuck!” he yelled to the drunken man who apologized apathetically, then disappeared into the crowd.

Fran blinked quickly, her mouth in a tight “o” as she set aside her beer. As a wincing Jack stupidly patted her torso with the flimsy cocktail napkin that had been handed to him with his drink, he took in her expression and felt sick to his stomach. 

Well, there you have it, he thought to himself. No way she’s ever gonna see me again after this…

What he hadn’t accounted for, though, was that after the initial shock of wearing the cold drink faded, Fran would throw her head back in uproarious laughter, eyes screwed up tight in hilarity. 

Jack let one nervous snicker escape him, and then another, and then another… and by the time thirty seconds had passed, the two of them were breathless in fits of giggles, Jack keeping a firm hand on the crook of Fran’s arm. 

“Are you okay?” he managed to utter as they finally began to settle down. 

She nodded, wiping tears of hysteria away with her wrist. 

“Yes, I’m fine,” she promised, splaying a hand on her chest as she glanced down at the maroon stain on her yellow dress. “I’m just dying because this is my roommate’s dress and she made me swear not to spill anything on it,” she admitted, erupting with laughter all over again. “So much for that.”

Jack’s eyes glittered as he watched her chuckle. “Well, the blame lies squarely on me, so I’ll apologize to her for that one,” he told her, beaming. He cleared his throat before venturing forward. “Hey, my place isn’t far and I think I’ve got some club soda in the fridge… whad’ya say we-”

Before he could finish his thought, Fran picked up where Jack had left off before the drink had been spilled, pressing a hand assertively to his cheek and leaning forward to plant a firm kiss to his lips. Neither of them knew how much time had passed before she eventually pulled away, biting her bottom lip coyly.

“Is that a yes?” he asked, smoothing the back of his finger across her cheekbone. He watched a Cheshire grin spread across her now-swollen lips, and she offered an enthusiastic nod.

He trailed his fingertips down her bare arm, sending chills across her skin despite the heat and humidity of the bar, before he reached for her hand. 

“Then let’s go.”

After a short cab ride brimming with stolen glances and squeezes of hands, the two were practically sprinting through his front door, Jack not bothering to even turn on the lights in favor of keeping his hands securely on Fran’s lower back, holding her desperately close as his lips danced across hers with simultaneous ease and desire.

Eventually, he carefully backed her into his kitchen and hoisted her onto the counter, feeling her quiver when the cool marble hit the backs of her thighs. 

He smiled against her lips and said roughly, “I gotta get you that club soda.”

She shook her head without breaking away from his kiss. 

“It can wait,” she whispered insistently. “Just get me outta this dress.”

Jack smirked, his fingers immediately following orders as they searched for the zipper in the middle of her back. 

“Whatever you want, baby,” he retorted, finally pulling the zipper down, allowing him to tug the dress over her head. He offered it to her, one last chance to take care of the task they came here under the guise of doing – removing the maroon stain from the gauzy garment. Instead, she tossed it aside, watching as it floated to the tile floor before grasping Jack’s shoulders purposefully, leaning in to speak against the delicate skin of his ear.

“I want you,” she admitted, nipping at his earlobe. 

And after he carried her to his bedroom, she had him, had her fill of him – just the way they both wanted, their union the perfect balance between urgent and reverent, as if they both already knew that whatever this was between the two of them was something meant to be cherished.

More than an hour later, after making the mutual decision that it was time for a snack and a little something else to drink in order to replenish their strength, Jack left her alone with her thoughts in the quiet of his bedroom as he made his way back to the kitchen, donning only a pair of sweats, smiling when he picked up the now-rumpled yellow dress and placed it in his spacious farmhouse-style sink. He secured the drain stopper and retrieved the club soda from the refrigerator, still smirking to himself as he poured the stain-fighting liquid over the fabric to ensure it was completely immersed.

As he turned back to the fridge on the hunt for a satisfactory snack, Jack saw Fran emerge from his bedroom wearing nothing but one of his white dress shirts and a clean pair of his boxers.

She grimaced, and he sensed her unease even from a few yards away.

“I’m sorry, I just kinda put on the first things I found in your closet,” she said, one eye squeezed shut as if it pained her to make the admission. “I hope that’s okay. I swear I don’t make it a habit to put on a guy’s clothes like I own the place, but I, uh… didn’t exactly have a dress to put back on,” she pointed out.

Still distracted by the sight of her in his clothes, he shook his head rapidly.

“No, no, of course… I’m taking care of that as we speak,” he assured, nodding his head in the direction of the sink. “And you can wear whatever you want of mine – I should’ve laid something out for you, but… this is perfect.” He took a few slow steps toward her, his hands coming to rest on her hips. “You look amazing,” he said, his voice deep once again.

Francesca bloomed under his praise, preened beneath his touch as he reached out to stroke her cheek, his thumb coming to rest on her plush lips.

“Thank you,” she whispered, pursing her lips to kiss the pad of his thumb. 

It took every ounce of gentlemanly will in Jack not to throw her over his shoulder and haul her back into the bedroom again. Instead, he forced himself to take a step back and motion toward the adjacent living room. 

“Go on and make yourself comfortable,” he urged as she glanced toward the expansive space. “I’ll grab us a couple things and be right over.”

Fran nodded and obliged, entering the inviting area and finding herself immediately drawn to the vintage Victrola on a shelf on the far side of the room.

Meanwhile, after coming up empty in the liquor cabinet and noticing that the refrigerator was fresh out of beer, Jack opened a crummy bottle of wine he was certain Ty had bought once for a date but had never been touched. He poured two glasses and set them on a sturdy wooden tray, then scrounged through the cupboards to find some crackers that weren’t stale to go along with the Gouda and sopressata he’d found in the fridge. Pleased that he accomplished his mission, he arranged all of the items on the tray and carried it into the living room. As he set it on the coffee table, he found Fran admiring the shelves displaying his substantial collection of vinyls. Upon hearing him approach, a glass of wine for her in hand, Fran turned his way. 

“You have quite the record collection there, Mr. Tough Guy Hockey Jock,” she teased, brows raised as she gratefully accepted the glass. “And not just the trendy new stuff, the good stuff – Sinatra, the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Bowie, Pink Floyd. I’m impressed.”

Jack smirked. “Thanks – to be fair, I inherited a bunch of them from my parents and grandparents. They’d move and they’d always threaten to sell these on eBay but I wouldn’t let ‘em,” he explained. “Go ahead, put one on – anything.”

His request was easier said than done, and as he turned away to close the blinds throughout the room, chomping on cheese and crackers, she faced the impossible task of choosing one, eventually settling on James Taylor’s “Something in the Way She Moves.” 

He smiled when he heard the first strains, and her eyes met his when she turned away from the record player after setting the needle. 

“Great choice,” he praised, the two of them crossing the room toward one another as if at the mercy of some magnetic force. 

“One of my mom’s favorites,” she explained, fingers toying with the hem of the dress shirt as the folksy melody swirled throughout the room. 

There's something in the way she moves Or looks my way, or calls my name That seems to leave this troubled world behind…

When they were no more than a foot apart, Jack opened his palm and held it out toward her. 

“Dance with me,” he less invited, more demanded, not that Fran minded. She instantly slipped her fingers into his and took a step nearer so that their chests were pressed impossibly close.

She in his shirt and boxers, he in a pair of sweats, neither of them in shoes, they twirled around his living room as if attending a royal ball, until an unmistakable scratch signaled the end of the record… but by then, Jack and Fran were already locked in each others’ embrace again, the only sounds in the room the panting breaths escaping their lips between fiery kisses.

They never did make it back to the bedroom that night, didn’t even ever find sleep where they stayed curled up together in the living room, talking and laughing through the wee hours. Instead, when the sun rose, their only hint that morning had already come, they were sitting on the hardwood floor, laughing with her feet in his lap like he was her closest friend and not some random boy she’d met at a bar mere hours before. 

“How’d we end up on the floor anyway?” Jack said, rubbing at a kink in his neck as one hand stayed fixed on her ankles.

Fran lifted the empty bottle of wine next to where she lay, and his eyes reluctantly traveled away from her face and toward her hands. 

“Your roommate’s cheap-ass screw-top rose, that’s how,” she retorted, reminding him of the bottle they’d shared after all the drinks they’d already indulged in at the bar.

“Mmm…” he hummed with lifted brows, both of them chuckling at the culprit as she set it back down on the hardwood. “So… coffee?” he inquired, desperate for this night – or, well, now morning – not to end. Desperate for Fran to stay here, with him, and never leave.

To his delight, she cocked her head against the throw pillow and offered him the warmest smile he’d ever seen.

“I’d love some,” she answered simply, realizing she’d be content to never see the outside world, anything beyond the walls of this Hoboken house, again.

They saw each other every day for the next year and a half after that, and starting with that very first one, Jack had painted all Fran’s nights a color she had searched for since. 

And still, to this day, she couldn’t remember who she was before him. 

___

July 21, 2023 – present day…

“This day,” that is, being Brady and Emma Tkachuk’s wedding day. Which after the breakup, Fran had never anticipated being present for. 

But then came the phone call in the dead of winter, just weeks after she’d ended it with Jack. She was still reeling, trying to push through the pain while focusing on excelling in her last semester of undergrad, but anyone who knew her could see that she was struggling, including mutual friends of hers and Jack’s. Which soon made its way back to Emma via Brady.

And when Fran saw Emma’s name on her screen that day as she studied for an exam, she smiled. She hadn’t talked to Emma since before the split, and despite knowing it was more than likely going to be a covert check-up call, Fran was happy to hear from the girl she’d become so close to in the last two years.

___

February 18, 2023 – five months ago…

Fran tapped the “answer” button and lifted the phone to her ear.

“Hi, Em,” she said warmly. 

“Hi! I miss you! Brady’s here, too,” Emma explained. 

“Franny D!” he called over the speakerphone. 

“Hey, B! I miss you guys, too,” she said sadly. “How are you guys?”

“We’re good!” Emma answered. “Neck-deep in wedding planning. I know it’s gonna be fun but it’s honestly kinda brutal.” 

“Brutal, Franny,” Brady echoed dramatically. “It’s torture.”

Fran chuckled. “What, B, not enjoying picking out linen colors? Did you go with eggshell or warm white?” 

“Couldn’t tell ya, Franny,” he replied. “If I had it my way, none of the tables would be covered and everybody’d just be playing beer pong on ‘em.”

Fran swore she could hear Emma’s eye roll. “You’re such a dude,” Fran complained. 

“He’s not kidding about making that suggestion, either,” Emma said, feigning (or maybe not) weariness. “But, um, that’s not why we’re calling. First of all, we, uh… we just wanted to see how you were.” 

Fran swallowed, staring out the window of her apartment, watching the snow swirl among the towering skyscrapers and across bustling streets. She’d been having trouble answering that question at all, let alone honestly. She reached to rub her palm up and down the length of her shin, suddenly feeling cold. 

“I’m, um… I mean, I’ve been better, that’s for sure,” she told them. “I just… I really never thought this would happen, to be totally honest.” Her voice was quieter now, the familiar lump in her throat quivering. 

Emma made a sound of understanding. 

“Us either, Franny,” Brady gently concurred. “And I know you don’t wanna hear this right now, but I know Jacky didn’t think so either.” 

Fran sighed, dropping her chin to her chest as her eyes fell to the azure crewneck with the maize Michigan logo emblazoned on the front, which Jack had left behind once after a trip to visit Luke. She had never returned it, and he eventually noticed it in the background of a FaceTime call while he was on a road trip and told her to keep it because he was certain it looked better on her anyway. And now it hurt to look at it, and it hurt to wear it, and it hurt to not wear it, so she went with wearing it, because even though she’d been the only one to don it for a year, she swore it still smelled like him. Unconsciously, she closed her eyes and breathed deep. 

“I know,” she said softly. 

“We didn’t wanna make you sad, Fran, but the other reason we were calling is just to say that we’d really like to invite you to the wedding in July-”

Brady interrupted his fiancee. “No, we are inviting you to the wedding, no question,” he said firmly. “But we just want you to know that it’s completely up to you whether you wanna come.”

“Yes,” Emma jumped in again. “We would absolutely love to have you there, because you mean so much to both of us, but we totally get it if it’s too much. Quinn’s in the wedding and we’re inviting their whole family, so… obviously Jack will be there.” 

Her eyes fluttered open and she cleared her throat. “Y-yeah, of course, as he should be,” Fran managed. “I really appreciate the invitation, you guys. Seriously, it means so much to me. I’ll check the dates on my calendar, but I’d really love to come-”

Before she could even finish her thought, she heard a loud clap and a “FUCK YEAH!” from Brady, and she couldn’t help but laugh. 

“You’re the best, Franny D,” he said. “And I’ll promise Quinny’ll keep Jacky on his best behavior.” 

“Plus Ellen’ll be there, so you know he’s not getting away with shit,” Emma offered. 

“You guys are too much,” Fran said affectionately. “It’s your day – I don’t need you worrying about me and J.” She felt a stab in her heart at her own use of the retired pet name, one that was once used so frequently and so fondly but was now avoided like a plague. She swallowed that lump in her throat again. “We’ll be fine.” 

“We know you will,” Brady said softly. “Well, listen, we’ll let you go but, uh… thanks, Franny. I really hope you can make it.” 

“Yes, we really do!” Emma reiterated. “We love you, Fran. Talk soon.”

“I love you guys, too,” she told them. “Thanks for calling.”

And Brady must not have been able to keep the news to himself, because within a few hours of agreeing to attend the Tkachuk wedding, her phone had buzzed four more times with text messages from four members of the Hughes clan: 

Lukey: yooo B just told me you’re coming to the wedding!!! hell yes, sista 👊 see you soon

Quinny: Franny D, super happy to hear you’re coming to B’s wedding. we love ya, no matter what. can’t wait to see ya

Ellen: Hi, my sweet girl 💖 Chantal just told me that you’re planning to come to Brady and Emma’s wedding. I’m so happy to hear it! I’m counting down the days until I see you. Love always 💋

Jim: Hey Franny! Can’t wait to see you at the Tkachuk wedding this summer. Really glad you’re planning to go. ❤️

The only member of the family that her phone didn’t sound with a message from that night?

Jack. 

The one that it hurt the most not to hear from. 

She set her phone aside that night and swallowed, hard, pulling her legs to her chest and resting her forehead on her knees. Preparing to see Jack in person for the first time in months was going to be impossible enough, but seeing his entire family… that just might be enough to break her.

Because she’d never fallen out of love with them, either. 

___

July 21, 2023 – present day…

And today, after a heartbreakingly long hug with Ellen before the ceremony, and affectionate but melancholy greetings from Jim and Luke, here Fran stood in the midst of Brady’s reception, in front of the middle Hughes son who never did text her leading up to this moment. When he’d seen her approach his family’s seats a few minutes before today’s ceremony, he had only just stood up from his chair at the far end of their row to try and make his way toward her when the processional music started, leaving both of them frozen in place, staring helplessly at one another. She’d mouthed sorry, and he’d nodded and mouthed we’ll talk, as his family sat still between them, awkwardly trying to avoid making eye contact with the estranged couple lest they make the moment even more painful for them than it already was. 

When Fran turned to find the nearest single seat, she could feel the tingling heat creeping up her neck, and it wasn’t from the summer sun. She’d spent months agonizing over what she would say to Jack when she finally saw him again, and she still couldn’t believe that the first thing she’d spoken aloud after they’d found each other on the deck for a quiet moment alone was “can I ask you a question?” But how else was she supposed to begin the conversation, anyway? 

And at least he’d agreed – conceded that nothing had yet felt as good as the two of them had. For the past six months, she’d been terrified that nothing ever would, and she had to admit, it felt good to know that he seemed to share that same belief. 

It felt good and it felt awful all at the same time. 

Fran sighed, lifting her gaze to the shimmering stars far above their heads. 

“Why are we doing this?” she whispered, half to herself and half to him.

Jack gave her a quizzical look; she was all over the place right now… not that he didn’t feel completely undone and frazzled himself. 

“What? Talking? I dunno, Fran, I can go back inside, but I wasn’t just gonna sit in there all night and ignore y-”

Fran stopped him, shaking her head. “No, that’s not what I mean,” she said, a noticeable exhaustion in her tone, one that Jack recognized in his own voice often these days. “I just mean… this hurts so bad, J. And it doesn’t have to – didn’t have to. We were so good together… why did-”

“Because you said it was too much, Fran,” Jack accused, sharply though accurately, remembering how the pressure of being in a serious relationship with one of North America’s most heralded professional athletes at such a young age had often left her curled up in a ball in the corner, something that at 20 and then 21 years old, he had found himself completely unprepared to handle. 

“And I made the wrong choice!” Fran admitted, her voice rising an octave by the end of the sentence as her emotions took over. “At least I can admit it. Can you? I mean, you’re the one who left my house in the middle of the night, without even trying to put up a fight. Can you admit that you were in the wrong, too?” 

Yeah, I can, he immediately thought to himself, though he couldn’t quite bring himself to say it.

Instead his mind flashed to the very moment in time where he knew he had indeed made the wrong choice. 

___

April 3, 2023 – three months earlier…

Jack was trying his hardest to pay attention to his date. He truly was. 

In a well-meaning but doomed-from-the-start attempt to help him get over Fran, one of the team WAGs had set him up with her college roommate who had recently moved to the city. So here he was at dinner following a Broadway show he’d never even heard of before, which he had bought tickets to specifically because he knew he wouldn’t have to speak to the girl for at least a couple of hours but would still come away looking like the hero for dropping money on expensive tickets for date number one. 

What he hadn’t accounted for, when she had unsurprisingly suggested that they grab a bite to eat after the show at Sugarfish on 56th and Broadway, was that he’d spot, through the front window, Francesca walking down the sidewalk hand-in-hand with some guy, laughing with him as he told what were no doubt painfully lame attempts at jokes to try and impress her. 

Jack’s blood ran cold, his jaw muscles flexing as he clenched his teeth together, his date still rambling on about her so-called career as a “business owner.” (See also: owner of an Instagram account where she posted regular thirst traps and tagged the brands she wore, unprompted. See also: a quasi-influencer. See also: a Kardashian wanna-be.) Which provided him the perfect opportunity to get lost in his own spiraling thoughts. 

Granted, this restaurant wasn't that far from Fran’s apartment on 52nd, a fact which Jack was painfully aware of throughout the entirety of the show and the meal. But goddamn it… this city was filled with eight million people besides her and that dickhead guy, but they just happened to be the two who caught his gaze.

Which maybe wouldn’t have bothered Jack so much if it didn’t look like Fran was actually enjoying the guy’s company. 

He slouched in his chair and spoke as few words as possible for the rest of the meal, and when it had finally, mercifully, ended, he called her an Uber, waited until she had gotten picked up, sulked to his car, and deleted her number. 

___

July 21, 2023 – present day…

“Well? Can you?” Fran repeated, losing patience as she wondered where his mind had just wandered off to. 

“Yeah, I can,” Jack said simply, deciding to lay all his cards on the table at the recall of the recent memory. 

Fran’s head snapped toward him. Being that he was by far the most stubborn person she had ever known, she hadn’t expected him to fess up to that. Her mouth opened as she thought of what to say next, then closed it when nothing came to mind quickly enough. 

“I can tell you exactly when I realized it, too,” Jack said with a smile devoid of humor, licking his lips – the very same lips she used to call home. “I saw you with some guy walking down 56th a few months ago. And it felt… fuck, it just felt like I was out of time.”

Francesca blinked repeatedly, confusion etched on her features. Though she knew who she would have been with that night, she didn’t even remember the exact instance he was referring to, so it obviously hadn’t left all that much of an impression upon her. But that’s not the information she wanted to inquire about. 

“W-what do you mean, ‘out of time’?” she asked, her volume much lower now. 

Jack met her with sad eyes, pursing his lips. He shrugged a shoulder. 

“I dunno, I guess… I guess I was holding out hope that somehow, we’d work it out,” he replied, his voice suddenly sounding hoarse. “I just always thought it would be us in the end. But seeing you with someone new, I… I just lost that hope.” 

Tears pricked at the backs of Fran’s eyelids and she looked away, swiping at her eyes with the side of her hand. 

“There’s never been anyone else… I mean, not… not really,” she was suddenly saying, caught off guard that she was opening up so much. “That was the closest I got, but it was only for a few weeks, and he ended it because he said I was being distant. And he was right. I just, I wasn’t in it. Not at all.”

Jack watched her the entire time she spoke, then nodded slowly. He understood that feeling all too well. 

“I get it,” he said softly. “Trust me.” 

As the two of them let their respective admissions hang between them in the thick summer air, falling into a contemplative silence, unbeknownst to them, a tipsy Luke had made his way back to the open bar at the edge of the dancefloor, which was situated just inside the tall French doors leading to the venue’s back patio where his brother and Fran stood alone as the party raged on. Luke’s eyes never left the acrimonious pair as he ordered himself not one, but two more gin and tonics, then darted, drinks in hand, across the room to where his parents and Quinn sat at a table chatting. 

“Luke Warren Hughes, you’d better slow down on the double fisting,” Ellen warned in her best mom voice. 

Luke waved her off. “Yeah, whatever – guys, listen to me, this is important,” he urged, out of breath. “Jacky and Franny are outside by themselves talking.”

“What?!” Quinn exclaimed, jumping up from his chair so quickly and so forcefully that it would have tipped over if not for Jim’s quick reflexes, as he shook his head in disapproval. As he watched his eldest son jog to the same door Luke had just been standing near to peer through the panels for himself, Jim scoffed. 

“You guys need to give them their privacy – they’ve been through enough,” he stated firmly.

“Yes, and you wouldn’t like it if your brothers were spying on you and a girl,” Ellen pointed out. 

Luke swallowed a gulp of his cocktail and beamed. 

“Yeah, but… it’s not just some girl. It’s Jack and Fran,” he declared, shaking his head in excited disbelief before following after his brother. 

Having lost both their sons to espionage, Ellen and Jim’s eyes met, and they shared a knowing, hopeful smirk. 

“It is Jack and Fran,” Jim repeated in a voice near a whisper, tipping the rim of his beer bottle toward his wife, who clinked it with her champagne glass. 

“Cheers to that… no matter what happens,” she said softly. 

Back outside, ignorant to the fact that they were being carefully watched, Jack was surprised when Fran breathed a laugh through her nose, finally breaking the silence. Her cheeks warmed at the memory replaying in her mind.

“Remember that first night we spent together, at your place in Hoboken? What we did after Miles made you spill that drink on me?” she asked, unaware that he had played those sacred scenes over in his mind hundreds if not thousands of times in the past two years just as she had, particularly when they were each alone in their beds in the dead of night. 

“Of course I do,” he replied quietly. “It’s kinda… all I ever do. Well, that night and… a-and lots of other nights after that.” He caught her stare and somberly confessed, “I feel you no matter what.” 

Fran took a few daring steps closer, her hand brushing his. She leaned in so close that her lips nearly grazed the shell of his ear. 

“Do you wish you could still touch me, Jack?” she whispered, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on its end. 

He slowly exhaled through pursed lips, trying and failing to steady his now-racing pulse. 

“Every fuckin’ day, Fran,” he said with little hesitation, turning his head so that their noses were mere centimeters from each other. 

“Is it too late to do something about it?” she asked, her eyes locked with his. 

“With us?” he let out a singular chuckle. “It’s never too late with us, Fran.”

She smiled so wide it made her cheeks ache, and she ran a hand down the lapel of his jacket. 

“Good, because you look really fuckin’ handsome, and I’ve been wanting to tell you that all night,” she said, her voice low and sultry. 

He hummed appreciatively and nuzzled his nose against her temple. 

“Funny you say that, because I’ve been wanting to tell you all night that I, uh… I like your dress,” he whispered, recycling the very first compliment he ever bestowed upon her before pressing a kiss to the skin just in front of her ear as she giggled, but the laughter died on her lips as Jack kissed a line from her ear, across her cheekbone, to the tip of her nose, to the corner of her mouth, and finally, to her eager lips, which matched the fervor and neediness of his own. It was as though the pain of the past six months melted away as they each attempted to demonstrate how deeply and passionately they had missed the other, hands in hair, chests flush, soft moans being captured by the other’s mouth…

But it wouldn’t be an important moment in Jack and Fran’s story if there weren’t loved ones meddling nearby.

Now it wasn’t only Luke and Quinn at the doors watching the marvelous scene unfold, but it was Matthew, and Ellie, and Taryn, and Robbie, and all the Fitzgerald kids, and Brady, and Emma. Someone pushed open one of the doors, flooding the patio with a cacophony of cheers and jeers from those closest to them. 

“Get a room!” “Finally!” “Jack, this is a family wedding!” “Hand check!” “Oww owwww!”

God… embarrassing.

Reluctantly pulling away from the kiss, Jack growled, resting his forehead against Fran’s as she giggled nervously, before whipping his head toward their audience. 

“Don’t you all have a wedding to get back to?” His head swiveled to Brady and Emma. “Especially you two?” 

Brady shrugged. “Hey, we already had our kiss, man. You go ‘head,” he encouraged.

Emma giggled, one hand wrapped around her groom’s bicep as she swatted nonchalantly toward Jack and Fran with the other. 

“Yeah, carry on. Don’t mind us!” she sang. 

Jack rolled his eyes, but all inhibition and worry faded away as Fran grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down to meet her lips once more, feeling his frown literally turn upside down into a smirk as he sunk into her, hand finding a familiar home low on her back, dangerously close to the curve of her ass. 

And at that, the crowd they’d drawn erupted into a fit of laughter and applause, Quinn and Luke in the middle of it all, pumping their fists simultaneously before clapping their palms together and leaning in for a hug. 

They got their sister back.

“What are you kids doin’ over here?” came a booming voice from the back of the group. Jack and Fran watched as the seas parted and Keith Tkachuk made his way to the door, following his younger son’s pointed index finger to find the reunited couple embracing on the patio. His eyebrows shot to the top of his forehead. 

“Well, can’t say I didn’t see this one coming!” he bellowed, a jolly twinkle in his eye. “Now, you boneheads have had your fun,” he addressed the group. “Leave these two to have their own.” With a wink, he turned away, and their crowd of clamoring cheerleaders dispersed, whispering animatedly among themselves. 

Jack exhaled swiftly and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Shoutout Big Walt,” he declared, clearing his throat. 

Fran nodded, snickering, and pulled him in by the waist. 

“Gotta love ‘em, though, hmm?” she mused, nuzzling her nose against his. 

“Mmm, yeah, whatever,” Jack dismissed, a tenacious hand on her cheek as he leaned down to press his lips to hers once again. “Now, where were we?” he teased in a whisper as she smiled against his mouth, her hands traveling beneath his suit jacket, across the familiar expanse of his sculpted back. His hands found their original target and slipped down the small of her back, finally reaching the arc of her rear.

“Mmmm… hello, old friend,” Jack murmured in her ear, earning him a playful smack to the hip. 

“Shut up,” she sassed him, but she didn’t mean it, and they both knew it. He fixed his lips to hers over and over again, and though the party roared on inside, mere yards away, it was as if Jack and Fran were the only two people on the face of the earth, their bodies fusing together as if they had always been intended to be one. 

It was always like that for the two of them.

Nothing could have pulled them from that moment… except the first strains of “Something in the Way She Moves” by James Taylor echoing from the speakers inside.

The pair froze. She pulled away to hold him at arm’s length, in utter disbelief.

Jack ogled at Fran, the pure longing in his eyes mirrored in hers. His siblings and friends were meddlers, sure… but had they been so thoughtful as to remember that this was their song — had been since that very first night? Or was it simply fate?

Either way, Jack could do nothing but extend his upturned palm toward her. 

“Dance with me?” he asked softly. 

Suddenly self-conscious, she smoothed a hand through her curls, then swiped at the damp corners of her eyes. 

“God, Jack, I’m a mess,” she said with a halfhearted chuckle. “I don’t think I can go back in there right now.”

Jack shrugged. “So what?” he asked, taking hold of her hand and pulling her in, his other arm winding around her. “We’ll dance right here.”

She rested her free hand on his chest, melting at the sweet sentiment. Then, she relaxed into him, tucking her head into his neck where it fit perfectly — always had. 

He pressed a kiss to her temple, then rested his cheek atop her head as the song carried on... 

There's something in the way she moves Or looks my way, or calls my name That seems to leave this troubled world behind If I'm feeling down and blue Or troubled by some foolish game She always seems to make me change my mind And I feel fine anytime she's around me now She's around me now Almost all the time And if I'm well you can tell she's been with me now She's been with me now quite a long, long time And I feel fine…

Jack’s heart soared, his joy permanently etched on his face, as he swayed side to side with Francesca in his arms. In his wildest dreams, he could have never hoped to have her here with him again like this. 

He glanced down at the girl he’d loved since the first time he’d laid eyes on her, saw her eyes fluttered closed in blissful contentment, and brushed his lips across her brow as he whispered, “Fran, you know for me, it’s always you, right?”

He watched the corners of her mouth pull upward even further, and she tipped her face up to meet his. 

“I hoped so,” she admitted roguishly. “Because for me, it’s always you, too.”

[farfromstrange]

Lizzi’s Valentine’s Special & Follower Celebration

Dear Everyone,

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and I thought, since this silly little blog hit over 1.1k followers yesterday, I want to give you something special.

First of all, though, I want to thank you. I’ve been on here since (and I checked with the archive) July 19, 2022. I can't believe that it has been almost two years. I started watching Daredevil after watching Spider-Man: No Way Home in December of 2021 and hearing Matt Murdock say, "I'm a really good lawyer," after catching a brick. So, I started watching the show, and that was during a time I was really miserable. Mentally and physically, I wasn't in a good place, but after watching Daredevil for the first time and falling in love with Charlie Cox as a genuine person and an actor, it felt like I found a reason to keep going.

I started writing fanfiction again, which I kind of neglected because I felt like this hobby of mine wasn't going anywhere. I wasn't inspired at all until I watched the show. If I hadn't, I probably would not have gotten back into writing and using it as an outlet for my feelings, and I probably wouldn't be where I am today. Thanks to Charlie's portrayal of Matt Murdock, and watching his interviews, I felt like I could do the things that I love again and follow my dreams. He's the reason I chose to major in English. And while I owe him that much, I owe you guys here on Tumblr and AO3 even more.

When I first posted here, I didn't think people would even be interested in what I had to say and write. But then more and more people started visiting my profile, you guys started following me, and it kept me motivated to keep writing, even when I'm miserable, and I sometimes only post once every blue moon.

I feel so honored that you guys chose to follow a silly little blog run by a silly little 20-something-year-old whose first language isn't even English (but made it her entire personality), and who chose to write about traumatized dark-haired characters portrayed by Charlie Cox. I'm overwhelmed by the love you continue to show me, and every time one of you chooses to reblog or comment on one of my works, saying that it resonated with you, I feel like I'm doing something right. I'm sharing my ideas, my own experiences, my wishes, and even my deepest, darkest dreams through my writing like it's a fucking diary, and you eat it up every single time.

I'm just so glad that this community exists, as chaotic as it sometimes is, and that you chose to stick around, even when I suck at keeping promises sometimes. You keep teaching me new things about who I am, my writing, and how important it is to put myself first. I don't know if you've heard it lately, but you guys are incredible and I appreciate the hell out of every single one of you.

Thanks to Tumblr, I made lifelong friends (especially looking at you, @blackshadowswriter) and found like-minded people that made me feel less alone. That alone was worth making this account and continuing to post on here.

You may think that I'm being dramatic, but for someone who has never really experienced the kind of validation this community gives me, I want to celebrate this milestone. It means more to me than I can even put into words. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I love you all so much! Please, don't ever forget how amazing you are.

That being said, I've got some exciting things planned.

The other day, I found a folder in my Docs titled "the vault". I completely forgot about it because I usually keep my WIPs in a different folder. As it turns out, I made that folder for fics that I originally never planned to post, or ones that I'd finished but wasn't happy with. It’s many, but it’s a few. Some are deeper than others. I also jotted down rough ideas and outlines last year that I stuffed in there, some of which I've actually shared with you but never started working on. Until now. And the contents of that vault are what I want to give to you now.

INTRODUCING: The Vault

6 stories from the vault. 1 bonus fic. 7 days.

I went through a myriad of emotions while I wrote these. For some, I actually bled my soul onto paper. For others, it was merely a brain fart that led to their existence. They're sad, horny, and at times angry, but some of those were originally written for me, and only me. Those that weren't started as a few sentences in a folder before I forgot they existed. Either way, I don't want them to catch dust. And I wouldn't want to share them with anyone else.

Starting February 14th, I will be posting one fic every day until February 20th. My “The Vault” works are Matt Murdock x Reader works, but I've made an exception for the bonus fic. I won't tell you what they are about, but I will give you a list of installments and what kind of fic they are so you know what to be excited about (and maybe which ones are not your cup of tea).

-> The number at the end tells you the date I will be posting it on, but I put it in chronological order as well.

INSTALLMENTS:

1. If You Need To Be Mean (angst, hurt/comfort) 14.

2. Mismatched Bridesmaid (fluff, smut) 15.

3. Weed Cookies (humor, fluff, cw: accidental drug use) 16.

4. the grudge (songfic, angst, hurt/comfort, cw: death of a parent) 17.

5. Halloween (Smut) 18.

6. I Want To Fuck A Priest (Smut, cw: priest!Matt) 19.

BONUS:

7. Now That We Don’t Talk (Part 2 of Is It Over Now?) -> Frank Castle x Reader (smut, angst) 20.

A few more words: You are free to send me an ask if you want to know more, but be prepared that I won't be answering in much detail. I don't want to spoil the fun. I would, however, not mind talking about them as vaguely as possible (if you’re interested).

Thank you all. For everything. And I hope you stick around to read these little gems.

With love from yours truly,

Lizzi <3

[tiannasfanfic]

GossipWeb

Eddie Munson x Reader (Angst)

| Eddie Munson & Steddie Masterlist |

Summary: If you want to stay up to date on celebrity gossip, GossipWeb is the site to subscribe to! Monday’s Weekend Roundup for July 17 has an update on Corroded Coffin, and you should totally check it out!

Author Note: Modern Rockstar!Eddie AU. Reader not mentioned in this first part, but will be in future installments so I went ahead and labeled it as an x Reader fic. Written in the style of a gossip column.

CW: Mentions of divorce; mentions of alcoholism and drug addiction; mention of a fistfight.

(The following is an excerpt from the July 17, 2023 edition of The Weekend Roundup, a gossip column posted every Monday afternoon on GossipWeb.com and the GossipWeb app.)

Wedding bells are in the air for model Chrissy Munson and nature photographer David Greggs. The pair have officially announced their engagement on Sunday via social media, confirming recent rumors.

The happy couple shared the news on their respective Instagram accounts, showing photos of the two happily embracing on a beach at sunset. In one, Munson is holding out her hand to show off the huge sapphire and diamond engagement ring now sitting on her finger.

“I said YES!” Munson captioned her photo while Greggs captioned his, “She said YES!”

The pair first made headlines back in 2021, when they were spotted having dinner together just a few weeks after Munson filed for divorce from Corroded Coffin’s frontman, Eddie Munson.

While “Irreconcilable differences” were listed in the official court filing, representatives for both Eddie and Chrissy have declined to comment further on the matter. In the social media post announcing the divorce, Chrissy took a diplomatic path, stating, “Sometimes our plans in life just don’t work out the way we want them to. Unfortunately, this is one of those times. I wish Eddie nothing but the best and wish nothing but happiness for him. While our marriage may be over, he will always hold a special place in my heart.”

But, while her words made it sound like the split was an amicable one, many have their doubts it was that simple.

Rumors had been circulating regarding her ex husband’s hard partying lifestyle for years. Insiders have come forward to provide accounts of escalating drug and alcohol abuse, and extremely irrational and erratic behavior from the rockstar. Shortly after the divorce filing, it was reported to multiple news outlets that an intervention was been staged for Munson just a few days prior to the court filing, but it had failed.

In related news, the former members of Corroded Coffin are continuing to stay busy and are enjoying far more laid back schedules.

Following a highly successful album with their band Fallen Shadows, Jeff Richards and Grant Lee have announced a small, twenty city tour that will occur early next year. While the dates and cities are still to be determined, the two are looking forward to getting back on the road.

“It’s been awhile, but we’re itching to get back out there,” Richards stated in a Facebook post. “There’s nothing like bringing our music out into the world and sharing it in person with the fans.”

But Gareth Emerson hasn’t been so eager to return to the spotlight.

Following a successful stay at the Betty Ford Center, which he entered in December 2019, Emerson says he has done a lot of thinking about his life and who he wants to be, both as a person and an artist.

“The stress I was constantly putting myself under was ultimately my downfall,” he explained in a Facebook post full of self reflection. “And one of the biggest stressors for me was the constant need to promote myself, to sell myself basically. I stopped feeling like a person and started feeling like a piece of meat. In this business, it doesn’t take long before you start getting treated like a machine and you start looking for ways to cope. And, usually, you find yourself coping by turning to drugs. Now I don’t have to just cope because I refuse to put myself back in that stressful position.”

Emerson continues to write and record new music, which he releases on iTunes under his own name. While he’s leaning heavily into experimental sounds, his new style seems to be gravitating towards a blend of classic rock n’ roll, folk and heavy metal. It’s not a combination you would expect to hear from a speed metal drummer, but Emerson clearly has hidden talents he’s only just starting to show the world.

As for the frontman and lead guitarist, Eddie Munson, unfortunately, there’s not much can be said.

The statement from Corroded Coffin announcing their hiatus came in late 2019 just a few days after Munson and Emerson’s very publicized fistfight at the UK Music Video Awards. While he virtually dropped out of the spotlight as a musician in the following months, Munson was frequently in the news due to his excess partying and rowdy behavior.

Then, in 2022, he unexpectedly disappeared from the LA party scene, only to resurface a few months later in his old hometown of Hawkins, Indiana.

Representatives for Munson have declined to comment, so the true reasons for his returning to Hawkins are still unclear. The rocker has yet to make any return trips home to California within the last eighteen months since his departure. This adds credibility to a more recent rumor we reported on last week that Munson is in negotiations to sell his Malibu home to a private seller.

Perhaps the rockstar has finally turned over a new leaf?

Some signs point to yes.

Earlier this year, Gareth Emerson’s wife, actress Kim Simmons-Emerson, sent well wishes to Eddie in a heartfelt Instagram post. She posted an old photo of Munson and Emerson from high school with the caption, “Today marks a new beginning for old friends. We’re so proud of you. We knew you could do it.”

Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay up to date on any new developments!

[aftgficrec]

I would loveee fics where Andrew defends Neil to aaron and the other foxes (but definitely Aaron), i’ve seen so many of Neil defending Andrew but not a lot of the other way around and Neil deserves to have his man defend his honorrr

In canon, post-medication Andrew does not talk much to anyone besides Neil. Still there are definitely fics with this. Just know Andrew’s defense of Neil can be one sentence in a story, and physical violence is often his preferred method of communication. -A

previous recs  

‘The Ash is in Our Clothes’ here

‘Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder’ here

‘in the common tongue’ here 

‘I hate him,’ ‘One day we'll reveal the truth,’ ‘i'm getting static from my better sense’ and ‘My brother under the sun’ here

‘some1 saying something…’ here

‘Ember’ here

‘Can he play?’ here

‘Surreal But Nice’ here

‘Least Favorite Only Child’ here

‘Fighting Words’ here

‘Trust Fall (And Welcoming Arms)’ here

‘(Don't) Stand So Close’ here

‘In the Eye of the Beholder’ here

‘Beach Bois’ here

‘I'm Not Okay (I Promise).’ and ‘It’s not living (If it’s not with you)’ here

‘soft spots make easy targets’ here

‘Even the Darkest Night Will End’ and ‘The Andreil escapades’ here

in Masterlist for Nicky Kissing Neil: ‘The Kiss,’ ‘History Repeating,’ ‘Andrew Finds Out,’ ‘Something, Nothing & Everything’ (also big twinyards confrontation), ‘A Crack in the Mask,’ ‘Truth Time, ‘Truths Come Out,’ ‘The Unkindness of Ravens’ ch 16, ‘Delayed Reaction,’ ‘Delayed reaction (the fear of falling remix),’ ‘All For The Game Musings,’ ‘andrew finds out about what happened…,’ ‘Hold Each Other’ ch 6 and ch 15, and ‘Slip’. Finally, ‘Lessons in Cartography’ has Andrew defending Neil to both Aaron and Jack throughout

Andrew defends Neil to non-foxes

‘Something About The Sunshine’ here

‘Warmth’ here

Foxhole Tidbits ‘Ch. 22: Silent, but Snarky’ here

‘Through A Glass Darkly’ and ‘Some Things You Just Can't Bury’ here

‘Martyr’ here

‘The Bones of You’ here

‘monsters at night’ here

‘Killer Bunny’ here 

‘you're not next before forever’ here (completed)

‘looking for you’ here

‘Give Me Another Minute (to Lay Here in Your Echo)’ here 

‘Ficlet Collection…’ ch 35-37 here

you may also like

feral protective Andrew here

protective/possessive Andrew here

overprotective Andrew here 

protective Andrew here

protective Andrew gets hurt here

protective Neil/Andrew here

jealous Andrew here

previous recs where Andrew kills Nathan here

our latest Neil & Aaron ask here

Unconventional Therapy by JostenlovesMinyard [Rated M, Twinyards Appreciation Week 2021]

Twinyard Appreciation Week - Day 2 | “bottle episode” Andrew and Aaron attend their weekly therapy session but things don’t quite go to plan when the door handle falls off and they’re stuck in there together.

tw: implied/referenced rape/nocon, tw: implied/referenced child abuse

Nothing is Safe series by hismiley16 [Rated T/M/E, Collection, 7 complete works, Updated July 2023]

Part 4: Written On His Skin [Not Rated, 11344 Words] The Foxes face the Ravens for the first time since Riko's death and things go as well as expected. Andrew is mildly injured on the court and isn't there to protect Neil when the new Evermore captain comes for him after the game. The team sees more than Neil ever wanted them to, including the ghost of Nathaniel he thought he'd buried in Baltimore.

tw: vomit, tw: bullying, tw: nonconsensual touch/assault  tw: dissociation, tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: blood, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced murder, tw: implied/referenced animal death, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon

this is me trying by crownowl [Not Rated, 2142 Words, Complete, 2023]

After Neil has a panic attack Andrew finds out exactly what happened when Nicky drugged Neil and he is not happy.

tw: violence, tw: implied/referenced nonconsensual kissing, tw: implied/referenced nonconsensual drug use, tw: ptsd

Don't let me be by Cutie_Wan [Not Rated, 1983 Words, Complete, 2023]

Neil suffers a major dissociation episode in front of the Foxes.

tw: dissociation, tw: violence

One Step Forward by thecompletebookworm [Rated T, 1665 Words, Complete, AFTG Exchange Winter 2020]

Based on the prompt: “Andrew and Aaron talking and solving their problems” "If you really don't care about Andrew, why does Neil bother you so much?"   Dobson asked during their Wednesday session. Aaron dug his fingers into the couch.  He hated this.  Hated that the only time he could get answers out of Andrew was when he was sitting in front of a shrink.   A shrink who was undoubtedly on his brother's side. And that in order to get answers he had to rip himself raw first.  

tw: implied/referenced rape/nocon, tw: implied/referenced child abuse

Angry Alone by obsessivereader156 [Not Rated, 1799 Words, Complete, 2023]

“Of course I’m not homophobic, you asshole. What are you even talking about?” “Aaron, please don’t use that type of language here,” Betsy softly interjects. “You’ve been very hostile towards Neil,” Andrew says plainly, as if that’s enough of an answer. ______________________________ Aaron has been feeling angry and alone lately. Maybe he doesn't have to be alone about it.

Everything's Alright by DarkD [Rated E, 182901 Words, Incomplete, Updated June 2023]

Souls weren't meant to be left alone, so they split, always looking for their other half. No matter how long it took, the moment a soul existed, it sought the one that would complete it. The main indication is, when one of the halves of the soul turns seven years old, an identical mark appears on both parts. Along with that comes a set of unique abilities that soulmates can only use with each other—for protection, for finding each other. Soulmates would never be alone.

tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: child abuse, tw: torture, tw: blood, tw: gun violence, tw: homophobia, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: murder, tw: canonical character death

A flash of anger. prompt fill by @nickyhenmick [Tumblr, 2016]

All reporters got on Andrew’s nerves. They were invasive and never asked interesting questions, and there was probably a reason he was rarely allowed to be on press duty.

a stupid ass decision prompt fill by @find-yourself-in-passion [Tumblr, 2017]

“I recognize that you have reached a decision,” Andrew replied over the top of Neil’s protests, unwrapping his right hand in such a rush that Neil knew he was going to have red marks where the tap ripped at his flesh. “Andrew-” “But given that it is a stupid ass decision,” He continued on, refusing to acknowledge the other man’s piercing gaze on him as he threw his bag and shoes in the closet, knowing what faced him when he turned around. “I have elected to ignore it.”

Art

3 & 10 art by @thematicallycoherent

im thinkin bout these two art by @wiltkingart

Safe. art by @eislekaj on instagram

exy banquet smoke break art by @twohiddenhalves

Vkook as reference art by @reyko__ on instagram

roof. andrew. tattoos. and two cigarettes. and neil. art by @puhnatsson

Someone strong to lean on art by @fornavn

[fondofeveryprickle]

My AO3 Wrapped 2023

Welcome to my AO3 Wrapped 2023, where I take a look at some of my favourite fics from 2023 (one bookmark per month). 

There were so many amazing fics in 2023, so many new people and friends I met because of fanfic <3 So here’s to a very good 2024, full of words and worlds!

Let’s go to the fics:

January-

The Fine Line Between Hormones and Home by seekingmoonscapes (Bad Buddy: The Series)

In an almost canon universe where the only difference is that it is omegaverse, Pat is an omega, and Pran is an alpha. And during one of his heats, Pat is at home, and decides to ask Pran for a shirt with his scent to help with his heat. But instead, he asks Pran for help in other ways. Fic where the porn IS the plot, everything is super consensual, and sexy and hot. Alternating POV, so on Pran’s pov we get to see all the pining.

February - 

If Never Again, If Every Day by gallifreyburning and takiki16 (The Old Guard)

This fic was wonderful from beginning to end. For reasons, 2021 Nicky goes back in time to Jerusalem and his first death at Yusuf's hands. Meanwhile, 1099 Nicolò goes forward in time to 2021 and meets Joe. It's heartbreaking and loving and funny and so full of love. Nicky and Joe miss each other even when around their younger versions. But the love they feel for each other is stronger than that. Wonderful story, happy ending.

March - 

Wooing the Water Tribe by lenaballena (ATLA) @dameferre

Sokka has been living in the Fire Nation as Zuko's second in power and his best friend and everything. When Katara comes to visit, Sokka thinks Zuku is courting her. And he realizes he is also in love with his best friend. Lots of pining. There's absolutely no courting of Katara. It's also really funny. My heart broke for Sokka at some moments.

April - 

The Grand Unified Theory of Shen Qingqiu by 00janeblonde (SVSSS)

WIP - This story is all fluff and no angst, like the tags say, slice of life and it's wonderful. SQQ dies at Maigu Ridge, and is offered to acquire the Game Plus, where he can go back to the past with his cultivation and memory intact, and try again. Doing that he discovers that he is actually the real Shen Jiu reincarnated, and he can try to recover memory markers to be able to restart the "game" even before than when he first "transmigrated". His friendship with YQY becomes strong, LQG also becomes his friend (it's really sweet how he wants his friends back). Everything is very soft. Absolutely great teacher SQQ.

May - 

but for me, there is a storm by Authoress (Haikyuu!!) by @kiribakus

An epic pacific rim au. Hinata and Kageyama are both cadets who want to be Jaeger pilots, but they cannot get along. So they work really hard because they are their last hope to pilot a one of a kind Jaeger - a Kaiju/Machine hybrid. They solve their problems in the beginning (and then later they have more problems). Hinata and Kageyama are not the only main characters, other characters are also very important and have their own storyline and pov. This story is heartbreaking as well. There's MCD, and it made me cry so hard I got puffy eyes. It's a wonderful read, and very well written.

June - 

The UA Analyst Kid by RogueVector (BNHA)

Izuku meets the UA teachers before getting OFA and they see how good his analysis is, so they start to train him (together with some other heroes). But some things don't change and Izuku still meets All Might and gets offered OFA. This story is funny, sweet and with amazing relationships. Izuku is OP with his intelligence and training. All the teachers and heroes are so supportive and good. A really feel good story.

July - 

Deku? I think he’s some pro… by Clouds (BNHA)

After All Might told Izuku he can't be a hero, he finds himself in a forum used by some underground heroes and offers his analysis to them, since he can't be a hero, he will help them. The underground heroes think Izuku is some kind of retired pro when they ask for help analyzing some villains and all, and when they finally meet face-to-face they all decide to practically adopt Izuku and teach him to fight so he will have a chance to be a quirkless hero. It is amazing! Also, the relationship between Izuku and the underground heroes is more like friends than teacher-student, and it's amazing that way. (some All Might bashing - be warned)

August - 

Mobius by Foxquills (BNHA) @fox-quills

WIP - I love this story so much!!! Third-year Izuku is sent to the past because of a quirk accident, to the time both Shouta and Hizashi are third year students at UA. Problem is, according to Nedzu, time is constant, or a loop, so he can’t change anything in the past, and everything that has happened, will happen again. He becomes fast friends with both Shouta and Hizashi, and starts crushing on them as well. Both Hizashi and Shouta also start crushing on him. It is lovely. There’s pain. It’s awesome. (also omegaverse).

September - 

Factory Settings by Anonymous (Good Omens)

Post season 2 au, because Crowley follows Aziraphale to heaven. Things happen, and instead of Crowley, there is Raphael, without any memory of all the time he's lived as Crowley. Heaven and Hell are at it again. Aziraphale has no idea what to do, and he misses his Crowley. Muriel is a sweetheart. Both Aziraphale and Crowley/Raphael povs. Great story, feels very much canon.

October - 

Justice in Defiance by Foxquills (BNHA) @fox-quills

WIP - Aizawa is a hero turned villain who kills both heroes and villains alike. And one day Izuku finds him right after he kills someone. They fight. And now Izuku needs to know more. What made Aizawa turn????? To do that, he will also need Hizashi in his corner. Absolutely lovely story!!!! The povs are amazing. The feelings and pining are perfect.

November - 

If I Must Starve (Let it be in Your Arms) by Igneum807 (The Witcher)

So think about the softest story involving Jaskier and touch-starved witchers, and this is the result. During his travels alone, when he and Geralt go their different ways for a few weeks, Jaskier meets Geralt's brothers, who are just as touch and companionship-starved as Geralt was before meeting Jaskier. It's super soft and tender.

December - 

Cultivate: Slow Life on a Monster-Infested Mountain by NeonGhostCat (SVSSS) @neonghostcat

When SY transmigrates, the System tries to put him on SQQ's body, but SQQ is aware and is able to stop it from happening. The System then gives SY his own body, but something goes wrong with the system and SY is decided to not get involved with the plot, or with Cang Qiong Sect, and specially SQQ. He finds an abandoned mountain, with an abandoned house there and decides to stay there until he is strong enough if SQQ finds him and wants to kill him. Obviously things cannot be that simple. Now he is stuck on the mountain he can't get out of, every full moon night there are monster attacks and one day LQG appears on the Mountain, how can he get out of helping with the plot now? Shen Yuan is absolutely perfect on this fic. I love how he deals with the mountain and its beasts and plant-life. Liushen is the softest you'll see. Slow burn, super domestic, feel good story.

~

Enjoy your readings!

[campbyler]

frequently asked questions

GENERAL

what is a cruel summer with you/camp byler?

a cruel summer with you is an ongoing multi-chapter fic by @wiseatom/@astrobei/@andiwriteordie that serves as the mainline story in our stranger things au that we fondly refer to as camp byler. it is essentially taking the characters of stranger things, taking them out of the 80s, and plopping them down into a modern day summer camp - camp whiteman! mike and will are friends but also not, due to their very loaded history together.

why is it called camp whiteman?/any comment on the camp name

thea (wiseatom) went to a summer camp as a child called camp wightman. when creating this au, we used it as a placeholder (spelled whiteman) and then it just stuck because it’s funny and ridiculous. it is an ongoing joke between the three of us and the characters! 

what cabins are the three of you in? how do i find out mine?

thea is in yellow, suni is in green, andi is in blue! you can find the cabin sorting quiz here :) 

how long is this fic going to be? is it finished? how often will it update?

we are projecting 300k-400k words for the mainline fic once it’s completed. we cannot adhere to a strict posting schedule due the obligations we have in our personal lives, but we will always be transparent about when we think an update is going up!

are you going to abandon this fic and not finish it?

no! thea and suni are very committed to seeing through the rest of the mainline fic. we may have to delay chapters, but we will finish it!

where is andi?

andi has stepped back from acswy moving forward. you can read our update here.

who is writing what chapter? what pov is the fic in?

everything will alternate back and forth between mike and will’s pov, and this is how our chapter setup is laid out: CH01 / will pov / thea CH02 / mike pov / suni CH03 / will pov / andi CH04 / mike pov / thea CH05 / will pov / suni CH06 / mike pov / andi CH07 / will pov / suni CH08 / mike pov / andi CH09 / will pov / thea CH10 / mike pov / suni CH11 / will pov / suni CH12 / mike pov / thea CH13 / will pov / suni CH14 / mike pov / thea CH15 / will pov / thea

STORY SPECIFIC

are we going to learn about the fearless lore/is this going to happen/etc.?

we can’t answer questions like these because of spoilers, but please trust the process, have patience, and know that we wouldn’t have mentioned something big if it wasn’t going to be addressed or resolved!

where's that post where you spoiled each chapter with an emoji?

here!

who is derek? is he going to appear in acswy?

derek is will’s ex-boyfriend, who he dated from december 2020 through june/july of 2021. he is not going to appear in acswy except for by name, but will be featured in a companion fic detailing their break up! he's ~10 months older than will and one grade ahead of him.

how many companion fics do you have planned? when will they be posted?

we currently have several planned, but the ones that are most plot relevant to acswy are the discord era fic, the fearless lore (expanded) fic, and the will/derek break up fic. we will post them at some point in tandem with acswy going up, and will have more after acswy is finished, too! 

when does you know that i caught it take place?

refer to the timeline :) 

does justin have a crush on will? is justin evil? is justin going to interfere with byler?

yes, no, no. any justin slander will be deleted ♥️

[imagine-that-100]

Menswear

Description: You’re off to Manchester for your Aunt and Uncle’s wedding and nothing is ever simple when you and Matty are involved. With your history something is always bound to happen, whether that is subtle teasing touches, secret flirting, or something more. And after everything, you can’t carry on ignoring it because your heart’s not immune to his effect and just how happy he makes you.

Word Count: 16.2k

Warnings: Smut (enjoy)

A/N: Hey besties, i’m backkkk. So, if you’ve read @nriacc, you have read this before. I wanted to put this out as it’s own oneshot because I understand not everyone wants to commit to a large fic but I think this part at least deserves to be it’s own thing. I originally released this back in July 2021 and there’s been an oddly similar fic since with very similar characters and with not even a tag it feels like common crisis has been ripped off, so I want to give nriacc that little bit more exposure too because it’s the og. The only context you need going into this is Alex is one of the OC’s best mates, Matty’s nickname for this OC is Wheels (hence why I call her that), and Wheels is Adam’s cousin. Really hope you enjoy if you’ve not read it before or if you’re having a reread. Thanks a million for reading x

| My Masterlist | NRIACC Masterlist |

Whilst unpacking all of his boxes into his new flat, Alex finds a book which he was going to send to you a month ago. It’s the last one he read and annotated before his break-up and move back to the UK but he never got a chance to send it over to you before it was thrown into a box to bring back home. And Alex gets a little emotional at the thought of giving it to you.

Alex debates whether he should even give it to you or not but in the long run he knows he’d regret not gifting it to you. So that was what brought him over to your flat again a few days later despite him knowing that you were going over to Manchester today.

So around noon, Alex heads over to your flat to give you your last book he’d yet to give you. He just hopes you’re still around.

He lets himself into the building as he still had his own keys because after moving out you just told him to keep them. But Alex decided to knock on your door before he let himself in with that set of keys, just so he didn’t scare you.

Just as he knocks, Alex realised that your door is already open as you must have left it on the latch. And just as he starts to push the door open, he hears you call out that, “It’s open!”

He walks in, closing the door behind him, leaving it on the latch for you like you wanted it as he walks down the short hallway into your lounge. He looks around for you as he calls out, “Hey Angel.”

“Al?” You call out from your room confused and you poke your head out seeing the singer standing in your lounge.

“You okay Y/N/N?” Alex says walking towards you to meet you in your doorway.

You meet in the middle and you hug each other as you tell him, “I’m good, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m great thanks,” Alex says as he lets you escape from the hug.

You both head into your room then as you ask your best friend, “You know I’m going away today, right?”

“I do, it's why I'm here actually,” Alex tells you as he watches you start to last minute pack stuff into your suitcase.

Alex chuckles to himself. The suitcase is the size of something he would take away with him on tour for months on end, not something you’d take for a week in Manchester.

You raise your eyebrows, curious for him to continue and Alex does, “I came to say bye, but also to give you this.”

Alex holds the novel out to you then and you abandon your case to collect it from him. As you take it, you ask, “What’s this?”

“It was your last in the book club, but I didn't have the chance to send it over and I found it again when I was unpacking,” Alex tells you as you inspect the cover and he sees your smile grow as he tells you about it.

“Thank you so much,” You tell him before you give him another big hug.

Alex smiles as he hugs you back, “You’re welcome, sorry you’re getting it months behind schedule.”

You tell him to not be silly, it’s thoughtful of him to actually give it to you instead of just keeping it to go on his new bookshelves. “I’ll give it a read when I finish the one I’m on now, although I’m reading Stephen King’s IT and it’s fucking huge so it might take me a while.”

Alex chuckles at that as he watches you find a space for it on the end of your bookshelf, “Don't worry, there’s no rush.”

You slot it neatly at the end of the very bottom shelf and just as you’re about to ask Alex another question about it, you hear the door go again. You head back out of your bedroom door and shout, “It’s open” again before leaving your bedroom.

Alex follows you out and you turn back to tell him, “It’ll be Matty.”

And you aren’t wrong because a second later the curly haired brunette wraps his arms around you and has picked you up to spin you around. Alex watches as you giggle in Matty’s arms and your own arms circled around his neck to ensure you don't fall to the ground.

The both of you exchange pleasantries in the hall before you usher him inside, telling him that you just had a few more things to pack before you’re ready to go. Matty assures you that it’s fine before he tells you, “You look good today.”

You’re dressed in blue skinny jeans, your hightops, and a long-sleeved black top that you have tucked into your jeans. You turn around and thank him before you usher Matty into the lounge.

In there you find Alex perching on the back of your loveseat, obviously wanting to be polite and say hello. You smile at Alex as you walk back into the lounge before you tell the both of them, “I’m just gunna pack up a few more things, I won't be long.”

Alex smiles at Matty when he makes eye contact with him and Matty smiles realising that he was here.

“You alright Alex?” Matty asks politely.

Alex nods, “Yeah good mate, how are you?”

“Yeah good thanks... Believe you’ve got a flat in the city now?” Matty asks curiously, filtering information back to him that you’d told him on the phone not so long ago.

“Yeah,” Alex nods, “Just thought I'd come and say bye because I'm headed back over to LA to record the next album in a week and I wouldn’t have a chance to say bye otherwise.”

Something which was true. You did know he was jetting off again and you were pleased that it was because of a new album and not a new tour straight away. At least you’d get him back for Christmas and a few months after that before a tour.

“That’s fair enough,” Matty says before curiously asking, “Got anything written yet?”

Alex nods, “Yeah I've got most of it done, just need to get it recorded with the rest of the lads.”

“That’s good,” Matty smiles and both blokes share a smile then.

At least you weren't the only thing they could bond over.

“Curly,” You pull both lads out of their chat and Matty smiles at you to continue when you come back out of your bedroom door with your suitcase, “Did they want me to bring anything?”

“Other than whatever you're actually wearing to the wedding, I don’t think they care,” Matty grins and you laugh.  

Alex chuckles a bit at that too but can’t help himself but say, “Still can’t believe they’re getting married mid October.”

“Same,” You and Matty nod in agreement. You add though, “It’s given out surprisingly good weather for Friday though so we’ll be lucky.”

Matty nods, thinking to himself that he’ll believe it when he sees it.

“What are you wearing anyway?” Alex asks you curiously, “Pant suit?”

You shake your head smiling, but you correct him, “I’m wearing a dress.”

“You’re wearing a dress?” Alex asks you, completely shocked, like he just didn’t hear you properly.

You nod looking at both of the boys who are staring back at you dumbfounded.

“You?” Alex has to check again.

“Yes Alex,” You say, giving him a pointed look.

He just shakes his head at you though, “But Y/N/N, you don't wear dresses.”

You tut, a little offended but Matty defends Alex straight away.

“Don't look like that, he's right,” Matty says, “The last time I saw you in anything near a dress was the skirt you wore at your Eighteenth.” and now you’re 24. It’s been a long while.

You ask a little wide eyed, “Why do you remember that?”

“Fifteen year old me imprinted it into my mind,” Matty grins at you a little suggestively.

You shake your head, trying not to laugh, “I hate you.”

“Love you too,” Matty grins, but then he asks you, “What dress are you wearing?”

You tell him, “A red one to match the bridesmaids, but a short one because I’m not officially a bridesmaid.”

The only bridesmaids were your Mum and your Aunt’s best friend. You were the chosen flower girl which you thought was pretty cute.

“I think, and I'm sure Matty thinks too, that you should go put it on,” Alex suggests trying but failing to hide his grin at the thought of you in a dress.  

You shake your head, automatically saying, “Absolutely not.”

“Why?”

“Because I don't want to ruin it before Friday,” You tell your best friend like he’s stupid.

“Oh come on Y/N/N, I’m not going to get to see it and I've not seen you in a dress for years,” Alex tries to guilt trip you.

You counter argue, “You'll see pictures.”

Alex looks at you completely hurt then and pleads, “Oh come on Angel,” But then he uses your friend for back up. “Matty, you wanna see it too, right?”

Without hesitation Matty agrees, nodding, “Yeah.”

“I hate you both,” You say, clearly not impressed.

“We love you too, now go and get changed,” Alex instructs, waving you back off to your room.

You sigh then looking from the shaggy haired boy to the curly haired one, “Have we even got time?”

Matty grins, “All the time in the world if I get to see you in a dress, Wheels.”

You groan in annoyance then and grab the handle of your suitcase knowing you weren’t going to win this. You try one more time though and ask, “Alex, can’t you settle for a picture?”

“No,” He shakes his head and folds his arms.

You pout and whine, “But I don't wanna get changed.”

“We don't always get what we want,” Alex tells you before nodding towards your bedroom door, “Go on.”

“Fine,” You sigh, but then you give both of them a pointed look when you turn back to say, “But I'm leaving the door open so I can still talk to yous, so don't come over here.”

Matty sake scoffs then, saying, “Don't flatter yourself, we don't wanna see you getting undressed.”

“Okay,” You dryly laugh, “I’ll believe that when we start searching for planes in the sea.” You roll your eyes before you venture into your bedroom.

“So your new album…” Matty asks Alex, “What’s this one called?”

“Suck It And See.”

“Ah right,” Matty grins at what that was alluding to, “Sounds fun.”

Alex laughs, “Yeah it’s an innuendo to us but the politically correct answer to why its called that is that its essentially a ‘fuck you, we arent giving you an album cover, you’ve got to listen to it yourself to judge it.’”

“Ah right,” Matty nods in appreciation, “So I’m assuming the album cover is just gunna say Suck It And See?”

“Yeah,” Alex nods, and he proudly tells him about your input. “She’s already made it.”

“Ah,” Matty smiles, “She’s a gooden.”

Alex nods in agreement before letting that subject drop and revert the questions to his music this time.

“Your shows are getting bigger, right? Got a manager and everything now I hear.” Alex smiles.

Matty nods, “Yeah, got quite a lot coming in the venues back home now.”

“That's good mate,” Alex smiles, “Happy for you.”

“Thanks Pal.”

Alex remembers something else that makes him chuckle a bit as he asks Matty, “I believe your name’s changed again?”

Matty sighs but nods. He then asks your best friend, “She been moaning about it?”

“Oh just a little,” Alex smirks, remembering you seething when you got off the phone with Matty a month or two ago about it before proceeding to rant to Alex about it for an hour that night and over the next few days after that.

Matty knew that was a bigger unstatement than the title of his first puppets album. You’d gone berserk on the phone to him one night when Adam had forced him to call you to tell you.

Or you had until you were told the new name.

“What you called now?” Alex asks, not quite remembering.

“The 1975.”

“Oh right,” Alex nods appreciating the randomness of it.

“It’s good, don’t you think?” You shout out to Alex as you try and awkwardly zip your dress up by yourself.  

“Strange enough that it’s different, but memorable like the Monkeys,” You shout a second later.

Alex shouts back to you, “Yeah it’s certainly different,” but then he turns back to Matty and at a normal volume he asks him, “Where’d you come up with that one?”

“Oh I was going on holiday with my family after Christmas and I went to a charity shop to try and find a book to take. I saw a copy of my favourite book in there and opened it up and I saw that someone had dated the book June first the 1975. Sort of fell in love with it,” Matty explains.

You shout out to him, “Well as long as you don’t change it again, I’ll be in love with it, too.”

“Oh don’t worry it’s not changing now,” Matty shouts back but he looks at Alex when he says it.  

Matty pulls his sleeve up and shows Alex his forearm that had the year 1975 tattooed onto it.

“Well I really hope you don’t change your mind now,” Alex chuckles.

Matty chuckles a little too but shakes his head, “No I won’t. Can’t. Got the tattoo so I wouldn’t be able to.”

“You got it tattooed?” You gasp quickly, slipping your last heel on and doing the small buckle.  

Matty shouts back, “Yeah.”

“What, where?” You ask as you leave your bedroom.  

When you walk out into your lounge though, both men feel their whole body freeze. The only thing they can do is move their eyes to try and take in all of your beauty.

You’re in your dress that was a beautiful shade of blood red. It has spaghetti straps meaning that you’re braless, but that’s okay because the material is thick enough to make sure you’re kept reserved enough for a wedding.

The red dress also had a V neck line meaning that you also got to show off a healthy amount of cleavage. The dress then pinches in at your waist before the skirt comes out a bit and flows down to your mid thigh.

You feel really pretty wearing it and you love the red heels that you have on to match. But the dress isn’t of your concern right now.

You’d walked out of your room to see Matty's tattoo. You walk towards both of the lads and take a hold of Matty’s arm to inspect the new tattoo.

It’s nice. It resides under his Mortal Kombat tattoo and it’s there for anyone and everyone to see.

You like the font that it’s in and the fact it’s a little uneven. But knowing Matty, that would have been how he wanted it.

But you’re staring at his tattoo whilst he and Alex are staring at you.

“I like it, it’s very you,” You smile at him.

But Matty’s just blankly staring at you. He looks as if he’s had a massive shock to his system.

Alex is the first one to actually come out of the silence that had fallen amongst them. He clears his throat before saying in a soft voice, his eyes still taking all your beauty in, “You look stunning, Angel.”

The compliment seems to take Matty out of his daze too and he compliments, “He’s right, you really do, Sweetheart.”

“Oh,” You smile between them, “Thank you.”

You do a little spin then feeling the need to and both boys get a look at your box tattoo on your shoulder blade as your long hair moves from it as you spin. You smile at the both of them when you settle back in your spot to stand normally again, and you say, “Couldn’t really turn up to my Aunt’s wedding looking like a slob, could I?”

“I mean I lived with you for two months and I never thought you were a slob,” Alex says which makes you laugh and you engage them both in conversation for a few minutes.

You’re all laughing and joking but both men can’t take their eyes off of you, your natural beauty just shines through as you’re wearing this stunning dress. And both men silently agree to themselves that your natural long hair pulls even more attention towards you.

Matty was certain he’d be fighting people away from you on Friday.

You just look so fucking stunning it’s unreal.

So much so that Alex can’t let you get changed without getting a picture of you as you are. As you’re about to head back to your bedroom to change, Alex moves himself across the lounge to your shelf and picks up your polaroid camera and quickly flicks it on.

And before you make it near your bedroom Alex manages to get you to turn back around as he’s able to tell you a shit joke to make you laugh. And as soon as he hears the amazing sound that is your laughter, he quickly snaps the picture.

“Alex,” You scorn him, not being ready for a picture at all.  

Alex half heartedly apologises, “Sorry, but you need to remember how pretty you look.”

“I’m going to have pictures done at the wedding,” You tell him.

Alex shrugs not really caring as he starts wafting the polaroid of you before leaving it on the side to develop, “Yeah well one now won’t hurt.”

“Go on,” Matty nods at Alex towards you, “Get in one with her.”

“You not want one?” Alex offers first.

“I’ll get plenty on Friday,” Matty smiles before taking the camera off Alex.

Alex shreds off his leather jacket to reveal a black button up which goes nicely with his blue jeans. You tell him that he looks nice as he stands beside you and he smiles a thank you at you before his arm goes around your waist so the both of you can smile for the picture.

Matty takes that one and when Alex claims it as his own you make him get in another one with you. You end up doing a sillier one this time where you’re both smiling but you’ve both thrown the peace signs up too.

Matty chuckles as he takes it and as soon as it's popped out, he takes it and goes to inspect the other ones on the side that should already be developed. As he does that though you head back to your room, but in your doorway you quickly get Alex’s attention again and get him to unzip your dress.

His breath catches in his throat when he sees your bare skin come into his view, but when the zip stops at the small of your back Alex composes himself when you turn back around towards him to thank him. He gives you another smile and quietly tells you once again that you're beautiful in a way that always makes your heart beat faster.

You smile gratefully at him before you retreat to change once more. You let the two men chat amongst themselves as you elect to change into your comfy clothes this time.

Once ready, you step back into the room with your white dress bag over your shoulder and your suitcase in your other hand. You decided that you wanted to pack the clothes you wanted to wear earlier.

You’re just in your joggers and an old hoodie now.

“You baffle me,” Alex says when he looks at you and Matty is thinking the exact same thing.

You look at them both confused as you stop walking just in front of them. Matty decides to inform you what they’re both thinking.

“How can you still be just as pretty when you change into that?” Matty asks and he sees you go all shy on him which makes him grin.

And if you’re reacting like that to him, Matty knows exactly what that means.

So instantly Matty knows that seeing you dressed like you just were all day was going to be difficult.

Friday was going to be a very long day for him, probably a very hard one too.

~*~*~*~

The week you were back in Manchester you felt like you didn’t get any time with your cousin or his friends. Your Mum and your Aunt were preoccupying you all the time and by Thursday you’d had enough of it.

All you wanted to do was go out with your mates to the skatepark to try and warm yourself up in the cold weather and then come home and order a takeout whilst snuggled up under a blanket.

But no.

You were being pampered left, right, and centre and you hated it. In the week leading up to the wedding, you, your mum, your aunt and her best friend were out being dolled up the entire week.

And they made a full day of each single thing that you had to which you were certain you could have managed to squeeze it all into one day. But no.

Monday, you had your hair trimmed and practice styled. Tuesday, you had to go and get your practice makeup done. Wednesday, you all went and got your nails done, so there was definitely no skateboarding in the picture now. And Thursday, you and the bridesmaids pampered your aunt all day.

So whilst you loved being in Manchester, you did miss your usual activities as all you wanted to do was sit down with Adam, Matty, George, and Ross and watch a film. But no, after your days filled with gossiping with your family you came home to them and practically fell asleep within five minutes of resting.

You intended to stay at Matty’s one night just to catch up with him, not to pursue anything sexual, but as soon as you sat down on the settee back at Adam’s you fell asleep. You woke up the following morning in your bedroom with a text from Matty saying:

Get some more sleep Sweetheart x I’ll see you tomorrow xx

And another from about ten minutes before you woke up saying,

Let me know when you’re up and I’ll sneak you out so we can go and get a Maccies breakfast xx

Matty informed you in the car on the way to McDonald's that after sitting next to him on the settee your head had slowly fallen to his shoulder where you passed out completely and Matty wasn’t one to deprive you of anything, especially your sleep. He knew how grouchy you could be if you didn’t get enough of it.

George had apparently carried you up to bed and Matty stuck around for a few hours just in case you woke up, but you were out like a light. Waking up to those texts was really cute though and you really enjoyed your secret breakfast with him.

When Friday came around you were actually quite excited because you knew you’d actually get to spend most of the day with some of your closest friends. You loved your Mum and Aunt to death but it had been overkill the past week.

Getting your nails done for the wedding you admit was fun whilst it was being done and for about a day afterwards but after a while the red acrylics started to get on your nerves. You found it more difficult to hold a pencil or your paintbrush so when you tried to be creative you had to hold back from adding the finer details of your work. The last thing you’d want is to ruin it.

But, it's your Aunt and Uncle's wedding. They are practically your adopted Mum and Dad so you can let this one slide. You’re not meant to be focussing on anything but the wedding anyway.

When Friday finally hits, you get yourself up ridiculously early to prepare yourself for the day. After waking up at 5:30 the first thing you did was shave your legs, making sure you didn’t miss a spot the day they were going to be on show.

It’s been cold and rainy a lot this summer and you didn’t have a boyfriend so you just thought fuck it and you hadn’t shaved them in a long while. It was a miracle you’d shaved them the night before Alex and Matty made you try the dress on last week and you’d only done that because you wanted to make sure it still fit you and you wanted to feel good whilst you were in it.

By 6 you’d eaten your breakfast and prepared everyone else's. You girls had your Aunt and Uncle's house to yourselves last night, as you’d all shipped the lads somewhere else for the night.

Thankfully though, you’re getting your makeup and hair done first because you're going to be the first out of the house. You're the flower girl so you should have been going with the bridal party but your Aunt didn’t trust her soon to be husband or her son to get there on time to see guests in so she was sending you to them to make sure they left on time.

So as soon as all the girls were ready and the photographer got pictures of you with your Aunt and your Mum, you were on your way. It's a little chilly outside but it’s nothing you can’t handle and it's still fairly early so the sun hasn't fully risen yet.

You get a taxi to meet the boys and you're pleasantly surprised to find everyone there and pretty much ready to go. Your Uncle is in his suit, his best mate (and best man) seems to have taken control and got everyone ready.

Your Uncle looks amazing in his dapper suit. It’s a black suit with a white shirt and black waistcoat and there’s a red rose pinned to his blazer obviously to match the wedding flowers and colours of the bridesmaids.

The best man's suit is fairly similar and so is Adam’s as the page boy. Your Uncle tells you that you look fantastic and he quietly says that he wishes your dad could see how beautiful you are today, something which makes your heart a little heavy but you keep yourself smiling and you give him a hug.

After making sure the adults are all good and ready to go, you move along to your friends. Your Aunt and Uncle had obviously invited the other three boys to their wedding because they practically lived in the Hann Household.

The day just wouldn’t be the same without them.

You go into the back room and find them all sitting there. Adam in his black suit with a white shirt, Ross in a navy suit and white shirt, George in a black suit and a black shirt, and your Curly is dressed in a grey suit and a black shirt.

Except his hair isn’t curly today which makes you pout. He’s gelled it back so it’s smooth and completely out of his face.

“Where’s your hair gone?” You ask, looking at Matty when you walk into the room a little more.

That‘s when everyone notices you, and just like the first time Matty saw you in that dress, he finds himself lost for words again today. You look absolutely stunning.

Your hair is down and loosely curled and it falls to just under your boobs, which also look really nice today. Your long legs are once again on show today and they somehow look better than they did the other day.

Your makeup has been done professionally today though and Matty thinks it just adds to you looking gorgeous. You have a slight winged eyeliner that’s smoked out at the end, but you have a shimmer on your lids that Matty can see whenever you blink.

And holy fuck. Your lipstick.

It’s a matte blood red that matches your dress perfectly. It draws Matty’s gaze to you and it’s almost hypnotic.

He never wants to look away. It’s as if you’ve made a television with your mouth that’s playing a film that had been perfectly created to Matty’s liking. He’d watch your lips like he was watching True Romance, his favourite film to watch with you.

“Fuck me Y/N, you look fit as fuck,” George says with his jaw practically agape, causing you to let out a loud laugh, which brings Matty out of his daze.

“You look very handsome Georgie,” You say before taking the seat between him and Matty.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a dress before,” Ross says and you nod.

You chuckle a little, “You and me both.”

“Think you should wear them more often,” Matty says, sending you a cheeky glance whilst eyeing the end of the material that lies a little higher up your thigh when you’re sat down, showing off more of your gorgeous skin.

“Ha, you would,” You giggle, shaking your head a little.

“Bro,” You say, getting Adam’s attention and he looks round at you with raised eyebrows. “Where’s your rose?”

“Shit,” Adam says, getting up, “Left it upstairs, thanks B.”

You shake your head, feeling like a mother and you double check that the lads have everything with them like their wallets and car keys so you can all get to the church and then to the outskirts of Cheshire, where the hotel is located for the reception.

After another ten minutes, you’re getting conscious of the time and you feel the need to start getting everyone moving, knowing everyone would get a flap on soon and start rushing around. But today, you just want everything to be perfect and getting there early is definitely going to be the way to ease those nerves for you.

“Right, come on everyone. Time to go to the church,” You clap your hands twice as you stand up and you usher everyone up.

After five minutes of everyone scattering, you’d get the groom and the best man in the car and they’re off to the church. The boys lag behind a little but they have cars to take themselves so it isn’t that big of a deal.

But soon enough it’s you locking up the best man’s house and Matty standing in the hall waiting for you as the others are waiting in the car. Matty obviously keeps the front door closed as it’s October and still chilly despite the weather forecast saying it was going to be getting warmer later in the day.

You double check the guys haven’t missed anything and you’re pleased to see they haven't, so you made your way to the front door.

Matty’s watching you and he can tell straight away that you’re living in your head. As if you’re talking to yourself, silently running through a checklist like the organised person you are.

But knowing you, you’d scorn yourself for not enjoying the day like you’re meant to. So Matty elects to bring you out of your head.

He calls, “Wheels.”

You look up at him then and it seems to snap you out of your thoughts. Matty is about to tell you to relax but you seem to have diverted your thoughts before he has a chance too.  

“Hey, we match,” You grin, looking down at Matty’s tie.

You walk to him and run your fingers over the blood red material. You smile seeing it’s literally the exact same shade as your lipstick and your dress.

“We do,” Matty smiles at the feeling of your hand on his chest. But he can't bring himself to look at it as he’s still mesmerised by your pretty face, “Got to love a coincidence.”

“We love a happy accident,” You grin looking into his brown eyes.

Matty chuckles and pulls you into a hug saying, “Alright Bob Ross.”

You hug him back as you giggle at his joke. You’d made the guys watch Bob Ross with you many times and ‘happy accident’ was one of the phrases he liked to use and the guys liked to make fun of.

“You look stunning, Sweetheart,” Matty half whispers as if it’s a secret that he only wants you to know.

He’d happily scream it from the rooftops though.

“Thank you,” You grin, tucking your hair behind your ear as you tell him, “You look very dapper yourself, even with your hair gelled back.”

Matty laughs a little before saying, “Thanks gorgeous.”

“Come on,” You pat his chest. “We’ve gotta go.”

Matty nods then and the both of you make sure the latch is on the door, ensuring it’d lock behind the both of you. After setting the alarm, you both get outside and see that all the cars except for Matty’s Mums (that he was borrowing to get him to the church today) are all gone.

It seems that you’d both been taking too long and the other boys went in Adam’s car.

“Oh,” You say, looking at the practically empty drive. You turn to Matty and grin, “Well, I guess I'm going with you.”

~*~*~*~

Thankfully everything goes very smoothly when you get to the church. You babysit your Uncle and the best man at the door whilst they play very good hosts to the guests starting to filter in.

You also keep an eye on the boys sitting in the front of the church and make sure they aren’t messing around. You know what they’re like, but thankfully they are keeping on their best behaviour.

However, the cheekier lot of the bunch is doing everything in his power to tease you. After you walk down the aisle, dropping petals to the floor just before the beautiful bride herself walks down, you sit yourself down next to Adam, in front of the other boys who are sitting behind you.

You’re on the end of the row near the wall and you know Matty is directly behind you. Your hair must have fallen over the back of the wooden bench when you sat down because you  can feel him twisting it around his fingers. It’s nice at first once you realise what’s happening and that it isn’t a spider crawling on you.

But during the boring bits of the ceremony you can feel him doing things like halfheartedly plaiting your hair, before then tugging the strands free so they aren’t in a plait anymore. The only time he stops is when you turn to stand up to sing the hymn and you turn around and give him a knowing look.

Matty just playfully grins at you and you can tell he’s biting his tongue, trying not to laugh. But when you turn, you see that the other lads next to him must have been watching him too as the boys are also on the verge of bursting out laughing.

You want to laugh at that point then too but you just need to make it though the wedding itself and the rest of the day can be spent messing about. So when you sit back down after the song, you bring your hair over your shoulder so it all falls on one side of your chest.

You think he would have stopped with his teasing but apparently not. Matty instead must have been sitting forwards because you can feel his hot breath on the back of your neck.

And the sensation drives you insane.

You can feel him on you yet you never actually feel him. You know he’s right there but not doing anything and that’s somehow worse.

This being because you aren’t sure he knows what he’s doing. He used to linger behind your neck before pressing a kiss to it.

So this is torture for you. And to make it worse, the other lads won’t even know he’s doing it.

After all, he’s just breathing.

But you know it’s not just breathing. He’s teasing you, and he’ll know you like it.

The teasing doesn’t end after the ceremony either as you all end up in the back of Adam’s car after Matty drops his back off at his house. The five of you are going to be entitled to the free bar tonight which is lovely of your Aunt and Uncle to offer, so Tim had offered to pick up the lads who aren’t staying at the hotel.

George has the excuse of being in the passenger seat of Adam’s car because he’s the tallest. So that means that you, Ross and Matty have to squeeze into the back of Adam’s tiny Vauxhall Corsa.

Matty being the skinny bastard he is, goes in the middle with you and Ross on either side of him. It’s still a tight squeeze for the three of you but you make it work.

That didn’t stop Matty from being a little tease though. If anything, the close proximity adds to it.

Because he doesn’t have any arm room, he elects to rest the arm that’s closest to you down on your knee. And whilst you think nothing of it, as it’s more soothing to you than anything, it still makes you feel hyper aware that he’s there.

At one point during the journey, you get really uncomfortable so you turn towards Matty a little letting your knee rest over his and you put your head down on his shoulder too. You’re essentially curled up against him and you want to rest your eyes for the rest of the drive.

This obviously causes your dress to rise up your leg an inch or two more so you truly aren’t that surprised when Matty places his hand on your thigh after about five minutes. However, there was no way you’re getting to sleep with his fingertips slowly moving up and down your leg.

And Matty continues to have you on edge when you all get to the hotel. He stands with you whilst waiting for pictures and whilst you all get drinks, but his arm is around your waist with his hand resting a little lower on your back than it should be.

The pictures that you get together and with the rest of the family are so cute, and you like that Matty keeps you close at all times. You all make full use of the photographer and get pictures of the five of you.

You and Adam get one, as instructed to by your Mum and your Aunt. But Matty requests one with just you and you end up getting a few together.

One of you standing with your arms around each other, one of the both of you being silly and posing doing the peace sign, and another of you both laughing.

He doesn’t even let up his flirting when you all sit down for the meal. You’re sitting at a round table that’s opposite the bride and groom’s long table and you’re sitting between Matty and Adam.

Ross is next to Adam while George is next to Matty and your Mum is sat opposite you.

Matty flirts with you throughout the whole meal, sending you knowing looks, feeding you some of his food, and telling loads of jokes making both you and your Mum laugh. He’s a proper sweet talker, you can tell that your Mum loves him already.

You’d all been giggling along throughout the meal with your Mum telling her stories. She’d even told some of your childhood stories that you silently scorn her for.

Especially when she tells a story about how you’d had a childhood crush when you were about seven on one of your neighbours kids. Apparently he was about 19 and he had brown curly hair which Matty seems to find particularly hilarious.

Matty even slides his chair over to yours some more so he can tease you by taking the piss that you’d gone for him, saying you’ve had a type all along. Matty even goes as far to say that he’s your dream guy.

Of course you play back and shoot him down, not wanting his ego to get too big. You like seeing if he can take what he’s giving, and you’re pleased to see his cheeks go red when you give him some back.

The meal goes smoothly and before you know it the desserts are being served. You’d ordered chocolate cake and ice cream and you’re so excited for it, you haven’t stopped going on about looking forward to your dessert for the entire meal.

And when it arrives, you definitely seem to be enjoying it, despite claiming to be full from your main not too long ago.

Matty finishes his cheesecake within a few minutes; He then sheds off his grey waistcoat before reaching around to his blazer that’s hanging off the back of his chair and he pulls out his phone.

He’s on his phone for a few minutes until George takes his attention once more. Adam’s already got up after finishing his dessert and headed to his parents who were shouting him over.

Matty puts his phone down just between the two of you as he partakes in George and Ross’ conversation whilst your Mum is scorning you for struggling to finish your dessert. Matty silently laughs though, watching you power through the dessert, not letting it defeat you.

When Matty’s conversation with his friends turns into a loud spell of laughter, Matty turns back towards you a little. But as the brunette does that, his elbow knocks his phone to the floor.

After apologising to you, making sure it didn’t hit you as it bounced under the table, Matty ducks himself under the table to retrieve the device. He spots it not too far from your feet and he reaches for it.

But when he brings his hand back, Matty brushes the smooth skin on your leg when he pulls his phone back up from the floor. Matty notes that he’s made you jump so he genuinely apologises, “Sorry Wheels.”

You remove the spoon from your mouth and swallow the ice cream before saying, “It’s alright.”

But the way you said it made Matty second guess everything. It sounded encouraging, which he didn’t get because he didn’t set out to touch you.

Matty then read between the lines then and came to the conclusion that you were ‘alright’ with it because you wanted his hands on you. So he takes his chance a minute later and touches your leg again.

And you don’t jump at all this time when Matty’s little finger brushes the side of your leg, and because of that Matty gives you one more attempt to shy away from him when he lets his hand linger beside your leg. You surprise Matty after that though because you actually nudge your leg against his hand.

So Matty then doesn’t hesitate to rest his hand on your thigh and you don't hesitate to move slightly closer to him despite you still eating your dessert. Matty sneaks a glance at you then and he notices that your lips are now back to their normal colour as the food you’d eaten must have played a part in your lipstick coming off, along with the napkin you’d been using.

But in this moment your beautiful lips show your slight amusement at the situation you’re in. You’re sitting with Matty’s hand trailing the inside of your thigh in the back of the room and you feel like you’re on fire.

Especially when after a minute, he starts moving his hand up.

Your dress goes higher up your leg with every movement of his hand. And the thoughts of your dessert that’s still in front of you, become more distant.

You didn’t want to give into his teasing though. You want to eat your chocolate cake in peace, and then he can do whatever.

But you also want him to carry on. You like his adventurous, bordering on dangerous, nature.

You’ve never done anything as risky as this especially in such a formal setting. So you let him have his fun as you're trying to eat, even giving him more access to tease you.

Upon reaching the last piece of cake, you can’t bring yourself to eat it because Matty’s hand is brushing over your underwear and it makes your stomach drop. You know no one can see you because the circular table is in the corner of the room just opposite the bride and groom's.

Adam wasn’t at risk from seeing anything because his Mum and Dad had called him over to talk to them. George and Ross are too focused on their conversation, and Matty joins in every now and again, so no one suspects anything.

“Are you okay Y/N?” Your Mum pulls you out of your haze of thoughts about Matty’s fingers ever so slightly teasing you.

You’ve gone hot and you can feel it as you glance up from your cake that you’ve apparently been staring at for god knows how long. But you can’t look at Matty or your act would go straight out of the window.

“I don’t feel very good,” You say, swallowing down the feelings Matty was instilling in your body as he teases you over the thin material.

“I told you not to eat all the cake if you couldn’t handle it,” Your Mum chuckles over the table, “You never can.”

You give her a halfhearted smile, and chuckle, “Yeah.”

“You need a drink or anything Y/N? Some water?” Matty offers you in an innocent manner.

You look and can see the mischief in his eyes as he keeps the smirk off his face though. His fingers add a little more pressure as he teases you over the lacy material. He likes seeing your eyes go wide and he’s the cause of it.  

You rest your hand over his, trying to get him to stop moving his fingers which he thankfully slows them as you speak to your Mum. That didn’t stop him from moving his fingertips ever so slightly every ten seconds though.

Matty knows you didn’t want him to stop. You could have easily pushed his hand away in the position that you were in. But you didn’t.

You wanted him there. Teasing you.

He knows you want him just as much as he wants you. He can see it in your eyes.

“I’m good, thank you Matty,” You say a little shakily, but only your usually curly haired brunette picks up on that.

After another few minutes of torture, you can’t take it anymore. Your Mum keeps talking to you and you can’t deal with that whilst Matty’s hand is there.

“I’m going to be sick,” You lie to your mother across the table.

You push Matty’s hand away but cling to his shoulder when you stand, giving it a prominent squeeze as you get up silently telling him to follow you.

You rush out and your Mum looks at you with worried eyes. She goes to stand up but Matty quickly does so instead.

“I’ll make sure she’s okay, don’t worry. You see to your sister,” Matty tells your Mum as he puts his napkin down on the table, nodding towards your Aunt trying to get her sister's attention.

“Thank you Matty,” She smiles gratefully, “You’re a lifesaver.”

Unsuspecting to your Mum though, Matty aims to make sure you’re okay in an entirely different way.

Instead of holding your hair back in the toilet you brought him into, Matty is pulling on it to keep you trapped in a kiss. You feel like it has been forever since your tongue has met his.

So you’re savouring every moment with him. Matty excites you like no other person ever has done.

You can’t imagine letting any other person do to you what Matty had just done at the table. He’s cheeky and almost too confident for his own good and you love that about him.

Both of you know exactly where this is going at this point because as soon as you’re both in the posh empty bathroom, Matty locks the door behind him. He ushers you against the sink where you can sit and you don’t hesitate in doing so.

The cold surface underneath you probably would’ve made you jump if Matty wasn’t taking up all of your attention like he so easily does every time you’re in his presence. His lips are on yours, his hands roaming everywhere like he owns you.

And in this moment he practically does.

After a minute of getting off with him, Matty’s lips start trailing down your jaw and neck where he starts sucking and nipping on your skin. You give yourself a few seconds to enjoy that sensation again while your fingers are laced in Matty’s hair but you can’t let him continue.

“No,” You breath heavily pulling on the back of his hair. “No marks on my neck or my chest. No.”

Yes, you love it but you can’t deal with trying to hide them today. Especially when you’ve already been pictured without them.

If you were found with them later, you’d never live it down.

“Okay,” Matty says, kissing his way down your chest before he drops to his knees so he's at the perfect height to go down on you.

You breathe out a, “Matty,” but it sounds to him as more of a scorn than it did a pleasured moan. He’s kissing up your legs when you protest again but he has an answer for everything.

“No one but me is going to see the inside of your thighs, Sweetheart,” Matty says before his head completely disappears under the skirt of your dress.

As he kisses your thighs he also tugs on your underwear which Matty can see is lacy and red. Once you lift yourself up a little for him to pry them off easily, you watch as he pockets them as you feel his lips get closer and closer to where you want them.

“Matty,” He hears you moan quietly, obviously trying to encourage him but also control your volume.

He really wants to carry on teasing you, but again, who’s he to deny you whatever you desire?

You have to bite your tongue to stop the loud moans you want to let out as Matty starts going down on you. Your fingers are pulling tightly on his gelled hair as he does so, needing something to hold onto whilst he doesn’t let up on the pleasure he’s building inside you.

You soon realise that you aren’t after the foreplay today though. He’s works you up enough by being a tease all fucking day.

“Matty, I need you now,” You tell him and you're thankful that a few seconds later he gets up off his knees.

Your hands immediately go to his shirt, pulling it out of his pants as his lips attack yours once again. You both can’t help but moan against the others lips and Matty’s get a little louder when you make quick work of the clothes on the lower half of his body.

Before you know it, Matty’s pants are around his ankles and he’s tearing open a condom with his teeth that he quickly retrieved from his wallet. You tease him a little, your hand working him up as if he wasn’t already hard.

It seems like you both aren’t in the mood for teasing today though because as soon as the condom’s on, no more time is wasted. You want him inside you as much as he wants to be there.

An effort is made for you to both keep as quiet as you can. So it’s just the sound of your skin hitting together that fills your ears in the posh bathroom. Filthy sounds really, but it just turns the both of you on even more.

Your lips rarely part so you both feel each other's moans on your tongues as you kiss. Although, sometimes this is hard because the pace had been set pretty fast and Matty isn’t messing about.

Your dress is bunched up high around your waist with Matty holding it at the back, making sure it doesn’t go in the sink behind you. Your legs are locked around him meaning that each thrust he gives you is sharp and deep, so it hits that spot inside you over and over again.

The porcelain basin behind you is pressing into your back harder with each thrust of Matty’s and somehow that adds to it because you’re pressed against him. You truly feel like you’re just made for each other, he just feels so good and everything about him in general just makes you feel like you never have before.

Each thrust from him is feeling better than the last, meaning that you don’t give a fuck about the porcelain digging into your lower back. You confirm in your mind that it’s definitely adding to the whole thing because you couldn’t move backwards, especially with your legs wrapped around him too.

When you reach your orgasm, you’re thankful that you have Matty’s lips on your own to muffle the moan that spills from your lips. Your lips also contain his groan upon feeling you clench around him until he finds his own release.

Your legs are still shaking around Matty’s waist when he finally stops thrusting. You cling to him to try and get your mind to come back around to you. It'd been a long time since an orgasm left you like that.

He’s actually mind blowing, because all you can do is rest your forehead against his shoulder as you return back to a normal headspace.

“Sweetheart, breathe,” Matty says softly, kissing the side of your head.

You hadn’t realised you’d stopped doing so. When you lift your head back up to look at the brunette you see that he looks just as fucked as you probably do.

Only when you stop shaking does Matty pull out of you. You sit on the side for a moment longer, your skirt falling back down covering you, as you watch Matty dispose of the condom and make himself presentable again.

After a few seconds, Matty comes back over to you and takes your hand, encouraging you to get to find your feet once more. Thankfully you’re steady on them when you do, or you are when you’re not moving in these heels.

“Fuck Sweetheart, you look so fucking good right now,” Matty grins taking a step back looking at you, your gaze still a bit fucked out and Matty likes knowing he’s the cause of it.

Your gaze runs down his body and you find him so sexy in today's attire that you don’t even hesitate to say, “So do you.”

You step into his arms again and get another kiss. A little sigh falls from Matty’s lips at you being in his arms one again and he feels you hum against his lips.

When you pull away, you stay close to him and ask, “Are you going to stop teasing me now?”

Matty smirks, “You don’t want me to do that.”

He knows you far too well.

“No I don’t,” You grin, telling him what you know he wants to hear.

However, you get a little serious when you say, “But you can’t do everything again because we can’t do this again today.”

Your instructions are a little somber as your hands run through his hair, sorting out the mess you'd made. You smooth back all his hair and Matty savours the feeling of you being so close.

“I know,” Matty gives you a sad little smile but you were both painfully aware of where you are.

Escaping for a quickie in the bathroom was only possible because you made a good actress and could lie like it was second nature. You knew you’d have to act when you went back out as well, but you weren’t thinking about that right now.

You’re thinking about the once again mindblowing sex you’d just had with the boy that made your heart beat faster. The boy that looks at you like you’re the only girl in the world and the warm feeling that fills your chest is like something you’ve not experienced in a long time.

“How are you so good every time?” You ask a little breathlessly as you wrap your arms around his neck, wanting him close.

Matty chuckles a little at your confession before suggesting, “I think it’s just how we work, Sweetheart. You blow my mind.”

Matty’s lips find yours once again and he kisses you sweetly. It's soft and simple and serves the purpose as you both smile into it.

You pull away from him for a minute knowing you need to head back out to everyone else soon though. And when you tell him that, Matty takes your hand and tries to lead you towards the door.

You pull him back to you though.

“Are you okay?” Matty asks as he turns back to you, holding you a little tighter seeing you shakily take the step towards him to stop him from leaving.

“I’m trying to walk in heels about a minute after an orgasm, Matty,” You tell him. “I can barely stand up straight.”

He grins at you then, “You need me to stay and escort you out?”

“No,” You shake your head, “I need you to give me my underwear back.”

“You’re no fun, Sweetheart,” Matty shakes his head a little, trying to suppress his smile.

You scoff a little then, stating, “We just fucked in the toilets at my Aunt's wedding. If that doesn’t class as fun, I don’t know what does.”

Matty grins at you then before reaching into his pocket and retrieving the red lace.

“Thank you,” You say, taking them from him before you turn to head to the closest of the empty cubicles.

“I’ll wait outside for you,” Matty tells you and you smile showing your gratitude.

At least him waiting outside would help persuade people that you are actually ill. Or to anyone who didn’t know you were ‘sick’ anyway, it wouldn’t look suspicious.

After making yourself presentable again, you make your way out to Matty. You find him not too far from the doors and he lets you link his arm as you walk back towards the function room door.

“Are you sure you can walk?” Matty teases.

“Matty, I’m fine,” You chuckle, “Now watch me win an Oscar.”

Going back inside Matty thinks you play the role very well. If he hadn't just been with you, he’d have believed you’d just been sick as well.

You’re really good at acting. You even went as far as to ask your Mum for yours and Adam’s room key so you could brush your teeth. (Yes your annoying family had made you share a room with your cousin, that was the reason you didn’t fuck Matty upstairs).

You disappear out of the room for about ten minutes when you go to ‘brush your teeth’ and the way your Mum and Aunt fawn over you when you come back makes Matty chuckle. You have to nudge him at one point to make him stop.

But soon enough, the lies cease and the day moves on. It’s time for the speeches.

Yours and Adam’s Grandad start the speeches off as he’s of course the father of the bride. He tells a lot of funny and embarrassing stories about your mum and your aunt growing up and they make you laugh as you don’t know some of them yourself.

Even when your grandma steals the microphone for a minute to wish her daughter all the luck in the world, it makes you giggle. As if your Aunt hadn’t been with your Uncle since way before they had Adam 21 years ago.

The speeches then move along to the grooms and your Uncle is doing an excellent job of making everyone laugh, as he’s a really funny guy. Your Uncle is one of your favourite people on the planet, you hope he’d walk you down your own aisle one day as he had been the father figure for most of your life.

Your Uncle has made everyone laugh, he embarrassed your Aunt which was really funny to see. She was always the cool one and doing the same to him, so he was definitely getting his own back now.

The only thing left to do was make people cry. And he was succeeding.

“There’s unfortunately a couple of important people missing here today,” Your Uncle says and you know what’s about to come, and you aren't entirely sure you’re ready for it.

“And those people are the ones who should be here the most,” Your Uncle smiles down at his wife and she takes his hand and you see her thumb caress his skin which seems to help him carry on.

“I know me and my lovely wife would love nothing more than our brother-in-law to be here with us today... He was truly one of the best... The best friend I could have ever asked for and he was taken from all of us, especially his lovely wife and daughter, far too soon,” Your uncle continues and a ball quickly forms in your throat.

You smile at your Uncle and then glance to your Mum and see that her eyes have welled up which subsequently makes yours do the same. As you offer your Mum a smile, which she returns, you feel someone take your hand.

And when you follow the action, your hand lies in a certain curly haired brunette's, and he offers you the warmest smile which you didn’t know you needed until right now.

When you reached your early teens, you finally understood what experiences you’d missed out on because your dad had passed away when you were five. You’d learned to get your emotions out when you needed to and you learned to keep them at bay for your Mum’s sake.

So, it wasn’t often anymore that you thought about your Dad and got emotional, but when you did think of him and you’re surrounded by family, it did upset you.

You always felt like there was a missing piece, and today was one of those days. So when Matty offered you that support you took it and squeezed his hand back.

When you glance back at your Uncle he smiles at you and you blow him a kiss which he seems to appreciate. He continues to talk about your dad a little bit, saying he was in the room with everyone now and your Uncle says some really lovely things about him missing out being able to dance with you looking beautiful today, which makes you tear up but you promised your Uncle that he could dance with you.

You do have to wipe away a few stray tears after that moment, all while Matty is there to comfort you and you also feel Adam’s hand on your shoulder letting you know he’s there for you too. You really appreciated everything that your Uncle has said about your Dad and whilst he was speaking you lace your fingers with Matty for that extra comfort that you crave.

The speech moves on past the section that involved your Dad and you listen to your Uncle's anecdotes about when he met your Aunt and your Mum. The stories are really funny and the speech is amazing.

Matty’s hand never leaves yours throughout it all, unlike Adam’s eventually left your back, which you’re thankful to Matty for. He keeps his thumb moving across your skin and you’re so grateful for that.

Every so often he gives your hand a squeeze which you know is a silent ‘are you okay?’ and each time you give him a longer squeeze back confirming that you are.

By the end of the speech, your hand is in his lap and Matty’s other hand is on top of your clasped ones, again tracing soothing patterns onto your skin. When the time comes to clap you don’t let go of his hand either.

Both you and Matty elect to clap one handed on your thighs and during the clap your Uncle smiles at you and you stop clapping to blow him a kiss.

Before Matty can ask if you’re okay the Best Man’s speech starts which is actually hilarious. However, your heart feels heavy so your hand stays in Matty’s until that speech finishes too.

“You okay?” Matty asks in a quiet voice.

“Yeah,” You smile, giving his hand a squeeze, “Thank you.”

Matty just smiles at you then before his other hand comes up to your face and he tells you to look up which you do. His hand is on your cheek as his thumb runs underneath your eye.

Your suspicions of what he was doing were confirmed when he explains, “Your mascara smudged a little.”

You chuckle then just thinking he’s the cutest person in the entire world. You quickly cup his face in your other hand and pull him in for a quick kiss which Matty returns with a little smile on his lips.

“Thank you,” You say, giving his hand another squeeze before you both have to stand up and head out of the room.

The herd of people head out of the room so the staff can clear up and set the room up for the evening’s festivities.

You’re then whisked away from your new safety harness and roped into more photos with your family. After about half an hour of having pictures and waiting for them to need you, you finally escape back to your boys.

Matty makes sure you’re okay again and he gets you another amaretto like you’d been drinking all afternoon. You thank him and you stick with your boys until the room is prepared for the evening party and you are all called back in.

You all watch as the bride and groom dance along to a cheesy love song that you know your Aunt loves and you think she looked gorgeous dressed in white. She’s truly so beautiful and you can see a lot of your Mum in her.

It makes you think how beautiful your Mum and Dad would have been on their wedding day. Of course you’d seen pictures of the occasion, but this moment you were witnessing now just makes you think of how your Mum and Dad would have danced.

You wish you were there to see it but that wasn’t the case. You came along almost exactly nine months later.

There is dancing for a little while that you don’t really want to take part in so you sit down and joke around with your boys for a good hour before George suggests heading outside to the grand patio area that the hotel had and getting high.

Of course, no one objected to this. In fact, you’re the first up.

Adam gets lost in the crowd on the way out but when he shows back up again, not too long later he’s pleading with Matty to save some because apparently your Aunt caught you all through the window and drunkenly wants some for herself. This revelation makes you giggle as you don’t really believe it.

You just think Adam wants some for himself.

However it turns out to be true because Adam comes back after a minute, saying that you can’t not save some because his Mum is threatening him to cry on her wedding day.

Matty still doesn’t seem to believe him though as the both of you are just sharing it.

But your cousin doesn’t stop going on about it for the next five minutes and it gets to the point were Matty snaps, “Hann fuck off... I only brought three and me and Wheels are having one. George stole one, and me and Wheels are having the other one later.”

The death stare your cousin sends him then is a little scary, even for your standards.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” Matty doesn’t back down, taking another drag, “I didn’t expect your Mum to wanna get high on her wedding day.”

Adam throws back, “Well you don’t have to be selfish and have two.”

You try not to laugh as you take the spliff from Matty and bring it to your lips once more. You like the way it makes you relax and you’re slightly happy Matty is defending your other one for later.

“Hann,” Matty says, trying to bite back his annoyed tone, “We’re gunna have to ask about, considering I’m the only one who thought to bring the weed.”

You leave the squabbling boys to themselves though when you spot your Aunt wondering outside through the door a bit further down from the one you. You call her over to you and you walk towards the table not too far from the boys to sit with her.

“Hey,” You giggle, watching her take a seat, “Did you want to just have a drag or get super high?”

“Just a drag,” Your Aunt giggles up at you. “Takes me back to when your Mum used to bring some home with her and we’d sneak it away from your Grandma and get high in the car.”

You let out a loud laugh at that knowing that is what Adam and the boys do a lot of the time. You let her have a drag of the spliff as you turn to your cousin and giggle, “Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree Hann.”

The bride offers you the spliff back and once it’s trapped between your fingers you think it through, knowing there’s only about two drags left. You don't want fights about it but you also want to be generous to your Aunt.

“You can have the end of this,” You say to your Aunt, bringing the spliff closer to your lips, but your grin at Matty as you say it, despite him standing a few meters away from you.

Looking back at your Aunt you tell her, “I’ll share my last drag,” before taking it and holding your breath, before handing it over.

She grins up at you and quietly scorns, “Will you just get with the poor boy already? His eyes haven’t left you all day.”

If only she knew.

You just grin at her and shake your head warningly, silently telling her to ‘shut up’. You love your Aunt to pieces but you don’t want or feel the need to overthink things like that when you are around Matty.

You make your way over to him and grin. You point to your mouth so he knows what you're up to and when his lips move down to yours he takes his shotgun kiss.

Soon enough though it just turns into a real kiss as his hands rest on your hips, pulling you into him a little more and your hands are resting on his chest. You should be surprised when he tries to deepen it, but you aren’t.

In fact, you encourage it until you remember that you reapplied your lipstick when you went upstairs earlier.

You pull back when he gets a little too into it, warning him, “Watch my lipstick.”

“So many rules, Sweetheart,” Matty grins, shaking his head a little.

But he doesn’t seem to care that much because he just pulls you further into him and kisses your lips once more. Matty savours the feeling, as he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to get enough of you. When he pulls away, he makes you laugh.

“How do you still taste like chocolate when we’ve had a spliff?” Matty questions completely baffled by you.

It was all he could taste earlier when you were both in the bathroom.

Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate.

And now that taste was confusing him with the smell of the weed too. It was sort of morphing into the same thing.  

You just giggle, ignore the question and attach your lips to his once more.  

~*~*~*~

“Dance with me?” Matty asks you when you’re both standing in the room with the dancefloor watching the couples, including your Aunt and Uncle, slow dancing.

Your eyes go a little wide at Matty’s question, “I don’t know how to dance.”

“Neither do I, but we’ll figure it out,” Matty grins, grabbing your hand and pulling you to him.

He moves you onto the dancefloor and he holds your hip and your hand like a ballroom dancer and rests your other hand on his shoulder.

You slowly dance to the acoustic version of James Blunt’s 1973 which you find quite cute because of how close the year is to his band name. But maybe you just find that amusing because of how many drinks you’d had.

You definitely wouldn’t have agreed to dance with anyone sober. But you’re entitled to the free bar and so was Matty.

It’s past 9 p.m. now and he’d split more of your amaretto than you would ever usually allow when you were paying for your own drinks. But you’d definitely drunk a lot more than he’d spilled, meaning that you would’ve been very easily persuaded to dance, even if it wasn’t the boy who you may or may not have had a crush on who asked you.

You dance close to each other, to the point where there is no room between you. You’re just clutching each other, loving the intimate moment and you don’t even feel the need to speak as the song plays.

You just sway together and you try to remember every little second of this. You like dancing in Matty’s arms. You like him holding you close like you’re his.

Truthfully you don’t want the moment to end. You like feeling the little kisses he places on your neck and you find that your whole body tingles when he compliments you.

“You look stunning,” He whispers in your ear.  

You can't contain your grin so you’re thankful that your cheek is pressed against his and he can’t see it. You compliment him back, “You look really good too.”

And he truly does. His black shirt had long been untucked from his grey pants now and the loose red tie with the buttons undone just makes him even more attractive to you. The hair starting to fall a little even does it for you too.

“But you honestly just look...  Wow,” Matty says, not being able to find a better word.

You grin and whisper a, “Thank you,” as the song fades and a familiar one comes on.

You can’t help but ask your Curly a question then as it’s your favourite song.

I’m Yours by Jason Mraz.

“Did you ask for this song to be put on?” You grin, looking at him as you both start swaying a little bit faster to the new beat.

Matty grins back saying, “Maybe.”

“Did you learn it for me?” You ask curiously.

About two months ago, you asked him on the phone if he would learn it and play it for you at some point. This time you’d been in Manchester you hadn’t had any alone time so you weren’t sure if he had learnt it or not.

But of course, your Curly comes though, “I did.”

You can't hide the smile on your face at that point. You just dance and both softly sing along to the song. And every so often Matty kisses your neck before he carries on singing into your ear.

Yeah, the song is an older one, but you rediscovered it at the beginning of the year and you just love it so much. So for months, you’d been playing it on repeat in your headphones endlessly whilst you painted or created some other form of art.

As the post chorus comes along you feel Matty's lips on your neck again and you smile at the feeling as you carry on moving together to your favourite song.

The post chorus is your favourite bit because it feels like an intimate sort of moment that you were intruding on. So after the little skat that Mraz sings you can’t help but continue to sing just as loud.

“And I will nibble your ear,” You sing along with Jason Mraz, but as you do, you feel Matty do exactly that to you.

The giggle you let out then can’t be contained and Matty chuckles when he hears that beautiful sound. But at the end of the song, you’re both just swaying in a circle and singing the lyrics into the other’s ear.

It’s a beautiful moment. And what better way for it to end than with a kiss?

When Matty’s lips connect to yours, you both savour it until the next song starts. You’re about to begin swaying along to the new tune but your Uncle taps Matty on the shoulder asking if he could steal you away for a song.

Of course Matty agrees and he lets your Uncle dance with you. But every time you turn around, you catch Matty watching you dance with your Uncle, and you feel your cheeks go hot under his gaze.

God, you really were embodying the song that had just been on. All it took was for him to look at you and smile and your usual chilled out self became so hot that you thought you'd melt right through the cracks.

You really needed to get your grip back.

~*~*~*~

As the night gets later, you get drunker, which means that when the second spliff you and Matty are sharing is depleted, you start sharing your thoughts.

Your back is against the brick wall behind you and you have Matty’s blazer on keeping you warm. Matty is standing about a foot in front of you and he’s just caught you looking up at his hair.

“I prefer your hair curly,” You tell him as you watch him take the last drag, stubbing the rest out.

Matty grins, “Yeah?”

You nod, “Yeah... I miss my Curly.”

“I’ve not gone anywhere, Sweetheart,” Matty chuckles, stepping closer to you and pulling your body into his.

“No,” You shake your head, “I mean in general.”

You can tell he’s confused then but your drunk self elaborates and clears it up for him.  

“I miss our summers,” You start. “I miss coming to Manchester... I miss you showing me how to do tricks on my skateboard.”

Everything you’re saying is making his heart swell. But even more so when you finish off with, “I miss you flirting with me and calling me Wheels... I miss you a lot Matty.”

“You’ve got no idea how much I miss you Sweetheart,” Matty tells you, pulling you firmly against him and you just stand there gazing into each other's eyes.

Matty breaks the moment's silence by suggesting, “You should come back over and see us soon.”

“I want to,” You nod, “I’ll try and come up properly again next summer.”

“We could do so much,” Matty grins, nudging your nose playfully with his.

“Wanna do it all,” You giggle, wrapping your arms around his neck.

Matty asks with raised eyebrows, “You come to all of our gigs?”

“Of course,” You giggle, “Got to see The 1975 for the first time, haven’t I?”

“You do,” Matty says before pecking your lips once.  

“Did you keep any songs for this one?” You ask, knowing with every new band name they never kept any of the songs they made in that era and brought it to the next.

“We’re keeping Girls and Sex,” Matty tells you.

You feel blood rush to your cheeks then knowing the latter is about you. Matty grins seeing you look to the ground after that, as he never made it a secret that the song is about you. If anything he wanted you to know.

“Hey Y/N/N,” Your Mum calls from round the corner.

You and Matty separate from each other's embrace then, and you make your way to your Mum who is bound to introduce you to one of her new friends again. Unsurprisingly she does but at least this time her friend has a son who looks around your age that has come along to the event.

You’re pleasant with the guy and Matty watches in amusement with George, Ross, and Adam at you trying your best to make conversation. Your body language tells those who knew you best that you’re tired and you really can’t be arsed with the conversation.

And it just gets worse when both you and your Mum are encouraged to get in a picture with her friend and her son. The boys watch as you put on the worst fake smile they’ve ever seen but Matty takes note of the lad whose arm goes around you as politely moves closer to you for the picture.

The guy is smitten with you. Anyone could see it.

Especially Matty though. And he hates it.

Even more so when the guy pulls you to the bar and you get a drink with him. Matty hates you talking to him, hates seeing you genuinely smiling at the lad. Matty hates you clinking your glass with him, hates you doing a shot with him, and hates seeing you rest your hand on his arm when you genuinely laughed at whatever he’s saying.

But Matty’s just thankful that a few minutes later you come back over to him and his friends. Matty traps you against him, his arms snaking around your waist.

“How's your new friend?” George asks you teasingly.

You frown at him and ask, “Why are you saying it like that?”

“He was giving you the lips, Wheels,” Matty tells you as he kisses your neck a few times.

You pull a disgusted face then, definitely not wanting that boy to ‘give you the lips’. You lean back into Matty a little, taking a drag of the cigarette you just lit and relax into him.

“I’m good thanks,” You cringe. “His curls and his height are as good as he gets.”

Matty hadn’t missed that the guy was literally just a 6’ 3” version of himself. But a lot less good looking, if Matty did say so himself.

“I reckon you could knock him out if he came too close,” Matty whispers into your ear which causes you to let out a giggle.

The night draws on and you and Matty spend the majority of the night in each other's company. Not always at each other's sides but you both never stray too far away.

Matty had given you his blazer when it started going dark, which was around 7 p.m. as he didnt want you getting cold when you all went out for a smoke. You thought it was very cute of him and you liked his aftershave that seemed to linger on the material.

You like his smell. It reminds you of your second home, as you spent most of your time in his company the last few times you come to Manchester.

All too soon though, the evening begins to draw to a close. And that starts when you feel a buzzing in the blazer that you had on.

You find Matty’s phone to be the culprit and when you pull it out you see Dad flash up on his phone, along with the time of 02:43.

“Hi Tim,” You answer it knowing Matty won’t mind.

You love Tim and you haven’t spoken to him for ages. You really miss Matty's whole family though, especially Louis.

“Y/N, is that you?” Tim asks you and you smile hearing his jolly voice.

You tell him, “It is, Matty lent me his blazer and it had his phone in it.”

“Ah he’s a gooden, isn't he?” Tim chuckles down the line. After you agree with him, Tim asks, “How’s the tie change gone down?”

You're confused at that question, and you assume it’s just your drunken mind needing the question simplified, “What do you mean?”

“The red tie?” Tim tells you and you glance at Matty who’s in conversation with George just across the patio. “He had a grey one to match his suit originally but he’s not stopped all week about me needing to help him find a tie in a particular shade of red.”

“Oh,” You say, a little shocked by the information. A smile also makes its way to your face, remembering your conversation from this morning, when you mentioned that he matched you.

The thought that he’d done it intentionally makes your heart beat faster.

Matty turns around laughing at something George had said then and his eyes connect with yours, which in that moment makes your heart flutter and butterflies come to your stomach. You glance down at his tie that is now loose around the collar of his black shirt and you press your lips together before telling Tim, “Yeah, the tie looks really good.”

“Ah, that's good then,” Tim says in his geordie accent as your eyes connect with Matty’s once more and you smile at each other.

“Are you alright to tell him I’m going to set off now to pick them up? I’ll be about half an hour,” Tim asks you.

“Yeah, of course,” You nod, even though he couldn’t see you. “Do you want to speak to him?”

You start walking over to Matty then, a little slower than your usual pace because of the amount of alcohol you’d consumed and because your heels were beginning to hurt a little. Tim says down the phone, “Yeah alright, if he’s not too busy?”

“No, don’t worry,” You grin, “He’s right here.”

Matty tilts his head to the side a little then, seeing you approach him on the phone with a look in your eyes he can’t quite pinpoint. “I’ll see you soon Tim,” You smile and Matty understands it’s his dad then.

You say a final goodbye before you hand Matty his phone over and whilst he takes that from you, you trade it for his cigarette and listen to his end of the conversation whilst chatting a little to George.

Matty’s answers to his Dad are generic, nothing revealing about them, so there’s really no need to listen in. It sounds like he’s just thankful that his Dad is coming to pick him and the other boys up.

“Thanks Dad, see you later,” Matty says, “Bye.”

Matty hangs up the phone then and pulls you into his body, maybe craving the warmth as you’d stolen his blazer, or maybe craving you. Either way, you’re happy in the embrace you’re trapped in and you can’t really stop yourself from smiling as you finish chatting to George about his job.

You lean back into Matty’s chest whilst you’re finishing off his cigarette. After a second, his hands come around your waist and he pulls your blazer open a bit so he can put his phone back in the inside pocket.

You stay like that for a little while until your cousin is shouting you inside for some more pictures.

You roll your eyes knowing it’s getting closer to 3 a.m. now and you really don’t want to be having pictures taken at this time. However, this day is not about you, so you get up and leave Matty and George alone once again.

When the photos are finished you glance at the clock seeing that it’s 3 a.m. and you’re genuinely so tired. Both you and Adam head back outside to your friends then and see a group of all the youths of tonight around your age had formed where you left Matty and George earlier.

As the both of you walk over though, you see that the group had basically formed a small circle. You and Adam slot yourself in next to George, Matty is opposite you next to some guy he’d apparently not seen in years that he’d pointed out earlier.

Ross was only a couple of people away from him, still looking dapper like before but you can’t take your eyes away from Matty. Partly because he just looked amazing in that black shirt and his red tie with his hair now falling in his face a little bit.

But mostly because he so easily captured everyone’s attention with his mouth that never stops running. It was like he asked if anyone minded if he gave a speech, because everyone gives him their attention.

And right now he’s talking to an old friend of his about their ex.

“Nah mate, honestly I never really got on with your bird the first time I met her. She was dressed in nout when we were all out and she was telling everybody that she was shagging about,” Matty told the guy and you had to hand it to him, he had some balls saying that to someone he barely knew.

“But she turned out to be alright. Actually one of the more laidback lot of the bunch,” Matty finishes up with and the guy just laughs and you’re just glad you didn’t have to drag Matty away from a fist fight.

But a minute later something happens that you aren’t expecting. You watch a really pretty girl with red hair, that you’d noticed earlier in the day, subtly tuck herself under Matty’s arm.

You don't think anyone else noticed it because she was standing next to him anyway, but your eyes had rarely strayed away from Matty today so you noticed instantly. Even more so when his arm goes around her shoulder.

A pit forms in the bottom of your stomach then and you aren’t too sure why. But looking at the girl next to Matty stings in a way it never had before seeing him with someone else.

You didn’t even feel like this the first time you’d seen him with Lucy. It’s a strange feeling and you didn’t really like it so you just didn’t look towards them hoping the sensation would leave.

But the feeling didn’t go away, mostly because you can’t really take your eyes off them. You want to see exactly where her hands are on him, and the fact she’s clutching to his shirt makes you jealous.

You don’t want her touching him at all.

Jealousy really is a dirty feeling, you don’t like it, and the fact you’re feeling it this intensely makes you want to head up to bed so you don’t get more wound up. The girl who has the most stunning red hair keeps giggling and leaning herself into Matty and Matty chuckles along with her to the guy's jokes.

You didn’t even hear the joke because you’re just so concentrated on her. Her hair stands out against her black dress which just draws people in to look at her.

Her dress is also riskily short which obviously brings her a lot of attention but the fact that she’d drawn Matty’s hurt your heart a little. But he wasn’t yours, so you had to suck it up and deal with it.

After another minute, you look back and the girl and Matty are looking at each other and you know exactly what you’re about to witness. She wanted him, you can just tell.

You don’t know why you carry on looking when she goes for the kiss, but you do. There’s a little tug on your heart that you try to pretend that you don’t feel when her lips are about to connect to his.

But all of a sudden Matty does something you truly didn’t expect.

“Oh,” Matty says, pulling his head back from the girl about to kiss him, “Best not, I’ll probably yosh in your mouth.”

The girl pouts at him with her gorgeous face full of make up and asks him as if she's a doting girlfriend, “You not feeling well?”

Matty shakes his head and you hear him say as he detacts himself from her, putting a hand on his stomach, “Nah… It’s like five past three, I can hardly see, and I'm on the verge of passing out.”

“I’m going getting some water,” Matty tells the girl before he heads inside and you avert your gaze quickly before you’re caught looking.

You see the girl's disappointed face and you can’t help the smile that forms on your lips. You don’t think you’d been this pettily happy for a long time.

A few minutes later Matty shouts from the door, “Hann, my Dad’s here.”

Your little group parts ways from the others, knowing that it’s time to say bye. You and Adam are staying in the hotel with your parents and they had annoyingly put you and Adam in a twin room, but the rest of the lads were heading back into Wilmslow.

You all meet Matty at the door and after the boys say bye to your family, you and Adam head outside. As the lads say goodbye to Adam, you politely say hello to Tim and ask how the family is doing.

You also tell him that you can’t wait for the next season of Benidorm as you find the programme hilarious and the fact he’s in it makes it even better.

Soon enough though, Adam takes your spot with Tim and you say goodbye to your boys then. You savour their hugs, knowing you wouldn’t see them until Christmas again now.

George is the first you hug, and then Ross, leaving Matty till last. You shrug off his blazer and playfully help him get it back on before he traps you in a hug.

You bury your head into his neck, shamelessly inhaling his scent and you’re sure you get more drunk off that. After a long and tight squeeze goodbye you part from him, but Matty doesn’t let you get too far from him.

His arms stay around your waist and your brunette cheekily glances at your lips when he says, “Need one for the road Sweetheart.”

And just from the look on his face you could tell he wants another kiss. And you’re not getting out of this until he gets one.

“Thought you felt sick?” You ask him, not particularing wanting to kiss him if he’s going to throw up into your mouth.

You aren’t Alex, you can’t cope with that shit.

“No, not in the slightest,“ Matty shakes his head, smiling a little.

That confuses you.

You frown a little, “But the girl…You didn’t ki-“

“The girl wasn’t you,” Matty interrupts sincerely, tucking your hair behind your ear.

Your heart warms at him saying that and his beautiful brown eyes show he’s being completely serious. The way he’s looking at you makes your heart flutter.

The next second you're captured by his kiss. Your heart rate once again increases feeling his lips against yours and even more when his tongue finds yours.

Your hands travel up his body, one resting on his neck and the other lacing into his hair. Matty hums a little feeling your nails against his scalp before your fingers curl around his locks and pull on it.

Matty’s hand that’s resting on your hip goes completely around your back and pulls your body closer to his. His other still cupping your cheek, guiding you through the kiss.

Not that you need the guidance at this point. You’re sure you knew pretty much everything about him, especially that tongue of his.

That was one thing you definitely had in common.

You try to savour the feeling of him against you and his lips against yours because you don’t know when you’d feel it again. You’re a little worried you never would.

You don’t want to go back over to Manchester and find that he has a surprise girlfriend again. That may be selfish of you, but you really don’t.

When you both part from the kiss, you keep close to each other. Your faces are barely two inches apart.

“Please come and see us more often Sweetheart,” Matty pleads, not wanting to let go of your body.

Every time you’re standing in his arms he feels whole. Like you are made to be there.

“I will,” You nod in confirmation.

You really want to. You miss spending him in their company. In Matty’s company.

“Good,” Matty grins, with his thumb still caressing your cheek, “Because I’ll be coming over to Sheffield if you don’t.”

You grin up at him and lean into his palm a little, “I promise I'll ask the bride tomorrow if I can come and stay again next summer.”

Matty grins at you and pulls you in for a quick peck, and after he says, “I'll see you soon, Wheels.”

“See you soon, Curly.” You say before you kiss him once more.

This time you don’t care about your lipstick. You just need a kiss that’d satisfy you until you see him again.

And you really hope that would be sooner rather than later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Really hope you enjoyed this! And if you fancy reading the full story that is a love triangle between Matty and Alex, the fic is Nothing Revealed In A Common Crisis and you can find it here and @nriacc! Thanks a million for reading, please let me know if you enjoyed it x

Taglist: @alovesreading @hazskillerqueen @multifandom-of-madness @conanbeshifting​ @thereisaplaceintheheart​ @jasmine06blog​ @kennedy-brooke​ @blancastans​ @luvrattyhealy @wendyspotatopeeler​

[silverstarfics]

Hi there. If you haven’t read my fic Yesterday’s Promise then this won’t mean anything to you unless you just feel like reading an obnoxiously emotional author’s note. Hey, maybe you do! In which case, feel free to tap that read more button which I’ve put in place to save unsuspecting scrollers from my ramblings.

Way back in July 2021, I decided to write a silly little zombie AU. I figured it would be a couple of chapters, maybe 3, 5 at the most, just an exploratory thing really. And because it would be a short piece, I wanted to challenge myself to write it from Scott’s POV because I’d always struggled to capture his voice. Yeah, nice one Kat. How’d that work out for you? Over 1 million words later, I like to think I’m better at writing him now.

By the fourth chapter, I realised that it wasn’t going to be a short fic. I don’t think I ever dreamed of it becoming 126 chapters, but I definitely knew it was going to drag on for a while, so some serious plotting began. Guys. I’m not kidding. I literally had a pinboard of plot points and string linking them together. Wait, where’s that conspiracy theory meme?

That was me. It’s still me now because I’m plotting the sequel, but back then I was slightly less unhinged. These days I have notecards and scream about character arcs at @tanushakyrano Thanks for putting up with me Cora! I love you!

Anyway, this fic became my baby. It was my emotional outlet and saw me through some dark moments. I dropped out of uni, applied to get a loan for flight school, got rejected, then ended up studying for degree I didn’t really want because I had no idea what else to do. And… I hated it. I projected all my feelings onto Scott (as you do) which helped but honestly? It wasn’t good. But long story short (for once), I survived.

Thanks to you.

I’m not exaggerating. Anyone who has ever clicked kudos or left a comment or interacted with this fic in any way - thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart. If it weren’t for your support, I would never have had the confidence to switch to a writing degree. So, for once I’m not being overdramatic when I say that writing this fic and being supported by you guys has changed my life. This is a wonderful, caring community and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. Love you, Thunderfam!