#god my poor quinn.

[boltgunkiller-archive]

the unholy trinity deserved so much more. i promise i’ll take care of you better than rm

[msmargaretmurry]

oh my god if you have any other thoughts about slow burn matthew/quinn. any at all. obsessed with the idea of quinn's teen crush never going past a few kisses and then eight years later matthew wakes up one day and is like fuck. since when is quinn hot. and what am i going to do about it

DO I have more thoughts about it. do it EVER. i just think matthew/quinn has the potential for SUCH juiciness. it comes with built-in complicated family feelings and complicated friendship feelings! it gives a little sprinkling of forbidden romance vibes even though everyone involved loves each other! best friend's hot older brother!

i feel like there's approximately 50 variations on the teen crush story that could be written, and i would read all of them, but it does make it hard to pin down which details make my FAVORITE version. however. i love the idea of them having one (1) makeout sesh/hookup/whatever when they're younger and being like, well! we're just gonna keep that a secret until we die because it would be too awkward for brady to know! so they spend like six years perfectly content being friendly and then suddenly they're all glowed up and whoops they have wild nasty sex at brady's bachelor party or something. insert string of covert hookups while they accidentally grow feelings here. y'all know i love a string of covert hookups where people accidentally grow feelings.

[corrodedbisexual]

Joseph's bat art 🤌

Source: 1 | 2

[crypticsteve]

i would genuinely die from second hand embarrassment if joseph ever read actual thirst tweets. dear god.

[mrpldiddles]

puppy. | j.drysdale

a/n: so i actually started this this morning before the trade was announced😀 but here’s a quick(ish) little ig edit since i haven’t posted anything in awhile while i work on the tbosas fic that will be coming soon!!

rip trevjamie tho man idk how i’m gonna recover this is like barzy and beau all over again

anaheimducks posted:

anaheimducks: we have a four-legged announcement on #NationalPuppyDay! everyone say hi to Daisy!

comments:

user1: can we talk about jamie with daisy🥺

user2: trevor and jamie look like they need a dog

-> yourusername: don’t encourage them🤧

trevorzegras: @yourusername 🥺🥺🥺

-> jamie.drysdale: @yourusername please🥺🥺🥺

-> yourusername: are you gonna take care of it🥺🥺

-> trevorzegras: YEAH

-> yourusername: LIES you don’t even clean up after yourself

-> trevorzegras: HEY

-> jamie.drysdale: she has a point z…

-> trevorzegras: DON’T TAKE HER SIDE JIMMY

-> user3: this is so entertaining

jackhughes: @yourusername just let them have a puppy

-> trevorzegras: PUPPY! PUPPY! PUPPY!

-> yourusername: you live across the country jack you don’t get a say in this

-> jamie.drysdale: PUPPY! PUPPY! PUPPY!

-> colecaufield: but look how excited they are🥺

-> yourusername: cole you’re not even in the country

-> masonmctavish23: puppy???

-> yourusername: oh god not you too

-> trevorzegras: i promise to put it in direct sunlight and water it everyday🫡

-> yourusername: oh my god

-> jamie.drysdale: he’s joking! (i think…)

-> yourusername: you two are gonna be the death of me

-> trevorzegras: so PUPPY????

yourusername posted:

yourusername: @trevorzegras @jamie.drysdale puppy.

comments:

trevorzegras: PUPPY!!!

jamie.drysdale: PUPPY!!!

masonmctavish23: PUPPY!!!

colecaufield: PUPPY!!!

jackhughes: PUPPY!!!

_quinnhughes: you’re weak

-> yourusername: i know😞

yourbffsusername: how much did they pay you

-> yourusername: a year’s worth of cleaning the bathroom for trevor and a year’s worth of back rubs from jamie🥰

-> trevorzegras: i still think the difference in payment is unfair

-> yourusername: you may be my boyfriend’s boyfriend but you’re not mine

-> trevorzegras: 😞

anaheimducks: a new friend for daisy!!

-> yourusername: that’s what sold me on little miss maisie☺️

-> trevorzegras: for the record i wanted to name her nutter butter

-> colecaufield: NUTTER BUTTER🥜🧈

-> _quinnhughes: are you trying to ruin the poor dog’s life

-> jackhughes: i call for a re-vote between maisie and nutter butter

-> jamie.drysdale: y/n says no

-> yourusername: i’m not naming my child nutter butter.

jamie.drysdale posted:

jamie.drysdale: everybody say thank you @yourusername :)))))))

comments:

trevorzegras: thank you y/n!!!!!

colecaufield: thank you y/nnnnnn

jackhughes: thanks best friend y/n

-> yourusername: i think that title actually belongs to quinn

-> jackhughes: ouch

-> _quinnhughes: thank you best friend y/n

-> yourusername: you're welcome quinny

masonmctavish23: thank you y/n for making me an uncle

-> yourusername: ofc ofc

-> user2: aw mason’s her uncle🥺🤧

yourusername: you're lucky you're cute

-> jamie.drysdale: don't i know it

-> trevorzegras: and what about me???🥺🥺

-> yourusername: you're lucky your boyfriend's cute

-> trevorzegras: i'll take it!!!

yourusername: our maisie girl🥰

-> jamie.drysdale: my two girls😘

-> trevorzegras: our nutter butter😊

-> yourusername: your godfather privileges are so close to being revoked zegras

-> masonmctavish23: the dogfather

-> yourusername: you're next in line don't worry mac

-> trevorzegras: after that joke??!!!??

-> masonmctavish23: i'm committed what can i say

trevorzegras posted:

trevorzegras: welcome to the family nutter butter!!

comments:

yourusername: that is NOT my daughter's name

-> trevorzegras: OUR daughter

-> jamie.drysdale: something i wanna know??

-> yourusername: jamie please tell your boyfriend that our daughter is not named after a cookie

->user1: their family tree is so confusing

jackhughes: NUTTER BUTTER!!!

-> _quinnhughes: and you wonder why you weren't named godfather

-> jackhughes: y/n is this true😭

-> yourusername: thanks for breaking the news for me quinn

-> jackhughes: wow🤧

-> yourusername: so sorry😐

colecaufield: is it still too late for a name re-vote?

-> yourusername: yes.

-> trevorzegras: still up for debate

-> masonmctavish23: is it too late to claim my godfather title?

-> yourusername: please do i can’t take them anymore🤧

-> trevorzegras: you can pry my title out of my dead hands😤

-> yourusername: promise😍

-> jamie.drysdale: don’t tempt her z

anaheimducks: daisy and maisie duck!!

[kenzisthings]

𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩

𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘵𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰

quinn smiled and then turns to you. “and poor innocent y/n, you know you really should have listened to mindy when she told you too never trust the love interest.” she starts slowly walking towards you. sam and tara stand in front of you trying to protect you. “i mean come on! did you really think that ethan liked you.” she says in a mocking tone. you shake your head and look at ethan, his eyes looked different. you wanted to see the man you cared for but you don’t and that makes you cry even more. ethan just stares back with a glint in his eyes, like he was almost sad or apologetic.

quinn giggles at you regaining your attention.

“oh…oh don’t tell me you feel in love with him?” she mocks you. “aw poor y/n that must suck for you doesn’t it.” as she gets closer ethan comes around to the other side and surrounds sam, tara and you. sam and tara grab a brick and each hold it up confidently. “y/n when i say go i want you to make a run for it.” you look a sam with worry shaking you head no. “i can’t! i don’t wanna leave you.” tara turns and gives you a look, a look that kinda reassures you and you nod.

both girls eye down quinn and ethan. “y/n go!”

after you heard sams worlds you sprinted and the girls started to attack the ghostfaces. you run into an empty room and stop looking around thinking your safe. you turn to walk around the corner but stopped when a sharp blade comes face to face. you look at ethan with horror in your eyes.

“i love you, i really do you have to know that y/n.” you look at your boyfriend and glare at him. “you mean your actually going to kill me?” ethan looks at you, oh how he looks at you. like he loves you. “i mean just that!” he tells you but you see it in his eyes he’s still that nerdy boy that couldn’t even talk too you a few months back. “well, go ahead.” you don’t know where this confidence came from, hell you were scared shitless.

“you can’t kill me, you can’t kill me because you love me.” ethan shakes his head at you, trying to deny it but you see right through him. he loved you and you were his weekness. ethan’s release on you neck let’s you have a gasp of air you were holding in. “god. i’m so fucking stupid!” he backs up still pointing the knife at you. “i wanted to protect you. you can come with us and i’ll keep you safe.” you shake your head, “ethan your a killer. you are not the ethan i loved. and i will never love you.” ethan walks up to you and grabs your face as much as you tried to get out of his grasp. he leans in a presses and light feathered kiss to your forehead, that leave you with tears running down your face.

“i’m sorry but i have to do this for my dad.” he then takes the knife and pulls his hand back to aims it at you. just as the sharp blade cames close to your stomach a loud gunshot is heard and ethan falls to his knees. there sam is with a gun pointed at his body. you look down to where ethan is laying. blood all over his face and mouth as his breathing is slowed down. it makes you cry, not cry because he’s dying. no cry because you actually trusted this asshole.

you bend down to the ground and ethan looks at you. he trying reaching for your hand but you flinch away. he just smiles at you. and he’s gone. sam rushed over and pulls you into a hug as she looks at ethan. “come on we can go.” you nod stepping over your past lovers body and meet up with tara as she runs and hugs you. she lets go and gives you a sad smile and links arms with you. as you walk out you sigh.

“i can already hear mindy and her i told you so.” tara giggles and tugs you to the ambulance so you can both get patch up.

[diorsluv]

feather , part 3

“ i’m your dream come true ”

series m. list previous chapter next chapter

( socialmedia!au )

yourusername

liked by trevorzegras, _alexturcotte, lhughes_06 and 103,016 others

yourusername quinn kept provoking me at the ducks @ nucks game and started throwing a bitch fit because i was rooting for MY BROTHER’S TEAM so here’s to all the quinn girls ❤️❤️ (ft. jacky poo poo bear and trev because he played so well tn)

and just so you know i like the habs better 🙄

tagged: _quinnhughes, trevorzegras

view all comments

jackhughes I’VE NEVER SEEN THE MIDDLE PHOTO BEFORE

→ yourusername that’s bc i just made it babes

→ jackhughes all hail mini drizz, our graphic designer lord and savior 🙏

jamie.drysdale oh my god

_quinnhughes OH MY GOD

→ yourusername YEAH WHAT ARE U GONNA DO ABOUT IT NOW HUH

→ colecaufield don’t provoke him 😧

username51 SOULJA BOYYYY TELL EM

→ yourusername BABY YOU KNOW THAT I MISS YOU

lhughes_06 WHERE DID YOU GET THAT PHOTO OF HIM WHEN WE WERE KIDS

→ yourusername a magician never tells her secrets 🫢

→ lhughes_06 oh god i’m next aren’t i

→ yourusername idkkk 😈😈😈

trevorzegras I MADE IT ON THE MAIN

→ yourusername yes you did!

username28 the quinner album edit???

username3 we quinn girls thank you 🙏

username92 the huggy bear behind the scenes photos 🤧

_quinnhughes

liked by jamie.drysdale, markestapa, adamfantilli and 39,738 others

_quinnhughes she’s literally climbing something in half these photos

tagged: yourusername

view all comments

yourusername HAH YOU HAVE LESS PHOTOS THAN ME AND THEY’RE NOT EVEN THAT BAD EITHER

→ _quinnhughes YOU MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO TAKE BAD PHOTOS OF YOU

→ yourusername that’s a compliment dumbass

luca.fantilli disclaimer: NEVER try to bring her to top golf or she will accidentally hit you with a golf ball

→ yourusername YOU’RE SPREADING RUMORS ABOUT ME WTFFF 😟

→ rutgermcgroarty I’M A WITNESS

→ yourusername YOU WEREN’T EVEN THERE

username20 it’s impossible to take bad photos of this woman confirmed

jackhughes mom said to “stop terrorizing luke’s poor girl”

→ lhughes_06 SHE SAID “stop terrorizing THAT poor girl”

→ yourusername woah there slow your roll bud i’m not anyone’s girl 😐

→ _quinnhughes oh my god she literally did it to me first

trevorzegras what the shit is going on

→ _quinnhughes what the hell is “what the shit”

username40 I WAS AT THE STORE AND I SAW QUINN POINTING THAT WATER GUN AT HER HEAD WHATTTT

markestapa i think you should start putting a leash on her

→ yourusername nonono i think we’re good (don’t give them ideas)

→ edwards.73 lil drizzy as a leash kid???

→ yourusername STOP IT WITH THE LIL DRIZZY ALREADY

next chapter notes ) so she’s a short one but i liked it a lotttt i’m probably gonna go inactive for finals week (i know it’s horrible 😥) BUT I WILL BE BACK AND GREATER THAN EVER

[sunflowerskies00]

too sweet, part 2

it's ten o'clock before i say a word

series master list

liked by rutgermcgroarty, luca.fantilli, edwards.73, and others

yourusername: life lately

tagged: rutgermcgroarty, luca,fantilli, dylanduke25, edwards.73, and markestapa

lhughes_06: second pic goes hard

yourusername: it really does lhughes_06: maybe that's why you can't find a boyfriend edwards.73: damn he got u yourusername yourusername: please lhughes_06 I pull more men than you pull girls yourusername: pretty sure I could pull more girls than you lhughes_06: you wish jackhughes: please stop talking about the men you pull yourusername

edwards.73: where tf was my invite to chick fil a?

yourusername: lost in the mail? yourusername: KIDDING it was a spontaneous rut and y/n date edwards.73: you went on a date with rut? yourusername: not like that you weirdo. i wanted food, rut was there, i made him drive and pay rutgermcgroarty: careful edwards your jealousy is showing

_quinnhughes: could you maybe make like some girl friends?

yourusername: nah I'm all good Quinny yourusername: also I have one, Tay Tay _quinnhughes: you give me grey hair yourusername: you should worry less, like mom and dad

username35: big brother quinn is my favorite

username21: y/n giving him gray hair is my favorite

luca.fantilli: so we're all just ignoring the comment thread under edwards comment? Cool.

markestapa: no let's go back to that rutgermcgroarty: oh edwards being jealous? nothing new. yourusername: me=confused rutgermcgroarty: you poor oblivious soul yourusername luca.fantilli: ^fr markestapa: ^fr dylanduke25: ^fr adamfantilli: fr^ lhughes_06: fr^ edwards.73: hate all of you rutgermcgroarty: mmm not all of us

liked by edwards.73, dylanduke25, markestapa, and others

yourusername: mirror selfie compilation

_quinnhughes: the last one?? Put some clothes on PLEASE

jackhughes: ^ please lhughes_06: literally where is your clothing? yourusername: brothers please I'm an adult and it's called a swimsuit _quinnhughes: there is not enough fabric there for a swimsuit jackhughes: ^quinn speaking facts lhughes_06: ^ fr yourusername: called a bikini my friends thanks for the concern tho

taylorrose: PLEASE MARRY ME YOU'RE GORGEOUS

yourusername: meet me at the chapel 😘😘

edwards.73: holy shit

rutgermcgroarty: I think you broke him yourusername: pardon? luca.fantilli: you definitely broke him yourusername: I don't even know what that means rutgermcgroarty: he dropped his phone, his jaw is hanging open, and he's not moving. you broke him. yourusername: I don't think so markestapa: his phone is literally open to this post tf you mean you don't think so

username35: the things I would do to look like her

username40: fr she's gorgeous username70: the things ethan would do to date her username35: ^ REAL. obsessed with her. he ain't slick. *yourusername liked comment* *yourusername unliked comment* username35: y/n ain't slick either. we saw that like/unlike

trevorzegras: well damn baby hughes

jackhughes: for the love of god please don't flirt with my sister trevorzegras: no flirting simply saying she looks good 🤷🏻‍♂️ _quinnhughes: ew why'd you use that emoji trevorzegras: must you criticize everything I do? _quinnhughes: yes.

_alexturcotte: your comment section is a mess

yourusername: fr these boys can't act normal

[3hobbitsinatrenchcoat]

Batman AU I'd like to see:

Harley Quinn having the Joker's baby (like in Injustice but this is NOT an Injustice AU) but for some reason her sister can't take her. So Harley is like "hmm who can I trust with my kid that I could see on a regular basis? OH I KNOW! My good friend Bruce Wayne from med school! He's got a thing for orphans and more money than God!"

Cue Harley, who does not know Bruce is the Bat, dropping off her kid with her good friend Brucie.

Cue Bruce, who DOES know who Harley is, being unable to turn away the literal blood descendent of the Joker because we'll... That's just a baby.

So now he routinely has a member of his rogues gallery over for visitation and then she starts bringing her new girlfriend with her and poor Bruce is just... He's in too deep.

The kid is cute though.

[jasontoddsmommyissues]

Unsmooth Operator

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Femme!Reader

Summary: It’s summer in Hawkins and Eddie finds himself caught up on the cute girl working at the record store in the mall

Warnings: Reader uses she/her pronouns, brief mentions of sexual content (nothing sexual actually happens), swearing, potentially lethal levels of adorableness 

A/N: First of all, sorry it’s been so long since I posted my last fic. My poor little ADHD self is a slow writer, I’m afraid. But anyway, I kind of wrote this as a sort of prequel to my Henderson!Reader fic, but there’s no direct mention of Reader being related to anyone, so you can either read it as that or not. Also, special thanks to Mr. Joseph Quinn for confirming that Eddie Munson has no game. 

My Master List | Ao3

-

It’s June in Hawkins and the summer heat has already grown practically unbearable. The shitty window A/C unit Eddie’s been using has finally crapped out, and in the heat of the day the trailer is approximately the temperature of the sun. Mercifully, he’s found a sweet, air conditioned refuge in the newly built Starcourt mall, a temple to 20th century decadence and consumerism that also happens to be a very pleasant temperature inside. 

Jeff and Gareth are tagging along today, which is fun except for the quick pit stop they had to make at the homegoods store so Gareth could pick up some new linens for his mom. They’ve finished that now, though, and Eddie’s already got their next destination in mind. 

“I’m gonna do it”, Gareth insists as they go, “I’m gonna get a tattoo.”

“Your mom would kill you”, Jeff replies.”remember when she caught you smoking? I thought she wasn’t going to let us see you ever again after that.”

“It’s different now”, Gareth tells him, “I’m 16. I’m gonna be a junior. It’s time I make my own choices, you know?”

“Good luck with that”, Jeff laughs. 

“Let’s hit the record store next”, Eddie cuts in, “I want to pick up the new Bob Dylan album for Wayne.”

“More like you wanna see the cute girl working the register”, Jeff teases.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, Eddie retorts, desperately hoping his cheeks aren’t actually turning as red as he thinks they are.

In truth, he does have an ulterior motive for wanting to go to the record store, and it is you. You’ve been going to Hawkins High for the past three years, but admittedly Eddie had never really been more than vaguely aware of your existence until this past semester, when you two had PE together. He had this routine he’d do where he would imitate the gym teacher when the man wasn’t looking, and it never failed to elicit a giggle from you. One day Eddie noticed how cute you looked when you laughed and well, he’s been a little bit stuck on you ever since. 

“Why don’t you just ask her out?” Gareth comments, as if it’s just that easy.

Sweet, naive Gareth. Maybe for guys like Steve Harrington it’s that easy, but Eddie isn’t Steve Harrington. Gareth wasn’t there for Eddie’s early high school days. He wasn’t there during Eddie’s sophomore year when two hot juniors decided to prank him by convincing him their cheerleader friend was “super into him” or his junior year when he invited that girl from drama club to join Hellfire and she laughed out loud at him. Most girls don’t even want to be seen with Eddie “the Freak” Munson, let alone date him. 

“Jeff’s talking out of his ass”, Eddie lies, “come on, let’s go.”

You are, of course, there at the counter when they walk in, and oh God, is that an Iron Maiden shirt you’re wearing? Fuck, as if he couldn’t be more into you. 

“Um, Eddie, you good dude?” Gareth asks him and he realizes he’s stopped right there in the entrance of the store, just staring at you. He quickly turns away and walks the rest of the way into the store, thankful that you’re currently checking out a customer and probably didn’t notice him ogling you like a total weirdo. 

Admittedly, this may not have been a good idea, at least if he wants to convince Jeff and Gareth he’s not into you. He quickly grabs a Bob Dylan tape and starts making for the door, desperate to just get out of there and spare himself anymore humiliation.

“Um, you gonna pay for that?” Jeff asks and fuck. He’s shoplifted before but he’s not interested in getting barred from the record store, so he’s not gonna risk it today. 

“Right”, he mutters and then he forces himself to go up to the counter. 

He feels like his heart is going to explode in his chest when he walks up and you flash him that brilliant smile of yours.

“Hi, Eddie”, you greet and his eyes grow wide because you know his name. Well, obviously you did, you had a class together, but it just sounds so good coming from your mouth that he momentarily ceases to function. 

“Did you need help with something?” you ask after a moment.

“What?” Eddie asks, “oh no. Just um, just this.”

He sets the tape on the counter and you grab it to ring it up.

“Dylan”, you comment as you do, “not your usual fare.”

“It’s for my uncle”, Eddie explains, “he’s a big fan.”

“Cool”, you say, “I like your vest by the way. Dio. Nice.”

Well, that’s it. It’s over. Eddie’s done for. 

“That’ll be $6.30”, you say.

“Oh, right money”, Eddie sputters and fishes a ten out of his pocket. He knows Jeff and Gareth are standing nearby, watching this all play out and probably laughing with each other about it. He’s definitely never living this down.

“You want a bag”, you ask as you finish gathering his change. 

“Oh, I um, I guess”, he replies, not actually processing the question. You hand him his change, then place the tape in a bag and slide it over to him. He goes to grab it, and because he’s not at all paying attention to anything but you, inadvertently sends the display of Beach Boy tapes sitting on the counter tumbling to the floor.

“Oh shit”, he hisses, “oh fuck, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay”, you reply, coming around the counter, “I keep telling Doug he shouldn’t put that stuff so close to the register.”

You bend down to start picking up the tapes and years worth of Wayne’s lectures on behaving like a gentleman come flooding back to Eddie, so he quickly follows suit.

“Let me help you”, he says.

“Thanks”, you say and you’re smiling again and Eddie kind of wants to die. 

With the two of you, it doesn’t take long to get everything cleaned up and back in order. 

“I’m really sorry”, Eddie says again as you make your way back behind the counter, and then before he can stop himself, he blurts, “maybe I could make it up to you somehow?”

“What?” you ask, clearly unsure of what he means.

“I mean like, maybe I could buy you a-a coffee or something sometime”, he stammers.

You peer at him for a moment, and he braces for the inevitable rejection he’s about to endure.

“I like ice cream”, you say, “if you meet me here at 3 tomorrow, you can buy me some ice cream and we’ll call it even.”

Maybe Eddie’s already dead and this is heaven. That or he’s being punked somehow. Either way, he stands there like an idiot for a second, trying to process that you just suggested the two of you meet for ice cream. 

“Um okay”, he says.

“Cool”, you grin, “see you then.”

“Right”, he says, “see you then.”

And then he’s swiping his bag from the counter and stiffly making his way back to Jeff and Gareth, his body still trapped in a state of shock.

“So”, Jeff prompts, “what was all that?”

“I um, I think I’m meeting her for ice cream tomorrow”, Eddie informs them. 

The two younger boys exchange glances, mouths stretching into a matching pair of shit eating grins. 

“Talking out of my ass, huh?” Jeff teases.

“Shut up”, Eddie snaps, “I’m just being polite okay? It’s not like a date or anything.”

“Sure it isn’t”, Gareth replies smugly. 

“Whatever”, Eddie huffs and the others know not to continue the conversation, even if they spend the rest of the afternoon exchanging amused glances at each other.

-

Eddie waits until he’s back at the trailer to let everything sink in. When it does, he feels a vague sense of panic washing over him. 

Embarrassing as it is, Eddie’s never had a real, serious girlfriend before. Hell, aside from a brief flirtation with Tammy Thompson that ended in a very awkward hand job in the school parking lot, he’s never really had any experience with girls (or boys for that matter) at all. And Tammy was the one that initiated that. He wasn’t even really into her, he was just desperate for some sort of female attention. 

You, though, he is into you. Very, very much into you. And he has no idea what the hell he’s supposed to do or say. He finally, finally has a chance to go out with his dream girl, and he’s almost certainly going to say something wrong and scare you off like pretty much everyone he’s ever been into. 

He wonders what the weather in Wisconsin is like this time of year, because he’s halfway to hopping in his van and heading there now, never to be seen or heard from in Hawkins, Indiana again.

Then again, maybe he’s over thinking it. It’s not like the word “date” ever came up in your conversation. Maybe this really is just him paying you back for his clumsiness, and afterwards you won’t even spare him a second thought. In the end, he figures that whatever the case, he’s not just going to leave you high and dry, so he has no choice but to go. 

-

Eddie shows up outside the record store at 2:45 the next day. He stands there awkwardly, fiddling with his rings and secretly hoping that you don’t show up and he doesn’t have to deal with all of this.

No such luck though, you appear exactly at 3, looking as cute as ever in your jean skirt. 

“Hey”, you greet and Eddie momentarily forgets how to speak.

“Hey”, he repeats, unable to formulate a coherent enough thought to do anything but copy your greeting.

“You ready to go?” you ask and he nods. 

The record store is a fair bit away from Scoops Ahoy, and for probably the first time in his life, Eddie finds himself unsure of what exactly to say. Thankfully, you take the lead.

“So, have you heard Megadeth’s album?” you ask, “I got it the first day it came out and I love it.”

“Me too”, Eddie says, and he can feel himself being knocked out of his stupor then, “you know, my friends and I have a metal band.”

“Really?” you ask.

“Yeah”, he tells you, “we perform Wednesdays at the Hideout, if you ever want to come see us.”

“I’ll keep that in mind”, you smile and Eddie thinks his heart momentarily stops. 

Walking into Scoops Ahoy with you by his side is an almost unreal experience. You and him go up to the counter and Steve Harrington is there in his little sailor suit that Eddie almost feels sorry that he’s forced to wear. 

“Hey Steve”, you greet.

“Hey Y/N”, Steve replies, and then he notices that Eddie’s with you and he gets this super confused look on his face. 

“So, uh, get whatever you want I guess”, Eddie says.

Once you two have ordered and gotten your ice cream, you eat it while idly wandering around the mall, just chatting about anything and everything. Eddie, as always, is frequently cracking jokes, and God is it mesmerizing to see the way you laugh in response. 

It’s quite the disappointment when you’re finishing your ice cream and you’re bidding him farewell. 

He knows he has to at least try to see you again so he tests the waters with a quick “that was fun, we should do it again sometime.”

“I’d like that”, you smile.

“Awesome”, he replies.

“Here”, you say, rooting around in your purse, “give me your hand.”

He obliges, and you produce a pen, which you use to scribble something onto his outstretched hand.

“What’s this?” he asks.

“My number”, you reply, “call me tonight or tomorrow?”

“Sure”, he tells you. 

“Great”, you say, “I’ll see you, Eddie.”

“See you”, he says, hoping he doesn’t sound as absolutely lovesick to you as he does to himself. 

You flash him one final smile before departing, and he just stands there awkwardly for a second, watching as you go. Once you’ve disappeared from sight and he’s snapped out of his trance, he peers down at the numbers you’d scrawled onto his hand. He has to remind himself that it’d be weird to get them tattooed onto himself permanently. He can’t believe that it worked. You went on a date with him, in public, and didn’t care if you were seen together. You laughed at his jokes. You gave him his number and asked to see him again. You liked him. 

The trailer is as unbearably hot as ever when he returns, but for once, he doesn’t care. He’s too excited to call you later and hopefully set up another date. 

[thewritingofspencerrose]

M.Hughes Masterlist

How Many Hockey Players Does It Take To Unscrew a Lightbulb

liked by _quinnhughes, _alexturcotte, and 732 others

"You all really didn't have to come help me pack," Is all I can think to say once I get past the shock of opening my front door to players from the Devils, Ducks, and Canucks. "I- How did you all even know? Let alone get tickets so quick?"

"We're professional hockey players Kid, we have the money for last minute tickets AND the muscles for carrying heavy things into your Uhaul," Is Elias Pettersson's response.

"We're basically the dream team of moving," Is Cole's addition, popping out from behind Nico to give me a hug. Make that four NHL teams represented.

"But you didn't have to all come? I don't have that much stuff and I already had Trev and my brothers."

"Just say you're happy to see us and move over so we can get in," Is Brady's jab, pulling me into a hug before pushing me back into my nearly empty apartment, each boy giving me a hug as they go until the only ones left to enter are my brothers and boyfriend.

"Hey there Kiddo," Quinn greets, pulling me into his side and kissing the top of my head. "You didn't really think we wouldn't call in the army to make this easiest for you."

"Or that we wouldn't be coming with you to Cali to unpack," Jack chimes, holding up three tickets while still in the entry.

"Just the three of us, the other boys are all heading home tomorrow," Lu is the one to comfort, seeing the anxiety in my body rise and making it fall. "It looks like you pretty much have everything packed."

"I do," I agree, looking over the room of boxes, only a few items here and there as the men glance around, most having never seen my apartment before.

"What's left of this place is cute?" Dawson offers, trying his best to compliment what was left. "I'm sure it was even cuter before."

"Thank you Daws, that's a lot nicer than what Jamie was saying the other day," I chirp, the comment directed at said Ducks player who nearly drops the box that he had acquired.

"I didn't mean it like that! All I said was that this place wasn't cute enough for you!" He attempts to defend, looking to Trev for assistance.

"Not to defend his honor or anything, but he did follow it with 'your stuff will look so much cuter in our apartment'," Trev offers, and I can't help but jokingly roll my eyes.

"And this is why he's your one true love," I grumble, the Petey, Q, Jimmy and Mason walking out with boxes in hand, having just taken any old boxes and gotten moving.

"Hey now, you know you're my one true love, baby," Trev assures, moseying up in front of me and pulling me in by my hips, wrapping his arms around me and giving me a peck.

You can hear the groans of the room before you can actually determine who's groan is who's. All I do know is that Jack was definitely the one to say "ew" and Cole absolutely said "oh my poor eyes!"

Drama queens.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Luke is the one to pull me away from Trev, pulling on my hand like he did as a kid.

God when did we all grow up.

Cole, Trevor, my brothers and I. All that we're missing is Alex.

And all my boys made it into the NHL.

And I'm a nurse.

"Hey, don't fall too far in there," Quinn's words pull me out, him and the others having gotten back in the time that I was in my head, Luke having just gently been rubbing my shoulder in the mean time. "Where'd you just disappear to?"

"Just thinking about how much we've all changed since Jack and the boys were in dev camp."

It's a simple answer, but its enough that Q pulls me around the corner into the hallways, leaving Luke behind to lead the continued emptying of where I've lived for two years.

As soon as we're around he's looking in my eyes before pulling me into a hug, tucking me under his chin like he's always done and holding me tight.

"I know change, especially big changes, make your anxiety spike," well he caught me there, "but this is something you've been looking forward to since you were toddling around putting bandaids on us after peewee practice. As much as I hate to say it, you are the most prepared out of any of us to go out into the world."

"Q-" I cut myself off, knowing if I continue I may just cry. "Thank you."

"Hey Mags-a-million, where- oh," Cole pauses, a blush coming to his cheeks at interrupting Quinn's and my sibling bonding moment.

"Uh, yeah, what were you going to ask Coley?" I ask, wiping the few tears that did gather from my waterline.

"I just wanted your permission to move the box that says undergarments. I felt kind of weird doing it without asking and didn't want Trev to kick my ass," He explains, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Cole, it's not like you're digging through my panty drawer," I can't help but laugh, his entire face burning bright red.

Quinn just shakes his head, running his hand through his hair. "I'm pretty sure you made it weirder by asking."

"Why did Mason just tell me that Cole was asking about your under stuff?" Trevor's voice interrupts us once more, taking me from my brothers side and pulling me into his arms, glaring with very little ammunition at Cole. "Back off my woman Caufield."

"See! This is why I asked!" Cole yells, officially having enough of the teasing before glaring at Trev. "You," He emphasizes with a point, "can carry it, jackass," Throwing his hands up to his usual level of dramatics before wandering away.

Trev pecks my forehead, the brightest smile on his face as he leads us after our favorite dramatic.

"I think this is really going well."

[misserabella]

𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐡

Joseph Quinn x Fem! reader PT.1

✧ Synopsis;; Joseph Quinn was filthy rich, for he was royalty. Handsome, charming and a gentleman, a dream dressed in pure silk for any kind of woman. But not you.

✧ y/n is a mere slave of a nobel family who just turned 18. On the night of the prince’s royal ball she is dragged against her will to this dance just to be used as a coat rack for the purses and coats of the family ladies, who, of course, treat her like absolute sh’t, to the point where they could agreed to hand her over for a generous amount of gold.

“Just name your price, sweetheart.”

“Screw you, my prince.”

Just how lucky you were for had caught the

prince’ s attention!

< enemies to lovers 3

17th century royalty!

ATTENTION!! this is not Arthur Havisham, i only used the photo cause it resembles the appearance i want to give Joseph in this story. I would never use Arthur since he’s not attracted to females!!!

A/N;; i’m sorry if this is sloppy and like…, BAD, english is not my mother language and it’s my first joseph x reader story. either ways, i hope y’all like it. <3 comments and reblogs are appreciated!!!

CW;; this series might include 18+ content (details will be given at the start of each new part uploaded) MINORS DNI AND SKIP!!!

Please, under no circumstances, repost my work on any other sites. I do not consent to anyone taking my work and posting it as their own.

WARNINGS PART ONE: mention of blood, abuse, cursing and slave trafficking.

WORD COUNT;; 2k!

(A/N pt.2; it is much enjoyable(??) if you read it with a british accent since this fic takes placed in the U/K)

:¨·.·¨:

`·. lastly; enjoy! <3

Her faced seemed to tell everything: she hated it.

She hated everything. From the music, to the little stupid shoes that clacked against the floor. The floral scent, the wine, the giggles… She hated the ton*. Every single one of them,

Everything. It was a goddamn nightmare.

“y/n! You are letting my coat slip! Do i have to tell you how much it costs?! If you dare let it touch the floor I’ll take the money out of your poor allowance to pay for a new one!” one of the misses glared at you, hitting you in the face with her closed paper fan, its gemstones leaving marks on you cheek.

“We might as well do it anyways, since her filthy hands have touched them already!” her sister laughed, grabbing your face in between her gloved fingers and digging her nails in your skin. “Don’t you think so, y/n? What? Cat got you tongue?” they giggled.

“Children, children!” the woman of the house hushed them with a sweet smile. “You shall never touch her!” she said, taking of the gloves out of her daughters hands to give her a new pair, with a sweet smile telling one of the servants of the castle to burn them. “God knows what she might infect us with!” she laughed, her offsprings following her.

God, you hated her. Her and her stupid daughters. With their stupid dresses and stupid painted faces.

You glared at them, your grip tightening around their belongings, holding your stare and your head up even when the woman stared back at you, her face scrunching in disgust and anger.

“Who do you think you are staring at?!?!” she suddenly yelled, catching the attention of those who enjoyed drinks and company around her, not waiting a mere second to rise her hand and slap you to ‘show you your place’. You took the hits, the metallic flavor of blood filling your mouth due to the continues smacks and hits with the back of her fan. “You filthy ungrateful bitch, you dare stare at us? Who give you food and a bed?! I should’ve let you died out in the cold, in the dirt, where you belong to!” you gritted your teeth, your eyes down to the floor as your free hand made its way to your bottom lip, where you felt the skin split, the crimson of fresh blood tinting your frail skin.

“Fucking fussock*.” you cursed her under your breath, loud enough for her to perfectly hear you.

“What did you say?!” her free hand gripped your long and matted locks, making you look staring into her enraged eyes, her other hand rising up to hit you once again.

Your eyes closed as you expected a new slap, which surprisingly enough never came. The sound of multiple gasps filled your ears and when you opened up your eyes once again, your stomach sank at the sight of…

“Your highness!” everyone suddenly diverted their eyes to the floor, including you, your mistress and her daughters bowed in his presence, the wrist of the first of them all gracefully and softly held by the prince’s, who let her go with a kind smile.

“Is everything alright?” his voice tested the waters, his tone low and soft as the silk he dressed in, his hands jeweled in silver rings joining and intertwining in an elegance you never had witnessed.

“Yes, your highness.” the woman stuttered, showing a nervous smile. “Our slave just seemed to…, misbehave, your highness.” your eyes travelled trough his tall and magnificent demeanor. His crimson blood suit matched perfectly with the snow of his skin and his brown and perfectly combed curls.

Your eyes quickly darted always as he had caught you staring once he had turned to you. He fought the lopsided smirk that urged to grow in his lips, stepping closer to where you stood.

He took a glance at the ragged clothes that hid your bruised and malnourished body, probably due to the family’s treatment under your care, your matted hair, cut up hands…

His warm touch spread on your skin as he took your chin in between his thumb and index finger, softly trying to rise your head up, but you denied him, in a harsh turn of head freeing yourself from his touch before giving him a glare.

A new wave of gasps filed the air as you stared right into his eyes, him holding your glare.

You didn’t care if he was a noble or pure royalty. Those ‘pure blood’ were all the goddamn same. With their leather shoes and gold jewelry, fancy words and silk dresses and suits. Their appearance was only a pretty facade that hid the ugliness of their insides.

You hated all of them. Might as well just get your head off as soon as possible.

“You slave! How is it ye dare to stare at the prince, soon king?!” a blonde and tall man talked, you recognized him as the pince’s right hand, but only with a wave of this hand, he stood silent beside the prince.

“Huh…” the smile he had been trying to fight off finally took place on his gracefully sculpted face and full rosy lips. “Interesting.” once again he took a soft grasp to your face, this time not letting you go even if you fought him off. His eyes took everything your face offered him, from your perfect nose to you long eyelashes and your beautiful fierce eyes, which stared at him with pure hatred and anger. “How much?” he suddenly asked, still not drifting his eyes away from you.

The woman stood frozen in place, just like her daughters.

“What does your highness mean with…-”

“How much would you want for her?” he cut her off, the deadly silent that fell on the salon almost giving you chills.

What was he saying?

“Your highness, I can’t…” she was short of breath and words. “I surely doubt thee would want her under your care, she…”

“I don’t care about any of it. Name a price.” everyone was shocked by the situation. Buying and selling slaves was something quite common, that’s how your current ‘family’ have got you, but this…

The prince? Has he gone nuts?

“Your highness, I don’t think…” the prince’s counselor stepped in, shutting up once again as soon as he gave him a glance.

“50 gold coins.” the woman suddenly blurted out, everyone’s jaws dropping at the audacity of the woman and such large figure.

“Mother!” her offsprings whispered-yelled. Not believing her words.

50 gold coins?!

You scoffed, smirking at such nonsense, not noticing the staring of the prince due to your reaction.

She wished you were worth that much. He would never…

“Make it 150.” he closed the deal.

“Your highness!” the counselor exclaimed, completely alarmed.

“I don’t wanna hear it, Ballard.” he hushed the blonde.

You watched as the woman who once abused you and starved you for days fainted due to the prince’s words and his daughters kneeling down to help her followed by some of the nearby guests, fanning her pale sleeping face.

You too felt like fainting.

“Hey, eyes on me, sweetheart.” the prince caught your attention once again, when your eyes met a smile growing on his lips. “All you need to do from now on keep your eyes on me.”

“Get off of me!” you screamed at the servants that tried and strip you out of your clothes, pushing their hands away. “I said stop!”

“Miss, they’re orders from your highness.” one of them spoke, his blue eyes soft on you. “He wanted us to help you bathe and and get rid of your dirty clothes.” she explained.

“I don’t care about what he said.” you scoffed. “If he wanted me undressed so fast why isn’t he the one taking my clothes off?” they all gasped at your words and no respect to the prince.

You didn’t care though, they were all the same anyways. Always reaks* that just wanted to have women swoon at their feet. Maybe that’s why he had bought you, just to use you when his cock got cold.

Suddenly, the door on your back opened, the heads of the servants quickly lowering as your eyes met the prince’s.

“Oh, fantastic…” you muttered. Just what you needed at the moment.

“You heard her, ladies. You are all dismissed.” he smiled at every and each one of them, bowing and moving aside with a swing of his arm on the door to let them out, all of them bowing and giggling.

And weren’t you just right?

“Great. And what do I have the honor of your highness’ presence for?” you sarcastically inquired him once he had closed the door behind his back, noticing…, ‘Ballard’ outside. “Got too excited due your new acquisition to just wait?” you mocked him.

“I heard you were putting up a fight.” he smiled, ignoring your words whilst looking at you up and down. “Is there something not to your liking, perhaps?”

“‘Not to my liking’?” you scoffed. “I can’t believe thee.” you shook your head, grasping at your locks as you stared at him in disbelief. “How about this whole goddamn situation? I mean, look at this!” you pointed out everything that surrounded you, the whole bathroom with a gigantic bathtub of quartz, marble floors and pillars… “A few hours ago I was being used as a coat hanger in your ball and now I’m in a bathroom with the prince, who, surprisingly enough, bought me for 150 golden coins god knows why?!” you exclaimed.

He stared at you with a funny look in his eyes. His back against the door as his eyebrows raised at you.

“What.” you spit out, a glare in your eyes.

“Nothing, is just that…” he stepped closer to you, his arms crossed over his chest. “You don’t seem to…, respect me.” he frowned, his voice low. “Not like all of them.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, your highness, for not being another dog licking your leather boots.” you bowed, more of his steps growing closer to you until his thumb took your chin, rising your head up so you could meet his eyes, his face stood serious for a couple of seconds, before a downside smirk grew on his factions. “Why haven’t you cut my head off yet?” you inquired him, not really understanding his behavior. By the way you treated him, any other prince would have already gotten you to the guillotine.

“Why shall I?” he answered with another question, his thumb caressing the wound on your bottom lip, the still fresh blood that stood on it staining his thumb as you hissed in pain, getting away.

You stared at him in confusion.

Yeah. He was absolutely nuts.

“The water will go cold if you don’t get in soon.” he said, drifting off the matter while whipping off your blood from his thumb with his handkerchief. “Are you sure you don’t want to get off those ragged clothes?”

“This is the only dress I’ve had, sir.” you said, his eyes meeting yours.

“What’s your favorite color?” you frowned at his sudden question, which made absolutely no sense. He made no sense. “Crimson, like the purest blood? The forest’s green? The ocean’s blue, perhaps?”

“I’ve never seen the forest nor the ocean, sir. I’ve never left the capital. Though I find the sky’s blue on spring pretty wonderful, not sure it does justice to the ocean’s.”

“It doesn’t.” he said, sitting in the edge of the bathtub, his fingers taunting the warm water. “The ocean is cold, and fierce…, untamable. But it can also be warm, and calm, and soft.” he tried to explain, and from your point of view it didn’t make sense.

It didn’t make sense but you found it…

“It must be beautiful.” you said, him flashing you a soft smile before nodding.

“It is.” he got up clapping his hands together before looking back at you. “Well then, you should really hurry up, the water is perfect.”

“I already told thee, this dress is the only-“

“You won’t need it anymore.” he cut you off.

“And why is that?” you inquired, his steps growing closer to you.

“Because from now on…” he said, catching one of your locks in between his fingers. “You belong in this castle.”

To be continued…

*fussock; a lazy fat woman…, a frowzy old woman.

*the ton; the ton actually refers to English high society during the Regency era, and encompasses every aristocrat from the royals to the gentry.

*rake; ‘rake’ is used to describe an immoral, hedonistic young man circulating in high society.

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box— Quinn Hughes Edition (Part Seven)

SERIES MASTERLIST

previous: six

next: eight

THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2023

yourusername

liked by _quinnhughes, jackhughes, and 5,892 others

yourusername welcome to my postgame penalty box update: not trevor edition! (aka my best friend, legally) (i also want him as my best friend he’s very important to me and i’d unalive z if he asked me to)

during quinner’s 28:57 minutes of ice time, he managed to not get a penalty! maybe he’s the *real* real life glitch, eh?

i love and miss you! i can’t wait to see you in dallas 💙💚💙 (ps you’re in all the photos now, happy?)

tagged _quinnhughes

view all 103 comments

_quinnhughes hopefully the wins are bigger in texas

yourusername and maybe you’ll grow!

_quinnhughes unalive z

yourusername jk ur my perfect best friend and i love you soooo much! <3

_quinnhughes mhmm (i love you, too)

user1 “not trevor edition” HA

trevorzegras that entire caption was an attack

yourusername you’re a big boy, you’re fine

lhughes_06 how is quinn not dead?

yourusername he doesn’t seem very alive on face time rn

lhughes_06 so let him sleep

yourusername no

_quinnhughes she wants a ft sleepover

trevorzegras and i do not

lhughes_06 @/trevorzegras and how’s that battle going?

trevorzegras @/lhughes_06 not well

user2 can they please interview quinn on a happy game

jackhughes at least you got one win on taylor day y/n

yourusername 😁

lhughes_06 do we need another intervention? tell me you two aren’t still betting

yourusername @/lhughes_06 idk what you’re talking about

jackhughes @/lhughes_06 yeah we always listen we’re good listeners

_quinnhughes you two are the opposite of that

_alexturcotte just future captain things

yourusername 🤞🤞🤞

user3 i would like to know the most amount of ice time this poor boy has had

yourusername top 5 ice times this season: 29:16, 30:05, 30:11, 30:18, 30:48

user3 oh. my. god. give this man a raise

[preservationofnormalcy]

For Amy:

Hello, i was wondering if i could get some non-emergency advice. I run a small space for local abnormal youth. While keeping things rather anonymous, we've recently had a young lycanthrope join us. He's a wonder in the space, lovely kid honestly but he tends to be a bit lonely, because he's the only lycanthrope. While he's comfortable talking to me or other youth outreach, there's no one to talk with about the specifics of lycanthropy. After doing some research and chatting with the kid, the nearest howl together group is about 2 hours away. Any suggestions on how to get him some company? He and I both think that it would be nice for him to chat to someone with closer experiences, even if only for a bit

Thanks!

-O.A , youth outreach worker

Aww, what a sweetheart. Poor little pup. Must be hard, if he doesn’t have any kind of pack structure nearby…

I know Kev has some friends online with a group chat, and Howl Together has been doing video calls recently. Maybe they have a club?

For our new readers, that’s a widespread therianthrope support group.

I forget not everyone knows it. I rag on HT and I could really do with less of the pack politics but they do good work. Especially in the case of our friend here.

Y’know, if you’re comfortable with it, maybe Norm can give you my number. Maybe this kid can chat with some of my pups. Or we can get them in touch with whatever HT is doing with the pups these days for online. I think some of mine play that Mined Craft game.

Like I said, we’re pack critters. I’m concerned if he doesn’t have a group of people like him to help with the….

Challenges?

Challenges. Thank you, hun.

In the meantime there’s a lot of videos and stuff on the HT site. Oh, I could send my old copy of “Silver and Wolfsbane”.

What’s that?

Oh god. Maybe not, actually…it was a book a lot of lycan parents gave their kids back in the 50’s or so when a lot of people were turned a little younger than they are now. My parents weren’t lycans so someone gave it to me, haven’t opened it since I was like seventeen…I can’t imagine it aged well. You’d probably like it though, it’s probably a lot like your PSAs.

Mrs Quinn, you’re coming to my place of work with a weird vendetta against my oeuvre!

They’re just boring, sweetie. Sorry I’ve been the only one to tell you.

….boring. Pfft. They’re not boring.

[diorsluv]

infrunami (lh⁴³)

❝ in which you’ve always been in love with your childhood best friend, but he would always be the right person at the wrong time ❞

wc: 5.8k

warnings: god there’s so much angst, reader is kinda inconsistent, mentions of blood/injury, mutual pining, idiots in love, running away from “rejection”, reader is touchy with jack and besties with quinn, no use of y/n, if i missed any lmk!!

notes ) when i tell you this took me WEEKS and WEEKS just to compile a simple 5k fic.. i think it’s kinda obvious where i stopped and started back up but i tried to blend it in as best i could!! this will be a two parter simply because i was draining myself trying to drag it on, so stay tuned (might take a while)! AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST thank you to my wonderful, amazing, supportive wife @dior-roses for beta reading this (i was terrified)

As a kid, you always moved wherever the Hughes moved—it was something about the bond between your fathers that couldn’t keep your families apart for more than a week. Regardless of how many times you moved, you never felt alone. You and Luke were in the same grade, and Quinn and Jack were always looking out for you two, so isolation was never a concern for you.

Although you were inseparable with Luke, Quinn had always been your best friend. The four-year age difference between the two of you was almost invisible, and throughout your youth, you would always find yourself in his room, staring at the ceiling as you talked about everything. 

You would tell him about your silly school girl crushes, and he would ramble to you about hockey and all the petty drama that happened around him. In fact, he was the reason you learned hockey in the first place. Your father could never keep your attention on the sport for over five minutes, but the way Quinn talked about it so lovingly was what motivated you to step on the ice. 

Your love for hockey spurred your relationship with not only Quinn, but also Luke and Jack, to grow closer than ever. Every day in school, you and Luke would gush about the games you had watched the night prior, and every day after school, all four of you would head off to practice for your respective club teams. If you weren’t already inseparable from the way your families were bound together by an invisible rope, then you were forever connected through hockey. 

You quit after a few years to pursue more academic routes, but the sport never left your spirit. There were many occasions where the boys would refuse to play if you weren’t there, simply because your presence was the only thing to motivate them to get on the ice, especially if they were having a bad week.

Somehow, though, along the way, you caught feelings. Feelings that were far too heavy to have just surfaced from the depths of your heart. No, what you felt for Luke seemed to have always been creeping just between the line of what was certain and what was unknown. There was no other explanation as to why you couldn’t handle being in the same room as him without being on the verge of exploding. There was no other reason as to why you could spend months on end with either of his brothers but couldn’t last one minute sitting beside him. 

As soon as you came to that revelation, you were done for. It was over. You would rather die than acknowledge the feelings you caught for the boy that had been by your side since you were born. Because of that, you spent all your time with your best friend and his younger brother, and both your families sensed the shift as soon as it happened.

Especially Luke.

Oh, the poor boy, his heart dropped into his stomach when he realized you were avoiding him. You held your breath every time he stepped into the same room as you, let alone when he tried to stand remotely close to you. You diverted your attention away from him as much as you could, and the boy you once knew as your other half now seemed to be universes away. 

It was your doing, but in a way, it was his. How dare he make you fall for him? It wasn’t fair. Not to you, and definitely not to him. It wasn’t fair how he could make you fold in seconds with the way he looked at you from the other side of the room but simultaneously have a girl wrapped around his arm trying to take all his attention away from you. He was the only boy on your mind, but he always managed to push you to the darkest parts of his brain, putting you on hold when the more important girls were right in front of him. 

If only you knew. 

Quinn bounded down the stairs of your lake house, which was conveniently right next to the Hughes’, with an old framed photo in his hand. “Hah! I was right!” His exclamations took your attention away from the pasta you were cooking as you now turned to his self-righteous figure. “You would never let go of that stupid plushie.”

The two of you were arguing over what (and who) you were and were not inseparable with just prior to his search for the picture, and he claimed there were multiple photos of you hugging your favorite Elmo plushie. There was a mutual agreement that Luke was one of the things—or rather, people—you couldn’t fathom to be away from, but neither you nor Quinn had to verbally confirm it. There was no need. 

And, to be completely honest, Quinn had barely spoken about his youngest brother throughout the time you’d been spending at the lake houses. A few years back, you had reluctantly told him how you felt about Luke, and ever since then, he’d made it his mission to make you feel the most comfortable you could possibly be whilst sharing a connected lake house with the boy you’ve loved since you were children. The eldest saw the way you tensed up when you recognized his brother’s footsteps creaking down the stairs when it came time to eat breakfast, and he sure as hell saw the way your eyes blew wide whenever you accidentally made contact with him. 

It scared you how much Quinn seemed to notice about you, especially since he and his brothers were all busy with their demanding careers that left little to no time to be tending to some childhood friend who was stuck with a crush on the most recently debuted boy. Yes, he was still your best friend (that much hadn’t changed since your childhood), but all you could do was FaceTime each other, and even then, it was difficult to find time. It was the same with Jack; sometimes, they would be too tired for practice; other times, they would be exhausted from a home game and possibly frustrated had they lost; and most of the time, they weren’t even home, so the time difference, albeit miniscule, was still difficult to navigate considering you were a busy person too. 

That meant that you met up as much as you could and you stuck by each other’s side until you were forced apart by the demands of being a professional hockey player. All that time together when you were younger meant you struggled to be without each other as you got older—maybe your parents should’ve realized that, but then again, it was probably their intention. 

“Okay, I did let go of it. Multiple times, actually,” you refuted with a small frown, the expression on your face practically meaningless as your best friend laughed. It only egged him on further, evoking a complaint from your lips. “Quinn! It’s not funny!” 

“I mean, it kinda is.” He struggled to stifle his laughter as he rounded the kitchen island to stand beside you. Your hand mindlessly dragged the wooden spoon through the soft noodles floating around in the boiling hot water, and he wondered how your skin wasn’t burning. Gently removing your hand from the utensil and replacing it with his own, the eldest Hughes boy continued his teasing once he looked at your still-upset face. “You’re such a kid sometimes, you know that?”

Your eyes practically rolled into the back of your head in annoyance. Quinn always said that to you. Always. He never failed to address you as ‘kid,’ and no matter what you did, he always managed to bring it back to how you ‘were such a kid.’ You huffed, “You’re so fucking annoying, Quinny. I’m gonna go piss off Jack. Keep cooking, and if you burn the house down, you’re paying for all of it.” 

“You’re forgetting I’m a millionaire.” His laughter filled your ears once again, and your only response was the finger you lifted at him over your shoulder.

After walking out of the kitchen of your own lake house, you took a few strides over to the sliding doors that led to the connected portion of your two homes. Your father and Jim had built it together, way back when all four of you were far too young to understand what normal lake houses were supposed to look like. It was essentially a screened-in sunroom overlooking the absolute beauty of a lake out front. They managed to hook up a large, flat-screen television on the wall, throwing a couple bean bag chairs and a rug into the room. The rest of the furnishing was left completely up to you and the Hughes brothers, so the furniture would change up every few visits. 

Oftentimes, you would find Luke there, just sitting against the one wall that had a bit of a bump-out. He liked the way it felt against his back, like it actually supported him compared to the fluffy chairs that laid in the middle of the room. Whether he be on his phone, playing video games, or reading a book that was required for summer class, he would always be in the sunroom. The floor directly before the bump-out was much more worn compared to the rest of the room, the discolored wood showing just how often the youngest Hughes would find himself in the confines of the area.

There were many times when Luke would flee to the sunroom in his times of need, wanting to be alone with his thoughts. If anyone were to try to enter the room and speak to him, he wouldn’t respond. He would only ever talk to you. You were the one and only person to talk him out of his thoughts, the only one who could convince him to leave the room. Those nights were comprised of him refusing to leave your bed and whining if you got up in the middle of the night. 

You missed it. 

But you weren’t kids anymore. And, again, it was your fault you weren’t close anymore. You deliberately distanced yourself from him. 

After pulling yourself away from your own thoughts, you tugged the Hughes’ sliding door open, the smell of freshly grilled shrimp welcoming you into the cozy house.

“Hey, sweetie,” Ellen’s soothing voice called out to you, smiling at you from her place at the kitchen sink. “How’s the pasta going?” The sound of the running water could barely be heard over the hockey game playing on the television, your father entertaining Jim and his youngest son with light chirps towards the losing team. 

You could feel Luke’s eyes set on you. Shrugging, you replied, “I told Quinny to take over and not burn the house down.” 

This was a regular occurrence whenever you came back to the lake for the break. You, your mother and Ellen would split up the food duties so that there was a lot of food but didn’t take too much time to cook everything. Quinn and Jack would help out a bit, but they would only ever take on the physical tasks. Luke used to help out when you were children, but ever since the distance you wedged between the two of you, he stopped helping out as much. 

You looked around for Jack, trying your hardest to avoid Luke’s gaze in your search for his older brother. Ellen had now returned to her cooking, and the fathers were too invested in their conversation for you to intervene. Your eyes were darting everywhere but at your ex-best friend, and as soon as you made eye contact, you couldn’t look away.

It was too difficult.

It was so stupid.

It wasn’t fair. 

His hazel eyes were too pretty. The way he looked at you made it hard to deny him the satisfaction of giving him attention. He looked at you like you hung the stars and the moon, but you couldn’t see that. You were blinded by your abundance of self-deprecating thoughts to notice. 

“Hey,” he mumbled, voice being drowned out due to the other activities occurring throughout the house. You mouthed the same word back, fighting the urge to walk over to him and apologize for avoiding him, apologize for distancing yourself from the one person you know you could never live without. If you allowed yourself to break, you would never forgive yourself. He doesn’t like you back, you told yourself. You can’t embarrass yourself.

So, instead of going with your heart, you went with your brain and made your way upstairs. If Jack wasn’t downstairs, then he had to have been upstairs doing God knows what. 

“Jack?” You called out, running your hand along the railing of the staircase once you neared the top. 

“In here!” His muffled voice came through the door to his bedroom, and you’ve seen him in enough compromising positions to the point where you couldn’t even be bothered to pretend to be cautious. Once you opened the door, you were met with four gazes planted straight on you. You suddenly felt exposed despite your thick pajamas and only felt some sort of reassurance when you found Jack’s eyes. “Look who finally came up here!”

All four boys sat on Jack’s bed with controllers in their hands, the game on the TV now paused as their attention focused solely on you. You knew Trevor, Alex, and Cole, but you hadn’t seen them in so long that it felt awkward. “Oh, uh, hey. Quinn’s probably gonna burn my house down and I didn’t wanna be down there with Lukey, so,” you trailed off, pursing your lips. 

“You’re still on that?” Alex questioned with furrowed eyebrows, placing the controller in his lap. You cocked your head to the side, not quite understanding what the boy was talking about. He continued, “I thought you got over him, like, months ago.”

Right. You had forgotten all about your accidental drunk confession the last time Jack’s friends were over. Last summer, your revelation was fresh on your mind, and you and Luke were still as inseparable as ever. His friends had also visited the lake house at the same time everyone else was staying over, so it made for a ton of chaos and little to no privacy. 

Luke and his friends had left the house to go out, and for the first time, you stayed behind. Trevor and Cole were sitting at the fire pit outside, beers in their hands as they discussed the upcoming camps they were to attend. You were on your fifth drink, and although Jack was keeping an eye on you, he hadn’t noticed how you had accidentally walked into the bathroom while Alex was in the process of throwing up. 

In the midst of your tipsy daze and the fact that it just so happened to be Luke’s bathroom, you called out for him. “Luke? Is that you? You know I’m always telling you not to drink that much, stupid.” You used your foot to shut the door behind you as you placed your drink onto the counter. 

Alex, confused but sobering up, looked up at you with puffy eyes. Only then did he notice how you were much more than tipsy. 

Your gaze was blurry and your words were beginning to slur, “If I didn’t like you so much, maybe I would be more mad at you. I don’t know why I like you, anyway. You’re always being so stupid, ‘cause you can’t see that all those girls are only ever using you for your brother or your body. They’re so mean. And I’m your best friend, not them! You always ditch me when you find another girl, and then they say shit about me behind my back. I don’t like them. What do you even see in them? God, what do I even see in you?

“My stomach hurts. I think I’m thinking about this too much. Or maybe I’m thinking about you too much. I hate you so much, Lukey, but I can’t ever hate you. You’re too pretty. This is so unfair and my head is pounding. Oh, God, I’m gonna throw up. Move over.” After your little monologue, which was definitely not directed towards the person on the receiving end, you were quick to fall to the ground beside the toilet and dip your head past the ceramic seat. 

Alex brought his right hand up to flush the toilet so you didn’t accidentally stuff your face in a load of his vomit, using his other hand to rub soothing circles on your back. “‘m not Luke, but you’re safe with me.” He continued his motions throughout the five-minute duration of your illness, bringing his hand up to massage your head once you were sure you were done.

Your head was pounding and your ears began to ring, but you were visibly more sober compared to how you were a few minutes ago. Barely able to lift your head, you thanked your friend with a weak smile.

He only returned your expression and brought you up to your feet, leading you out of the restroom and towards Jack’s room. It obviously wasn’t the best option to bring you to Luke’s room, albeit being the default room after a long night, so his older brother’s bedroom would have to do. 

Alex laid you down onto the mattress and tucked you in, lightly patting your cheek as you thanked him once more. He only chuckled and squeezed your hand reassuringly, “Anytime.”

And then you were left alone in the confines of Jack’s room.

You chuckled awkwardly at the memory, shaking your head in response. “Nope. Still on it.” Your hands brought themselves up to your thighs, rubbing your palms against your thick pants in an attempt to wipe away the tension in the room.

Trevor and Cole were aware of your feelings as well; you were sure everyone in the house knew. They only shot you sympathetic smiles, their priorities set on finishing the NHL 23 game plastered all over the screen. 

“I’m sure you’ll get over it.”

“We believe in you.”

Their words, no offense, meant nothing to you. They were great people to hang around, but they weren’t the best guys to turn to when you were in a time of need, especially since you weren’t very close to them. They had their own issues that didn’t concern you, and your issues were ever so far from their minds.

After a few beats of silence, the mood of the room began to slowly eat away at you. If you were to open your mouth and bite down, you might as well have taken a chunk out of the thick tension lingering in the room. It was even more awkward knowing that Luke was much closer to them compared to you, and you knew they would let things slip eventually. 

Not that he didn’t already know, though.

The four boys exchanged glances with one another, shrugging in unison before resuming their gameplay. You took it as your cue to stay, seeing as they didn’t seem bothered by your presence, and you were much more comfortable in Jack’s room than you were downstairs. 

Allowing yourself to flop onto the boy’s soft mattress, you fished your phone out from the pocket of your pajama pants, finding solace in the way the friends laughed with each other. You remained like that for about twenty minutes before Jack beckoned you over to the edge of his bed, where he was sitting, to ask you for your opinion on something.

After dishing him your thoughts—which barely seemed to help him—you stayed snug at the foot of the bed, extending your legs out so that they lay atop his. It was one of your more typical positions when spending time with Jack whilst he was playing video games. Whether it be with his friends or with his brothers, you always found yourself comfortably overlapping your limbs with him, and today was no exception. 

You both shuffled around a bit until you found a comfortable position. You sat with your legs resting on his thighs and your head laying on his shoulder; he sat with his forearms resting on your left leg. The others paid no mind to your odd positioning, their minds too preoccupied with the competitiveness flooding through the screen. 

So you stayed like that for a while. For a long while, actually. You only lifted your head when the sound of light knocking echoed against Jack’s door once more, and soon after, you found his youngest brother cracking the door open and peeking through. 

His eyes had yet to land on your figure. “Hey, Mom’s looking for—”

Before he could utter your name, he looked you dead in the eye. 

“Oh.” He went silent for a few seconds, his eyes flickering between you and his brother. Him, of all people, should be the least surprised to see you cuddled up with Jack. “You.”

There was a certain poison in his tone that struck you right where it hurt the most. It was the way he spat through gritted teeth and looked at you with so much indifference. (It was really a façade, but you were too entranced under his gaze to realize that he could never bring himself to hate you.) The whole room seemed to shift uncomfortably with the way the tension flowed between you and Luke. 

No matter how hard you tried to mask your pain and your desperation for him to notice you, you would never be able to hide how you really felt. Not with him. 

“You can tell her I’ll be right down,” you murmured, slowly moving your legs from Jack’s lap, but before you could even finish your sentence, Luke disappeared as quickly as he came. When you looked back in the door frame, all you were met with was a blank wall and the faint image of where the boy stood before.

You could feel Jack lightly pat your thigh, trying his hardest to support you with the little attention he was diverting toward you. With a small sigh, you pushed yourself off the mattress and wiped your palms against the fabric of your pants, reluctantly leaving the room. Alex wished you good luck, but his fleeting words flew straight through one ear and out the other. 

Downstairs, the fathers were still loud as ever, and the sizzling in the kitchen now turned into the delicious aroma of freshly cooked lunch. Quinn’s voice echoed up the staircase, and you could hear how he attempted to entertain his mom as she waited for you to come back down. 

As soon as your feet hit the bottom floor, you could already sense Quinn’s eyes on you. He looked like he was being held hostage, and you could argue that he was begging you for help. He wasn’t the only Hughes boy with his gaze locked on you, but he was the only one you would give attention to.

“Oh, look! Just who you were looking for, Mom,” the eldest boy managed to divert the attention away from him and towards you. You scowled at him just before Ellen turned around, plastering on a smile as you walked towards them.

You gently placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder, “I was just up in Jack’s room. Luke said you were looking for me?”

“Oh, that’s right! Could you grab that fancy set of plates from the cabinet in your house, sweetie? It’s too high to reach for any of us parents, and you know Lukey and Quinn don’t help out with anything anymore,” Ellen spoke, evoking an argument from her oldest son. It only took one glare from her to shut him up, and you couldn’t help but giggle at his complacence. 

You nodded your head with a grin, still fighting more giggles as you swerved past Quinn. He lunged at you, bringing his hands up to your waist as if he was going to tickle you, but you managed to jump just out of his reach before continuing on your journey to grab the plates Ellen wanted. 

Once you made it back into your house, you dragged a chair up to the counter and climbed onto the cushioned seat, opening the cabinet and setting your gaze on the fake fine china. You only grabbed a few at a time, not wanting to break anything in fear of your mother getting mad at you. Eventually, you had gotten down to the last few plates, and once you had them in your hands, you closed the cabinet and stepped down from the chair.

Perhaps you should’ve been more aware of how high you were, because somehow, the bottom plate smashed against the countertop and shattered in your hands, causing you to let out a small scream. The porcelain had broken into small pieces, cutting into your palms, but you managed to place the reset of the plates down before beginning to worry about the amount of cuts you had on your hands. 

“Shit.” You mumbled under your breath, looking at the floor to see how many shards were scattered around the floor. Your only form of protection on the soles of your feet were the fluffy socks you were wearing, and the distance between the pieces was far enough to where you could step past them. 

As soon as you deemed it safe to walk normally, you swiveled on your heel to analyze the messy situation you found yourself in. You definitely should have been more careful, and now you had to clean up all the small plate shards with cuts in your hands. Fuck, your hands were still bleeding, and it hadn’t even occurred to you that it was now dripping down your arms. 

All you could do was stand in place, shock still coursing in your veins. The sink on the island was in the middle of the plate murder, and you didn’t want to risk accidentally stepping on something sharp. Before you could even begin to make your way to the half-bath near the kitchen, you heard footsteps bounding through the sunroom. The glass door slid open far too aggressively—so much so that you thought it would shatter, too—and you assumed it was Quinn coming to check on you.

The plate breaking was loud enough to be heard from the other house, especially with the connected room, but you didn’t think it would be that big of a deal for him. You were usually trustworthy enough to not accidentally hurt yourself, but this was a prime example of how you really weren’t.

You didn’t want any questions to be asked, and because it was Quinn, you knew you would get made fun of before being helped. “Don’t worry—”

“Holy shit, are you okay?” The voice that spoke up was not Quinn. 

Immediately snapping your head around to look at the boy standing there, frozen, your frown contorted into a grimace. “Luke—shit—hey,” you trailed off, unsure of what to say to him. “Uh, yeah, I’m fine, I was just being stupid and—”

“What the fuck happened? You’re gonna bleed out if you don’t wash your hands and wrap them up.” His heavy footsteps inched closer and closer until he was standing right in front of you, taking your forearms into his calloused hands and inspecting how bad your injuries were. “C’mon, we gotta wash this off.” 

Luke led you to the bathroom as if it was his own house, running the tap and allowing the water to get most of the red liquid off your hands before taking a clean towel and gently tapping the rest off. 

He was unbearably gentle with you. You felt ashamed to think of how fast your heart was beating at such a simple gesture; as if him caring about you meant anything except the fact that growing up together meant you both cared for each other when someone was hurt. Sighing to hide your true feelings, you slowly took your hands away from his touch, “Luke, I’m fine. Really. You don’t have to do this.”

His eyebrows furrowed, “What do you mean? Of course I’m going to clean you up if you hurt yourself.” He immediately took your hands back into his and resumed his actions, quickly grabbing ointment from the cabinet above the toilet. Squeezing out a dollop of the cream, he soothingly rubbed it against your wounds with a focused frown adorning his features.

You took the chance to admire him candidly. He was so worried about you, and it was so cute. He wouldn’t even let you take care of yourself because he wanted to do it for you, and he was so serious about it. You had always thought his focused face was adorable, even when you were kids, but as you grew up, it only got cuter and cuter. Fuck, you were so gone for him.

You hadn’t even realized you were staring until he looked up at you and immediately looked back down at your hands. He cleared his throat awkwardly and questioned, “Does it hurt?” 

“Hm?” You snapped yourself out of your trance, your face heating up with the unexpected eye contact. “Oh, uh, no. It doesn’t hurt.” The pain you were feeling came more from your heart than it did from your body. It hurt to be in such close proximity to the boy you longed so deeply for. The awkward silence floating between the two of you pained you even more. 

Luke nodded and rummaged through the drawers until he found gauze, taking great care to wrap it around your hands without causing you too much discomfort. When he finished, all he did was usher you out of the bathroom with a hand on your lower back, turning off the lights without so much as a word. 

Only when you entered the kitchen did a small mumble leave the boy’s lips. “Try to be more careful next time, okay? Can’t have you going around injuring yourself and shit, or you’re gonna make me—us worry too much.” He cleared his throat after his slip-up, hoping you didn’t hear what he said. You did. “Oh, and Jack told me to let you know the guys are throwing a party tonight. He said to invite you so you could buy cups and shit, but you’re kinda . . . banged up right now.”

“It’s fine. I’ll go grab stuff from the store later—”

“No!” Luke exclaimed, his eyes blowing wide once he realized how loud he protested your suggestion. “I mean, no, it’s okay. I’ll go get the stuff. You shouldn’t drive with your hands all cut up like that. They don't care who buys what.”

You blinked at him. He was acting so weird; it was almost like he cared about you. But it didn’t matter. The others were throwing a party, which meant there were going to be tons of girls all over him, and it wouldn’t be right for you to get mad if you were the one who caused the rift between you two.

With a shrug, you silently agreed to his proposal and turned to grab the remaining set of plates still sitting on the counter. You couldn’t even take two steps before Luke was already sliding ahead of you and taking the ceramic platters into his arms. “Luke, you really don’t have to do all of this. I’m fine, look,” you showed him your hands, front and back, to try and convince him to let you do something. 

“No, you’re hurt. And I wouldn’t be a good best friend if I made you injure yourself more.”

Best friend.

Two very opposing emotions coursed through your veins. On one hand, the term ‘best friend’ still sent a pang through your chest, knowing you would never be more to him than just a best friend. But on the other hand, it relieved you to know that he still considered you close enough to be his best friend. 

God, you were such a mess. You were running away from him in fear of rejection, but then you couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him. What the hell was wrong with you?

Eventually, the two of you made it back into his house, the boy announcing your arrival and placing the plates down onto the dining table. He immediately found his spot back on the couch in between the fathers like before, and you instantly got hounded by both the mothers’ questions being launched at you all at once.

“I’m fine, Mom,” you grimaced. You attempted to pull your hands away from her inspecting gaze, but she brought them right back to her face. “Mom, it doesn’t even hurt anymore! Lukey already put medicine on it and wrapped them up, anyway!” You were growing impatient, and your complaints slowly turned into whines. 

Thankfully, as soon as she heard Luke’s nickname leave your mouth, she dropped your hands back to your sides and grinned widely at you.

“Well, then! I’m sure you’re just fine, aren’t you?”

You sighed begrudgingly. “Yes, Mom.” You were just happy she stopped nagging you.

What you didn’t know was that she and Ellen were in pain watching their two children stay so far away from each other for such a long time. The parents always thought you two would have confessed by the time you graduated high school, but you were in college and Luke was having an amazing rookie season. It clearly didn’t work out the way they thought it would have.

You also didn’t know that Luke’s heart practically exploded out of his chest when he heard you use his nickname so nonchalantly. He always overheard you addressing him as Lukey to his brothers, but you never did it when you knew he was listening. It was almost as if saying it made your mouth run dry. 

And it did.

It finally came time to eat lunch, and your stomach was threatening to growl before you all sat down at the table. Trevor, Alex, and Cole decided to eat at a restaurant instead, encouraging Jack to eat with your families rather than hanging out with them. So he stayed.

There was a specific order in which you sat. There were five members of the Hughes family and three members of your family, meaning there were eight seats total; the rectangular table fit the usual number of people perfectly. The fathers would sit on either end of the table, and the mothers would sit to their right. You and Jack sat next to your mothers, while Luke sat beside you and Quinn beside Jack. 

It was a routine. It never changed. Ever.

Not when Jack kissed you on New Years. He still had to sit opposite to you at the table. Not when you and Luke had the biggest verbal fight in your life, leaving you both with scars on your knees. And especially not when you finally recognized the feelings you had for your best friend.

And as you sat in your spot, with Luke’s thigh pressed against yours, you realized that maybe loving him wasn’t all that bad.

— diorsluv 2024

[silvervioletvalentine]

🦋!Whenever , Wherever, we’re meant to be together!🦋

Pairing: Quinn Hughes x Lina Valentina (femOC)

Word count : 14k

Summary: in which Trevor accidentally steals a baby and while returning said baby they finally figure out who jacks new neighbour is.

Or: in which Quinn’s longtime crush on Spanish popstar Lina Valentina is brought to life when they find her baby in the hallway.

Warnings: fluff. Babies. Confident and knows what she wants Lina . Annoying brothers , Quinn being awkward and in love . Smut. A lot of taylor swift and shakira references because if you can’t tell already i love them <3 I think that’s it. Just a bit of a funny , fluffy one . Lemme know what u think xoxo

Quinn was seriously wondering if he had mistaken his multi vitamins for some hallucinogenic drugs of some kind , as he looked away from his brother to see Trevor skipping back into his apartment holding a baby in his hands , who couldn't have been older than a year old, high in his hands like the poor thing was a trophy.

Both he and Jack stopped their casual conversation to stare at him in various degrees of shock, Quinn's face more worried and horrified , while his brother just merely looked amused at the sight of his friend holding a baby , that they had never seen before. As though this was a completely normal thing to happen (it wasn’t).

"Something you forgot to tell us dude? Condom broke again?" Jack joked, already laughing loudly to himself as he bent his head down to coo at the baby in his friends arms. Awwing at his cute little face all scrunched up, wide eyed and utterly confused.

Trevor just rolled his eyes with a casual grin, holding the baby out like he was apart of the lion king.

Quinn's hands quickly darted out as he moved closer to him, afraid that he was going to drop the poor baby onto its head . Blinking in absolute disbelief as he looked between the two idiots silently , utterly speechless .

"No! I just found the little dude crawling around in the hallway outside our door. He was making vroom noises. Look at the curls on this kids head!" He gushed in amazement , Jack leaning down to ruffle said curls gently . Both looking like kids at a candy shop as they cooed at the babbling baby happily.

Quinn finally had enough of this concerning bullshit and snapped

"let me get this straight-" he took in a deep breath to try and calm himself down, it was incredibly difficult thing to do then, feeling his heart racing in his chest as he glared over at Trevor in absolute disbelief-

“-you found a stray baby and instead of looking around to see if one of the neighbors left the door open , or were panicking looking for him- you-" he took yet another long , angry breath , eyes flickering back down to the baby that was now looking back at him with big , bambi eyes "picked him up and brought him to jacks apartment?! That's kidnapping! You've stolen a baby! Have you lost your mind?!" He shouted in disbelief , concerned beyond it.

Trevor let out a groan as though he was the idiot ruining his good time . "little dude was right outside the door! Have you never heard of the phrase finders keepers losers weepers?" He joked, just to get on his nerves some more.

He adjusted the baby in his arms again and Quinn's heart lept , crossing his fingers tightly and praying for some patience .

Jack laughed loudly while Quinn's scowl just deepened.

"That does not count in this situation! Oh my god- you fucking-"

"Not swearing in front of the baby!" Jack exclaimed, still laughing. Unable to help himself, finding this situation far more amusing than he should be.

Trevor started laughing too, the poor baby looking up at his grinning face with wide eyes, making little noises as though he was trying to speak but had no words .

Quinn felt the same way, reaching the end of his patience as he reached over and quickly took the baby from Trevor’s arms before he could accidental hurt him. Glaring at him all the while as he awkwardly held the baby in one arm, wincing to himself as his little hand darter out to grab onto his hair with an iron grip.

God. Was he having a nightmare? What the hell was going on?

All he had wanted was to hang out with his brother , maybe play some video games and order takeout or something. Instead he was awkwardly rocking a fussy baby in his arms while glaring at the two idiots in front of him in disbelief.

"I can't believe you-" he was ready to give him another stressed out mouthful , maybe a slap too. Gently patting the small hand in his hair as he tried to get him to stop pulling on it so damn hard, worried he was going to have a bald spot by the time the baby was done with its fun.

Either the guys were going to give him one or the babbling baby was . This was unbelievable.

Trevor laughed carelessly "calm down man. I only brought the little dude here so we could all go look for the mamma. Do you think she'll be a milf-?" He looked at Jack with a sick smirk, both of them giggling like little kids as they joked around. Apparently unconcerned with the sudden appearance of a random baby at their door.

Quinn didn't know whether to hit them both or simply leave. Maybe both. Could he do that?

"Or maybe they'll be a dad waiting out their ready to beat out asses for having his baby! I know I would if I found some strangers holding mine!" He hissed at them annoyed , worried and pissed off all at once.

He couldn't believe that his relaxing Friday night was turning out like this. Holding a baby that wasn't even his .

He turned his head a little to check in on him, face softening a little as big , wide eyed stared back up at him. Framed with long lashes and a freckled nose , rosy cheeks and a pacifier in his mouth. Quinn had to admit that it had got to have been the cutest baby he had ever seen in his life . With wild Curly hair sticking up in every direction thanks to his brothers ruffling hand, he gently smoothed his soft hair back down for him. Smiling a little when the baby let out a giggle .

"mamá." He started repeating , looking around the room as though he would find her there with them .

Quinn snapped his head back over to dumb and dumber with a darkening glare , gently rocking the mumbling baby in his arms in hopes of calming him down now that he had finally realised that his mamma wasn't there with him.

"See? He's upset now! Asshole!" He hissed at Trevor , furious with him for not thinking like a normal, logical human being for once.

Who the hell picks up a baby from the floor and brings it inside without looking for the parents first?

Fucking Christ! Quinn felt like his heart was going to fall out of his ass with worry. He really did.

Jack looked at his brother with a easygoing grin, snorting a little in amusement at the stressed out look on his face. Finding it hilarious how awkward and out of place his older brother looked holding baby like that. The baby still refusing to let go of his hair.

"Always so positive." He couldn't help but remark , unbothered by his hot glare in response.

He just let out a small chuckle "calm your tits man. My neighbour at the end of the hall has a baby. Ive heard it crying some times and they play a lot of Lina Valentina music to calm him down. I think I could speak Spanish now from the amount of songs I've listened to lately." He told them casually as he led them over to the front door, ready to return the baby before his brother had a aneurysm or passed the fuck out from stress .

Trevor looked over his shoulder at Quinn with a teasing grin as he heard her name .

“That's that spanish pop star that you always listen to but pretend you don't right?" He quipped , amused.

Quinn coloured , deciding that he absolutely hated Trevor now. Childish and right. He hated it. Bastard.

He carefully adjusted the babbling baby in his arms and glared at him sourly "I do not- not all the time. Just when she comes on the radio-" he tried to defend himself, weakly. There was no point.

His brother easily called his bluff "liar! You made me go with you to see her gig when she finally came to the states. I think that's the only time I've ever seen you flustered over a girl. It's the belly dancing thing right?" He teased him, wiggling his eyebrows at him to annoy him.

Quinn just huffed, fed up with the both them.

Trevor had stolen a baby and he was the one getting bullied.

Unbelievable. Just Really nice.

"She’s famous  for a reason jackass. Don't act like you didn't pop a boner as soon as she started dancing too!" He hissed to his brother in both annoyance and embarrassment. Hating how he apparently wasn't allowed to enjoy some Lina Valentine in his spare time now either .

I mean, who the hell didn't? She was a absolute icon. The same age as he was and she had already achieved so much. Quinn, admittedly thought that she was amazing. Unbelievably fucking beautiful with the body of a siren , and the way she moved her hips and rolled her waist-

Yeah. He just thought that she was cool. That's all.

She might have been his first and only ever crush , even to this day. She was just something else. That’s it. Nothing strange.

"How haven't you met your neighbour yet? Surprised  you weren't  banging on her door begging to be friends." Quinn muttered pissily at his brother, the complete opposite of mr social butterfly. He preferred his alone time, where nobody else could bother him.

And this, he looked down at the baby in his arms that wasn't his, then back up to his brother and Trevor with a dark scowl. Was exactly the reason why he didn't like leaving his own apartment , because he always ended up getting dragged into somebody else's shit.

Fuck them all. He thought miserably. He was too tired for this shit.

What was next? Accidentally stealing someone's car because he wanted them to see how cool it was? Fucking dickhead.

Jack just rolled his eyes at his moodiness, used to it by now. Knowing that as soon as he had some pizza and beer, he would be feeling much better again.

Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

"What if she's a mean Karen and shouts at me? I don't want to deal with that." He defensible shot back at him. Not wanting to admit that he was too nervous to approach his new neighbour after he had heard loud Spanish shouting through her door one night on his way home.

She had e scary as fuck. Especially since he had no idea what the hell she was even so mad about. What if she had been pissed off about his nosiness after boys night and was ranting about him in another language to the building owner to get him kicked out?

He didn't want to risk it. Too afraid to knock after that. But they didn't need to know that.

Trevor called over his shoulder to them in amusement "well luckily it seems like we don't need to knock because this door is already open!guess this is where the little man wandered from!”

He grinned, sticking his head around the door confidently

"Helllooo-" his sunshine greeting suddenly froze mid sentence as his body did .

Making Quinn warily approach  behind them, clutching the baby a little tighter in his arms with worry while sharing a confused glance with his brother,  who shuffled a little closer to him without even realising   it .

"Oh fuck. Oh my god." Trevor breathed out in shock, eyes blown wide as he blinked at something in the apartment that they couldn't see.

Getting impatient , Quinn snapped "what the hell are you gaping at? Move!" He shoved him aside with his free arm to take his place .

Heaving in a annoyed breath as he stepped into the apartment with a annoyed scowl "look I really don't think that-" he was ready to scold the careless idiot for losing their baby like they had  when his eyes found the source of trevors sudden speechlessness.

He found himself freezing up too in absolute disbelief, paling dramatically , as he wondered dreadfully , if the universe  was playing some sick type of joke on him then.

Was this his karma for being such a sourpuss all the time? For never going to parties and leaving before midnight at every single event? Was this his...slap in the face? Shock to the system?

He swallowed thickly .

He could only look silently down at the woman sat down in the middle of the living room , seemingly attempting to build some sort of chair, crossed legged in only some short shorts and a sports bra. Curly hair wild and free and he swallowed dryly again, throat running dry as he blinked down at her in pure shock. Heart dropping to his ass.

Because what the actual fuck was going on?-

"Holy shit you’re Lina Valentina! We were just talking about you! I can't believe this!" Jack blurted out with a loud , surprised laugh  , giving her a excited grin. Practically jumping on his feet as he realised that his new neighbour wasn't some nutty physocpath , but the Lina Valentina instead.

Master of the hips and voice of an Angel, all three guys took a shuddering breath. Hearts pounding in their chests as they were faced with the celebrity of many a mans dreams.

Startled at the sudden noise , her head snapped up from the instructions In her lap that she was concentrating on , as she took in the three guys now suddenly stood in her apartment. One of them holding her baby in his arms like he had never held a baby in his life before .

It was an strange image to be seen. She couldn't help but chuckle a little underneath her breath despite the way her heart jumped in her mouth with slight fear for a moment. But she quickly took in their youthful , excited faces and knew they weren't going to be a threat.

She relaxed a little , smiling as her little baby let out a excited screech at the sight of her. Wriggling in the mans arms as he clapped happily, eyes wide and full of joy. She felt her soul light up just at the sight of her little man.

Her face momentarily fell a little as she let out a loud, exasperated sigh, bottom lip pushing out a little as she pushed herself off the floor slowly to greet them .

"Oh no. Not again." Her Spanish  accent was thick as she shook her head a little in amusement, eyes on her baby in Quinn's arms.

She didn't even looked alarmed at the sight of them or the worrying situation she had found herself in  , nor concerned or even a little bit angry like he thought she would be .

He was expecting a little more...drama. Maybe a slap to the face or some sobbing in his arms as she thanked them relentlessly for finding her baby but not this..

Not her... god. He sighed deeply too.

Quinn didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do or what he was supposed to say, he gave a quick glance over to his brother only to see Jack quickly reaching over to introduce himself  . His excitement  obvious on his face, Trevor quickly snapping out of his own shock too to join him as they crowded her, greetings loud and more than pleased.

Meanwhile Quinn just stood aside from them in the corner in absolute disbelief, silently watching them trying to flirt with her while he held her baby to him, even going as far as exchanging a small glance with the little dude as if to say 'can you believe this?' To him.

The baby just giggled and tried to bite his noise, he held him out a little away from him at that. More Nervous now.

Feeling a little like he was going to be sick from the horrible anxiety swarming  in his stomach, unable to take his eyes away from the woman that he had spent years dreaming about.

The woman that  he had bought tickets to see live on stage a few years ago , signing up for pre sale tickets because he knew they would sell out within minutes. They did , and he had been so happy to get his own tickets despite the fact that he hadn't shown it, only privately grinning to himself in the comfort of his own room. the same woman that he shamefully had a crush on for so long now. Even attempting to learn Spanish so he could watch her interviews and understand at least single word she said.

Apparently Lina Valentina was his brothers neighbour. Because of course she was.

He tried to hold back a hysterical laugh. Coughing a little instead , unable to believe what the hell was happening right then. Wondering if he really was dreaming or if someone really had switched his vitamins for acid. Because he had got to be seeing things.

He was So in his own disbelieving thoughts he didn't realise that she was coming over to him until she was stood right in front of him, her vanilla perfume filling his senses as she smoothly took back her baby from his arms while giving him a casual smile.

As though this was a everyday occurrence for her. He sure fucking hoped not. For the baby's sake.

"Maybe I should get a gate  for the hallway too. He’s like a little flash. So fast now." She blew a raspberry on her baby's belly, giggling with him with a face full of nothing but love.

Quinn couldn't believe it. His starstruckness mixed with his usual awkwardness had him blurting out a unimpressed -

“-maybe you should  just keep your front door closed. What if he got out into the street and hurt himself ?" Frowning down at her disapprovingly. Unable to stop himself before it was too late.

Missing the look of pure disbelief that Jack shot Trevor , shaking his head slowly to himself as they watched his brother awkwardly cross his arms over his chest, scowl never leaving his face as he looked down at the grinning , unbothered pop star in front of him.

"God. He couldn't even charm a fish." Jack groaned underneath his breath, both in amusement and second hand embarrassment.

His brother had the woman of his dreams right in front of him and what was he doing? Scolding her.

It was just so Quinn like that he couldn't help but grin even wider once he noticed how unbothered Lina seemed too.

Simply looking up at Quinn with a perfectly arched brow, as though she wasn't stood in front of him in tiny shorts and a thin sports bra. Looking like a messy wet dream .

He didn't know where to look, he settled on her amused eyes instead . Fighting back a horrified wince at his blunt and not cool at all behaviour .

When he had daydreamed about all the ways he would meet her, and charm her, maybe flirt his way (or plead his way pathetically ) into getting her to give him a chance . He imagined telling her how beautiful she looked under the lights , about how she took his breath away every time he heard her songs on the radio . How he sang along and knew everyone word despite his friends and brothers teasing. He had been loyal to her for so long now that it was in his dna.

scolding her for her carelessness was not on his list of first words to her at all. What kind of meet cute was this? He wanted to die a little. He really did then.

This couldn't be happening to him. His felt his face flame , right up to his ears and nose. His lips pursed tighter , not knowing what to feel or what to do.

"Four floors down?" She said in amusement as she kissed the side of her baby's head gently "-plus you have to take the moving box to get down to the bottom to get out . And as smart as Juan is, he can't use them yet." She told him matter of factly , like he was an idiot .

Then she slowly looked him up and down, taking in his outgrown hair and messy stubble. The broken nose and nervous twitching of his fingers by his side.

She stifled a sudden smile of her own before looking away from him, wandering into her kitchen to make Juan a bottle instead.

"Elevator." Quinn muttered , because that was him told. Wasn't it?

His cheeks flushed even darker  as he ignored the two idiots snickering at his own misery . He looked down at his feet for a moment , eyes only flickering back up again when she let out a quite hum.

"Oh. Okay." She simply let out, not bothered at all. Moving box. Elevator . Same thing.

“Trevor. You asked me out . I'm afraid my answer is a hard no." She directed her attention over to the grinning guy behind him instead, giving him a amused shake of her head. Props for trying she supposed . Gotta love the confidence.

Trevor just shrugged, smile never leaving his face. Just happy to be there and to be meeting her. He couldn't wait to get a picture with her to brag to all of their friends about this moment for the rest of his life.

Nobody was going to believe this. It was a thought that they all shared. Quinn the most.

He couldn't help but glare over at him, pursing his lips tightly together as he watched Lina fondly flick his forehead as she passed him as though he was something that amused her greatly . Gritting his teeth to keep his mouth firmly shut.

He Should have known that Trevor would try snd charm his way into her pants. He couldn't blame him. But still.

They had only been there for less than five minutes , Trevor having practically stolen her baby for a good moment there without a single apology .

Didn't he have any shame? Quinn glowered, bitterly jealous that he had all the guts that he didn't have at all.

"Is it because I'm not Spanish? I could download dualingo. I'm a fast learner." He winked at her shamelessly.

Even Jack burying his face in his hands beside him with a laugh , amazed by his over confidence . Even with a famous pop star that was clearly out of his league . Well. Anybody's league really.

Lina let out a loud giggle, smirking over at him. He was cute. She could give him that, she wondered if it was just an American boy thing. Backward caps and American smiles .

She wasn't completely unfazed but her eyes kept going back to the sulking man leaning against her wall instead. Glaring at his friend as though he wanted to melt him with his dark gaze.

That one, her brain supplied like a spoiled child wanting more than they should have.

I want that one. It sang mischievously.

"You're funny. But no. I'm sick of the guys back home anyways. Very beautiful but.." she let out a long suffering sigh "so very stupid. Too beautiful , no brains , Sí?" She looked at them like they should understand .

All of them nodding along as though they did when they so clearly didn't. Just wanting to get on her good side now.

Trevor let out a dramatic sigh "well that's too bad. If you're not looking for beautiful guys then I have no chance. Because clearly I am the most beautiful-"

Quinn rolled his eyes "god. Shut up. Arrogant jackass." He muttered at him, irritated beyond belief at him. Not wanting to admit to himself why either .

Jack glanced over at him knowingly , grinning at his obvious jealously and lack of coolness around her.

He tried to help his big brother out, in a little brother kind of way of course .

"Well If you don't want a beautiful man. You should meet my brother Quinn-" he gave him a pat to the shoulder as he tired to push him towards her.

Quinn immediately shoving him away, flushing a dark red as he shot him a glare. Mortified.

"Shut the fuck up-"

Lina gasped as she covered her baby's ears with a disapproving frown towards him.

"no cursing! He's going to be a good boy. Stop that!" She was the one scolding him this time , reaching out her foot to kick at his ankle like she had seen her own mother to do her father when he was doing something that she didn't like  .

Quinn went silent in shock , eyes blown wide as he looked down at where she had kicked him in disbelief .

"He started it-" he went to defend himself pathetically , Trevor snorting behind him at how childish he sounded . So moody and annoyed that his luck was so fucking shit like this.

Lina just side eyed him , unimpressed. "Shush. Quinn. Huh-" she got sidetracked for a moment as she tasted his name in her mouth.

Completely Missing the way he swallowed and averted his gaze , needing to take a deep breath in as her heard her say his name like that. Reminding  himself how to breath all over again. It didn’t feel so easy anymore.

Not with her there, looking like that… who gave her the right to look so fucking beautiful like this? It really wasn’t fair.

How was he supposed to breathe normally now? His nose was already fucked up as it was, she was making his chest collapse too now.

Fuck. He ran a slightly shaky hand through his hair, swallowing dryly again. Fuck . Fuck.

"I like that name. But don't argue with me." She stepped to his side , no longer looking at him as she spoke up again, changing the subject quickly . Ignoring his kicked puppy look beside her.

"are the two of you men yet?" She smirked over at Trevor and Jack like she was setting a trap. Quinn falling quiet beside her as he watched them fall right into it. Fighting back a amused snort at the sight of them perking up eagerly.

"Hell yeah! Can't you tell by all this muscle?" Trevor flexed his arm at her with sly wink. Jack grinning too as he laughed loudly "yeah. We're manly men. Do you even-have to ask?" He said arrogantly . In way over his head already.

Lina just grinned at them smugly  "I do. Okay then. That's great then . Seeing as you're so strong and manly could you finish fixing up that high chair for me? I can't do it." She softened her voice along with her face as she tilted her head sweetly at them. Perfect manipulation granted.

Both of them melted just like she had planned . Nodding their heads along like obedient puppies as they quickly spun around to sit on the floor in the front room, fighting to get the instructions . Eager  to please her.

"Of course! We've got this! We'll have it up in minutes. Don't you worry." Jack told her confidently as he picked up a wooden piece of it, glancing at it uncertainly . Yet he didn't give in, pride on the line,

Quinn shook his head in disbelief "unbelievable." He muttered as he followed a smug Lina into the kitchen while Side eyeing her in amusement .

"They’re idiots. There not going to have it done quickly." He felt the need to let her know as he leant back against the kitchen counter, watching her bring out a plate of fruit . Looking down at all the different left overs pieces in contemplation.

She just shrugged her shoulders indifferently "I know. Here-" she abruptly turned around and stuck out her arms, nodding down to Juan with a expectant gaze on her pretty face.

Treating Quinn like she had known him for years, as though they were close friends and like he always held her baby for her while she chopped up some fruit in her kitchen. Totally normal.

He didn't even think, too in shock still as he awkwardly pulled the garbling baby from her arms, placing him on his side instead. Looking down at little Juan for a moment as he swallowed nervously.

"I-he's quite heavy. For a baby I mean." He blurted out, suddenly hating the silence that had fell upon them. His nerves forcing his mouth to open and spew out whatever it wanted before his brain could even catch up.

Anxiety. He shut his mouth promptly. Was a bitch.

What happened to his life long vow of being quite and chilled out? He took one glance over at the grinning Spanish woman and inhaled shakily, yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Not with Lina fucking Valentina beside him . Even her name sounded like a love song on his tongue.

Was it hot here? He fanned his shirt a little frantically , flushing . Or was it just him?

Lina just giggled, obvious to his little freak out as she focused on chopping up the fresh fruit for them to eat.

"I know right? When I thought of having a baby I thought it would be so much easier to carry him. Even when he was fist born, the dolls are really misleading as kids. If I'd have known how heavy baby's really were-" she paused her talking to glance up at them for a moment , smiling at the sight of Juan snuggling up to Quinn happily . Just happy to cuddle anyone these days. She got it. She really did.

"-I would have started weight lifting before my pregnancy. But hey!" She laughed, flexing her arm for him to see with a mischief grin "look at my arms now! So strong huh?" She winked at him, enjoying the red painting his cheeks more than she should.

But she was just a woman. As Quinn was a very cute, very awkward, adorable man. She was gonna tease him till his legs gave out and he lost all the paleness in his face.

She could fell her body perk up excitedly , eyes trained on him as she chewed her bottom lip with a thrill.

Oh yes. Maybe this was whst she had been missing since moving here . A Quinn to tease and please and play with. Her heart had been an empty room for so long now, didn't it deserve to let someone in again? To house someone new?

She was a romantic at heart. A tease and a minx. She knew it. Everybody did. Even Quinn did.

That didn't make his heart flutter any less as he tore his eyes away from her toned and tanned arms, smiling a little tensely in her general direction.

Unable to look her in her eyes. Intimated by her natural charisma and easygoing nature, and her beauty .

God her beauty... he felt sick from it. Was that normal? To feel sick to your stomach when somebody smiled at you?

He swallowed again "yeah er- yeah." He shifted Juan in his arms again just for something to do , rocking him a little as he started to drift off again his chest. His eyes softened as he glanced down at him, relaxing a little as he gently patted his small back with his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Realising how rude that sounded , he quickly rushed out "I mean- in America? Here . I thought that you lived in madrid." He was curious to what could pull her away from such a beautiful place. His home was nice but it wasn't madrid. Who could leave there willingly with a baby in tow?

Lina did.

She just shrugged as she placed the plate of now cut fruit onto the table , moving close to him as she carefully lifted up a piece of watermelon and held it up to juans mouth for him to suck at . Smiling down at him affectionately As he tiredly did so, eyes blearily and barely open.

"I like travelling and going to new places. It's not good to stay around in one place for too long plus.." she inhaled deeply as she glanced up at him with a small quirk of her lips , finding Quinn's eyes already glued to her face. Soaking in every word she said like a sponge.

"Plus the whole ex boyfriend putting his tiny dick in his ex girlfriends mouth thing kind of put a dampener on the city for me . Ya know?"

She said it so nonchalantly that he couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh , even snorting a little in amusement how uncaring she sounded , just a little annoyed that her home had been stained if anything .

"Oh no." He breathed out a chuckle , watching her feed Juan some more fruit as he held him carefully for her still. "So that's what happened. He was a footballer right? Everyone was talking about your split."

Lina just nodded her head casually, unbothered.

"yeah. Should have known really. He can only think with his balls, that's all he knows. He can find the back of the net but not the clit." She bluntly told him, giggling to herself as she did so.

“But it's whatever. It's his loss."

Quinn was speechless for a moment , just grinning down at the amazing woman in front of him. So beautiful and so fucking funny..so cool. He let out a sigh without even realising it.

"It is." He murmured before letting out a surprised noise when she suddenly reached up, strawberry in her hand as she tapped it against his mouth gently.

"What are you doing?" He tried to pull his face away, flustered. But she wasn't having it.

Simply rolling her eyes at him with a grin as she tapped the fruit against his lips again , more impatiently this time .

"Open your mouth Quinn. Don't waste my fruit now." She teasingly remarked , enjoying how he couldn't even look at her, face now a permanent red since he had arrived .

He kept his eyes to the wall opposite him as he hesitantly opened his mouth, heart going crazy as he felt her fingertips brush his tongue as she casually fed him the strawberry.

Tapping his jaw gently with her fingers to keep his mouth open as she reached over to feed him some more, face casual and serene , like this was a normal thing to do.

Quinn felt like he was going to collapse. Eyes flickering rapidly between the wall, the fridge , the baby and then Lina . Not knowing where to look as she continued hand feeding him the fruit , keeping her body close to his side as she smiled up at him softly . Pleased with his compliance.

"Not so bad huh?" She glanced down at his pouty lips now stained with Berry and subtly sighed .

"tienes una boca tan bonita." (You have such a pretty mouth.) she murmured in appreciation , finding it hard to look away.

His eyes shot back to her own at those words, eyes widening as he heard a familiar one.

“Pretty?" Bonita. He knew that one. He looked at her for an answer.

Lina just smiled at him and moved herself away from his side finally , coyly shrugging her shoulders at him in response .

“Very. What do you do?" She asked him curiously , mind already making plans.

She wanted him. That much was simple. And judging by his heaving chest and apple red cheeks , he wanted her too.

Quinn took a deep breath in, trying to calm himself down again . Juan now fast asleep in his arms as he watched Lina pack away the remaining fruit and put it back in the fridge , only glancing back over her shoulder at him when he took a second to long too answer.

Still lost in the feeling of her warm fingertips on his lips. He wondered what they would have tasted like if he had sucked them into his mouth and gently wrapped his tongue around her fingers, sweet fruit he knew. His mind supplied him with other dirty thoughts that he was quick to shut down, shifting uneasily on his feet instead .

"I er-I do hockey." He grimaced a little at himself, wishing he was a little more cooler and charming. Wishing that he could be more smooth with his words like Trevor and his brother were. But this was him. A little awkward and unsure "we all do. I'm the better player though." He tried to joke.

She laughed a little "oh yeah? Should I really take your word for it? What if Jack is the better player?" She teased him back. Enjoying it.

He scoffed immediately , chest flaring as he quickly countered back "he is not Better . In anyway." He wouldn't let him be.

Not with Lina . Not like this.

He looked back over at her quickly "and you don't have to take my word for it. You can come see me play anytime." There. That was smoother, wasn't it? He mentally patted himself on the back for that one.

Biting down on his lip to suppress his proud grin as he watched her giggle at what he said, his chest puffing out a little with pride. That he had made her laugh like that. Him. Not Trevor or Jack.

Him.

Lina smiled over at him slyly "I'm usually more inclined towards European footballers but I guess I could try something new." She said casually as though it was no big deal. As though she wasn't spinning his entire world on its axis at the double meaning to her words.

Something new. Like him.

She smirked at him as she carefully took back a sleeping Juan from his aching arms, Quinn barely even noticing. Too busy looking at her like a lovesick idiot. Cheeks red and belly all sticky with the feeling of the butterflies flying around in there, going crazy for her.

God. This was crazy. He let out a breathless laugh , already in love.

"Though i must warn you. I don't like losers Quinn." She said while casually grinning.

He grinned straight back, confidence slowly rising now that he realised that she was only looking at him that wag . That he had her attention.

No amount of dreaming or singing along to her songs in his car could have ever have prepared him for this.

Were they flirting? He hoped they were. He tried his best , he had to.

This was Lina fucking Valentina. And What did Eminem say? You only got one chance, do not miss your shot. Opportunity’s come once in a lifetime . Or something like that.

He wasn't wrong at all.

"That's a lie. Seeing as your baby daddy is the biggest loser out there." He shot back without missing a beat, worried for a moment that she would get pissed off over his offhand comment.

But she just laughed . Loudly . Looking both amused and proud of him, Pointing her finger at him while nodding her head along.

"you're right. I'll let you have that one! But I still don't think you're the best.." she backed away back into the front room, placing the sleeping baby into a small cot in the corner of the room . Tucking him in perfectly before coming straight back to him once she was done.

"No? What will change your mind?" He looked at her in amusement . Liking the back and forth they now had going on. Heart jumping in his chest , hiding his trembling fingers behind his back quickly so she didn’t see them.

She just hummed teasingly "not much. Maybe a lot. So much to prove ya know? Any of your friends single?" She tested him. Seeing if he would play along and fall for it all.

He did. Because of course he did.

"No. There all jackasses anyways." He snapped straight back. Frowning again.

She hid a laugh , so easy . She thought fondly. So cute.

“Hmmm. And you're so lovely? You were scolding me before you even said hello. Actually.." she smirked "I still don't think you have said hello at all. Rude."

He rose his brow at her , rolling his eyes . "Because you were careless. Who leaves there doors wide open like that? Little dude crawled right out!" He exclaimed, not letting it go .

Lina just kicked his ankle again "it's too hot In here! It's summer. Do you want me to get heatstroke and die? Is that it Quinn? You wanted me to melt? I was letting some air in." She countered back , jumping up onto the kitchen table. Feet dangling in front of them, body facing him.

Quinn clenched his hands around the counter top behind his back, eyes flickering down to her bare , swinging legs before quickly darting away again .

"Shut up. Don't be so dramatic. You're used to the heat. Don't even try it." He muttered amused. Kicking her ankle right back.

If possible, her smile grew even bigger at his actions. Chest buzzing with excitement as she took in the shy man in front of her, able to keep up with her whips and dish it right back too.

How perfect.

Before she could resort back and bicker with him some more like she wanted to, Trevor and Jack came rushing back again. Sweaty and proud , with matching grins on their faces.

"It's done! The men built the baby a chair! Can you believe it? It looks so good huh?" Jack smugly said as he pulled her down from the table, dragging her back into the room to see what they had done.

She let out a amused laugh, nodding her head along as she patted their backs. Practically feeling their manly prides boosting as she gave them a sweet smile , both guys cheeks going rosy.

Quinn was glowering at them from beside her , just shaking his head at them in disbelief. Was he this bad? He wondered a little concerned. Before quickly shaking off that question because he didn't want to know the answer at all. (Yes. It was yes. Always.)

"Well done guys! How can I repay you for your help?" She beamed at them. Pleased.

Trevor smirked "with a kiss-" he couldn't even finish before Quinn was smacking the back of his head, hard.

Glaring at him darkly "I will break your teeth." He gritted out in a whisper while Lina was distracted talking to his excited brother . "All of them." He threatened.

Trevor just snorted, side eyeing him. "Jealous are we? In love? Wanna marry her and give her your babies-" he made a baby voice at him, winding him

Up.

Quinn went bright red "shut up." He snapped st him quietly . Keeping an eye on Jack and Lina to make sure they couldn't hear . He could only take so much embarrassment before he would simply keel over .

"You should come over tomorrow! We're just gonna hang out, watch some movies , get takeout and have some beer. Wanna join us?" Jack extended the invitation hopefully. already deciding that he was going to be her friend now.

She was never going to be able to get rid of him now, he was like a overly friendly leech. Quinn hoped that lina knew what she was getting herself into. No more quite alone time anymore.

She smiled at him , thankful to be included. "Sure! Sounds fun. What are you eating tomorrow?"

"Just pizza. Any preference?" Trevor asked her.

She grimaced a little but only Quinn noticed the little sad sigh she let out . Barely audible. Already so in tuned with her . He brows furrowed a little as he looked down at her.

"I'll have whatever you guys have. I'm still not used to all the takeouts here. We never really had pizza unless it was home cooked." She told them absentmindedly . Thinking back to home.

Jack just grinned at her "you'll love it! I'll make sure to get one extra cheesy." He said as they all slowly made there way to the front door. Knowing that they couldn't stay with her forever . No matter how much they wanted to.

While they were distracted , Quinn gently

nudged lina's shoulder with his own.

“What would you normally be having on a Saturday night back home?" He murmured to her , curious.

A little homesick , she shrugged. Nudging him back gently just because she could now.

“A range of things . My mamá is the best cook in the world. But - as overly used and abused as it is- Paella has always been my favourite ." She admitted to him quietly "any kind really . It was the only thing my papa could make. Not as good as a cook as my mama ." She giggled fondly while talking about them .

He smiled at the fond tone she used to speak about her parents , In awe that she was even willing to speak to him at all.

He nodded slowly "I'll eat anything so.." he let out a chuckle "I do have a bit of a sweet tooth though." He muttered shyly , watching her play with her wild hair from the corner of his eye subtly .

His breath hitching in his chest, overwhelmed by her.

Lina giggled "me too! I love anything chocolate but- ya know. I'm not supposed to. Only on special occasions." She whispered to him like it was a secret , unable to look away from his shy smile and rosy cheeks.

Both of them completely missing the looks that Trevor and Jack exchanged as they watched the old dust turned to stardust as it fell around the apartment around them, so lost in each other as the inevitable began again.

Falling in love had never been so easy.

By the time Saturday night came around , Quinn was already tired  with the bundle of nerves that had been running rampant over him the whole day leading up to it.

Fretting over every little thing , not wanting anything or anyone to scare her away. He had made Luke promise to not do not say anything stupid , otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to join their movie night either.

In fact in the space of a couple of hours Quinn had maybe , definitely , threatened and blackmailed all three of them to be on there best behaviour or else. Like a couple hundred times already.

He ignored their amused muttering behind his back about how whipped he already was , he completely blanked out their childish teasing . Instead focusing on making sure that everything went perfectly for their night , wanting Lina to feel comfortable around them.

He couldn't imagine how strange and difficult it was being in a new country , with a baby none the less .

He just wanted her to be happy. Wanted to be the one to supply that rush of happiness and hopefully have her smile that mischievous smile at him again, to hear her giggle at his stupid attempts at a joke in the kitchen.

He just wanted her to like him.

He had felt nothing but a lot of self consciousness and sickness as he got ready for the day, looking at himself in the mirror in his best black jeans and clean shirt. Running his hand through his freshly washed hair, ruffling it as he let out a frustrated groan at himself . Pissed off for even feeling this way to begin with.

He had never cared about what he looked like before, not really , not on such a horrifying scale like this one .

But Suddenly he couldn't look away from his reflection as his grimace got deeper and deeper, eyes zeroing in on his large nose, bent and busted from all the breaks it had taken over the years. Fingers picking at the acne on his face that refused to leave even after his teenage years were long over , rubbing mostoriser into his skin with trembling hands in hopes of it somehow , miraculously taking it all away.

He didn't know why he bothered , or why he cared so much.

Okay. That was lie. He knew exactly why he suddenly cared so much. He thought back to linas long line of ex lovers and felt sick to his stomach as he realised how way over his head he was about this.

She was Lina fucking Valentina. She was beautiful. Stunning. This Ethereal goddess that didn't even seem real until yesterday.

She was everything .

And he - Quinn-felt like nothing compared to her. He thought about all the handsome footballers and other sport stars that he had seen her with over the years and swallowed thickly , averting his gaze from his reflection with haste. No amount of cream was going to change the way he looked like, no amount of cream or new clothes would make him look like they did.

He wasn't them. And he didn't want to be.

They may have had the looks, the hot accents and the ridiculous abs and muscles. But what had that accomplished? They meant nothing to Lina now. They weren't here. She wasn't feeding them fresh fruit and trusting them to hold little Juan in their arms like she was with him .

He was. She was letting him in, without Quinn even having to do a single thing .

She had looked at him and seen something that he never would , and that was enough for him.

He had a chance . He wasnt going to lose it or waste it, he had to try. Broken nose, acne and eye bags and all.

So he spent most his day around town getting everything he needed for the night . As he was unpacking the bags he brought home, Jack spotted the containers he placed on the breakfast table and frowned in confusion at his older brother.

"Why have you got food? I ordered pizza!" His voice rose in surprise , looking at him like he had lost his mind.

Maybe he had. Being lovestruck had that effort on people he guessed .

He just shrugged a little as he continued to unpack , keeping his eyes down on his hands as he felt the heat reach up to his neck .

Telling himself that he had absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about, unable to look at his brother in his eye as he responded quietly.

"I know you did. It's not for you dipshit." He just muttered as he pulled a couple of jars of baby food and placed them on the counter too.

Jack looked at the baby food, the Spanish takeout bag and the big box of chocolate that he was pulling out and felt his mouth drop open in shock.

Blinking at him slowly as he slowly took everything in , realising what this actually meant .

"Quinn- I know I've been teasing you about this but- I didn't realise you-" he was baffled, unused to seeing his older brother in such a flustered state about anything. Never mind a woman.

He looked at Quinn's red cheeks and averted eyes and exhaled loudly in shock.

“I didn't realise that this was real. I mean- you're serious?" He couldn't believe it.

Couldn't believe that the day had finally arrived where his brother was losing his mind over a woman , but no, not just any woman.

Lina fucking Valentina. The same woman that Quinn had been losing his mind over for a long time. He recalled all the gigs he had been dragged along to, all the gifts everyone had gotten him for Christmas as a joke with lina's face on. He thought about the cd's and vinyls , the silent admiration and adapt attention whenever her name was mentioned on tv or on the radio and let out a loud laugh .

Because really. He should have seen this coming. For a long time really .

He just hadn't thought that Quinn would ever have the guts to actually take the chance presented to him like this.

I mean. It was Quinn..

His brother just looked annoyed at him "serious about what? It's just food. We're you planning on giving her one year old baby pizza?" He shot back at him , scowling . Getting Defensive. Hating that his brother looked so shocked about it at all.

Jack just laughed even harder "is there a ring in there too?" He joked.

Dodging the flying kitchen towel that came flying at his head with ease . He smirked at him mischievously, enjoying winding him up like this. He couldn't wait till he got to tell the rest of their family and friends about this, to let them see the uncharacteristic way that he was behaving.

He was going to be in for a lifetime of teasing after this.

"Shut the fuck up!" Quinn snapped at him, irritated and hating being put on the spot like this. His feelings were his own. He didn't want to talk to his brother, or anyone else for that matter , about this. It was stupid .

Jack snorted "why did you get her chocolates as well then?" He teased him.

"They were on sale! I'm just being nice! Something that you should try being !" He lied.

They were not on sale. They were not cheap at all and he had deliberately drove across town to this fancy chocolate shop that did the best homemade chocolates that he had ever tasted in his life.

He just knew that Lina would love them.

He did. So why wouldn't she? They both had a sweet tooth, he just thought that she would appreciate them like he did. That was all.

No big deal.

"You? Nice?!" Jack was laughing hysterically now

"yeah right! You want her! Huggy bear is in loveeeee!" He sang childishly  at him, watching his brother get worked up so easily.

Only further proving his point that he totally was gone for Lina. That this really was a big deal for him.

He didn't know why Quinn even tried to deny it. As though Jack hadn't witnessed him fawning over the pop star for years leading up to this .

"I am not! I'm just nice!"

"No you aren't!"

"Yes I am! Shut up!"

Both brothers were too busy shouting at each other to hear the front door open , Lina walking into the apartment like she owned the place, only to see Quinn glaring at Jack like he wanted to strangle him right there and then.

Laughing to herself as she watched Jack wind him up over and over again, after watching Quinn raise his finger threateningly at him while promising to

Shove something up his ass, she finally decided to make her presence known to them.

"Who's not nice?" She asked them curiously, wondering what had gotten Quinn so worked up now.

He froze in his spot, his head snapping over to where she was stood smiling prettily at them , his blood pressure scaling even higher as he took in the sight of the Red Devil's jersey she was wearing over some shorts.

He felt crazy "no. Absolutely not!" He snapped just at the sight time that Jack happily told her "Quinn! He's not very nice at all!" Smirking smugly to himself one he noticed where his older brothers eyes were glaring into .

The jersey that he had deliberately left at lina's for her to wear , not telling her which brothers it was . Poor girl had no clue , Quinn's face couldn't have gotten any redder it tried to, only with fury this time.

Only his anger quickly melted away when Lina stepped in front of him and reached her free hand up to grip his jaw in her hand, titling his head to the side so she could admire him closely , with no shame at all as she hummed a little fondly .

"I think he's very nice. I've been so sick of those pretty Spanish boys back home anyways." She muttered , leaning up to kiss his cheek before moving away.

Casually turning to greet both Trevor and Luke, the younger brother just as starstruck as he hugged her, excitedly introducing himself while Trevor pulled her closer so that they could take a selfie together.

Quinn just watching on In disbelief , hand to his flaming cheek gently , heart stuttering in his chest while Jack just snickered at his flustered face from beside him.

"You bastard! I know you did this!" Quinn hissed at him, annoyed.

Lovesick and overwhelmed , not knowing what the hell he was supposed to do next. His plans to be cool and collected going right out of the window now, all he could feel was his skin tingling and buzzing from where her lips had touched it.

He inhaled shakily and tried to get a grip of himself , shaking his head in hopes of snapping out of it quicker.

Jack smirked smugly "the jersey? Yes I did. She looks good in my colours eh?" He teased him.

Quinn had enough . He scoffed, tugging at the back of the stupid jersey she was wearing to get her attention again.

"Get that shit off." He told her bluntly , not amused by his brothers antics in the slightest. The only jersey he wanted her ever wearing was his own.

Lina looked up at him in surprise , raising a amused brow as she casually passed him Juan to hold.

The baby just giggling as he cuddled his neck in excitement , Quinn's anger briefly melting away as he swayed him gently in his arms , caressing his curly hair affectionately . Heart melting.

"Why?" She wanted to know . Confused.

He huffed "it's jacks. Get it off." He grumbled , kicking her ankle Impatiently. A new tradition setting in now. For years to come.

She kicked his ankle straight back, laughing at his red face and narrowed eyes. Finding his jealously more than amusing.

"Right now? You want me to strip?" She looked pointedly at the other three guys around her and shrugged dramatically "okay then If you say so-" she made a show of pulling up the Jersey as though she was going to pull it off, showing her bare stomach underneath . Only wearing a bra underneath it.

Panicked , Quinn gasped sharply "okay no! Stop! Ah ah!" He shook his head quickly as he reached out to yank it back down. Everyone laughing at him, he ignored the guys and focused on the Lina's grinning face in front of him instead.

“Never mind!"

After messing about and chatting with the other guys, she wandered into the kitchen to find Quinn again. Smiling to herself in contentment once she spotted him sat at the breakfast table , her baby on his lap as he fed Juan a pot of baby food that he had bought for him without her even having to ask.

Her face softened , a teasing remark dying on her tongue as she looked at them. Throat closing a little as she looked the little bottles of baby food, the container of takeout and big box of chocolates on the table as well.

"You got Juan food? That's so sweet..." she muttered, swallowing as she felt her throat dry.

A sudden rush of feelings falling upon her as she took a seat beside him at the table , tapping Juan’s little nose with a small smile on her face . Overwhelmed . But so grateful.

Quinn nodded a little shyly "yeah. He needs to eat to.I. He likes the chocolate pudding one." He mumbled as he carefully spoon fed the baby it, chuckling at the mess that he was making .

Grabbing a paper towel and gently wiping his chin with it , missing the look of softness that fell over lina's usually calm and teasing  face . Unable to take her eyes off him.

She giggled a little, fiddling with the takeout container as she pulled it closer to her. Heart racing in her chest as she peeked inside to see a familiar food and beautiful smell drifting up to her , looking back at Quinn beside her in amazement .

"You got me paella? Oh my god. Quinn!" She gushed , so giddy. So happy as she inhaled the delicious smell of her favourite Spanish food , shaking her head in disbelief at how good he was to her already.

He still wouldn't look at her, couldn't . Instead he focused himself on feeding little Juan , grinning a little as the one year old try to speak .

"Qqqqq-" he babbled , blinking up at him with his big eyes. Quinn melted. "Quuuuqqq"

"Quinn." He smiled down at him fondly , stroking his soft hair . "You'll say it soon enough little man. So smart already."

Lina let out a silent breath. Her mother's words rushing back to her as she recalled her soft voice talking about her papa. "When you know. You know, you just look at them and think, yes, this is what I want, forever and always. I want this man."

She looked at Quinn holding her baby so delicately , took in his bashfulness and shy smiles. His thoughtfulness and pretty face and let out a small laugh too.

Oh god. Her mama was right.

She was never going to live this one down,

An American boy. Her father was going to have a stroke! She giggled to herself .

Not scared at all by the sudden realisation that she knew exactly how this was going to go. She decided to just let the story play out how it was supposed to instead , to let herself enjoy the small moments and secret grins.

She had seen this film before and she loved this ending. She was finally going to be the starring role in somebody else's universe.

Quinn was going to be the sun in her sky , she could feel it. All the stars finally aligning just the way they were supposed to be.

"And the chocolates?" She asked him quietly , knowingness written across her face as she pulled open the pretty box. Slowly Lifting one to her lips, eyes never leaving his flushed face.

He finally allowed himself to look up at her, his eyes dropping to the small chocolate now between her teeth, his lips parting in a breath as he watched her take a bite. Humming softly as her eyes fluttered close in happiness, smiling around the sweetness as she grabbed another one immediately after.

"You like them." He almost whispered , enjoying the quietness between them. And The teasing smile she gave him setting him right .

"-and I like them. We both like them. So why not? They were on sale." He lied again.

She just laughed quietly , picking up a chocolate and bringing it to his lips. A exact reminisce of the day before with the fresh fruit.

Quinn swallowed and admitted In a mumble like she had some kind of spell on him  "no they weren't."his lips parting as he let her feed him the soft chocolate , humming too. "They're good."

"They should be. They were expensive right?" She called his bluff. Seeing right through him. Just like her mama could with her father.

He just nodded a little in defeat "yeah. They were. You like them?" He looked hopefully at her chocolate covered lips, watched her slowly lick them clean. Shuffling in his seat as he tried not to lose his head right there and then.

She was a goddess . It was night time yet all she made him see was daylight. He felt Alive in a way that  he had never done before. It was surreal. Magical. Erotic . Loving. Strange . All rolled into one fancy chocolate .

Lina smiled "I do. I love it all. gracias." She simply said. Kissing his cheek again, just to see him smile bashfully down at the table , his cheeks a cherry red as he laughed quietly to himself , shaking his head in disbelief.

It was silent for a moment before Quinn hesitantly spoke up again.

“You said you're sick of pretty Spanish boys. That you think I'm nice." He was almost speaking to himself. In disbelief .

Lina frowned a little, nodding her head. "Yes. I think you're pretty too. If that's what you're wondering." It was almost like she couldn't read his anxious mind. She rested her chin on her hand, elbow on the table as she tilted her head at him, still smiling.

He looked shocked, and it made her sad to know that he didn't see himself the way she did. He was fucking beautiful to her. He really was. She liked all the imperfections , inside and out.

She just liked him.

It was that simple. No need to complicate things.

"Really?" He looked at her . Eyelashes fluttering as he fought to hold her gaze. Goosebumps breaking out on his skin. "No kidding?"

She shook her head. Tapping his chin with her pointer finger gently.

“ "no kidding." She repeated just as quietly . Eyes glittering around his face thoughtfully , just taking him in.

“I like really like your nose." She told him . Meaning it.

Quinn couldn't have gone any more red , blinking at her in shock. "Really?" He hated it. Couldn't imagine why she would like it, in his mind it was ugly and far too big and crooked.

Lina told him why , blunt as always, accent thick with something else as she gently caressed his nose with her fingertip confidently .

Before Smirking softly at him "big noses are great for riding . And yours is perfect for it. For you. And me." She winked at him before hearing Jack loudly call her.

She swiftly stood from her seat, kissed his cheek again before leaving him there, flustered , red and swallowing loudly in the kitchen , oblivious baby clutched to his chest , gaping at where she had just been sat , speechless.

He finally inhaled sharply , blinking rapidly as he felt Juans tiny hand pull at his hair , snapping him out of it, shaking his head to himself in disbelief.

"Your mama is going to kill me. My poor heart..." he sighed out , picking out another chocolate and eating it. Smiling all the while .

This was what dreams were made of.

By the time midnight hit, Lina was sneaking into his room to check up on him after he had disappeared a little while ago. Mumbling something about being back in a minute , but he didn't .

She didn't knock, just slid into his room and closed the door behind her.

Quinn smiling up at her lazily from where he was laid stretched out in his bed , looking like he had been waiting for her to come despite neither of them having said a thing.

Some promises were made with quick smiles in the dark.

She had waited until little Juan was asleep and cozy in the portable cot before hurrying off the see him again.

Heart calm and cozy in her chest, meanwhile Quinn's was racing as he watched Lina climb onto his bed and settle in beside him silently , both just looking at each for a long moment, smiling in the dark.

"You okay?" She whispered to him, both of them on their sides facing each other. She felt his hand slowly come up to play with the ends of her hair, a soft sigh leaving him . As though he was already asleep and dreaming something seeet and easy.

"Yeah. Just tired." He murmured , yawning .

Fingertips lightly tracking over her shoulder and down her arm, blinking slowly as he pulled the blanket over their laps , making sure that her bare legs were covered . No wanting her to get chilly, but Lina was burning .

For him.

"Me too." She whispered with a lazy smile, head on his pillow that they both now shared. She lifted her hand to run her fingers through his hair , feeling him let out a shaky exhale , subtly shuffling closer to her till they were as close as could possibly be.

"Want to-" he hesitated for a moment before mumbling quietly "do you want to stay?" He asked her , hope filling his chest as he quickly added to avoid confusion "with me. In here."

She just laughed quietly , soothing her thumb over his burning ear . Finding him so endearing that it hurt.

"In your bed? With you?" She giggled "how scandalous." She couldn't help but tease him. Loving how his tiredness brought out some confidence that he struggled to find around her so far.

He groaned a little and tired to bury his burning face into the pillow, Lina giggling as she followed him down. Pressing her own cheek against his as she hugged his face to her , grinning against his heated skin. Quinn smiling against the pillow as he raised his hand to press it against the side of her face, keeping her face pressed to the side of his own

Firmly.

Giddy with the feeling of falling love with someone you only just met.

Giddy with the feeling of knowing that this this was it. The moment that their mamas had always told them stories about.

"You know I do Quinn." She told him sincerely "I'm gonna stay with you from now on. For a while I think. Because I like your stupid face." She said as she pulled their cheeks away from each other so he could pull his face out from the pillow, done with hiding now that he had some reassurance again.

He looked up at her , biting down on his lip with a shy grin. "Yeah?" His eyes flickered down to the jersey she was still wearing "not in that stupid jersey you're not." He muttered, hand sliding down to settle on her thigh instead. Rubbing soft circles in her even softer skin.

She grinned wickedly down at him, feeling his fingertips wandering up to fiddle with the end of the jersey .

"You want me to take it off?" She teased down to him , biting back a giggle when he averted his eyes to the ceiling for a moment . Taking a deep breath to gather himself and his courage before facing her again, bravely nodding his head yes.

"I want to take it off you." He couldn't help but add a small "please" at the end.so sweet that she couldn't help but smile at him.

This was it. This was what her mama had joyfully  warned her about while Lina just rolled her eyes and listened in disbelief . Not believing that she would ever find a love like that. Being told about Guys like him with their crooked smiles and heated cheeks , good intentions and pure hearts.

She hasn't known that they existed . Until she met Quinn . Now her heart was in her mouth and she was nodding her her head in consent as Quinn's shaky hand pulled up the wrong jersey over her head, his mouth falling open in a hitched breath once it was finally gone .

His eyes tracing over her Tanned stomach , toned from all the belly dancing on stage. Then down to her wider hips , following up to the dip in her waist before settling on her breasts encased in a pale pink, lace bralet.

He swallowed thickly , hands gripping her hips as she swiftly climbed on top of him, straddling his lap as he laid out beneath her , sweaty , flushed and with his heart in his mouth . Body Trembling and she hasn't even touched him properly yet.

"You're so beautiful Lina." He whispered to her . Just like he had always dreamed of telling her.

He finally got to now as his hands softly followed a path up her stomach , caressing the warm skin of her body as she leaned down, settling her own hands on his broad shoulders .

Biting her lip as she let him lean close to kiss her bare shoulder , open mouthed kisses being spread down to her chest, then over her neck . Anywhere that his lips could reach without moving too far from her . His arm around her waist as he hugged her too him, needing her close, having dreamt of this moment for what felt like his whole life.

Unable to believe that this was actually happening, that this wasn’t one of the many dreams he had about her over the years.

She sighed blissfully , gripping his chin to pull his lips away. Looking into his glossy eyes and flushed cheeks , his lips parted And pink from kissing her heated skin. She softened completely .

"Are you gonna buy me flowers just because?" She asked him softly , curious and playful as she pulled off his shirt so she could return his kisses down his body too.

Quinn's breath hitched as he tilted his chin down, utterly breathless as he watched her kiss down his chest , sucking softly at his freckled skin , his hips jumping as he felt her hand slide down to his pelvis , playing with the band of his pants teasingly .

"Yes. Sí! Sí!" He Moaned out breathlessly , hands desperately gripping at her back, then at her hips as she kissed up his neck. Tongue marking over his racing pulse below his ear , he trembled.

"I'll buy you flowers every Friday to mark the day we met." He breathed out. Already planning on which florists he would be running to, which flowers he would pick. Something beautiful. Like Lina.

She smiled softly against his jaw as she teased him some more, nudging her nose gently against his as she felt him try to lean forward to close the gap.

She just pulled away with a breathy laugh , brushing their lips together her softly, slowly as she spoke against the corner of his mouth , her words kissing him . Teasing him. Testing his control.

He whined.

"Will you dance with me in the kitchen? To silly songs?" She whispered quietly into the dark .

He groaned lowly , just wanting to kiss her. Just wanting her completely .

"I'll dance with you in every room. To every fucking song , to all of them..please.." he pleaded . Desperately. Kissing her chin over and over again.

She gripped the back of his neck and held him firmly , pressing their chests together as she let him unclip her bra . The flimsily material falling somewhere on the bed as he Palmed at her breasts messily , lips sucking at her jaw, down her neck , hips bucking up to meet her own. Begging her for more,

"Please Lina.. por favor." He pleaded breathlessly , rocking up into her, sweaty and so in love he could cry.

He sucked lovemarks over her heart , panting against her skin as she held his head close to her chest , head thrown back in pleasure as he got messier , spit leaning a trail against her skin as he gripped her in any place that he could . Fingers bruising and desperate.

"You'll come home? With me? To Spain?"

"I'd follow you anywhere." He promised , eyes wide and showing nothing but sheer desperation and the truth.

“I’ll take you joke to meet my family , I still have your poster on my wall though. Maybe you'll believe me then... I need you.." he told her shamelessly , meaning it with every fibre in him.

She laughed breathlessly "yeah? Should I put a poster of you above my bed too now  chico tonto?" (Silly boy) She teased him with a smirk.

He laughed too , breathless and smile too big for his face as he pulled her face up to his own, their teeth knocking together as he kissed her, hard and messy. Needy and wanting. He kissed her firm and true, just like he had always dreamed of doing .

"We can try right?" He murmured hopefully against her lips , trembling as she bit down on his bottom lip, soothing the sting of it with her tongue .

He sighed shakily, body trembling with anticipation and pleasure. "please? I want you so bad ."

"You want to fuck me?" She giggled mischievously as she leaned back to pull down her shorts and then his own. Eyes never leaving his flushed and sweaty face as he watched her like she was god above him.

He swallowed audibly "yeah." His voice cracked as he admitted lowly "I want to fuck you and you to fuck me , and I want to love you. I just want you. In every way."

Lina paused for a minute as she hovered above him for a moment , both breathless and needy. Quinn whining beneath her as she rocked her hips slowly , humming softly as their eyes fluttered closed in bliss.

"You're gonna love me forever if I let you Quinn ?" She wanted to know . Needed to. This was the real thing for her. It had to be. She had dreamt of moments like this, or all the pieces falling into place.

Hand caressing him firmly as he squirmed restlessly Beneath her , looking like he was going to laugh and cry at the same time. Eyes dazed and teary as he looked up at her , grinning wildly .

He nodded frantically "I am. You're all I've ever wanted Lina." and he meant it and she knew he did.

She sunk down on him , both moaning lowly as he pulled her down onto his body, cradling her close as he buried his face in her neck, breathless pants filling the air as she showed him why she was the one of the most wanted woman in the world.

But that didn't matter anymore because all she wanted was him.

She kissed him, laughing softly against his trembling lips as she whispered softly "I'm going to love you too. Maybe a little too much."

Quinn just moaned louder , mouthing at her sweaty skin with his bruised lips as he gripped at her hips tightly , realising why they didn't lie now. It all made sense as she snapped her hips down and around and around , bouncing and leaning , fingernails digging into his shoulders as she made him see heaven.

Eyes rolling to the back of his head as she fucked him, his lips unable to leave her skin as he wiped away the sweat dripping between her breasts with his tongue , in another world completely,

His heart sang in her voice  as she danced above him, belly moving as she moaned his name quietly , leaning her hands back on his thighs as she felt him hit deeper inside , feeling his body moving.

She made a man want to speak Spanish .

She rolled her hips again, like she did on stage , making him cry out as she clenched around him, his hips snapping up to meet her own as tears filled his eyes , pleasure whitening out his vision as his body shook below her.

"I got you. I got you bebé" she sighed , breathy and high pitched as they came together . Like it was supposed to be.

Holding his head close to her chest as he mumbled her name over and over again like a pray , grunting and shaking before finally collapsing against her body tiredly , pulling her down with him in a heap of sweaty limbs and kiss sealed promises.

It took them a while to calm down, Quinn's face in her neck as they tiredly cuddled into each other , soft kisses in the dark .

He smiled against her skin in joy, overwhelmed with love.

"You meant it? No kidding?" He whispered to her , holding her close and never wanting to let go again.

He was going to get her roses tomorrow, the biggest bouquet he could find.

This was it for him. He knew it was. This was the start of forever . Whenever , wherever , they were meant to be together. She was right. He wanted to hear her sing it again and again and again.

Only he had his own private show now. No more nosebleed tickets and tuning into the radio just to hear her voice .

He has the real thing right here, in his arms , smiling down at him like he was something worth keeping around .

"No kidding." She smiled , yawning as she combed her fingers through his sweaty hair . Holding him close as they both relaxed properly for the first time in a long time. Because they finally had someone to lean on.

"I meant. I'm keeping you forever now. Better get used to the heat because Madrid is even hotter, American boy." She teased.

Already planning on calling her mother in the morning to tell her the news that she was right all along .

She had found her star in a clouded sky of grey, she had found her daylight.