#i kind of knew some sort of au was inevitable but i did not think it would be an old west one loll :3

[keeps-ache]

ggghhg i hate vehiclessssssss ghghghhghhhhh [dies dies dies forever]

[lihhelsing]

"Can I get your coffee order?"

STWG daily prompt 6/2/24 (let's pretend it's not two days late): Coming Out Pairing: steddie | tags: coming out, coffee shop au, modern au, meet cute, fluff

Eddie was used to seeing the same guy in the coffee shop every day. It was impossible not to notice him because he was gorgeous and Eddie was a simple man who liked to admire beautiful things. 

So Steve would come in every day and always at the same time, ordering the same thing. Double Espresso with a shot of Vanilla. It suited him, Eddie thought, but he would always see him looking at the menu as if he was considering ordering something different, just to end up with the same thing every day. 

It was kind of cute. 

Sometimes he would sit alone for half an hour, face buried in his phone. Sometimes a loud brunette girl would join him but then they would never stay for long. Eddie didn’t like those days even if he thought she looked like a nice person. 

And then sometimes Steve would come in and order for two, then he would proceed to sit at a table and in a few minutes a girl would join him. Always a different girl, which told Eddie none of them were his girlfriends. 

One could even think this was some sort of job interview because it was pretty clear Steve wasn’t fully into the conversation. He was trying, sure, but after an hour the girl would inevitably excuse herself and leave. Steve would hang out for a few more minutes and then leave too, not looking back. 

And he’d do it all over again on a different day. 

Eddie couldn’t even feel guilty about paying attention. Steve always came in when the rush hour had passed and the coffee shop was mostly empty, and Eddie didn’t have much to do. And yeah, sure he was also a little obsessed with him so he was curious what was all that about. 

Surely Steve didn’t seem the kind of guy to have dating issues. 

The day Eddie noticed something was different was when Steve came in and ordered a Chai Latte. For anyone else, this might mean nothing, but Eddie knew better and he had watched Steve for long enough to know that if he finally changed his order after months, something was up. 

He didn’t want to look like a creep so he smiled like he always did and thanked the fat tip Steve left him, like he always did. And maybe Eddie flirted a little, but who could blame him? Steve was just too handsome for his own good and Eddie was just a man. 

Eddie gave him his drink and politely waited for a few minutes just to make sure Steve wasn’t expecting anyone, and then he finally moved in. 

“Hey, how’s your drink?” Eddie asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. Steve looked up at him through thick eyelashes and Eddie wanted to die a little. 

“Oh, it’s good. I never had one of these so I can’t really compare it to anything else, but I like how it tastes.”

Eddie hummed, “Well, tell you what, I make a mean Matchá if you ever feel like broadening your horizons.”

Steve chuckled and nodded, “I might take you up on that, actually.”

They stood in silence and Eddie was ready to accept his defeat when Steve spoke again. 

“I just… Started to realize I might want to try different things.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, “how so?”

“Well, I used to drink the same coffee every day and it was good, don’t get me wrong. But I kept looking and looking and it felt like I was... Missing something,” Steve frowned as he spoke, almost as if he was talking about coffee but thinking about something else. 

“It’s what they say, don’t knock it til you try it, am I right?”

Steve chuckled and Eddie was under the impression he was just being polite. 

“For sure. It’s just hard sometimes, to try new things. Even if you are… Curious.”

“I say just go for it. The worst that can happen is you spend a few bucks on something you will never want to drink again, but if that ever happens I got you. I’ll get you something different on the house,” Eddie said and then he winked because he was a sick little man. 

The blush that crept onto Steve’s cheek was beautiful, though, so he was only half-sorry. 

“Oh, what if… It’s not coffee that I want to try?” Steve said, not meeting Eddie’s eyes. 

Eddie smiled and motioned his hand to the drink menu, “Lucky for you we have an assortment of drinks like refreshers and matchá and even some teas-“

“I mean, what if this isn’t about drinks?” 

Now Eddie was completely lost. He looked back to meet Steve’s eyes and there was an intensity behind them that gave him chills. 

“What do you mean?”

“I, um…” Steve looked around as if making sure the place was empty and still lowered his voice a little. “What if I’m not as straight as I always thought I was?”

Eddie tried to contain his surprise and forced his expression to remain neutral, not wanting to spook him. 

“That’s ok, too. Lord knows I’m gay as it comes and it took me a few tries to figure it out,” Eddie chuckled, but Steve’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “I mean, you don’t have to be gay either! You can be bi or pan or-“

“Sorry, I made this awkward. I’m sorry. I’ve just been having these feelings and Robin says I can always talk to her but it feels that if I even ask it will be real and then if I turn out to be just confused then she will be disappointed because she always said I was her straight token friend but I know she would be happy if I wasn’t-“

“Hey, hey,” Eddie moved his hand and touched Steve’s shoulder lightly. He just hoped he wasn’t crossing a line. That definitely wasn’t the first time a customer said something incredibly personal out of the blue, but it was the first time someone was coming out to him like that. 

Steve looked up at him with huge brown eyes and Eddie felt his insides melting a little. Here it was, this cute guy having a sexuality crisis and just looking even cuter. 

“I don’t know you and obviously don’t know this friend of yours. Robin, is it? But if she loves you, and I’m assuming she does, she will love you no matter what. Even if you have to come out to her as… Straight?” Eddie said that and got a snort back from Steve. 

At least that was better than the desolation he had in his eyes before. 

“I guess you’re right,” Steve said, nodding his head. 

“And hey, you can definitely try things out and figure out you were straight all along, but from my experience, straight people don’t usually question their sexuality or even feel the curiosity to do so. They just are. So my best bet would be on you being one of us. Assuming your friend Robin is also not straight.”

“Oh, definitely not,” Steve said, laughing and he just looked so much better like that. 

“Well, ok Steve, then my job here is done! I’m sure Robin will have much better advice to give to you, but you can always count on me to try different coffees,” and there it was, the fucking wink again. Who did Eddie think he was? 

Steve blushed again and now Eddie could see they were pretty damn close. He slowly pulled his hand from Steve’s shoulder as to not make him uncomfortable, but it seemed that Eddie’s pep talk had done the trick because now Steve had this glint in his eyes. 

“Can I buy you coffee?” he asked, smiling slowly. 

“Uh, what?”

“You know, since I’m already trying things I thought it would be nice to try uh… A Matchá, you said? And a… Date?”

Holy fucking Jesus. Steve was fucking smooth. Eddie felt his cheeks getting warm and he looked around to conclude they were still alone at the coffee shop. There was not a single reason for him to turn this down even if Steve ended up figuring out he was straight. Yeah, fat chance. 

“Lead the way, big boy,” Eddie motioned for the counter and Steve smiled, nodding and following him right into their first date. 

[numberonegalaxycomputer]

Yo chat.what if the reason bill sees himself as a god.

Is it because he is the son of one?

I have a head canon that Euclid is the Godfather of their dimension Euclydia.Euclid is their god and Bill is the next heir.Scalene would also be like their axioms.Known to be the embodiment of one of Euclydia's kind.A kind of triangle like a ruler of a species.Axioms are Geometry version of angels as they obey the rule of geometry like Scalene.

Which explains Bill Cipher's Mutation and abilities.Being an heir of a literal father of geometry and mother of a geometric kind would cause something out of bounds to happen.Not to mention,Bill Cipher thinks he is "liberating" everyone.He has the souls of the euclideans inside his consciousness.He want to give them a gift and knowledge so badly but it only condemns them.He wanted power to make his fellow people go "up" with him.He wants to show them that is not comprehensible.He can hear and read the euclidean's souls in his mind like an omniscient god.

In my Au,Bill has this strange eye because his birth is like an evolution of math itself.Modern Math has what is called Euclidean N-spaces.Which bare multi-dimensional geometry.Bill is destined to see other dimension before he was born.Scalene will think it is a miracle but for Euclid,It was something he must let go.He knows his son will see the stars,he knows his son will be like him too.A mentor and a god.But he could only show bill something abstract,something that can't see but bill wanted to and even feel it.He knew his son will do something inevitable but he and scalene love and devote bill cipher akin of a god.

Bill could be the God of geometry in gravity falls as he manipulates space and time as some sort of dimension he could change it to anything.And him making his home into an atom is his topological powers of transforming a flat plane into a tiny sphere.If only Euclid taught him before he was gone.Also Modern Math break old rules all the time.So I imagine Bill to argue with Euclid a lot but feel so guilty to the point he never mention him in the book directly like his mom.He did mention his dad in the book,being so handsome with his hat.So Bill could love his mom in more direct ways while to his dad more subtle.

[robyn-i-guess]

gerrymichael enjoyers and writers i want your opinion 🎤

ok so i have this au fic for gerrymichael where it's college au, and it's a like the whole bad boy/good girl (minus the fact they're both boys, and even that's questionable)

basically, gerry is stereotyped due to his more alternative looks and everyone assumes he's probably doing illegal things or just sleeps around a lot

meanwhile michael is the head of student council "goody two shoes" type, who most are sort of aware of but don't know anything about

gerry thinks about michael. a lot. he sees them in the halls for only a few seconds a day but thinks about him for a lot longer. hallway crush vibes. and when they get put into a painting class together, suddenly they have an opportunity to meet, and gerry is freaking out a usual amount. (there's more to the whole plot but that's just the beginning bit)

putting a short lil concept thing under the cut

Gerard Keay does not know Michael Shelley.

The only reason he knows their name is because they're in the student council, meaning it's not uncommon for their name to be said during school events.

He has only seen them in hallways, passing by in a rush while holding papers or books that always seem like they're going to fall out of their hands. Even in those moments, most of what Gerard is able to catch is a blur of golden curls and eyes that are ridden with exhaustion.

So, it is safe to say that he does not know Michael.

That fact only caused confusion to him whenever Gerard realized his strange excitement once learning that Michael would be in one of his classes for the semester.

It was an art class, one that he had picked due to him already being practiced is painting and drawing. He assumed it would be a fun class, or at least one that wouldn't be too stressful. However, when he had first walked into that classroom and saw Michael Shelley sitting at an area in the back, Gerard had assumed the emotion he was feeling was stress. He couldn't pinpoint why, it wasn't like he was intimidated by their status, but he couldn't shake the feeling of nervousness he felt when he accidentally locked eyes with them. He turned his head quickly in that moment, deciding to sit in the front of the room despite that not being where he'd usually prefer to be. Something about Michael sitting there made Gerard think twice about sitting in the back as he normally would.

The lecture went smoothly, it mostly being an introduction to the professor and what would be happening throughout the classes. So did the next, and then the next one after that. That didn't get rid of the feeling he felt, however, every time that Gerard walked into that room and attempted to avoid looking at the one with golden curls in the back. He knew he'd have to talk to them at some point, it was inevitable, but there was something about them that meant he was more nervous to talk to them than he usually would be. And he very much denied the idea that it could be caused by any... feelings he may have. Gerard ruled it as impossible, as he had never spoken to them, and he wasn't that much of an idiot to fall for someone he'd only mostly seen in hallways.

Michael wasn't one to speak up in class, and instead they'd work silently on any research on the history of art they may have been doing, only giving simple responses or nods when the professor would come around and ask how their work was coming along. When Gerard thought about it, he didn't really know what their voice sounded like because it was always quiet or unintelligible from their distance. That only made him more interested in talking to them.

That day never came, though, much to Gerard's disappointment.

They both went through that class without talking to each other once, and when Gerard left that room for the last time he couldn't help but feel like he had failed at some kind of goal. A failure that had meant he would be left with only seeing the elusive Michael Shelley in hallway rushes again, which annoyed him in a way he didn't understand.

He did talk to them one day, though.

(note this is old as heck lmao i've gotten better at writing since i wrote this)

anyways yeah. should i continue it or is it too basic idk, i want to write it for me but it would also be multiple chapters long and my "1k-words-is-rare-for-me" self probably won't bother to write it unless someone else is interested

[daisysouthmoore]

Warnings: Explicit (18+) angst, language, and eventual smut. (Lots of smut.)

Note: This chapter is dedicated to @sanctuaryforthelost If it hadn't been for you and your kindness, I would have never found a reason to finish what I started. It's been four years since my last update, my friends. Here's hoping I haven't lost my touch. Thank you so, so much for reading even after all this time. <3

[ Daddy’s Girl Masterlist ]

CHAPTER 16 - Nightcap

Le Bernardin was more than a meal. It was an experience. Beneath the warm and inviting glow cast from its teak ceilings, we feasted on caviar tartare, scallops in brown butter dashi, salmon in black truffle pot au feu, Parisian chocolate cake. All paired beside wines with notes specifically tailored to each artfully composed dish. It was the sort of luxe four-course meal that dream dates were made of. The kind made to set the tone for a night of blissful passion for any soon-to-be newly weds. And yet, I struggled to endure another minute of it.

I couldn’t seem to get past the insufferable sound of Benny smacking his lips between bites. I gritted my teeth as he ungratefully scarfed without bothering to acknowledge or appreciate the subtle and aromatic flavors infused with each course. This was hardly an experience to him. Since the day he was born he’d been served heaping silver spoonfuls from lavish silver platters. It meant nothing to him but the least he could do was pretend to give a shit.

“I don’t see what all the fuss is about. The scallops were decent at best.” Benny picked and sucked his teeth as we settled into the car.

“Really? I thought it was fabulous.” I sighed and tried not to visibly scowl.

“You’re a New Yorker. Of course you did.” He snorted in contempt.

“Well, since you know so well, maybe you can take me to Paris one day for the real experience?” I forced a smile and scooted closer. I even attempted to flirt as I fiddled with his lapel.

“Paris… And you think I’m pretentious.” He mumbled as he scrolled through his phone, hardly fazed by my affection.

“So, if New York is only decent and Paris is too pretentious, is there anywhere in the world where you’re happy, darling?” I feigned humor at his arrogance.

“I’d be pretty content in bed right about now.” He sighed tiredly as he tucked his phone away in his pocket and draped an arm over my shoulder.

Though he seemed to be returning my affectionate gesture, it was more out of habit than with any physical or romantic intent. I could tell by his tone that he wasn’t interested in any sort of adventures to be found in bed. Not with me anyway. I already knew there was someone else. Maybe several. Most of the time I pretended not to care but sometimes I wondered why. What was so wrong with me? I was confident enough in my looks and it damn sure wasn’t a matter of whether or not I was good in bed. I’d built a successful career on my skills after all. A slight tingle of panic ran through me as my inevitable guilt came into question. Was that the reason? Had Benny found out? Had my past finally caught up with me? But how?

In the dark and seedy underground of the business world, the usual legalities and moral principals didn’t apply. Blackmail and sabotage ran rampant but there were still a few unspoken, loosely enforced rules. Stones that couldn’t be cast in glass houses. Prostitution was one of them. That sort of ammunition was off the table to most because they all had a hand in it. There would always be some form of collateral damage. Not to mention, I was hardly the first escort to find her fairytale ending on a wealthy man’s arm. Who would care? Unless the business man in question had nothing left to lose… Then suddenly a strong suspicion began to rise in me.

“So tell me about your day. You mentioned to Negan you were meeting with Mr. Berkley?” I asked in a deliberately innocuous tone, as if the mere mention of my former peddlers didn’t make my palms sweat.

“Yeah. Just some corporate formalities. You know, boring legal stuff.” He shrugged it off and focused his attention on his phone again. That wasn’t really all that unusual but the way his shoulders tensed was.

“Oh.” We fell silent for a brief moment as I tried to read his expression but his eyes were blankly fixated on some lengthy email. My eyes shifted as I considered dropping the subject but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling me. “Well, with a client like Berkley you must have your hands full.” I feigned a light hearted barb.

“What do you mean?” His eyes finally flicked up with a hint of skepticism.

“You said he was a shady guy didn’t you?” I asked innocently.

“Dahlia, all business men are a little shady. That’s exactly what corporate attorney’s are for.” He laughed it off in a bored way, in a way that didn’t really reach his eyes as he reflexively reached to squeeze my shoulder, like that would be enough to quell me but I felt nothing if not more suspicious.

“Well, it’s a good thing he hired you then. So what kinda shady stuff-?” I started but he abruptly cut me off with a loud and exasperated sigh.

“Jesus, Dahlia. What’s with all the questions?” He seemed to have lost his patience and my own quickly followed.

“I’m just trying to have a fucking conversation, Benny. That’s what couples do. They talk about-” I started to bicker but he had even less interest in that.

“-I talk enough about work at work. So if you don’t mind I’d like to leave it there. Can’t you just hound me about something else? Fuck’s sake…” He yanked away his arm to run a tired and flustered hand down his face.

“Just forget it.” I rolled my eyes and scowled dully out the window instead. I felt restless and unsettled. But then again, I’d felt that way for quite some time now.

***

Coincidentally, Benny and I made it back to The Sanctuary hotel well before midnight. Not that I’d been even remotely concerned with making it in time for Negan’s ‘curfew’, but I couldn’t help noting the irony. Granted, it was only by circumstance, but it wasn’t like me to be so obedient. At least not without a stern and heavy hand to convince me. The thought of it was enough to make me squirm. And while it didn’t take long for Benny to find sleep, I was far too restless to join him.

I took a moment to freshen up and let my hair down. Then I snuck away to the hotel bar for a nightcap. Nothing more. At least that’s what I told myself I was doing there but I was hardly surprised to find Negan waiting for me. He looked handsome as ever among the warm and inviting candlelight. Dapper as usual in his fitted suit that seemed to accentuate the seemingly endless length of him. And it seemed he was expecting me too when the sound of my heels caught his attention. He tucked away his phone and greeted me with a wicked and knowing grin. I knew I should have been ashamed of myself. We both knew what sort of scandalous prospects had coaxed me there to begin with. And with my fiancé peacefully sleeping only a few floors down. Yet something about that stirred up a deviant flutter inside me.

“You’re on time. That’s a fuckin first.” Negan stood and placed a swift an amiable kiss on my cheek. He even pulled out my chair for me like a perfect gentleman. But the way his eyes devoured the sight of me…

“Only by chance.” I smirked as he took my hand helped guide me to my seat. “Besides, I didn’t think you were being serious.”

“Oh, I was very fuckin serious, darlin’.” He promised as he leaned to speak in my ear so closely the warmth of his breath sent a shiver down my spine. “You look fuckin gorgeous, by the way.” He complimented in a low growl.

His hands slithered up the sides of my chair to grip the sudden tension that rolled up my neck and shoulders. His fingers lingered and glided on my goose-bumped skin before he slinked around my chair to sit across from me. I could tell by the spark of mischief in his darkened eyes that I must have been blushing just the way he’d hoped. He gestured for the bartender to bring me a drink before carrying on.

“So… Tell me about your date. How was Le Bernardin with Benjamin?” He grinned with far too much amusement as he draped one long leg over the other and patiently sipped his whiskey.

“It was lovely. The scallops were to die for.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Is that all?” He chuckled deeply.

“Well, no. The salmon was a close second.” I said remaining purposefully vague.

All the questions were a waste of time. He didn’t have to ask to know the date itself was an inevitable flop. It wasn’t news to either of us that Benny would always leave me with that insatiable craving for something more. He just wanted to hear me say it. So he leaned closer to rest his elbows on the table as if daring me to come closer. His eyes held mine with a demanding grip as he lowered his voice to a tone that vibrated my insides.

“And what about dessert?” He asked.

“Parisian chocolate cake. It was decadent.” I bit my lip as I mirrored his posture and further closed the gap between us.

“Sounds pretty fuckin’ romantic.” He smirked as he raised his dark brows inquisitively.

“It was.” I laughed and nodded reluctantly.

“And yet, here you are. All by your lonesome.” He gestured his hand at the empty bar around us.

“I’m not alone. I’m with you.” I smiled fondly.

Negan returned the same doting smile as he regarded my eyes for a long moment in silence. We savored the sound of a soft, mellow saxophone crooning in perfect harmony with a slow and melodic piano. They seemed to speak well enough for the both of us but now I wanted to say it out loud. 

I wanted to tell him how good he made me feel in these fleeting moments. How Benny never even came close. I wanted to tell him how much I wished we could erase the past and lie to ourselves, pretend like all the bad never happened. We could pick and gather the good parts, those few and far betweens. What if we could just…? I’d just parted my lips to speak the unspeakable when suddenly the bartender arrived and set a cocktail neatly before me. Negan offered him a nod of thanks before gesturing him off and turning back to me with a wink.

“A Manhattan. How fitting.” I noted nostalgically as I swirled the pick and cherry through my cocktail glass. He watched my mouth closely as I took my first sip of the amber liquid. The same rich color of his eyes. Which one was more intoxicating was debatable.

“How’s it taste?” He asked as he licked his lips.

“Like a lot of bad history.” I jested but it was the honest truth.

“Oh, well, if you don’t like it,” He reached over and plucked the Luxardo cherry from my glass.

“No way! That’s my cherry!” I gasped and playfully fussed at him.

“You just had a five star meal and you’re gonna fight me over a fuckin’ cocktail cherry?” He laughed, his gorgeous smile dimpling his cheeks.

“Come on! That’s the best part!” I resorted to a full on pout as he brought the cherry to his lips.

“I’ll say it is.” He laughed inwardly at his own adolescent innuendo before he leaned a little closer still. “Okay, brat. Take it.” His deepened voice coaxed me as he brought the cherry to my lips instead.

Our eyes met for another long and amorous gaze. As the silence and tension grew between us I found it impossible to resist his offer. So I took the dark, glazed cherry between my teeth and lapped up its sweet syrup on my tongue. I’d hoped I could have pulled off a seductive smirk but I couldn’t help grinning like a fool instead before I hid behind another sip.

“Better than Parisian chocolate?” He asked with a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Meh.” I wrinkled my nose with a shrug of indifference.

“You little shit.” He laughed with me.

It seemed we were both charmed by the sound of each other’s laughter as our gaze lingered and we drifted even closer. So close that I felt the brush of his knee beneath the linen table. That small bit of friction was enough to spark the constant smoldering flames between us. So I stoked them further by slowly brushing my high heeled foot up the length of his calf and watched as the sensation registered in his gaze. I saw a flicker of desire followed by his usual smug smirk.

“Didn’t you tell me last time was the last time?” He said, narrowing his eyes in amusement.

“You and I both know it’s never the last time.” I confessed. 

A deep chuckle rumbled in his chest as he reached forward to take my hand. He stared down at the rock on my finger and brushed his thumb over it with a long pause and contemplative gaze. “Tell you what, I’m gonna give you one last chance to get out while the gettin’ is fuckin’ good.” Then his eyes, those deep, penetrative, captivating eyes flickered up to capture my own in a sultry glare. “Or you just give me the word I’ll fuck your brains out right here and now.”

In a way, it felt like sitting face to face with a lion. It was reckless and dangerous but I never felt more elated, I never felt more high than I did in those fleeting moments while adrenaline coursed through me. While I waited in suspense and counted down the seconds before he pounced and ravished my body the way I so deeply yearned for. Only this time, he was giving me a choice. This time, he was giving me a fair chance to weigh my options.

I was engaged to another man. I had a diamond on my finger and flawed or not, I knew the stakes. I knew better than anyone that Negan was infamous for knowing exactly how to swoon an unsuspecting woman. Hadn’t I learned the first time? Or the second time? Or the time after that? Hadn’t he been just as toxic and selfish as Benny, if not worse? Hadn’t all of the most debilitating heart breaks of my life been by the dick of this man? This big, hard, lip smacking, sheet gripping, toe curling, earth shattering specimen of a dick? Yes. Absolutely. One thousand fucking percent. And I hadn’t learned a damn thing.

“I want it.” I said outright.

“Oh, you’re gonna fuckin get it, princess.” He promised as he reached down and snaked his long fingers into a tight grip around my ankle.

Without even the slightest bit of hesitance, he slipped my stiletto away and brought my bare foot to rest on his hardened cock already pressed tightly against his slacks. My breath hitched in surprise as he stroked my arch along his shaft. He thrust into the motion and in an instant, my panties were drenched. My clit quivered as a deep moan hummed in his chest and his eyes slid shut.

“You feel what you do to me, Sugar? How fuckin hard you make me?” Jesus christ. As if I wasn’t dripping down my seat already. “Come here.” He yanked me by the ankle.

I all but leaped across the table to straddle his lap. My head was still spinning as he wrapped me in a deep and all-consuming kiss. While his tongue greedily lapped up the lingering taste of cherry, his large hands slid up my thighs and under my skirt to clutch and squeeze my ass coaxing another needy moan from my lips. My heart raced as he stood and lifted me with him to set me on the edge of a barstool.

“Spread for me, baby. Show me what your husband-to-be is missing out on.” He said shamelessly and like a fool I obeyed him. But how could any woman with a pulse say no when he licked his grinning teeth that way?

He took a few steps back and casually shrugged away his suit jacket as if I wasn’t gawking hungrily at the way his cock tented his pants. I watched eagerly as he draped his jacket neatly aside and began meticulously rolling up his sleeves. All the while, he kept his eyes on me, gauging my expression as my own patience grew thinner. I squirmed and writhed in anticipation while he came ambling back, a smirk tugging his lips as he came to stand between my legs again. His hands came to rest on my knees and slowly slid up the tops of my thighs as he spread me further. He loomed tall and lean and perfect above me and I gazed up at him with pleading eyes as his own lowered to the sopping wet puddle I’d become. A grin slowly spread across his face.

“Damn… Look at you, babydoll. Is all this for me?” He chuckled as his hand slid down the inside of my thigh to brush over my throbbing heat.

He teased me relentlessly. Only allowing his fingertips to stroke and coax me through the sheer, damp silk of my panties. I was bucking my hips off the edge of the barstool while my body begged for a deeper touch. My voice cooed and pleaded for him but he was so painstakingly patient, drawing out every brush and swirl of his fingertips. He slipped his thumbs just beneath the hem of my panties and with a gentle tug he slowly spread my pussy open.

“Hmmngh… Negan, please…” I squirmed restlessly but he only brought a finger to his smirking lips and shushed me.

“Shh… Let me savor this fuckin moment, sweetness.” He said as he reached back down and with his thumbs made slow circles, carefully kneading my plump and supple mounds to tease the very outskirts of my clit. As my panties gathered and bunched in the cleft of my lips he taunted me further. He gripped and tugged the fabric up into his fist, wedging my panties deeper between my slit, pressing the tension against my clit. 

With his free hand he worked on his belt buckle. I writhed in anticipation. My eyes were wide and eager as he reached into his slacks. I licked my lips as his hardened cock sprung free and he stroked his fist over the length. I could already see the tip glistening with his own desire to fuck me but he wasn’t done savoring.

He tapped the head of his cock on my clit. Three hard and heavy smacks. It was enough to make me jump and quiver. I rolled my hips toward him, aching with a desperate need to feel him stretch me open. I thought my pleading moans would finally be answered as he tugged my panties aside but cruelly and relentlessly he only allowed his shaft to glide through my folds. A deep laugh resonated in his chest as he watched the head of his cock spring up and out of my panties while he fucked my clit.

“You poor, sweet thing… So sensitive… I’m willin’ to bet I could make you cum just like this.” He grinned.

“Negan…” His name dripped from my tongue in a pitiful whine.

“No. Look at me.” He said firmly as he snatched me by my chin and peered into me with a stern and demanding gaze. “I don’t give a shit about that ring on your fuckin’ finger. When you spread your pussy for me, you call me by my fuckin name. Now, who does this pussy belong to?”

“Daddy. My pussy belongs to Daddy.” I panted like a dog.

“There she is. There’s my good girl. My Sugar.” He said with affection as he pulled me into a kiss so deep I moaned into his mouth. 

His lips lingered a moment longer before he brushed his thumb across my pouting lips. And though he didn’t speak, the look in his dark and hungry eyes held me in an inquiring gaze as if preparing me for what was to come. Arousal swelled in my chest because I already knew and my body was aching to feel it. My eyes remained fixed on his as I nodded eagerly and sucked his thumb between my lips. His mouth parted just enough for a hitch of breath to escape his throat and his eyes flickered with lust. Then I felt it. The sudden and deep plunge of his cock. I threw my head back with a sharp gasp and shrill moan of agonizing bliss as the sudden intrusion made me tremble all over.

“God, yes! Daddy!” I cried out.

“Jesus fuck! You’re so fucking tight!” He gritted through his teeth as he clutched the back of my neck. He slowly pulled his hips away, gliding his cock out to the very tip before plunging back into the hilt with a lewd and wet squelch. Then again. And again. And again. “Come on, Sugar. Do that thing I like. Squeeze Daddy’s cock with that pretty little pussy.” He said, his voice bordering on a plea.

I knew the ‘thing’ he was referring to. It used to be my signature. So, I squeezed my pussy tight around his cock and in a fluid motion I scooped and rolled my hips to drag out every delectable inch. His head dropped back and he let out a long and deep groan.

“Ooohhhh ffffuuuuck yyoouuu!” He huffed out a breathless laugh as he clutched the bar to keep from losing his footing. "Still fuckin' got it don't you, Sugar?" And even though I was in the throes of my own debilitating pleasure, I couldn’t help the smug little smirk that curled my lips. It didn’t last long though. He took hold of the reins again as his long fingers raked up to curl into my hair, gripping it tightly as he pulled me down into the brute force of his thrusts that made our skin clap. 

“Tell me, baby. Does he fuck you like this? Does he make your pussy feel like this?” Negan murmured against my skin as he clutched me tightly.

“No! No one fucks me like you, Daddy! No one! No one fucks me like you! Oh god! Oh fuck! Please, don’t stop! Please, please, please!” I begged as I coiled my arms around the back of his neck.

“That’s a good girl… That’s my good fuckin’ girl.” He growled as he reached down to glide and swirl his fingers over my clit. “Now, show me. Cum for me, baby. Cum on my fuckin’ cock.”

As his skilled fingers vigorously worked my clit I could already feel it brewing. A warmth swelled and spread between my thighs and threatened to burst. And while I wished I could have held out longer, while I wished we could stay tethered to this moment where nothing else mattered, my body raced to the precipice. My mouth dropped open as a gasp hitched in my throat. And as his cognac colored eyes peered into the depths of my pleading and desperate gaze I plummeted into an orgasm so intense that my eyes rolled back. My clit throbbed and my pussy constricted around the thick and heavy girth of his cock.

“Oh fuck! Daddy! Daddy, I’m cumming! I’m cumming! I’m— Ahh!!” I shrieked.

“Fuck yes! Yes! That’s it, baby! Milk my fuckin’ cock! Fffffuuuuck!” Negan groaned into my hair as he coiled his arms around me and clutched me tight against his body as his own orgasm crashed through him.

***

After we came down from the heights of our pleasure, we found ourselves sprawled out on the floor of the Sanctuary bar. The quiet lounge music continued to croon faintly in the background as we basked in our afterglow. I laid with my head in his lap while Negan leaned back against the bar with a bottle of whiskey in one hand. The other hand gently brushed through my hair and for a long while we just sat there fully content in our silence. That is, until a deep chuckle rumbled in his chest.

“What?” I lifted my head curiously.

“I was thinking about the first time I ever watched you walk into this place. That tight little black dress. Those cheap, hand me down heels. That fuckin’ faux fur coat.” He teased with a grin.

“You mean the night I threw a glass of wine in your face? —I still have that coat by the way.” I jabbed him playfully and scowled. 

“Yeah. That night.” He laughed and roughed up my hair.

“Erm! You deserved it.” I griped as I batted his hand away and raked my tousled hair away from my face.

“Yeah, I did. Probably deserved a helluva lot worse.” He admitted in a mumble.

“I don’t know. I feel like five years in prison evens it out pretty well.” I shrugged casually with a smug little smirk.

“Easy.” He warned with a side eye.

“Do you regret it?” I asked.

“Regret what?” He asked.

“That night. We could have left it at that. We could have parted ways and never looked back. Might have spared us a lot of heartache.” I suggested as I looked up into his eyes, searching for any sign of doubt but he only rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be stupid.” He scoffed before taking a swig from the bottle of whiskey and I smiled faintly knowing that despite everything we’d been through, neither of us would take it back. Then I snatched the bottle from him and took a swig for myself. So, yeah, maybe it wasn’t a nightcap in the most traditional sense but it was the perfect end to an imperfect date.

Tag list: @sanctuaryforthelost @letsby @londoncapsule @galaxieeye @supernovarigel @powluhtea @stunt-lads @blooodywhxre @privatetruths @casuallyfancydonut @lucillered66 @dee-wonderwoman

As always, if you ever want to be added/removed from the tag list don’t be afraid to reach out. Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: I don’t own shit but my own thoughts and ideas. I also don’t mean to take credit for someone else’s hard work. If you are/know the source of the above images let me know so I can give credit where credit is due! Thanks!

[fluffysucker]

Fine Line

Bucky Barnes x Reader (Mob Au)

' We'll be a fine line. We'll be alright.'

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long delay. I have been having the busiest of days but I finally have some time off which I'm hoping can get me to write more. Anyway so thank you so much for being so nice.

This is supposed to be the last chapter but I got carried away and hopefully the last one will be out soon.

Likes, comments, reblogs are VERY VERY highly appreciated. Opinions really matter to me

TW: Violence. Threats. Cursing. LMK if I forgot something,

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist.

It was war, and you knew it. All of you did. But it was inevitable. There was no escape or an easy way out. One had to go down once and for all. You wished it would be them, but you could only pray they didn't drag you along.

A bit of time had passed. You were still staying with Bucky. Whenever you brought up leaving or finding somewhere else, he immediately turned the idea down. He never got bored of reminding you that he couldn't let you go, and it was his fight as well. He's got you now.

And he did. He took good care of you. You were well-nourished and fully rested. You didn't lift a finger. The maid and housekeepers were very happy to have you back. They didn't need Bucky to swear them to secrecy. They could tell that nobody should know you were with Bucky, and despite not being part of the mob, they understood why. And they didn't want to be the ones to compromise your safety. They liked you too much.

Along with the food and sleep, Bruce stopped by every couple of days to check on you and change the bandages on your wounds and stitches. He also kept giving you medications, which helped greatly with your recovery.

Since you got married to Rumlow, this was the longest you felt physically fine. And emotionally as well. Having Bucky within arms reach and getting to keep his company once again has been doing miracles for your mental health. You felt almost pathetic at how much you were genuinely feeling better.

The way Bucky treated you was a surprise. You expected some sort of resentment or bitterness, or at the very least, awkwardness. He tried to stop you from getting deeper into the darkness, and you didn't listen, thinking you were protecting him. Yet here you were. Dragging him further into a mess he never signed up for, seeking his protection

But all you saw were adoration in his eyes, kindness in his words, tenderness in his touch, and delicacy in his actions. It was a pleasant surprise.

You never talked about your current situation or even your history. But the love that connected the both of you was undeniable. He may not have said the words again, but Bucky's behaviour spoke louder than any words. The fact that he was risking it all for you showed his true feelings for you, which never died. The feelings that you deeply reciprocated

You couldn't help but feel a heavy feeling in your heart at how you turned his life upside down. One phone call in the middle of the night put this burden on his shoulders. No matter how much he said it was okay, you couldn't help but feel like you were an obstacle he needed to overcome.

However, he never once made you feel like you were trouble. On the contrary, Bucky provided soft, sweet feelings that you could swear you forgot they existed. It was the ease of hanging out with him. The peacefulness of his company. The compassion in his actions. The great care he put into everything for you. The comfort of falling asleep, held by arms that could never hurt you. A silent tradition the two of you developed that made sharing a bed the rule, not the exception. It wasn't shocking when your demons haunted you fearlessly at night or how your nightmares counted the seconds until attacking you in the deep darkness of the night. It wasn't unexpected or new for this to happen. However, this time, you had a knight in shining armor. Your own knight in shining armor A man your heart loved so much that your nightmares couldn't win.

You didn't need to ask. After finishing his nighttime routine, Bucky would join you in your room, getting in bed with you. You thought he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart after your breakdown on the third day here. Your terrified screams and wailing sobs had rung through the floor you shared. It was all catching up to you. The pain. The hurt. The betrayal. The fear. You were finally letting yourself feel it all. And it wasn't just the murder intention in cold blood. It was unfairness that had been your life for so long now. All the strain you had to endure. All the emotions you bottled in.

You were weeping and close to hyperventilating. Only once did you feel Bucky's arms around you were you consoled, pulling you into his lap and rubbing his hand all over your back and thighs while trying to get you to breathe slowly. Even after catching your breath, his gentle voice didn't stop whispering soothing things into your ears. You knew you should have moved once your sobs were reduced to sniffles, but you didn't find it in yourself to do so. You could only wrap yourself more tightly around him, gripping his shirt firmly in your fists. His voice and touch were grounding you, keeping you afloat away from the pain.

After that, Bucky didn't need you to vocalize it. He understood. So he came to you every night. It didn't make the terror stop. You had so much unpacked to just go away. But every time your mind betrayed you and was to throw you into panic, your tensed body would instantly relax against Bucky's strong hold, who pulled you closer to him once he felt the tension in your body. It was like he knew how to calm you down immediately. And he did. He was your safe place. Your fortified castle.

You were extremely thankful, thinking he was doing another good deed for you. The truth is, it was never just for you. Bucky felt a sense of stability and security having you in his arms, so close to him. He wanted to feel you beside him. He needed to know that he was the one taking care of you. He needed to be sure you were okay. Two years of radio silence between the two of you, then finding out what you had to go through, did this to him.

It would have been easy to let yourself get tricked by the restful atmosphere Bucky created, but you knew better. This wasn't a vacation. This was the quiet before the storm. And you knew Bucky was working on something. But he tried his hardest to keep his promise to keep you away from all this mess. Whenever you asked, he didn't give you answers. You told him you had to know at some point. Despite how much he hated it, he knew you were right.

So you embraced yourself when one of the housemaids told you that Bucky was waiting for you in his office. Pulling all your strength to knock on his door. A breath of relief escaped you once Bucky's voice reached your ear. If Bucky was there, you would be fine. That is the only thing you were so sure of.

Bucky got up from his seat after you entered the office, preferring to stay close to you as long as you were here. A smile made its way to your face when you noticed Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson sitting on the chairs in front of Bucky's desk. Being Bucky's most trusted men and his long-term bestfriends, you were familiar with them. Years ago in your dating days, when Bucky first introduced you to them—if you can call catching you cuddling on the coach with face masks and your hair in towels and watching rom-coms an introduction—you were waiting for the rudeness and unacceptance. But it never came. Instead, you got a family. Both men were so welcoming, treating you like a sister. Like you were one of them. So you were happy to see them again, feeling even more secure now.

Bucky led you to the coach, where he sat next to you. Then they started talking. Telling you everything. And you listened. They gave you all the information they were able to find, hoping you could help them connect the dots and figure out your father and husband's plan. And you didn't hesitate to offer all you knew.

It went on for days. Bucky would call you into his office every now and then. You would have long conversations, and they would ask you even general questions, trying to form a better idea out what was happening. Until Rumlow and Pierce pulled a card that exposed their whole game to Bucky. 

So when Bucky called you in this day, you couldn't hide your unease once you took in all the new people joining in. Bucky's hand never left yours, a sign that he was right here. He tried to delay this meeting as much as he could, refusing to risk your safety, even if he trusted every single person in this room. But it couldn't wait anymore. They need to move fast.

You didn't speak a word as Bucky explained everything to you. Listening and taking everything in. Everything makes so much sense now. You had been the pawn for far longer than you knew. You were played for a fool. A mixture of anger and sadness ran through your veins, making you agree to Bucky's plan right away. He reassured you that you could turn it down and they would figure something else out, but you didn't. You wanted this to be over.

You were declared dead.

It was a weird feeling. On paper, you were gone. In their minds, they had won. However, they were about to be proven wrong. It's the day you've been waiting for yet somehow dreaded the most.

Bucky kept you by his side all morning for both of your sakes. Both of you are praying for the same outcome. The only outcome you can accept You and Bucky stayed together until the last minute possible. Until you had to move.

Everyone was in position. Most of Bucky's men were out of the house or well hidden, so it would look normal. Only Bucky, Steve, Sam, and Natasha were in the house. and, just like expected, at night. Loud footsteps and angry groans were echoing around the house.

Breaking into the house, a very furious Alexander Pierce and out of his mind Brock Rumlow, along with dozens of their men, walked into the house like they owned it.

"BARNES." Rumlow shouted, looking for the man he hated the most.

Keeping his confident, cold composure, Bucky walked out of his office, followed by Steve, Sam, and Natasha.

"That's not a nice way to visit someone." Bucky came to a stop in front of them.

"I'm going to kill you." Brock moved to attack Bucky, only to be stopped by Pierce's hand on his chest.

"How long have you been planning for this?" Despite his calm voice, Pierce was fuming.

"I wasn't planning for anything." This was going to be a long conversation, and Bucky wanted them to be the ones talking the most.

"Cut the bullshit, Barnes." Rumlow tried to move towards Bucky again but was stopped by Pierce again.

"I don't know what you want." Bucky was holding his ground, sticking to the plan.

"You robbed us." Rumlow shouted, anger coating his voice.

"I don't think so." Bucky enjoyed watching the two men lose their minds.

"DROP THE ACT, BARNES." Pierce's voice rang in the house, making all eyes turn to him. Not a single noise other than the unsteady breathing.

"I have been waiting my whole life for this moment. The moment I get back what I deserve. What had always been mine. So I will be damned if I let you play me like this." Pierce moved forward to stand closer, finally digging into the real issue.

"You mean what was hers all the time?"

"It was never hers. She was nothing and deserved nothing. This is my whole life's work. She shouldn't have gotten anything from it."

"Yet her mother left her everything."

"It was a mistake. My wife's only and last mistake A mistake I have been trying to change for so long now."

The piece of information came as a shock to everybody. Alexander Pierce loved his wife so much. They were young lovers. A young, ambitious man who was willing to do anything to get his father-in-law's permission to marry his daughter. Even going so far as to put everything he owned in her name. And he did. And he never changed it. The bigger his empire became, the more his wife had under her name. He loved her enough to trust her.

His wife did love him dearly, but she loved you more. It didn't take Pierce long into the marriage to show his true colors. He was never violent with her or you. However, your mother didn't trust him with you if something were to happen to her. It was distasteful to try and protect your daughter from her own father. But she did.

When Pierce found out his wife left everything he worked so hard to achieve for you, he was raging. It didn't help that he was grieving her and their love as well. His emotions were on high drive. So he channelled them all into hating you and getting back what was his. And all you were told was that your mother left you nothing.

"And marrying her off to Rumlow was going to solve it."

"I had to do something before you would get her to run away with you."

"It has always been about the money for you, hasn't it?"

"Of course it is. Not only did I never want a daughter in the first place, but I got a weak, pathetic excuse for a daughter who could never keep my legacy. My biggest failure in life"

"A stupid bitch who handed you all my wealth"

"I should have listened to him when he said to kill her years ago."

It's infuriating to hear someone talk about you like this when you were nothing but the best. but that was their plan all along. They wanted you out of the picture as quickly as possible so they could have the money. Which is why they had their riot men in the police station to hurry your death announcement. They reported you missing a week ago, and that move exposed everything. Since when do they include the police in their work? However, the fastest way to get your money was a document confirming your passing.

But Bucky was smarter than them. He had you transfer everything to his name before the announcement, making sure to keep the dates unseen on the legal form. And you had no problem doing so. If you trusted Bucky with your life, weren't you going to trust him with money you never knew you had in the first place?

"I just want to know when. When did you get her to sign off on everything for you? I had eyes on her all the time. And she is too dumb and blind to plan something like this on her own." It was Rumlow's turn to ask questions now.

"So, how did you do, Barnes? When did you get our money?"

And that's your sign.

"When you left me to die,"

Your voice echoed through the house as you stepped out of Bucky's office, all eyes turning to you.

"When I found out you wanted me dead my whole life." You came to stop right next to Bucky, in front of your father and husband. Bucky's hand was itching to hold yours, but he knew it wasn't the right call.

"You are supposed to be dead." Rumlow couldn't hide his surprise and shock at seeing you standing in front of him, looking healthier than ever. You were glad Josh wasn't here among the others because you didn't want to put him in a hard spot. He saved your life, and that is not how you repay him.

"Miracles happen. Just like how I survived all your attempts to kill me." Your voice was strong. Stronger than you ever used with either man.

It's important for them to know that you are still alive and well. That their plan failed beyond what they ever thought. That you were finally making your own decisions. Despite how much Bucky hated it, he knew it had to be done.

"And how did he get it? I willingly gave him everything. Because it's my money, and I get to decide what to do with it. Like Mom trusted me with it, I trust him." You were talking to both men.

"I get to make my own decisions, despite how much you like to think you can control me. You can't." You knew you were pushing your luck, but it was now or never.

"You, bitch." Rumlow marched towards you, trying to reach you.

But Bucky was quicker, pushing you behind him, standing tall in Rumlow's face, daring him to come close, daring him to think about touching you.

"Natasha, please take her to her room." Bucky's voice got colder as he called for his friend.

You went with Natasha as planned, putting all your efforts into not squeezing Bucky's hand before going upstairs.

"Oh, she has a room now." Rumlow's remark was sarcastic but so angry.

"Always had. Always will have." There was no point in hiding it anymore. They already knew. It was now time to see how much you really meant to him.

"What exactly are you expecting to happen now, Barnes? We are going to walk out and accept defeat. You aren't that stupid." Pierce said angrily. The sight of you alive and breathing was aggravating.

"Actually, that's exactly what you will do if you want to walk out of here alive." There was no way they were walking out of here alive, but Bucky liked to play.

"Oh, we are walking out of here alive. You are the one who will never see the sun again. And let me tell you how I waited for this moment.."Rumlow's didn't affect Bucky's in the slightest.

"KILL THEM ALL."

Rumlow's command to his men was loud enough for everybody to hear. But none moved.

"Did you all go deaf? I said, Kill them all." Rumlow repeated his order.

"What do you want us to do, boss?" One of the men asked

"We said kill them." Pierce shouted as he and Rumlow turned to look at their disobedient men.

"Boss?"

"Take them outside. The rest of the men will tell you where to take them."

Pierce and Rumlow's heads almost flew off their bodies with how fast they swung to look at Bucky, who was smirking. It was the moment he was waiting for.

"What? Surprised?. Of course, your men aren't loyal to you. You aren't the least bit decent to deserve anyone's loyalty."

"Unlike you, they are smart men who knew how to pick the right side.

"You, on the other hand, are not so smart."

"You should have never walked in here. You should have never shown your faces."

Bucky moved to stand right in their faces, enjoying every bit of this. Especially seeing the two men crumble under him.

"You should have never let your ego make you think you could win. Think that you even had a chance."

"I'm going to make you regret everything. I'm going to make you pay for everything." Bucky was stressing over every word leaving his mouth, his cold stare like daggers.

His next words were more for Brock Rumlow.

"Especially messing with my girl."

"For every time you made her cry, I'm going to hurt you worse. For every time you laid a hand on her or touched a strand of her hair, I'm going to tear you apart. For every scar on her body, I'm going to burn you alive. For every time you hurt her, knowing she is my girl, I'm going to make you wish that I would just kill you."

"I'm going to make you pray for death but never get it."

"TAKE THEM"

Bucky's demand rang through space, and quickly, the men surrounded Pierce and Rumlow, outnumbering them and dragging them outside the mansion with both men's protests and failed attempts to escape. It was all in vain. They lost. They fell, and they shall never arise again.

Steve and Sam followed the men out, making sure Pierce and Rumlow were taken care of until Bucky had the right time for them. They patted Bucky's shoulder before leaving, happy that it all worked out as planned, knowing how much this meant to him.

There was only one thing left.

Taglist: @ozwriterchick @vicmc624 @pattiemac1 @kandis-mom @dexter99

[tennessoui]

omg the counseling au!!!! i loved how anakin was making banthashit arguments about 'how inevitable it is for him to constantly worry for his master (as if he was his spouse) and padme not understanding it even though she was also constantly worrying for her husband (which he actually is)'. as much as I love how unhinged the boys are for each other, I'm still so sad for padme because she's so... kind and nice and loving. I hope she will be able to find her own happiness after her slightly-idiotic-husabnd-who-did-not-even-realize-he's-been-in-insane-love-with-his-master-since-he-was-like-13 finally gets his head together. wonderful update as always!

i think for the couples counseling au and the anidala in the fic, i'm really trying to balance the line of having this relationship fall apart in some pretty spectacular/dramatic ways, but without having either of them come off as bad. i don't necessarily feel bad for padmé in any of my recent fics that deal with anidala crumbling post (mostly couples counseling au and a more perfect union) cause she's wholly in and crazy about anakin and she must understand on some level that he is alos wholly in and crazy about his master first and foremost.

there's a line in a more perfect union that i really like where padmé admits that she knew anakin was in love with obi-wan but thought that as long as he never realized, she could marry him and be in love with him and that it would be enough and i feel like there are aspects of that in the couples counseling au - not that she knows that anakin is in love with obi-wan, but she certainly understands that obi-wan is Anakin's Most Important Person and she's just starting to realize what that means for her and for their relationship because she keeps coming in second, even for something as simple as where anakin spends the night

like in general i think in these fics and also in canon padmé knowingly married a ticking bomb of a man and we're just watching the relationship itself explode - it doesn't make her a bad person or anything, it just makes her sort of willfully blind. i don't think either of them are bad people, but they're just not like. good together or meant to be together and anakin's chapters in couples counseling definitely detail the falling apart of that relationship because they're just not right for each other anymore

[art-estrange]

(AMAMOA) Chapter 2: People Are People

Professor!Pedro Pascal x Teaching Assistant!Reader

Words: 1073

Masterlist

*All Pictures used (unless stated otherwise) will be found on my pinterest linked in the masterlist*

Story Warnings: MDNI 18+ (mostly in the off chance that I choose to explore heavy themes later on. This will obviously be updated at a later time) Crocs(yes that has a warning, i’m kind of obsessed with wearing crocs and currently own 2 pairs hopefully more in the future)

Story Content Tags (most of this is mentioned in later chapters.): Meet-Cute, First person perspective, Age-gap(F28/late 20s/early 30s x M40/late 30s/early 40s), Art references, new york nonsense written by a non-new yorker, spanish/spanglish, Lots of college technical talk, this was kinda based off a dream, crocs, College AU, AU where pedro isn't an actor/famous, slightly proofread… sorry for typos i'm trying guys😭😭😭

Chapter Summary: Reader comes to a possibly devastating realization on the way to the gallery, however Pedro remains his goofy-golden retriever self. Also Sarah Paulson is there, she’s a fellow professor at NYU and seems to be friends with Pedro… maybe more? 

LATE JUNE(PICKING UP AFTER CHAPTER 1):

With my outfit layed out, I slept like a baby with dreams of that sharp nose and bronze skin. The soft caress of his fingers against mine, those gentle puppy dog eyes like pools of warm cocoa. Pedro was in my dreams that night and the anticipation to see him again was almost palpable. I woke up that morning almost with a start, a jolt to rise from the sweetest slumber I had ever had. I got dressed and went about my day completing some lighter chores that I had left till the last minute. With a belly full of breakfast and a latte in hand, I slipped on some shoes at the door and went on my journey to see the man that’s invaded my dreams. On the way to the gallery I had a lot to think about, mostly the fact that when I looked at the fliers, both for the TA/Professor gallery and Pedro's…it was the same flier… I knew I had seen the flier before but I didn’t think it was the same flier I had seen earlier that day. In the back of my mind, despite having only thought about Pedro the whole morning, there was still a creeping feeling that the goofy loveable handsome Pedro I met yesterday…. Is my boss… or pseudo boss?? Or whatever, is the same Pedro that emailed me… the painting professor. It’s not exactly wrong if, per say in future, we were to pursue a relationship… IF that ever happened, not saying it would, but it wouldn't be bad if it did. He’s not my teacher… he’s a coworker… that’s higher up than me but he’s not the one ‘signing my checks’, sort-of-speak. The whole situation is conflicting, I mean there’s no denying that Peter/Pedro from the cafe is Peter/Pedro from my emails, he said it himself, his job has to do with painting and it's the same flier. There’s no way that they’re not the same person… there’s no way that there’s 2 Pedro’s/Peter’s both doing a job having to do with painting, having an art gallery AT THE SAME TIME IN THE SAME PLACE WITH THE SAME FLIER AREN'T THE SAME GUY. I worried about these intricate details, wringing my hands anxiously before texting him to ask if he wanted a coffee on the way there; just another way to delay the inevitable. I arrived with my watered down latte and his 6 shots of espresso over ice, still can’t believe he drinks this. The place was lively, there was light music playing in this brownstone walk-up that sat between an apartment and a warehouse turned studio. It wasn't too far from where campus resides, we were about a 10 minute walk in the direction of greenwich. I sent him a text letting him know I arrived and that I’d wait outside for him with his coffee.

Out walked the man of the hour. He strutted out in a fuzzy cardigan, no shirt underneath, his messy mop of hair now a quaffed wave of tresses trickling down the back of his head like a soft waterfall. A gold chain adorned his neck surrounded by a light smattering of chest hair. His dress shoes clicked against the concrete as he lifted his sculpted arms, fingers decorated with rings, to pull me into a warm hug. “Oh my god! I’m so glad you could make it! AND you brought me coffee!?” He exclaimed holding me out at arms length, inspecting my outfit and face almost like he’s committing my look to memory. “I mean it was on the way and I wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to celebrate my new friend!” my worries were still in the back of my mind, but on the forefront was how good he looked and how I should be enjoying myself. “By the way I hope you don’t mind, but most of the people here are colleagues from work plus some grad students that’ll be working alongside us for the semester. I mentioned I’m a professor right?” He gestures to the people inside and then looks around as he speaks, ultimately stopping to stare at me as he says the words that I dreaded the most. “Um no, you didn’t! But… there’s actually something I wanted to-” As I get to the topic that’s been flooding my mind, we get interrupted. “Hey! Sorry to cut in! Pedro we’re ready to have like the speech thing, everyones mostly here. Except for your TA… she RSVP'd but like I dunno.” What I’m assuming is a fellow professor, mutters the last part as though thinking out loud. “Oh! Ok thanks! Um Y/N this is Sarah Paulson, a theatre professor at NYU and a super close friend of mine. Sarah, this is Y/N, we met a couple days ago, remember the girl I told you about?” He introduces us as he holds both our hands. They talked about me…wait..they talked about me? THEY’RE CLOSE FRIENDS AND THEY TALKED ABOUT ME?! “Oh yeah, THIS clumsy bitch loves to make people bust their asses! It’s like the spacial awareness isn’t there or something.” Sarah laughs, wrapping her arm around his shoulders, head leaning against his, as she busts his balls about his goofy behavior. “Why don’t we go inside so you can see some of the pieces, maybe you can make some more friends while I have a short convo with some of my coworkers and the grad students?” He leads me in, his large hand guiding me by my lower back as Sarah strides in front of us. The warmth from his hand spreads throughout my whole body just as he levels himself to whisper in my ear “Don’t worry about her, she loves to tell people how much of a mess I am, while being a mess herself…that’s probably why we’re soulmates in a sense” the last part is muttered in thought, almost like I wasn't meant to hear it. Soulmates? Well that complicates things...more so than they already were…

Now's the best time to tell him, otherwise I'll never get to say it. “Hey so before we walk in there’s something I need to tell you…” I pull him aside so as to not block the entrance. “Yeah? What’s up?” he says, those puppy dog eyes boring into my soul, concern written all over his face. “So..”

To be continued…

Note: If you can’t find chapter 1 for whatever reason (it doesn’t wanna show ip in the pedro pascal x reader tag for some reason) you can find it on the masterlist linked above alongside the prologue and this chapter and any future chapters.

[bluegekk0]

Manifesting the biggest hug for you. I don’t know if you’re still having a hard time, but just in case, I’m going to offer some words of encouragement. I’m not the best at this sort of thing, but imma try. Just know this: everyone who’s stuck around for this long adores you and what you contribute to the Hollow Knight fandom. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t. You’re loved and appreciated, and while we are simply the gay little people on the other side of the screen or even the other side of the world, we’re here to back you up and support you in whatever you do.

What was the design process behind the modern clothes for the FPK family? Lewk in his onesie is absolutely adorable. Holdable. I’d love to know how you arrived at each fit! They all look amazing!

;; thank you so much, this really means a lot to hear. i really do appreciate everyone who's here to support my silly little au, and words like these really brighten up my mood. thank you

---

as for the question, i think it all mostly came down to finding combinations of clothes that would fit their personalities. in general, most of them prefer comfortable clothes, so that's why you see a lot of loose shirts and pants. also, most of them have buttons or zippers on their clothes, primarily because it would be difficult for them to squeeze their large heads with all kinds of horns and spikes into a regular tshirts or other clothes like that

i'll start in the order they appeared on the drawing, so that means lewk is the first one. i had a lot of trouble with his outfit due to his wings. they connect to his body all the way from the shoulders to the tail, and that significantly limits clothing options. i couldn't give him pants with a built in tail sleeve or a band extension/back hook, like i did with fpk, since the wings would get in the way. similarly, the top part of his outfit was just as problematic, especially since pants were out of the equation. so instead, i chose a zipped onesie with a tail sleeve, and two long slit type sleeves for the wings. and i'm very glad i did, not only does it fit the fact that he's the kid of the family, but it also makes him look really adorable hahah

as for grimm, i knew from the start that i wanted him to wear a loose, half unbuttoned shirt. it's just what he's like, he's the flirtatious type, of course he's going to go for this kind of look. i imagine he'd wear suits quite often, but since this is what their everyday clothes are like, he instead opts for something more comfortable. not sweatpants kind of comfortable, that's not his style, but still relatively loose. comfortable, but stylish. that's what he aims for

for fpk, it had to be something that would make you go "yeah, he's an awkward nerd". my friend suggested suspenders, and my mind immediately went to the 11th doctor. and so that was my man inspiration, particularly for the colors. naturally i left out the bowtie, cause that would be too on the nose, but the colors are very similar to one of his outfits. as for his pants, they include a tail sleeve with buttons at the top

(something like this)

now, holly. i knew they would like very comfortable clothes, so i went with a loose shirt and sweatpants. i also knew i wanted the sleeves to be quite wide, so that they have no trouble putting it on with their prosthetic arm on (since it has the junk aesthetic as opposed to a more sleek and modern look, it has a lot of parts that would inevitably get in the way). and, of course, the shirt is buttoned. there's no way they would fit that giant head into a button-less top hahaha. as for the colors, i wanted to keep the green of their regular cloak, so i went with greenish brown pants and a light shirt to give it a nice contrast

hornet is definitely a bit of an outlier. she's a bit of an angsty teenager personality on the au, she's never really matured past that point, so this kind of outfit fits her. she's a bit of a skater type i imagine, she would without a doubt shred it on a skateboard. additionally, i always saw her as someone who would dislike feminine clothes and aesthetic. mostly just a personal preference, but she has a reason to. the white lady and her weren't very close, but she would still try to force hornet into more elegant and royal clothes, usually fancy (and uncomfortable) dresses. not surprising that she ended up hating anything that even resembles a dress, and why she was very insistent on calling her previous outfit a cloak as opposed to a dress. it also explains why her new outfit looks the way it is, and i wanted to reflect that in her modern clothes as well. plus i think it just really fits her personality haha

zote was a bit troublesome. i wasn't exactly sure what kind of clothes he would wear, it's hard to imagine him in anything else than his purple cloak. i wanted to find something that would give the impression of a "wannabe cool guy who gets bullied a lot", and somehow ended up with this sans-esque fit. not complaining, i think it suits him lmfao

also, both hornet and zote have shoes. it's something that's also present in their regular designs. as for the reason why, i'm not sure. part of it is probably because i don't know what their feet would look like (for hornet, i imagine it's a mix between fpk's cat-like feet and something closer to spider feet, but i have no clue about zote), but i think it also fits their outfits. who knows, maybe their feet are just more sensitive than the rest hahaha

[6okuto]

Hi love! Do you open req? I just want to req main 3 last legacy (if you want to include rime idm) with assassin mc?

M3 WITH AN ASSASSIN!MC

gn!mc | meoww. will probs not be doing much more LL in the future unless it's. modern au? didn't realize how much my brain would struggle. woah. i forgot most of the plot ..lol.. if my characterization is awful Don't Look At Me. 😁🫥

anisa

this a Morally Complex Situation.

i imagine this pair would have the most to work through. like it'd have the most tension at the reveal of mc's job because of anisa's job, seeing herself in them, etc. etc. especially if they've built some sort of relationship/trust at this point .

^ because well now there's questions of why did they choose to stick with her rather than the others. what do they think of her, do they have ulterior motives, etc etc. and i'm Sure this will come up with the other two, but i see it the most emotionally hard-hitting in anisa's case :')

though as anisa's route continues and she's thrown into a position of really questioning loyalty, rules, etc. mc is probably one of the best people who can offer a thoughtful nuanced take.

Something Something, finding out the LoS is her father, choosing to believe in and support her, anisa opening up. something something joke about going after him for her while both knowing it'll be anisa's choice what happens something something

wow sorry but in a world where LL. was here. and anisa had the time to develop and accept(?) mc's career properly (Sorry.) i think she'd want to know more about it. maybe when she's looking for help and mc would be able to share not just advice but the story behind it

on a lighter note :) again,, in the Good timeline where we've gotten canon development for both of them,, i do think anisa doesn't let the whole "i'm / i was an assassin, i'm fine" thing slide if mc tries to brush off her concern. like sorry, are you not victim to basic needs and exhaustion be serious

also ! think of the strategies they could come up with ! both of these people bring knowledge and so many skills to the table. I'd trust them with an important mission🤷🏻‍♀️!

she knows they're perfectly capable of taking care of themself and vice versa, so it's heartwarming when both check on the other. so real

sage

under the assumption that mc would hide their career, the M3 treat them as an average person. but sage is perceptive, and would probably pick up on minute details that'd tip him off that mc is more skilled than they let on

externally internally says i knew it when he inevitably finds out. maybe not that they were an assassin, but someone definitely trained

just to make sure there's a little angst(??) for all three! sage is a smart guy! he is!! he'd be suspicious of mc if the m3 find out early on and they haven't developed a strong relationship.

mc and sage not trusting each other, not sharing info either to break that ice, sage wondering why they'd choose to stick with him, etc. he manages to make some kind of flirty joke the first... meeting? after the reveal, but they both know they're watching each other LOL.

anyways. hey guys. at some point when that trust is built,, no amount of deadly energy will stop this man from flirting. "are you my assassination target? because i really want to take you out." sage my brother in christ you would be the target

sage asks where they learned everything, why, when, etc. but he understands if they try to evade his questions. if/when mc does open up about it, he listens intently and tells them that hey,, it's not like he's going to just Hate/stop caring about them

there's always a base level of concern since sage, evidently, hates the idea of anything bad happening/losing them, but he's still aware and grateful that he can trust mc to take care of themelf !

god. assassin!mc giving sage a look when he tries his whole isolation, working alone thing. you and i are Both experienced with this so try again.

felix

being an assassin is a very different career path than a barista like lets be fr.

mc so easily lies about working and making coffee and awful customer experiences when they first meet that when they show they're capable of taking down an enemy,, felix is like ? have i greatly misunderstood the job expectations of a barista ?

being both trained as an assassin and in magic by felix is a stacked deck (theoretically if things go well.) and while the skill set isn't really the same, mc's ability to pick up on things, focus, etc. is definitely applicable in their lessons

necromancy and assassination go two opposing ways tbh if u think about it. but both end up with Complicated (nonexistent?) Relationships With Others, so he can sympathize in that way

but also it's still. different. felix does find himself wondering what kind of people they've been assigned, whether asking would be rude, whether that should Really Be His Main Concern considering his company, etc.

if they've spent enough time together, he trusts that they have no ill intentions toward him at least. and a guy's got to appreciate promised protection

and does he want to know the kinds of people they've assassinated ? maybe. yes. intrigue. he shares magic and stories from astraea for tidbits of mc's career. depending on who exactly their targets were, felix is about to become very knowledgeable on some of earth's politics and figures

also would mc's stealth and stratagem come in handy for ...pranks and evasion... Who's to say? felix might,, if the opportunity arises. probably after they use it against him. smth smth you and stella teaming up against me smth smth

[adipostsstuff]

Omg I loved the valentine's writing so much, thank you :D ✨️

I'd love to hear all your thoughts/process -- I really liked the attention to detail (references to canon convos, Yuno being in the theater club, "my boyfriend is a kind person," etc) while also including some new details (new named characters, details on the siblings, stuff like that). It was so fun!!

Yay you asked about it! I had so many thoughts going through my head when writing this but couldn’t say them during writing (it was a great prompt thank you for it even though you are very predictable /lh) and I needed an excuse to dump them all so thank you :)

I had a couple of ideas at first. The first was a coffee shop au where Yuno works at a café and the other two are regulars, but that one felt a bit cheap and I don't really care about coffee shop aus anyway (I generally won't write something I personally wouldn't want to read). The second was an early trial 2 fic where the three of them are in Shidou's cell and Shidou went out for a while do they talk until he gets back. The problem with that one was that Kotoko's attacks would inevitably come up, which would result in Yuno and Futa having some not nice things to say about her, and even if Mahiru were to defend her she would be outnumbered 2 to 1 and it might end up feeling a bit overpowering, especially since I probably would have made that one Futa POV, and I wasn't sure if it would go against the no undue hate rule. To be clear, I quite like Kotoko, I find her amusing, but it may be difficult to separate my opinions with the characters' and there is no way I can have Yuno and Futa be nice to her as that would be out of character, which is something I cannot stand even in other people's works, let alone mine. The idea to try something with Futa's sister and Mahiru's best friend being beauticians was my third idea, and the one I ended up doing. I don't actually believe they work in the same place, but I have to make the story begin somehow, and it's not like it contradicts anything in canon, so I ran with it. I did really want to try and get all three of them in the fic despite the prompt not requiring it and this was one of the few ways I can think of since, like you said, aside from Mahiru they wouldn't really seek each other out of their own accord in or out of the prison, so it would need to be a chance encounter of a sort.

I chose Yuno for the main POV because I felt that she would be the easiest perspective to write in terms of her being the most realistic of the three and therefore the most likely to describe the events as they are. Of course, her personality and inner monologue would be more difficult to get down, especially because of how misinterpreted she is, so I was somewhat cautious about that. Based on the audience reception I seem to have done it alright, so I'm glad.

I knew from the start that I wanted to have Yuno and Mahiru talking from beginning to end, with Futa only showing up for a short time in the middle. Both have reasons why they would want a beautician's appointment so it would be easy to set them up from the start, but because of his misogyny (sorry about that but you know it's true. Fucking "girl talk is boring" coming from a Twitter user) Futa is unlikely to stick around. I think he was still there long enough to leave an impression. I actually wanted to include another section where Futa would talk more about his childhood and how he spent much of it in the beauty parlour (before Sayori was hired, so she wouldn't know) (I think that's a headcanon I got from you actually hehe) but once I'd written the whole thing I couldn't figure out how to fit that in and his sister and been gone for a long time, so I ended up not doing it. Plus I needed to start prioritising my studies.

In my first draft Mahiru's beautician didn't have a name at all and only had two lines of dialogue: her first line, which was originally just her talking to Mahiru, and the line where she says "I've never heard Kajiyama-senpai speak like that before." It felt a bit awkward to have her say just one line in the middle if she was basically ignored for the rest of the work so I gave her a slightly bigger role (while still focusing on the canon cast. Usually I only include OC and canon interactions when no canon character can fulfil a necessary role) and for that it qas easier to refer to her by a name rather than 'Mahiru's stylist' every time. Also I already thought up of her personality (cheerful and gossipy, similar to Mahiru) so it would have been a bit of a waste not to include her. (Side note: before writing this I generally ignored this but didn't she give Mahiru love advice? I won't assume she meant for anything bad to happen but if Mahiru was taking advice from this woman then I think it's worth putting her under suspicion. Mahiru's view on love comes from the romanticised ideal that gets sold the public, so I wouldn't be surprised if her friend had also bought into it. I imagined her to be slightly older than Mahiru but not much, and I'm unsure if she herself has been in a relationship before so I left it vague, though if she hadn't that does bring into question Mahiru's claim that she is a love expert. Not that Mahiru would question that. Might make that into its own post.)

I intended for the reveal that Yuno's beautician was actually Futa's sister to be a bit of a plot twist. I'm not sure how well that worked, but considering you knew who you asked for seeing a ginger beautician might have raised some flags. I don't really mind, it wasn't a major thing. I imagined her to be considerably older than Futa, to the point where she would become a substitute mother figure in the absence of his birth mother, which I suppose would be possible at any age, but I thought being much older would exemplify that. (The age I put here would make her older than Shidou, which I'd funny to think about considering how he calls himself old (Shidou is NOT FUCKING OLD HE IS YOUNG AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL STOP CALLING HIM OLD-ahem)). In terms of personality, I thought she would be somewhat similar to Futa due to similar environment, but much less pathetic lol. Due to needing to step up fairly young she became pretty responsible, and she is not very talkative despite her job, keeping things very professional unless she's talking to family, of course. I'm an only child, so I don't have much experience with sibling dynamics, but I imagine their relationship would be a mostly playful while secretly caring one, though neither of them would admit it (also from you).

I needed to include a moment where Mahiru talks about love, it wouldn't be Mahiru if she didn't. Half way through, when I realised I didn't do that yet, I jotted down a section where she asks Yuno about it and inserted it where it fit. I also wanted to bring to attention how unhealthy her ideals of love are, both to herself and to her boyfriend, and how she tries to push them onto others anyways, the dramatic irony was too good to miss and I was giggling the entire time while writing it. Yuno, being more... rational, shall I say, than her, realises it but due to her own issues and insecurities as well and not wanting to get involved she doesn't say anything (what I mean by most straightforward perspective). Her friend is as bad as she is, that's why her views went unchecked for so long.

I love putting references to canon in my work, it helps me keep in character. My approach to fanfic is generally take as much from canon as possible and fill in the gaps with what fits, so when discussing hobbies or school I made sure to include details like that and I tried to use dialoguethat was present in the source as well. I even referenced the This Is How To Be In Love With You locations post as well as researched on education systems in Japan to get an idea of how to write that (I ended up not using the latter very much. Still worth knowing).

A while after I started this, I realised the had parallels with each other and... kinda went a little crazy over it. (Listen, Yuno and Futa are opposites of each other, the way they approach life is very different yet in many ways they are also the same guys-) So I wanted to bring it up a little bit here, which is another reason why Yuno is a good POV and she is most likely to catch that while the others will more likely deliberately ignore it due to preconceived dislike. It does do into waxing poetic a bit and I wasn't sure if it was a bit cringe, but it's one of the things you liked about it, so I'm happy.

Initially I thought this would be the only meeting these three would have in this universe; there is something poetic about meeting someone only once, never to think about them again, yet that interaction was still meaningful. While this I'd what happened to Futa, ultimately I felt bad about breaking everyone up, so I decided on a whim that Mahiru would approach Yuno to be her friend because it wouldn't be too out of line for her. I am really proud of that last line.

For now, that's it. For my first finished fanfiction and my first Milgram fanfiction, I am actually quite pleased with that. I hope to be able to make more in the future once I'm done with school!

[hopeswriting]

Twin fics are hilarious especially in khr. I don't know when it started but I noticed there used to be a trend a few years back and with Tsuna specifially being the overlooked because he isn't popular and his other sibling having more charm and into sports oh yeah did I tell you that Nana bullies her own son and the twin being in on it they crank it up to eleven but I still liked it even when I knew it was absurd haha. I know Nana isn't the best mother but there no doubt she loves her family lol.

I think the funniest part is sometimes they make Tsuna to sweet. I honeslty don't know how to explain it but like he makes bento boxes or takes care of wounds and his voice being mute due to bullying. Man, canon tsuna we make fun of but he so resilant that he doesn't let the peer bullying get to him and it slides off him it still effects him but yeah. He's snarky when we're first introduced to his character he has always been kind but not to the point where he like is an angel about it haha.

hi nonny, thank you for the ask!

okay but same for literally everything you said actually!! idk about twin fics in other fandoms but i did read some from khr back when they were really popular too, yeah. just some tho, because i quickly moved on from them and started scrolling past them unless other aspects of the fic were really appealing to me, and it’s pretty much for all the reasons you said here.

i wouldn’t go as far as to say they’re hilarious tho? i think it’s a little mean because it’s clearly not what those authors were going for, so i think i like absurd better, which (imo) they inevitably were at times when, indeed, dialing up to eleven too much the, like, sub-tropes? of this trope. like, the core aspects of what makes this trope recognizable beyond just giving tsuna a twin/sibling. and yeah, they did get a laugh out of me sometimes here and now too lol.

but just like you i still liked the ones i read tho!! there’s a lot of interesting and fun things to do and explore with this trope, but the way that was done the most often, re: dialing everything up to eleven, just didn’t do it for me for long haha. and yes, nana definitely isn’t the abusive mother they made her to be so often lol, but once more i think it’s a little unfair to say that when of course they tweaked it on purpose for the purposes of their fics. and that’s just what we all do whenever we’re writing fics, and especially aus, right? looking at canon from the angle that will best let us state the thesis of our fics (< sorry for being pompous for a second here but i literally can’t think of any other way to say it lmao 😂), and maybe or maybe not dial it all up to eleven lol, but yeah.

so that said, what i find funny with this personally is that, like you said, canonically nana already isn’t the best mother one can have. and tbh i think there’s already plenty of angst to go off and explore from that? especially because if you keep her good sides, then it makes it more nuanced and complex and hurts more, but i do see the fun in just making her basically the worst mother on earth to tsuna haha.

and talking about tsuna, his characterization in those fics is the biggest thing that ultimately put me off reading them. and the thing is, making tsuna basically a saint isn’t really mischaracterizing him. like, tsuna has all those traits canonically, but also let me go on the record here and say that i love so much and i’m so attached and protective of the fact that tsuna is, well. a loser to say it like it is lol. and that’s of course affectionate and i’m absolutely not saying it in a judgmental/insulting way, but in a factual way. because tsuna’s lazy and judgy and doesn’t like trying hard and doesn’t like having responsibilities of any sort and can’t do sports and doesn’t have good grades and doesn’t know how to talk to girls and cowers easily and is a thirteen years old kid. and of course by the time the manga starts his years of bullying has a lot to do with that, but the way i see it he was just your average kid before that too, maybe or maybe not already struggling more than the others on some aspects of life. and then the years of bullying made him give up on trying to ever be more than that if he ever had the motivation to do it, making him become below average.

and you’ll notice that not all the things i listed above are things you’d necessarily call flaws instead of weaknesses. in the way where people are good at things and bad at others and what you’re good and bad at is different for each person and it’s fine because that’s just the way people are. and it’s the point, and i’d even say it’s the whole point of tsuna as a character. *bangs pots together loudly* IS EVERYONE LISTENING?? because the point is, as we see tsuna reach his full potential through the course of the manga now he finally has people allowing him to and telling him he has, in fact, plenty untapped potential that’s just waiting for him; as we see his good sides, his kindness, loyalty, protectiveness, love, courage, compassion, forgiveness, resilience, understanding, etc, it tells us that he had worth and value all along despite his “bad” sides. that he didn’t deserve to be punished for them the way he was and that that was just gratuitous cruelty. which again is the whole point of him as a character, so when you take that away from him, that’s when you lose my attention as far as i’m concerned.

*bangs pots even louder because i’m not done* IS EVERYONE STILL LISTENING??? because not only tsuna was meant to be a loser, you’ll also notice that amano made a point to keep reminding us literally to the very last arc that he made little progress when it came to school or sports or girls etc, because he’s also meant to stay a loser!! because sure, it’ll be useful and will help him in life if he gets better at those things, but also he doesn’t need to become better at them to be treated with basic respect and decency, because those aren’t things that are tied to whether you get that from your peers or not. and they least of all are tied to or infer in any way on whether you have worth and value as a person. *wants to bang the pots again because it’s fun but puts them down instead*

and i get that giving him an even harsher treatment from the people around him than in canon makes all of it more meaningful and impactful. and prolly that’s what amano was going for too by giving him that backstory, because by the time we meet tsuna he had every reason to be bitter and resentful and hateful of people and the world, but he kept choosing to remain kind and loving instead. so yes i get that, but honestly? for me making this all he can be also takes meaning away from it too at the same time. it’s like, if that’s all he can be then he’s not choosing to be kind anymore no matter what life throws at him, is he? it’s like that quote that goes something like “if you’re unable of violence then you’re not a pacifist, you’re just harmless”. (and actually that’s something that’d be so interesting to write about and explore, like?? what do you do in the face of the violence thrown at you when the only thing you’ve ever known to do with it is to cradle it close with bleeding hands?)

and sorry i went a bit on a tangent here, but yes, hard agree with everything you said nonny, especially about tsuna. tsuna is kind and loving and everything i said above, and he chose to remain all that in the face of the harsh treatment he received for years, chose to endure it when he could have retaliated with anger or hurt or hate, which we know for a fact he’s able of, and he was hurt more for it, was hurt longer for it. he bled for it, and has still gaping and bleeding wounds from it when we first meet him in the manga, however resigned he was to them by that point. and *threatens to bang the pots again if you’re not listening* the cruelest thing here, the tragedy here is that all that pain was plainly and utterly undeserved and unwarranted. and that’s so important to me actually.

[random-vore-blog]

Let me help you

( Sorry this took so long! I was quite busy and had to think of how to write it with how you requested it. Including their personalities. This is also my au. Requested by @silver-tooth-the-panther. Enjoy!)

He barely clung to the piece of wood. The only evidence of his mother ship, along with his brother. He only saw a black leviathian tail with bloodred scales scattered on it. It had to be the damned demons' King! No other siren had that kind of tail!

Something hard smashed against his back, the solid object knocking the wind out of him. He might have gotten a concussion from the sheer impact. Then again, he didn't have any experience of having a concussion. He made out that the solid object was a rock. He had messed up BIG time.

He might have gotten more than a scrape on his poor battered body.

He didn't want to die because of some damn cold and unforgiving waters. Not while there was a chance that those demon sirens were somewhere. Hidden.

"Need help there?"

A voice emerged from behind him. A voice he could recognize as a siren-

" I will cut your head o-"

He grunted in pain when he felt his leg move, the burning reminder of how he injured himself while trying to get off of the destroyed ship. It was after their ship crashed into the Demon Siren Kings' territory- if he assumed correctly.

" With those injuries and apparently broken leg? I doubt that you would be able to cut my head off."

He- judging by the voice- spoke the awful truth. Each word laced with painful reality and words he hated. He turned around, expecting to see a siren, but came face to face with Upper moon 4. Those blue eyes reminded him a bit too much about his situation.

" Why should I trust you?"

" Probably because there is a storm on its way."

Genya didn't believe, and scoffed.

"A storm? Really?"

He turned around.

" There was no way that-"

His eyes widened when he saw the dark clouds rolling in. The sound of an angry storm made his gut twist in absolute fear.

" So,"

He turned back to the demon siren, seeing that it was mere inches away from his small form.

" What do you choose? The storm? Or me?"

If he chose the storm, there would be a slim chance that he would survive. But if he chose the demon siren, he would either survive or die. The more he thought about the pros and cons, the more he realized that the massive Upper moon was his only chance to actually survive.

" If you break the trust that I have put into you, I will haunt you until a slayer kills you."

The larger being made a happy noise, pleased with his decision. Hopefully it had nothing to do with rumours of the intelligent creatures having a 'crop', a second stomach that had no digestive liquids. He knew that those rumours were false-

Razor sharp teeth trapped him inside the cavern, causing him to panic and lose his trust in the seemingly friendly demon siren. A tongue pushed him towards the esophagus, right to the entrance of inevitable death. Or, he hopes that it was not his time to die.

Slowly, his form entered the fleshy tube. The tube itself was not constricting in any way, just putting enough constriction to hold him steady and to move him down the throat. His trip was short lived when he deposited into a small area large enough for him to move around.

The rumours were true.

These creatures really do have a crop.

" Get comfy. You won't be let out for awhile."

And getting comfy he did. The walls were plush and perfect for a nap. Maybe he made the right decision after all.

" Thank you..."

He whispered as his heartbeat slowed, a reminder that he was on his way to dreamland. He felt the leviathan move. The sort of rocky ride made a nice motion for someone as small as him to go to sleep.

[bowtied-pasta]

My upcoming fic is a P.I. au for True and Splendor, based off of the oneshot fic I have published of the au on my Ao3.

Here’s a little peek at what I’m cooking up here, and it will be a multi chapter fic with an unknown number of chapters.

True had not planned to be sitting in a cafe today. She had not planned to be hunched over her personal laptop, researching the life of some family and their missing child by scoring their social media presence with a fine toothed comb. She had most certainly not planned to end up finding a lead only two states away from where both she and the family lived.

When the Robinson’s had come into her small place of business, she had not expected them to ask her for her services in the way they had. She was primarily in the business of proving adultery, catching cheating spouses and such.

She was a sucker for a good sob story, and when the mother had broken down in tears, supported only by the arms of her husband… True couldn’t help but commit to the case. A case that the police were apparently just fine leaving where it was. Which was… odd. Very odd.

The research had not been difficult, not even close to how difficult some cheating spouses made it for her. The last known location of the child was easy to figure out, at least after she dug a bit. Eye witnesses were a bit unreliable, given the child had gone missing a bit over a week ago, but camera feeds were typically her go to anyway.

The missing child, Marco, was… is, fifteen years of age. The parents had allowed their child to go on a solo trip to their cousins house, in the state she currently found herself in.

The debit card statements the parents had given her proved that the child had visited several shops, one of which being the very cafe she was sitting in now. She had already reviewed the video feed with the manager on duty, having had them send a copy over to her so that she could forward her findings to her clients tonight if she didn’t wrap it up before then.

The cousins had been easy to talk to, since they already knew she had been on the way to speak with them, curtesy of her clients. Marco had visited the cafe last in his long list of shopping spots, and after playing on his phone for a few hours and drinking his coffee, he leaves.

From what she can gather, he had not been followed, nor had he been approached while he was in the cafe. Marco had entered alone, sat alone, and left alone. But Marco had not arrived at his cousins house that day. Nor did he arrive the day after.

A little digging in the right direction would tell her where he had gone after the coffee shop, as this was his last known location before he went missing… it was a shame he didn’t make a scene or anything of the sort. That would make him memorable. But the picture she had been showing off hadn’t had anyone giving off recognition vibes.

It was a shame, really, that her intent ability didn’t work on inanimate objects or even the dead. She could read the intent of those inside of what she liked to call her bubble of effect. Now, reading intent was all fine and good, but knowing how best to get people to show their true colors was the trick of it.

No, abilities like hers were not normal. True had learned from a young age to keep it to herself that she could know what she could. She wasn’t looking for the fame or publicity that would come with the inevitable leak that would follow her telling any of her clients what she could do.

True sat back with a sigh, having moved on from the seemingly dead end that was the family socials by opening a fresh tab. She needed to think. She wasn’t familiar with the area, and the kid probably hadn’t been too familiar with the place either. A logical place for an adult to wait for their ride would be right here in the cafe… but she was dealing with the mind of a child. Possibly the most unpredictable kind of mind there was.

Sitting back up, she pulled up a map of the town she was in. Glancing over the patchwork of greens and blues, her eyes landed on several parks, but the size of the forest is what really had her attention. Several parks on the map were nestled up against the forests edge in various locations, but one in particular was closer than the rest.

It was the closest park for miles. Walking distance, in fact.

Nothing else in the area seemed like it would catch the attention of a child, so it would be a good first step. She would be looking into wether the local police had conducted a search of the forest yet, and if not then why, tomorrow. For now, she would scope out the park for herself before returning to her hotel room for the night. It was far too late in the day to go looking in the woods on her own. Especially considering the vibes she had picked up from the citizens of the town.

The forest seemed to be a tender topic in the town. One of life’s unmentionables. She would need to talk to some of the locals about the forest as well, just to see if anything held truth in the sea of rumors and folktale. She could probably get through a few before she developed the headache she just knew was coming.

[bewitchingfanfiction]

MCYT (2021/06/07)

It was suppose to be funny.

Tommy hadn't ever really dived into the world of fanfiction before. Sure, he knew there was plenty of it, and actually quite a lot centered around him, but he usually avoided it for the sake of not wanting to feel uncomfortable about the inevitable sexual fanfictions about him.

Still, despite these worry, Tommy decided it was time for him to take a dip into the fanfiction world, and read some of the fics about himself. So many other youtubers had done it, it was his turn.

Actually he was planning to live stream himself doing it, but to avoid looking like an idiot who didn't know what he was doing, he was planning to check out the site before hand and maybe even pick out a couple to read.

There was thousands of fanfictions centered around the Dream SMP storyline, honestly Tommy couldn't believe he was part of something so big. 

When he said it to show the stories with the most likes however, he couldn't help noticing a sort of trend.

Every single one one the first page had Dream being even more of a villain than he was in the storyline.

Every.

Single.

One.

Sure, it was to be expected somewhat, Dream played the villain character, of course he'd be the villain in the stories. But fanfiction was suppose to deviate from the original story wasn't it? Yet Tommy couldn't find a single story where Dream was a good guy.

He went page after page, reading the descriptions. Some of them got really fucked up too, like Dream would drive Tommy to kill himself, or abuse him, or even rape-

Tommy choked out a small gasp of fear before he could stop himself, shutting the webpage down immediately. 

It was scary, why were these out there? Surely people knew Dream would never do anything like that.

And some of the stories weren't even taking place in the SMP storyline, they were in AU's that had nothing to do with it, yet Dream was always some kind of bully, murderer or rapist; a villain.

Tears blurred Tommy's vision as he loaded up Discord.

Why? Why would people do this? Dream was a good guy, a really good guy. He was always really kind to Tommy and Tubbo off-stream, always telling them how great they did at the roleplay, or giving them combat tips. And he was always ready to game with them too, even if it was the middle of the night for him.

So how could someone, even someone who doesn't know him well, ever dare to write him like that!?

"Whoa, Tommy what happened? Why are you crying!?" Dream asked, quite alarmed to see Tommy's crying face when he answered the call.

Tommy sniffled, wiping hard at his eyes. "I-I'm not crying, I'm sweating vigorously from my eyes, bitch!"

"...Okay, why are your eyes sweating so much?" Dream questioned instead, frowning.

Tommy felt more tears drip down his cheeks. "I-I wanted to read fanfiction for a video, I thought it'd be funny-"

"Oh God, did someone write something creepy? Sorry Tommy, unfortunately that seems to come with the job." Dream sighed. It didn't really bother Dream when people wrote about him, but he knew others weren't as open to it, especially with Tommy being so young.

Tommy gritted his teeth, shaking his head. "No that's not- that's not why...Dream, every story that contains both of us has you as a villain."

For a moment, Dream was silent.

And then, "Oh, yeah."

Tommy did a double-take. "What do you mean yeah!? It's fucked up! They're making you sound like a monster! T-They're not even keeping it in the SMP universe!"

"Well, Tommy it's bound to happen. My character is a villain, of course people will think of me as villainous." Dream chuckled a little.

"How does that not bother you? They make you a rapist, a fucking killer. They talk about you like that's how you are in real life, and they don't even know you!" He cried.

Dream bit his lip, then sighed softly. "Tommy, hey, shhh, listen."

Tommy whimpered a little, wiping at his eyes.

"It's because they don't know me that they write those things, I mean think about it, when we're streaming together I usually am just mean to you." Dream reasoned.

"But it's not fair! I'm seen as a fucking hero and shit even though I'm a dick to everyone, including you. But no one villainizes me! I'm seen as this precious child who needs to be protected from you at all costs." Tommy sniffed.

Dream smiled fondly. "Well good then, I wouldn't want it to be any other way."

"...I wish I could hug you..." Tommy whimpered.

Dream let out a small sigh, eyes sad and smile weak. 

"Yeah...I wish that too."

Tommy sniffled softly as he wiped his tears away. Sometimes Dream was too nice for his own good.

"Why don't we play some Among Us or something? Get your mind off this. I think maybe you should stay away from the fanfiction, if it upsets you this much." Dream told him.

Sighing softly, Tommy nodded. "Yeah, that would probably be best. Thanks Dream."

Dream grinned a little. "Any time."

[theforgottenmcrmy]

After All (Part 13/?)

Pairing: Riff X OC Jet Girl

Warnings: Explicit Language, Racism, Violence

Summary: He meant every word. After all, it had already been the better part of five years. What was another fifty?

Word Count: 10,200 ish.

DISCLAIMER

Please note that this is a reimagining of the film West Side Story (2021) and as a result is slightly AU.

Masterlist /// Part 1 /// Part 12 /// Part 13 /// Part 14

A/N: I am so sorry about the delay. I do want to give a heads up that moving forward this story may only be updated once a week. That posting schedule seems the most realistic for me at this time, especially since I’ve been unable to bring myself to shorten the chapters. If I am able to find extra time to write and get them completed in less time than a week, I will go ahead and post, but unfortunately I can’t make that guarantee right now. I’m sorry if I have disappointed any of you, but I hope you can understand.

Again and again, thank you for taking the time to read this and offer your support and kind words. This chapter is pretty self-indulgent and super fluffy but hey it’s been building up since part one so I felt like I had an excuse to lay it on thick. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. ;)

Part 13: The Calm Before the Storm

Riff was finally getting around to trying some of Snowboy’s spiked punch when he saw something strange out of the corner of his eye.

Michael was leading Roxie to the exit of the gym. His hand was around her wrist and as they walked she looked around as if searching for someone.

Riff met Roxie’s eyes and, in a rare occurrence, Riff didn’t even have an inkling of an idea of what she was thinking. All Riff knew for certain was that the dance was still likely to go on for a few more hours and that he disliked the way Michael dragged Roxie along. A lot.

He set down his still half full cup of punch down on the snack table as he watched Roxie and Michael disappear through the gym doors.

“Where are you going?” Graziella asked from beside him.

“Just gonna step outside for a smoke,” Riff replied easily, his eyes still looking towards the exit. Right after I tell off Mr. Stiff for being so rough with a lady.

Graziella frowned and it was clear she didn’t buy his excuse for a second. “You should leave them alone, Riff,” she cautioned. “They’ve got some things to work out.”

What could Roxie and Michael possibly have to discuss in private that they couldn’t talk about at the dance? What did the two of them even talk about in their free time? The weather? Politics? Higher education?

Wait.

The Midsummer’s Dance. The decorations, the live band, the dancing itself… it all could be very romantic in the right mindsight, with the right person.

Oh no.

While Riff frantically debated with himself whether to accept what he had already thought would inevitably happen or follow the two outside in some sort of desperate attempt to prevent it from occurring at all, the doors to the gym once again opened.

With much flair and ado, Bernardo, leader of the Sharks, dressed sharply in a dark suit, entered the gym. On his arm, whom Riff could only assume was his girl, was a fiery Latina with dark hair dressed in a bright red dress. She smiled up at Bernardo with lips that were painted in a matching color.

Bernardo and his girl were flanked by many other Sharks and their own girls on both sides as they filed into the gym. Riff recognized many of them.

The tension washed over the room like a tidal wave as the rest of the dance attendees, but primarily the Jets, realized the arrival of Bernardo and the rest of the Sharks. All small talk ceased and for a few moments the only sounds that could be heard in the gym were from the band.

Bernardo and his crew weren’t phased by the appaul that their entrance caused. They proceeded to stroll into the gym and make themselves comfortable. As several of them made their way on to the dance floor, a silent but visible rift formed. Soon the dance floor was separated into half blues and grays and half reds, oranges, yellows, and other bright colors. Bernardo and his girl were in the middle of them all.

Graziella took Riff’s hand. “Let’s go show ‘em some real dancing.”

Riff hesitated and eyed the doors he had seen Roxie and Michael leave through just a few minutes before. After another moment, he relented and led Graziella to the dance floor.

It was still pretty quiet as the two groups danced around one another on the floor. Dance attendees who weren’t associated with either group lingered on the outskirts of the dance floor and watched the dancers in the middle apprehensively.

Every now and then, a Jet and Shark couple would bump into one another. When this happened, Riff would break his focus from Grazi and watch carefully.

After he and Baby John had gotten mistakenly identified and chased down by some Sharks and a mob a few weeks before, Riff ordered all the Jets to cool it and to avoid instigating fights with the PRs, at least for a little while. Riff knew that his decision didn’t go over well with some of them, but he didn’t care. They’d been too reckless lately. Riff loved the guys like his brothers, but he was not ready to go back to jail for them.

The Jets needed to be more subtle. Jet or Shark, neither side particularly cared for the boys in blue and everyone was better off without the cops sticking their noses in where they weren’t welcome.

Riff twirled Graziella while watching out of the corner of his eye as Action and his new girl blindly bumped into one of Bernardo’s right hand men. If there was anyone in particular Riff was concerned about their ability to keep things “cool”, it was Action. As expected, Action turned to face the Shark angrily, having taken some large offense.

Fortunately, Ice, who was indisputably the most level headed out of all the Jets, was nearby. Ice clapped a firm hand on Action’s shoulder, leaned in, and said something into his ear. The two then looked over at Riff. When it was obvious to Action that Riff was watching his every move, he heaved a sigh, faced his girl, and made a point to move several feet away from the Shark without further issue.

The two gangs and their girls tiptoed around the elephant in the room and continued to dance for a few more songs before some chaos finally erupted.

Some of the Sharks must have recognized Mouthpiece and Balkan from their run in at the liquor store. The two of them, who happened to be dancing with their girls right next to one another, got in the faces of the Sharks after they yelled something at them in Spanish.

Before Riff knew it, a small group of Jets and Sharks had assembled. The girls on both sides got swept back as the guys began to yell at and push one another. After giving Grazi a quick apologetic look, Riff began to shove his way through the gathering group to try and reach Balkan and Mouthpiece.

By the time Riff made his way to them, Krupke and some older folks who had been supervising the dance had already gotten to them. Krupke was in the middle of it all, trying his best to prevent Mouthpiece, Balkan, and two Sharks from going at each other. He was warning them, but none of them wanted to listen.

Riff put one hand on Balkan’s and Mouthpiece’s shoulders. He tried to pull them back himself but the two stood firm. Riff looked over at the Sharks facing them and saw that Bernardo had had the same idea.

“Bernardo,” Riff called. “How ‘bout you call your guys off and we go back to dancin’, huh?”

Riff wasn’t afraid of an altercation and wouldn’t back down if push came to shove, but it had already been a long night. Getting into a fight was low on the list of his wants. The only thing he really wanted was to know what had happened to Roxie, but that would have to wait.

Bernardo glared at Riff. “No de puede hacer,” he said. “I’m told your two Jets stole from our liquor store last month.”

“Really? Were there any charges filed, Sergeant Krupke?” Riff asked the man, who was still physically struggling with the group.

Krupke wiped the sweat off his forehead and with one final shove successfully separated the four. Riff held Mouthpiece and Balkan by their jacket sleeves and prevented them from taking a step forward again. Bernardo did the same for his Sharks.

“No,” Krupke finally answered before he heaved for some air.

Riff knew damn well that Mouthpiece and Balkan had swiped whiskey from the store and subsequently pushed the old store owner down on their way out, but he wasn’t dumb enough to say anything that might suggest their guilt in front of Bernardo, let alone Krupke.

“Ah, I see,” Bernardo replied. “You Jets can do whatever you want and the cops will let you get away with it.”

Krupke frowned. “Listen here, Bernardo-“

“No hay justicia!” a Shark shouted from somewhere in the crowd. The call raised shouts of approval from the others surrounding him.

Bernardo nodded in agreement. “If the cops will not hold you responsible for your actions, perhaps we should.”

“Is that a threat?!” Action hollered from behind Riff. Riff flinched slightly as Action came to stand beside him just a second later. Where did he come from?

“No es una amenaza. A warning,” Bernardo corrected smoothly.

“Listen, I’m warning all of yous that you’re goin’ downtown if you don’t cut it out now!” Krupke shouted.

It was hard to find Krupke’s threat credible, particularly when it was one officer up against two gangs of nearly twenty each. But again, Riff was not in the mood to deal with Shark trouble.

“Let’s go, fellas,” Riff urged firmly as he tugged at Mouthpiece’s and Balkan’s sleeves. The two eventually gave up their stare down with the Sharks and allowed Riff to guide them back to rejoin the rest of the Jets.

Riff turned and went to do the same to Action but as he did, Bernardo quipped, “You Jets are good at running away from your problems.”

Unfortunately, Riff didn’t have a grip on Action and was unable to prevent him from lunging forward to get into Bernardo’s face. “What was that?!”

All hell broke loose. Shouting from both sides filled the air, the tension finally erupted, and Riff found himself getting lost in the middle of it all as the Jets and Sharks descended on one another. Krupke got lost in the swarm. In the chaos, Riff briefly lost track of where he was, but all it took was a stray punch to the side of his face for some sense to get knocked back into him.

“That’s it, the dance is over! Everybody out! Now!”

————————————————————————————

As Ice waited on the street corner, he rested a hand on the back of his neck. Someone had shoved him down during the fight that broke out at the dance the previous night. In his haste to turn around and get a good look at whoever it was, he’d gone and gave himself a kink in the neck.

By the time the supervisors and Krupke called in additional police presence to break up the fight in the gym and send everyone home, his neck was bothering him something fierce. Still, Ice was determined to not let it show. He’d gotten worse injuries before and would likely get even worse ones in the days to come.

Karen, the girl he had been seeing recently, was too observant though, and she fussed over him as he walked her home. Honestly, Ice enjoyed being the center of her attention and object of her concern. The past couple girls he’d seen weren’t as forthcoming and more often than not viewed any injuries he got from fights as a trophy of his “toughness.”

Not Karen. Karen seemed to genuinely care about whether or not he was alright. She didn’t even like him fighting at all. Ice was fine with that- he was growing to dislike fighting more and more each day himself.

Riff, to his credit, looked like he had wanted to avoid the fight last night too. Ice wasn’t surprised. He’d seen the dance Riff had with Roxie… Riff must’ve had a lot on his mind.

Speaking of that, Ice was surprised when Riff asked him to walk Roxie home from work the following night. He had thought for sure Riff would’ve wanted to do the honors himself.

Several people passed Ice on the sidewalk as he waited for Roxie to show. He didn’t have a watch, but soon enough time had passed and she still hadn’t exited the factory’s front doors.

Either Roxie had left her shift early, or she hadn’t gone to work that night at all.

By the time Ice made it back to the auto shop, he was surprised to find Riff still up and about on the shop floor. Diesel, Snowboy, and Gee-Tar were nowhere to be found, but given the lateness of the hour, Ice figured they were probably already passed out upstairs.

It was odd for Riff to be up. When Ice walked Roxie home the few times before, he’d just tell Riff that everything had gone alright the next time he saw him. He’d never gone to Riff right after to report what happened.

But Ice decided to try and swing by the auto shop that night anyway. He had a small feeling that Riff would be up on the off chance that Ice needed to talk to him about Roxie. It was clear to him that Riff was concerned about her.

Ice’s belief was further confirmed when Riff looked visibly put off by the news that Roxie never showed.

“Oh,” Riff said blankly as his face fell. “I must’ve forgotten what days she was workin’ this week.”

Ice had his doubts about that. Riff seemed to have Roxie’s schedule nearly memorized. If Riff couldn’t walk her home, he was vigilant about asking him or Diesel to instead. “No worries, boss.”

“I’ll walk her home tomorrow night,” Riff informed him. “But I still appreciate you makin’ the trip.”

Ice didn’t need Riff’s constant reassurance to know how much he was valued. But Ice was reminded of his loyalty to Riff when his efforts were acknowledged. “I know.”

Ice made his way home that night thinking of little else than his bed. Between the adrenaline from the fight and the kink in his neck, he hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. And since he was already out so late, he wasn’t likely to get much sleep that night either. But if Ice wouldn’t have to walk Roxie home the following night, maybe he could actually crash early for once.

Riff would be walking Roxie home instead. Soon, maybe Riff would be the only one to walk her home.

Ice had nothing against Graziella. Between her relationship with Tony and current situation with Riff, he had known her for several years. They didn’t always see eye to eye, but there was mutual respect.

Ice liked Roxie, though. She didn’t like all the fighting the Jets did and she’d been good for Riff because of it. She thought that the Jets had a general tendency to act first and think later, and that was something Ice full-heartedly agreed with.

The Jets were only going to get older. If they didn’t want to get locked up one by one, they’d have to come up with different solutions than just beating the crap out of someone over any and all disagreements. The threat of jail time had already served Riff a lesson, and it was high time the other guys started taking the threat of it seriously.

It sure would be interesting to see how things would play out between Riff and Roxie. Maybe she’d try to help Riff and him keep the Jets in line.

————————————————————————————

Tony was grabbing some more canned goods off a shelf in the basement when he heard Valentina getting frustrated with a customer upstairs. He finished grabbing the remaining cans quickly before heading up the stairs two at a time.

As he braced himself to deal with the particularly difficult customer Valentina must have been dealing with, he heard her say, “No, no, no! You need to leave.”

“I don’t want any trouble,” the man with a familiar voice said. “I just wanna talk to him is all. Tony!”

Tony set the box of cans down on the nearby counter and finally looked at who Valentina was speaking with.

Riff.

“What do ya want, Riff?”

“I just wanna talk,” he repeated. “Come on, Tony. Please.”

There was something off about Riff’s behavior. His normally cool composure was cracked and he actually seemed a bit on edge. Tony hadn’t seen him since their argument a few weeks back, but maybe Riff had finally come around to seeing Tony’s side.

Tony looked at Valentina apologetically. “Just a few minutes?”

Valentina huffed. “Five minutes,” she warned. “By the time I get back upstairs, he better be gone.” Tony and Riff watched in silence as she walked briskly past them.

Once Valentina had started down the stairs, Tony turned back to Riff. “You finally wanna talk?”

“Not about that,” Riff clarified firmly, though Tony caught a brief regretful look in his eye. “It’s about Roxie.”

“Whatta ‘bout her?”

“I haven’t seen her in a few days,” Riff said. “Not since the dance.”

“I wonder why,” Tony deadpanned.

Tony had heard what had happened at the dance; the whole neighborhood had at that point. What was supposed to be a peaceful little event for the community to let off some steam had turned into an outright brawl. If another community dance was planned, Tony could only imagine how many cops would be present, and that was only if the dance wouldn’t be canceled outright.

“Hey, believe it or not, I actually tried to stop the fight from happenin’ in the first place,” Riff told him matter of factly.

Tony laughed dryly. “Let me guess- it was the Sharks that started it?”

“This time? Yeah, it was,” Riff snapped. He sighed heavily. “Listen, I didn’t come here to get into it with ya. I’m worried about Roxie, Tony.”

Tony looked at Riff carefully. It was rare that Riff was so blunt about something. But if Riff was upset about the situation enough to seek Tony out, especially given their argument, Tony knew Riff had to be telling the truth. “What happened? Did you guys argue or somethin’?”

“No, nothin’ at all. Last time I saw her, she was leavin’ the dance early with that guy.”

If the conversation hadn’t taken such a serious turn, Tony might have laughed at the fact that Riff seemed unable to bring himself to say Michael’s name.

Riff sighed one more time as he gathered his thoughts and continued. “We’ve been walkin’ her home at night, but she hasn’t gone to work for the past three days. She hasn’t swung by the shop either.”

It did seem a bit odd. Roxie was about as dedicated to her job as one could get, especially since she needed the money. She had also talked about how she was helping at the shop even more lately. “Maybe she’s sick?” Tony proposed.

Riff shook his head. “I swung by her apartment and knocked on her window.” Tony gave him a look, and he waved him off. “How I know what window is hers doesn’t matter. What matters is that she didn’t let me in.”

And she has before? Tony opened his mouth to make a joke, but after he took another look at Riff, he closed it shut. Riff looked genuinely worried. His eyes seemed to be unable to stay focused on one thing for more than a few seconds and he kept shifting his feet.

“I know we ain’t on good terms,” Riff acknowledged solemnly. “But, if you could just try and talk to her. I don’t know if she’s avoidin’ me, but I don’t care. I just wanna know she’s alright.”

Tony believed every word Riff said. That should have comforted him, but when he realized the bigger implications of Riff’s words, the things that Riff wasn’t outright saying but still implied, he felt a bit worried himself. What does this mean?

That could be worked out later. Now, Tony had something to take care of. “I’ll see what I can do.”

A bit of relief washed over Riff’s face as he processed Tony’s words, but his concern was still evident. Riff nodded stiffly and turned to leave. Before he started walking away, he glanced at Tony one more time. “Thanks, Tony. I really appreciate it.”

“I know,” Tony said.

As Riff walked out the store entrance, Valentina finally emerged from downstairs. She gave Tony a troubled look that told him she had heard the entire conversation.

————————————————————————————

Graziella was thankful when she arrived at the auto shop and Diesel, Snowboy, and Gee-Tar all excused themselves. She wasn’t sure where they were off to, but they must’ve known she needed some privacy with Riff. They really were able to not be so thick headed sometimes, at least when they tried.

She wasn’t waiting by herself on the shop floor for long before Riff finally arrived. Upon seeing her, he did a double take. “Grazi? I didn’t miss a date, did I?”

Riff’s mind was somewhere else and Grazi had a good idea where it was. “No, not at all,” she assured him quickly.

“That’s good…” Riff trailed off distractedly.

Graziella watched as Riff walked past her and began moving random tools here and there. The way he moved was almost trance-like. “You go out for a walk?” she pried gently. “The boys told me you’ve been gone for a few hours.”

Riff shook his head. “I went to talk to… eh, it doesn’t matter. I had somethin’ to take care of, is all.”

He wasn’t going to tell her where he had been but that was alright. The less small talk they had, the less time she had to fret about his reaction to what she was about to tell him. Graziella had made her mind up about it ever since the other night at the dance, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t concerned about how Riff would take it. It would be better for the both of them in the long run, but she worried he would misread her intentions.

“We need to talk.”

Riff snapped out of his stupor at her choice of words. “Right… sure. Wanna go upstairs?”

“No, it’s fine,” she replied. She took a slow step towards him so that they were just a few feet away from one another. “This won’t take long.”

Riff looked at her curiously and Graziella could tell the exact moment that he realized what she was about to say. “I did somethin’ wrong, didn’t I?” he asked defeatedly.

Graziella sighed softly. “‘Wrong’ isn’t the best word for it,” she decided. “I don’t think you could’ve helped it. And I don’t think you meant it, either.”

“What is it?”

Grazeilla looked at Riff pointedly. However, the longer she stared at him, the more confused he became. “Riff, come on, you know what it is.”

Riff looked at her apprehensively.

Graziella’s jaw dropped a bit when it hit her. “Oh, Riff… you don’t know, do you?”

It was a redundant question. Riff was still looking at her nervously as he waited for her to continue. For all Grazi’s concern over the past month or two, the fact that Riff hadn’t realized what had happened along the way was a bit surprising to her. On the other hand, Grazi knew how Riff, and Tony, were about their feelings. A lot of times they needed something spelled out for them before they realized what it was.

Grazi was sympathetic to Riff, and for the briefest moment, she contemplated telling him to forget about the conversation altogether just to have things go back to normal. Or at least, their normal. But that wouldn’t have been right for her or him.

“It’s Roxie, Riff.”

At the mere mention of the other girl’s name, Riff was suddenly alert. “What?”

Graziella looked at him for a few more seconds, silently begging him to understand what she was getting at without her having to outright say it. Unfortunately, Riff was not taking the hint. “You still have feelings for her.”

Riff shrugged nonchalantly, still not getting the point. “I mean, yeah, we’re friends-”

“-No,” Grazi interrupted lightly. “I saw you two at the dance. Friends don’t act like that with each other. The way you looked at each other… that was something else.”

Riff’s face went blank once again as he began to process Grazi's words.

Grazi watched him cautiously as she continued. “I don’t blame you, of course. I’m sure you didn’t mean to fall for Roxie again. But then again, maybe you never stopped loving her at all-”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Riff interjected. “That’s a big word, Graziella.”

Grazi smiled sadly at him. “What else would you call it, Riff?”

Riff fell silent and he looked away from her. A dazed look fell over his face once again.

“We both knew what this was when we started it,” Grazi acknowledged as she gestured back and forth between them. “But we’ve both outgrown it. It’s best if we call it off.”

After a few more moments of silence, Riff finally met her eyes. The look on his face was apologetic and regretful. “I… I’m sorry, Grazi.”

Grazi smiled sadly. “Life is too short.” She took another step towards him. “Don’t make yourself more miserable than you need to be, Riff. Figure things out about Roxie before it’s too late.”

Riff looked down at her with a somber look. “Grazi… you really are a doll, ya know?”

She knew that was Riff’s way of saying thank you, and it was enough for her. She smiled once again and reached up to pat him lightly on the face a few times. “I know.”

Grazi turned around slowly and began to head out of the auto shop. Over her shoulder, she called, “I may take some time away for a bit ‘til things settle. But I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

Riff gave her a small smirk. “Bye, Grazi.”

Graziella knew her worth. Though she wasn’t in the business of comparing herself to other girls, she refused to play second fiddle to anyone. Graziella would find someone who would be able to give her the attention she deserved and someone who she could return the favor for.

Her Mr. Right was out there, Grazi just needed to find him. Good thing she wasn’t a novice; she had found Tony, and then Riff. She liked her odds.

————————————————————————————

In what was beginning to be a repeated occurrence over the past few weeks, Riff laid awake in his bed that night as his racing thoughts rendered him unable to sleep.

Graziella had called things off. Riff felt awfully crappy about it too. Grazi was a great girl. But she was right- they both knew what they were getting into when their fling began. There were no strings attached and either one of them could call it off any time. No questions asked.

As guilty and ashamed as he felt, Riff didn’t necessarily have any questions about why Graziella felt compelled to call things off. But he did have questions about some of the things she had said.

Was Graziella right?

…

Did he have feelings for Roxie?

If that was true, it seemed like a simple enough answer. It would explain why, despite the voice in his head fighting for his own self-preservation, he felt immediately drawn back to her when she first returned to the neighborhood. It explained why he so easily granted her request to help him with the books at the shop even though it was basically a near lost cause. It explained why he felt compelled to hate Michael right away for even daring to try and capture her attention. It also explained why he had felt the need to spend any and all possible free time he could have with her.

It certainly explained the way he felt during their dance the other night.

But Riff couldn’t have feelings for her. Roxie would be leaving again. As long as she had the money she needed, she would be heading back to that fancy university at the end of the summer. It would’ve been stupid for him to allow such feelings to develop when he knew that that had always been a possibility.

…

But Grazi had been right.

His feelings for Roxie had never gone away at all.

Riff sat up straight in his bed and peered into the darkness of his bedroom.

Shit.

Riff threw his legs over the side of his bed and stood up. He walked across the dark room and quickly flipped the light switch before heading back over to the desk. He took a seat and stared down at the shop’s books.

Riff had resigned himself to the fact that, since he had been the one to call things off with Roxie before, he was likely to have some feelings for her that he would need to get over. There were no unpleasant memories of Roxie breaking his heart to get him motivated to address the lingering feelings. He had broken his own heart by letting her go and he hadn’t wanted to dwell on it since the day he walked away. But by doing so, he hadn’t healed or gotten over it at all.

He only numbed what he no longer wanted to feel.

And now, for better or for worse, those feelings had come back to haunt him.

Love… love was a big word. Some things weren’t said but were still known. The two of them had never, ever exchanged the word. But Riff had known back then; he just never told her.

If there was even the smallest chance that Riff could be with Roxie again and someday have the chance to be entirely honest with her about how he felt, he had to take it.

And if Roxie didn’t feel the same about him, at the very least he’d finally have the closure he needed in order to move on with his life, no matter how short it may be.

Riff had to find Roxie, wherever she was. He didn’t care what happened between her and Michael, why she had stopped going to work, or why she hadn’t come by the auto shop. The only thing he truly cared about in that moment was that she was safe.

The guys could run the shop the next day and he could hit the streets first thing in the morning. He’d stay out all day; he’d take all the time that was needed.

One last chance to see her. One last chance to finally make things right. One last chance to finally get closure, one way or the other.

————————————————————————————

It was by some sheer, dumb luck that Tony happened to come across Roxie heading back to her apartment at the exact moment he swung by the building the following afternoon.

Riff’s reason for the visit to Doc’s the day before troubled Tony and it troubled Valentina too. She had no problem giving Tony the day off in order to try and find Roxie. She had even promised to make up something if his parole officer happened to swing by. Bless her.

Tony checked a few other places that morning- first the park and then abandoned pier. But it was hard to know where Roxie would show up, especially since she hadn’t been going to work, so eventually Tony decided to make another round past her apartment. It was a good thing he did.

Largely in part to the concerning information Riff had shared with him, Tony had been worried about Roxie. But upon seeing her walking around looking unharmed and in one piece, he relaxed immediately. Something was amiss though. She had a large bag perched on the crook of one of her arms.

Judging by the look on Roxie’s face when she saw him, she knew why he was there.

“Word on the street is that you’re pretty elusive these days,” Tony told her neutrally. “Everything alright?”

Roxie hesitated and fiddled with the bag on her arm. “Why aren’t you at Doc’s?”

“Let’s just say a concerned citizen asked me to come look for ya.”

“I wasn’t aware you and the ‘concerned citizen’ were on speaking terms again. Well, I’m here. You can tell Riff that I’m fine.”

Tony eyed her suspiciously. Riff isn’t the only one actin’ strange these days. “What happened at the dance, Roxie?”

Roxie looked at him for a few moments before letting out a heavy sigh. “Do you want to come in?” she asked as she gestured with her thumb over her shoulder to the building behind her. “I’d rather not have a heart-to-heart out here in the middle of the sidewalk.”

————————————————————————————

Tony sat on the couch beside Roxie in her apartment and listened with significant interest as she recalled the events of the dance a few nights before.

“So… you’re saying you and Riff danced?”

“Yes. Just one dance.”

“And Michael saw this dance?”

“Yes. Or at least part of it.”

“And what he saw made him so upset that he called things off with you?”

“Yes.”

Must’ve been some dance, Tony thought to himself.

It was quiet for a few moments as Tony thought over everything Roxie had told him. When it hit him, he couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle to himself.

Roxie gawked at him. “Tony, this isn’t funny!”

“Come on, Roxie,” he said, still smiling as he placed a light hand on her shoulder. “It’s a bit funny.”

She frowned at him. “No, it’s not!”

Tony dropped his hand and forced himself to calm down. When he settled, he said, “You told me yourself that ya didn’t like him. Sounds like he did you a favor.”

“I know, I know,” Roxie admitted hurriedly. She looked away from him and focused on something across the room.

Tony decided that it was a good moment for him to bring up the sensitive topic once again. “Why are you ignorin’ Riff, Roxie?”

Roxie looked back towards him with a confused look. “I’m not ignoring him.”

“He said ya haven’t been goin’ to work and ya haven’t stopped by the shop. He even mentioned he stopped by here.”

“He did?”

Roxie quickly glanced in the direction of her bedroom. From his seat, Tony could see the window leading out onto the fire escape through the open door. Maybe Riff wasn’t kidding about knocking on her window.

“Velma let me stay with her the past few days,” Roxie confessed. She gestured to the bag that she had been carrying when Tony ran into her outside the building, which was currently on the floor by her feet. “After the dance, I didn’t want to be alone, but I still needed some time to think about everything. I can’t help but worry that I made a mistake.”

“About Michael?” Tony’s brows furrowed.

Roxie nodded.

Tony knew Roxie well enough to know that whatever she was about to bring up, she was serious about it. The way she fidgeted with her fingers and pushed her hair behind her ear indicated to him that she was nervous. Well, maybe nervous wasn’t the best word, but unsettled certainly seemed appropriate.

“I knew I wasn’t going to marry Michael,” Roxie began. “I never cared for him any more than as a friend. It wouldn’t have been right to marry him. When I think about the things he said to me after the dance, I know for sure that it was the right decision.”

“But?” Tony prompted.

“What if I should’ve just gotten over it?” Roxie asked him timidly with a sad look on her face. Her voice and eyes were watery. “What if I threw away my one chance to guarantee a way out of the neighborhood? What about everything my mother wanted for me? What about everything my aunt, all things aside, actually did for me? I threw it all away for nothing, Tony.”

Tony shook his head. “No, Roxie. Not for nothin’.”

Roxie laughed once bitterly. “No, not for nothing,” she agreed. “I threw it away for pride. Stupid, stupid pride.” A few stray tears fell down her face and she wiped them away quickly.

Tony sighed and looked at her sympathetically. “Maybe. But I think there was another reason, too.”

“Like what?”

Tony looked at her pointedly. She had to know, didn’t she? How could she not? “‘Cause of Riff, Roxie.”

Roxie’s face scrunched up a bit. “Riff? No, Riff’s just a friend.”

“If he’s just a friend, then I’m a stranger.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Roxie… you know what I mean,” Tony said firmly. “I know you, and I know Riff. I know how you two were like back in the day, when you was together. I was there, remember?”

Roxie said nothing.

“Listen, I’m probably not the best person to be givin’ advice ‘bout this,” Tony admitted. “But you’re my friend, and Riff’s like my brother. Whatever has or hasn’t happened between you two, I think the two of you should talk it out. And I know that’s rich, comin’ from me, with what Riff and I have goin’ on… but I still care about both of you, and that’s how I really feel.”

“Talk it out,” Roxie repeated blankly. “Right…”

“Roxie,” Tony called, grabbing her attention immediately. “I’ll let ya make the call. I won’t tell Riff that I spoke to you unless ya want me to.”

Roxie shook her head once. In a moment, all her visible signs of worry disappeared, and she seemed filled with a new sense of resolve. “No… I’ll go talk to him tomorrow.”

Tony suspicions over the past few weeks weren’t unfounded at all. If Riff’s odd behavior and visit to Doc’s the day before wasn’t enough proof, the way Roxie explained what happened at the dance all but confirmed his theory. Riff and Roxie had a history and it was obvious to Tony they still cared for each other, even to this day and despite all that had happened.

Tony didn’t like where things seemed to be heading, but what could he do? Roxie seemed to have a hard time wrapping her head around the idea at all, and he and Riff were still basically estranged.

How could things not end between Riff and Roxie the exact same way they had before? Riff was still getting into trouble and Tony didn’t think Roxie was entirely willing to give up on going back to school just yet, money issues aside.

Still, a small voice inside him chastised himself. Maybe he ought to be a bit more optimistic. Tony was trying to improve himself and live a better life. Who was to say Riff wasn’t also capable of change? Tony knew that if Riff wanted something badly enough, he’d be willing to do almost anything to make sure he got it.

He was just worried whether Riff would deem Roxie worth the effort.

————————————————————————————

Later that night, Roxie laid awake in bed. She should’ve been tired, given that she had slept on the floor in Velma’s room the past few nights, but sleep never came. Instead, her heart and mind raced as she couldn’t help but think about what was to come the next day.

She told Tony she would find Riff. She planned on keeping her word.

But what would she say to him?

Riff didn’t want to hear about Michael. If anything, he’d probably be glad she was finally rid of him. But how could she explain her absence to him over the past few days without at least mentioning him? Would she tell Riff everything she told Tony? Roxie basically spilled her heart out to him and to Velma before that. However, Tony and Velma were safe confidants.

Roxie trusted Riff. And yet, he made her feel more vulnerable the more time she spent with him. It scared her, and she didn’t know why. When she thought about how Riff had come to Tony, regardless of the fact that they weren’t talking, and asked him to find her, it scared her even more.

All she was certain of was that Riff was in her head. Fortunately, that was nothing new to her. What had Tony said?

I know how you two were like back in the day.

Back in the day? Back in the day they had been seeing each other. Back in the day Riff rarely strayed from her thoughts, but that was natural. They basically grew up together. They were friends. Then they became something more.

The fact that Tony had suggested that their friendship now was more than what it seemed almost bothered her as much as the thought of Riff worrying where she’d been over the past few days.

…

But what if there was some truth to what Tony had said?

…

Was there more than just friendship between her and Riff now?

If that was true, it would explain that, despite everything he had done to her, she had never brought herself to hate him. It explained why Roxie still found herself wanting to help Riff with the auto shop. It explained why Tony telling her how worried Riff had been over the past few days bothered her. It explained why Michael had said what he did the other night.

It also explained why the memories of their dance together repeated in her mind as she longed for any trace of the feeling she’d felt with him.

…

Damn.

Tony was right. He was far more observant than she’d given him credit for.

She had feelings for Riff.

How had she let this happen? Roxie thought she loved Riff once. But she had never, ever said the words to him. Even if she had, it wouldn’t have mattered- he still would have gone and broken her heart anyways, just like he had when he got released from jail and called things off. Tossing around that word wouldn’t have changed a thing then.

But things are different now. They were older. For how much Roxie had changed, she felt confident that Riff had changed since the last time they were together. Not to mention the fact that she and Riff had been a lot more honest with each other over the past few months. And she couldn’t deny that she felt closer to him then than she had ever felt before, regardless of their status. All of that had to mean something.

Roxie had been too scared back then to stand up for herself to Riff when he called things off over a year and a half ago. But if there was even a chance that Riff could return her feelings now, she wouldn’t be scared this time.

Whatever these feelings of hers were, Roxie knew at that moment that she needed to see Riff in order to get them figured out once and for all.

Roxie would find Riff the next day, and when she did, she would explain all that she could.

And If Riff didn’t reciprocate her feelings, Roxie would find a way to get by until the end of the summer. If she couldn’t raise enough money for her tuition by then, it still didn’t matter. She had Tony for support, as she always had, and now she had Velma, too.

The time where Roxie would blindly follow Riff’s lead and allow him to make decisions for her had long passed. It was high time she took control of her own life.

————————————————————————————

Either something was in the water or a full moon was coming, Action decided.

Riff had been running around like a chicken with his head cut off ever since the dance. At first, Action wrote off his strange behavior as a caveat of the fight with the Sharks. But when he heard the guys gossiping about what Riff was up to and her name was dropped, Action mentally slapped himself for not putting the pieces together sooner.

Of course Action had seen Riff and Roxie at the dance. One would have had to be blind to miss it. It seemed to be all the rest of the Jets and their girls had been able to talk about over the past few days. No one had seen Grazi since the dance either, which only added fuel to the fire. It really was a scandal.

Like the Jets needed a scandal, and as if the Sharks weren’t a big enough problem on their plate. Frivolous crap like ‘scandals’ were a damn joke.

That was why Action had been so wary of Roxie coming back around in the first place. He had a feeling something like this would happen, that Riff would lose his head and fall for her again. No one had taken Action seriously at the time, but if something happened to any of them with the Sharks while everyone was busy playing kindergarten matchmaker?

The whole thing put a sour taste in Action’s mouth. By the time the middle of the week rolled around, he entered the auto shop and could only pray that Riff had gotten himself together.

Of course, Action was disappointed. The only Jets he found working in the auto shop, despite it being the middle of the week and in the middle of the workday, were Diesel, Snowboy, and Gee-Tar.

Ice was there too. He had been the one to inform him that Riff had left that morning and hadn’t come back yet.

Action resigned himself to try and improve his mood by badgering Ice about the new girl he was seeing. Ice, true to his nickname, always downplayed what he was really feeling or truly thought about something. But Action knew Ice well, and he could tell that he was hung up on the new girl of his. Action couldn’t deny that he liked watching Ice squirm a bit.

Ice was in the process of trying to avoid answering Action’s drilling questions when the subject of the week’s hot gossip entered the auto shop.

Roxie looked to be more composed than Riff had looked over the last few days. That irritated Action more.

“Look who it is!” Snowboy called from across the shop.

Roxie glanced around the shop briefly before her eyes finally landed on Ice. “Is Riff here?”

“Nah. He’s been out lookin’ for ya all week,” Ice informed her.

Action eyed his pal from the corner of his eyes. “He’s been worried sick ‘bout ya,” Action added sourly. “Seems a bit rude to just pick when you’re gonna show up for him, considerin’ all he’s done for ya.”

Imagine goin’ to jail for a girl and still havin’ to beg her to come and see ya?! Action could never.

Roxie narrowed her eyes at him and Action couldn’t help but feel pleased with himself when he realized that he’d stuck a chord. “Well, Action, regardless of what you think, I’m not Riff’s dog. I don’t just come when he beckons.”

Ice whistled from beside him and Diesel made a poor attempt to muffle his chuckle underneath the hood of the sedan he was working on.

There it was again, that rising, boiling feeling that was becoming all to a familiar for Action. He pointed a finger at her. “Listen here, I outta-“

Ice put a firm hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Cool it,” he warned in a low tone.

Action shrugged off his hand harshly.

Roxie turned back to face Ice. “When Riff gets back, can you tell him I need to talk to him? Tell him I’ll meet him tonight. Seven o’clock.”

Ice nodded. “Yes-“

“-No,” Action said at the same time.

Ice ignored him. He asked, “Where?”

“He’ll know where,” Roxie told him plainly. She shot Action a final wary glance before she turned and promptly walked back out of the shop’s open garage door.

When she was gone, Action turned to face Ice slowly and raised his eyebrows as he awaited an explanation. The other guys went back to their work, but Action could just imagine the looks they were giving one another.

Ice sighed. “Look, Action,” he began, his voice quiet enough so that the others wouldn’t hear. “I know what you’re tryin’ to do.”

“Oh, yeah?” Action scoffed doubtfully.

“Yeah,” Ice agreed, not backing down. “You’re worried ‘bout Riff.”

The anger that had been brewing within Action came to a halt. Finally, Ice is makin’ some sense.

“I’m worried too,” Ice admitted hesitantly. “But whether or not him gettin’ involved with Roxie is a mistake, it’s his decision to make. Ya get it?”

Action sighed. Maybe Ice had a point, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. But, just this once, and for Riff’s sake and for Riff’s sake alone, Action decided he’d bite his tongue.

When Riff returned to the shop a few hours later and Ice told him about Roxie stopping by, Action said nothing. He could only watch in silent defeat Riff’s eyes visibly lit up at the news.

Alright, so maybe Riff and Roxie would get involved again. Whatever. Action could give a damn as long as she wouldn’t be a distraction to Riff.

The Jets needed Riff. They didn’t need her.

————————————————————————————

Riff couldn’t put the relief he felt upon finally seeing Roxie into words.

There she was, at seven o’clock sharp, just as she had told Ice to relay back to him. She stood in the middle of the abandoned pier. Her back was to him as she looked across the bay through the cracks in the old caved in roof beams. Riff took a moment to catch his breath from the walk over from the auto shop and watched her.

The sun was starting to set. Warm colors painted the horizon, and though that was typically something Riff didn’t care enough to notice, seeing Roxie with that background beyond her put him at a loss for words. It was almost like a movie, despite it taking place in the hell hole that was their neighborhood. Riff had never been a believer in fate per say, but he hoped that the pretty scene was an omen for the outcome of conversation they were about to have.

Riff was still unsure of what to say, but he’d never be truly ready. All the uncertainty was finally going to end, one way or another.

He took a deep breath and walked across the pier with light steps. He came to a slow stop beside her. She didn’t look at him, but he looked down at her.

The warm colors of the sky painted her face, too. She looked a lot calmer than he felt. She looked at peace. I’m a brief moment of self-doubt, Riff realized he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what that meant.

“Do you remember the first time we came here alone? Without Tony?” she asked him, still not taking her eyes off the sunset. Her voice was so quiet, Riff almost didn’t hear her over the moving water below them.

Of course Riff remembered. Just the mention of it brought a small smile to his face despite his nerves. It was the reason he had known exactly she had wanted to meet him. “How could I forget?”

Roxie smiled too. “I’ve come here by myself since, especially whenever I needed to think. I don’t know why I didn’t think about coming here sooner. Awful pretty, huh?”

“Yes,” Riff answered without missing a beat. He wasn’t referring to the sunset. “Is that what you’ve been doin’ then? Takin’ time to think?”

Roxie nodded.

“… What about?”

Though she didn’t turn to face him, Roxie finally looked away from the sunset and up towards Riff. “The dance.”

“I saw you and Michael leavin’ early… Are you alright?” Riff looked down at her left hand and braced himself as he feared seeing a rock or some other shiny thing adorning her ring finger.

It was bare.

“It’s over between Michael and me,” Roxie stated. “Whatever ‘it’ was.”

Even more relief washed over Riff at her news. Good riddance. “I’m sorry.” It was a half lie; he at least felt sorry for her.

“I’m not,” she assured him. “It made me realize something.”

Here we go.

Roxie turned to face him. “I’m scared.”

That wasn’t what Riff was expecting.

“I’m scared,” Roxie repeated. “I’m scared of what I’m about to say. But I thought about it a lot and I realized there are far scarier things in life than being rejected by you.”

Riff was in disbelief. “Are you saying what I’m thinkin’ you’re sayin’?”

“I can’t just be friends with you, Riff. I want to be more.”

Here he was, having worked himself up into even more of a mess than he had been as he struggled to come up with exactly what to say over the past day. And she beat him to it. Would she always be surpassing him like this?

Riff could only hope.

Roxie had taken his silence as immediate rejection and began to scramble for her next words. “And I know you have Grazi now, and that’s fine-“

“Grazi ended things.”

Roxie did a double take. “… Oh.”

Riff added, “If I had to guess, she called things off for the same reason it didn’t work out with you and Michael.”

“I see… Are you mad about that?”

“No,” Riff promised. “Because it made me realize somethin’, too. I’m scared, just like you.”

Feeling a sudden rush of courage, Riff reached out and took her hands in his. Roxie didn’t pull away as she looked up at him with wide eyes, hanging on to his every word.

“I never stopped carin’ about you, Roxie. I wish I had never walked away.”

Roxie was silent.

“I can’t change what I’ve done in the past,” Riff acknowledged. “But if you’re willin’ to give me the chance to make it up to ya, I swear I’ll-“

Riff was cut off by Roxie embracing him. Her arms wrapped around his middle tightly and Riff didn’t mind the sudden loss of air in the slightest. It wasn’t but a second later that he returned the gesture. After slowly wrapping his arms around her, he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

The two stood in silence for some time before Roxie broke it.

“Things have to be different this time.”

“New year, new me?” Riff joked half-heartedly in a poor effort to ease the tension.

“I heard about the fight at the dance,” Roxie said.

It was quiet for a few moments and Riff could feel her fingers lightly digging into the back of his shirt as she continued to cling to him.

“I know who you were. I have a good feeling about who you are now. But I also think I know who you can be.”

Riff was silent.

“Let’s be better, Riff,” she pleaded. “Both of us.”

Riff knew what she meant, but what she was asking was no small feat, and he wasn’t entirely sure what all it would encompass. Did she mean no more fighting at all? Was he supposed to just lay down and let the Sharks have the run of the neighborhood until the wrecking ball came for all of them? What about the Jets? The guys would laugh at the idea, and that was if they didn’t automatically deem Riff a fool for even considering it.

But if Riff really wanted a chance to be with Roxie again, and at that moment there wasn’t anything else he had ever wanted more, he could tell that he wouldn’t have an easy time persuading her otherwise. It wasn’t a choice.

Riff reluctantly pulled back from their embrace. Before Roxie could say anything, Riff intertwined their hands once more. “I can’t make changes overnight,” he said. “I need time.”

“I’ll give you time.”

He believed her. He just hoped it would be enough. 

“If we do this, this isn’t goin’ to be easy,” Riff whispered. He would have elaborated, but there was little point; he knew she was well aware of the challenges they were likely to face. It wasn’t just about the Sharks.

Roxie smiled softly. “I know.”

There was undeniable care in her eyes and Riff felt humbled and yet unworthy to be the subject of such a gaze. But there was also the faintest trace of something darker that he couldn’t quite understand. Something almost sad.

Roxie reached up and put a gentle palm to the side of his face. “But you’ve got me, and I’ve got you. We’ll figure it all out together.”

You’ve got me more than you know.

Subconsciously, Riff leaned into the palm of her hand. “It’s not too late… you can still walk away. You can get outta here at the end of summer, and this time for good.” He closed his eyes as he finished his thoughts, scared to see her reaction.

It was quiet and for a moment all Riff could hear were the lapping of the waves beneath the pier.

“Riff,” Roxie said gently.

He forced himself to open his eyes and look down at her once more. Any nerves he felt were quickly alleviated by the comforting look in her eyes.

“If I leave again, and I don’t come back, then I’m not leaving alone,” Roxie promised. “If I get out of this neighborhood for good, you’re coming with me.”

Riff’s initial reaction to her suggestion filled him with a sense of hope. His mind pondered the idea of a better life, just the two of them, far away from the neighborhood they knew so well that continued existing solely on borrowed time.

What would they even do? Maybe they’d work whatever jobs they could find, whatever it would take to earn a living. They wouldn’t need to earn much; they both already knew how to survive on so little.

Who would they be? Maybe they’d be unrecognizable shells of their former selves, faking their way along in order to be deemed respectable citizens of society. Maybe they could still be them, just better.

The pains of the past and the less than favorable aspects of themselves could be left behind in the rubble of the neighborhood they once knew. It had to be easier to move on in a new environment that held no memories.

The idea sounded too good to be true.

…

It was just that- an idea. A dream. The harsh reality was that Riff was stuck here, trapped in the neighborhood that would all but disappear in the coming months.

“What if I never leave?” he asked her then. He feared her answer.

Roxie dropped her hand from his face as she looked at him thoughtfully and took a few moments to think about her next words. When she was ready, she placed both her hands in his once again and held them firmly. “Tell me you want me to leave.”

Her words were specific and intentional. Well over a year and a half ago, she had made the same exact request to him.

Riff wasn’t sure whether Roxie was referring to leaving the conversation or the West Side. Either way, his answer was the same. And unlike last time, he would muster up the nerve to actually answer her demand.

“No.”

Relief overcame Roxie’s serious expression. She said then, almost hesitantly, “Tell me you want me to stay.”

Riff dropped her hands and reached up to hold both sides of her face between his palms. She looked up at him with wide eyes as she waited for his answer. He looked down at her solemnly, throwing all care about the emotion that was likely to be evident in his voice to the wind.

“Stay,” he breathed. “Stay with me.”

Roxie smiled brightly. “If you never leave here, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll come back for you, Riff.”

Riff leaned down to rest his forehead lightly against hers. Had he changed his mind about what was best for her in the long run? Probably not, but in that moment, he didn’t care. “You’re not gonna let me decide for ya this time, huh?” he asked her quietly.

“I think this time I’ll be the one deciding for you,” she whispered back with a light laugh. “Now we’re even.”

“Until next time,” Riff joked with a small and mischievous smirk.

“Will you keep me around long enough for a ‘next time’?” Roxie asked.

She was nervous, he could tell. Riff still was too, about a lot of things. But Roxie was right- they’d figure it out.

Together.

“How ‘bout I let you keep gettin’ even with me until the day the man upstairs calls me home?”

Roxie’s eyebrows raised. “That’s a long time.”

Riff shrugged. He meant every word. After all, it had already been the better part of five years. What was another fifty?

“But, if you’re so sure about getting even,” Roxie challenged playfully, “What would happen if I kissed you?”

Riff grinned and he swore his heart skipped a beat. “I guess I’d have to kiss ya back.” He was suddenly aware of the tension between them that was beginning to grow rapidly with each passing second.

“Hm… Seems fair,” Roxie whispered against his lips.

They both leaned in and when their lips finally met, Riff forgot all about the problems that waited for them just beyond the abandoned pier. None of that mattered; with her by his side, he felt confident that he could take on anything that stood in their way.

For the first time in over a year, the West Side felt like home again. Despite the violence that occurred on the streets daily, Riff felt at peace.

It truly was the calm before the storm.

A/N: Thank you for reading! If you feel so inclined, please feel free to interact. As always, if you would like to be added to the taglist, just let me know. :)

Part 14

Masterlist

Taglist: @whisperofsong​ @disguisedbassethound​ @lingerasthesmokeoncedid​ @westsidelegendary​ @sallymakesstuff​ @youngteenagehearts​